Judging by its energy type, the Prototype fell into the category of arcane golems.
Its appearance, however, was much closer to an infantry fighting vehicle.
Apart from the magic patterns coursing with arcane energy, it bore no resemblance to an arcane golem.
Herad agonized over it for quite a while but still could not settle on a name.
In the end, he took inspiration from the gnomes, who had named their many-legged robots walking tanks.
If naming something could be that simple, then I'll call mine an Arcane War Machine.
A combination of an arcane golem and a combat vehicle-Arcane War Machine is the perfect name!
With the first Arcane War Machine complete, making the rest became much easier.
All he had to do was copy the Prototype exactly.
Herad made five more Arcane War Machines, bringing the total to an auspicious number.
Then he handed three of them over to Sylvanas.
Looking at the freshly finished machines, Sylvanas was very pleased that Herad had supplied her first.
Looks like my little brother really is closest to me!
At that thought, Sylvanas slipped an arm around Herad's shoulders, leaned in with her rosy lips, and kissed him on the cheek.
Feeling that she had gone a little too far, Sylvanas turned away, her face flushed red.
It was the first time Herad had enjoyed such an affectionate gesture.
But Sylvanas often kissed her owl when she was happy.
At the thought that his kiss might have been nothing more than the treatment a pet received, Herad's sunny mood promptly clouded over.
"Whatever you do, don't tell our eldest sister about this. I'll be off now."
After giving her that warning, Herad mounted his Hawkstrider and prepared to leave.
Having regained her composure, Sylvanas turned around and waved goodbye.
"Don't worry. I'm not going to provoke that bossy woman."
"All right, then I'll go deliver her machines."
"Have a safe trip!"
Watching the white Hawkstrider swiftly carry Herad away, Sylvanas scratched her slightly warm ear in puzzlement.
"Strange. Are my eyes playing tricks on me? Why does Whitey seem so much faster?"
Herad's white Hawkstrider was a top-quality mount, one in a hundred.
But however good its natural qualities were, it still had limits.
The high elves had already fully developed the potential of these excellent mounts, so further breakthroughs should have been impossible.
Naturally, Sylvanas took the white Hawkstrider's considerable increase in speed very seriously.
But the fellow was simply too fast!
Ostriches could reach speeds of seventy kilometers per hour.
Hawkstriders had a body structure fairly similar to that of ostriches.
But they were larger and could spread their broad wings to use rising air currents for extra speed.
When the white Hawkstrider ran with its broad wings spread, it even looked vaguely as though it might take flight.
In just a dozen seconds or so, it rounded a bend in the road and disappeared into the sea of golden trees.
Watching the flocks of startled birds rise above the forest, Sylvanas decided to get to the bottom of it when Herad returned.
The extraordinarily swift white Hawkstrider took just over half an hour to reach the boundary between Eversong Woods and Silvermoon Forest.
A broad river running east to west neatly separated Eversong Woods from Silvermoon Forest.
Herad found a place by the river to sit down and rest.
The white Hawkstrider wandered along the riverbank, searching for schools of fish that swam close to shore.
Whenever it spotted a suitable target, it quietly stretched its long neck toward it, then struck with an incredibly swift peck.
No fish could escape its sharp beak.
Carefully bred by the high elves, Hawkstriders ranked near the top of the food chain across the entire continent.
When left to roam in the forest, they ate anything that ran on the ground, swam in the water, or flew low overhead.
Even lynxes feared these Hawkstriders, which ate meat and plants alike.
They would steer clear as soon as they spotted one in the distance.
With neither speed nor strength on their side, how could they fight a Hawkstrider?
Lynxes foolish enough to try often became a delicious meal.
At some point, the white Hawkstrider fishing by the river caught a large fish weighing more than five kilograms.
It happily ran over to Herad with the fish in its beak.
Seeing it bring the fish over, Herad knew exactly what it wanted.
It clearly wanted him to add some seasoning and improve the fish's flavor.
Herad summoned his contracted Air Elemental and gave the large fish a simple treatment of electric shocks and wind-blade slicing.
Once the process was complete, the large fish had become a pile of rough-looking, half-cooked slices.
After sprinkling them with pepper and salt, he laid the freshly prepared fish slices on a stone slab.
Though the preparation was crude, the white Hawkstrider was quite satisfied.
In just a few mouthfuls, it swallowed every slice.
With its appetite satisfied, it stood nearby on one leg, its eyelids drooping as it dozed.
Resting on one leg allowed it to give each foot a break in turn while remaining ready to fight or run at a moment's notice.
With the little tyrant of a white Hawkstrider standing there, the surrounding area became a forbidden zone that no animal dared approach.
Herad took out an Enchanted Fishing Rod, baited the hook, and leisurely enjoyed some fishing.
Though he no longer planned to become a master angler, his fishing skills had not deteriorated because of it.
The hook on his Enchanted Fishing Rod exerted a certain attraction on fish.
Its line was also difficult to snap, and the rod would not break.
Good fishing skills, coupled with an Enchanted Fishing Rod that practically amounted to cheating.
Against the fish in the river, it was a completely one-sided massacre!
He had even caught smaller sharks in the sea with it.
He was only fishing casually for fun, but the river's fish suffered for it!
After napping for an hour, the white Hawkstrider woke up, happily ate two large fish, and once again raced off with Herad on its back.
A mount that could travel long distances on a diet of fish was incredible value for money!
But Herad had paid no attention to its speed the entire time.
Even if he had noticed that the Hawkstrider had become much faster, he would not have thought much of the change.
Eversong Woods and Silvermoon Forest were so vast that it might have stumbled upon some lucky encounter and eaten a rare natural treasure.
A massive stone arch bridge spanned the river, which was hundreds of meters wide, maintaining an overland connection between the northern and southern regions.
The white Hawkstrider happily crossed the bridge and reached the lush forest on the opposite bank.
It had always lived in Silvermoon Forest, where everything was green.
The golden Eversong Woods to the north always left it feeling a little out of place.
After dropping Herad off at the Farstriders Camp, it dashed out of the camp and headed west.
The rangers training near the camp saw a white figure streak past and all stopped to watch.
Only after the white Hawkstrider ran into the forest did they look away and begin discussing it.
"So fast! Can a Swift-class Hawkstrider really run that quickly?"
"I don't think they're that fast. No, they're definitely not!"
"Right, there's no way they could be that fast."
When Alleria saw Herad arrive, she curiously asked him about the white Hawkstrider.
"Why has Whitey gotten so much faster?"
Herad looked in confusion at the rangers gathering around him.
"Has it gotten faster?"
At his question, the rangers all nodded in unison.
"Absolutely. It's much faster."
"It's clearly faster than other Hawkstriders of the same class."
"It shouldn't be possible for it to get any faster."
Only when everyone said the same thing did Herad believe it was true.
Unable to get an answer from him, the rangers cast Eagle Eye and conducted a thorough sweep to see what the white Hawkstrider was doing.
Before you continue