Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 637 - 1 The Snow-Covered Town_1

Chapter 637: Chapter 1 The Snow-Covered Town_1

A fierce cold wind blew over the earth, whipping up a sky full of swirling snow, engulfing the world in a chaotic haze. Walking along the path, the accumulated snow on the ground was more than half a metre deep. One step sank up to the thigh, making walking extremely difficult. There was not a soul to be seen on the roads between the villages, only boundless snow drifting silently. This was Icebound Town, the southernmost point of the Neville Federation in the southern part of the Yarran Continent. Some considered it the coldest part of all human territory, at the limits of what ordinary humans could endure. A hundred and twenty kilometers south of Icebound Town, one could reach the Dragon Worship Autonomous Prefecture, a territory not even five hundred square kilometers in size. Passing through this autonomous prefecture would lead to the Magical Beast Forest — a realm of ice and snow as if plucked straight from mythological tales.

Here, there are only two seasons within the thirteen months of a year. For nine long months, the land is cloaked in ice, with only four short summer months revealing the true face of the landscape. The harsh conditions led to difficulty in normal travel, and under regular circumstances, there wasn’t a necessity to traverse this land. Therefore, despite its fertile soil, these lands became a forgotten world within the Neville Federation due to its harsh natural conditions that made cultivation almost impossible.

Beyond this forgotten world lies the Magical Beast Forest, the second-largest forest in the Yarran World — perennially clad in ice and snow. Spanning almost four hundred thousand square kilometers, the Magical Beast Forest only experiences four months without accumulated snow. Tall, robust, evergreen conifers strive to grow during this period, basking thoroughly in the warmth of the sunlight. After the four months, when the cold descends once again, the greenery is encased in white once more, restoring the forest to a world of ice and snow. This icy kingdom is home to a largely diverse population of magical beasts, most of them of the upper rank. With the species of upper-rank magical beasts numbering in the hundreds of thousands, the Magical Beast Forest is second only to one other place in the Yarran Continent. This characteristic is indeed where the forest takes its mighty name from.

The majority of the magical beasts in the forest are ice-attribute beasts that thrive in cold environments. In this realm, after playing the role of prey, the goliaths that reign are the tens of thousands of legendary magical beasts. And near the southernmost part of the forest, demigod magical beasts can even be found in considerable numbers. Such a climate, accompanied by such an extraordinary assemblage of magical beasts, makes the forest an intimidating place for most adventurers. Although abundant in rare materials that could bring great gains, the risks involved far exceed those of other places. Therefore, many upper rank adventurers would rather venture to the misty islands overseas than face this world of ice and snow.

However, what draws attention the most in the Magical Beast Forest isn’t as expected — it is the towering mountain range located in the middle of the forest. Each peak within the range houses many wildlife species, but surprisingly, no upper rank magical beasts. Upper-rank beasts instinctively fear this range, refusing to venture anywhere near. Their instincts are not flawed, for this range is named the Dragon Mountain Range — the home of the Guardian Race. Nestled within the towering treacherous terrain reside almost hundreds of dragons. Every healthy adult dragon possesses the strength of a demigod, making the combined efforts of the entire clan truly terrifying. Throughout the history of the Yarran World, only the Triclops of the mythical age in the First Epoch, and the Sea Race of the Third and Fourth Epoch, could rival the dragons in strength. People, however, were not worried about dragons invading other races. It was the inherent duty of dragons to guard, laid out by their creator, Lord Yarra. Based on their personality traits, it was almost impossible for them to change.

At a time when existential crises are absent, dragons display neither ambitions nor curiosity. They laze away lying in their caves, sleeping for perhaps nine to ten months out of the thirteen in a year. They are busy preparing to sleep or are in the process of waking up for the rest of the time. They only leave their dwellings to hunt once or twice a month and spend the rest of the time relishing the pleasures of sleep. With their robust power, they lead a content and carefree life without exploiting their strength for their benefit, save for hunting. This confounds other sentient beings, and they could only attribute it to the work of Lord Yarra. But whether the actual reason was related to Father God Yarra was a mystery to all.

Despite this, there are always strange people in a broad world. These individuals hailed from various races, and they admired, even worshipped, the way of life of the dragons, yearning to live as carefree as them. However, within a community of sentient beings, they couldn’t attain this. Hence, at some unknown point, some people spontaneously gathered on the forsaken land at the southernmost part of the Neville Federation. This was the closest they could get to the dragons. They began to settle here, battling the cold, fending off the occasional magical beast wandering out from the forest and slowly establishing their unique self-sufficient society. These people aspired to live life as the dragons did and even yearned to become dragons themselves. As they propagated generation after generation, their manner of thinking and their way of life gradually resembled that of the dragons.

As the years passed, spanning thousands of years, by the time the Neville Federation was established a few centuries ago, the group referred to as the Dragon Worship Church had grown into a population of over two thousand, divided among seven or eight villages. Their social structure had become rather stable. However, it wasn’t so much a social structure but more of a transformation into humanoid dragons. For some unknown reason, perhaps environmental factors or a reward for their faith, these people had begun to exhibit dragon-like characteristics. Some of them possessed the keen sight of dragons, others possessed immense strength, and there were even those who could breathe like dragons. While these abilities could not rival those of real dragons, they far surpassed ordinary creatures. Correspondingly, their mentality mirrored that of dragons with the same laid-back and slothful demeanor. Be it hunting or annual planting, as long as they secured enough food for their family for a year, they would happily nest in their dwellings, spending their days in tranquility, showing no interest in the outside world.

The existence of such a community was a headache for the newly-formed Neville Federation. By rights, this unclaimed territory that bordered only with the federation’s territory should belong to them. However, firstly, potential for capitalizing on this land was nonexistent and secondly, this group was quite formidable. It would be a foolish act to wage war on such people for a territory of no value. Furthermore, no one could determine how the dragons would react if these creatures, whose hearts mirrored their own, were attacked or exterminated. Therefore, after much deliberation, the Neville Federation decided to designate this area as an autonomous region, a territory under the federation in name but in reality, governed by the Dragon Worshippers, or in other words, virtually unregulated. Thus, the Dragon Worship Autonomous Prefecture was established in name.

Anyone wishing to enter the Magical Beast Forest would definitely have to pass through Icebound Town, the southernmost town of Neville, and the Dragon Worship Autonomous Prefecture. This was the only human-inhabited route. All other directions led to an endless snowfield. Getting lost in this snowfield would mean becoming one with it in just a few days. Only when the ice melted the following year would any trace of the lost be discovered. Over the years, adventurers wishing to enter the Magical Beast Forest would choose to traverse Icebound Town during the brief summer. Very few dared to venture into the forest in winter. Maybe one or two might appear every century. However, the current generation of residents from Icebound Town were lucky because they had witnessed the arrival of one.

It was noon on the seventh of December. Although it was the warmest part of the day, nobody wanted to go out. Everyone preferred to stay snug by their warm firesides while cursing the detestable weather of that day.

It was snowing heavily. Large snowflakes falling from the sky caused temperatures to drop to unbearable levels. Not only was it snowing, but a chilling wind was blowing too. It swirled the falling snowflakes into a frenzied vortex in mid-air. The specks of ice mixed in the snowflakes were blown against the town’s buildings, creating a constant crackling sound. No one wanted to spend time outdoors in such weather as it would be torture. If they felt bored at home, people would rather find their way to a bustling tavern, order a glass of the strongest potato-based spirit to warm their freezing bodies with its alcoholic heat.

The average-sized tavern was filled with over fifty townsmen, which was not a small number considering the town’s population of four hundred. Their presence suffused the tavern with the scents of distilled spirits, smoked meat, and an overpowering body odor that was hard to stomach. Each townsman was holding a glass of their potent potions in hand, their loud chatter adding to the din in the tavern.

This was a typical scene that had been occurring almost daily in the taverns of Icebound Town for hundreds of years until, at that moment, the tavern door was pushed open. (To be continued. If you like this work, we welcome your vote and recommendation on qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)