Chapter 144 - 143: Northern Territory

Chapter 144: Chapter 143: Northern Territory

*Nolan Continent Geography and War Geography* was a branch course under the mandatory *Basic Cultural Course*.

The course was offered four times a year. Gaode had enrolled in the first session taught by Tutor Mosen. The classes were scheduled for the afternoons of every second day during the Frost Gold Moon, Frost Mist Moon, and Ice Seal Moon.

The classroom for this course was massive. First, because it was widely known as one of the academy’s easiest "blow-off" classes, it drew a large number of students each term and required more seating. The material for *Nolan Continent Geography and War Geography* was relatively simple, and the assessments were easy to pass, yet it awarded a generous two credits. Almost every student would choose to take this elective at some point during their studies.

Some students who struggled to earn credits even treated this course as an insurance policy. Whenever they fell short of the ten required credits for the year, they would hastily enroll in this class to scrape by with those two precious credits.

Second, as a geography class—albeit an indoor one—it required sand tables for simulating terrain to make the teaching more intuitive. Every student was assigned a standard sand table, and since each table took up several square meters, the classroom naturally needed to be expansive.

Gaode entered the classroom fifteen minutes before the lecture began. By then, quite a few students had already arrived. The time students chose to show up was enough to distinguish their varying personalities. Some liked to arrive early, some preferred to be just a bit early, others cut it close to the exact minute, and a very small minority preferred to be late. Gaode belonged to the category of students who liked to arrive just a bit early. Showing up too early was unnecessary and a waste of time, while cutting it close was too risky and could easily result in being late. And being late, in Gaode’s eyes, was simply bad behavior.

Sure enough, more than a dozen students trickled in after Gaode. Without exception, they were all senior students. Gaode was the only first-year in the room; the rest of the new students were still mining beneath Kuli Cliff.

At the exact start time, a skinny old man with curly brown hair, wearing a robe bearing the academy’s crest, walked through the main door with a roll of parchment tucked under his arm. This old man was their instructor, Tutor Mosen. The moment Tutor Mosen entered, the faint murmurs in the classroom vanished, instantly plunging the room into silence. Without bothering to introduce himself, he immediately cut to the chase.

At the very front of the classroom was an enormous Whiteboard. Strangely, the Whiteboard wasn’t hanging on the wall; instead, it laid flat, supported by a podium underneath. When Gaode first saw it, he couldn’t even begin to imagine what it was used for. Now, however, his doubts were finally answered.

Tutor Mosen stood in front of the Whiteboard, raising one hand and gently wiggling his fingers. A subtle wave of Magic immediately rippled through the air. Guided by his gestures, a glow gradually surfaced on the massive Whiteboard. Within that light, a three-dimensional map model began to take shape.

"Nolan Continent is the name of the landmass we are currently standing on," Tutor Mosen began explaining on his own as soon as the map formed.

"If viewed from the sky, the Nolan Continent is an irregular pentagon. It also resembles a bird ready to spread its wings and fly, long but narrow at the bottom, and short but wide at the top.

"As a side note, this world consists of more than just the Nolan Continent. To the south and east of Nolan Continent lie two other continents, the Terra Continent and the Central Continent, respectively.

"These three continents collectively make up the map of our world.

"Of course, the Nolan Continent ranks first among the three in both area and overall strength.

"Alright, let us return to the main topic."

Tutor Mosen only briefly mentioned the other two continents; after all, the name of the course was *Nolan Continent Geography and War Geography*. He then made a rotating gesture with his hand. In the glowing 3D map model, the whitish area at the very top began to light up, becoming exceptionally eye-catching.

"What an ’advanced’ teaching method," Gaode mused internally as he stared at the 3D-projected map. Sometimes, Magic performed even better than technology.

"This region is the northernmost part of the Nolan Continent, which we call the Northern Territory," Tutor Mosen continued. "The Northern Territory is a land of ice and snowstorms. The environment is extremely harsh, bitterly cold all year round with endless blizzards.

"The soil of the Northern Territory is known as the Eternal Freeze Tundra, where it is almost impossible to grow crops.

"Therefore, the humans living on this land are all nomadic tribes who survive by hunting."

Tutor Mosen snapped his fingers, and the outer edges of the Northern Territory lit up in red.

"The border of the Northern Territory is the Ewenlaya Mountain Range. This is the highest mountain range on the Nolan Continent, with an average elevation of over eight thousand meters.

"It is this mountain range that blocks the blizzards of the Northern Territory. With the Ewenlaya Mountain Range serving as a boundary, the two sides exhibit completely different landscapes and climates.

"Because of this natural chasm, even though the Northern Territory and our southern region both belong to the Nolan Continent, there is almost no communication between the two sides. It might as well be an independent continent."

"Of course, scaling the Ewenlaya Mountain Range isn’t the only way to enter the Northern Territory." Mosen traced his finger through the air, and soon two blue lines appeared around the perimeter of the Nolan Continent on the map.

"Taking the maritime route into the Northern Territory is a much more reasonable choice," he explained. "However, due to early internal conflicts and their isolated location, the tribes of the Northern Territory dislike interacting with the outside world and hold great hostility toward foreigners.

"Furthermore, driven by their nomadic nature, they must migrate alongside the changing seasons and the movement of their prey. They live a transient lifestyle without fixed settlements, which means there are absolutely no large ports in the Northern Territory.

"Constrained by these factors, contact between the outside world and the Northern Territory has always been exceedingly sparse. Only occasionally will Mages form teams and travel there by ship.

"Because of its isolation from the world and its unique environment, the Northern Territory holds many High Tier Magic Plant and Earth Vein Creature resources that are incredibly rare in the outside world. It can be considered a treasure trove that has never been developed..."

"Those Mages risk venturing into the Northern Territory precisely for this reason," Tutor Mosen elaborated.

"Additionally, when the coastal waters thaw during the summer, the Vikings of the Northern Territory will board their self-built Wolf Ships to sail south, pillaging and plundering resources.

"However, that is a headache only for the coastal nations. It has nothing to do with our Sean Duchy." Tutor Mosen threw his hands open, simply concluding his introduction to the Northern Territory.

The glowing light over the Northern Territory on the 3D map dimmed accordingly. Following that, the East region of the map lit up. This time, the illuminated area was so massive that it occupied nearly half of the Nolan Continent’s remaining territory, excluding the Northern Territory.

Tutor Mosen paused for a moment, waiting for the students to memorize the region and form a general impression of it before asking, "Do you know what this region is?"

"Could it be the ’Eastern Wilderness’?" A somewhat playful thought subconsciously popped into Gaode’s mind. According to the classic tropes of the web novels from his past life, the regions corresponding to the Northern Territory should be the Eastern Wilderness, the West Desert, and the South Sea.

A student in the class had already raised their hand. It was a student of Nobility origin. To them, this knowledge was something they had known for a long time; they didn’t need to learn it from a class at all, which naturally allowed them to answer Tutor Mosen’s question right now.

With a nod from Tutor Mosen, the student who had raised their hand revealed the answer. "This is the territory of the Holy Empire."