Soran was also trapped in Autumnfell. The snow outside was so thick that his carriage couldn't budge.

He customized a warm cotton-padded jacket for Vivian because of the cold weather, and it would take three days to finish. Half-elves were busy outside, and he vaguely saw Druids. The snow collapsed some shabby thatched cottages, so Autumnfell was engaged in saving civilians. He went outside to check on the situation since Gloria looked after the little girl. The outside snow was thicker as expected. He stepped on it that then directly covered his cruses.

Outside the city were farmlands, but now, he only saw the endless whiteness.

Men and women were busy on the farmlands, uncovering the snow to transport the almost ripe crops and vegetables back home. If farmers didn't get them back as soon as possible, they would rot fast, and the farmers thereby would have nothing to eat in this winter. Winter wheat didn't seem to be able to plant, for it was planted in October in the previous year, and the snow was too thick now. Many Half-elf farmers looked worried. With no outstanding gifts, they were only more flexible than humans in actions, so they were essentially ordinary people.

A farmer woman was carrying lettuce. Cabbage and lettuce were the most common vegetables in the south area. Her fingers were frozen pale. Next to her was a little girl with a runny nose who was helping her. Attired in thin clothes, the little girl breathed upon her hands to warm them up. A little boy in the distance was digging the snow, excitedly found a frozen bird soon, and shouted with the bird held high, "Look, sister! We'll have meat tonight!"

The heavy snow broke a few tree trunks, so some birds' nests were directly knocked down. The branches were frozen into ice strips that looked like dropping crystals.

This was the life of ordinary people.

Having antic.i.p.ated the severe challenge of this winter, the experienced hunters flocked into the forest for some preys in advance. As luck would have it, they could discover some frozen animals. In the distance, some people were repairing their roofs. The poor ordinary people could only afford thatched cottages, roofs of which were not solid and easily damaged in cloudy or snowy days. There were sounds of birds in the sky. They were taking the last chance to migrate. Otherwise, they would be frozen to death here.

The winter arriving a month earlier than before changed a lot of things, forcing animals to hibernation in advance and disturbing the people's farming plan.

Cracking noise came to his ears.

Soran stopped walking forward and unfolded his palm, and then a hailstone the size of rice fell.

The noise became denser and denser. As the shouts of the farmer woman arose far away, her two kids fast ran toward her, and the little boy even fell in the snowfield. The hailstones falling onto the ground became bigger and bigger. She used her body to s.h.i.+eld her kids while running toward the house in the distance without even caring about the unearthed vegetables.

He felt the slight pain on his body.

Looking up to the sky, he saw that the hailstones became bigger and bigger from the size of soybean to a pebble. Having heard a painful scream ahead of him, he flew toward them like lightning, held the kids in his arms at one swoop, and said in a m.u.f.fled voice, "Find a place and hide as quickly as you can!"

Without time to express her grat.i.tude, she staggeringly followed him. A hailstone the size of a cobblestone hit her, leaving a bruised mark on her forehead. The village was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with rebukes. He put the kids down and saw the hailstones falling onto the ground with his eyebrows furrowed. The roofs seemed to be knocked with cracking sounds. Some people were hit with a bloodstain left on their foreheads.

The hailstones didn't last long.

The whole process only lasted for a dozen minutes. The people stepped out of their houses in terror and went back on the farmlands to harvest the crops after seeing the light in the sky. Soran entered the forest along the road after giving the little kids a pack of jerky. The familiar road was nowhere to see with snow covering everything, including the wild gra.s.s. He saw Druids nimbly leap in the forest.

Those Druids were abominable but not bad.

Many of Druids devoted themselves to the desert, committing to turning the desert left by the Mystery Empire into oases, a process that had lasted for thousands of years.

However, they only finished less than one-hundredth of it after the efforts of generations. The desert covering thousands of kilometers was still mantled with sands, and the time-honored city beneath it still emitted energetic radiation. Only those plants with the strongest vitality could grow here. It was always easy to destroy the environment, but it would take countless years to repair it. Soran actually had a complicated att.i.tude toward Druids. Sometimes, he wanted to kill them so badly; sometimes, he considered them great, especially when seeing the oasis built by them in the desert. It was really breathtaking to see a piece of green representing life against the backdrop of mantling sand.

They thereby enjoyed an extremely high position among all the people living in the desert.

More than once, Soran saw the people kneel down and kiss the ground where Tree-planting Walkers walked.

………...

The first batch of the old, weak, sick and disabled died from the heavy snow.

Only the strongest creatures could be able to survive the winter. The more forward Soran walked, the more fiercely his eyebrows were wrinkled, because the road to the Elf Nation was totally covered by snow. The carriage could barely travel through. In that case, they had to walk if they wanted to go to the Elf Nation. It was impossible to wait for the snow to melt, for not until the next year, it would melt. Soran couldn't wait for such a long time, so they had to continue their journey in the snow.

Vivian was short in stature so that she could barely walk on the snow-covering road. She wasn't that energetic, and Soran would have his heart ache, too. 

Thus, the sole method was, he carried her on his back. This snow-covering road was two-thousand-meter long, so they estimated they would spend a lot of time on it.

They didn't know if Gloria could make it, but it should be all right for a high-grade witch like her.

She could use many magic spells.

It was afternoon when Soran got back. Surrounded by many guests, Aladdin was bragging himself while standing on the bar table, and someone would invite him to a drink with a smile from time to time. When he saw Soran, his face turned rowdy already. He should have been a storyteller, and it was a pity that he didn't work part-time as a bard. Otherwise, he must have earned a lot of tips along the road. Many halflings liked bragging and wouldn't get furious if they were nailed to the counter. They might refute back at most.

Halfings got the knack of story-telling. In spare time, it could be entertaining to hear their stories, so even the owner listened to him with interest.

Some of what Aladdin said was true. With his more adventurous experiences, Aladdin could exactly tell Hill Giants' height, characteristics, habits, and even their automatic actions when they attack. Of course, the main objective was to prove how flexible his moves were; how he escaped Hill Giant's attack and then jerked Hill Giant around. You should never deem that Aladdin could kill Hill Giant with his two tiny knives, because he simply couldn't make it.

Under the demands of the guests, the short Aladdin tap danced on the long table with his hands clapping. It was said that the one who danced well could hook up with a baby-faced female halfling. The surrounding people couldn't help but clap their own hands according to the rhythm. The atmosphere, which was originally lively, immediately became even hotter. The owner even wanted to hire him.

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Three days was gone fast.

Soran seized the time to remember the magic spells. Having seemed to know he was learning the magic spells, Gloria would consciously or subconsciously instruct him. Apparently, this Northern Witch had no idea that he was already a fifth-grade sorcerer, which was exactly what he wanted to see in order to avoid some unnecessary troubles. After all, it would be terrifying if a fifth-grade sorcerer suddenly showed up within half a month with his talents even greater than Vivian's. He decided to disclose this when the time was ready.

Soran successfully remembered Brute Force Spell, a second-rank magic spell.

This magic spell could help increase his strength by four points thus it would hit 18 points with the cooperation of Ogre Wrister, which basically supplemented the last weakness of his attribute. Pitifully, it could only maintain a dozen minutes. However, a battle roughly lasted that long, so if he cast his magic, it would be okay even if he dealt with the ogres head-on. The low-grade sorcerers had few magic points, so he had to use them carefully. The Stealth Spell was used for protecting him, and the Brute Force Spell was for fighting.

The magic points of sorcerers over the third-grade would be increased tremendously.

When they resumed their journey, the short halfling really followed them. He had enjoyed himself in the hotel where he was invited to have a drink each day. Soran thereby thought that he would stay here.

"I'm a gourmet."

Aladdin moved forward in the snow with a distressed face and then said in self-justification, "How can a gourmet settle himself in one place? I've tasted all delicious food here, so I should set off for  the Elf Nation."

Gloria wasn't used to walking in the snow.

Witches of high position seldom traveled by themselves, not to mention in the snow. Soran wanted to help her, but his hands were tied, for he carried half a backpack-like cloth bag on his back with Vivian in it. The little girl put her snow-white hands around his neck while leaning her head on his shoulder. Each time she breathed, he felt itchy. She stretched out her feet from time to time and unfolded her palms to catch the falling snowflakes. In the beginning, she was high-spirited and turned a little bored later, because there was nothing but the white heavy snow.   

The Northern Witch felt somewhat tired eventually after a long walk.

She bit her lips while stubbornly glancing at the others and then cast the Light Body Spell out.

After all, those sorcerers were rather delicate. With the help of this spell, Gloria became light-footed immediately and left shallow footprints on the snowfield, which was way better than using the Flying Spell. The flying Spell could only last for a short time, so it was unbecoming for a long-distance journey. With the strong wind and cold current in the sky, it required extra aid of the defensive magic spells to come into effect. Otherwise, her body would have a meltdown.

The cold gale roared through.

There were lines of footprints on the snowfield. When they entered the forest, the mantling snow fast covered the traces they left behind.