The Night Before Departure

The time Miss Tiffany spent on the Pagisto Plateau was arguably the most unforgettable period of her life.

The north wind from the Pagisto Plateau seeped in through the cracks in the doors and window frames, almost turning her into a dried fish.

For a Naga mermaid from the Endless Sea, Miss Tiffany spends most of her time in the bathtub and rarely goes out.

Miss Tiffany only felt truly comfortable when she was soaking in the bathtub. She moved a desk next to the bathtub, and her two-meter-long, Tri-Color Fish Tail curled up in the tub, her upper body just big enough to rest on the desk.

She was wrapped in a bath towel, her algae-green curly hair cascading over her shoulders. The bathroom was dimly lit, and there was a moonstone lamp on the desk.

She carefully ground a withered nettle, a Magic Herbs she had found in a storeroom of the castle. She hadn't expected to find such a precious Magic Herbs in the warehouse.

In addition, she found several pieces of Wind Wolves leather, golden alfalfa, and ice grass in the warehouse. These Magic Herbs are almost impossible to find on the other side of the Endless Sea.

Several plants were ground into powder, which, under Miss Tiffany's meticulous blending, was made into magic ink.

Miss Tiffany took out a magic engraving pen, dipped it in magic ink, and drew magic patterns on the Wind Wolves leather. These magic patterns, which were filled with magical fluctuations, eventually formed a Magic Rune Array.

Miss Tiffany smiled slightly, but the moment she stopped writing with the magic pen, the Magic Rune Array suddenly overflowed with a large amount of magical energy. Wisps of magical light flickered back and forth in the extremely unstable runes, and very chaotic pulses appeared on the Magic Rune Array.

A few Electric Arc shot out from the Wind Wolves leather until Wind Wolves entire piece was completely charred, filling the bathroom with a burnt smell.

All that remained on the table was a burnt mark; clearly, the Magic Scroll had failed.

She frowned, not even noticing the smear of ash on her face, and laid another piece of Wind Wolves leather on the table. While the feel of the leather was still fresh, Miss Tiffany immediately began to paint the second one...

Electric Arc, spark...

When Sabrina finished training the Half-Elf and returned to her room, she noticed wisps of black smoke drifting out through the cracks in the doors and windows...

Sabrina's first thought was that the room was on fire. She knew that Tiffany had been lying in the bathroom for the past few days and rarely went out, so she quickly pushed open the door and rushed in.

The room was filled with smoke. Sabrina held her breath and rushed into the bathroom, only to find Miss Tiffany hunched over a charred desk, staring at a scroll and grinning foolishly.

"Tiffany, are you alright?" Sabrina walked over and asked cautiously, looking at Miss Tiffany, whose face was covered in soot.

"Sabrina, I finally succeeded this time!" Miss Tiffany said with a beaming smile.

Sabrina breathed a sigh of relief, walked to the bathroom window, and opened it as wide as possible.

"Are you drawing Magic Scroll? Anyone who didn't know better... would think you were going to set the house on fire." Sabrina pushed open the door, letting the wind blow in and carry away the smoke from the room...

"I found a few high-grade Magic Herbs in the warehouse, and I couldn't resist grinding them into magical ink..."

"Hey, Sabrina, do you know what kind of magical ink I've made?"

"This ink is called Deep Sea!"

"I also added some spinel powder to the ink, increasing its power by at least thirty percent..."

"Unfortunately, only three Ice Wall scrolls were successfully drawn; the rest failed. This magic ink is just too unstable."

Watching Sabrina's armored figure disappear into the distance, Tiffany, her face beaming with excitement, kept chattering on and on.

"I'm going to leave these three Magic Scroll to Roy. I finally have a decent gift for him before I leave!" Miss Tiffany seemed very happy.

"There isn't even a lake in this place, it must be really uncomfortable to be curled up in the bathtub all day..."

Miss Tiffany muttered a final complaint under her breath.

Upon hearing Miss Tiffany say, "Before you leave...", Sabrina stopped in her tracks, her gaze fixed on the dark City Wall outside the window.

Suddenly realizing that the Adventure Group were about to leave the North Black Iron Mine, Sabrina couldn't quite describe the feeling in her heart. She just felt that time had passed so quickly, so quickly that she hadn't even had a chance to say a few words to him before she had to leave...

Then, Sabrina gathered her scattered thoughts, turned around and tossed a towel to Miss Tiffany, pointing to the Bronze Mirror beside her.

Miss Tiffany turned her head with a smile, and as the smoke in the room dissipated, a dark face clearly appeared in the mirror opposite.

"Ah..."

The scream of the Naga Sea Clan mermaid shattered the glass bottle with a bouquet of flowers on the windowsill, scattering flowers and water all over the windowsill in a mess.

Woods would go to the terraced fields outside the castle every day to check on the Red Berry bushes; he had a very bold idea.

He wanted to graft apple branches onto these low, Red Berry shrubs, which are native plants and well-suited to the local climate. Roy wanted to grow apples on this land, which is a high-altitude region with cold, harsh north winds blowing year-round, making it impossible for ordinary apple trees to grow here.

However, it is still somewhat feasible to let the roots of the Red Berry nourish the apple tree.

The only problem is that this kind of tree won't grow very big, and the apples it produces will be like crabapples.

As a druid, he has been dealing with various mutated plants since childhood and is good at combining plants from different families and genera.

These grafted fruit trees may take two to three years to bear fruit, and then through continuous improvement, the fruit can be made more delicious...

During this period, Woods needed to check on the fruit trees frequently, so he had to stay.

After examining the Red Berry bushes, Woods checked the surrounding vegetation on the hillside. Although this place was not suitable for growing fruit trees, cultivating some cold-resistant berries was perfectly feasible.

Roy told me that the Gray Dwarf here are skilled at cultivating mushrooms, Gray Dwarf Woods plans to ask them for advice on this when he has time.

He brought Roy ten pots of Light Flower, but unfortunately two of Light Flower died on the way; these flowers are a bit too delicate to care for.

The situation with the remaining eight pots is not much better, and Woods is planning to build a small sunroom on the top floor of the castle these days.

Time flies, and before we knew it, it was the last day before our return journey.

We can't delay any longer, otherwise we'll miss the registration and course selection before the start of the semester.

Although the Elf Academy has low entry requirements, it never accepts transfer students.

That's how elves are; they have plenty of time and are never in a rush...

Roy personally checked everyone's horses and luggage, as they were leaving the next morning.

Roy also prepared some gifts to bring to his friends in Castleton City.

Before leaving, Roy prepared a sumptuous dinner, and his homemade honey apple pie and grilled fish were praised by everyone.

The delicious dinner did nothing to cheer Moira up. It was her second long trip, and it had taken her a month and ten days to reach the Pagisto Plateau in the Pattington Plane. Now, she had only stayed for a week before she had to leave in a hurry.

She wanted to stay, but Roy disagreed, feeling that attending the Elf Academy was more important for her...

She and Roy argued about this three times, but neither of them could convince the other.

Back in her room, Moira was still a little down, and she fell asleep quickly after lying on the bed alone.

Miss Tiffany was still lying in the bathtub, the charred desk still beside it. Miss Tiffany's white, lotus-root-like arms rested on the desk, and she held a half-full glass of Orange Wine in her hand. She said to Sabrina, who was wiping her heavy armor in front of the mirror, "Sabrina, you're about to graduate. You should stay and help Roy."

"..."

Sabrina didn't say anything and continued wiping the helmet with an oily cloth.

She looked toward the bedroom, where Moira lay on the bed fast asleep, a single glistening tear still clinging to the corner of her eye. She gently shook her head.

Klayr has been working on this in her room for the past few days, and although her eyes are bloodshot, she has only finished half of the ' Song of the Eagle '.

The melody drove him to a frenzy.

Each time he followed the ethereal melody, he could see the giant golden-eyed eagle in the sky...

When creative inspiration strikes, it's unstoppable.

Klayr really wanted to write the second half as well, but unfortunately there wasn't enough time.

Tonight is destined to be a sleepless night.

Klayr wanted to finish the piece so that Roy would be the first listener, but unfortunately, Klayr was never quite satisfied with the second half.

'Knock knock knock'

Klayr was engrossed in the music score with her head down, completely unaware that the door had been pushed open from the outside.

Roy walked in carrying a bottle of Orange Wine. He casually took two glasses from the cabinet, then walked to Klayr's table, placed the glasses on the table, uncorked the Orange Wine, and poured the sweet Orange Wine into the glasses.

The sound of Orange Wine flowing into the glass brought Klayr back to her senses.

"You... Roy, what brings you here?"

"Before I leave, let's have a good drink!" Roy pushed a glass full of Orange Wine towards Klayr, took a sip with a smile, and said, "How's the Song of the Eagle coming along?"

"This isn't creation at all; I just took the melody you gave me and made it even more perfect..."

Klayr, her eyes red, picked up her glass and gulped down the sweet wine in one go.

This idea had been lingering in Klayr's mind. He had mentioned it to Roy before, and later he wanted to compose some music on his own, but unfortunately, he failed to compose more than a dozen pieces in a row.

Now, he has traveled all the way to the Pagisto Plateau to seek a melody from Roy, also in preparation for the annual music festival.

"I'm just telling you some melodies I've heard, and I can't even fully reproduce them. Many times I need you to polish them carefully. Do you think I'm creating something?" Roy spread his hands, looking somewhat innocent.

Klayr was also somewhat taken aback.

This wasn't the first time Roy had said this, but every time Klayr heard Roy say it, she felt a little more at ease.

The north wind howled in the night.

The howling wind blew through the cracks in the rocks, making a whistling sound.

There are few high mountains north of Aida Snow Mountain, Gaxi Mountain Range act as a barrier, blocking most of the cold winds from the northern part of the Pagisto Plateau.

The Highland Headhunters emerged from a mountain pass, their bodies draped in fur-lined animal skins and tightly bound with leather ropes. They carried spears on their backs, swords at their waists, and led War Blade sheep by the hand in their other hand.

At night, they dared not ride argali sheep when crossing the mountains, otherwise they could easily be carried up some cliffs, and it would be very troublesome to climb down.

These headhunters were driven to the Land of the Ancestors by the Silver Pegasus Warrior and forced to hide in caves.

This time, they have emerged from the mountains once more, ready to launch a retaliatory attack against the spirits of the Pagisto Plateau.

Before them lay the southern end of the Gaxi Mountain Range. The headhunters knew there were several Black Iron Mine here. They were very familiar with the various mines on the Pagisto Plateau. They would often be sold to the mines by captured Half-Elf in exchange for Metal Ingots to forge weapons.

These mines have now been captured by the Silver Moon Elf, so these headhunters are preparing to take them back...

With a snap, a headhunter fell off his argali sheep, tumbling several times down the hillside before regaining his balance.

The argali sheep lay on the ground, one leg dangling from its trap, constantly moaning.

The headhunter who followed from behind drew his War Blade from his waist and severed the argali's head with a single stroke. He then took out a water pouch from his waist and collected the blood gushing from the argali's neck into the pouch.

The headhunter behind them led the argali sheep forward.

The headhunter who had fallen to the ground quickly got up, cursing as he returned to the group.

A group of headhunters walked south towards the Aida Snow Mountain, their backs to the wind, amidst the dark mountains.

The castle at the foot of the snow-capped mountain became increasingly clear in the eyes of these headhunters.

The headhunters began to get restless. They didn't make a sound and even tied the argali sheep together, not wanting them to move forward.

Headhunters began to gather in a rocky area.

Only when the rocky area was crowded with headhunters did they rush out of the rocky area and sneak towards the dark Black Iron Mine castle.

When the headhunters arrived at the fish-scale-shaped stone terraces in front of the castle, they quickly climbed up in their most familiar way.

However, many ropes were hung on these stacked stone walls, with iron bars attached to one end of each rope.

The headhunters were entangled in these ropes, and the iron bars clanged in the darkness...

In the howling north wind, the sound of the iron bars striking each other was extremely jarring.

Hearing the alarm bells ringing below the castle, the Half-Elf Warrior on the castle immediately woke up their companions who were dozing in the sheltered spot.

Then they picked up torches from behind the City Wall, lit the rockets in their hands, and their companions launched the rockets. One rocket after another drew beautiful trajectories in the night sky and landed on the hillside.

The headhunters climbing the terraced fields were revealed under the illumination of dozens of rockets.

"They're headhunters..."

The Half-Elf Warrior on the City Wall shouted at the top of his lungs.