Chapter 819 Making the Anchor
Teleporting them back to the spirit capital, Shiro saw Isilia waiting by the side with a smile.
"I suppose everything is ready now." Isilia chuckled as Shiro nodded her head.
"Mn, the final tests seemed to have no problems so the plan is for me to use the teleport scroll to reach Astral Horizons while I leave an orb back here. Once I reach the otherside, I'll set down the orb so that the portal becomes connected. Hopefully, nothing should go wrong." Shiro smiled.
"Don't jinx it now. I'm not going to say anything since there's a possibility that it may happen." Isilia smiled.
"Never knew that you were the superstitious kind." Shiro raised her eyebrow.
"Well after all the things that I have gone through and the coincidences that happened, let's just say it's not impossible and could actually be very likely." Isilia chuckled as Shiro shrugged since she agreed with her.
Seeing the dangers lurking around every corner that she walked around, it'll be more concerning if nothing went wrong.
Doing some final checks, Shiro took a deep breath and pulled out a scroll with a magic circle painted on one side. This was the teleport scroll that Stanley had given her and it would take her to Astral Horizons. Even if her magic didn't work, she'd be able to roughly guess her location after wandering around for a bit.
After all, she now had the map of the entire world stored in her database since she 'technically' didn't keep the feature in her system interface but rather memory.
Inserting mana into the scroll, Shiro felt the scroll heat up as a weightless feeling washed over her body.
Before she realised it, she was already standing at the top of a familiar mountain surrounded by a sea of clouds that was actually made from condensed mana.
Taking a deep breath, she couldn't help but shake her head as her sense of mana had improved by leaps and bounds. Feeling the power flowing through her body, she couldn't believe how wasteful her usage was back then.
While it was still not perfect, it was far better than what it initially was.
Waving her hand gently, the clouds started to sway with her movements as it seemed like god had just decided to place his hand into the ocean and move it around.
The overlapping clouds that acted like waves swirled around the mountain peak as Shiro was enjoying this quite a bit. However, she had more important matters so she stopped playing around with the clouds and got to making the orb portal.
Snapping her fingers, a black orb appeared before her as it slowly expanded into a portal.
Seeing Nan Tian and Isilia on the other side, Shiro gave them a small wave.
"Seems like the portal's working alright. I'll get to making the anchor as well as the city here since I don't have to worry about mana." Shiro grinned as Isilia looked at Astral Horizon's in shock.
Despite hearing that there were condensed mana clouds from Shiro, it was still a little unbelievable since the amount of mana required would be off the charts.
However, now that she was seeing it for herself, Isilia couldn't help but rub her eyes since this was basically every mage's holy land.
"I can't believe that a place like this actually exists." Isilia muttered.
"What? Did you think I'd lie to you?" Shiro laughed as she closed the portal behind Nan Tian.
Now that she had left two markers essentially, she could travel between the two locations whenever she wanted. Naturally, the markers would expire eventually but for now it was rather helpful. All she needed to do was remember to refresh it so that the time was extended.
Glancing up at the sky, Nan Tian raised his hand as light gathered around him.
Raising his eyebrow, he realised that the element came to him much easier while he was in the vicinity of a mana dense area like this mountain peak.
If he had to describe it, he'd say that everything was roughly 10 times easier just from the amount of mana it cost.
"Right then, While I get to making the anchor, are you two able to scout out the mountain a little to check for any dangers since I don't want to be making a city here and it being immediately destroyed." Shiro chuckled.
She did try to send out her mana but her senses were blocked by the clouds since they were made from dense mana so it was almost impossible to see past them with her mana sense.
She did try to use her Analysis skill but the outcome was the same. Therefore, she understood that this mountain probably needed to be explored manually.
"Sure I can explore it a little. With the mana density being so high, I can also experiment with a few skills of my own since I've been slacking a bit." Nan Tian chuckled as Shiro nodded her head.
"I'll do the same after I finish this." Isilia called out.
Currently, she was already investigating a few of the materials that could be found at the peak since their composition must have been affected by the dense mana.
"Mn take your time, it might be awhile before I finish making the anchor after all." Shiro smiled before laying out all of the materials that she needed in front of her.
Looking at the pile of items, she couldn't help but shake her head.
If it was before, it would have taken her years to collect everything she needed but with just a few words to one of the spirit elders and her teacher, all of the items were now in front of her.
Taking a deep breath, she brought up the method hidden in her memory after she met her future self. Remembering all of the information 'she' had collected on anchors, Shiro narrowed her eyes as a tier 7 magic circle expanded out from under her.
Bringing out the miniature anchor that she had received from the garden spirit, Shiro let it float in the air as the materials slowly melted themselves down into a golden liquid.
Closing her eyes, Shiro focused on slowly letting the liquid condense down meld together with the shard. This was the hardest task from her memories since it determines how effective your anchor is. If the process is rushed, the anchor could be worse than a branch anchor as it would probably shatter with a single sneeze.
But for Shiro, patience and control well within her capabilities and all that was left was to just follow the instructions carefully.
While Shiro was making the anchor, both Nan Tian and Isilia could feel the mana being sucked towards the anchor as Shiro was focusing entirely on making sure that this was done properly since they only had one shard of the garden.
Glancing at each other, they decided to set down a few alarm barriers walking down the mountain.
Making their way down what seemed to be a rocky path, their vision was obscured by the thick clouds of mana which were very difficult to look through. Even when using skills to enhance their perception, it was hard to see anything past their arm.
Furrowing his brows, Nan Tian decided to see if his magic could help as he created a small orb of light before clutching it.
Flashing in an instant, the small orb was similar to a flash grenade which sent a small 3d 'scan' of their surroundings into his mind.
Unlike Shiro, he couldn't remember it in clear detail but the general idea was good enough. It was still a bit difficult thanks to the clouds but overall it was slightly better than seeing through their eyes.
Helping Isilia with navigating down the mountain, they found a few caves and paths which branched out from the main path towards the peak.
"Mn… it's a bit risky exploring this place when our senses are dulled." Isilia muttered while throwing a sword into a cave before returning it back to her side. She wanted to see if there were any monsters which might have reacted but it seemed empty for the most part.
"I suppose I can try to find the source of all this mana since for mana to be this dense, there is a definite source." Nan Tian narrowed his eyes as Isilia agreed.
"Do you want to tell Shiro first just in case? She's making the anchor right now so if the mana was to suddenly disappear, it would be rather bad." Isilia reminded.
Nodding his head, Nan Tian understood her worries.
"I know. What I mean is for us to find the source of it so that Shiro could perhaps integrate it with the anchor. Remember, all of this mana is from one source so if she could use it to her advantage, it would prove to be very helpful." Nan Tian smiled as Isilia raised her eyebrow.
The plan seemed feasible to some extent.