Lightning rummaged through her "adventure supplies" and re-examined them.[]
Flint and steel, tinder, bandages, bishou, map, and a bag of dried food, packed with beef jerky.
"What about yours?" She looked at Maisie, "Check them too."
"Goo!"
Maisie reached into her satchel. This cloth bag was usually hidden under her fluffy hair, making it hard to see how much it could hold. Moreover, when she transformed into a bird, her clothes and satchel seemed to disappear into thin air. Compared to her own flight, which was strictly limited by weight, Maisie seemed less affected. The best proof was that she took out far more things than she did.
Dried meat, beef jerky, chicken legs, fish fillets, eggs, piles of food were placed in front of Lightning.
"Good heavens," she said, forehead in hand, "we're going on an adventure, not a barbecue. At least bring a weapon."
"Goo goo!" Maisie touched her beak.
"You want to say your beak is a weapon?" Lightning sighed, "If you encounter a Judgment Army soldier dressed like a tin can, you won't be able to peck through his armor! Oh well... anyway, it's only for a day, we probably won't encounter any danger. Let's go."
"Whoa! Goo!" The other party immediately transformed into a pigeon, ran two steps, and flew close to the ground for a while before slowly rising.
Uh, perhaps the weight still affects her.
Lightning pulled down her goggles and jumped lightly, flying ahead of her.
She remembered when she first met Maisie, she was engaged in an aerial chase in the southern woodland. Although the fat pigeon couldn't escape her grasp back then, it at least took some effort to pounce on her. (Looking at it now, she could probably catch her in the blink of an eye.)
This won't do. It's rare to have a flying partner. She'll have to rely on her to carry adventure tools in the future, the little girl thought, it seems she needs to exercise more.
"Goo, goo?"
Lightning slowed down and flew side by side with Maisie, "Speak properly!"
"I wanted to ask, where are we going on an adventure, goo?" the pigeon's beak opened and closed.
"The westernmost part of the Misty Forest, I want to see how big this forest really is," Lightning pulled out the map and spread it out, pointing to the blank area on the west side, "And fill in this part, maybe we can see where the Redwater River comes from."
After Maisie returned from the fjord, she immediately began preparing for this adventure. Anyway, the Prince wouldn't care where they flew during free practice. And the little girl had a secret she hadn't told the other party—she was afraid to explore the forest alone anymore.
This was a disgrace to an explorer.
But she couldn't deceive herself. The trip to the Stone Tower had made her afraid of this deep forest. The thought of those terrible monsters possibly hiding somewhere in the forest made her want to escape as soon as possible.
Fortunately, she was still the daughter of the greatest explorer.
Lightning had been told by Thunder about how to overcome fear, which was to approach it little by little, then observe it, understand it, and eventually discover that fear was not so terrible.
Because it came from obstacles in the heart.
This adventure was Lightning's attempt. With Maisie by her side, she felt more confident. The selected route was also very safe, heading west along the Redwater River, not deep into the forest, so it was unlikely to encounter demons. After she flew this route, she would try it alone next time. She believed that one day, she would draw the entire map of the Western Region by herself, and once again step into the Stone Tower to uncover the truth about the holy city of Taqila.
...
Along the way, Lightning kept her speed at about sixty kilometers per hour. Now she could precisely adjust her speed by releasing magic power. At the current consumption rate, she could fly for a whole day.
And flying along the river and the edge of the forest also made her feel a lot more relaxed. Compared to the last search for the Stone Tower, the entire field of vision was a dark green, making it difficult to distinguish direction and height, and it felt gloomy
and oppressive; now there was a sparkling silver ribbon, plus Maisie chirping in her ear, Lightning felt that fear was gradually fading.
"Look, there's a mountain ahead, goo!"
Lightning also saw this incomparable mountain. Although it was far away, its gray figure already showed its majesty. At the same time, the hilly area on the side of the river rapidly decreased, and the mountains near the sea seemed to converge inland, getting closer and closer to the Redwater River, and finally completely connected to the silver ribbon.
"This mountain is a bit too big," she couldn't help but sigh. As the distance shortened, the outline of the mountain became clearer and clearer. Its top was snow-white, as if it was inserted straight into the clouds. Although it was not as continuous and undulating as the Endless Mountains for thousands of miles, in terms of height, it was higher than three or four Endless Mountains combined. The mountains in the southern hilly area were an extension of it, and the source of the Redwater River also came from this magnificent mountain.
"The Misty Forest is over, goo!" Maisie exclaimed excitedly.
The dark green patches under her feet finally came to an end. The earth returned to a light green, which should be a grassland, but further ahead, the field of vision turned into a dark black, and it covered the foot of the mountain.
"Let's go down and take a look," Lightning gestured and swooped down towards the dark earth. She quickly discovered that it was a ground made of black stones.
"What is this?" Maisie pecked twice after landing, "It doesn't seem edible, goo!"
"Of course it's not edible," Lightning picked up a black stone and examined it carefully. It looked angular, and although it was black on the outside, it showed a metallic luster when rotated in the sun. And such stones were everywhere, mixed with sparse soil, looking like the earth had been soaked in ink. "This may be some kind of ore, let's take two pieces back to the Prince."
Next was the drawing work. She returned to the air and began to record the nearby terrain in detail.
It took most of the morning to reach the foot of the majestic mountain from Border Town, which meant that it was about two hundred and forty kilometers away from the town, much farther than Longsong Stronghold. And this mountain... a thought suddenly popped into Lightning's mind. What kind of scenery would be behind such a huge mountain? Was it a vast jungle, or undulating hills and mountains?
After the fear subsided, this idea was difficult to suppress once it appeared.
It was obviously difficult to cross the mountain. Just the snow on the top could make people flinch. Then there was another route, which was to bypass it from the sea. You don't even need to go behind the mountain. Just fly diagonally towards the center of the sea, and you can see the back of the mountain.
Lightning called Maisie over and told her not to move around, then put on her goggles and instantly increased her speed to the limit. The magic power was quickly released, and the wind that hit her face blew all her short hair behind her head. The land continued to recede, and the blue ocean filled her entire field of vision.
After flying for about half an hour, she could vaguely see the scenery behind the mountain. There seemed to be continuous mountains separating the sea and the land, but then Lightning saw a scene that made her blood freeze.
At the end of the field of vision, a layer of reddish-brown thick fog covered the mountains, as thick as uncongealed blood. The fog spread westward and had almost no boundaries. (。、，Your support is my biggest motivation.)