Chapter 306 – The Hidden Route

Chapter 306 – The Hidden Route

After the banquet ended, the young witches filed out of the Great Hall one after another.

The procession of six fourth-year and thirty fifth-year young witches was quite large and eye-catching.

The second-year witches walked the new students down the mountain, the third-year witches flew back to the Dormitory, and the fourth-year witches camped out in the small plaza under the pretense of attending a stargazing ceremony.

Mo Lan, meanwhile, led the group behind her flying toward Crescent Moon Lake.

Bertha, a third-year, caught sight of them and said matter-of-factly to Anna and Annie, “The fourth and fifth-year seniors are all heading toward Crescent Moon Lake. Doesn’t that prove going that way is a more convenient route to the Inner Region?”

“It really might be!” Annie said. “We saw Moira come from that direction today too.”

“Then when we explore the Inner Region this year, we can try going that way. Maybe we’ll even find where Moira and the others live!” Anna said.

It had to be said—this was an enormous misunderstanding.

The young witches following behind Mo Lan were not nearly as naive as the fourth-years.

Vasida caught up and asked, “Moira, did you go the wrong way? Why are we heading this direction? Don’t tell me you’ve actually moved.”

“No! You’ll see in a moment.” Mo Lan brought them to the air above the center of Crescent Moon Lake. Once everyone had flown over, she said, “This is the place.”

“Here?” The young witches were all bewildered.

The view above Crescent Moon Lake was wide open—where could there possibly be a path? Let alone a path to the Inner Region!

“It’s not underwater, is it?” Lilith said, looking down at the lake’s surface.

That seemed to be the only possibility.

“That’s right!” Mo Lan said. “Has anyone here learned the Water Shield spell? I need to get an idea of where everyone stands with it.”

“I have,” Lilith said. “But I just reached Beginner level.”

“We have too!” Vasida and Sylph said. “We’re at Apprentice level.”

There were also two other fifth-year witches who specialized in water magic, and their Water Shield spells had reached Beginner level as well.

However, none of them knew the technique for using the Water Shield spell to breathe underwater.

The other young witches hadn’t learned defensive spells outside their specialized branches of magic.

“Good, that’s enough!” Mo Lan said. “I’m going to teach you a little trick for making Water Shield bubbles now. It’s simple and easy to pick up. If you’re at Beginner level, you can make a bubble that envelops your whole body. If you’re at Apprentice level, just make a bubble that covers your head.

As for everyone else, I’ll take you down in batches afterward.”

There was nothing dangerous beneath Moon Lake, so she could sacrifice defensive strength to stretch the Water Shield spell as large as possible to block the water flow and envelop more people.

Her magical control was already sufficient to pull this off.

The young witches murmured among themselves: “Something tells me this route is going to be full of surprises!”

The entrance alone was already this extraordinary—nothing that came after would seem strange by comparison.

But since they’d come this far, they had to at least give it a try!

Those who knew the Water Shield spell followed Mo Lan in learning the technique for crafting Water Shield bubbles.

The other young witches, though they hadn’t formally studied the Water Shield spell, all possessed at least some aptitude for water magic—it just wasn’t very strong, so it had been lower on their learning priorities.

With nothing else to do, they followed along and tried to learn as well.

If any young witch had happened to glance toward Crescent Moon Lake at that moment, she would have seen the witches hovering above the lake, surrounded by the blue glow of water magic.

After Mo Lan finished explaining the Water Shield bubble technique, she took the witches who couldn’t cast the Water Shield spell down into the water first.

She stretched the Water Shield bubble to its maximum size. With everyone standing close together, she could fit five young witches inside at once.

“Let’s go!”

Inside the large bubble, five young witches clustered around Mo Lan as she led them sinking toward the lake bottom. A small steel door opened, and the young witches quickly filed through in single file. When they reached the end of the passage, another small steel door opened, and the view before them suddenly expanded.

Everyone let out exclamations of wonder.

“Heavens! There’s actually this much space down here?”

“This looks like the underground river channels beneath Lone Peak Forest,” Amelia said.

Back when they were third-years, they had all been dropped into the caves of Lone Peak Forest and had seen the river down below.

However, after fourth year, apart from witches who specialized in Alchemy, few witches bothered coming to Lone Peak Forest to mine anymore. After all, there were common ores scattered throughout the mountain forests as well—they just weren’t as densely concentrated.

“That’s right. Seniors, please wait here for now. You can set up camp here and rest for a while—we’ll sleep for a few hours before continuing on. Don’t worry, there’s nothing dangerous here.”

After speaking, Mo Lan dove into the river and was quickly carried along by the current to go fetch the other young witches.

After six round trips, every last young witch was standing on the underground riverbank.

Lilith, Vasida, and the others who knew the Water Shield spell had come in on the final trip, encased in their own Water Shield bubbles, following behind Mo Lan.

Every witch who entered this place marveled at how well-hidden the entrance was.

“Who would have thought there was a route here that runs beneath all of Lone Peak Forest!”

“Now three of the Four Great Hazards in the Inner Region have been solved. Only the Green Marsh is left.”

“Maybe one of these days Moira will discover a way through the Green Marsh too.”

“The design of this passage is really clever! Two doors—when the door on this side opens, the water that flows in when the other door opens gets drained right out.”

“Then why not just use one door?”

“Obviously to prevent too much water from flooding in!”

“There really aren’t any wild beasts around here! I don’t see a single trace of animal droppings!”

“Everyone’s going to sleep well tonight.”

……

The young witches chattered away, and the entire underground river cavern became lively with noise.

Mo Lan found herself surrounded by the young witches as well.

“Moira, how did you discover this passage?”

“Can you really get through all of Lone Peak Forest from here? How long does it take to fly out from here?”

“Do you know where the underground river flows from? If you follow it, could you walk all the way to the Inner Region?”

“Moira, you’re amazing! This passage is so convenient! It’s so well-hidden—I bet no young witch has ever found it before!”

……

Mo Lan basked in the young witches’ praise while patiently answering their questions.

“Finding this place was just a coincidence!”

“You can get through, you can definitely get through. There are quite a few ore deposits in the caves around here too! Anyone who needs some can take advantage of tonight to do a bit of mining. If you’re lucky enough to find magical ore, it might come in very handy!

Though there isn’t much magical ore—ordinary ores, on the other hand, are everywhere.”

“I don’t know where the underground river starts either. Maybe it really does come from the outer region. I’ll go explore it when I have time, but I wouldn’t recommend you seniors go exploring it—if it turns out to be a dead end, it’d be a waste of precious time during the survival trial.”

“Possibly! The Headmistress said this is a hidden route, and she won’t even let me tell any witches below fourth year about it!”