Chapter 50 – One of Our Own

To deal with a magical beast, you can either cut off its head or pierce its heart. However, magical plants have neither heads nor hearts. To render them powerless, you must either destroy their magic crystal or extract it from their bodies.

Lin Wei felt himself growing dizzy. Raber—the lush green vine he owned, far more attractive than the Abel Vine—had coiled into a cocoon, wrapping him up and suspending him from the ceiling of the cave. Its sturdy texture effectively protected Lin Wei.

Using his spiritual power, he observed the battle below. Jerald proved to be a reliable combat partner, significantly reducing the pressure of defense. Duan Yu used magic to deal with the entangled vines and their sharp thorns, while Gungnir, the noble and beautiful weapon, took on the role of a lumberjack, thrusting straight toward the roots of the vines. It pierced through the layers of branches protecting the main stem, aiming for the magic crystal hidden deep within the thick main vine.

The effects of this indestructible weapon were evident. If it were a magical beast here, even a top-tier one would struggle to break through the vine’s defenses, let alone endure the toxic mist emitted by the flowers.

At this point, the odds of victory seemed favorable. Once the vine was dead, the entire plant would be worth collecting—dual-element magic crystals were far more valuable than single-element ones. The thorns on the vine could be used to craft magical weapons, the dried flowers could be ground into powder for making magical potions, and the highly toxic fruit had special uses as well…

The sounds of battle lasted for a short while, followed by a moment of complete silence. After the silence, the magic crystal fell to the ground, and the vines that had been waving in the air collapsed with a heavy thud that echoed through the cave.

Duan Yu paid no attention to this. As soon as Gungnir returned to his hand, he immediately headed toward where Lin Wei was suspended. Raber, hanging in mid-air, unfurled and released Lin Wei, who was caught by the mage below.

“How are you?”

Lin Wei shook his head vigorously, feeling much more awake. He steadied himself on the ground with the support of Duan Yu’s arm. “I’m fine—we need to collect the materials quickly. There might be other magical beasts attracted by the elements released when it died…”

“I’ll handle it,” Duan Yu said. “There’s still toxic mist here. You should go back underground.”

“Alright.” Lin Wei didn’t refuse.

Jerald received the command and disappeared into the ground. Soon, the entrance to the underground palace’s passage appeared before them. Lin Wei summoned the unicorn and descended into the passage with it.

He didn’t feel anything unusual at the moment, just dizziness and an overwhelming desire to sleep.

He took out the white fur of a magical wolf from his space ring and spread it on the stone bed. Yielding to his drowsiness, he lay down and muttered to Jerald before falling asleep, “You have spiritual power, so you can use the space ring too… I need to teach you how to take things out of it so you can arrange the palace every time.”

Jerald didn’t understand these complex words. It tilted its head and pressed its cool little body against Lin Wei’s forehead, which made him feel a bit more comfortable.

After using soul communication to tell Jerald to seal the passage once Duan Yu returned, Lin Wei drifted off into a deep sleep.

The hallucinogenic flowers… Lin Wei only hoped that he would have some nightmares and not do anything strange.

Siren Sea.

Night had fallen, and white lightning briefly illuminated the sky, also revealing the pale face of the wind mage on the deck.

She bit her lower lip, staring ahead as she focused all her spiritual power on changing the wind’s direction. Large, cold raindrops relentlessly pelted down, soaking her long hair. The Magic Wheel was tossed high by one wave after another, then dropped, causing the ship to sway violently as if it would capsize into the dark, menacing ocean at any moment.

Daniel activated several light-element magic crystals and tied them to the mast. The crystals emitted a faint glow in the deep darkness, barely allowing them to see the situation on the deck.

“I swear to the Goddess, if we make it back alive… I’ll never set foot on a Magic Wheel again!” Daniel’s face was pale, looking as though he might vomit at any moment.

“This isn’t the time for that!” Haitie brushed her wet hair behind her ears, struggling to steady herself on the violently rocking deck. The prophecy magic from the Astrology Tower had already been used, and Haitie had employed it to calm the waves, which had indeed been effective. However, it was far too profound, and Haitie, at her current age and level of power, couldn’t sustain it for long. She and Daniel were now manipulating scrolls, activating the defensive magic arrays on the Magic Wheel.

But the effects of these ancient magic arrays were diminishing. The Magic Wheel spun perilously in the massive waves, on the verge of being swallowed. Haitie closed her eyes and let out a short scream, which was quickly drowned out by the roaring wind and rain. The ocean seemed like a giant beast opening its maw, and the small Magic Wheel was struggling on the brink of death.

Only three mages remained on the deck, desperately trying to protect the Magic Wheel, but footsteps could be heard from the cabin door behind them.

“Stay in your rooms!” Daniel shouted without turning around. “We didn’t go through all that trouble rescuing you from that shattered ship just to have you come out and die!”

His words had no effect. The cabin door opened, and a man’s voice came through. “Mage…”

Before he could finish, the man let out a short scream.

“Go back!” Haitie managed to spare a bit of spiritual power to throw a barrier at him—only mages could barely protect themselves in the chaotic elemental storm!

“No, Mage, listen to me! I was a captain in the Imperial Navy! I can help you deal with the waves!”

Ah Lan, struggling to control the ship’s movement, her voice trembling from overuse of spiritual power, asked, “What should I do?”

“Miss—you’re doing it all wrong!” The captain, now in his area of expertise, spoke with confidence, his voice loud enough to be heard over the roaring waves and thunder. “Don’t avoid the waves! You need to point the bow in the same direction and charge into them! Otherwise, we’ll capsize sooner or later!”

“Charge into the waves?” Ah Lan looked at the towering waves and shouted, “That’s impossible! We’ll be thrown into the sky!”

“Trust me—I’ve been at sea for twenty years!” The captain clung tightly to the cabin door to keep from falling.

Another massive wave hit, and the ship lurched violently, nearly capsizing.

“Ah Lan—listen to him! It’s our only chance!” Daniel gripped Haitie’s arm tightly; she had almost been thrown overboard.

Ah Lan’s knuckles turned white as she clung to the railing. Facing the ocean’s gaping maw, she gritted her teeth and said, “Alright!”

The Magic Wheel had no rudder, and the gale howled around it, forcing the pointed bow to turn and charge toward the waves.

The Magic Wheel was carried high by the wave, soaring into the dark sky—then plummeted down, almost flying through the air before crashing into the sea where the wave had struck.

“We didn’t capsize…” Ah Lan murmured, recovering from the momentary blankness in her mind during the fall.

“Keep going!” the captain shouted to her.

The wind mage’s bloodshot eyes flashed with determination. The gale carried the small ship, charging into the next wave.

After navigating several waves in this way, the captain wiped the rain from his face, his voice weak from the intense stress, and said to Daniel, “Sir, please tell me the ship’s heading so I can guide the lady on how to turn—otherwise, we might veer off course.”

Daniel pointed out the direction to Siren Island. “Thank you, Captain.”

“Heh… I never thought I’d be thanked by a mage,” the captain said, scratching his head in pleasant surprise.

“Don’t mention it,” Haitie said, her breathing somewhat calmer. “Without you, we might have already perished.”

These young mages didn’t seem as terrifying as the rumors suggested—the captain’s fear of mages diminished significantly, and he began to focus entirely on guiding the Magic Wheel’s navigation.

“Turn now, to the right front.”

“When two wave peaks come at the same time, don’t head straight into them! Turn the bow to the left—that’s it!”

“Make the wind stronger, go straight through!”

Ah Lan followed the experienced captain’s commands, steering the bow. The Magic Wheel navigated through the waves, becoming much more stable than before.

“Whew…” Daniel let out a long breath. “We might make it safely after all.”

Haitie finally had enough energy to cast a large magic barrier, shielding them from the pouring rain—though they were already soaked to the bone, so it hardly mattered now.

The perilous and crisis-filled half of the night finally passed, and the shadow of a massive beast appeared in the distance. As the captain collapsed onto the deck in terror, the mages cheered, “We’ve arrived!”

Daniel comforted the captain, “Don’t be afraid, that’s one of our own.”

A monster almost the size of an island! The captain, who had thought he was doomed, wiped the cold sweat from his brow and weakly muttered, “One of our own…”

The giant beast clearly noticed the Magic Wheel and let out a deep, resonant cry that pierced through the rain. A subtle vibration accompanied the sound, and the waves around the ship immediately calmed. The Magic Wheel sailed smoothly toward the island ahead.

Daniel exhaled deeply, his tense body relaxing as he sat down on the deck next to the captain.

The two female mages also stopped caring about their appearance—in fact, they had none left to care about. They sat down by the railing.

The mages looked at each other’s disheveled state and laughed—it was a laugh of relief after a long, harrowing ordeal, both tired and relaxed.

“By the way, Captain,” Daniel turned to the captain, “why were you in the Mermaid Sea?”

“The Mermaid Sea? We mainlanders call it the Siren Ocean. I was ordered to assist a high-ranking official from the Imperial Capital—he was also rescued by you and is now in the cabin,” the captain replied. “During the sailing season, we can safely navigate to that area, but the storm season arrived early—I’ve served the Tidis family for so many years, and the storm and sailing seasons have always been so predictable, who could have guessed…”

Before the captain could finish, Haitie and Daniel’s eyes widened simultaneously. “Tidis?”