Chapter 278 – Finding the Mountain Forest

Chapter 278 – Finding the Mountain Forest

The morning sun rose. Today was a beautiful, clear day.

Mo Lan, Vasida, and Sylph mounted their broomsticks together and continued flying deeper into Greengrass Plains.

Along the way, they hunted a few creatures, enjoyed a hearty meal, then pressed onward.

Today was far more relaxed than yesterday. The unease about the unknown path ahead that they’d felt when setting out had transformed into confidence after the previous night.

They had made it through yesterday’s situation unscathed, and they firmly believed that no matter what they encountered next, as long as they worked together, they could turn danger into safety.

The journey proved uneventful—no dangers appeared. The only change was that the deeper they flew into Greengrass Plains, the lower the temperature dropped.

After flying for half a day, they could see the snow-capped mountains right before their eyes.

The grassland had turned into a snowfield. They stuck numerous firethorn leaves all over themselves, yet still couldn’t help shivering.

When they were airborne, the wind cut to the bone.

“If this keeps up, we’re going to get frostbite. Let’s fly toward Lone Peak Forest!” Mo Lan said through chattering teeth.

They angled toward Lone Peak Forest, which barely kept conditions at the level of miserably cold but not lethal.

Still, none of them had any desire for conversation.

Fortunately, the edge of Lone Peak Forest had also been affected by the cold air from the snowfield, and the giant eagles—which preferred warm climates—were nowhere to be seen along its borders.

This allowed Mo Lan and her companions to continue flying forward on their broomsticks.

Before long, Mo Lan spotted a streak of green in the distance.

Fighting through the cold, she pointed southeast and said, “Sylph, Vasida, look—is that a mountain forest?”

Vasida and Sylph looked in that direction. Through the clouds and mist, a green mountain peak poked out. “It really does look like one!”

“We found the mountain forest!” Mo Lan said excitedly. “Let’s fly straight toward it! Keep an eye out for any giant flying beasts that might appear! Let’s try to spend tonight in the forest!”

“Right!”

The three of them accelerated together toward the mountain.

The closer they got to the forest, the warmer it became, and the better they felt.

However, having truly entered Lone Peak Forest, they startled several giant eagles.

Mo Lan was the first to spot the eagles pursuing them from behind and alerted Vasida and Sylph.

The three turned their broomsticks around and hovered in midair.

“There are only three. Why don’t we try fighting them in the air?” Vasida said.

“I have wax oil fruits in my bag,” Sylph said. “Let’s light them and use the Levitation Spell to throw them at the eagles. We can burn them!”

Vasida and Sylph had long since heard Mo Lan explain this species of giant eagle’s weakness. They could both cast the Flame Spell too—though theirs weren’t as powerful as Mo Lan’s, they were more than enough to set a giant eagle ablaze. So neither of them panicked, and they quickly devised a plan.

“Good! Let’s do it!” Mo Lan said.

The wax oil fruit wasn’t a mutant plant condensed from Sylph’s Box of Ten Thousand Seeds—it was one of the magical plants she had successfully cultivated. Its fruit could be rendered into oil for making candles.

Combined with various herbs and spices, they could even be made into scented candles, which were extremely popular among witches.

Mo Lan hadn’t expected Sylph to have brought these along. Using them as lit projectiles was far safer than waiting for the eagles to close in before casting the Flame Spell.

Sylph distributed the wax oil fruits among them.

“The one in front is mine!” Vasida claimed the biggest and most robust eagle.

“I want the middle one!” Sylph quickly called out. “Don’t get drawn into a prolonged fight. Once you’ve lit them up, focus on controlling your broomstick and putting distance between you and them!”

Her companions’ fighting spirit was a bit too fierce. After reminding them, Mo Lan had no choice but to leave the tougher opponents to them and focus on the last eagle—a much smaller, younger one.

She lit the wax oil fruit, launched it with the Levitation Spell, and it landed squarely on the giant eagle. The flames instantly swelled and spread. Mo Lan immediately steered her broomstick away, dodging the frenzied eagle.

Vasida and Sylph also successfully ignited their opponents’ wings, then flew far away to watch the show.

The eagles had charged in with fearsome momentum, only to receive a full coating of flames. They fled with their tails between their legs toward a nearby small pond.

The roles of prey and predator had reversed in an instant.

“These eagles catch fire way too easily!” Vasida said, clearly unsatisfied.

She had finally encountered what looked like a somewhat challenging opponent, and she hadn’t even gotten to show off her skills!

“Their feather weakness is just too glaring,” Mo Lan said as she gave chase. “We can’t let them escape, or they might attract more eagles, and we don’t have any more wax oil fruits.”

Arriving above the pond, Mo Lan used the Water Prison Spell directly, forcing all three eagles’ heads firmly underwater.

The flames on the eagles went out. And so did they—drowned.

“Moira, your Water Prison Spell has gotten that powerful?” Vasida asked in surprise.

“I borrowed the pond’s advantage to amplify the Water Prison Spell’s effect,” Mo Lan said.

Otherwise, her current Water Prison Spell couldn’t have restrained eagles this large.

Vasida and Sylph: “Spellcasting tip +1.”

This whole trip felt like watching a wilderness survival instructional video—the kind where Lady Amisha critiqued Mo Lan’s coursework performance.

Knowledge from Mo Lan kept flooding into their brains nonstop. The harvest was bountiful.

After dealing with the three giant eagles, they continued flying toward the distant mountain peak.

They arrived at the summit just before dusk.

In the glow of the setting sun, they gazed out at the rolling mountain ranges stretching endlessly in every direction except the way they’d come, and couldn’t help exclaiming, “It’s so vast!”

“The senior students who live in the mountain forests—if they want to get to the Academy Castle, they’d probably have to set out a day or two early!” Vasida said.

“So when the fourth and fifth-year seniors would coolly fly off on their broomsticks after the enrollment banquet, they actually had to trek this far before they could get home?”

Sylph thought about that scene. “Suddenly, the seniors’ mysterious and profound image just completely collapses!”

“Ha ha ha! We’ve been seniors ourselves now—don’t we know in our hearts whether we have any image to speak of?” Mo Lan said.

Vasida declared, “The effortlessly cool senior only appears when junior students are watching.”

“I wonder where Senior Lilith and the others live!” Sylph said. “It took us a day and a half to get here. We’ll need to start heading back by tomorrow afternoon at the latest, or we won’t make it to Tuesday’s 《Basic Mathematics》 class.”

“Oh no! I haven’t done my math workbook!” Vasida’s heart sank with despair. “Sylph, why did you have to remind me!”

Sylph patted her shoulder, her smile widening. “Don’t worry, I’m right there with you. I worked on mine a bit during my night watch shift last night, but I haven’t finished either!”

Mo Lan—who had no homework and no math class to rush back for—pulled out a tent card:

“Let’s rest here tonight. You two work on your homework first. I’ll go hunt something in the forest for dinner.”

Sylph and Vasida: “╥﹏╥”

“You can do it!” Mo Lan offered a thoughtful word of encouragement, then swiftly fled the scene.