Chapter 350 – I’ll Carry You

“Squeak squeak squeak!” What about those rabbits? Their fur is so pretty—does Mistress want some?

“Zhizhi, those are Frenzied Leaping Rabbits, Beginner-level magical beasts with very strong jumping ability. We’re about to pass through their active territory, so we need to fly higher. I already have materials from them.”

“Squeak squeak squeak squeak!”

…

Zhizhi pointed out every magical beast in the jungle as casually as counting piglets in a pen, leaving Mo Lan caught between laughter and tears.

Still, they were within the ape troop’s range of activity, and she already had materials from all these magical beasts. Hunting them again would only waste time and energy.

Mo Lan’s plan was to use this survival trial as an opportunity to collect as many different magical materials from the outer region as possible.

The outer region was essentially a massive repository of Valen magical materials. Once she left the Academy, it would be difficult to find another place with access to so many varieties of fresh materials.

After being rejected repeatedly, Zhizhi went from brimming with enthusiasm to curling up in sad dejection: (︿)

“Don’t worry. Once we cross that mountain ahead, we’ll be in territory your troop has never set foot in. There’ll be plenty of fights for you then!” Mo Lan said.

She also needed an opportunity to carefully assess Zhizhi’s combat abilities, which would make it easier for them to coordinate.

Zhizhi was clearly a combat-type magical pet with an intense desire to fight. She couldn’t keep suppressing her bloodlust.

Zhizhi: (ᗒᗨᗕ)

When they reached the mountain’s edge, Mo Lan found a relatively safe spot and landed on the ground.

“From here on, let’s go on foot!” Mo Lan told Zhizhi.

She didn’t intend to ride her broomstick straight into unfamiliar territory.

Just last Sunday, a week ago, Vasida had sent word via golden bird that her broomstick’s head had been half-burned off by an Infernal Explosion Demon Bear.

Fortunately, she had kept the spare branches from her original Broomstick Grass. Otherwise, she would have had to grow a new one from scratch and craft a new broomstick entirely.

None of Mo Lan’s cards could directly create a flight card like a broomstick—one that required no energy to drive and could be controlled by will alone.

A broomstick, without any alchemical rune modifications, could be driven purely by mental command.

If a broomstick was damaged, growing a new stalk of Broomstick Grass wasn’t difficult, but waiting for it to mature took far too long.

In unfamiliar territory, traveling on foot was both safer and more convenient for finding magical materials on the ground.

The moment Mo Lan landed, Zhizhi unzipped the satchel and hopped out. “Zhizhi! Come back, I’ll carry you!”

She had her Vampire rapid movement ability, along with spells like Path Clearing, Wind Walk, and Wood Walk.

As long as a magical pet stayed close to its witch, it would be recognized by the magic as a single entity, sharing in the spell’s effects.

So she could carry her magical pet while moving at high speed, or take it along when phasing through trees.

But Zhizhi shook its head, clenched both fists, and leaped into the air.

When it jumped, it was still a little monkey that barely reached Mo Lan’s knee. When it landed, it had transformed into a giant ape so tall that even Mo Lan had to crane her neck to look up at it.

By her estimate, it was at least five meters tall.

“Zhizhi, you’re only ten months old, right?” Mo Lan asked in shock.

“Squeak~” That’s right!

Mo Lan’s mind reeled.

The white-haired giant ape was ancient, and it was only about this size!

She had also seen the old monkey king and the other adult golden-armed apes in their giant forms—they weren’t much bigger than Zhizhi was now.

As for the other young monkeys in the troop who were under a year old, their giant forms were still a head shorter than her!

Earlier, when she said she already had the materials, that was true. But she had also been worried that Zhizhi—whose magical abilities were still primarily supplementary to physical close combat—was too young and hadn’t fully developed its enlargement ability. She feared it would be at a disadvantage in both offense and defense against other Intermediate-level magical beasts, and would take a beating.

She never expected that her Zhizhi, not even a year old yet, already had a giant form matching that of adult golden-armed apes.

This meant that while Zhizhi only had the magical abilities of an Intermediate magical beast, its physical combat capabilities were approaching those of an adult Advanced magical beast!

“Squeak!” Zhizhi bent down and extended its hand in front of Mo Lan, inviting her to climb on.

Mo Lan had imagined finding a flying magical beast to carry her through the skies someday, and had also thought about finding a beast skilled at running to ride on. But she had never once imagined riding a monkey that wasn’t even a year old.

Still, Zhizhi’s size was far too tempting.

By the time Mo Lan came to her senses, she was already sitting on Zhizhi’s shoulder.

The fluffy area where the neck met the shoulders had a natural dip that fit her perfectly.

Seeing Zhizhi swat away branches blocking their path, carefully keeping them from hitting her, Mo Lan drew her wand and cast Path Clearing.

Whether she carried Zhizhi or Zhizhi carried her, it was all the same—the spell’s effects would benefit them both.

With Path Clearing active, the tree branches ahead parted of their own accord to clear a path.

However, where before they had only needed to open a gap wide enough for a witch to pass, now they had to make way for a giant ape. The plants were visibly straining, their reactions half a beat slower.

Even so, it was enough to astonish Zhizhi.

It even stopped in its tracks and reached out to tug at the branches that had moved aside on their own, trying to figure out if something was wrong with them—why were they moving by themselves?

“Zhizhi, this is one of my spells—Path Clearing. It makes the plants ahead clear a path for us,” Mo Lan explained.

“Squeak!” Mistress is amazing!

Zhizhi stopped pestering the obliging plants after that, but its pace kept shifting between fast and slow, treating the parting vegetation like a toy.

Regardless of how fast or slow it moved, Mo Lan sat quite comfortably in the hollow of its neck, so she didn’t bother trying to rein it in.

With Zhizhi handling the traveling, Mo Lan could free up time for other things—like using wide-range Wind Sensing to scan their surroundings.

“Zhizhi! Head right—there’s a Blue Essence Fruit over there. It can be used to make magical dye. Fabric dyed with it gleams like sapphire and repels water!” Mo Lan said.

“Squeak!” Got it!

Without hesitation, Zhizhi pivoted and headed left.

“Zhizhi, go right!”

“Squeak!” Okay!

Zhizhi pivoted again, heading to the left and behind them.

Mo Lan: “Stop, stop, stop!”

Zhizhi halted immediately.

“Zhizhi, can you not tell left from right?” Mo Lan asked.

Zhizhi: (⊙＿⊙;)…

Mo Lan understood now—it didn’t even know what left and right meant.

Hadn’t the white-haired giant ape said that Zhizhi inherited the best intelligence of both the white-haired giant apes and the golden-armed apes?

White-haired giant apes were among the most intelligent of wild beasts, and golden-armed apes were among the most intelligent of magical beasts. How could Zhizhi, heir to the intellectual strengths of both species, not even tell left from right?

Recalling how she had taught it to work a zipper and it learned in one try, Mo Lan thought: “Could it simply be that no one ever taught it?”

So she taught Zhizhi the concepts of front, back, left, right, up, and down, as well as the cardinal directions—north, south, east, and west.

It wasn’t quite as fast as learning to use a zipper, but after two or three repetitions, Zhizhi had it memorized.

From then on, it never got a single one of Mo Lan’s directions wrong again.