Chapter 284 – The Long-Armed Apes

Chapter 284 – The Long-Armed Apes

The long-armed apes weren’t as clever as the white-furred great ape, but through the latter’s prolonged teaching and training, they had already gained some experience in seeking advantage and avoiding harm.

When Mo Lan looked down at them, they shifted from cursing and swearing to huddling together and debating countermeasures.

But as the leader of this troop, where had the white-furred great ape gone?

Mo Lan continued using the Origin-Tracing Spell to investigate the past experiences of the remaining long-armed apes.

From a prime-aged ape, she obtained a vision of the white-furred great ape leading a group of apes, carrying a batch of freshly picked large peaches, and entering a dense wall of trees.

This prime-aged ape had been one of those helping to carry peaches, so it had witnessed that scene.

Mo Lan couldn’t have been more familiar with that wall of trees! Wasn’t that the Hedge Wall? The boundary between the core region and the Inner Region—the Hedge Wall!

But the place the white-furred great ape had gone was clearly not the boundary between the Inner Region and the core region. This was obviously a mountainous, forested area belonging to the beast forest of the Inner Region, still separated from the core region by the Four Great Hazards. Beasts couldn’t pass through the Hedge Wall to reach the core region either.

Then there was only one answer: that was the Hedge Wall leading to the outer region! The outer region where magical beasts roamed!

That was definitely not a place she could set foot in right now! Mo Lan memorized the location and direction of the Hedge Wall shown in the images fed back by the Origin-Tracing Spell.

The long-armed apes were all bowing and cupping their fists toward her, offering up freshly picked peaches and a small barrel of fruit wine, crying out plaintively and begging her to release their companions.

She used only the Levitation Spell to float the small barrel of fruit wine over and accepted it, then released three of the bound monkeys, letting them return to the troop.

The troop screeched in confusion, not understanding why she had only released three monkeys.

Mo Lan controlled a branch to crack sharply through the air, startling them into silence. Then she used a water mirror spell to display images of belladonna, daisy flowers, and Liquid Grass for the apes to see.

The Beginner-level water mirror spell could already serve as a simple projection technique.

Even the not-so-clever long-armed apes understood what she meant.

The apes huddled together to discuss for a while, left a few behind to watch her, and the rest plunged into the forest to go find the materials for her.

When Mo Lan had used the Origin-Tracing Spell to investigate the apes’ past experiences, she had already seen traces of these three types of magical plants.

They hadn’t brought broomsticks in with them, class time was only ten hours, and the range they could explore was limited. But the Headmistress obviously wouldn’t assign an impossible task—these three magical plants were certainly available in the vicinity of where they had been teleported in. It would just take some effort to find them.

Originally, she would have needed to search based on the preferred environments of these three plants, or find century-old trees and use Tree Friend to ask for directions, or use a luck spell to try her fortune, or use Heart Speech to ask the wild beasts.

Now, with a single Origin-Tracing Spell, she had put this entire troop of apes to use, sending them off to find materials as ransom.

She hadn’t learned Psychic Magic yet, so she couldn’t use Heart Speech—so what? She could still make the monkeys obey.

Half an hour later, the apes returned with the materials she needed.

Only after Mo Lan had collected all the materials did she release the remaining apes.

The moment the apes rescued their companions, they bowed to her and fled in haste, not daring to displease her again.

Through the Origin-Tracing Spell, Mo Lan also understood the habits of these apes—they absolutely would not dare to offend her again.

This Tall Peach Tree Grove was this troop of monkeys’ territory. With them keeping their distance, there naturally wouldn’t be any other dangers. Mo Lan decided to simply process the materials right where she was.

She first refined everything into plant essences and sorted them into separate containers, then used the belladonna essence, daisy pistil essence, and Liquid Grass juice essence to brew a recovery potion.

The moment the recovery potion was successfully brewed, a teleportation portal appeared beside Mo Lan.

“I’m not going back yet!” Mo Lan said.

From the images of what the apes had experienced over the past day, she had seen Senior Quilin’s dwelling, just outside this peach grove.

Although locations explored during class wouldn’t show up on the map, she could ask Senior Quilin where exactly this was in the Inner Region!

Besides, she had completed today’s task with incredible ease—it had only been one hour since class started!

When she refused to go back, the teleportation portal vanished.

Mo Lan headed in the direction she had traced to Senior Quilin’s dwelling.

When the other young witches had entered the Inner Region, they too had all been teleported right next to wild beasts. Before they could even steady themselves, they were under attack.

Although none of the beasts were particularly powerful, they still caused the girls no small amount of trouble.

Some young witches who hadn’t prepared well were seriously injured on the spot and ended up lying on Magic Waterbeds.

Their injuries hadn’t even healed yet when they saw on Mo Lan’s monitoring screen that monkeys were delivering armfuls of potion ingredients to her, and she had successfully brewed a recovery potion in no time at all.

A little while later, a few newly rescued and wounded young witches had taken their places on the Magic Waterbeds. Meanwhile, Mo Lan was already sitting on the swing in front of Senior Quilin’s house, eating a fruit platter and desserts the senior had prepared, chatting away with her.

When Iris saw this scene, she was practically green with envy:

“We’re out there fighting beasts tooth and nail, and Moira’s gone off to attend a tea party at the senior’s place? Waah! Senior Quilin! I haven’t seen her in so long!”

Ever since the Ingredient Collection Station had stopped providing them with meat, her study of meat-based Culinary Magic had hit a wall.

She couldn’t even guarantee meat for three meals a day anymore, let alone research and study meat-based culinary techniques.

Her quality of life had plummeted. Having originally not placed much importance on learning combat-type magic, she had no choice but to cram at the last minute in order to obtain the meat ingredients she wanted.

But learning magic wasn’t something that could be accomplished overnight. As a result, every Wilderness Survival Class left her the most battered, and she spent more time lying on the Magic Waterbed than anyone else.

Now, seeing Senior Quilin—who also specialized in Culinary Magic—thriving in the Inner Region, with a dwelling built even nicer than the Dormitory, Iris was filled with regret. During second year, she hadn’t listened to the senior’s advice to set aside her beloved Culinary Magic for a while and develop her equally talented fire-element magic first. Now she was in a sorry state whenever she had to fight a wild beast.

After class ended, Iris was the first to find Mo Lan and ask about Senior Quilin’s location.

“Due east of Yellow Sands, near the Tall Peach Tree Grove close to the boundary between the Inner Region and the outer region,” Mo Lan said.

This time, she had learned quite a bit from Senior Quilin about where various seniors lived.

Most seniors had chosen to establish their dwellings in the mountain forests near Yellow Sands, since the flight route over Yellow Sands was the one they traveled most frequently.

Although the Academy regularly drove new beasts from the outer region into the Inner Region, the mountain forests in this area were safer because witches often lived there.

Iris didn’t know about Yellow Sands yet, but she committed the name to memory.

Once her wind-element magic was strong enough to handle the beasts of the Inner Region, she would go explore the Inner Region and find Senior Quilin.

From now on, she would dutifully follow the senior’s advice and prepare in advance!