Chapter 293 – Cave Dwelling

Picking all that edelweiss had cost her some time. By the time she actually set off toward the Greengrass Plains, it was already two in the afternoon on Monday.

That was considerably later than her originally planned return time.

Mo Lan stuffed two slices of Breadfruit Cake into her mouth, then hurried toward the core area.

She had originally planned to make it to the underground burrow she’d dug in the Greengrass Plains last time to spend the night, but while she was still far away, the sky was already beginning to darken.

She had no choice but to land early and dig a new burrow.

The next day, she continued flying at full speed.

All three meals were solved with Breadfruit Cake to save time, but she still couldn’t fly past the Hedge Wall before nightfall.

She’d missed it by just the slightest margin.

Wednesday morning, Mo Lan woke up early and peered outside through the wire mesh of the ventilation hole.

The moment the lightning elemental force in the sky receded — before the rain had even stopped — she immediately set off.

It was only at this point that she realized the lightning elemental force over the Greengrass Plains dissipated before dawn, while the rain itself didn’t stop until the sky was fully bright.

But by now, she had no mental bandwidth for idle thoughts. She pushed her broom to its absolute limit.

Wilderness Survival Class started at seven in the morning. She was on the verge of being late.

*

“There’s only five minutes until class starts.” Sylph glanced at her watch. “Moira still isn’t back.”

“Could she have gotten held up in the Inner Region?” Vasida looked worriedly toward the Yellow Sands. “Hm? There’s someone flying this way!”

The young witches strained to make out the figure. As it flew closer, it was clearly someone in purple robes.

“It’s Lady Amisha,” Vasida said, disappointed.

“Honestly, Moira can already survive safely in the Inner Region for a whole week. Does she even need this Wilderness Survival Class?” Sylph said.

“That’s true… If she can’t make it back, she could just have the Guardian Headmistress pass word to Lady Amisha.”

Thinking this, Vasida relaxed.

After the purple-robed Amisha landed, she followed the usual routine — summoning the Guardian Headmistresses and taking out the recording device.

“Is everyone here… Hm? Where’s Moira?”

“Almost here.” No sooner had Guardian Headmistress No. 69 finished speaking than a purple-haired young witch came bursting out of the Hedge Wall beside the grass field, loaded down with bundles.

“It’s Moira!” Vasida and Sylph breathed a sigh of relief.

Mo Lan landed in the open spot beside Vasida and Sylph. “Am I late?”

“No, just in time!” Sylph held out her wrist to show her — it was exactly seven o’clock.

“How did you come back from that direction? Don’t tell me you crossed half the Inner Region?” Vasida whispered.

Before Mo Lan could answer, Lady Amisha silenced them with a look.

“Alright, since everyone’s here, let’s begin.

Moira, Vasida, Sylph — you three already completed the task of collecting minerals and crafting items in the previous lesson.

By now, you’ve essentially mastered finding and gathering survival resources in the wild, as well as methods for protecting against and dealing with wilderness dangers.

Starting from this lesson, you can begin learning about selecting and building wilderness shelters.

Your class format will be slightly adjusted. The specifics of what to do will be explained to you by your Guardian Headmistress shortly.

As for the rest of you, your task for this lesson remains collecting minerals and crafting magical items.

Now, all young witches — enter the portal!”

Lady Amisha’s opening was swift as always. The moment she finished speaking, the portal opened.

Mo Lan didn’t even have time to set down her overstuffed, somewhat cumbersome satchel before she was pushed into the portal.

As soon as the teleportation ended, Mo Lan spotted two familiar figures. “Sylph, Vasida! You two are here as well?”

Sylph and Vasida were equally surprised. “We’re doing this lesson together, the three of us?”

“Teleporting you together was simply for ease of supervision, and this lesson’s location happens to be the same place.”

The Guardian Headmistress’s voice drifted over.

Originally, No. 103 should have been the one teaching them, but now that they’d progressed ahead of the other young witches, No. 103 still needed to review and commentate on the other witches’ surveillance screens. So it fell to the Guardian Headmistresses present to conduct their lesson instead.

“You’ve all read 《Common Wilderness Terrain Survival Guide》 in advance, correct?”

“Yes!” the three of them answered in unison.

“Good. Let’s start by attempting to build a cave dwelling.

Before you is a small hill. The side facing you is an earthen slope, and the side away from you is a stone cliff face.

Now, using the methods taught in your book, build an earthen cave dwelling on the side facing you, and a stone cave dwelling on the side facing away.

To save time, you may build them at a proportionally reduced scale, but the interior floor space must be no smaller than one square meter.

Try to be as meticulous as possible. If you encounter problems during the process, we’ll provide explanations in real time.

Begin!”

Whichever Guardian Headmistress had assigned the task fell silent after that.

Mo Lan surveyed her surroundings.

The small hill before them stood alone. Across a stretch of grass was a small grove of trees, utterly silent — not a single bird call.

Beside the grove were several large mounds of bare earth, completely devoid of any plant life.

“This place clearly isn’t in the Inner Region,” Mo Lan said. “The vegetation is too uniform, and the environment is too quiet.”

Sylph checked the Academy map.

“You’re right! It shows our location inside an open-air Magic Training Grounds. Judging by the number, it’s one of the previously sealed-off training grounds.”

“So we don’t need to worry about wild beasts suddenly showing up and interrupting our task,” Vasida said.

Mo Lan nodded. “Then let’s each pick a spot and start digging!”

They had all dug burrows in the Greengrass Plains before. Building the simplest kind of cave dwelling shouldn’t be a problem for them.

The three chose spots not far from each other and began digging.

The cave dwelling section of the textbook specifically covered the application of the Earth-Turning Spell and the Rock-Crushing Spell.

After her last return from the Greengrass Plains, Sylph had also started learning earth-element magic. The first spell she’d learned was the Earth-Turning Spell, and she’d already mastered the Rock-Crushing Spell as well.

Mo Lan and Vasida needed no mention — they’d started learning even earlier.

Though it was all digging, a temporary overnight burrow and a proper long-term earthen cave dwelling were quite different.

The latter required much more care and refinement. The interior walls and floor all needed to be tamped down firmly, and proper doors and windows had to be constructed.

However, the Headmistress had allowed them to build at a proportionally reduced scale, which greatly lowered the difficulty.

With a single Earth-Turning Spell, Mo Lan excavated a large cavity in the hillside. Though it could fit at most a small lamb, the space was sufficient for the lesson’s requirements.

Next came the gradual process of tidying up the interior space and tamping down the surfaces — nothing particularly challenging.

Mo Lan crouched inside, sitting in the tiny cave, and began further smoothing out the walls.