That night, Xing Ye did not have her practice condensing the Water Blade, but only had her release a sphere of water suspended in her palm, keeping it stable and intact.
Xuan Xi sustained it for nearly a quarter of an hour before she gradually could not hold on anymore, and the water sphere wobbled unsteadily.
Xing Ye looked at that water sphere, flicked it with her finger, and a layer of ripples spread across its surface, then it burst with a pop, splashing water everywhere.
Xing Ye nodded, then said, “Not bad, you’ve improved.”
The Flying Boat had already traveled more than half the journey, and the land beneath the hull had changed from green to yellowish-brown.
Scattered patches of sparse vegetation occasionally appeared on the land, lighter in color, the leaves of the plants all curled up from the scorching sun.
When Xuan Xi stood at the edge of the deck looking down, she noticed several dark shapes moving on the ground, unsure whether they were Magic Beasts or ordinary wild animals.
Xing Ye walked out of the passenger cabin, holding a telescope.
She walked to the bow and stood steady, rose on her tiptoes, and extended the telescope to take a look at those dark shapes below.
Those dark shapes moved quickly across the ground, not many in number, but their direction happened to match the Flying Boat’s route, like a school of fish chasing the boat.
“The border regions of the Central Continent often see these small and medium-sized Magic Beast groups. They can maintain high-speed movement on the ground, but they lack the ability to fly, so they pose no threat to us. They feed on small animals, but when hungry they will also cooperate to hunt large animals.”
She placed the telescope on the bow’s railing and turned to look at the five people standing on the deck.
“Perfect timing. Today I want to eat their meat, so your task is to go get me some meat to eat, and while you’re at it, test your combat ability as a team.”
After she said this, she raised a hand and gestured toward the edge of the ship’s side.
“Go down.”
“Jump down from here?” Elsa poked her head out to glance at the height of the ground, then turned to look at Xing Ye with a frown.
Xing Ye jumped up and patted Elsa’s head.
“Obviously that’s impossible. I’ll lower the altitude. Don’t worry, you won’t fall. And before you drop, remember to use Spiritual Energy to cushion yourselves.”
The Flying Boat began a slow descent.
The grass blades and gravel on the ground became increasingly clear, and the outlines of those dozen or so dark shapes gradually became distinct.
Their size was roughly comparable to an adult wild wolf, with thick limbs and protruding jawbones, clearly Magic Beasts with powerful bite force.
The Flying Boat stopped at a height of about ten meters above the ground.
Xing Ye stood at the bow looking down at the dozen or so Magic Wolves that had already stopped.
“Go down. Clean them up. I’ll be up here blessing you.”
The Team of Five jumped down one after another.
When Xuan Xi landed, a Water Curtain spread out beneath her feet, absorbing most of the impact.
By the time she dismissed the Water Curtain, SigrdrÃfa’s Thunder Light was already glowing, Elsa spat out Flame, Reggie erected an Earth Wall, and Veralis stood at the very back, several slender and sharp Ice Spikes condensing in her palm.
The battle ended faster than expected.
Although those dark shapes were not slow, facing the Team of Five’s flawless coordination, they had no room to counterattack.
Reggie’s Earth Wall spread out in an arc-shaped defensive line, splitting the Magic Wolf pack in two.
Elsa’s Flame pressed out from behind the wall, spreading forward along the ground, while Xuan Xi’s Water Curtain spread out from the side, sealing off the Magic Wolves’ escape route.
She could feel that the current coverage area and condensation speed of the Water Curtain were both larger and faster than a few days ago, and the entire circuit for casting the spell had almost no sense of obstruction.
When the Magic Wolves tried to circle around from the right, SigrdrÃfa’s Thunder Light accurately struck the two running at the front.
The silver-white electric arc did not explode immediately upon hitting the target, but spread along the skin’s surface, then pierced through the entire wolf’s body, causing those two Magic Wolves’ bodies to lose support.
Veralis’s Ice Spikes then filled in from the rear, hitting the flanks of two Magic Wolves trying to break out through the Water Curtain.
In no time, the five of them had killed nearly half the Magic Wolves.
After losing nearly half their number, the Magic Wolf pack began to retreat, collapsing as quickly as mice encountering a cat.
Reggie and the others did not pursue.
Only after confirming they had disappeared at the edge of the horizon did they lower their guard.
The Flying Boat slowly landed on an open patch of ground not far away.
Xing Ye jumped down from the edge of the ship’s side, her boots creaking on the grass.
Several Magic Wolf corpses lay scattered on the ground.
She walked toward the nearest corpse, crouched down, and scanned it.
She drew a short blade from her waist, cut a circle around the base of the corpse’s hind leg, and peeled off a complete piece of meat from its body.
The meat was dark red in color, with a thin layer of fat covering the surface, glistening with grease under the afternoon sunlight.
She lifted it up and held it before her eyes to examine it, and only after confirming it was correct did she turn to look at the Team of Five.
“See that? On this kind of Magic Wolf, this cut of meat is the best. Tonight we’ll eat roasted Magic Wolf meat. Go cut off the rest of the meat for me.”
She carried that piece of meat in her hand and turned to walk toward the Flying Boat.
After Xing Ye got on the boat, the Team of Five split up, following her example to cut the meat off the Magic Wolf carcasses.
After the Flying Boat rose again, the Magic Wolf corpses on the ground had been cut to pieces.
Several other types of Magic Beasts were tentatively approaching, likely treating these Magic Wolf corpses as today’s meal.
When Xuan Xi carried the last piece of meat wrapped in cloth back to the deck, Elsa had already used Spiritual Energy to start a small fire in the corner at the side of the deck—the fire was not large, flickering bigger and smaller in the wind.
Xing Ye took out a short blade and a bundle of thin iron skewers from the cabin, sliced the meat into thin pieces, and threaded them onto the skewers with movements unexpectedly skilled.
After the meat slices were roasted until they changed color, the fat inside seeped out and dripped onto the edge of the fire, making a sizzling sound.
Elsa impatiently leaned in to take a look, but got scalded by the steam and pulled her hand back.
Reggie handed her the first roasted skewer.
She took it, blew on it twice, then swallowed it in one bite, saying “Delicious!” while breathing through her mouth.
Veralis sat a bit farther away, also holding a skewer, eating slowly and elegantly.
Xing Ye stood at the bow and did not come over, her back to them, looking at the distant edge of the horizon, occasionally taking a bite of the roasted meat in her hand.
When Xuan Xi took the meat skewer from Sige’s hand, her fingers touched her fingertips.
She pretended nothing had happened and lowered her head to take a bite.
The meat was a bit more tender than she had imagined, the aroma of fat mixing with grains of salt, a perfectly delicious flavor.
The wind passed between the two of them, blowing the smoke from the fire into a thin gray-white line connecting the two.
Elsa finished one skewer and picked up another, mumbling something with her mouth full, roughly meaning “this meat is really good, can we eat this kind of meat again in the future.”
Reggie replied “as long as we run into these Magic Wolves on the road.”
Elsa thought about it, then said, “then forget it, fighting monsters is pretty tiring.”
Reggie did not respond, only shaking his head helplessly.
Xing Ye finally finished with the piloting system and walked over.
She walked back from the bow to the side of the fire.
Elsa was about to say “Vice Principal, would you like another skewer,” but stopped before she finished speaking, because Xing Ye’s expression was different from what she had seen before.
Xing Ye’s gaze fell on the cooled charcoal ashes, as if recalling the past.
She stood there for a while before speaking, her voice carrying a dull weight, “I used to eat roasted meat like this too, except it was on that person’s boat.”
Her voice did not pause, “Back then I had not yet become Vice Principal, and she was just an ordinary teacher.”
Xing Ye did not say who “she” was, but Xuan Xi noticed that the corner of her mouth moved when she said that sentence.
She pulled her gaze back, looked at the few skewers of roasted meat on the deck that had not been finished, and said “Roasted well.”
Then she turned and walked into the passenger cabin.
The wind was still blowing, and the aroma of roasted meat had not fully dissipated.
Xuan Xi lowered her head, finished the roasted meat in her hand cleanly, and placed the skewers neatly.
SigrdrÃfa sat right beside her, the two sitting shoulder to shoulder, together enjoying the beautiful evening glow in the sky.
The Flying Boat passed through that crimson sky, flying toward the end of the horizon.
The terrain below gradually changed, from flat wilderness to rolling hills.
At the end of the horizon, faint outlines of some structures could be seen, possibly watchtowers, or perhaps the edge of a city.