Although she said “I hope so,” Weilin didn’t dare be optimistic.
Perhaps the Snow Kingdom still appeared calm and harmonious on the surface, but Weilin knew that when true catastrophe struck, it wouldn’t even take a day for its existence to be permanently obliterated under the trampling firepower and torrent of steel.
The suddenness and cruelty of war are no different in any world or era.
A thousand-mile dike can be destroyed by an ant hole. The more critical the moment, the less one can relax their vigilance.
“Weilin, so what if it’s not the Ice Soul Lotus? Your expression… it’s gotten a bit gloomy, are you okay?”
Airi’s face was timid with concern; she instinctively asked out of care.
Weilin paused slightly at the words, her eyes turning to the ranger.
“I… am gloomy?”
“Mmm, I wouldn’t exactly call it gloomy… How should I put it… it feels like you’re overly fixated on some matter, to the point where even a slight negligence on your part makes you look dejected and self-critical.”
“……” Weilin pouted, then smiled. “I’m fine now.”
“Mm, good that you’re fine.” Airi also beamed happily, then continued, “Weilin, what should we do now?”
“Let’s go back and find them!”
“Ah… we just barely escaped, why… go back again?”
“Consider it a mistake in my strategic command. There was no need for us to run just now.”
Weilin pursed her lips and analyzed one point at a time: “The Second Prince Wu Gu suffered a backlash from his own magic; his injuries aren’t light. That Imperial citizen is only Platinum-ranked like you. Not to mention we have the equipment advantage, there’s even less reason we couldn’t beat them… We must go back and capture that Imperial citizen to interrogate him about his purpose.”
“…But, even if the Second Prince’s injuries aren’t light, that attack he launched earlier was too terrifying. Can we really win?”
“Do you trust me?”
Even though the Absolute Deflection Prism’s ability was exhausted for the day, Weilin was not the type to fear death.
The ranger, gazed upon by the girl’s clear and bright eyes, felt her heart fluster slightly and nodded vigorously in response.
“If Weilin isn’t afraid, how can I be a coward?”
Thus, the girl and the ranger set off once more.
Doubling back.
Their target: the Snow Demon cave they had only recently left.
A few minutes later, when the two stepped back into the area, the cave and the deep lair within had already completely collapsed. The passage and entrance were buried and blocked by countless jagged rocks.
No one could possibly be inside anymore.
In fact, thinking that such a method could kill a Platinum Warrior and a Legendary Mage was just too unreliable.
Just like that day when Wu Yin jumped the wall in desperation and suddenly attacked, Reki produced a magic Teleportation Scroll that took two people and directly fled… who doesn’t carry a few life-saving trump cards?
Weilin, unwilling to give up, split up with Airi to search for their traces nearby, but both came up empty-handed.
Even deliberately splitting up didn’t lure them out. Tsk.
Then there is only one possibility: Wu Gu truly intended to hide like a coward to the very end.
“Huff…… Weilin, should we keep searching?” Airi asked.
Even the ranger, the best at scouting, was slightly out of breath when they regrouped. It seemed Airi had truly searched with great effort.
Weilin shook her head. “No need. The Island of Illusory Snow and Flowing Ice is so vast, the terrain complex, and visibility low. If they want to hide, no one can find them except Huan Xuezhi.”
“Then what next…”
“Farm monsters. If we remain this inactive, we might really fail to win. However……”
Weilin spoke halfway and suddenly fell silent, making Airi’s heart itch with impatience. Unable to hold back, she asked, “However what?”
“Nothing. I’ll tell you when there’s one hour left in the competition.” The girl smiled mysteriously, refusing to say more. The ranger let out a mournful sigh, her expression turning resentful and despondent.
“Alright, Miss Ranger, cheer up. I paid you a lot of money; you need to make a contribution worthy of it, okay?”
Airi was unconvinced, thinking to herself: How was her contribution lacking?
In the blink of an eye, cold light was unsheathed. Airi charged at the nearest Snow Demon to start building her stacks, the ranger once again embarking on a wind-speed journey in pursuit of joy.
“Alright, alright, Lady Weilin, just watch closely! The Wind Ranger, about to fully stack the 99-layer Elegy of the Wind God, will now put on a magnificent and prolonged ultimate killing show! Where my steps tread shall be strewn with corpses! I just hope your speed at collecting Snow Essence can keep up with my Wind Sword Way!!”
…
…
…
Three hours later, a certain ranger felt her body completely drained. Collapsed on the snowfield in exhaustion, she glanced at the girl’s tight, beautiful legs wrapped in black over-the-knee socks. As if lightning struck her heart, her eyes trembled violently, and she suddenly had an epiphany.
Raising her limpid autumn-water eyes pitifully, Airi looked at her with puppy-dog eyes and asked:
“I don’t want to try hard anymore… Can Weilin be my sugar mommy……?”
Weilin: “?”
?
Airi didn’t know how she endured the rest of the time.
At first, it felt so happy being with Weilin. So, why did things turn out like this?
Limitless exploitation, as if trying to recoup the loss of that 300,000 Gold Coin reward.
But no matter how hard Airi tried, in the end, she only managed to harvest exactly 1200 Snow Essence. Weilin still suffered a net loss of 180,000.
It shouldn’t have been this little, but the Snow Demons on the Island of Illusory Snow and Flowing Ice were limited to begin with. Plus, with nearly ten thousand hunters scraping the island’s periphery and gradually pushing inward, by the end, it was hard to even catch a glimpse of a Snow Demon’s shadow.
Of course, holding 1200 Snow Essence was basically a guarantee of victory. Weilin didn’t force Airi to venture deep into the dangerous island interior to seek fortune amidst peril.
“Nicely done. Thanks for your hard work.”
Just as Airi was lost in thought, Weilin produced from somewhere a pot of Snow Lotus nourishing soup, brimming with luxurious ingredients and overflowing with spiritual energy. Airi blankly accepted the large bowl Weilin had filled for her and instantly teared up.
“Wuwuwu, Weilin, this is also… too hot!!”
“In this place, it’ll get cold in a second if you don’t drink. Hurry, how does it taste?”
Weilin’s starry eyes sparkled, urging her with an expression of absolute confidence in her own cooking.
Without a doubt, this was the Millennium Snow Lotus they had just snatched today, directly stewed by Weilin’s Magic Substitute inside the Eternal Space.
Airi’s gaze was a little dazed. Seeing how the heat of the soup would rapidly dissipate in the environment of the Island of Illusory Snow and Flowing Ice, she didn’t care if it was medicine or if it tasted good. She simply closed her eyes, gulped loudly, and swallowed a large mouthful.
Then, an incredibly pure, scorching, yet surprisingly gentle energy flowed through her body, dispelling all the chill. Not only did it replenish her depleted and exhausted body, but even her flagging spirit underwent an astonishing sublimation in its rapid recovery. The ranger’s entire being felt somewhat light and airy…
Mage Rank 45→48
Airi: ?
The ranger suddenly had another epiphany. If not for Weilin’s deliberate squeeze, her condition wouldn’t have been depleted to this extent. And if her condition hadn’t been so depleted, the effect of drinking the Snow Lotus soup would certainly have been greatly diminished…
Although words were unnecessary, there seemed to be no other way to express gratitude besides thanking her.
“……Thank you.”
“Drink it all. You might even have another breakthrough.”
“What about Weilin?”
“Of course, I’ll drink some too, although I’m already max level.”
“Ha…?”
“There’s still one hour left. After drinking, we need to hurry back to the initial teleportation point.”
“Why go back? Once the time is up, we’ll be forcefully teleported back anyway. We can still look for Snow Demons, we should be able to get a few more Snow Essence!”
“No need to search anymore. We’ll just buy some directly. Everyone’s probably back at the starting point now, beginning to sell their Snow Essence.”
“Eh… has Weilin participated in this kind of competition before?”
“No.”
“Then how did you, a fellow newbie like me, know this would happen!”
“I guessed.” Weilin paused, and under Airi’s stunned little gaze, the girl’s bright black eyes seemed to radiate a distant and wise light, “…or rather, since the final ranking is determined by the amount of Snow Essence, isn’t it a matter of course that mass trading would occur right before the competition ends? And as for the trading spot, it could only possibly be the initial teleportation point.”
