Chapter 761 – Three Thousand Mirror Ruins 28

Chapter 761 – Three Thousand Mirror Ruins 28

The surrounding scenery instantly warped and stretched, dissolving into a dizzying stream of colorful light, as if their entire beings had been thrown into a giant kaleidoscope.

After a brief sensation of weightlessness and spatial displacement, the feeling of solid ground beneath their feet finally returned.

At the same time, an overwhelmingly rich current of air—a mixture of countless grasses, trees, and earth, laced with faint floral fragrance and some unknown energy particles—surged into their nostrils.

Regarding the situations they might encounter upon first entering the Kaleidoscope Wilderness and how to handle them, everyone had written extensive contingency plans in their practice proposals.

Because of this, after experiencing the brief spatial teleportation, everyone instinctively followed the most emphasized “Landing Priority Principle” from their plans.

Stabilize. Defend. Regroup!

No one screamed in panic. No one looked around in bewilderment.

Almost the instant they found their footing, twelve figures closed ranks like well-trained soldiers. Long blades had already been drawn from their sheaths, and amid flashes of cold steel, they had formed a tight circular formation back-to-back, with virtually no defensive blind spots.

Blade tips pointed outward, sharp gazes sweeping across each person’s assigned sector, vigilant against any possible attack.

No one expected protection from Instructor Yan Shuang.

From the very beginning, Instructor Yan Shuang had coldly declared that she would only follow them in secret, and unless a genuine life-threatening crisis arose, she would absolutely not intervene.

The only ones they could rely on were themselves and the classmates beside them.

After maintaining high alert for roughly one to two minutes and confirming that no threats were immediately lunging at them within their line of sight, the formation relaxed slightly. They maintained a basic defensive posture but shifted more attention to surveying their surroundings.

This appeared to be a vast meadow with gently undulating terrain. The field of vision was reasonably open—they could make out sparse woods in the distance and the hazy, rolling silhouettes of mountains even further away.

The seasons in the Kaleidoscope Wilderness shifted unpredictably. Here, spring, summer, autumn, and winter might appear simultaneously before one’s eyes, or cycle through all four within a single day.

The plants and mirror beasts here were all affected by these drastic seasonal changes, resulting in highly unusual behavioral patterns.

To achieve good results in the Kaleidoscope Wilderness, learning to observe—and even predict—the seasonal shifts here, and acting at the right time, was a crucial element.

The sky of the Kaleidoscope Wilderness took on different appearances in different seasons, making it the most convenient marker for identifying the current seasonal conditions.

Everyone knew this information by heart.

After roughly taking in their surroundings, they all turned their gazes skyward.

The sky above them at this moment was far from the familiar azure blue. Instead, it was a strange, dazzling palette of colors, as if someone had knocked over a painter’s mixing tray.

Along the eastern horizon, soft hues of tender green and rosy dawn glowed—representing the vitality and renewal of spring.

The western sky was piled with thick, full white clouds of the kind that only appeared on heavy midsummer afternoons. Further in the distance, within dense, dark cloud layers, the power of thunderstorms seemed to be brewing.

The southern sky displayed a deep, lofty, crystalline blue unique to autumn—clean and without a single impurity.

And near the northern horizon, grayish-white cold front mists churned slowly like tides—unmistakable hallmarks of winter.

Their current position happened to be right at the junction of all four seasons, making the temperature feel bizarre and fragmented.

Standing here, it was as if the left side of one’s body was bathed in the gentle warmth of a spring sun, while the right side felt the coolness of autumn winds sweeping past.

The winds blowing from different directions were even more absurd—one gust would carry the biting chill of northern ice and snow, and the next might bring the sweltering heat of a western summer, throwing one’s physical senses into utter chaos.

The plants on the meadow beneath their feet faithfully reflected the seasons heralded by the sky. On the eastern side, the grass was a vibrant, dripping green, freshly sprouted and hung with glistening dewdrops.

On the western side, the flowers and grasses had already burst into full, magnificent bloom, their colors rich and vivid, brimming with midsummer vitality.

On the southern side, most of the grass blades had turned golden, as if a carpet of gold had been laid down, exuding the melancholy and maturity of autumn.

The vegetation on the northern side was the most tenacious. On the surfaces of some ground-hugging mosses and cold-resistant plants, a thin layer of white frost had actually formed, glittering with cold light under the faint sunlight, stubbornly surviving in the depths of winter.

As far as the eye could see, this meadow caught between all four seasons was eerily quiet. Apart from the varied sounds of wind passing through grass of different heights and states, there were no obvious traces of any mirror beast activity.

“Whew—lucky us, it’s a four-season junction!” Lin Yue let out a breath of relief.

After the others confirmed through various indicators that this was indeed a four-season junction, they too felt extremely fortunate.

Anywhere else, silence would only make one wary, fearing that beneath the quiet surface lurked some hidden danger.

But at a four-season junction, it was perfectly normal.

The mirror beasts of the Kaleidoscope Wilderness—whether those with fixed territories or those that migrated with the seasonal shifts—mostly preferred to stay within a single season.

A four-season junction like this would cause the elemental forces within their bodies to become chaotic, and mirror beasts were unwilling to linger here.

But for the students of Mirror Explorer Class One, who had just arrived in the Kaleidoscope Wilderness and hadn’t yet determined their exact location, this was undoubtedly the best possible starting point.

Nobody wanted to face a sudden attack before they were even ready.

“Judging by the sky’s brightness, it should currently be the ‘afternoon’ period of the Kaleidoscope Wilderness.”

After careful observation, Wang Jingnan analyzed methodically:

“According to the reference materials, nightfall comes quite quickly here. At night, the sky can’t be clearly seen, and the danger level increases dramatically.

We have at most three more hours before it’s completely dark.

Our most urgent priority is to work together to set up a simple camp, then formulate our exploration and hunting plan as quickly as possible, so we can begin operations at first light.”

“Agreed! The terrain here is relatively flat and the visibility is decent—let’s set up camp right here!”

Zhou Ming was the first to respond. With his sturdy build, he was always the most enthusiastic when it came to making camp and doing physical labor.

Bai Wei, Ren Miao, Zhu Rao, and Ding Yan—the students who had received sponsorship from the Wang Family—also nodded in agreement one after another:

“The captain’s right. Making sure we get through the night safely is what matters most.”

“We’ll follow the captain’s arrangements.”

……

Mo Lan, Lin Yue, Chen Xingye, Su Yu, Zhao Wuchen, and Xiang Yufan—the six of them had no particular connection to the Wang Family and naturally felt no need to defer to Wang Jingnan’s opinion on everything the way the others did.

It was simply that none of them had much interest in taking the lead to organize and arrange the team’s specific actions either.

However, Instructor Yan Shuang had explicitly emphasized when issuing the assignment that for this field practicum, the twelve of them must operate as a unified whole.

Therefore, when drafting their practice plans earlier, the six of them had privately reached a consensus: on the surface, they would nominate Wang Jingnan—who had the most resources and was eager to assume a leadership role—as captain, responsible for overall coordination and deployment. But when it came to major decisions within the team, he would not have the final say alone.