Chapter 260 – Wilderness Survival Class

Mo Lan indeed had no problems whatsoever.

Before the 《Basic Mathematics》 class was even over, she had already finished her exam paper and turned it in—a perfect score, same as always.

After the exam, Mo Lan started reading the textbook for the wilderness survival class: 《Common Wilderness Terrain Survival Guide》.

The book covered survival techniques for different wilderness environments, divided into three major sections:

“Chapter One: Finding and Gathering Survival Resources

Chapter Two: Protection Against and Response to Wilderness Dangers

Chapter Three: Selection and Construction of Wilderness Shelters”

Mo Lan stayed up all night to finish the book.

The first two chapters were fine—essentially a wilderness survival guide enhanced with magic.

Chapter One covered how to find water sources and obtain food in different environments.

Chapter Two covered how to protect yourself in the wilderness and how to deal with various dangers.

Only Chapter Three left Mo Lan dumbfounded after reading it.

This chapter was clearly supposed to be about Architectural Magic, yet what did it actually contain?

“Section One: Cave Dwellings—Applications of the Earth-Turning Spell and Rock-Crushing Spell”

“Section Two: Earthen Houses—Applications of the Earth-Gathering Spell”

“Section Three: Wooden Houses—Applications of the Wood-Shaping Spell”

“Section Four: Reinforcing Shelters—Applications of the Stone-to-Iron Spell, Metal Shaping Spell, and Petrification Spell”

“Section Five: Shelter Protection Recommendations”

These spells were all too familiar to Mo Lan—they were all Elemental Magic she had already learned.

Only now did she finally understand: there was no such thing as a specialized school of Architectural Magic. Architectural Magic was simply a collection of various spells that could be applied to construction.

Earth-element magic made up the majority, with wood-element and metal-element magic coming next.

Section Five also mentioned many useful alchemy blueprints, though they were of a higher level and not something every young witch could master.

A cave dwelling meant finding a natural cave, or simply locating a suitable spot and using the Earth-Turning Spell and Petrification Spell to dig out a living space.

A wooden house meant using the Wood-Shaping Spell to carve out a tree hollow or craft wooden planks for building a cabin.

An earthen house meant using the Earth-Gathering Spell to form compressed earth bricks for building a mud-brick house.

These shelters could also be reinforced with magic—for instance, turning an earthen cave into a stone cave, or even an iron-lined one.

And finally, there were various alchemical rune combinations and magic circles that could be applied to shelters.

No wonder when she had wanted to study Architectural Magic ahead of schedule, Lady Amisha had told her not to rush. As it turned out, Architectural Magic wasn’t a specialized discipline at all.

Apart from Alchemy Magic, the other spells used in construction were indeed, just as Lady Amisha had said, quite simple.

The learning threshold wasn’t high, and they weren’t difficult to master.

But for a beginner trying to use these spells to create a spacious dwelling, it wasn’t easy at all, because at low spell levels, the effective range was quite limited.

For example, using the Earth-Gathering Spell to make earth bricks—at the Apprentice level, one could only form a single brick slightly larger than a palm at a time.

To gather enough bricks to build a house, you had to accumulate them slowly.

This was the real reason why the upperclassmen found it so difficult to finish building their own homes before the end of third year.

It was truly a home built little by little, brick by brick!

And if a shelter painstakingly built like that were confiscated as punishment for needing to be rescued by the Guardian Headmistress due to some danger, or destroyed by wild beasts—that would be absolutely heartbreaking!

Mo Lan immediately decided that until she could truly navigate the Inner Region with ease, there was really no need to invest too much effort into shelter-building.

Having a place that could keep out the wind and rain was enough.

Prioritizing natural caves and tree hollows, then making minor modifications—that was the most economical approach.

Ultimately, the focus came back to exploring the environment.

Mo Lan decided that after finishing the wilderness survival class tomorrow, she would begin attempting to explore the Inner Region.

* * *

Wednesday morning at seven o’clock, Mo Lan set off on her broomstick together with Vasida and Sylph to attend class.

The assembly point for the wilderness survival class was on the grassy area outside the southernmost hedge wall of the Breadfruit Grove.

The hedge wall served as the boundary between the Academy Core Area and the Inner Region.

Looking at the Academy map, beyond the hedge wall lay the mist-shrouded Inner Region of the Academy.

South of the Breadfruit Grove, outside the hedge wall, there was a small meadow larger than elsewhere—roughly the size of two basketball courts.

While flying over the Breadfruit Grove, Vasida swooped down and picked some Breadfruit, stuffing them into her Devouring Stomach.

“Once it’s in my belly, it doesn’t count as bringing food to class. Hehe~”

“That trick only works for you. The rest of us can only try to eat as much as possible at breakfast,” Sylph said helplessly.

The schedule stated that the wilderness survival class ran from seven-thirty in the morning to seven-thirty in the evening—a full twelve hours.

It also specifically noted that bringing food to class was not allowed.

And since the textbook covered methods for finding food in the wilderness, how lunch and dinner would be handled was quite obvious.

They could only forage outside on their own. If they couldn’t find anything, they’d probably have to go hungry.

“Right now, all I want is to go to the outer region and get some meat to eat.” Having eaten nothing but vegetarian meals for three days straight, Mo Lan felt even this class was radiating the aroma of meat.

The three of them arrived at the hedge, but Lady Amisha hadn’t come yet.

Remembering that the 《Academic Year Plan》 notice had said the Inner Region was now open to them, Mo Lan couldn’t resist reaching her hand toward the hedge.

Before her hand even touched it, the hedge parted on its own, opening up a path.

“We can really go in now!” Vasida exclaimed in surprise.

Previously, whenever they had approached the boundary of the Core Area, this hedge had blocked their way.

The hedge was dozens of meters tall and extremely dense—it was impossible to see anything on the other side.

Even trying to fly over on a broomstick was not an option.

Only from the Academy’s mountain, gazing into the distance, could one catch a glimpse of the scenery beyond the Core Area.

But it was simply too far away to make out any details.

Now that the hedge had opened a path, Mo Lan and the others were in no rush to enter.

“We’ll probably be going in during today’s class anyway!” Sylph said.

“Most likely.” Mo Lan pulled her hand back, and the hedge closed up again.

Before long, the other young witches arrived too.

Everyone amused themselves for a while, parting and closing the hedge, until Lady Amisha finally appeared in her purple robes.

She first had them set their broomsticks down on the grass, then inspected the items they had brought with them.

Just as the young witches were eager and ready to follow Lady Amisha through the hedge wall and into the Inner Region to show what they could do, Amisha said something that left every single young witch stunned:

“Please welcome your Guardian Headmistresses.”

The moment her words fell, a black portal appeared beside each young witch.

From every portal stepped out a Lady Amisha.

Although the young witches had long heard from Mo Lan and Vasida that there were many Lady Amishas beneath the Academy, and had all spoken with the Amisha assigned to watch over them, most had never seen it with their own eyes.

Twenty-seven young witches. Twenty-eight Lady Amishas.

Caught off guard like this, it was genuinely a bit frightening.

Especially since every Lady Amisha wore the same face—only the style of their clothing differed.