Magic Farm 178

Chapter 178: Exchanging for the Magic Sleigh, Discovering a Player Territory

Qi Yu spent the entire morning exploring the Forest of Stars.

During the first hour, he circled the area near his territory, using Azurewing to assist his search, which made for the highest efficiency.

After that, his pace slowed.

But overall, compared to other players without magical assistance, his efficiency was already more than fast enough.

By noon, he had collected a total of 100 Ice Gemstones.

In fact, he’d gotten 30 of them in the first half hour; by the time he finished and headed home at noon, he’d gathered the remaining 70 in just over three hours.

That worked out to about 20 Icebound Bosses found and defeated per hour.

If others knew this, the people in the regional channel would be shocked out of their minds.

He occasionally glanced at the regional channel, and everyone seemed to be participating enthusiastically.

Most ordinary players needed about twenty minutes to kill a single Icebound Boss.

By “ordinary,” that meant players without excellent or higher-quality weapons, and who weren’t combat specialists.

And that didn’t even count the time spent finding the glimmer to trigger the Icebound Boss’s appearance.

Two or three per hour was the average efficiency for regular players.

Top-ranking players were faster at defeating them, but compared to Qi Yu, the difference was in how quickly they could find the bosses.

Still, this event didn’t have a leaderboard like the last Swiftscore event, so players couldn’t see each other’s progress.

He summoned the treasure-hunting mouse back.

Over the course of the morning, it had found three refined iron chests and one wooden chest.

“Not bad at all,” Qi Yu praised it in high spirits. “When we get back, I’ll reward you with strawberries.”

The treasure-hunting mouse was technically a carnivore, but ever since coming to Qi Yu’s territory, it had become obsessed with the fruits and vegetables he grew!

Every time it came back from work, it would squat there, eyes wide with anticipation.

Qi Yu had no doubt that if not for Shan Xingyu’s contract, this little thing would eat his entire territory bare.

He picked up the treasure-hunting mouse, just about to summon wind elementals to speed his return, when he remembered something and opened the survival panel.

He’d saved up 100 Ice Gemstones—time to exchange them for the sleigh.

He found the Magic Sleigh in the exchange shop and confirmed the exchange.

In an instant, the 100 sparkling Ice Gemstones in his backpack vanished!

At the same time, a wild wind suddenly swept across the ground, whipping up the snow and ice.

Qi Yu could sense the ice and snow magic elements in the air converging at the center of the whirlwind.

Just like when he sculpted with ice magic, an ice-blue board, supports, seat, and pull ropes… one by one, each was shaped out of thin air by invisible magical hands.

And at the very front, pulling the ropes, were three ice-blue, floating elemental sprites!

They were entirely ice-blue, their bodies semi-transparent, with no hands or feet, each shaped like a floating flame about the size of a large orange.

[Magic Sleigh: A highly successful magical creation. The elemental sprites can draw energy from ice and snow, with a per-100-kilometer energy consumption of zero! Note: Usable only in snowy or icy weather.]

Usable only in snowy or icy weather?

Qi Yu knew that next month would still be the cold wave.

But after next month, summer would arrive.

If summer brought a change in weather, then this Magic Sleigh, bought for 100 Ice Gemstones, would only be usable for a month and a week?

Isn’t that a bit expensive, Survival Game?

Qi Yu studied the sleigh before him. Perhaps because it was shaped by magical elements, its appearance was perfectly in tune with ice and snow magic. The overall color was a vast expanse of ice blue; both the seat and the board had a dazzling crystalline sheen.

Gorgeous, beautiful!

And Qi Yu noticed that the entire Magic Sleigh was constantly shedding little snowflakes. He curiously reached out to catch one, only to find it wasn’t real.

The little country bumpkin didn’t know this was called a visual effect.

He sat down and discovered that the seat seemed to have its own magical barrier; the blizzard he’d felt in the snow a moment ago vanished completely.

The three elemental sprites floated in midair, seemingly waiting for his command.

Qi Yu spoke: “Take me back to my territory.”

The three ice-blue flames all let out a “ya!” sound, their bodies swelling to twice their size, transforming from large flames to enormous ones.

They pulled the sleigh into motion, and Qi Yu could see the snowy scenery flying past. The seat was steady; he didn’t feel a single bump.

A message popped up on the survival panel:

[Magic Sleigh can activate flight mode. Would you like to try it?]

Flight mode?

Qi Yu immediately sat up straight.

He eagerly selected “try.”

His viewpoint instantly soared.

Leaning to one side of the seat, Qi Yu looked down: the frozen Forest of Stars receded farther and farther away, and the elemental sprites picked up speed.

Soon, he saw a swath of green and a sea of flowers, completely out of place in this world of ice and snow.

That was his territory.

The Magic Sleigh slowed and gently brought him down inside his territory.

As soon as he entered, the three elemental sprites seemed unable to adapt to the temperature here. With a couple of “ji ji” sounds, they shrank from enormous flames to large ones, then visibly shrank further until they were only the size of fists.

Not good!

Qi Yu hurriedly tried to store the Magic Sleigh in his backpack.

Fortunately, the three elemental sprites and the sleigh were one unit, and could be stored together in the backpack.

Once he’d finished, the person who’d been waiting here couldn’t help but speak: “Did you just steal Santa Claus’s sleigh?”

Shan Xingyu had come to have lunch with him.

Ever since he’d gotten the working mouse, every morning, Qi Yu would go to the Golden Sand Desert to have breakfast with Shan Xingyu, and after breakfast, bring the working mouse home.

Sometimes Shan Xingyu would bring the mouse over instead.

At noon, Shan Xingyu would have lunch with him, then take the working mouse back.

Qi Yu thought for a moment about what “Santa Claus” was, and cautiously replied, “It’s not Santa’s sleigh—it’s from the ice and snow event.”

They’d already discussed the new event.

The Golden Sand Desert had a similar event, though the bosses and rewards were a bit different.

For example, the “Magic Sleigh.”

The corresponding item in the Golden Sand Desert was the “Golden Flying Carpet.”

It was also a magical item capable of flight. Shan Xingyu guessed its effect was similar to a flying carpet a player had used during last month’s racing carnival.

No matter what the actual effect, at least visually, it was probably no match for the Magic Sleigh.

Qi Yu told him the Magic Sleigh had a limited usage environment.

“I originally thought it was too expensive—100 Ice Gemstones for something so restricted,” Qi Yu shared his impressions, “but the moment it took off, I knew the Survival Game never lies.”

It really was fun!

He invited Shan Xingyu, “Once the event is over, I’ll take you flying!”

Not now, though—he needed to hurry and eat, then ride his new sleigh to the Forest of Stars to hunt snowmen!

Shan Xingyu was also busy earning event tokens, so there was no time to play.

During lunch, Qi Yu didn’t forget to send a message to the District 01 Survival Team:

[ILoveSurvivalGames: I exchanged for the Magic Sleigh. It’s really fast, can slide on snow, and can also fly.]

[ILoveSurvivalGames: Downside is, it can only be used in snowy weather and environments.]

[NeedSomeCash: Whoa, boss, you already got 100 Ice Gemstones?]

[AfraidToOpenMyEyes: Looks like the real grind king is someone else.]

[OldBrotherCivil: There’s a weather restriction? Then I’ll hold off and get something else first.]

Everyone in the group guessed that once spring ended, this extreme cold would end too.

A hundred Ice Gemstones weren’t easy to save up—though the flying sleigh was tempting, the cost-effectiveness made people hesitate.

Qi Yu spoke honestly:

[ILoveSurvivalGames: If there were no restrictions, I don’t think 100 Ice Gemstones would be enough to get it.]

Without restrictions, this was a high-quality flying magic item—rarer than most epic gear.

[ILoveSurvivalGames: I’ll post a photo in the group when I head out this afternoon.]

He’d forgotten to take one earlier.

[Serenity: @RegionalChannel Don’t post there yet—wait until tonight.]

The speed of his exchange was so shocking that it was a bit too conspicuous.

Qi Yu thought about it—most players couldn’t save up enough Ice Gemstones for the Magic Sleigh in a single day, so waiting a bit longer was fine.

[ILoveSurvivalGames: Okay.]

Shan Xingyu clearly had similar thoughts. Seeing that Qi Yu had already saved up 100 tokens made him even more anxious, and after lunch, he hurried off with the treasure-hunting mouse.

Qi Yu left his territory before summoning the Magic Sleigh and climbing aboard.

Takeoff!

High above, his field of vision was even broader. The Magic Sleigh was astonishingly fast, allowing him to explore farther than ever before.

With this aerial advantage, he used magic to trigger Icebound Bosses, and didn’t bother with the staff—he just blasted them with a few fire spells.

Fire magic against snowmen—none of them made a sound.

He used his mental power to draw the dropped Ice Gemstones to him.

His rate of collecting Ice Gemstones nearly returned to thirty per hour.

Fun and practical.

Magic Sleigh, I like you.

Survival Game, for putting the Magic Sleigh in the exchange shop—I like you.

The Magic Sleigh carried him, soaring like the wind through the sky.

Until, at a certain moment—

Qi Yu’s gaze suddenly froze.

He saw a black dot.

After nearly two months of blizzards, under normal circumstances, nothing but white could be seen from the sky.

From this angle, the only “little black dot” he’d ever seen was his own territory.

It was now four in the afternoon.

Thanks to the Magic Sleigh, he’d explored farther than ever before—this place was already very far from his own territory.

Qi Yu had the sleigh lower its altitude and slow its speed.

He drew closer and closer to the black dot.

He saw it clearly.

A square wooden house, surrounded by a tight wooden fence.

Next to it was a smaller wooden house, and Qi Yu thought he heard bleating from inside.

The surrounding snow had been cleared by hand.

Was this… another player’s territory?

Had he explored far enough to see another player’s territory?

Or… had the Survival Game resolved some kind of “shielding,” and now player territories could be seen by each other?

He leaned toward the latter.

He had Azurewing, and the areas he’d explored before were by no means small—he’d even run into other players.

But for all this time, he’d never seen any other territory.

Today, he had.

Countless thoughts flashed through Qi Yu’s mind as the Magic Sleigh accelerated, whistling past.

As he left, his mental power detected a person several kilometers from the territory.

A player bundled up tightly was staring in one direction, rubbing his eyes hard: “Damn, I’ve been staring at the snow so long I’m seeing things.”

Did he just see a car flying through the sky?

[Author’s Note]

[drumstick][drumstick][drumstick]

Debt repayment progress: 360,000/750,000 [heart]