Chapter 307 – Everyone in Shock

Chapter 307 – Everyone in Shock

“It’s almost midnight—please leave the core region!”

The young witches had been chatting happily when Lady Amisha’s voice suddenly rang out.

They had originally planned to camp right there, and Mo Lan had already taken out her tent.

“Oh right! Before we set out, the Guardian Chief reminded me that tonight, no one is allowed to stay anywhere except the small plaza outside the east gate,” Vasida said.

“For us, we’re not allowed to stay anywhere in the core region at all,” Lilith said.

“This place is beneath Crescent Moon Lake, so it does count as the core region.” Sylph showed everyone the Academy map.

Mo Lan could only pack up her tent. “Then let’s fly a bit farther ahead. We just need to pass through the Hedge Wall—it’s not far from here.”

“Moira, you lead the way, and we’ll follow you!” Amelia said.

The group of young witches set off once more.

“We’re here! Once we pass through, we can set up camp!” Mo Lan called back to them.

The young witches were stunned again.

“This is the Hedge Wall?”

“Those must be the roots of those trees! They’ve grown this deep, even pushing through such hard rock.”

“I’m so curious—what kind of trees are the ones in the Hedge Wall? They make way for people, keep out wild beasts, and have such an extensive root system!”

“You’re overthinking it. These aren’t trees at all. I read in 《History of the Witch Academy’s Founding》 that the Hedge Wall is actually something similar to a defensive magic formation—it’s an otherworldly formation called the Forest Array. The trees are just the formation’s outward appearance!”

…

The tree roots, just like the hedge above, parted to let the young witches through.

They set up camp directly on both banks of the river channel on the other side of the Hedge Wall.

Six hours later, the young witches began waking up one by one.

“Lilith, how did you sleep last night?” Mo Lan asked.

Lilith stretched lazily. “Better than any time I’ve ever slept outdoors!”

Every other time she had camped outside, either the wind was bothersome, or wild beasts were a nuisance—sometimes both at once. But last night had been perfectly quiet, with no disturbances whatsoever.

She felt fully refreshed and ready to handle the journey ahead.

“Hehe~” Amelia suddenly burst out laughing.

“It’s first thing in the morning—you open your eyes and you’re already laughing. What’s the good news?” Lilith asked her.

Renée poked her head out of a nearby sleeping bag and spilled the secret. “She found a magic mineral last night!”

Mo Lan hadn’t explored the caves in this area in depth before. After hearing about her mining experience, quite a few young witches had gone to dig around in the mine tunnels out of curiosity before bed last night.

However, most of them had only found some ordinary ore before heading back to sleep.

Only Amelia had been lucky enough to come across a magic mineral.

“What kind? Hurry, let us see!” Lilith said eagerly.

Amelia pulled out what she had been cradling and said with a beaming smile, “I can use this to make a small-range charging alert magic circle.”

“What a huge green crystal!” Lilith estimated it was about the size of a bowl’s rim. She suddenly felt a pang of regret for not going prospecting last night and just going straight to sleep instead.

If she could have an alert magic circle, sleeping outdoors in the outer region would feel so much safer.

Unfortunately, there was no time now to continue mining in the Inner Region.

Vasida and Sylph silently resolved that they would definitely come to mine near the underground river later, stocking up on magical items they could use next year.

Cheryl and her group didn’t have much talent for Alchemy Magic, so they asked Mo Lan and the other two Sorceresses whether they could help craft magical items once materials were found.

Mo Lan and the others naturally had no reason to refuse—every time they crafted magical items, it helped improve their own Alchemy Magic.

After eating some Breadfruit Cake, they set off again.

This time they flew for quite a while. After some unknown amount of time, Lilith—who had the best eyesight—suddenly spotted a cave in the distance glittering with the light of gems in every color. She exclaimed excitedly:

“Oh my! There are so many gems over there! It must be a huge gem deposit—there might even be magic gems hidden in the rock layers!”

With that, she excitedly sped up and flew toward it.

The other young witches weren’t about to be left behind.

Mo Lan hastily called out to stop them. “Hey! Don’t mine those! I put them there on purpose!”

Outside the cave, Lilith—who already had Mining Magic at the ready—froze. “???”

“Moira, what did you say? You put them there on purpose?” Vasida pulled up on her broomstick, confused.

“Yes. There used to be a gem deposit in this cave, and I even found magic gems in it, but I’ve already mined it clean—I took every last ordinary gem too. What you’re seeing now is literally every gem from this entire area,” Mo Lan explained. “I embedded them here as markers so I wouldn’t miss the exit.”

“Markers? You used this many gems as markers? That’s absurdly extravagant!” Vasida was looking at her with an expression that had gone distinctly strange.

She herself wore beast-hide clothing, and the only adornment on her entire body was a single beast-fang necklace!

The other young witches all nodded in agreement. “That really is too extravagant!”

Some of them had grown Treasure Persimmons and had only gotten a few small, ordinary gems to make jewelry or decorate their clothes.

Even ordinary gems were hardly common things in their eyes.

“No, wait—shouldn’t the important point be that we’ve reached the exit?” Mo Lan said helplessly.

They had been asking her how much farther it was the entire way, yet now that they had actually arrived, all they could see were the gems.

“If you like them, I have plenty more in my storage room at home. Take as many as you want.”

After all, she kept all the magic minerals locked away in the treasure chest in her study. The underground storage room only held ordinary ores that she didn’t really have use for anymore. They were just taking up space—better to give them away.

“Really?” The young witches’ glowing eyes finally shifted away from the ring of gems around the cave entrance.

“Of course.” Mo Lan entered the cave first. “Follow me!”

She led the young witches through the winding, twisting tunnels.

“The arrows along the way are all made of crystal!”

“It seems Moira really did find quite a lot of good stuff. She’s using crystals of this quality just as markers.”

…

“We’re here!” Mo Lan stopped before a stone wall.

“Here where? Isn’t it a dead end up ahead?” Vasida asked, puzzled.

“Watch this.” Mo Lan stepped forward and knocked four times on a protrusion in the stone wall—three short, one long.

“Something inside the wall is moving!”

“It sounds like metal.”

“Oh my goodness! It’s opening!”

The young witches watched in astonishment as the stone wall before them lifted upward, revealing a doorway.

Mo Lan’s Wand showed no glow of energy whatsoever—she hadn’t cast any spell. The stone wall had risen on its own.

“What’s going on? How did it move by itself?”

“Is it some kind of Alchemy Magic circle?”

Mo Lan shook her head. “This isn’t magic. It’s a mechanical door.”