Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 825 - 90: The Ramp of Light of Wisdom

Chapter 825: Chapter 90: The Ramp of Light of Wisdom

The afterglow of the sunset still sprawled across the plateau in the twilight, and even though it had passed six in the evening, the weather on the plateau remained stiflingly hot. Even with the adventurer’s robust constitutions, sweat still streamed down their cheeks in large droplets, mixing with the yellow dust that clung to their faces through their scarves, leaving streaks of grime. But nobody minded this minor discomfort. Each person was an experienced adventurer, and compared to the life-and-death crises in various dangerous areas, mere heat and dust were nowhere near enough to unsettle anyone.

In two days’ time, even though the road conditions on Butte Plateau were not good, the seven of them had managed to traverse nearly eight hundred kilometers on their magic-powered motorbikes, almost traversing the entire Kingdom of Mages vertically. Along the way, there were constantly floating towers in the sky and cities unfurling on the ground that appeared in their peripheral vision. There were also villages and farms scattered between the cities, which would occasionally emerge through rolling clouds of yellow dust. However, with the performance of the magic-powered motorbikes allowing speeds of forty to fifty kilometers per hour, these cities and villages were left behind in the blink of an eye. Only the Floating Islands suspended in the air stubbornly remained in the young girls’ view.

But when they say no one, it doesn’t mean that there were no people in these cities and villages. As the group traveled, they often saw farmers tending to their fields and herders grazing livestock on the meadows in the towns they passed. It was clear that there were plenty of residents on the plateau. However, in the two days, the seven adventurers had not encountered a single trading caravan or traveler, making it seem as though all pedestrians had vanished from Butte Plateau, leaving only drifting dust and an endless road of yellow soil between heaven and earth.

"It’s getting late," Pannis, who was driving a magic-powered motorbike at the front, suddenly turned back to shout, "Now we have two choices, but I’m not sure which one you’re prepared to pick."

"I choose the second," Freya immediately answered from a vehicle behind, before Pannis could even explain, "I don’t want to roll around in the yellow dirt for another day. Oh my, although the setting sun, yellow sand, and the deserted wilderness can always form a lonely and beautifully desolate painting, and the smoke rising straight into the night sky from the campfires, as well as the moonlight over the plateau, are so poetic, my skin is protesting right now. So I insist on the second option, let’s head straight to Mountain Watching Fortress and rest there."

"We agree with that," Catherine spoke on behalf of the other girls, "It won’t take much longer anyway. Even including taking apart the vehicles, we should reach Mountain Watching Fortress by eight o’clock at the latest. Better to go straight there, where we can have a good night’s rest and take a shower. It’s too uncomfortable now, it feels like I’m wearing a mask on my face."

Clearly, while covered in mud didn’t faze the young women, a woman’s nature doesn’t change. They would seize any opportunity to clean up thoroughly. Pannis scratched his head and muttered, "Really, I haven’t even said anything, and you’ve already rebutted what I was going to say. Am I so easy to guess?"

Actually, the girls had guessed Pannis’ question correctly. At this point, everyone faced a choice. To save energy, they could find a nearby village to spend the night, or they could camp on site. They would then disassemble the magic-powered motorbikes and pack them away in their backpacks to carry with them, setting off early the next day to race down the steep Light of Wisdom Slope, descending around a thousand meters in altitude to reach Mountain Watching Fortress, built at the beginning of the Fourth Epoch in the Falar Empire. After reassembling the motorbikes at Mountain Watching Fortress, they could resume their journey. The other option, as the girls suggested, was to drive through the night to the edge of the Light of Wisdom Slope, disassemble the bikes there, and rush to Mountain Watching Fortress to spend the night. Compared to that, they were more interested in the inns within Mountain Watching Fortress, especially since they had spent the previous night in the yellow-dust covered wilderness.

"Because you’re an idiot," Ava said, hugging Pannis’ waist from behind, her hair tied up high, her face buried in his back as she whispered, "That’s why you’re too easy to guess."

"Hey," Pannis retorted, rolling his eyes, "With their disdain for me, that’s enough, so stop causing trouble."

"And I always feel something’s not right," Catherine surveyed the surroundings and said, "This road is too quiet. Although the Kingdom of Mages’ official and bulk goods transportation is done through several moving Floating Islands, with the population and prosperity of the Kingdom of Mages, it’s odd not to see a single trading caravan on the ground. This highway is supposed to be the best route connecting the Falar Empire and Butte, and I’ve heard that most caravans choose this road. But we haven’t run into a soul, as if... as if... as if someone has quarantined all the people away from us."

"Big sister, you’re being too suspicious," Lina chimed in from behind Freya, "Don’t forget, we saw plenty of farmers and herders on the way. If it were like you said, they should have been isolated too."

"So that’s why I found it strange," Lina’s words did not dispel Catherine’s confusion, as the knight girl continued to speak with worry, "It’s precisely because those farmers and herdsmen are there that we can charge forward without concern. If we really can’t even see those people, then there’s definitely a problem, and we wouldn’t dare to proceed so unguarded."

"Maybe someone deliberately wants you to think that way so that you hesitate and dare not move forward quickly," Lina proposed a solution. "That way, we wouldn’t be able to get to the scene of the catastrophe in time and find any clues. So, thinking this way might be exactly what they expect us to do."

"Then it must be a collective decision of Butte Mage Supreme Council." Pannis turned back and shouted, "Or it’s a private request from a few of the top Mage lords, otherwise, the local lords wouldn’t cooperate so well. Without the cooperation of the local lords, no one could clear the roads of caravans. But I think the people from the Sands of Time wouldn’t be foolish enough to make such a request, it would be too easy to trace back to them. Doing so would be akin to exposing their identities before us for no significant reason."

"So what’s your opinion," Catherine asked, "Do you think it’s just a coincidence?"

"If someone from the Kingdom of Mages is targeting us, they might manage to ensure that we encounter neither any caravans nor travelers along the way through some means," Pannis said. "But they can’t control the caravans coming from Falar to here. Don’t you find it odd? Not only the caravans going in the same direction but even the ones going in the opposite direction—we haven’t met a single one since we got here. While this may seem even more abnormal, it instead suggests that the problem might not lie with the Kingdom of Mages, but on the other side."

"Perhaps," Catherine still expressed her doubts. "Regardless, it’s better for us to be cautious, especially the stretch of road descending from the Light of Wisdom slope. Try not to rush down too quickly to avoid losing the ability to react if we encounter an ambush by enemies halfway."

The Light of Wisdom slope mentioned by the group is a steep path connecting the Falar Empire and the Kingdom of Mages. The border between the Falar Empire and the Kingdom of Mages runs east to west along the Pandora Mountains. Above the mountains is the Butte Plateau, and below is the Falar Plain. Since the mountain range is steep and most of the area is hard to traverse, only near the Light of Wisdom slope do three passages appear. One is called the Light of Wisdom; although the gradient is still steep at approximately sixty degrees and the height about twelve hundred meters, the length is less than eighteen hundred meters. Hardly anyone chooses this treacherous path for ascent or descent. Only some Upper Rank professionals, for convenience, run down it. However, there are occasionally pitiful individuals who make mistakes along the way and end up severely injured. The other two called the Light of Knowledge and the Light of Magic are relatively gentle, but their winding paths stretching from the summit to the foot of the mountain often take half a day to traverse at the fastest speed. For caravans and ordinary people, however, these routes are the best choice. The starting points of the three slopes are not far apart, and their final destinations are also close together, converging into a canyon that leads to the Mountain Watching Fortress at the edge of Falar Empire.

With the rumble of the magic-powered motorbike, a group of seven finally arrived at the northernmost end of the Pandora Mountains just before sunset. Before them was a cliff with no visible edges on either side, and below was a valley shrouded in mist. Looking ahead, a city emerged in the twilight below, faintly discernible, with plumes of smoke rising from it, accompanied by the sparkles of early evening lights. Viewed from above, the city seemed to be only the size of a drill field behind a foreign consulate, with all buildings indistinguishable. Only the city walls around it clearly marked the extent of the city.

In front of the girls was a steep slope about thirty meters wide, which almost lacked any twists and ran straight down to the foot of the mountain in a straight line, making many ordinary people dizzy at the sight of it. Fortunately, there was a guardrail made of iron chains and pillars on both sides of the slope to prevent anyone from accidentally veering off course and falling off the thousand-meter-high cliff while rushing downhill.

"Freya, how’s the dismantling going?" After sitting by the cliff for a while, the sky was growing darker, and Catherine asked anxiously, "Let’s try to get going while it’s still light. Descending after the sun sets feels like suicide to me."

"Don’t worry, it’s all ready," Freya replied as she wiped the black grease from her hands and flicked it into the air, where the oil slipped off her hands under the effect of magic. The girl secured the last huge backpack and handed out one to each person. "We can set off at any time." (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, feel free to vote for it at qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read at m.qidian.com.)