The early summer of the Frozen Continent had a unique charm.

The night was extremely short, with brilliant auroras filling the sky. The red moon had just peeked out before vanishing into the dawn, leaving the black sun especially striking against the dazzling auroras.

The days were very long. The white sun radiated warm sunlight, and the snow and ice that had accumulated over the winter began to slowly melt. Meltwater dripped from rocks, mountains, and trees with a tinkling sound. Traveling along the Longya Mountain continental highway, both sides of the road were lined with small streams formed by the melting snow. On the sun-facing southern banks of these streams, five-colored daisies bloomed in profusion, and vibrant, multicolored butterflies made the most of this brief summer, spreading pollen among the flowers.

33

A young boy was walking along the main road; he wore all white—snow beast leather shoes, snow seal skin pants, a coarse linen shirt, a snow beast vest, and carried a large, snow-white two-handed sword on his back, almost taller than he was.

This was Amy's first time traveling far from home, and he had already been stood up.

Greg found it very strange to discover that his apprentice was extremely agile—so much so that he seemed even more nimble than high-level thieves. On the first day of their journey, in order to test Amy, Greg quietly cast a small spell—an earth-element level one magic, "Earth Fangs Emerge." As Amy walked, the ground would suddenly rise or crack open. It was Amy's first time traveling far, his first time walking on the continental highway, and he bounced along excitedly, sometimes turning back to chat with Greg and Ethan Brooks—he never paid attention to his feet, but even when the terrain changed suddenly, it was as if his feet had eyes and always managed to avoid danger.

As a neutral mage, one most revered nature. It was said that neutral magic originated from the druidic faiths of forest dwellers. Neutral mages all hoped to have strong physiques, agile movements, and powerful mental strength.

According to Greg's observations, these were precisely Amy's strengths. Having snatched up such a good apprentice right after leaving the Wishing Tower, Greg was naturally in a great mood.

To better train this little fellow, Greg suggested that Amy walk ahead alone for half a day, while Greg and Ethan Brooks would follow later. If nothing major happened, they would meet at the inn at the foot of Longya Mountain.

The continental highway was very safe. The constant passage of merchants and armies over the years had long since scared away all the animals from both sides of the road. Ethan Brooks was well aware of this and fully agreed with the suggestion, but as soon as he spoke, his words took on a different tone: "Hmm, that's fine too. Amy, you should consider this—Master Greg just came out of the Wishing Tower and hasn't seen a woman in 94 years, you know what I mean, right? I don't need to spell it out. Even if I'm not worried about you being led astray, people still have some sense of shame. In front of you, how could he... Don't look at me, I'm not saying any more. I don't care, it's all the same to me who I travel with, but maybe it's better to go with Greg, just in case he's not familiar with current prices?" As Ethan Brooks spoke, he said, "I summon you in my name, come forth, phantom beast," and mounted Little White, dashing off into the distance. But even the speed of a phantom beast couldn't match the speed of lightning in the sky. Still, as he said: a mage can't attack both a knight and a phantom beast at the same time, so while they can't directly contend with a grand mage, their escape speed far surpasses other units.

Taking a beginner's mage manual from Greg, and some silver coins from Uncle Brooks, Amy set off.

The journey was expected to take seven days, and six days had already passed. Looking back, he couldn't see any sign of his uncle or teacher. During these six days, occasionally some travelers would pass by, but people who often traveled the highway were used to a certain lifestyle: while on the move, they tried to speed up, spoke little, and aimed to reach the inn before dark, so everyone acted like strangers. But once inside the inn, they immediately became lively, and even complete strangers found it easy to communicate.

"Greenie, run!! Ha... ha..." From the right side, in the coniferous forest, came the sound of a child panting and calling to a companion.

Several tall conifer trees were swaying, as if something had crashed into them.

34

"Awoooo~~" The roar of some unknown beast echoed from the forest.

Amy leapt over the four-meter-wide drainage ditch on the right side of the highway, drew the Ice Blade from his back, gripped the sword with both hands, and slipped into the forest.

Two enormous white snow bears appeared before Amy, treading on the remaining snow. The snow bears knocked over small trees with their giant paws, roaring as they charged forward.

Snow bears were known as the kings of the land on the Frozen Continent, standing as tall as two people. Under their massive paws, no other beast could stand against them.

And the target of these two snow bears—a black figure in the distance, seemingly about the same size as Amy, perhaps even more robust. The boy was running while calling to a small green dog stumbling along at his feet. If not for the dense trees and the snow bears' massive bodies, the boy would have been caught long ago.

The boy circled around and ran toward the highway.

"Ah—" Amy was surprised to see that the boy was carrying a small snow bear in each hand. The two little snow bears were still struggling and whimpering, no wonder the usually non-confrontational snow bears were so enraged.