In the morning, Michelle, Ivona, Kieran, and Anastasia left the city. Just behind the city walls, Michelle summoned Tenether, which once again transford into a huge black crow, letting out a loud cry.
That made Michelle raise a brow as she got on. Was the monster finally willing to communicate with her? A small smile rose on her lips.
When everyone got on, Michelle patted Tenether’s neck and it flew them high up.
"Go north..." Michelle said lazily as she lay down.
With a happy chirp in response, Tenether flapped its wings and set off.
The rest of the group were quite taken aback. Michelle had already told them about what happened in Blue Forest City, but it was still surprising to see a huge monster acting so ek.
Even Michelle was surprised. After she had ford a contract with Tenether, it hadn’t made a single sound. It had just acted like a dumb transport beast.
So why was it suddenly acting differently? She liked the change, but it unsettled her a bit.
After flying for a long ti, Tenether stopped in mid-air. In front of the group was a huge mountain range covered in snow.
Staring at it, Michelle felt amazing. The cold winds from the mountains were perfect for her constitution.
But the rest of the group weren’t in such good states. That was why Tenether stopped. It could feel the people atop its back starting to shudder in the cold.
"Why would the Sloan family live in a place like this?" Kieran complained a bit.
"It suits the masters of the black market..." Anastasia grumbled as she summoned her soul leash to warm herself. Two sleeves of black raven feathers adorned her forearms, spreading up to form a coat.
Seeing that, Ivona raised a brow.
"Ana, can you make that spread to us too?" she asked curiously.
"Probably yes..." Anastasia nodded.
The feathers then moved down to her palms, and slowly, two black coats appeared in front of her.
Kieran and Ivona gratefully took them. They could keep themselves warm with their spirit energy, but it was quite taxing, especially since the mountains were going against their elents.
Kieran was a fire-elent Spirit Master, so the cold snow was his enemy.
And Ivona was a light-elent Spirit Master, and since the mountains were covered by thick forests which created dark shade, her elent was being suppressed too.
So it was much easier and wiser for Anastasia to create coats for them, which didn’t take much energy from her. Keeping one’s soul leash present was actually easier than concealing it.
The three begrudgingly glanced at Michelle. She was completely enjoying herself in the cold winds.
Feeling that everyone was fine, Tenether flapped its wings again and flew toward the mountains. It was told to go north, so unless Michelle told it to stop, it would fly forward.
Michelle sat up and looked down. When Tenether was above the outer ranges of the mountain range, she decided it was ti to go down.
Before departing, she had discussed with Kieran, Ivona, and Anastasia that they would land in the outer regions of the mountains so they could scout the area and find a hideout.
"Tene, land on the clearing!" Michelle’s voice resonated under the clouds.
Tenether didn’t need to be told twice and instantly started falling headfirst toward a clearing between the forests.
Even Michelle was shocked by that, so naturally, Anastasia, Ivona, and Kieran nearly scread. It felt like they were about to fall off.
But Tenether thought about it, and before a tragedy could happen, four ropes of void appeared and wrapped around the four people, safely tying them to its back.
When Tenether landed, laughter erupted in the clearing as the group of four rolled off the bird’s back. They didn’t look like they were in the right state of mind.
But that was to be expected. Tenether had pulled a shocking stunt on them, so adrenaline was doing its work in their bodies.
When they landed in the snow, the coldness brought them back to their senses and they got up.
Only Michelle remained lying down, enjoying the cold.
"How nice..." she muttered, summoning her beasts.
Instantly, Snow and Cold Fla lunged into the snowdrifts, while Mare escaped to Ivona, trying to avoid the snow. And Nyxaroth just lazily floated above the snow.
"Let’s start looking around," Michelle said, glancing around as she got up. At the sa ti, she materialized so void on her hand and sent it flying at Cold Fla and Snow. It wrapped around them like a snake and pulled them back to her.
"Will we split up or move as a group?" Kieran asked.
"There are risks to both..." Michelle shrugged, not really caring. Her gaze was on Tenether as it transford into a small bird and flew over to her. In her arms, it turned into a small kitty.
"If we split up, I won’t be able to keep the coat on Ivona and Kieran," Anastasia reminded.
"But if we move as a whole group, we could attract attention," she added.
Michelle gave it a thought before glancing at Ivona. She was quiet, which ant she was considering the pros and cons of the situation.
Finally, she spoke.
"If we split apart, we’ll have a harder ti defending ourselves if sothing happens. And the Sloan family isn’t the only danger here. Kieran and I are weakened and need to stay around Anastasia. Splitting into groups seems impossible."
Though she finished speaking, sothing was clearly still on her mind. What she said was the simplest of all she’d thought about, and basically anyone could co up with that in the sa situation.
"Unless...?" Michelle smiled a bit.
"We could theoretically form two groups, one small and one big. The bigger would be the one to attract attention and the smaller could find a good hideout. But the question is who would be in which group..."
"That’s easy!" Anastasia had parts of it clear. "You, , and Kieran are already a big enough group. Since you two are weakened, we probably need at least one or two of Michelle’s beasts with us. That leaves Michelle and the rest of her beasts as the smaller group."
Hearing that, Michelle smiled.
"Here in the cold, Snow and Cold Fla are the strongest, so I can leave them with you. Mare, Nyx, and Tenether will accompany . They’re all quite inconspicuous, so the four of us can conceal ourselves in the forest."
So, a quick regrouping happened. Mare was forced to leave Ivona’s warm neck and wrapped herself around Michelle’s forearm. Nyxaroth seeped into Michelle’s body, and Tenether remained as a cat, but moved to Michelle’s shoulder, where it caught onto her clothes with its claws.
Before leaving, Michelle rembered sothing from the Land of Exile. For every one of her friends, she had gotten a growing artifact which could be bonded after reaching the Spirit rank—or for Soul Masters, similar strength. She quickly told them about it and handed the artifacts over.
Kieran got the Fla of Forsaken Souls, Ivona the Bloom of Tybdaris, and Anastasia the Soulstep Anklet.
While Michelle was gone, they could form their bonds with the artifacts and explore what they could do with them.
Michelle also took out the Everfrost Mantle and put it on. Though she had yet to bond with it, it was still able to conceal her, especially in the cold environnt.
Wrapping herself in a thin layer of soul energy, Michelle rushed into the forest, choosing the direction of the tallest mountain. First, she would find out where the Sloan family resided, and only then would she find a suitable hideout—ideally sowhere near the Sloans.
The mountain range was huge, so it took Michelle good three hours at top speed to reach the mountain peak she was aiming for. Only when she got there did she find out that it was far from the tallest. It seed she was still in the outer area of the mountains.
So she set off to go deeper.
But before that, she sent a ssage to Cold Fla through the contract, stating that she was quite far.
Cold Fla told the others, and they decided to start moving toward the inner ranges of the mountains too and find another clearing. There, Kieran, Ivona, and Anastasia could continue their exploration of the artifacts—and they could do it on the way too.
But on their way, they were blocked by a group of Snow Foxes. At first, the foxes were hostile, growling and hissing, but when they took notice of Snow, they instantly stopped. Her superior bloodline could clearly be felt.
So, soon after, a puzzling scene took place in the forest. Snow was walking ahead of the group, and around the group was a pack of white foxes, hissing and growling at any creature that ca close. They were on full alert, protecting the Divine Snow Fox that had entered their territory.
Snow had never experienced sothing like that, so she was confused, but she quickly got used to it. She could feel that the Snow Foxes had a bloodline subordinate to hers, so she knew they wouldn’t harm her. But it still felt strange having a pack of wild foxes all around.
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