Chapter 464: Ice Field Natives

Chapter 464: The Natives of the Snowfield

Li Wei and Saint Xi advanced toward the direction where the Time Dragon's treasure lay hidden.

In the vast expanse of white snow, it seemed as though only Li Wei and Saint Xi were living beings.

As far as the eye could see, there was no sign of any other life.

This dashed Li Wei’s hopes of hunting some magical beasts along the way to feed Saint Xi.

Gurgle gurgle~

Saint Xi flew beside Li Wei with her head lowered, her tail dragging through the snow, leaving a shallow groove behind.

"Li Wei, I'm hungry."

Li Wei heard the rumbling from Saint Xi’s stomach. His expression tightened slightly, and he gave her a helpless glance.

"Haven’t you just eaten not long ago?"

Saint Xi lifted her head, opened her wide, adorable eyes, and said, "But I’m hungry again."

Li Wei: "..."

"Forget it, eat then, eat."

Li Wei shook his head helplessly, like a father looking at his child with indulgent resignation.

Since he had created her, he had to raise her and see her grow.

He took out what little magical beast meat remained and fed it to Saint Xi.

Then he handed her a spatial ring filled with more meat and said, "When you're hungry, just eat on your own."

Saint Xi’s eyes immediately lit up, beaming with excitement and joy. She rubbed her face against Li Wei’s, making soft whimpering sounds.

Li Wei quickly pushed her head away. “Don’t rub against me. There’s still blood on your mouth.”

Saint Xi paid no mind to Li Wei’s complaint and hurriedly devoured the magical beast meat in large bites.

The meat was swiftly dissolved by her gastric juices, transforming into nutrients and energy that rapidly nourished her dragon cells, accelerating her growth.

Maintaining her body temperature in such cold weather also consumed a great deal of energy.

That might have been one of the reasons she felt hungry so quickly.

Li Wei looked up at the hazy white light on the horizon.

He and Saint Xi had walked through the snow all night without seeing any signs of life.

It seemed as if this place truly held no life—only the piercing, bone-chilling howl of the wind.

Li Wei glanced at Saint Xi, then at the remaining food in his hand.

“She won’t starve to death, but this can’t go on forever.”

Both he and Saint Xi could survive by absorbing magical elements.

But that was only enough for basic sustenance.

Over time, it would weaken their strength.

Li Wei currently relied on magic stones to restore his mana.

Absorbing ice elements from the surrounding environment was too exhausting.

Fortunately, Alice had given him plenty of magic stones.

Crunch crunch crunch!

Saint Xi chewed up a magic stone and swallowed it whole.

She treated the magic stones like dessert after meals.

For dragons, when desperate enough, they could even eat dirt, rocks, or metal.

But finding a stone in the Arctic ice field wasn’t easy.

All around them was nothing but snow and ice.

Eating those offered no nutrition.

As they walked, Li Wei asked, “Saint Xi, how much farther?”

The Time Dragon’s reverse scale on Saint Xi’s chest glowed faintly as she replied, “Still very far. I feel we’ve only gotten a tiny bit closer.”

Li Wei let out a sigh.

No one knew exactly how vast the Far North Ice Field really was.

According to the data Li Wei had found in the Elemental Tower’s library in Saint Velia,

the deepest point humans had explored so far was already eighteen thousand kilometers into the heart of the Far North Ice Field.

At that distance, who knew how long it would take to reach the destination?

Even flying using Fire Escape techniques would require an immense amount of time.

Mana recovery was difficult in the Far North Ice Field, so Li Wei didn’t dare recklessly use Fire Escape flight.

Li Wei reached out and caught a snowflake falling from the sky, watching it melt slowly in his palm.

“This place is most suited for ice mages,” he thought. He sensed that ninety percent of the elemental composition in the area was ice, with the remaining ten percent being other elements.

Fire element made up less than one percent.

Here, fire spells lost most of their power—only one-tenth or even one-hundredth of their normal strength.

If one cast fire spells with full mana reserves, they could still unleash full power.

But doing so would increase mana consumption tenfold—or even dozens of times over.

Conversely, ice spells gained tremendous amplification here.

Li Wei casually cast a zero-rank Ice Spear spell—one of the first spells he ever learned.

Whoosh!

The ice spear he conjured was over two meters long. When launched, it pierced straight through the snowfield, leaving behind a bottomless hole.

Even the weakest zero-rank ice spell, in this land, could rival a first-rank spell in power.

Seeing this, Li Wei thought to himself: Why hadn’t he studied more ice spells back then?

Soon, he shook his head.

Thinking about it now wouldn’t change anything.

His reason for focusing on fire spells instead of others was simple:

he possessed a massive advantage in fire magic.

Even under current environmental constraints, bolstered by his Flame Lord transcendent trait, intermediate Flame Domain, and intermediate Flame Laws, his fire spells were no weaker than similarly ranked ice spells enhanced by the environment.

They simply consumed more mana.

"Awooo, Li Wei! Something’s over there!"

Saint Xi called out before flapping her wings and speeding off into the distance.

Like a beast of prey spotting its quarry, she launched a ferocious, lightning-fast ambush.

Levi scrambled to catch up with Sanxi.

"Don't do anything reckless!"

Whoosh! Pfft!

A silhouette streaked across the tundra, sending a spray of pristine snow billowing into the air and carving a deep trench into the seamless white landscape.

Sanxi's pupils contracted, locking onto her target.

Her piercing gaze was tenfold sharper than that of a hunting eagle.

The creature cornered by Sanxi's glare instantly sensed the looming mortal peril.

Without a moment's thought, it bolted from the snow drift, transforming into a pale blur as it fled into the distance.

Against the blinding white expanse, the pale figure was nearly invisible.

Yet Sanxi had already marked her prey.

There would be no escape.

Boom!

Sanxi dove headlong into the snowdrift, her powerful talons pinning the quarry with ruthless force as her razor-sharp claws tore into its flesh.

A stark splash of crimson stained the pristine white earth.

Alighting beside her, Levi looked down at the lifeless prey and sighed, "Don't rush off like that next time."

He glanced at the creature beneath Sanxi's feet—a plump, oversized snow rabbit.

This was the very first native creature Levi had encountered in the Far North Icefield.

Hearing Levi's scolding, Sanxi replied with absolute conviction, "I must grow stronger, and only through combat can I do so!"

Levi shook his head, lacking the energy to argue.

He knelt down to examine the carcass of the snow rabbit.

Just as he crouched, a sharp sound cut through the air behind him.

Swoosh!

Levi’s eyes narrowed as his mental perception detected an object hurtling toward his back.

Slender and lethal, it was moving at a ferocious speed.

"An arrow?"

Clang!

Sanxi swept behind Levi, intercepting the arrow that had been shot from afar.

The projectile could not pierce Sanxi's impervious dragon scales, failing to inflict even the slightest scratch.

Deflected and spent, it fell harmlessly into the snow.

Levi stood up and turned his gaze toward the direction from which the arrow had flown.

(End of Chapter)