Unlike their soaring trip to Lanport, Laurel’s team pushed into the continent of Gavroz flying close to the ground. It was risky, if something appeared they’d have less room to maneuver. But it was also much less likely to get them noticed. Merista and Elgin had generally cordial relations. That didn’t mean sneaking in with the express purpose to steal something was going to be looked on favorably, or without repercussions. Laurel’s sect background didn’t think national ownership of spontaneously occurring natural treasures was appropriate but she kept the grumbles to a minimum and kept her senses spread out for anyone that might take notice of their group.

Caer’Listar was nestled in a small mountain range. A preponderance of air and stone mana and the associated cultivation resources had once acted as a lodestone for cultivators from around the world. Laurel had visited herself when she became an adept and learned to fly in short bursts. The odd mix of aspects in the ambient mana, over millennia, had caused large pieces of mountain to become buoyant in the air. Sky islands would float around the mountain range as the winds took them. Some were no larger than a melon while others could support a full building, or more. Eventually a new sect, made up of some of the best enchanters ever seen on Decorra, roped many of the larger islands together with mana anchors, and the floating city was born. Laurel was pointedly not imagining what might have happened if the mana supporting such a place were to be cut off all at once.

She had been giving Kat directions all morning. The tell-tale split mountain they were searching for appeared to their left and the pilot adjusted to fly their expedition through the gap.

The valley was as lush as Laurel remembered. A crystal clear lake filled one end, feeding a stream that would become a major river further south. Grasses in a hundred shades of green and brown blanketed the center, thin bands of trees filling out the edges and creeping up the mountain sides.

But within moments, everyone’s attention was pulled to the jagged stone strewn across the whole valley floor. Some were the size of large buildings, others unidentifiable rocks. The whole city had come down, violently. She expected it, but it still hurt to see such a monument to defying limits utterly destroyed. In her mind she tried to impose her memories on the view in front of her, the soaring bridges and hanging vines over the rubble.

Kat’s voice broke her out of the reverie. “Set down near the lake, we’ll make camp up there and explore the ruins using that as a base.” The pilots followed orders and soon enough, they had a functional camp set up.

Laurel tossed her mana map into the air and triggered it to send out a pulse of mana. A few minutes later, as the whole group gathered around, an echoing pulse brought the information of the local mana infrastructure back and recorded it on the map.

“Good news, this is definitely still a mana well. That means there will be at least a few useful natural treasures for us. Does everyone still have the preservation boxes?” Rebecca and Leander enthusiastically held theirs up, along with the harvesting knives, while the soldiers grunted agreement. “Excellent. Remember what we talked about on harvesting without destroying the roots or tendrils or whatever is anchoring it to the physical world. And keep your eyes sharp. Areas like this will be teeming with spirit beasts. Most will leave you alone but some won’t like us coming into their territory.”

From where the map orb was hovering in the air, light projected onto the ground, outlining a map of the valley. “The mana density is enough that we can’t pick out anything obvious from this far away. I’m thinking we’ll split into two groups and start working our way down each side of the river. We can rotate who stays back at camp to watch the planes each day. Any thoughts?”

“What if we ruin it?” Reynard was looking down at his harvesting knife skeptically. “These things are super rare and important, what happens if we bungle it?”

“If you get it in the box quickly enough, we can likely still scavenge enough to use for something,” Laurel said. “Not the City Core, but there are more ways to use these things than you could ever name.”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Forget that. You’re the most advanced new cultivators the army has, you’ll be teaching others. So it's time to get the big girl panties on and figure out how to do it right,” Maria butted in with her own brand of encouragement.

*********

Laurel’s party for the day consisted of Leander, Reina, Maria, and a young man named Colin that had been tapped to accompany their mission due to his grandmother’s purported ‘hedge witch’ status. Rebecca, Trip, Kat, and Reynard were trekking parallel to them on the opposite side of the river. The remainder of their group was busy fortifying their camp with the army’s standard protocols. Without enough light in the day for a true exploration, they had decided to do a quick scout of the surrounding areas.

The boulders scattered around the valley made for plenty of shadowy hiding places. They discovered the fact when a snake darted out from underneath one directly at Leander. The boy stumbled backwards, desperately taking the basic stance Martin had spent a month pounding into him. Laurel continued to observe as he pulled out a dagger. They had discussed giving the sect members firearms, but the likelihood one of them would accidentally shoot themselves or each other had been deemed too high. Watching the boy’s flailing swings of the blade reassured her it was the right decision.

Drab brown scales covered its body and small fangs poked out of its mouth. It didn’t look like the original species was venomous, but she glanced at Maria to be sure. The captain was doubled over trying to hold in her laughter, so Laurel assumed it was fine. Definitely a spirit beast, but a weak one, she couldn’t tell if it had even formed a core worth harvesting yet.

The snake reared back, staring the boy down but hesitant to attack. Leander was showing a bit of street wisdom by holding back and hoping the threat of the blade would be enough. She watched as he started making some sort of gesture with the hand not holding the knife.

“Oh. I’m not dealing with it, this is a good opportunity for you,” Laurel said. It had taken her a moment to realize Leander was trying to get her to take action while he kept the snake distracted.

Left hand clenched in frustration, right hand gripping a dagger like his life depended on it, he started feinting at the snake. A few of these testing swipes with the dagger and the snake took the bait. It lunged for him and he brought the blade around to slice it in half. He missed, but it wasn’t a terrible strategy since the snake missed too. The process repeated only this time Leander tripped while attempting his strike. He somehow managed to fall on top of the snake and crush it enough to kill it.

Laurel was smiling and she heard wheezing from behind her where Maria and Colin had watched the battle. A quick glance informed her that Maria was now on the ground and Colin had a hand clamped over his mouth to keep any noise in.

“Atrocious form, but you did win and that’s all that really matters in a fight,” Laurel told Leander while the rest of the party attempted to get themselves under control. He was panting on the ground, having scrambled away from both the snake and his dagger. “Next time focus on staying upright. Did you fall fighting the owl too?”

*******

Leander gazed up at Laurel where she was looking down at him, illuminated from behind by the late afternoon sun. He had been fighting for his life while she and the soldiers watched. Why didn’t they step in? The words Laurel was saying started to filter in between panicked breaths. He threw his hands up in the air. Yes, he had fallen when fighting the owl, but that was what happened when something was flying straight at you.

A snort brought his attention back to the sectmaster. She was smiling the kind of smile that meant trouble for the novices.

“Martin tells me he taught you how to harvest a spirit beast.” Her foot nudged the dagger back in his direction from where he had dropped it. “Wouldn’t want to waste anything.”

When he finished half an hour later he looked longingly towards the nearby river and then gestured to his whole body.

“In a minute. Snakes don’t usually attack larger predators walking by unless they’re protecting something. You need to crawl in there and see what you find, then you can rinse off.”

He sighed loudly and forced his shoulders to slump to make sure Laurel knew he was sacrificing for this, then shimmied towards the divot where the snake had been lying in wait. There were a bunch of small bones, and a rat tail which made him gag so much he thought he would vomit. The bone-deep knowledge that Laurel would still make him look at the rest of the hollow if he did get sick motivated him to keep it in. Reaching out, he brushed the trash away and found a little green plant with four leaves. There was definitely mana in there. All thoughts of rat tails left his mind. He had fought a battle and here was the prize. Using the harvesting knife he carefully sliced the stem the way he’d been taught. Careful not to crush the plant he shimmied back out of the hole.

He held it above his head in triumph. The others gathered around and Laurel reached out and poked it a bit.

“Not bad for a snake with barely any mana sense. We should see if we can repot it and you can bring it home.”

He just looked at Laurel. Exasperated, he started pulling at the thong of his necklace to bring out the transmission stone. “What is it?”

“No clue. You get to look through the books later to figure it out though.”

Defeated, utterly, he handed off the plant to Laurel and trudged into the river to wash away the whole exchange.