Gumman Kingdom, border.
The dense dark clouds of the night turned this endless forest pitch black.
Above this dark forest, suddenly, a faint light flashed by, but soon, that faint light fell into the depths of the forest.
As the faint light vanished, a large area of firelight appeared in the distance, quickly converging towards the place where the faint light fell.
At the spot where the faint light landed, a girl covered in dust, with messy hair and her glasses shattered like a spider web, groaned as she climbed out of a large pit in the ground.
"Another problem... Is it the flying broomstick’s fault, or my operation failure?"
The girl looked at the large pit caused by her fall from a height and the broomstick standing in the pit, a feeling of helplessness welled up in her heart. She deeply missed her Tricolor Deer... If the Tricolor Deer were here, how could she have fallen halfway during the flight?
Yes, this girl is none other than Abulei, who parted with Angel less than two days ago.
Although Abulei was full of complaints, the flying broomstick had cost her quite a lot of money, so she still jumped into the pit to retrieve it.
Just as she got hold of the flying broomstick, Abulei heard a commotion not far away.
Abulei’s face turned pale, as if remembering something. In her Mind Space, she quickly assembled a trick model and then pressed her hand to the ground, causing a summoning hexagram to flash beneath her.
The summoning circle emitted a bright light, and shortly after, a crowned green parrot emerged from the circle.
"Huh, I clearly summoned the Keen-eyed Magic Falcon, why did a Crowned Parrot appear? Did I make a mistake in the summoning circle?" Abulei murmured softly, but soon, she dismissed her distracting thoughts. Whether it was a Keen-eyed Magic Falcon or a Crowned Parrot, it was all the same.
"Lend me your eyes and fly up into the sky!" Abulei reached out to the Crowned Parrot. The parrot rolled its eyes at her in a very human-like manner, not even forming a primary contract with her.
Abulei anxiously reached out again, but the Crowned Parrot simply flew up.
"I can help you, but I don’t want to form a contract with you," the Crowned Parrot shared its vision with Abulei, though the contract remained unformed.
"Why? It’s just a primary contract, lasting less than a day," Abulei asked, puzzled.
The Crowned Parrot soared into the sky, and a voice tinged with slight mockery echoed in Abulei’s ear: "Because you are too weak."
The Crowned Parrot’s words struck Abulei’s heart painfully.
But soon, Abulei composed herself. As one of the three rejects in the Summoning System of the Barbarian Cave, it wasn’t the first time her summoned creature disdained her.
Though her mind had grown resilient enough to momentarily ignore her summoned creature’s mockery, she still felt a slight grievance, and her longing for the Tricolor Deer deepened. The Tricolor Deer would never mock her and was like a sister to her. If it hadn’t been injured heavily when borrowed last time, she would never have allowed it to return to its original realm.
While Abulei was missing her Tricolor Deer, the Crowned Parrot had already flown high up. Its vision was completely shared with Abulei, allowing her to clearly see what the Crowned Parrot saw.
Although the Crowned Parrot’s vision was not as powerful as the Keen-eyed Magic Falcon’s, it wasn’t far off.
With that powerful sight, Abulei could clearly see a blaze of fire approaching her current position, roughly two or three kilometers away.
The Crowned Parrot, taking advantage of its small size and the dark weather, flew even closer to the fire.
Now Abulei could see the situation with the fire more clearly. What seemed like fire wasn’t a forest fire but individuals holding torches in red robes.
The red-robed individuals had an emblem of a crown and scepter intertwined on their clothing, representing... the Gumman Kingdom’s Royal Knights.
Judging by their direction, it was certain they were coming for Abulei.
"Old Porter wasn’t wrong, those people really are wolves sniffing out blood, they’ve caught up!" Abulei felt some regret. If she had known, she wouldn’t have gone to see Old Porter... But without seeing Old Porter, there was really no hope.
Abulei felt conflicted inside, but now wasn’t the time to think about that.
Although the Royal Knights of the Gumman Kingdom weren’t stronger than her individually, from the Crowned Parrot’s vision, it wasn’t one or two people; it was at least a squad of twenty. How could she fight them?
Moreover, they were already very close to her, and she needed to escape quickly.
Abulei anxiously considered riding the broomstick for the fastest escape by air. However, it was during flight that she had exposed her position earlier, and the flying broomstick was unreliable. If she fell again, she would be doomed.
Gritting her teeth, Abulei cast a Cat Movement Spell on herself and dashed into the pitch-black forest.
The Cat Movement Spell, a Level 1 trick, granted the Summoner the agility and movement speed of a cat, enhancing speed to some degree, allowing silent and traceless movement.
The Cat Movement Spell also had an advanced version, a Level 3 Trick - the Leopard Movement Spell. It would be even faster, even comparable to some wind element apprentices.
Unfortunately, Abulei had not yet mastered the Leopard Movement Spell and could only rely on the Cat Movement Spell to move through the forest.
With a nimble leap, Abulei landed on a tree branch, and with a gentle push, she became a phantom shadow, landing on another tree.
The dense forest provided a significant advantage for the Cat Movement Spell, silent and maximizing the agility of a cat.
Abulei moved swiftly between the trees, her speed slightly slower than the flying broomstick, but more concealed, and the release of pheromones could be tightly locked down by the Cat Movement Spell.
Abulei believed that as long as the opponent’s tracking capabilities were based on pheromone tracking, she could surely escape them with the Cat Movement Spell.
While Abulei was moving swiftly across tree branches, a familiar sound suddenly rang in her ears.
"Are those torchbearers coming to chase you?"
Turning her head, Abulei saw that, at some point, the Crowned Parrot had returned and was now keeping pace with her.
"You haven’t returned to the original realm?" Abulei asked in surprise.
The Crowned Parrot replied crossly, "I haven’t signed a contract with you; I can return whenever I want!"
In truth, this was just idle talk from the Crowned Parrot. Creatures summoned by Summoners, if not contracted, couldn’t restore energy within them, and would be rejected by the World Will, increasing energy consumption. Soon enough, they would voluntarily return to their original worlds, or original realms.
Abulei knew this and didn’t expose it. Instead, she sincerely said, "You can travel around the Southern Domain, but it’s better not to play in the Gumman Kingdom. Head east to the Arie Principality; it’s peaceful and beautiful there."
The Crowned Parrot found it a bit odd that Abulei was earnestly providing a travel guide for the Southern Domain, thinking, although this Summoner was weak, she seemed rather well-intentioned?
Wait, now wasn’t the time to talk about sightseeing. The Crowned Parrot asked seriously, "You still haven’t answered my question. Are those people chasing you?"