my age of magic

Chapter 460 257. Water Elemental Essence

Stepping into this primeval forest full of rotten smell, after thousands of years of countless springs, summers, autumns and winters, the trees sprouted in spring, and the dead leaves withered in autumn piled up and rotted into black soil in this mountain forest. Those deposited fallen leaves make the land here extremely fertile, sometimes the deposited leaves can reach tens of meters deep, those leaves rotted, were frozen into ice in severe winter, and then melted again in early summer, just like Some soft black puddles.

The dead leaves were covered layer by layer, rotted, and covered again, and the methane was also pressed into the deep soil.Every time we camped, we would choose to be on the mountain. He would strictly control the place where we lit the fire. According to the guide: "There is a fire-breathing earth dragon hidden in the ground of this mountain forest. Once it is angry It, it will burn the entire squad to ashes!"

This place is full of all kinds of dangerous traps. The guide walking in front always holds a long pole in his hand, and he will keep using the long pole to test whether the road under his feet is firm.

Even though he is very familiar with this mountain forest, he seems to be cautious. His small eyes are very flexible to pay attention to the movement around him. Just by his eyes, I know that he is a good and experienced hunter.

"We'll never see the danger under those rotting leaves!" was the first thing he said to us, and I think Benjamin hired him back, and that's the only thing he said that was worth anything, he was a word Chatting, always chattering endlessly, always telling some old-fashioned stories about adventure groups capturing monsters in this mountain.

I stepped into the deep dead leaves, and the yellow leaves flooded my knees. Even if I blessed myself with the 'wind rush', there are still many difficulties and obstacles to cross this virgin forest. Those hidden in the dead branches The roots of the trees among the rotten leaves, if you don’t pay attention to them, you will stumble them all at once, never those slippery branches with all kinds of moss growing, the tauren Luka followed behind me , His patience has been worn down by this forest, he panted heavily, his heart became a little restless, he angrily broke off a branch in front of his body, and threw it under his feet.

I thought I should appease him, so I said: "This mountain forest contains countless precious gifts from nature. These dead leaves that have fallen off the trees will return to their roots after death. Yes, they The soil of the roots of the trees will become extraordinarily fertile, and many precious and delicious fungi will be bred in these roots and rotting leaves, and their taste will be very delicious!"

"Really, why didn't I see those so-called mushrooms in your mouth?" The tauren's attention was suddenly transferred to the food by me. Although he is a complete vegetarian, it doesn't mean that he doesn't eat Like food, the tauren are very familiar with the plants in the wasteland, but they rarely have the opportunity to enter this kind of virgin forest, so they are very unfamiliar with the plants here.

I didn't know where the so-called mushrooms were. I squatted under a dead pine tree and gently pushed aside the pine needles covering the ground. Sure enough, there were several thumb-sized mushrooms growing on its rhizomes. Matsutake, the irritable face of the tauren Karu suddenly became full of surprises. He opened his mouth wide, and with a strange look on his face, he carefully picked up the few matsutake plants with his two big hands. There was a faint fragrance It emanated from the matsutake body, he gently put it to his mouth and smelled it, and said to me with a smile on his simple and honest face: "Jijia, this mushroom is really fragrant!"

Andy, the ranger who was walking behind us, came up to me, looked at me with wide eyes and said, "You guys are really lucky. This kind of delicious mushroom is a unique product in this mountain forest, and it's not bad to say the least." Very rare stuff!"

Andy is also quite familiar with this virgin forest. In the whole team, only he and the guide are very accustomed to the mountain road here. I feel that he walks in this mountain forest, just like visiting his own back garden. The mushroom I found had such comments, so I asked him: "Senior Andy, you are very familiar with this place!"

"Of course!" Andy was wearing a soft and light armor of magic antelope leather, and was carrying a short forest hunting bow. Hunting bows in the forest are far more useful and convenient than longbows.

Benjamin came up from behind, kept wiping the sticky green moss on the palm of his hand, stopped beside us and let out a long breath and said: "Andy has lived in this mountain city since he was a child. He probably only moved to our city of El when he was about to go to school, of course he is very familiar with things here!"

Andy was a little embarrassed after being exposed, but he didn't annoy Benjamin. Instead, he rubbed his shoulder with one hand and explained: "This fungus is called matsutake, and it is very precious even in the mountain city. Remember When I was young, I could only eat this kind of delicacy at festival celebration banquets. If you fry it with good butter, it will be very delicious!"

"This ugly guy is matsutake?" Mia, who followed behind, also looked over in amazement.

Obviously, this group of noble children have far better knowledge of food than ordinary children. The hunter guide who walked in the front looked up at the sky and said, "We want to eat food in this valley before it gets dark." No matter whether we can find the two-headed snake lizard this time or not, we must return to the mountain city in four days. However, it seems that we need to take a break now!"

We all let out a long breath when we heard the hunter guide say a break. In this forest, the biggest enemy so far is not those ferocious monsters, but the natural environment of this forest. We are just After trekking in the mountains and forests, we are already exhausted. It seems that the seniors of the Warrior Academy also have tired looks on their faces. We should really take a good rest before facing the two-headed Pyrolizard.

"This kind of mushroom is very rare. We have some hunters here who specialize in collecting this kind of precious mushroom in this mountain forest. We are so lucky to find these mushrooms!" The hunter guide said the same thing.

The team members who were resting by the side also looked at us curiously.

Tauren Luka heard that these delicious mushrooms are so precious, so he stuffed them to me very honestly. Although his Adam's apple kept twitching, he didn't look at these matsutake anymore.

"There are no mushrooms in the tauren's recipe, I think the wild radish over there might taste a little crisper!" Luka found a lame reason for himself.

But I took advantage of the moment when he opened his mouth to speak, and stuffed a few mushrooms in my hand into the mouth of the Tauren Luka. Looking at me, I pointed to the matsutake in my mouth in panic, I reached out and poked his furry chest twice, smiled and asked him: "How is it, is it delicious?"

He nodded sharply, and then began to chew, carefully savoring the delicious taste of the few pine mushrooms, and the impatience disappeared without a trace!

The hunter guide sighed softly at the side: "It's a pity!"

Then he said: "This is really reckless. If I cut these few mushrooms into thin slices, I will hunt some grouse and cook soup together, which is enough for us people to have a delicious meal!"

The tauren Luka also regretted eating all the matsutake in one bite. He quickly squatted down and tried to find more matsutake next to the pine needle he had picked up, but unfortunately he failed.

I don't believe that this very eloquent hunter guide is willing to hunt the notoriously cunning grouse for us, probably because I gave all these matsutake to Luka, and I feel regretful and angry. Before we found delicious food, we gave everyone a little bit of it, and everyone shared and tasted it together. This time, I just gave these matsutake to my subordinates, and the hunter guide who has made it a habit to accept it calmly feels slightly The imbalance is caused by the fact that everyone in the academy is of noble origin, and their own recuperation is higher. Although they will have some thoughts, they will not just say so.

"It's just matsutake, nothing special. Since we're here in the mountain city, the market in the city still sells these delicacies. When we finish hunting the fire snake this time, I'll treat everyone to eat once we return to the mountain city." Butter-fried matsutake feast!" Seeing a little bit of conflict in the team, because of the complaint from the hunter guide, the team members looked at me with hesitation, Senior Benjamin sat on the side and said.

Mia was sitting on a tree root beside her, looking at me curiously. The entourage accompanying her was a female swordsman. She was sitting next to Randolph's entourage at this time. She was probably curious why I would treat my entourage so good.

Senior Mia's complexion was extremely rosy due to strenuous exercise. In this extremely sweltering virgin forest, a frail apprentice priest like her has been able to persist with us until now. I have great admiration for her.Senior Benjamin was wearing a delicate manticore leather armor, and was passing a water bottle to Senior Mia. He hesitated and took out a bottle of light yellow potion the size of a test tube, and handed it to Senior Mia.

Senior Mia didn't take the bottle of potion, but just took the water bottle in her hand, but she pushed the potion back to Senior Benjamin, and said, "I don't know what kind of snake lizard I will meet when I find that two-headed snake lizard." What about the situation, let’s save this bottle of stamina potion for the battle! I’m not too tired, if I really can’t walk anymore, let Ellie carry me!”

Ellie is the female swordsman entourage of Mia-senpai. When she heard Mia mention her name, she nodded in this direction.

I think female swordsmen like Ellie may be those civilian students who graduated from the academy before. After graduation, they will choose to join some noble families, and they have never been the servants of some big men. For some civilian fighters, this might not be the case A way out, at least you can have a life of adequate food and clothing, and unlike participating in an adventure group, you always face danger. If you are a follower, as long as the noble master does not kill himself, generally speaking, you will have a very good life, especially if you are It would be even more beautiful to be the servant of a future priest.

I patted Luka's broad shoulders, and then said to Senior Mia: "Otherwise, you can sit on Luka's shoulders later, he walks very smoothly, and it's very comfortable to sit on his broad shoulders!"

The tauren Luka is definitely warm-hearted. He doesn't think sitting on his shoulders is a humiliation. After listening to my suggestion, he nodded honestly.

Mia glanced at me gratefully, and said softly, "I'm just persevering, I can still persevere!"

I also secretly praise Senior Mia for her persistence. This lady from an aristocratic family has a precious and indomitable character.

But I didn't intend to let the hunter guide go so simply. We were a little tired along the way. I think he did it deliberately. The purpose is probably to let us nobles know that adventures in the forest are worthwhile. It's not easy, otherwise, once these noble teenagers become interested in the forest they depend on for survival, it will not be a good thing for every hunter in the mountain city.

Hunter guides always deliberately speed up the pace of walking when leading the way. According to my calculations, if we walk at a slower pace, we will probably arrive at this valley tomorrow morning. In that case, our physical strength will become weaker. It is very abundant, and then spend a whole day searching in the valley, in fact, it will not delay too much time.

It's like now that we arrived in the valley early tomorrow morning, but we are exhausted, and we can't do much this afternoon, so we can only choose a suitable place to camp.I think the hunter guide is also very tired, but he didn't show it. Every time he takes a break, he will quietly strive for every minute and every second to recover his physical strength. Some of his small thoughts fall into my eyes, which is difficult. Get rid of the grudges in my heart.

However, there is nothing to criticize for his petty bourgeois thinking, but when he brags: If there are matsutake, he will go to the forest to catch some grouse, so...

The grouse is not so easy to catch. Although this kind of pheasant has lost the ability to fly, it can still fly short distances in this dense forest. It can cross a 2000-meter-long distance from the pine forest just by spreading its wings lightly. distance.Sometimes hunters must bring their own pets to catch this alert and flexible rare bird.

Since the hunter guide said so, how can I let him sit here and rest peacefully, and he has really tossed us for the past three days.

In fact, these people don’t know that finding those matsutake mushrooms is surprisingly easy for me. Although these matsutake mushrooms grow under the thick pine needles, it is difficult to find these matsutake mushrooms without peeling off the pine needles.The places where these matsutake grow are very scattered, and it is not easy to find them.But no one will know that every matsutake grows under the pine needle quilt, and before picking, there will be a little strong water element essence gathered under the matsutake umbrella cap.

With my current water element affinity, I can feel the water element in the air is already the limit. It is difficult for a senior magician who has not reached level [-] and second turn to perceive the essence of water element.But I have one exception, because I can feel the existence of the spirit of water element, Sister Guoguo. After entering this valley, Sister Guoguo became a little active. Floating around casually within a certain range around me.

At first I thought she was curious about the natural world, maybe it was caused by the extra rich water elements caused by the sultry heat here, but later I found out that it was not because of this, whenever she found a place, she floated gently She will squat down, lean her head over and suck lightly, suddenly there is a group of bright fluorescent lights in her mouth, and I can only feel it through her jumping and cheerful body at this time, it is actually a small group. Essence of water element.

There are a lot of matsutake in this valley.

That's right, before Sister Guoguo absorbed it, I still couldn't feel the water element essence, but only the nail-sized essence was sucked into her mouth, and in her light blue translucent body, it seemed to exude The fluorescent fireflies kept floating in her body, and then they were absorbed by her little by little. I knew that what she inhaled was the essence of water elements.

I followed the place where she had stayed and tried to remove the pine needles on the ground, and sure enough I found a few matsutake plants under the pine needles.I found that the so-called delicacies in people's mouth must have something unique, just like matsutake, it can actually gather the essence of water element itself, maybe this is the reason why it is delicious.

I smiled at the hunter guide and said, "Let's make an agreement, as long as I can get back some matsutake, you can hunt some grouse and come back to make soup!"

The hunter guide was taken aback when he saw me continue his words. For a magic apprentice noble like me, he needs to use honorifics when speaking.

Now that the words have been spoken, there is no room for repentance, so he said: "You are right, Your Excellency the Magic Apprentice!"

I smiled, sat next to senior Benjamin, and said to everyone relaxedly: "Maybe when we are lucky, if we can find some matsutake, we will all be lucky!"

After finishing speaking, I casually picked up a piece of dry pine wood that was more than a foot long and thick as an egg, and threw it into the distance, as casually as if I was throwing away the sundries around me.

That's right, that's where Sister Guoguo just left. She absorbed two balls of water elemental essence there.

The bent dead tree fell to the ground, splashing the pine needles there, revealing a round, earth-colored mushroom...

The simple and honest Luka ran over curiously and pushed the pine needles away.

"hehe"

He smiled broadly, and a few matsutake plants lay quietly under the pine needles, and the team suddenly became very quiet!
Some people looked at me in surprise, and some looked at the hunter guide with an undetectable smile...

(End of this chapter)