Chapter 337 – Fifth Academic Year

Vasida and Sylph suddenly recalled that when they were first-years trying to find fifth-year seniors to promote magic to, those seniors had indeed been in the middle of exams.

“Did she say specifically what the exam covers?” Vasida asked.

Mo Lan didn’t even need to think before reciting the rest of the announcement from memory:

“The survival trial ends one week before Independence Day, at which point all young witches will be directly teleported back to Academy castle. After three days of rest, a three-day graduation exam will commence.

The exam content primarily covers foundational knowledge in areas such as daily life, survival, history, mathematics, and more.

Those who achieve outstanding results on the graduation exam will receive Magic Gold Coin rewards.

The graduation ceremony will be held the day after the graduation exam, on Independence Day itself. After the graduation ceremony concludes, all fifth-year young witches will officially leave the school.

[Attached: Graduation Exam Reference Reading List]

《Continent of Valen》(complete collection),《The Complete Encyclopedia of the Wilds》,《The Valen Complete Travel Guide》,《Valen Common Language》,《Valen Magical Plants Illustrated Encyclopedia》,《Valen Magical Beasts Illustrated Encyclopedia》…”

“That many?” Vasida listened as the reading list went on and on without end:

“Is the Headmistress serious? Is this really a graduation exam that normal young witches can pass? I haven’t even finished reading many of these books once! How are we supposed to study in the survival trial environment?!”

Mo Lan said: “Don’t worry, it’s an open-book exam. If you don’t pass, the only consequence is being awarded a set of 《The Complete Common Knowledge Workbook》. You just can’t leave the Wilds until you finish the workbook. Those are the exact words from the announcement.”

“A workbook… Moira, this wasn’t your idea again, was it?!” Vasida accused.

The other young witches all turned to look at Mo Lan as well — after all, both the exam and the workbook ideas had originally come from her!

They hadn’t taken an exam or done a workbook in over a year.

They had thought they’d escaped exams and workbooks for good in this lifetime! Who would have thought there’d be one more round right before graduation.

It was already open-book, yet there was still a workbook as a “reward” — that alone showed just how difficult this exam must be! It was enough to make one’s scalp tingle even more than the survival trial.

Mo Lan immediately declared her innocence:

“I promise, the graduation exam is entirely Lady Amisha’s personal creation. At most, I only provided some technical guidance… Actually, taking an exam isn’t a bad thing. It can help everyone review basic common knowledge. After fourth year, everyone focused more on studying magic, and you’ve probably almost forgotten all the theoretical knowledge you learned before. Leaving the Wilds like that would be very dangerous.”

Be that as it may, the fifth-year young witches still couldn’t muster any enthusiasm. They felt as though the entire coming year would be shrouded in gloom.

Then they looked at the newly enrolled first-years with their innocent, clueless faces, and couldn’t help but gaze at them with envy: “It was so much better when we were little!”

After their moment of envy, they hurried to eat more. After this meal, it would be roughing it in the wilderness.

During the banquet, Bertha, Anna, and Annie came over to the fifth-year table to find them:

“Seniors, the Headmistress said that tonight, young witches aren’t allowed to stay anywhere outside the East Gate plaza in the core region! Don’t tell me the Stargazing ritualal is just this!”

“You can’t be just finding out now!” Mo Lan asked in surprise.

The fifth-year young witches looked at each other, eyes full of questioning.

“You didn’t tell them?”

“You didn’t tell them either?”

…

Ahem. Everyone was too proud, so not a single one had told the younger students in advance.

Bertha and the other two: “So our year is the only one that didn’t know anything?”

“Well… it was meant to be a surprise for you! We all went through the same thing,” Sylph said.

“You wouldn’t want tonight’s junior students, especially the first-year newcomers, to know that you’re staying at the East Gate plaza because you have nowhere else to sleep, would you?” Vasida said.

“…” Bertha and the other two were speechless.

However: “We’re not sleeping at the plaza tonight! We can take the underground river and camp by the riverside! Senior Moira, let’s go together later! We’d just have to stay at Wild Boar Valley for a couple of days. Oh right, when do you seniors start your survival trial?”

“Hmm… I probably can’t go with you.”

Mo Lan said: “The Headmistress requires us fifth-years to independently head to the outer region and begin the survival trial within seven days after the enrollment ceremony ends.

And our dwellings were already reset at noon today.

The tunnels I dug in the underground river are gone too. Can your Water Shield spell hold up long enough for you to swim upstream through the underground river’s exit section?”

None of the three — Bertha, Anna, or Annie — were proficient in water magic. The Water Shield spell they had specifically practiced for the water route could only maintain a shield bubble briefly.

But that little bit of time was nowhere near enough for them to swim upstream through the underground river’s entrance section.

“It’s over. We can’t take the underground river, and we can’t go through Greengrass Plains either. Yellow Sands is too far from where we planned to build our dwelling, and who knows how long the detour would take. We don’t dare venture through Lone Peak Forest either. Are we really going to have to join the stargazing ritual tonight?”

Bertha said in despair.

Anna and Annie glanced back at the younger students, and said in unison: “The secret of the stargazing ritual absolutely must not be exposed!”

Tonight, they too would become part of the stargazing ritual.

The three young witches had arrived brimming with enthusiasm, but left utterly dejected.

“I wonder whether they’re more pitiful, or we are,” Vasida said.

No matter how reluctant they were to see it end, the banquet was over.

Most of the fifth-year young witches flew off toward Yellow Sands.

Iris, Alba, and Cheryl weren’t confident they could face Lone Peak Forest’s giant eagle flocks alone, so they too prepared to enter the outer region from the Yellow Sands side.

Vasida and Sylph were more confident in their own abilities. Considering they were more familiar with Greengrass Plains and the mountain forests outside Lone Peak Forest, they flew off toward Lone Peak Forest.

Only Mo Lan, as usual, flew toward Moon Lake.

She maintained a Water Shield bubble around herself and swam upstream, entering the underground river tunnel.

The moment she entered, she noticed the differences.

The tunnels she had excavated alongside the river, and the steel doors she had installed, were all gone.

After flying into the Inner Region, her Metal Detection spell revealed that the surrounding ore distribution had changed as well.

Places that had previously been stripped bare of even common ores now had new mineral deposits, and all traces of their mining were gone.

However, these newly appeared ores were of mediocre quality. Mo Lan gave them only a cursory glance before continuing on her way.

She flew in one breath all the way to the tree-root wall outside the outer region, only to suddenly realize she had already passed the mine entrance beneath Wild Boar Valley without noticing.

It seemed the gemstones she had previously embedded in the doorway as markers had been reset along with everything else.

If she wanted to reach the surface from here, she would need to excavate through rock.

Mo Lan decided she might as well not bother waiting until the seven-day deadline to head to the outer region.

She took out the Spatial Tent Card, set it up on the spot, ate two slices of Breadfruit Cake, crawled into the tent, and fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.