Chapter 257 – The Third Academic Year

After returning to the Dormitory, Mo Lan immediately began reviewing the 《Academic Year Plan》.

As with the previous year, it began with an announcement:

“To all third-year young witches: starting this academic year, the Ingredient Collection Station, Castle Warehouse No. 2, Castle Warehouse No. 3, and Greenhouse No. 1 will no longer be open to you.

Castle Warehouse No. 1 will only provide you with paper for transcribing books and classroom use.

For all other needs, please apply what you have learned to resolve them on your own…”

Reading this, Mo Lan couldn’t help but furrow her brows.

She had long known that the Ingredient Collection Station would be closed to witches third-year and above.

But why were Greenhouse No. 1 and Castle Warehouses No. 2 and No. 3 also being closed?

The forest in Greenhouse No. 1 was full of low-level magical plants, tended by little Sprites. No matter how much you picked, they were never depleted—it was incredibly convenient.

Castle Warehouse No. 2 was the clothing and fabric warehouse. Ready-made garments had stopped being provided in second year, but at least you could still obtain fabric, needles, and thread.

Castle Warehouse No. 3 was the daily necessities warehouse, where all manner of living supplies were collected.

With all three places closed to them, did that mean alchemy materials, fabric and thread, and daily necessities all had to be procured on their own?

That much she could accept. The Inner Region should have magical plants available for harvesting, and fabric and thread could be obtained through hunting and gathering.

Daily necessities could also be managed with some creative use of Magic.

It was the Academy’s way of training them, she supposed.

But Castle Warehouse No. 1 was the study supplies warehouse—pens, ink, and paper were all obtained there.

Now they were suddenly told that the only thing they could get from this warehouse was parchment for transcribing books and classroom use, and everything else had to be figured out on their own. Wouldn’t that severely impact everyone’s study progress?

After all, third year would be even more focused on self-study!

Though they had learned a bit about papermaking at the start of the school year, and second year’s hunting skills class had covered some methods of processing animal hides, was it really necessary to have the young witches spend their precious study time dealing with daily chores?

No wonder Lilith hadn’t participated in the enrollment ceremony promotions—she probably didn’t have paper to make flyers!

No wonder so many senior students, even after a full year of preparation, still hadn’t managed to establish a foothold in the Inner Region, letting the astromancy ritual carry on year after year.

None of them had even experienced a single proper wilderness battle yet, and they were already expected to handle so many mundane survival problems in the wild—how could that possibly be easy!

“Headmistress, restricting the essentials of food, clothing, and shelter to motivate everyone to study Magic is one thing, but restricting study supplies as well—isn’t that putting the cart before the horse? If we have to prepare our own paper and pens, won’t that waste a great deal of time?”

Unable to understand the reasoning, Mo Lan called out to the Guardian Headmistress.

“There’s nothing wasteful about it. Paper for transcribing books has been provided to you, and the remaining demand for paper isn’t that great. You will all eventually need to handle every aspect of your lives on your own.”

It seemed there was no room for negotiation on this matter. After thinking it over, Mo Lan said, “Then may I make cards for my own use?”

“Cards are part of your innate talent ability, so you may use them. However, selling such cards to other young witches is prohibited.”

“Alright then!” Mo Lan silently offered a moment of sympathy for the other young witches.

At least she could still make cards for her own use.

For clothing, food, and shelter, Mo Lan was willing to use Magic to handle things just like everyone else, as a way of training her magical abilities.

But making things like pens, ink, and paper involved no Magic whatsoever. With her memories from Earth, producing these items would be no problem, but wasting time on it simply wasn’t worth it.

Being able to solve it with cards was the best option.

Mo Lan continued reading.

“…Starting today, the Academy’s Inner Region will be fully opened to all of you. Once you are prepared, you may enter to explore.

Mind your personal safety. Should you find yourself in danger and require rescue by the Guardian Headmistress, you will lose all supplies as punishment.

Additionally: dormitory access will be revoked at the end of this academic year. You will only be permitted to establish residences within the Inner Region. Please prepare accordingly.”

After finishing the second half of the announcement, Mo Lan’s vision went dark again.

What did it mean that being rescued by the Guardian Headmistress would result in losing all supplies?

She hurriedly asked, “This loss of supplies—what exactly does it include? Does it count things stored in the Dormitory? What about tool cards?”

“Supplies include gathered and stored food, fabric and clothing, self-made daily and study items, and any wilderness shelter.”

Lady Amisha’s voice came through, and Mo Lan let out a small sigh of relief. At least they weren’t confiscating tool cards too.

Essentially, the “supplies” referred to the living resources the young witches had accumulated on their own.

No wonder Lilith had been so busy since advancing to third year—one wrong move and you’d lose everything!

She had originally thought that since the Inner Region had no magical beasts, only ordinary wild animals, it wouldn’t be very dangerous for witches who had mastered Magic.

Now it seemed that establishing yourself in the Inner Region wouldn’t be easy at all.

Every aspect of daily life had to be handled independently—it was practically the same as surviving in the Wilds with nothing.

She moved on to the course preview.

This year’s course count had dropped dramatically.

There were only two required theory courses: Continental Travel Guidance and Basic Mathematics.

There was also only one elective theory course—a continuation of the second-year Alchemy Theory class.

However, the complete set of instructional videos for this course had already been updated during second year, and Mo Lan had finished studying them all.

She wouldn’t need to attend this class either.

There was one required practical course and one elective: the required course was Wilderness Survival, and the elective was Magic Q&A class.

All required and elective courses combined totaled only five.

“Wait, where’s the Architectural Magic course?” Mo Lan was thoroughly puzzled.

Hadn’t they said that this year they needed to start preparing for the fourth-year move out of the Dormitory?

Why weren’t they teaching Architectural Magic?

She clearly remembered Lilith mentioning it!

“Architectural Magic is included within the Wilderness Survival course.”

Hearing Lady Amisha’s explanation, Mo Lan finally understood—it was all bundled into that single course.

This year’s course schedule was arranged rather interestingly. Instead of half a day of theory and half a day of practice, the theory and practical courses were now concentrated on separate days.

Monday: Continental Travel Guidance, all day.

Tuesday: Basic Mathematics, all day.

Wednesday: Wilderness Survival, all day.

Thursday morning: Alchemy Theory.

Friday morning: Magic Q&A class.

Saturday and Sunday: no classes.

Each session was a three-hour block, same as last year.

The class time slots were the same as well.

For Mo Lan, she only needed to attend three courses: Continental Travel Guidance, Wilderness Survival, and Magic Q&A class.

Compared to the others, she had two extra free days—Tuesday and Thursday.

Furthermore, a note beneath the schedule indicated the maximum duration was from Week 1 to Week 24 of the third academic year.

In other words, all third-year courses would conclude after at most six months.

Mo Lan estimated the remaining time was meant for them to explore the Inner Region and prepare for the complete move out of the Dormitory in fourth year.

As long as you weren’t rescued by the Guardian Headmistress and had your supplies wiped clean, the timeline was actually quite generous.