Chapter 305 – The Heartbroken Seniors

“Go ahead then — I don’t believe you can build a beautiful dwelling in just a few days!” Vasida said confidently.

“Just you wait! I’ll absolutely blow you all away!” Mo Lan was even more confident. “Oh right, and there’s Lilith and the other seniors. Let me go ask about their arrangements for this year.”

At the long table nearby, the fifth-year young witches were all eating with abandon. This was probably their last banquet.

Mo Lan walked over to Lilith. “Senior, has your academic year plan come out yet?”

“It came out at noon today.” At this, Lilith — and all the fifth-year young witches — wore expressions of utter heartbreak. “Around noon today, most of us were still on our way to the core region when we received notice that our residences had already been reset. Aside from what we were carrying on us, everything else was gone.”

“We thought the reset wouldn’t happen until after we attended the enrollment ceremony and went back! So many of us didn’t know about this — so many things left behind! Remember next year to carry all your important things with you before coming to the enrollment ceremony!”

She regretted it immensely — why hadn’t she thought to ask the fifth-year seniors during the previous enrollment ceremony?

And the Vampire Vine! So that was why it had seemed to change its temperament, clinging to her before she left and insisting on signing a magical familiar contract with her! It had known she might never come back.

“Oh, and one more thing — we can only tell you about this when you ask us yourself. The same goes for you — you can’t bring it up to other young witches on your own!” Lilith said.

“The Academy really does dig pitfalls everywhere!” Mo Lan thought about it — if next year at this time her intermediate defensive magic formation and the four low-level concealment magic formation stones were reset along with her residence, she would truly regret it to death.

“So when does your survival trial start, senior?”

“We need to enter the hedgerow between the Inner Region and the outer region within one week to begin the fifth-year survival trial,” Lilith said.

“Within one week? Then where will you stay these next few days?” Mo Lan asked. “Is that enough time?”

“Anywhere is fine. After spending so long in the Inner Region, you learn that as long as you use magic well, ordinary wild beasts pose basically no threat to us,” Lilith said. “This period is mainly for us to prepare transitional supplies and then head to the outer region.”

“Unfortunately, the Academy won’t let us pick Breadfruit for supplies anymore, so in these seven days, we have to travel and prepare supplies at the same time. We probably won’t be able to bring much to the outer region in the end.”

Amelia, sitting next to Lilith, added: “That’s right! The Headmistress won’t even let us stay in the core region tonight. But the Greengrass Plains has thunderstorms, the Green Marsh has giant venomous mosquitoes, and the Yellow Sands are unlucky tonight too — Lilith’s forecast shows a massive sandstorm lasting ten hours. Our only option is to brave Lone Peak Forest.”

“We’re not the rookies we were a year ago,” Quilin said. “Lone Peak Forest it is. With thirty young witches, are we really afraid we can’t beat some giant eagles? Besides, we’ve got nothing left to be penalized for anyway.”

“Right! Let’s do it! Eat up now — we’ll have a busy night ahead!” Renée said.

Hearing this, Mo Lan couldn’t help speaking up. “Um, seniors — would you like to come with me later? I’ve discovered another very safe and short route that leads directly to the inner mountain forest area.”

After all, Lady Amisha had only said she couldn’t reveal this hidden route to lower-year young witches.

Fourth and fifth-years weren’t included in that restriction.

It would be nice to invite more young witches along. She had painstakingly built such a marvelous dwelling, spending considerable effort, only to have just one year to live in it.

If she brought all the fifth-year seniors along, more people would get to see her dwelling before it was reset!

Sharing happiness doubles the happiness, after all!

“Another?” Amelia asked in surprise. “Moira, just how many routes have you discovered? It sounds like you have quite a few!”

“There was another one through the Greengrass Plains before. The method for digging tunnels to hide from the Night of Thunder has been updated in the book about the Purple Night Grasslands,” Mo Lan said.

“The Greengrass Plains!” Amelia shook her head. “Going that way would waste a whole night — no good, no good! What about the other one?”

“I’ll keep that one secret for now. But I promise it’s absolutely walkable at night, and there are barely any wild beasts along the way,” Mo Lan said.

“Alright then, I’ll follow you later!” Lilith said.

The other fifth-year young witches chimed in: “Us too.”

They had originally rushed all the way from the outer region to the Castle for the enrollment ceremony and were already exhausted from the journey. If they went to Lone Peak Forest, they would hardly get any rest tonight.

The route Mo Lan mentioned seemed like the best option available.

Having invited the seniors, Mo Lan naturally wouldn’t leave out the young witches of her own year.

However, most of the young witches had chosen to live in the mountain forests outside the Yellow Sands. Many had picked the seniors’ former residences and were waiting for those to reset before building their own dwellings, so they were still in the material-gathering stage.

Following Mo Lan would actually be a longer detour for them.

In the end, only Cheryl — who had secured a livable spot near the mountain forests outside the Greengrass Plains — along with Iris and Alba — who hadn’t managed to claim any senior’s residence and were already living in the central part of the mountain forest area outside Lone Peak Forest — decided to go with Mo Lan.

All three of them had already finished building their dwellings, and the distance going back via the Greengrass Plains side was about the same as going through the Yellow Sands.

For Cheryl, this route was actually even shorter.

The three of them were especially delighted. “This is wonderful! We thought that with the sandstorm in the Yellow Sands today and the Greengrass Plains being impassable at night, even though our dwellings were built, we’d have to attend the astromancy ceremony and sleep on the stone bricks in the little plaza!”

The other young witches: “…”

They regretted choosing residences in the mountain forests outside the Yellow Sands! Unfortunately, they hadn’t explored the mountain forests in other areas much, and it was too late to relocate now.

With that settled, Mo Lan went back to her own seat to eat.

Without relying on the Book of Cards — just foraging in the mountain forests and growing things in their vegetable plots — it would be hard to find ingredients as rich and dishes as varied as those at the banquet.

Every bite was a treasure!

But stomachs had their limits, and they couldn’t eat that much between them.

Mo Lan could only take small portions of each dish to sample as many as possible.

At times like these, the young witches envied Vasida’s appetite. Only she could store food energy in her Devouring Stomach, maintaining a steady and rapid eating pace all the way until the banquet ended.

She even kept the Devouring Stomach sitting right on the table, eating with two mouths at once — herself and the stomach — stunning all the new students who were curious about Sorceresses.

“Don’t let Vasida’s appearance fool you — her Sorceress Magic is truly incredible! She even has physical capabilities comparable to a Dragon! If we learn her magic or buy her cards, we can not only recover magical power faster by eating, but also enhance our physical abilities through eating!”

The second-year young witches explained to the new students.

This year, it was their turn to guide the newcomers.