Chapter 270 – Lone Peak Forest

To prepare for her upcoming exploration of the Inner Region, Mo Lan adjusted the order of her magic studies.

After returning to the dormitory, she began reading 《the Prophecy Witch’s Spellbook》.

Her understanding of magic would, to a great extent, also affect her advancement in magic level.

The next morning.

Sylph and Vasida were each in their rooms watching alchemy theory course instructional videos.

The other young witches were also reviewing the video feedback from yesterday’s wilderness survival class, absorbing lessons learned to prepare for their next mission in the Inner Region.

Mo Lan, on the other hand, packed two chicken burgers made from three-tailed chicken and left the dormitory.

Starting today, she planned to move her daily magic practice into the Inner Region.

Practice magic while exploring the Inner Region — two birds with one stone.

Mo Lan flew her broomstick to the Hedge Wall and was about to enter when she heard the Guardian Headmistress say, “I’d advise you not to bring that broomstick in there.”

Mo Lan was thoroughly confused. “During class is one thing, but why can’t I bring a broomstick during free exploration? Don’t tell me the fourth-year seniors living in the Inner Region get around entirely on foot?”

Amisha calmly countered, “Are you sure you want to fly in there? The Inner Region has no shortage of dangerous flying beasts. Without having mapped out a safe route first, if you ride in on a broomstick with zero protection and it gets destroyed — that’s your problem to deal with.”

“…” Mo Lan immediately handed her broomstick over to the border sentinels of the Inner Region — the hedges — for safekeeping.

Between having her broomstick destroyed and leaving it somewhere safe, she’d choose safety every time.

After all, the broomstick currently had nothing on it besides a single invisibility cushion rune array.

If the bristle head got damaged, she had spare grass for replacements. But if the handle broke, she’d have to grow Broomstick Grass all over again.

“Looks like I need to upgrade the broomstick sooner rather than later.”

Mo Lan made a mental note of this.

Soon, light began filtering through from ahead — she was about to pass through the Hedge Wall.

She hurriedly layered three protective spells on herself, plus a luck spell.

Reaching the edge of the Hedge Wall, the view that greeted her was a rocky expanse covered in green grass, dotted with steep stone spires that shot up from the ground.

Trees were surprisingly sparse — only a few short ones could be seen at the tops and bases of the stone peaks.

Mo Lan didn’t rush in recklessly. Instead, she first cast Wind Sensing to scout the area ahead.

Today was nothing like yesterday’s class. If the Guardian Headmistress had to rescue her today, all the beast hides and meat she’d collected yesterday, the plant essences she’d extracted, and the grain stockpiled in her dorm room would all be confiscated.

Once the breeze carried back its findings and she confirmed there were no threats beyond her current ability to handle, Mo Lan continued forward.

Though there were no tall trees ahead, the stone spires stood in dense clusters, far taller and more tightly packed than any forest. Visibility was actually worse than among trees.

Fortunately, large beasts seemed scarce here too, making it somewhat safer than the forest.

As she officially stepped into the Inner Region, a patch of fog on the southern edge of the Academy map’s core area dissipated slightly, revealing the name of this zone.

“Lone Peak Forest?” Mo Lan read the name aloud. “Rather fitting.”

With so much stone around, she wondered if the mineral deposits were rich.

Mo Lan used her Gold Detection spell to probe the underground conditions.

“There actually are some!” Mo Lan detected traces of crystal ore.

But it was only low-quality white crystal, riddled with impurities and extremely sparse — not worth collecting.

In some places, she could even see broken edges where someone had apparently used mining magic to harvest before.

“That makes sense. This area is right by the Hedge Wall and close to the dormitory district. Previous generations of young witches must have chosen this as their starting point for exploring the Inner Region.

Gold magic aptitude isn’t particularly rare either. If there were decent deposits, they’d have been mined out long ago. Especially widely-used crystal ore.

But a place this vast can’t have been completely picked clean!”

Mo Lan decided to venture deeper.

If she could collect some decent mineral materials, she could use them for alchemy. Magic items crafted this way could be carried on her person and put to use in the Inner Region without having to be surrendered to the Academy.

Unfortunately, the soil here was thin over the grasslands — unsuitable for planting. Otherwise, this would have made a fairly safe place to settle.

After all, there were no large beasts around, it was close to the core area, and the underground water supply was quite abundant.

Scouting with Wind Sensing as she walked, she passed one stone spire only to find another equally steep one ahead. They all looked more or less the same.

Mo Lan glanced back and could no longer see the Hedge Wall.

Though she remembered every twist and turn of the route she’d taken and had the map for reference, if she kept going like this, she couldn’t guarantee she wouldn’t get turned around eventually.

After a moment’s thought, she picked one of the taller stone peaks in the Lone Peak Forest. Taking a tree vine seed she’d collected yesterday in the forest as a casting material, she used Vine Sorcery to weave a vine ladder and began climbing up.

About two-thirds of the way up, Mo Lan sensed trouble — she spotted a giant eagle circling not far away!

And it had spotted her too!

It was flying toward her at alarming speed.

An eagle the size of a small house!

Mo Lan immediately cast Gold Shield — her strongest defensive spell — shielding her head and torso.

A flash of golden light, and sparks flew as the giant eagle’s talons scraped across the shield.

Blocked.

Immediately after, she sent an Air Blade slicing toward the eagle’s talons.

The spatial blade was thin, but severing one of the giant eagle’s toes was effortless.

The eagle instinctively shot skyward from the pain, giving Mo Lan a brief moment to breathe.

She quickly slid down the vine ladder and dropped to the ground.

The ground was her domain.

Once she landed, she swiftly launched a Fire Arrow at the giant eagle shrieking and circling overhead.

Fire Arrow’s piercing damage wasn’t as high as Gold Arrow, and its magic level was lower too, but the fire elemental force dealt bonus damage to the giant eagle.

In 《The Valen Complete Travel Guide》, Lady Traci had encountered this species of giant eagle.

Of course, what the Book Witch had actually noted was that this eagle’s feathers were more flammable than fuel oil, and the rendered fat burned longer than candles.

Though Fire Arrow’s flames weren’t true natural fire and didn’t spread much, it was still plenty troublesome for the eagle.

It scorched a face-sized patch of charred black on the eagle’s belly.

Just enough to enrage it without being severe enough to make it flee in fear.

When it dove toward the ground again, intent on knocking her flat and pecking through her skull, Mo Lan hurled a massive ball of fire at it.

This time it wasn’t the non-spreading fire elemental force — it was genuine natural fire created by the Flame spell, the kind that would spread on its own as long as it had something combustible to feed on.

In an instant, the giant eagle became a fire eagle, shrieking in agony as it slammed itself against the rock walls again and again, trying to extinguish the flames — all in vain.

When it tried to dive at Mo Lan in a desperate bid for revenge, it found that the person on the ground had vanished. In her place was a large, boxy mound of earth.

It crashed into it with all its might, but couldn’t do any real damage.