Ezreal looked at the corpse of the Earth Vein Rat on the ground, a sigh of relief escaping him as he mused, "Asgard is truly worthy of being called the Magic Beast Mountains. Even with a tracker, we avoided most magic beasts, yet there are still troublesome ones that actively seek us out."
"It seems we need to be even more careful. If it's like this before reaching the central area, who knows what we'll encounter deeper inside."
Cana and Marcus nodded in strong agreement.
After a short rest, the trio began to clear the battlefield, searching for potential spoils of war.
They discovered the Earth Vein Rat's nest nearby, which contained some precious refined iron ore. This is a common material used to forge magical equipment, and it fetches a good market price. Marcus and Cana took most of it, while Ezreal only took a small portion.
The Earth Vein Rat's corpse was collected by Ezreal after obtaining his teammates' consent.
He was very interested in the Earth Vein Rat's innate magic, and he hoped that once he mastered Life Alchemy, he might be able to extract it from the corpse and fuse it with the Red and Blue Warriors to enhance their combat power.
After the three had collected their spoils and their magic power had mostly recovered, Ezreal once again summoned the Red and Blue Stone Warriors to form a square formation, mounted the Crimson Feathered Demon Wolf, and continued deeper into the mountains...
As night fell, the Asgard Mountains, with their dense forests, became pitch black shortly after sunset.
Ezreal looked at the sky. "We can't go any further. Night is when many predatory magic beasts are active. If we continue, we might run into magic beasts that are out hunting."
Cana also nodded and said, "Tell your Marsh Frog to come out of the river. We can't rest by the river at night; carnivorous magic beasts like to ambush prey there."
Marcus looked around and then pointed to the nearby forest. "Let's go into the forest. I can use sand to dig an underground campsite for us, which will also help conceal our presence."
Although Marcus and Cana were still young, they were B-Class Mages within the guild and had extensive experience with missions.
Ezreal nodded. "Then let's go. Get a good night's rest and we'll set off tomorrow."
With a gentle wave of his left hand, the two large shadows by the river in the distance subtly faded, then slowly disappeared.
The Red and Blue Stone Warriors guarding the trio also gradually faded from view, vanishing into the air.
Only the three Crimson Feathered Demon Wolves serving as mounts and the three serving as guards remained, leading them into the dense forest.
After walking for a few minutes, away from the river, Ezreal and the others dismounted from the wolves. Ezreal controlled the Demon Wolves to form a hexagonal defensive formation, encircling the trio.
Marcus then clapped his hands on the ground, and a yellowish light emanated from his palms. The ground began to turn into quicksand, sinking deep down.
Within a few seconds, a circular sand pit, seven to eight meters deep, was formed.
The three leaped into the sand pit. After landing, Marcus clasped his palms together, and magic power surged from his hands, controlling the quicksand in the pit to seal the top.
Outside the sand pit, the six Crimson Feathered Demon Wolves also silently disappeared into the night, returning to the canyon.
Inside the sand pit, the completely sealed pit was pitch black. Cana's voice came through, "Light, EZ."
Ezreal's voice replied, "No problem."
A bright white light illuminated the entire sand pit in the darkness.
Ezreal raised his left hand above his head, and a fist-sized white orb of light at his fingertips emitted a glow brighter than an incandescent lamp.
Ezreal withdrew his fingers, and the white orb of light automatically floated a short distance upwards, then stopped in the air.
"Cana," Ezreal said softly.
Cana nodded, and with a flick of her right hand, three cards appeared in her hand.
Then Cana flicked the cards in her hand, and three flashes of light appeared. Three simple single beds and three neat white blankets appeared in the sand pit.
Cana's Card Magic was incredibly versatile. Her cards could be used for common elemental magic and also served as spatial tools, allowing her to store things within them.
Marcus gave a thumbs-up, praising, "What convenient magic!"
"Let's eat," Cana rolled her eyes at Marcus, and with another flick of her right hand, three more cards appeared.
This time, a small wooden table, three chairs, three loaves of bread, three large pieces of braised beef, and three large glasses of ice water appeared in the sand pit.
The three sat down and began to eat.
Ezreal was very interested in Marcus and Cana's magic, not because he particularly wanted to learn it. With Life Alchemy, Amaterasu, and Dimensional Summoning, he was already sufficient, and learning more would take up too much of his energy.
He just felt that in the original work, these two supporting characters had decent magic types, which could have been used to greater effect, but due to their mediocre development of magic, they remained at the level of background characters.
Cana had a decent role in the original work, but her strength was truly lacking. Her Card Magic could have done so much more, but her self-development of it was simply average.
As for Marcus, let alone him. In the seven years after Tenrou Island, although Marcus's strength had improved, it was only to the level of Natsu before he gained his Lightning Flame Dragon Mode. He was a good hand among A-Class Mages, but still not enough.
If Ezreal remembered correctly, during the arc against Zeref's Alvarez Empire, there was a guy among the Ten Wizard Saints who used sand magic, and his combat power was extremely formidable.
"Marcus, what do you think of the story of Gaara I told you earlier?" Ezreal asked softly.
Marcus swallowed the beef in his mouth and gave his assessment, "A very powerful Mage."
Ezreal looked up. "The reason I told you that story is because I believe, Marcus, you can become the next powerful sand Mage like him. I have high hopes for you!"
"What you lack is just imagination; your development of magic isn't deep enough."
The beef in Marcus's hand fell onto the table. He looked at Ezreal with tears in his eyes, deeply moved, and asked, "EZ, you actually think so highly of me?"
Ezreal waved his hand. "Come on, rein in your emotions, you're getting too excited. I truly believe you can become a powerful and excellent Mage."
"Come, let me tell you in detail about Gaara's skills..."
Ezreal put his arm around Marcus's neck and began to describe Gaara's ninja techniques from memory.
Cana listened from the side, and as the two were almost finished, she looked at Marcus's increasingly excited face and calmly said, "Those sand magic techniques you're talking about require the user to have powerful magic reserves."
"Didn't you also say that the Mage named Gaara was so strong at first because he had a magic beast that could control sand inside him, and the magic sand his mother left him?"