Heavy snow fell across the sky, and in the vast white valley, a cold wind howled, with snowflakes swirling and blowing.
The snow beneath Cana's feet crunched with each step she took.
"Ezreal, Marcus, where are you?" Cana called out calmly, but only the howling wind answered her.
Cana took a deep breath, trying to stay calm.
"No, if I try to walk, I'll freeze to death before I can get out of this valley."
Cana raised her hand, and a card floated before her.
The back of the card was black with a red Fairy Tail emblem, while the front depicted a gloomy forest with a giant black Raven, possessing four limbs and spread wings, in the very center.
Its crimson eyes were cruel and wild, seemingly staring intently out from the card, no matter the angle.
Cana extended her right index finger and touched the back of the card; a wave of black energy emanated from it.
This powerful and surging energy instantly pushed away much of the surrounding wind and snow, creating a temporary vacuum.
Cana whispered softly, "In my name, Evil Crow King, seal release!"
The card trembled, and a pair of arms with blade-sharp claws and black feathers emerged from it.
These arms, from within the card, gripped its left and right sides, instantly tearing the card open.
A monstrous, massive black Raven's head extended from within, its crimson eyes glowing faintly, and its slightly parted, pointed beak emitted wisps of cold air from both sides.
The Evil Crow King emerged from the card, and once it fully revealed its body before Cana, the card that had housed it had vanished at some point.
This massive creature respectfully knelt before Cana.
Cana flipped and jumped onto the Evil Crow King's back; its broad back was large enough for her to lie down, significantly bigger than a double bed.
Cana took out another card, raised her hand, and threw it, transforming it into a warm red spherical energy shield that isolated her and the Evil Crow King from the swirling snow.
"Sure enough, buying some defensive magic cards beforehand was a good idea. I'm finally alive!" Cana sighed with relief as she lay on the Evil Crow King's back, then pulled two more cards from her pocket: one with a chibi portrait of Ezreal, and another with a chibi portrait of Marcus.
She held up the two cards and waved them in the four cardinal directions—east, south, west, and north. Both cards lit up with a faint glow when pointed eastward, but showed no change in the other three directions.
These were positioning cards, developed and made by Cana herself. As long as she collected the target's magic aura, she could sense their approximate direction; the further away, the fainter the glow, and vice versa.
Before setting out, just in case, she had prepared tracking cards for Ezreal and Marcus, and she hadn't expected them to actually come in handy.
"They're both to the east? From the cards' glow, they seem quite far away." Cana looked eastward, towards the depths of the valley, where heavy snow fell, and as far as the eye could see, there was only a vast expanse of white, snow-covered mountains.
"Let's find them first. Evil Crow King, go, fly in that direction." Cana gently patted the Evil Crow King's back, and it immediately spread its black wings, tucked in its limbs, and flew eastward.
The fierce wind howled beneath its wings, stirring up gusts of snowflakes.
The Evil Crow King's flight speed was extremely fast; its steady flying speed could even match that of the Crimson Feathered Demon Wolf, which specialized in speed.
Cana estimated that in about an hour, they would be able to fly out of this snow-covered valley.
However, as they flew into the center of the valley, Cana suddenly noticed that the temperature had dropped even further.
Originally, with the protection of the energy shield, she barely felt the external cold.
But now, as the Evil Crow King flew into the central area of the valley, the extreme cold still penetrated the shield, making her shiver slightly.
Just as Cana was about to pull out another shield card, she suddenly glimpsed an eyeball made entirely of ice, floating silently in the air at the center of the valley.
This eyeball was about one person tall; its center was a flawless black ice block, like a human pupil, surrounded by an ice-blue outer ring encasing the black solid ice, and the outermost ring was white ice mixed with fine snowflakes.
It looked beautiful and exquisite, like a work of art.
Cana's mouth slightly agape in surprise, "This is... a Frost Spirit?"
Information about Frost Spirits immediately flashed through her mind.
Frost Spirit!
A relatively common type of elemental spirit, often found in snowy mountain regions, naturally possessing the power to control ice and snow, as well as the ability to create illusions.
Generally, its appearance resembles a human eyeball, though a small number may grow into cloud or ice ball forms, and some may even take on the appearance of human infants.
It specializes in using large-scale ice elemental magic and can easily create blizzards and hailstorms.
It possesses a strong sense of territory, rarely leaves its birthplace, and will attack any living creature that invades its birthplace.
Its intelligence is not high, and it has an extreme aversion to living beings, making normal communication almost impossible.
So-called elemental spirits are actually a special type of spiritual life form.
They are often found in areas rich in elemental magic, condensed and born from pure elemental energy essence. They naturally possess immense magic power, extremely high talent for elemental magic, and an affinity for elemental magic.
Elemental spirits are usually single-attribute, though a few may possess multiple attributes.
Long-term interaction with an elemental spirit can enhance a normal person's affinity for elemental magic, strengthen their magical talent, and even allow those without Mage talent to successfully embark on the path of magic.
Possessing an elemental spirit can easily establish a Mage family.
Many families specializing in elemental magic in today's magical world have been able to endure for a long time due to the assistance of elemental spirits.
If a Mage obtains an elemental spirit, they can fuse it with themselves, with a two-thirds chance of gaining elemental magic amplification abilities, and a one-third chance of awakening an elemental body, allowing them to freely switch between a physical body and an elemental body.
Elemental spirits are simple-minded, long-lived, and mostly powerful. If subdued and contracted by a Mage, they will almost never betray them for life, making them excellent combat partners.
Because of all these characteristics, they have always been sought after by elemental Mages, but in recent centuries, discoveries of elemental spirits have become increasingly rare.
Currently, in the magical world, these creatures are priceless, extremely rare.
Cana truly hadn't expected to encounter such a treasure of the magical world.
But now she didn't know whether to cry or laugh.
From the moment she and the Evil Crow King approached the central area of the valley, this Frost Spirit had already set its eyes on them.
When Cana saw the Frost Spirit, this not-so-bright creature had already been staring at them for a long time.
And as Cana and the Evil Crow King approached, the Frost Spirit had already begun to condense ice spears around its body.