Above The Sky
Chapter 268 - 268 255 Dragon Mountain 13

268: Chapter 255: Dragon Mountain (1/3) 268: Chapter 255: Dragon Mountain (1/3) In the blizzard of the Ice Abyss, the young man holding his breath quietly gazed at his fingertip, locking eyes with the tiny fairy.

With a slight bend of his elongated index finger, Ian brought the ‘butterfly’ radiating coldness closer to himself, attempting to observe it closely, yet the ‘butterfly’ leaped from his fingertip, fluttering around his hair and then crawling up to the top of his head through the boy’s soft sideburns, where it comfortably lay.

The residual wave of Origin Quality from the Fairy Wings still lingered on Ian, the familiar fluctuation that surrounded the young man was precisely why the fairy butterfly drew close to him.

It was like one breeze naturally gravitating towards another, such was its existence.

A frown lightly creased Ian’s forehead; he too was somewhat at a loss.

Looking towards Yisen Gard at his side, the boy found his peer simply stupefied, staring intently at the top of his own head before the surprised gaze slowly lowered to meet his.

With a slow nod from Ian signifying that he could speak, Yisen’s voice came through, filled with astonishment.

“A fairy?!”

At that moment, Yisen Gard was genuinely taken aback—were there really fairies inhabiting the South Sea Relic Cluster?

Nobody had considered such a thing, given that across the entire Terra Continent, only the Fairy Homeland near the Starfall Inland Sea had a complete fairy colony, with all other fairies wandering away from Falling Star City.

But then, as his gaze steadied, he hesitated, “No, that doesn’t seem quite right…

True fairies aren’t this unstable…”

The white ‘fairy’ perched atop Ian’s head was roughly seven or eight centimeters long, neither large nor small, at first glance resembling some kind of white Frost Butterfly, aligning with the common impression people had of fairies.

But upon closer inspection, one could see that these tiny Spirit Energy creatures were entirely composed of constantly swirling, free-floating Essence Fragments.

There wasn’t a complete shape to them, and even what seemed to be a humanoid body was more of a vague ‘pixelated figure.’

True fairies, upon their creation, are fashioned by their kin into a complete body to shield their core, their craftsmanship as exquisite as that of the highest-grade Armor Suits.

The little one flying around Ian primarily consisted of a ‘Spirit Energy Core’ at the center of its small form—an ice-blue gemstone, half-exposed, looking both beautiful and fragile.

After a period of flying around, the pixelated, unstable ‘fairy’ chose to bounce off Ian’s fingertip, much like a butterfly incessantly flapping its wings, while Ian focused and locked eyes with the creature, seemingly trying to understand some complex, indescribable yet incredibly simple matter.

“So that’s how it is…”

Reaching out his hand to pinch the butterfly’s wings and bring it in front of his eyes, the boy locked eyes with the well-behaved ‘fairy’ for a moment before slowly lowering his gaze, “It’s a mutual call…”

Turning his head, Ian said to Yisen Gard, “Because I just used the power of the Fairy Wings, this little one came looking for me.”

“They are calling me, and I want to go take a look.”

“Fairy Wings?

You have a Fairy Bloodline, Ian?

No wonder your power to control water is so strong…”

Yisen Gard focused immediately on something else, realizing why Ian was such a powerful ‘Wave Singer.’

Afterward, coming to his senses, he showed a surprised expression, “What…

Although I won’t stop you, could this be a trap?”

Yisen knew that Ian must have his reasons for wanting to do something, and they certainly were more profound than his own thoughts, yet he instinctively felt the need to remind him, “Every creature in this ruin is a bit off; are you sure these peculiar fairies…

are harmless?”

“Don’t worry.

Going there will be beneficial for all of us.”

A silver-cyan halo flashed in his eyes as Ian made his decision, his expression easing, “At the very least, these ‘fairies’ are not some sort of parasite.”

[Primitive Frost Fairy (Southern Sea Ruins of Ice Abyss Type)]

[Incapable Level·Nascent Body·Ordinary·Sub-intelligence Spiritual Creature·High-energy Derivative·Spirit Energy Derivative]

[Body Material…

Spirit-quality Frost…

Non-corporeal Spirit Energy Creature]

[Strength Level: Fragile]

[Contained Primordial Essence: 20.4562]

[Appearing in the Ruins of Ice Abyss of the Southern Sea, these primitive near-fairy creatures have not achieved a complete Spirit Energy cycle, nor do they have a core entity for recording memories and individual soul elements, and cannot be considered true fairies, but rather the primal form of the fairy species from ancient times, derivative creations of a super Spirit Energy Field’s fluctuations.]

[Rather than a creature, it’s more accurate to describe it as a natural phenomenon, a semi-corporeal fragment manifested by a complete Spirit Energy Field.]

[The individual possesses a certain degree of self-awareness]

[…]

Ian withdrew his attention from these captions, and he was beginning to understand; the so-called fairies were in essence ‘Elementals of Heaven and Earth.’

As classified by the Terra Continent, a fairy’s essence is an avatar of a corporeal Spirit Energy Field manifested in the real world—this is why, since ancient times, fairies have been intrinsically linked with special ‘territories’ like the Fairy Homeland, and are invisible to ordinary people, their nature being that of a natural phenomenon.

However, ‘True Fairies’ as natural phenomena, manage to control their originating fields, gaining stable intelligence and inheritance, turning into mature forms at the Second Energy Level upon adulthood, and even achieving ceaseless reincarnation by anchoring memories and souls…

But precisely because of this, the number of True Fairies is exceedingly rare.

And these so-called primitive fairies…

Ian raised his head, looking towards the top of the Ice Abyss, where the blizzard was now raging even more fiercely, not because of the Frost Moths, but due to the twinkling, transmuting specks in the snow.

—Hundreds of Primitive Fairies gathered together, like fireflies flickering in the mist, casting a visible ice-blue light.

They all awaited him…

watching him from afar.

“I must go and see what lies within this Ice Abyss that could distort the Spirit Energy Field to such an extent that it can even give rise to a Primitive Fairy,” he resolved.

He made up his mind.

The members of the camp were still preparing for battle, and Ian did not ask them to stop because he was planning to follow the fairy in his palm to see the situation deeper in the Ice Abyss.

Master Gossay needed to rest, Yisen Gard was busy preparing and arranging equipment, while Qingchao Lanfan, Iron Hand, and other Sublimators were also on guard against possible monster attacks from afar.

This time, Ian was the only one going.

However, before leaving, Yisen Gard sought him out for a private conversation about some issues.

“I have a way to counter my uncle’s Aether Armaments.”

The blond youth handed Ian a bottle of black liquid, which was clearly his blood, and Yisen calmly said, “Dark Brilliance, as a biological Aether Armament, only obeys the blood of the Ellen Family members, and among them, the primary will only obey the current family head, making it less versatile in application.”

“As a remedy, the offshoots come into play, which can be controlled by anyone with the Ellen Family bloodline…

My uncle can, and I am no exception.”

Yisen’s blood could be used to interfere with Patrick’s use of the Ether Armor Offshoot—it was a very precious item, for the blood was their essence, the source of their power for those with the Sun-eclipse Refining Dragon Bloodline.

The youth’s face was pale at the moment, even comparable to Ian, one of the White Folks, proving just how much strength it had taken for him to extract a vial of blood that could be used to contend with his uncle for control of the mainstay.

“I won’t let this kindness go to waste.”

Ian understood that this was Yisen Gard’s fear for what might happen to him after moving alone—he might be chased by Patrick in his Aether Armaments, and might not even be able to escape.

He took this favor to heart.

With this vial of blood, many things would be much easier.

Once prepared, Ian set off.

He looked back at the mist on everyone’s bodies to make sure they were all fine for the moment, then he stepped out.

Whoosh, the Fairy Wings activated, and amid the stirring of frost and snow dust, the youth’s silhouette disappeared.

The camp and the pirates’ position became smaller and smaller behind him.

And the Primitive Frost Fairy hovered above the youth’s head, emitting a faint humming sound.

The Ice Abyss was not as vast as the sea, but calling it small would also be inaccurate.

Ian looked as far as his eyes could see, and he could barely make out the edges on both sides.

In some areas of the Ice Abyss, giant stone columns stood tall.

They were supporting structures.

Scanning with the silver core chip, Ian detected metallic iron columns inside the rock, covered in a thick layer of frost that had been supporting this huge ‘cooling zone’ for thousands of years.

Ian moved through the blizzard, stepping on ice prisms as he went.

He wasn’t especially pursuing speed, so he was able to fully exert his agility, managing to effortlessly navigate through what appeared to be narrow cracks and holes in the ice with just an extra bit of effort.

The Ice Abyss’s landscape was clearly formed when a large amount of water remained in the cooling area in the past but unexpectedly froze before it could drain.

For thousands of years, there must have been multiple times when the relics overheated and melted the ice, but before it could fully dissolve, it froze over again, which led to the current terrain—the seemingly solid and wide ice field had already become riddled with holes and chasms formed by the melting, with some areas only having a thin ice shell.

If it weren’t for Ian activating the Fairy Wings, and had he been walking on it, he probably would have fallen into the kilometers-deep abyss halfway through the journey due to the ice shell breaking.

However, this unique terrain gradually became less common as Ian advanced…

one could even say that the ice he saw was as thick as a continent, without a single crack or cavity, showing no signs of melting.

“The cold is growing denser; I might be approaching the perpetual frozen zone of the Ice Abyss.”

The butterfly-like Primitive Fairy overhead continued to guide Ian’s path, letting him know he was getting very close to the target.

But suddenly.

Ian felt a slight tremor in the Heart Core at the center of his chest.

This made him pause for a moment.

—It was not the kind of tremor that occurs when encountering something that could repair itself.

It was a ‘warning’ triggered by encountering a noteworthy opponent!

Ian slowed his pace.

Not out of fear, but because he was nearly at his destination.

And…

he saw it, the ‘true form’ that set the Ancient Dragon Heart Core vibrating.

“My God…”

He slowly raised his head to look at the towering ice mountain hundreds of meters high in front of him.

Then he exclaimed from the heart, “Incredible!”

It was a dragon and an insect.

A Crystal Dragon entwined on the ice mountain and a giant moth-like insect entangled with each other formed the main body of this ice mountain.

The semi-transparent ice layers were intermittently visible in the wind and snow, but could not conceal the shapes and shadows of these two massive creatures.

Their dragon claws and stinger tails pierced each other’s bodies, embedding one another into this permanent frozen ice mountain!