Equipment Printing School Mage

Then, the only ones left were an unknown mammoth and Emiya and her group.

The mammoth in front of them, however, was quite unassuming. It took a few steps closer, its large trunk already reaching out towards Emiya's face. After being thoroughly rubbed by the trunk, Emiya finally couldn't help herself and reached out angrily, trying to stop it: "...Miss Fenwei? Is that all right?"

The mammoth's body stiffened for a moment before it finally opened its mouth, and from it emanated Fenwë's voice: "Ah? Is it that obvious? I was wondering why you weren't afraid at all. How dare you contradict two druids like this?"

Emiya said unhappily, "This Death Land is dozens of kilometers due north of the Sharptooth Forest. Strictly speaking, this should be within the radiation range of the Sharptooth Forest rather than the Riverine Forest, right? I think it's more strange that you're not here."

Yin yawned and said, "Although I only recognized you because of your wilderness transformation marks."

Mars sighed. "Although Faerun is teeming with powerful individuals, it's unlikely that a single riverside forest could harbor multiple top-tier druids. A conservative guess would be that the druids from the two woodlands are collaborating at the border of their territories for a common goal... I think this hypothesis is reasonable."

"Alright, alright." Fenwei didn't transform back into human form. Instead, he spoke in a businesslike manner, "We are indeed working together here... A mammoth, Tang Chu, has appeared in the Land of Death. This matter itself could be a big deal or a small one; the life or death of a mammoth isn't that important, but the reason for its appearance here warrants our further consideration."

If it was a precursor to climate change, it would be a major event. If it was just another mishap in a wizard's experiment, it would be a minor matter.

"I thought it was easy for you to find a mammoth?"

"If there weren't so many trolls," Fenwe twitched his nose in annoyance. "The trolls wouldn't be so strong. But how to kill them is the problem! You have to be very careful with fire in a forest, so the scale of the battle must be controlled."

"And so, those Oghma priests came here after smelling the scent! The leader, seeing the trolls gathering, wanted to show off his strength and immediately unleashed his Flame Strike! The raging flames illuminated the entire Troll Claw. Now the mammoths and trolls dared not come out! So what are we still doing here?" Fenwe, now in working mode, completely lost his previous demeanor when interacting with Emya. He said with uncharacteristic seriousness, "If you hope to find any clues from me, I'm afraid you'll return empty-handed. Better get to Eltoril quickly."

That's all that can be done, Emiya thought.

At this moment, Yin narrowed his eyes slightly and suddenly pointed in the direction of the distant mountain and said, "There is something there. It just used teleportation to leave."

This was a truly significant event, and everyone was startled. Fenwei, who had just relaxed a little, suddenly tensed up again. She turned around abruptly, and the mammoth instantly transformed into a giant eagle, swooping down in the direction of Yin's finger.

She quickly found her target - a beech tree nearly a hundred meters away from them.

Fenwei transformed into a hummingbird halfway through the journey, flew around the beech tree for a while, and finally found her target.

There was a very interesting mark on one of the branches of this beech tree.

The branches were slightly bent due to the weight, and a creature with some weight but small size had once stood on it.

Even more surprising is that the leaves above the branch are obviously damaged, but those on the sides are not. At the same time, the damaged leaves are very concentrated, indicating that its wings are not large.

——As if it was knocked down by something at high frequency.

A creature with an astonishing weight and limited size, but which could fly, even had a pair of short but powerful wings near its head, and could even teleport, had appeared there before - perhaps it had been secretly observing their actions.

At this time, Emilia and her group arrived late.

The traces of this creature successfully made everyone present hesitate.

Fenwe was the first to come to a conclusion: "It's definitely not a beast. Its size and spellcasting ability indicate that it might not even be a creature from the Material Plane."

Emiya murmured, "You could even say it's likely from the Outer Planes... The devil has demonstrated to me several times their power to move freely between worlds. Creatures from other Outer Planes often possess similar abilities."

However, similar phenomena rarely occur among creatures in the material plane.

If it was a celestial being, it would be fine. But if it was one of the devil's spies in Eltoril, they would have to take action.

Upon learning this, the Archdruid immediately became embarrassed and angry. "For the past few days, Woods and I have been here without making any progress. Whenever we ask the forest, they say there are mammoths. But when we ask them where they are, they say they don't know! We've been going back and forth over and over again, and we thought we were being tricked by the forest. Now, this is what's going on!"

She transformed into a black bear again and sniffed the air. "...It smells of sulfur and blood, but not very strong. More like it's contaminated... Maybe it's not a creature from the lower planes?"

*************************

Lulu is a holy flying elephant.

This kind creature from heaven looks quite similar to an elephant, but its body is only about the size of a newborn elephant, appearing sturdy and solid, and its skin is a luxurious golden color.

Like many of her fellow celestials, Lulu can take flight using only the two pairs of wings on her head. Judging from her appearance, it's hard for mortals to imagine that such a short, thick hunk of flesh can burst forth at speeds that even birds can't match.

Of course, this ability to fly is only the least noteworthy part of the celestial beings. Especially for them, what they are most proud of is their pursuit of goodness and their hatred of evil.

Although it can transform into a golden mammoth, this power is indeed the least noteworthy part of its extraordinary power.

——But Lulu doesn’t want to discuss such a profound topic now.

"I'm so stupid, seriously." Lulu complained angrily in her secret lair. "I knew it would be very conspicuous to transform into a mammoth in the wild. But I insisted on making a scene just for the sake of the ritual. Now look, it's only been a few days and everyone's here! It's fine if the nearby paladins come for patrol, but even the archdruid is here! It's just one mammoth, one! What's the big deal?"

"Hurry up, hurry up. If we don't leave now, even the devil might come to find us... Damn it, why didn't I stock up on more food... This Troll's Claw is so barren. The little I've stocked up is not enough for the journey! How about we wait and leave tomorrow?"

After hesitating for a moment, she finally made up her mind: "Forget it, let's do it today. Otherwise, I'm afraid there's no need to run."

She lived in a cave she had dug herself, with an entrance so narrow it would have been enough to keep any troll at bay. The bad news was that the entrance was so perfectly sized that even she had to struggle to get in and out.

After she struggled and finally climbed out of the cave, she found that the moonlight did not reach her.

A thick trunk skillfully rolled up Lulu and placed her in front of him, while a human voice uttered from her mouth: "...Great, I finally found her."

On the side of the mammoth were four very young men and women.

One of them, a black-haired girl in a loose robe, was writing furiously on a parchment book: "The mammoth that appeared in the temperate zone turned out to be a transformed holy flying elephant... Emmia, what do you think of this plot?"

"I can't say for sure." The red-haired young man spoke Common with a thick Celestial accent, sounding serious. "At least the druids who put so much effort into this probably don't like this result very much. Besides, it would be difficult for us to convince the host of the Ritual of Truth with this result."

This result seems to be nonsense no matter how you look at it, so it is not easy to convince people.

Mars clenched his fist silently: "--To prove such a low-probability event, you usually need a witness."

"Or rather, symbolic evidence."

Six Sacred Flying Elephant Lulu

"I think there's a misunderstanding between us!"

"I don't think there is any misunderstanding." Emilia replied.

The above conversation took place between the galloping horses and the giant eagle that blocked out the sun.

The size of a Holy Flying Elephant is comparable to that of an elephant cub, and before its transformation, its strength is indeed very weak. So much so that when Fenwei transformed into a giant eagle and caught it and brought it to the sky, it couldn't even put up an effective resistance.

"There's definitely a misunderstanding!" Saint Dumbo yelled, "I just happened to be in this area. I'm definitely not a suspicious person!"

A celestial being appeared in the material world for no apparent reason and stayed there for a long time... by chance? No one believed it.

Moreover, this Holy Flying Elephant was actually wearing clothes - although they looked tattered for various reasons, the emblem of Lathander on them was still very clear.

In present-day Eltoril, the most developed faiths are the Church of Torm and the Church of Lathander, which is developing rapidly with the help of the Companion Sun.

Mars shouted, "Candlekeep once assessed the unreliability of various virtuous churches. After a dispute, the Church of Lathander, Lord of the Morning, triumphed over the reckless men of the Church of Tymora, the Goddess of Fortune, and the magical fanatics of the Church of Mystra, taking first place. Do you have any idea?"

"Slander! Absolute slander! Unfounded stereotype!" Saint Dumbo's ears flapped almost to a shadow. "The Lord of Dawn and his followers' zeal for justice will not harm anyone!"

"Excellent," Mars replied bluntly. "The Tyr Church, ranked last in unreliability, repeatedly reviewed every one of its plans, fearing that its actions would lead to unexpected and adverse consequences. The church ranked first did the exact opposite. It seems this ranking is more accurate than I expected."

At this time, Sig came out again to play the role of peacemaker, shouting to the sky: "Actually, we didn't mean to do anything! It's just that your activities in the Troll Claw have alarmed many people. As you can see, paladins, priests, and druids have already arrived one after another. As a result, you were almost unable to stay. We just want to find out what happened there. But even if we know the truth now, without you being there, we have no basis to clarify for you!"

"Oh...oh...so the mountain range I'm staying in is called Troll Claw. I just knew that." Saint Dumbo, who had been trying to argue, relaxed for a moment, but then tensed up again. "No, no, no! Tell me first, where exactly are you taking me?"

This question really made it difficult for them to control their expressions. Sig was stunned for a moment, then couldn't help but shout, "Eltoril! The Troll Claw is just west of Eltoril! You've been here for a while, right?"

"Eh? Eh? El Toril?" Saint Dumbo's struggles suddenly stopped, and he breathed a visibly relieved sigh. "You're going to El Toril, why didn't you tell me earlier..."

However, it immediately collapsed in frustration: "If I had known that Eltoril was to the east, why would I have stayed in that mountain for so long..."

And Emilia could only sigh.

This Holy Flying Elephant doesn't look very smart, but it turns out to be even more stupid than it appears!

As a result, their half-hostage, half-deception action made him feel guilty of deceiving a fool: "Your target was Eltoril?"

"Ah... not really..." Saint Dumbo stammered, then changed the subject very abruptly, "Well, I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is... uh..."

But before he could finish his words, his eyes rolled and he swallowed his words: "I'm just a nobody, and my name doesn't mean anything..."

Emya said unhappily, "Toril is so vast, how many people dare to say they are not unknown? This statement is really not very convincing. Even if we tell you our names, you will definitely not recognize them."

“Hmm…ah…” Saint Feixiang’s golden skin actually turned a faint red, and he could only struggle desperately: “Then you speak first!”

As expected, after they finished introducing themselves, the bewildered Holy Flying Elephant also looked bewildered. Even Fenwë had only become Archdruid a month ago, and before that, he was just an ordinary druid hiding from the Church of Lathander. Silver was using a code name, and the rest of the group were even more confused.

"What do you think? We are nobody, too," Mars said. "If you really have something to hide, please speak up. The Church of Lathander in Eltoril is very prosperous and may be able to provide you with shelter."

"The Church of Lathander in Eltoril is also thriving? Very good, very good..." The Holy Flying Elephant turned around in Fenwë's claws and finally said, "Then let me introduce myself first..."

"My name is Lulu. I am a being born from the kingdom of Lord Lathander, the Lord of the Morning. But why I came here... well, I can't tell you."

It doesn't matter.

Emya wasn't particularly concerned with the secrets of other churches—Toril had dozens of them. If he dug into every single one of them, he'd never need to sleep. And he had absolutely no reason to offend a well-regarded and kind church.

Although Mars claims that the Church of Lathander often acts without considering the consequences, on the other hand, the Church of Lathander is also known for its unusually strong drive for action.

Lulu had caused quite a stir in the Troll Lands, even alerting the Archdruids of two forests. They had only taken a short detour to successfully decipher the secrets of the Troll Lands, which would be a significant bargaining chip in the Ritual of Truth.

As for what secrets Lulu brought, and whether it was related to them, that was not something they could decide at the moment.

Regarding this result, Sig was the most excited: "Hehe - that arrogant Candlekeep man will probably be so surprised that his jaw will drop to the ground. The mammoth that appeared in the Troll Claw is actually a Holy Flying Elephant with a secret!"

Lulu, trapped in the giant eagle's claws, could only grumble softly, "At least don't tell the world that I have a secret..."

"Don't worry, I'm different from my peers. I won't leak a single word when I need to."

They had now officially embarked on their journey, speeding eastward. The Phantom Horses lowered their heads, their hooves' cadence and pace increased to the utmost, the rocks on either side becoming nothing more than shadows*.

After thinking for a while, Sig waved to Emiya and said, "Captain, is it possible for us to reach Eltoril before the Hell Knights?"

"If I don't use the ritual and instead release the Phantom Pony directly, I think I can give it a try." Emiya thought for a moment and replied, "Although we set out quite late, the advantage of the Phantom Pony not needing to rest is simply too great."

Besides, it's a bit rude to say it out loud—

At Emiya's level, the Phantom Colt's speed was already far faster than that of ordinary horses, a limit that could not be surpassed through breeding. Even the Silver Ship could only barely keep up with the Phantom Colt's speed because it was not actually a physical horse.

However, the biggest problem for long-distance travel is determining the direction - if you are spinning in place, no matter how fast your mount is, it will not win the race.

"However, I think the biggest problem is navigation... Mars, have you ever been on this road? If we don't know the way, we may have to go south to the Chongsa River and then continue on our journey."

"Unfortunately, no." Mars' voice was a little distorted by the wind. "In fact, Lord Asur made it very clear - this road can't actually be considered officially opened. At the beginning, Leon and I were actually half a patrol, taking the more populated southern route - heading south from Eltoril to the Green Fields, taking the Urden Trade Road, passing through the northern border of Amn, all the way to Nashkel at the foot of the Cloud Mountains, turning north, passing through Belgost and reaching the Arm of Friends."

However, after talking for a while, Mars held the reins with one hand and pointed to the sky.

It's amazing. Even though it's night and the moonlight isn't very bright, there isn't even a single star to be seen in the sky.

"—But, near Eltoril, the last thing you need to worry about is navigation."

"Why?" It was Lulu in the sky who asked this question. "I've been to Eltoril, but I've never heard of anything special about this city."

"That means it was a long time ago that you last came here!"

They happened to come to an uphill slope at this time, and the Phantom Horse slowed down a little.

Yin raised his eyes as if realizing something: "...is it dawn?"

The world's darkening transformation was a gradual process, but as they approached Eltoril, the evolution seemed to be moving too fast.

Emiya frowned slightly. "How is that possible? It should be just after midnight. Even if it's autumn now, the nights won't be this short."

Mars replied, "In fact, unless you live at the poles, you shouldn't see the sun at midnight—but there is actually an exception in Toril."

"……I see."

Emiya reacted.

No wonder the people of Eltoril wanted to open this east-west highway.

Phantom horses are strange, black horses. They have no intelligence and simply follow the instructions of their saddles. If they are not ordered to stop, they will continue to climb.

They were at least a hundred kilometers away from Eltoril at this time. At this distance, on the top of a not-so-steep slope, Eltoril should be a tiny dot that could not be seen at all, even below the horizon.

However, when the Phantom Horse carried them to the top of the hill, the light of morning light truly spanned the long distance.

The earth's own shadow gave way to the brilliant sunlight at this time, and the dark night was swept away unnoticed.

The bright golden sun seemed to be patiently waiting for them. As soon as Emiya and his companions appeared before it, it immediately cast its guiding light before them, completely illuminating the path between them and Eltoril.

No, in fact, Emilia had already seen the existence of this sun, but at that time, it was just a tiny point of light on the horizon. He had always thought that it was just a star hanging in the sky.

However, less than an hour had passed and the light of the companion sun had already occupied more and more space in his world.

Sig stared at the sun high in the sky. His petite body slowly stiffened, and he almost fell off his horse. "Is this the... famous Companion Sun? We've only been riding for a few hours since leaving Baldur's Gate, right? So, when we actually reach the gates of Eltoril, how big will the Companion Sun be? What exactly is that Companion Sun?"

Mars replied, "No one knows. The people of Eltoril simply worship it. Countless people came here because of its fame, shocked by its majesty—and that's all."

He shrugged. "The Church of Lathander claims this sun is a gift from the gods... I suspect the Verification of the Companion Sun would be one of the highest-ranking bounties offered during this Ritual of Truth—if the Church of Lathander hadn't coerced it into being withdrawn. However, when I was active in Eltoril, I was more closely associated with the Church of Tyr, and I'm not very familiar with the specifics of the Church of Lathander."

Sig pursed his lips restlessly. "...So, that Banri is completely possible... just a treasure?"

The companion of the day is naturally the thing that can most arouse Yin's interest.

She awkwardly straightened up on her horse, her eyes growing brighter. "—Ohhhh! I originally thought the so-called Companion Sun was just a powerful daylight spell! But it's not at all! It's definitely some kind of entity! The power of the outer planes is being squeezed out by the Companion Sun like a water pump, and it is being squandered around without any scruples!"

She became more and more excited as she spoke, and couldn't help but pull at Emiya's sleeve. "Emiya! I want to observe it up close! Go under Banri and touch it up close! Now, right now!"