Chapter 286 – The Abnormal Route

In a mountainous forest, an Apprentice-level Metal Detection spell couldn’t penetrate the thick layers of soil to detect ores buried deeper underground—at least not quickly.

In Mo Lan’s view, Wilderness Survival Class was essentially using tasks as a way to indirectly push the young witches into learning all sorts of magic and knowledge.

All the young witches had been bound to the Status Cards she’d made—the ones with magic level progress tracking. She knew their skill levels better than anyone.

This academic year, ever since Wilderness Survival Class had started, the young witches’ magic learning progress had advanced by leaps and bounds, all thanks to the pressure of classroom tasks.

However, classes hadn’t been going on for very long, and most of the witches had only learned their spells in a rush. They’d merely mastered the casting methods—their understanding of the magic itself and the related theoretical knowledge was quite lacking.

All the spells the young witches had self-studied outside of class were basically only at the Apprentice level.

This task of collecting crystal ore and iron ore to craft a magical stove and crystal potion bottle could make use of four types of magic: Metal Detection spell, Mining Magic, Purification spell, and Metal Shaping spell.

The young witches had already learned Metal Shaping spell when studying Alchemy. As for the remaining Mining Magic and Purification spell, there were alternative methods available. Only the Metal Detection spell was absolutely necessary to learn in order to have any chance of completing the task.

Currently, not many young witches had learned the Metal Detection spell, and even fewer had reached a high level with it.

No wonder they’d been teleported to Lone Peak Forest, where the soil layers were thinnest and mineral resources most abundant.

Although on her map, the area she was in was still shrouded in fog, judging by the distance from the already-explored regions of Greengrass Plains, she could tell she was deep within Lone Peak Forest.

That meant there would definitely be giant eagles.

Mo Lan promptly cast another Invisibility spell on herself.

It was a good thing she did, too. Before the vines had even lifted her out of the sinkhole, a giant eagle had already spotted the rapidly growing vines emerging from the pit.

Mo Lan hurriedly had the vines fling her out of the hole. The very next moment, the vines were snatched away by the giant eagle to line its nest.

The thick vines withered down to thin little strands after being carried back to the cave. One swipe of a talon and they crumbled to bits.

The giant eagle was puzzled: “(◇)?”

After being tossed out, Mo Lan landed gently on the ground.

She glanced at the surrounding mountains and immediately felt her scalp tingle.

The rocky peaks all around were absolutely covered in giant eagle nests. It was terrifying!

Fortunately, she had been practicing her Invisibility spell more often recently in preparation for venturing deeper into Lone Peak Forest to mine, so she could avoid harassment from flocks of giant eagles. She’d broken through to Beginner level with it.

Now, as long as she didn’t move too fast or break into a run, her Invisibility spell wouldn’t wear off.

Otherwise, today’s task would have been truly troublesome!

Mo Lan walked along slowly, using her Metal Detection spell to scan for underground ores as she went.

Being deep within Lone Peak Forest, most of the underground ores here hadn’t been collected yet, making them much easier to find than at the forest’s edges.

Right away, she found a large cluster of quite fine white crystals—more than enough for crafting crystal potion bottles.

Her Mining Magic extracted the white crystals right through the soil and rock. She shrank them with the Shrinking Spell and tucked them into her satchel.

Then she continued walking slowly, searching for iron ore.

Perhaps the luck spell was doing its work—she hadn’t walked far before she came upon a small cave. After going inside, she found iron ore.

Taking advantage of the cave’s shelter to hide from the giant eagles’ sharp eyes, she refined the magical stove and crystal potion bottle right there inside, completing the task.

Mo Lan looked left and right. “Huh? Where’s the teleportation portal? Headmistress! I’ve finished the task!”

Only then did the teleportation portal appear, seemingly reluctant.

Mo Lan stepped through immediately. Mining wasn’t something she was in a rush to do right now. At the very least, she needed to finish building her shelter first before coming back to stockpile various plant and mineral materials.

Otherwise, if she accidentally encountered danger she couldn’t handle and had to be rescued by the Guardian Headmistress, all her materials would be confiscated as a penalty.

As soon as she teleported back, Mo Lan went to check the Magic Waterbed.

Earlier in class, everyone’s teleportation destinations had been more or less the same, and so was the difficulty.

Vasida and Sylph didn’t know the Invisibility spell—how were they supposed to detect ores under the giant eagles’ sharp watch?

The Magic Waterbed was completely empty. Not a single young witch was there.

Vasida and Sylph were absent too.

Mo Lan breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed their tasks were progressing smoothly enough.

Then she went to check Vasida and Sylph’s monitoring screens, and Mo Lan was baffled. “Why is it so dark?”

Amisha, who heard this, couldn’t help but say, “Their route is the normal one!”

The content of Wilderness Survival Class hadn’t changed in many years.

This particular lesson was meant to have the students fall into sinkholes, discover the underground caves beneath Lone Peak Forest, and search for and collect ores. The purpose was to motivate them to properly learn spells like Featherfall, Metal Detection spell, and Mining Magic, so they wouldn’t be helpless if they ever encountered precious mineral veins in the wilderness.

That was why the teleportation portals had been placed over various sinkholes. To make sure the students obediently went down into the caves, the selected sinkholes were both wide and deep, with plenty of giant eagles in the vicinity. Even the task itself hinted at going underground, since the final requirement was to return safely to the surface.

There were many ways to get out as well. Whether it was finding another sinkhole to exit through, using various magic to assist in climbing out of the original hole, or simply digging a way out—all were acceptable.

But Mo Lan’s series of maneuvers had perfectly bypassed the normal route.

Mo Lan was also quite helpless. “Headmistress, you should have said so earlier!”

That hole was so deep—just looking at it made her uneasy. Of course she’d get out if she had a way to!

Amisha: “…”

Who could have predicted that a course which had never had an anomaly since its inception would have one today, and on her of all people?

“Headmistress, should I redo it?” Mo Lan said. “It hasn’t been that long anyway!”

“No need!” Amisha said. “You’ve already mastered all the skills this lesson was meant to teach. There’s no point in doing it again.”

If she hadn’t already mastered them, she couldn’t have deviated from the normal route and still completed the task so quickly.

“Are you sure there’s nothing from this lesson that I missed learning?” Mo Lan pressed.

“Nothing!” Amisha said with certainty.

“Then I’ll head out first! I’ll copy the review video for this lesson next time we have Wilderness Survival Class,” Mo Lan said. “If I leave now, I can still make it back in time for lunch!”

“Go on, go on!” Amisha waved her hand dismissively.

Mo Lan retrieved her broomstick and flew to Breadfruit Grove to pick some Breadfruit. Back at the Dormitory, she turned all the picked Breadfruit into Breadfruit Cake and breadfruit juice, shrank them, and stored them in her satchel as emergency food supplies for the coming week.

This time she was going to enter the Inner Region through Yellow Sands, so she had to prepare food in advance.

Finally, she picked fresh vegetables, took some meat from the refrigerator, and made herself a hearty lunch.

After lunch, Mo Lan flew off toward the northeast.

Senior Lilith lived in the mountain forest on the outer edge of the boundary between Yellow Sands and Green Marsh, so Mo Lan chose to enter Yellow Sands from the side closer to Green Marsh.