Chapter 265 – What Are You All Doing?

“Mo Lan was the first to complete her task. Her performance this time was nothing short of perfect — this is exactly the advantage of having abundant magic reserves.

“So even if your talent only stands out in certain schools of magic, don’t forget to dabble in the magic of other schools when you get the chance.

“Learning magic is easy — the hard part is mastering it.

“But even a rough grasp of certain spells can sometimes produce unexpectedly useful results.

“No single spell can be completely replaced by another.

“The spells Mo Lan used this time are worth studying. They’re all tremendously helpful for wilderness survival…”

The moment Mo Lan stepped out of the portal, she saw Lady Amisha in her purple robes, seated beside a recording device, watching the light screen while offering commentary.

“…Mo Lan, you’ve completed today’s lesson task. However, the recording won’t be finished until after class ends. You can come back later, or stay here and watch the other young witches’ tasks, then copy everything together when class is over.”

Amisha spared a moment to tell her this.

Mo Lan nodded in acknowledgment. “I’ll wait here until class ends!”

This stretch of lawn was spacious enough, with plenty of room nearby for her to take out her prey and process it properly.

Taking it back to the Dormitory to deal with would actually be less convenient.

Besides, the monitoring light screen was perfect entertainment while she worked!

As Mo Lan walked past Lady Amisha in her purple robes, she spotted the twenty-seven Guardian Headmistresses seated behind her.

They were all staring at the large light screen, each watching the smaller screen belonging to the young witch under their care.

But in the middle of the Guardian Headmistresses’ seats sat a large Magic Waterbed, upon which over a dozen young witches lay in neat rows. Vasida and Sylph were among them.

Mo Lan couldn’t help but stop and ask, “What are you all doing? Are you healing or reading?”

It wasn’t that Mo Lan was making a fuss — it was that their Grimoires were all floating above their heads. They didn’t look like they were recovering from injuries at all; it looked more like they were studying.

“Congratulations, Moira! You finished so fast. I’m readingerta《Book of Beasts》, trying to figure out how to safely escape from that swarm of giant ants.”

Vasida had watched Mo Lan’s performance against the wild boar herd on the light screen and felt thoroughly outclassed.

If only she had been as careful and cautious as Mo Lan when she first discovered the giant ant colony, she wouldn’t have been swarmed, paralyzed by ant venom, and forced to call her Guardian Headmistress for rescue.

The key issue was that the Headmistress had said she needed to heal before going back in — and she’d re-enter at the same spot she’d come out. So her only option was to read up and think of a plan.

“I’m readingerta《Healing Witch Spellbook》,” said Sylph. “I was injured by an incredibly fast gold-striped leopard. Bark Skin blocked its claws, but not its charge, so I suffered serious internal injuries. The healing spell couldn’t fix them, and without magical plants to brew potions, I had no choice but to come out for treatment.”

Before this, she had thought that between her healing spell and rapid healing, she was covered for the time being, so she hadn’t paid much attention to healing magic.

Now she realized that the healing spell and rapid healing couldn’t treat all injuries — internal injuries, at least, were beyond their reach.

The other young witches were in similar situations.

Some had been poisoned by plant toxins and were now frantically studying theerta《Encyclopedia of Magical Flora of the Continent of Valen》.

Others had been beaten out of the forest by wild beasts and were cramming various spellbooks.

There were even some who had gone in with absolutely no idea how to find water, wandered aimlessly, fallen off a hillside, and were now reading erta《Common Wilderness Terrain Survival Guide》to hastily learn outdoor survival skills.

…

Every single one of them was reading with a specific purpose in mind — no wonder they were so diligent, studying even while lying on the waterbed receiving treatment.

They’d run into problems in the forest, and now they were cramming at the last minute?

But whether they learned early or late didn’t matter — as long as they gained the knowledge in the end.

Strictly speaking, their lesson for the day wasn’t over yet. Once their injuries healed, they’d have to return to the Inner Region and continue completing today’s task.

So Mo Lan didn’t disturb them further. She patted the snake at her waist and the heavy bundle on her back. “Well then, carry on — I’ll go process my prey over there!”

“Mm!” The young witches gave ready verbal agreement, but their eyes couldn’t help drifting toward her.

They watched as she went to the open space beside them. With a whoosh, she flung out a headless giant snake, then a massive black-haired wild boar, four three-tailed chickens, and finally a large gold-striped leopard hide.

Before long, the prey had piled up into a small mountain.

The recovering young witches hadn’t seen Mo Lan’s full task on the projection screen, but right now, this heap of prey was far more impressive than anything on the light screen.

When they saw Mo Lan deploy her mobile kitchen, pull out her butchering tools, and throw herself enthusiastically into processing her prey — face alight with an excited, anticipatory smile at the prospect of food — the young witches silently felt their hearts ache.

For them, the forest was a place of repeated setbacks where they had to frantically study just to find a way through. But for Mo Lan, it seemed more like… the Ingredient Collection Station?

She’d gone in, hauled out several enormous loads of meat, and was now happily preparing to cook.

“Is the gap between witches and Sorceresses really this big?” Cheryl murmured.

Vasida, lying beside her, heard the comment and corrected her: “The gap between Sorceresses can be just as big.”

They were both Sorceresses, yet she and Sylph were lying on the waterbed right alongside the young witches.

Clearly, this wasn’t about the difference between Sorceresses and witches — it was the difference between Mo Lan and everyone else!

Mo Lan was oblivious to the young witches’ discussion. She was thoroughly absorbed in processing her enormous haul of prey.

The holly snake skin needed to be carefully peeled off. Its texture was fine, soft, and breathable — an excellent material for making clothes.

Now that the Academy no longer provided fabric, and they had to venture into the Academy’s Inner Region frequently, the rate of clothing wear and tear had increased dramatically. Saving quality hides to make clothing was a sound choice.

After the skin came the holly snake blood, which Mo Lan also collected with great care.

This blood could be used to make ink. There was a type of beast-blood ink made by adding certain plant and mineral ingredients to beast blood.

Writing done with beast-blood ink wouldn’t bleed when exposed to water.

Last came the snake meat.

There was far too much snake meat to eat, of course.

With her appetite, she couldn’t even finish one percent of it in a single meal.

Originally, she had planned to use Flash Freeze to keep it frozen and eat it gradually. But now that she’d discovered she could hunt in the outer region without any difficulty, she certainly wouldn’t lack for meat in the future.

Frozen meat no longer held much appeal for Mo Lan.

Even holly snake meat was the same.

If she wanted some later, she could go hunt in the outer region anytime — no need to stockpile.

And if she wanted to make smoked or dried meat, three-tailed chicken and black-haired wild boar were better suited for that anyway.

With that in mind, Mo Lan decided the best course of action was to cook all the snake meat at once.

She’d only ever seen the recipe for holly snake soup, but there were plenty of other ways to prepare snake meat!

She’d treat it as Culinary Magic practice.

And she didn’t need to worry about not being able to finish it all — there were plenty of Headmistresses here, after all!