Chapter 729 729 Mountain Scenery
The party slowly broke up, and Wolfe returned to Forest Grove, where he knew that there would be even more celebrations waiting for him. They had seen him leave and knew that he was close to a breakthrough, so it wouldn’t be hard to put the pieces together even before Risa told everyone.
The new sense of attunement to the continent’s magic was incredible, allowing him to clearly sense everything within fifty kilometres and roughly guess the significant events that were going on elsewhere.
For example, he could sense the advancement of a beast to Rank Four in the ocean south of the continent and the presence of all the powerful people gathered in Forest Grove. But once the breakthrough faded, the monster disappeared from his senses, no longer a large enough disturbance in the mana flow for him to detect it at this distance.
That should be enough to let him sense impending disasters before they reached their peak and properly do the job of a continental Guardian.
That sensitivity, no matter how it manifested in your species, was the reason that Saint-level magic users were always the ones chosen to oversee a region, as opposed to appointing a political ally with strong support.
Politics might keep the people happy, but they couldn’t keep them safe. They could only react after the fact.
As he flew through the mountains, Wolfe took multiple detours to get a feel for the place that very few actually explored. Mostly, he was looking for monster packs and other hidden dangers, but there was also a chance that there would be more Magi ruins in the mountains, similar to the Lumix Family home.
The curses of the Wastelands were still in place this far into the mountains, but differently than he remembered. The mountains had their own set of broken spells, and the cold was more natural, but the heavy winds and the shifting rivers were not.
It was no wonder that so many people got lost here; the mountains actually changed their structure a little every year, and the rivers would change course, either emptying lakes, flooding valleys, or simply winding a different route through the hills.
You couldn’t count on them to lead you to a destination, though the mountains themselves were the same. It was subtle, and he wasn’t certain whether anyone else had realized that it was not natural, but it did help explain why only the locals would go into the hills.
Then he found an incredible lake filled with crystals and shimmering in the light. There was a strong sense of magic here, and Wolfe suspected that at least a few of them were memory crystals hidden among their raw brethren, but his first thought was that if he warmed it up, it would be a fantastic spot for a swim.
It also wasn’t all that far from town. The witches from Forest Grove could get here within an hour’s flight, which was good enough for a day outing. He wouldn’t be the only one who appreciated this lake, and with some luck, one of the visitors would step on the actual memory crystal, which would let them feel the mana inside directly, even if they couldn’t access the memory.
Hiding the real one right in the middle of the lake, or making a pedestal for it, would have been far too obvious. Because all the crystals resonated with the mana in the water, Wolfe was unable to tell from a distance if any of them actually had stored memories without actually touching them or getting close enough to examine them for inscriptions.
He had to congratulate whoever thought up this hiding spot, as it was brilliant. If they had gone all out, there might even be decoys with useless knowledge to keep anyone looking for the secret from finding it so easily.
All these hiding spots had been made to keep the final secrets of the Magi from being destroyed by the humans and the witches, so there would be something special about the place, and likely more than just the beauty.
Wolfe dipped down to hover over the lake and make sure that it wasn’t toxic, cursed or under any other special magical effects, then dipped a toe inside and found the water to be crystal clear but icy cold.
It must be fed by runoff, as there was no water flow in or out, so Wolfe adjusted his armour spell to negate the cold and slid into the water, allowing himself to float. Yes, this was going to be a popular vacation spot once he told the others.
He made an actual note of it on the map so that he could explain the location to others, and then flew back up to return home before anyone got too worried about him.
He could sense the slight anxiety in Cassie and Ella’s minds, but not the cause, while the bodyguards were much less concerned, and the two other two Demon girls were extremely entertained by something.
The other pentacle members were not bothered, so Wolfe assumed that it was a personal thing and continued to fly back to town, eager for the rest of the party to get settled so he could relax.
The patrols spotted him five kilometres from the edge of the forest, waving up at him as he flew closer, so Wolfe dropped down to say hello.
“Mister Wolfe, it is good to see you. Were you exploring the mountains?” The witch asked.
“Yes, I went out to finish my advancement to Rank Seven, and I stopped to explore a little on my way back.”
“A real Saint? That is awesome. I have to tell someone.” She announced while her teammates giggled.
“Aggie, don’t you think that the people in town already know? They have the Pentacle members, the high-ranking Fae, the Demons, plus his wives. Someone is bound to know and have told the people in town already.” Her teammate reminded her.
The witch sighed. “And they didn’t tell us so that we didn’t come back early from patrol. But the joke’s on them, we get to congratulate him first.”