Chapter 10: 10. Chapter 10: Core Area

Chapter 10: The Core Area

This news struck Vasidah like a bolt from the blue.

For the other little witches, it was certainly not good news either.

As far as Moran knew, among the first-year students, only she and Es were witches who knew how to cook.

Vasidah still found this grim news hard to believe, so she turned to Senior Lilith to verify it.

"That's right. The Headmistress's Delicacy Banquet spell is only cast once, on the night of the entrance ceremony.

Teaching at the Witch Academy has always been a parallel pursuit of survival and combat.

The primary survival goal for first-years is to solve the basic problem of food.

Don't worry about starving to death; first-years have no restrictions on collecting ingredients.

Many fruits and vegetables can be eaten raw, though they aren't very filling.

The academy also has a grove of Breadfruit trees. They bear fruit all year round with extremely high yields, but as for the taste... you'll find out once you try it."

Lilith's face crumpled into a knot as she spoke of the breadfruit.

Judging by her expression, it was definitely not delicious.

The little witches of the first year: "..."

No wonder the banquet was so sumptuous; they hadn't realized it was the Last Supper.

Now everyone understood why the upperclassmen had been so urgent at the start of the banquet, and why they were all working so hard to eat now, even though their stomachs were clearly bulging.

The little witches' eyes changed as they looked at the food on the table. They began picking out items that were easy to preserve, intending to store them to eat slowly.

"The banquet is created by a super-peak level Delicacy Banquet spell. It cannot be taken out of this hall, and it only lasts for two hours.

As of now, an hour and a half has already passed."

As soon as Senior Tracy finished speaking, the little witches returned to their seats like fledglings returning to the nest, continuing to feast voraciously.

Since they couldn't take it away, this was the only way to pack more in.

The one eating most ferociously was Vasidah.

While other little witches could manage if they ate a little less and skipped a meal or two, Vasidah faced the risk of fainting or even starving to death.

Moran, meanwhile, opened the *Freshman Guide*.

The banquet dishes were too good, featuring many novel foods she had never seen before, and she was already stuffed.

Rather than eating more, she was more curious about the teaching model of the Witch Academy.

The *Freshman Guide* was a somewhat heavy hardcover booklet, with every page made of thick cardstock.

Aside from the cover, there were only three inner pages.

The first page was the academy map.

It was a simple and clear flat map, showing her current location in the Great Hall.

Moran briefly checked the map instructions and quickly mastered how to use it.

It was similar to the mobile phone maps of her previous life; it could be zoomed in and out, featured multiple embedded layers, and every building had its own individual mini-map.

Moran zoomed the map out to its minimum size.

At the very center was the Academy Castle, and the Great Hall was located on the first floor of the castle.

When zoomed out to the minimum, only the "Academy Core Area," where the castle was located, was clearly visible.

Everywhere else was a sea of gray, as if shrouded in a gray mist, making everything else impossible to see.

The map instructions did indeed state that, except for the Academy Core Area, all other areas would only appear on the map after being explored personally.

Just looking at this map, the Witch Academy was incredibly vast.

After all, this massive Great Hall was merely one hall within the Academy Castle.

And when the map was at its smallest, the entire Academy Core Area was only the size of a fingernail; even the name of the Academy Castle could not be seen.

Moran zoomed in a little more, and the details of the Core Area became clear.

The Academy Castle had an exit to the east, west, south, and north, each connected to a winding path.

To the east was the dormitory area, with small houses arranged neatly in rows.

Each one was numbered, from Dormitory No. 1 all the way to Dormitory No. 100.

Names were listed after the numbers.

Moran guessed these were the assigned living quarters.

She searched and indeed found her name at Dormitory No. 69.

One row ahead of her was Dormitory No. 59, where Senior Lilith lived.

Sylph and Vasidah were in No. 68 and No. 70, respectively; they were all her neighbors.

Unfortunately, even when the dormitory map was zoomed in to the maximum, one could only see small squares, making it impossible to tell what the dormitories actually looked like.

To the south of the dormitory area was the breadfruit grove Senior Lilith had mentioned.

Next to the breadfruit grove, on the south side of the Academy Castle, was the cultivation area. The farmland, herb gardens, greenhouses, and ingredient collection points were all located here.

To the west of the Academy Castle were the magic training grounds, and near the training grounds were the alchemy and potion laboratories.

To the north was a large, crescent-shaped lake.

(Map of the Witch Academy Core Area attached)

After a general look at the Core Area map, Moran flipped to the second page of the *Freshman Guide*.

This page contained the course schedule.

The schedule for the following week was updated every Friday at 8:00 PM.

Today was Thursday, so it wouldn't update until tomorrow night; the schedule was currently blank.

The final page contained "Notes for Freshmen."

The first point concerned food.

"1. After the entrance banquet, the academy will not provide three meals a day. First-year witches may collect any ingredients for free at the cultivation area's ingredient collection point to cook for themselves, or they may eat breadfruit. Second-year witches may only collect meat ingredients for free. From the third year onwards, no free ingredients are provided; students may consider planting, gathering, or hunting for themselves."

It was one thing not to provide meals, but second-years couldn't even collect ingredients freely, and from the third year, there were no free ingredients at all.

If eating was this difficult, living there would be no better.

The second point stated that the academy only provided free dormitory assignments for first, second, and third-year witches. By checking their dormitory number on the map, they could move in themselves.

Fourth and fifth-year students would need to solve their own accommodation issues.

Then came the third point: "The four-season school robes and this academic year's daily necessities for first-year students have been delivered to their respective dormitories. If any are damaged, they may be requested for free at the dormitory area administrator's office. Witches of other years may collect materials to make their own."

School robes and daily necessities were only supplied to first-years.

From eating to living to using supplies, each requirement was more stringent than the last. The academy's intention was incredibly obvious: they wanted witches to achieve self-sufficiency step by step.

Theoretically, it was indeed feasible.

Although witches were not like sorceresses—whose magical talent had no upper limit in any element—at least once they reached the apprentice level, they would have no problem solving their basic needs.

Once they learned these things, the little witches could rely on their magic to at least have food, clothing, and shelter to meet their basic survival needs.

Following these three points were descriptions of the functions of various buildings within the Academy Core Area, as well as a regulation reminding them that they could not leave the Academy Core Area before their third year.

Moran only skimmed through this content, and half an hour passed.

Just as Senior Tracy had said, as soon as the time was up, the delicacies on the table vanished immediately.

(End of Chapter)