Perry closed his eyes, concentrated, and activated the "Plant Scanning" magic again. His consciousness quickly covered the surrounding area, catching a hint of the familiar plant scent. The remaining aura of Moon Shadow Glass flickers faintly on the edge of the cliff on the other side, which is more hidden and more dangerous than the previous location.
"I found a new position." Perry opened his eyes with a hint of urgency in his tone. He pointed to the depression under a rock wall in the distance, "There! But this time the location is harder to reach, I have to get closer."
Mike and Joyce were leaning on the rock, closing their eyes and resting, recovering the mental energy they had just consumed. Hearing Perry's words, Mike opened his eyes with a warning look on his face: "Be careful. Let's go there together after we regain some strength."
Perry nodded and said, "Okay, let me check its location first."
Joyce looked up at Perry and he frowned: "Are you sure you can handle it alone? If you fall, no one will save you."
A confident smile appeared on Perry's lips: "Don't worry, I will use plant magic to protect myself." After saying that, he didn't give the two of them a chance to object and quickly ran in the direction of the target.
The cold wind on the top of the mountain made Perry's cloak rustle. He approached the cliff step by step. The rocks under his feet became slippery due to the frost, so he had to be careful with every step. He kept using magic to summon vines to form guardrails around him to prevent him from sliding down.
"Almost there..." Perry whispered to himself. The Moon Shadow Glass in front of him was only ten meters away. He gritted his teeth and moved towards a more dangerous place. At this moment, he suddenly felt a strange chill coming from behind, as if something was approaching quietly.
"Who ?" Perry turned around suddenly, but all he could see was the thick white fog and cold air. His heart started to beat faster, but he forced himself to calm down and continued to move forward towards Moon Shadow Glass.
Just when he was less than three meters away from the target, a sudden change occurred. A black shadow suddenly jumped out from the thick fog, so fast that it was almost impossible to react. Perry only had time to scream in surprise before his body was violently pulled off the ground by a huge force. His magic vines tried to wrap around the attacker, but were easily torn apart.
"Help!" Perry screamed, but his voice was quickly drowned out by the wind at the top of the mountain.
The shadow carried Perry and quickly disappeared into the depths of the mist.
"Henry?!" Mike opened his eyes suddenly, and seemed to hear Perry's shout in his ears. He stood up and looked around, but all he saw was thick fog and no sign of Perry.
Joyce also noticed something was wrong and stood up, her expression becoming nervous: "I just heard some noise, right?"
"Something happened to him." Mike said with a gloomy face and gritted his teeth, "We must find him immediately!" He drank the last bottle of potion, forcibly recovered some of his strength, and quickly ran in the direction where Perry disappeared just now.
Joyce followed closely behind, with a hint of anxiety in his voice: "There may be a powerful monster nearby. We have to hurry up and don't let anything happen to him!"
Perry was led by the shadow into a deeper valley, where the cold air was like an invisible blade, making every breath he took extremely difficult. The temperature here is even lower than at the top of the mountain. Even the air seems to be stagnant, and the sound of wind in my ears becomes dull due to the cold. The surrounding scene was almost covered with frost, and there was no trace of life on the earth. All the plants and rocks glowed with ice-blue light.
His body was tightly bound by the shadow, and his hands and feet were unable to move as if they were frozen. His vision gradually adapted to the dim light, and he finally saw the true identity of the shadow that kidnapped him - a huge bird monster. It has blue feathers that shine like ice crystals, and its red eyes shine with danger. Its appearance combines the sharpness of an eagle and the thickness of an ostrich, making it look strong and aggressive.
"Let me go!" Perry couldn't help shouting, trying to struggle to cast magic, but the cold air around him suppressed his movements. When he formed the seal with his hands, the flow of magic seemed sluggish in the cold, and the vines that were supposed to be summoned only briefly emerged from the ground before collapsing under the giant bird's claws.
The giant bird roared, the sound low and threatening, as if it was declaring its territorial sovereignty. It completely ignored Perry's protests and dragged him deeper into the valley. The more Perry struggled, the more cold air invaded his body, and he soon felt that his limbs were almost numb.
At the end of the valley, the giant bird's target appeared. It was a cave glowing with ice-blue light, and the coldness emanating from the cave entrance was stronger than the surroundings, as if there was some ultimate icy power hidden inside. Perry's heart seemed to be clenched by the cold, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead, but the coldness of his body left him with no strength to even tremble.
"What the hell is this place..." He murmured softly, fear spreading in his heart.
The giant bird didn't give him much time to think, and threw him into the cave. The walls of the cave are covered with complex runes, like some kind of ancient sealing formation. These runes emit a faint blue light and seem to slowly change with the surge of cold air in the cave, as if they are guarding some unknown power.
Perry reluctantly stood up from the ground and looked around with the faint light of the runes. His heart tightened: "These runes... are they the seals that Mike and Joyce mentioned?"
Before he could study the runes carefully, the giant bird roared again, using its sharp beak and claws to threaten Perry not to act rashly. Perry felt a shiver run down his spine, and he knew he had to find a way out of the predicament quickly, otherwise he would just become the prey of this monster.
He reached for the magic book he carried with him, trying not to attract the giant bird's attention, and opened the pages to find a suitable spell. Finally, he stopped at a page recording the "water bomb" spell. This is a basic magic, used to create water balls to cause impact. Although the power is small, it can cause short-term chaos.
Perry took a deep breath, quietly recited a spell, and a transparent water ball condensed in his hand. He aimed at the giant bird's face and threw the water ball violently!
"Bang!" The water bomb exploded in front of the giant bird, causing a cloud of cold water mist. The giant bird was obviously frightened, screamed angrily, flapped its wings suddenly, turned around and flew out of the cave. But during this chaotic process, Perry's coat was torn open by the giant bird's claws, and the cold wind immediately rushed in, making his whole body tremble.
"Finally gone..." Perry breathed a sigh of relief, but soon realized that he was now in an isolated and cold cave.
He arranged his clothes, tried to calm himself down, and began to carefully observe the runes in the cave and the surrounding environment. He approached the wall and carefully examined the strange runes, trying to find some clues. However, these complex patterns seemed to be inextricably linked to the sealing formation that Mike mentioned, making him feel more and more strange and profound the more he looked at them.
"It seems like this is really no ordinary place." He murmured, nervous and full of doubts.
Just as Perry was anxiously looking for how to get back to his original place, his eyes suddenly lit up. A familiar light blue light screen appeared in the air, and the system interface popped up silently.
Mission has been triggered: Chill
Mission objective: Make a pot of hot soup to relieve the coldness of the body.
Mission materials:
1. Ice deer grass (0/3)
2. Ice crystal water
3. Flame Fruit (0/5)
Mission reward: unknown
Duration: two hours
Perry stared at the mission interface for a few seconds, then looked shocked: "Cooking soup? This mission is too sudden! You actually want me to cook soup in a place like this?" He muttered to himself, and quickly Scanning the mission description, I found that not only did I need to find various demonic materials, but the final reward turned out to be "unknown".
"Wait a minute, what does unknown reward mean?" Perry frowned, and the more he thought about it, the more unreliable the mission became. He scratched his head helplessly, and finally chose to summon Eno for an answer.
Although he knew that summoning the system assistant would consume 10 points of energy, he had no more options at the moment. He whispered: "eno, come out!"
As the words fell, a rotating circle of light appeared on the light blue light screen. After a moment, a virtual humanoid projection appeared in front of Perry. Eno's voice was as calm and mechanical as ever: "The analysis of mission details begins——"
"Ice deer grass: a common plant shaped like antlers with lavender lines on the surface. Its function is to neutralize the cold and increase the heat energy of the soup. This plant usually grows on the cold valley rock walls, about one to three feet above the ground. Two meters high."
Perry immediately looked around and his eyes fell on the rock wall of the cave. Sure enough, he found some similar plants, but they were farther away and seemed to require climbing to pick them. He nodded silently: "This seems pretty simple."
"Ice crystal water: This material is not difficult to obtain. It is the water after the ice in the cave melts. Just break the ice on the rock wall and wait for it to melt naturally."
Perry looked into the depths of the cave and saw ice everywhere. He felt a little relieved and said, "Fortunately, this material is not too troublesome."
"Flame Fruit: A small reddish-brown fruit that looks like a small lantern. It has a spicy taste and has the effect of repelling cold and refreshing. It usually grows under the leaves of the Flame Vine. When collecting, be careful not to touch the fine thorns around the fruit."
Perry couldn't help but frown: "This is a bit troublesome. You have to pay attention to the thorns around..." He subconsciously touched his arm, already foreseeing that he might suffer some minor injuries during collection.
Eno continued to explain: "These materials are non-property items and can be used at will. The hot soup can dissolve the cold air in the cave, help the host maintain body temperature, and prevent frostbite or other negative effects caused by staying for a long time."
After hearing this, Perry sighed and rubbed his temples: "It's easy to say, but the cold makes it difficult for me to even move. How can I still make soup?" He complained while thinking about his next plan.
Eno quietly added: "The task time is two hours. If it cannot be completed, the host may not be able to withstand the cold air, resulting in weakened vital signs."
"You're quite straightforward!" Perry smiled bitterly and shook his head. He knew that there was no point in complaining in this situation, and he had to start looking for materials as soon as possible, otherwise it would only be a waste of time.
"Okay, let's find ice deer grass and flame fruit first, and then get some ice crystal water... I hope we won't run into any bigger trouble." He said, regaining his courage, and began to walk deeper into the cave. The glimmer of runes around him seemed to illuminate his way forward.