Chapter Twenty-Three: New Discoveries

The Wind of Opposition—a classic defensive spell of the wind element—creates a vortex formed by twisting air currents. On the surface, it appears calm, like a transparent wall. Yet anything striking it triggers the spell’s “rebound” effect, sending the attack right back at the assailant. It’s strikingly similar to Katherine’s signature spell, “Arcane Shield.”

At this moment, Katherine had lost her mental energy, her sensitivity to magic severely diminished. She never expected the little bird’s nest to be enchanted, and inadvertently fell victim to her own trap: the stone she hurled bounced back, hitting her squarely and causing a nosebleed. The nose, being one of the body’s most delicate areas and rich in pain nerves, meant she wasn’t seriously injured, but now blood, snot, and tears streamed down uncontrollably, her hair tangled with rotting leaves from the water below, leaving her in a pitiful state.

Katherine felt dizzy—the world before her darkening—her nose quickly swelling into a lump right between her eyes, making her look, from a distance, like the Golden Horn King. She tilted her head back to slow the bleeding, tearing off a strip of her clothing to plug her nostril, and spoke in a muffled voice to Ling Mo, “Master, why is there an enchanted array here?”

“Why shouldn’t there be?”

“But the White-necked Wind Bird is a level three magical beast, right? Enchantment talents are usually found only in level four or higher magical beasts…”

Ling Mo shot her a glare. “How many times do you need to suffer before you learn? Beasts surviving in the magical rainforest aren’t the same as those outside. Does the wild bear outside know ‘Primal Roar’?”

Katherine fell silent, bowing her head in acknowledgment, then asked, “So what should I do now? Is there any long-range martial arts technique? From my mage’s experience, that shield isn’t weak. With my current strength, there’s no way I can throw a stone from a distance and break it.”

“You’ll learn some ranged techniques later. For now, forget it. Also,” Ling Mo pointed to the nest on the cliff’s edge, where several fledglings poked their heads out, mouths stretched wide, calling shrilly. Their cries were sharp and uniquely rhythmic. “See? The chicks are calling for help, summoning the White-necked Wind Bird pair back to protect them. Their calls travel far. You have to hurry—if the adult birds return, your hunt will fail.”

“Guess I’ll have to use the old-fashioned way,” Katherine said, glancing at the bamboo grove nearby. “With my stamina now, it shouldn’t take long.”

With those words, she leapt from the higher branches and strode briskly to the bamboo thicket. Turtleback bamboo thrives in hot climates, especially at the border between dry and wet zones. The grove was full of tall, thick stalks with lush foliage.

She drew the dagger Ling Mo had given her and cut down the two tallest, biggest stalks, swiftly stripping off the leaves and protrusions. She held the bamboo together, measured with her hands, marked a few spots, and used her dagger to cut holes through the nodes—nine in a row—then slid shorter bamboo sticks in as rungs. The viewers in her livestream quickly figured it out: she was making a ladder!

“Her hands are so fast!”

“Mostly it’s the knife, right? Turtleback bamboo is tough—low-level wind blades can barely cut it!”

“Is she making herself a foothold? Isn’t this solution a bit primitive?”

“Elementary schooler spotted. Assessment complete.”

“Elementary schooler +1.”

“It might look primitive, but only someone with superhuman stamina like the streamer could do it. Try it as a regular person! Forget making it—just lifting a fifteen-meter ladder would exhaust you!”

“Stop arguing! By my estimate, the streamer’s ladder is only fifteen meters. Even if the water below the cliff is one meter deep, she’ll still be several meters from the nest at the top. What’s her plan?”

“Exactly. What will she do?”

“Even if she jumps, she’ll only have one shot to attack, at most breaking that Wind of Opposition spell.”

“She looks hilarious with that lump on her nose!”

“Can you focus on the technical aspects of the stream? All you see is the lump? Didn’t notice it shrank a lot in just a few minutes?”

While the barrage of comments continued, Katherine wound vines around the narrow top of the ladder, securing it firmly. The result was an ugly, makeshift ladder, roughly fifteen meters tall, crooked and uneven, with rungs of varying sizes. No matter how unsightly, it served its fundamental purpose.

Katherine carefully raised the ladder, na