It took Elonore three months to translate all the writing on the inner walls of the sea beast's skeleton.
The contents were briefer than expected: an elven saint had once tried to use the pressure of the deep sea to break through, and failed.
Before dying, they left behind a record pointing to another high-concentration aether source—somewhere underground on the East Continent.
At the end of the text were only two coordinate terms: the name of a city-state and a direction.
Su Li remembered.
Elonore had chosen the travel carriage.
It was a medium-sized enclosed carriage pulled by two horses. Constant-temperature circuits were embedded in the carriage walls, and shock-absorbing rune pads were installed at all four corners. Two quilts were stacked in the corner, so thick they looked like two white bears squatting there.
Su Li finished reading the bill.
"Why are the carriage curtains made of elven silk?"
Elonore was carrying toolboxes into the carriage without even turning her head. "Ordinary cloth can't keep out the sand and dust."
Su Li lifted the curtain and pinched it. It felt as smooth as water and as thin as cicada wings. Held to the light, it revealed an extremely fine layer of copper wire woven into its pattern.
"This is a moisture-proof circuit." He pointed at the copper wire.
"Mm."
He felt along the edge of the curtain again. "What about this? Bug repellent?"
"...Mm."
"And this layer?"
Elonore set down the toolbox and turned around. "Soundproofing."
Su Li released the curtain. "So you layered three circuits onto a single curtain."
"The journey is long."
"What I'm asking is why you didn't tell me beforehand."
Elonore looked at him. Her pale golden eyes shone almost harshly in the afternoon sunlight.
"If I had, you would've replaced it with linen."