The river crossing has begun to mark the summer of the Xia tribe, and will usher in even more...
“Well then, we should set off.” Jiang Yunlan stood below the ship, her gaze sweeping over the orcs, including Maple Sugar, who were seeing off the departing group.
Of the four teams that set out, her team had to wait for the ship to be completed, so it became the last team to depart.
Now that the harvest season is here, the ship is finished, and it's time for her to go out with the beastmen.
Recalling Cangmu Yuya's letter, Feng Hong and Hati proudly declared before leaving that they would return with other elves. Jiang Yunlan smiled, leaving behind the same words, and added, "Maple Sugar, the reply from the Wise Clan has arrived. Lian Sanshan said that her clansmen will probably arrive in summer next hot season. If I haven't returned by then, I'll leave them in your care."
Maple Syrup could hear Lan's worry and nodded vigorously in agreement, "We will take good care of the tribe."
"Lan, don't worry about going out. We'll keep watch over the tribe," Yan Duoyu's voice rang out. She gave Heitu a long lecture, explaining everything she wanted to say, before pushing Heitu back to Lan's side.
Jiang Yunlan trusted her people completely, so she didn't say anything more and turned to board the ship with peace of mind.
The sails are raised, anchor is secured, and the ship sails upstream.
The wind propelled the boat forward, tugging at the sails and making a "clattering" sound. These sounds mingled with the excited chatter of the orcs, making the whole boat even more lively.
Greysion felt the water's breath on his cheeks and comfortably spread his wings. He suddenly took flight, soaring above the ship.
The dragon's shadow was cast on the ship's deck, sometimes moving to the left, sometimes to the right. Jiang Yunlan saw the shadow's movement and knew in her heart that Greysien was very happy. She just didn't know if he was happy because he was going out, or because he was going to see another dragon. Or perhaps both.
Among Sveta's old friends is a dragon named "Ilovian". Coincidentally, the group will pass by the dragon's usual residence by taking a slight detour on their way from the grassland habitat to the wind spirits' location.
The team is currently traveling along the route from where Ilovian is located. If Ilovian doesn't change his residence, it won't be long before Greysien is reunited with his people.
After the sky elves disappeared, dragons' lifespans were much shorter than before, with the vast majority of dragons reaching the end of their lives before even reaching a thousand years old. But compared to orcs, whose lifespans were only a few decades, dragons' lifespans were unimaginably long.
"The last time I saw Ilovian, it seems, was over a hundred snow seasons ago?" Sveta pondered, her lively voice saying, "She wanted to move to a new place and happened to come to the vicinity of the forest where I live. We were neighbors for a long time. Over a hundred years doesn't seem like a short time for a dragon, I hope she hasn't moved yet."
“If she knew what happened to Greysien, she would definitely attack that organization. Dragons value their young the most, and they can’t stand seeing their hard-won young being bullied by anyone.” Sveta said, subconsciously looking up at Greysien in the sky.
Dragons use various animal forms; adult dragons can be very large or as small as Greysien. Dragons do not judge their kind by appearance; they rely more on their sense of smell to ascertain the presence of their kin. Immature dragons do not have a gender; they only choose their gender on the day they reach adulthood.
Therefore, all dragons can easily distinguish which one is a member of their own kind and which one is a cub.
"Dragons will only have one mate in their entire lives, and will only have offspring with their mate. If they do not meet their destined mate, they would rather remain single until death. In addition, it is very difficult for them to give birth to offspring, and the entire race will spoil their offspring quite a bit."
Jiang Yunlan listened attentively to Sveta's words, a sense of unease creeping into her heart. Could dragons in this world be as rare as those in Zelan?
Without Dragon Island, there was no place to ascertain the situation of the dragon race. She sighed helplessly and turned her gaze out of the ship.
The ship had been sailing for forty-one days and had long since turned into a new river. The surrounding scenery was becoming increasingly unfamiliar, and Jiang Yunlan observed her surroundings, supplementing the map with the cartographer.
Life on the ship was monotonous, and there were no documents for her to handle. After each training session, she could only study the ship's cannons, improve the fishing nets, or tutor Gracie and Dawn to pass the time.
This river voyage is time-sensitive; the team's goal is to return to the tribe with the dragons and elves they've found before the hot season.
Jiang Yunlan was preoccupied with her habitat, so even when she saw unfamiliar areas, she did not take the orcs to explore those unknown regions that attracted her.
As time went by, the number of strange and unusual items on the ship increased day by day.
The monotonous life spurred the beastmen's creativity. They tinkered with all sorts of things, useful and useless, finding endless possibilities even in a simple piece of cloth. But they still performed their duties admirably, never neglecting their daily training or studies.
It could also be because the ship is so big that if you don't want extra training or being forced to make up lessons, you have to complete your daily tasks properly.
On a cloudy day, the team arrived near Ilovin's residence.
The orcs skillfully dropped anchor, furled the sails, and lowered the gangway. Jiang Yunlan exchanged a few words with the orcs who stayed behind to guard the ship, then disembarked with Heitu and a few other orcs.
She didn't bring many orcs off the ship, only Greysien, the guardian Black Earth, and ten of the fastest orcs.
The ship retracted its gangway, and the beastmen in animal form came ashore.
A dark gray squirrel emerged from the goat-orc's fluffy head, its paws gripping the goat-orc's fur, and its left arm slung a basket containing small mushroom trees and ice crystals. A tiny, transparent slime sat beside her, listening to her give commands to the orcs.
"Let's go forward!" Jiang Yunlan shouted, looking in the direction indicated by the forest spirit, instinctively using her fluffy tail to protect the basket she had just woven from plants on her left arm.
Orcs of different races rushed toward the place Lan had mentioned, each carrying weapons, clothing, medicine, food, and water on their backs.
More than a hundred years have passed, and Sveta's memory has deviated from the actual appearance of the area; they are now prepared to spend the night in the open.
In fact, this preparation did come in handy.
On the first day the ship docked, Jiang Yunlan and her group did not find Ilovian.
On the morning of the second day after the ship docked, they still hadn't found Ilovian. But Sveta and Greysien both found traces that only dragons could leave behind.
“Great! A hundred years have passed and Ilovian still hasn’t moved. It seems I’ll be able to see my old friend.” Sveta was delighted, his body radiating dancing points of light.
Jiang Yunlan was also very happy. If things went smoothly, they would find Ilovian today. That way, they could return to the ship tomorrow and set off to find the Wind Spirit.
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