Chapter 64: Chapter 64

Behind the tower was a small mountain range—the back hills—home to some harmless wild beasts and many wild herbs. Margarita usually hunted there.

There was a rocky slope inside, which was where they practiced and experimented with offensive magic.

The school’s boundaries were marked by a dense magical tree wall, and the airspace above was a no-fly zone, with access controlled by the headmistress.

In the trial world, they couldn’t use druid abilities from the real world. Broom grass and wand wood would only be taught after classes began, so they’d learn how to make flying brooms and wands then.

Without a wand, it was nearly impossible for new witches—whose magic had only just awakened—to channel their magic in any orderly way.

To keep them from experimenting recklessly, the library was off-limits until they’d successfully crafted their own wands.

So, this weekend, Mu Ying found herself with nothing much to do.

The older girls were busy earning money and practicing magic, so the three of them just wandered around the school, occasionally watching the others work. Life was leisurely, and their friendship grew quickly.

When Mu Ying’s trial time ended and she returned to reality, she was reluctant to leave. Life at the magic school was just too wonderful—both the people and the experiences. She’d even found a sense of belonging there.

Fortunately, all her experiences in the trial world, just like the memories of her assigned role, were automatically stored when she returned. She remembered everything clearly, but it wouldn’t affect her real life.

……

Early the next morning, Mu Ying slung her bow and spear over her shoulder, packed three days’ worth of rations into a small bag, and headed to the entrance of her territory.

Huo Shaobai and the others hadn’t arrived yet, so Mu Ying scattered a few handfuls of grain soaked in the Spring of Recovery on the ground, as a reward for the family of sparrows and other birds who’d helped her so much lately.

Listening to their cheerful chirping, Mu Ying felt genuinely happy.

Before long, Huo Shaobai and his team arrived, startling the birds up into the trees.

“No matter how many times I see it, I’m always jealous of your affinity with animals,” Lu You said, clearly wishing he could enjoy being surrounded by little creatures too.

“Alright, enough joking around. We’ve got serious business today,” Huo Shaobai said, giving Lu You a playful punch.

He quickly introduced the rest of their team.

There were eight of them: four warriors, two rogues, one monk, and one mage. All were above 80% of level 2, and everyone ranked in the top 100 on the battle leaderboard. Huo Shaobai had even held the top spot for a long time.

Except for the mage, they all needed to gain experience through real combat, so they spent a lot of time out in the field.

Mu Ying also sincerely introduced the abilities she might use during the expedition, listing them off one by one.

Lu You and the others’ jaws gradually dropped.

“…That’s ten, right? Surely that’s all?”

“Eleven… twelve… she’s still going!”

“Oh my god, sixteen! Four cantrips, eight first-level spells, four second-level spells—are you even human?!”

Jie Gong, who had only just managed to learn a single first-level spell, looked like he was about to cry with envy. The whole team had pooled their resources to buy him a spell scroll.

“We’re definitely going to crush it this time!” Lu You said excitedly.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself. I only have 80 mana points—barely enough to cast Barkskin on all of us,” Mu Ying poured cold water on his enthusiasm.

She did, however, hold back a bit—her perception stat was actually 17, and her mana was 100. But physical attributes almost never exceeded 15 at birth, so if she admitted to having 100 mana, they could deduce her abnormally high perception.

Since no one had yet discovered any way to boost attributes, that number was just too dangerous to reveal."

"Mu Ying followed Huo Shaobai and the others to a cave, where the air still carried the stench of animal droppings.

The whole cave was shaped like a small gourd. The bottom of the gourd was the den of the brown bear they’d encountered before, and the entrance to the dungeon was at the gourd’s neck. The passage in between was so narrow they had to squeeze through sideways.

As Mu Ying crawled into the passage, she saw the glow of the dungeon entrance up ahead.

It was a fan-shaped portal of light, nearly two meters high.

Everyone did a final check of their gear, weapons in hand. Mu Ying cast Barkskin on the person at the front, while she herself stayed in the middle of the group, protected by the others.

Passing through the portal felt like moving through a thin film of water—cool and refreshing, but otherwise comfortable.

But once inside, everyone couldn’t help but gasp in awe.

It was beautiful!

They were still in a cavern, but this one was hundreds, maybe thousands of times larger than the cave outside. Behind them was still a rock wall, with the glowing portal right there.

Yet, despite the darkness, the cave wasn’t pitch black. Lush plants emitted glimmers of light in all colors, illuminating this dreamlike place.

Compared to these plants, even the Ophiopogon flowers that bloomed at night back in their territory seemed utterly unimpressive.

The dungeon gate opened directly onto a winding path, just over half a meter wide.

On either side of the path was ankle-high grass, each blade tipped with a glowing bead—some blue, some purple-red—sparkling like gems.

Mu Ying couldn’t help but squat down and use her plant identification spell.

“Blue Nightgrass. Herbaceous plant. Only grows in dark environments; withers in sunlight. The leaf tips contain phosphorescent material. Dried and ground, the powder makes excellent decorative material.”

What a pity—it can’t be transplanted outside.

“How is it?” the others asked curiously.

With so many strange plants here, bringing some back for the guild’s collection quest would be great. Mu Ying had volunteered to scout because she could easily identify plant information with her spell.

Druids did have such spells, but the one she’d learned from Grandpa Shaum was an upgraded version.

“These shouldn’t count as mutant plants. They won’t survive outside,” Mu Ying said, stepping toward the grass. The grass itself was harmless, but there were some brightly colored little mushrooms in the grass that looked unusual.

She’d just lifted her foot, still hovering in the air, when the nearest cluster of little mushrooms suddenly sprang upright and, balancing their mushroom caps, scurried away in a flash.

“…”

Did those mushrooms just grow legs?

Startled, Mu Ying quickly drew her foot back.

But it was no use. In an instant, most of the little mushrooms in the grass had run off, leaving behind only the ones that were probably just ordinary fungi.

They hadn’t made a sound, but Mu Ying could sense their panic from their movements.

It was one thing to bump into each other in their haste, but one of them, in its confusion, ran the wrong way, crashed into her leg, tumbled twice, and then scrambled off. It was almost comical.

What a magical species!

Mu Ying remembered seeing something like this in the monster compendium—mushroom people called Myconids. But they weren’t supposed to be this small, and their strength was usually around level 0 to 4, right?