When the sun set, the temperature among the mountains also dropped rapidly.

*Need to find a place to stay for the night,* Lightning thought. The temperature difference at the Edge of the World was astonishing. After passing the sea of clouds, the sunlight during the day felt like it could bake a person alive. If one didn't cover up, exposed skin could easily get sunburned. But once night fell, the howling cold wind would quickly carry away all warmth. If she slept in the treetops like she did in the Misty Forest, she was afraid she would be frozen stiff by the next day.

Therefore, she had to find a haven before the night completely enveloped the land.

"That's it for today," Lightning said, taking out the Listening Sigil. "I'll find a nest, you bring back some food."

Maisie couldn't reply while flying, but she knew the other party heard her contact.

Then, she descended and entered ground-level flight – Agatha had repeatedly instructed her before departure that when searching for traces of demons, she should either fly very high or stay close to the ground, and never change her path at will. Otherwise, if she accidentally entered an area affected by the God's Stone vein, no one would be able to save her.

Lightning strictly followed this instruction. In these vast mountains, no one could help her if any accident happened. She had to take care of herself and Maisie at the same time.

Since she had paid attention to possible hiding places during her previous search, she quickly found a cave halfway up the mountain. The terrain here was like a stone forest, with tens of thousands of mountains of almost the same height squeezed together densely. Each small mountain was about the size of Neverwinter City, and no one would give it a second glance if it were outside, but here it produced a wonderful change, as if the mountain tops had been carved by a large hand.

The gaps between the mountains became natural waterways, and when it rained heavily, mountain floods would sweep down with tremendous force. More importantly, the climate in the high mountains changed extremely drastically. It might be clear and sunny on one side, but thunder and lightning on the other. Inexperienced adventurers who chose to camp in the mountains for convenience might be swept away by an unpredictable flood in the middle of the night, so regardless of whether there was an ideal shelter, the landing point had to be chosen at a high altitude.

Since entering this mountainous area known as the Spine of the Continent, she had witnessed similar situations several times.

In addition, the mountain tops here were also different from other places. Most of the time, the stone walls of the mountains should be steep and sharp, but these small mountains were basically hunyuan, and even somewhat soft and sunken in shape, covered with concave holes, as if they were not naturally formed rocks, but the appearance of some liquid after solidification.

Fortunately, they still retained the hardness of stone, enough to support a place to stay.

This cave was quite large, about ten meters square, and scattered with some weeds and branches, probably left behind by birds and beasts when they built their nests. After confirming that there were no potential dangers, Lightning informed Maisie of the location, and then cleaned up this temporary residence.

When the afterglow of the setting sun was completely replaced by the darkness of night, Maisie, transformed into a Snowy Owl, also returned to the cave. She shook her feathers, returned to human form, and held up the bag in front of her chest like an offering, "Look what I found, gu!"

Lightning took the bag and pulled out a pheasant and four large bird eggs from it. This was a rare harvest at the Edge of the World. Even Maisie, who was experienced in hunting, might not be able to return with a full load every time.

"Well done!"

Lightning touched her head, receiving a proud smile in return, "Hehe."

The campfire was quickly lit. She used the silt deposited from the bottom of the mountain to build a stove to prevent the fire from being discovered, then covered the plucked pheasant with mud, put the whole thing into the fire, and finally covered the bird eggs.

Thirty minutes later, dinner was complete.

The two had used this cooking technique many times in the Misty Forest, and were quite skilled at it.

The moment the mud shell was cracked open, a rich aroma instantly flooded into the nostrils of both of them.

The oil that seeped out from under the skin made the chicken glisten, and the spices filled inside the belly were completely activated under the baking heat, blending into the whole body along with the rising steam. Unlike the finished product that was cooked directly by the flames, the whole chicken had no scorch marks at all, and the meat was as white and fresh as new. When torn apart, one could still see strands of fine silk connected.

Served with steamed bird eggs, the two were soon covered in grease, and they didn't even spare the chicken bones.

"Burp," Maisie exhaled, "As expected, the food you catch yourself is the most delicious, gu."

*This girl,* when they first met, she righteously accused her, "You actually want to eat a bird!"

Lightning shook her head amusingly, "Did you find anything today? Besides food."

"Um, no gu... The terrain here is basically the same. If there are traces of demons, I will definitely find them, gu."

As expected, if the God's Stone vein was buried deep underground, it would be too difficult to find clues by relying solely on aerial reconnaissance. She wondered where the Tahir's support fleet was now. If they could give a rough direction, even if the positioning was vague, it would be better than searching blindly now.

Lightning suppressed her distracting thoughts and pointed to the inside of the cave, "In that case, go be my bed!"

"Okay—understood, gu." Maisie dragged her long white hair to the designated position and transformed into a massed-up Terror Beast.

Lightning extinguished the remaining fire and lay down in the curve of her belly. Due to the xiànzhi of the nest's size, the two's method of warming up was also different. Instead of squeezing together in a small sleeping bag, it was obviously more comfortable for Maisie to use her Terror Beast form to resist the cold wind. At least her belly was like a huge furnace, enough to ensure that she wouldn't be woken up by the cold at night.

However, doing so was not without its drawbacks. The skin of the Terror Beast was quite rough, even to the point where it could be described as scratching her face. Lightning couldn't help but miss Rogar's fur.

"Aren't you going to sleep yet?" Seeing her take out a glowing magic stone, Maisie turned her head and asked.

"Yeah, I have to record today's route. It won't take long, you go to sleep first."

"Okay." Maisie said in a muffled voice, and after a while, she suddenly muttered again, "Will you always take me on adventures in the future?"

Lightning paused, and then replied softly, "Of course."

*After Ashes is gone, I will take on the responsibility of protecting you.*

Hearing the answer, Maisie finally closed her eyes.

Lightning sat blankly for a long time before taking out her notebook from her waist bag.

It was now the tenth day since they had entered the northern mountainous area of the Eternal Winter Kingdom, and the search distance had reached about one hundred and twenty kilometers. The deeper she went into the Edge of the World, the more she could feel her own insignificance. In this place that no one had ever set foot in, she saw many indescribable wonders – a stony woodland as vast as a fertile plain, an icefall plunging straight into the sea from the northeast side, a sea of clouds rising like a ladder, and a huge rift valley located in the center of the Spine of the Continent... Compared to this area, the Edge Mountains that separated the four kingdoms was just a branch extending out. And these sceneries were all hidden on top of the mountains, and could not be seen with one's own eyes without crossing the cliff-like precipices.

Lightning vaguely understood why her father was so obsessed with adventure.

The world was too vast, and if one didn't open their eyes to look, people would always be insignificant. Only through understanding could one make themselves bigger.

Deciding to become an explorer was the most correct choice she had made in her life.

Of course, exploring the world could be put off until later. Lightning did not forget that she still had a mission to accomplish. If she flew too far away from Eternal Winter, not only would the search efficiency be low, but it would also add to the worries of the support team. According to the time calculation, the "Roland" should be arriving at the Eternal Winter harbor soon.

She scanned the hand-drawn map a few times, and focused her gaze on the Great Rift Valley.

From a distance, it seemed to be a raised platform of stone forest, but the middle was empty, and it was difficult to determine how deep it was.

Compared to the stone forest that changed very little, at least there she could see the cross-section under the surface of the mountain stone.

If she still didn't find any traces of the God's Stone vein or demons, she should consider whether she should return to Eternal Winter and regroup with the support team before making the next plan.