Lin Ze walked in front, tapping the wand towards the water from time to time to solidify a hard ground on which to stand.
Saira followed behind, walking on the path Lin Ze took, and followed closely.
Sela As he walked, he took out a reed stick from the bundle and inserted it into the swamp to mark it.
After bypassing the dark pits, the waterway widened again, and a relatively open water surface appeared in front of us.
There is a layer of duckweed floating on the water, which is shiny green.
Several white water lotus flowers poked out from among the duckweeds, with water drops still hanging on the petals.
Lin Ze stopped.
"What's wrong?" Sela asked.
"Did you smell something sweet?"
Saira sniffed.
There is indeed a very faint sweet smell in the air, which you can't even notice unless you smell it carefully.
Lin Ze squatted down and used the wand to push away the duckweed.
The stems and leaves under the water are densely intertwined, and milky white sap is oozing out from the broken ends of several stems. The sweet smell comes from the sap.
"Old Matt is talking about poisonous gas?"
"It's not like that." Lin Ze shook his head.
He used "Summoning Charm" to attract a toad that was lurking nearby, and threw it into the stems and leaves of the water lily.
Several nearby stems shrank suddenly and wrapped around the toad.
After a few seconds, the surface of the toad's body was covered with a layer of thick, milky white juice, and the flesh and skin all over its body were corroded by the juice, leaving bloody holes. After a few kicks, the toad lost all signs of life.
"There are quite a lot of dangerous creatures in this swamp." Lin Ze said with a smile.
Sela watched on the sidelines with chills running down his spine.
Lin Ze used the wand to open the water lotus clump and clear a narrow path among the duckweeds.
The stems and leaves of the water lily shrank very quickly, like a group of disturbed snakes burrowing into the water. He walked quickly through with Saira.
It turns out that this swamp is surprisingly big.
Lin Ze The two of them walked all day long. The moment the sun set, the white mist on the water doubled in thickness, and the line of sight suddenly shrank from two or three miles away to about ten steps away.
Lin Ze Standing on the mound and looking around, all he can see is the gray fog and the looming reed tips in the fog.
There were several low calls of unknown water birds in the distance.
"Looking for a place to stay for the night?" Saira squatted down and pressed the ground under his feet.
Lin Ze tilted his head to the west. "Over there, about two hundred steps away, there is a larger open space."
Saira nodded, now she no longer had any doubts about Lin Ze's words.
After all, the magical witchcraft of the other party is reflected in every aspect of life.
The two walked about two hundred steps under the light of "Lumos", and they saw a relatively open space.
There are several dwarf willow trees growing in the open space, and the ground is flat, which is perfect as a temporary stop.
There are a few stones piled up in the willow bushes. Lin Ze used Transfiguration to turn them into a simple temporary stone house and a stone stove that can make a fire for cooking.
Sela walked in and out of the stone house in surprise, and kept mumbling, it would be great if he could have such a skill.
Lin Ze squatted in front of the stone stove and used his wand to light the collected dead branches.
The flames burst out, and the orange-red light illuminated his face.
Saira cut the bacon into thin slices and placed them on a thin stone slab, the flames burning the stone slab.
The fat came out sizzlingly, and the burnt aroma of bacon mixed with the sour smell of pickles was particularly enticing in the cold and humid air.
"When you wizards go out, do you never have to think about making a fire?" Saira asked, turning over the pieces of meat.
"More or less, making fire is the most basic magic for wizards. Young wizards with some talent can understand it at the age of eleven or twelve."
"You can play with fire at the age of eleven or twelve?" Saira raised his eyebrows.
"Yes, it's just that young wizards are not allowed to use magic outside of school or without their guardians present until they reach adulthood. This is the rule."
Lin Ze flipped the dough on the stone. "It's just that the first thing most eleven or twelve-year-old wizards do after getting their first wand is secretly practice some simple Charms at home, and then they will receive warnings from adults."
Saira burst out laughing, and the sparks in the fire jumped up twice.
"What about you? Did you do this kind of thing when you were a child?"
"When I was a kid... things were different." Lin Ze pinched the dough and turned it over.
"I'm actually not a very talented person. It wasn't until I was eleven years old, when the school gave me a notice, that I realized how special I was."
He didn't elaborate.
Saira didn't ask any further questions. She could tell that there were some things that Lin Ze didn't want to say. Just like herself, everyone has some stories that they don't want to share with others.
When the bacon was fried, Saira picked it up with the tip of a knife and gave half of it to Lin Ze.
The meat slices are so thin that they are translucent, salty and crispy when bitten into your mouth, and the oil drips down from the corners of your mouth.
Lin Ze ate three slices in a row, stuffed pickles into the pancake, rolled it up and took a big bite.
The pickles are made from mustard greens and are so sour that it's hard to chew. Fortunately, the oil that goes with the bacon is just enough to relieve the greasiness.
After eating and tidying up, Saira took out the blanket from his backpack and spread it in the stone house. Lin Ze thoughtfully divided the stone house into two compartments.
"Tell me, what was this swamp like a long time ago?" Sela's voice came from the stone house.
"I don't know, maybe it's a big lake, maybe it's a depression left after the sea recedes."
Lin Ze answered while placing defensive spells around him.
"Then is there any way for you wizards to see what they were like before?"
"Yes, there is a spell called "Echo Charm", which can use magic power to trace what happened in a place over a period of time. But it consumes too much magic power, and it can only be seen roughly, and the specific details also depend on luck."
"Then can you use it?"
"This kind of spell cannot be used casually. Before using "Echo Charm", you must at least understand the surrounding environment and human relations. If you want to go back in time for a person who has a strong cause and effect on the course of history, this spell can instantly drain an adult wizard's magic power."
"Oh." Saira turned over and wrapped the blanket tighter.
After a moment of silence, she spoke again, "You said before that you came from a very far away place, how far away?"
Lin Ze's hand stopped.
"So far... you'd never imagine."
"Further than the the North border?"
"The North How far is the border?" Lin Ze laughed.
"Where I come from, you can't even find it on a map, at least not on the maps of this era."
Saira propped up half of her body, stuck her head out of the stone house and stared at him blankly. The firelight reflected on her face, and her gray eyes reflected two dancing orange masses.
"What is 'this era'?"
Lin Ze didn't answer, just shrugged.
Saira waited for a while, and when he saw that he didn't speak, he lay back again.
"I don't want to say forget it."
"It's not that I don't want to say it, it's that you wouldn't believe it if I told you."
Lin Ze After finishing the spell, he sat under the willow tree and leaned against the trunk, listening to the bubbling swamp bubbles rising in the distance.
The wood in the fire was almost gone, so he used his wand to attract some more dry wood.
The fog above the head dispersed a little, revealing a few blurry stars.
He suddenly remembered Mia and Sirius.
I don't know where the two of them were sent by that key.
"Don't die." He muttered softly.