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Chapter 274 - Mystical Cloud
🕑 Added 2025-03-27 07:00:55 +0000 UTC"But something happened to the void tunnel, and we ended up on this planet instead. Now I'm not sure if the others made it here too. It's also possible that I'm the only one who got lost here while they all explore that planet. Sigh." Tamina lamented.
Anda fell into thought again, her mind racing. When the planets get close to each other... Is that why the void tunnel loses connection completely after ten years? Because the planets drift apart again? The idea sent a ripple of unease through her. When she had arrived here after the void tunnel incident, the portal had vanished without a trace. How was she supposed to return to the Cloud Continent?
Oh well, as long as I can be with Leyvi, nothing else matters. Sorry, ladies back at home, Anda thought, a bittersweet smile tugging at her lips.
While Anda and Tamina were lost in their thoughts, something soft and unexpected booped Anda's face. Startled, she blinked and looked up. To her amazement, it was a cloud—a solid, tangible cloud!
"Eh? What? Tamina, look at this cloud! I can touch it!" Anda exclaimed, her voice tinged with wonder. She reached out and grabbed the cloud, squeezing and stretching it like a piece of cotton candy. It was cool to the touch, yet firm enough to hold its shape.
Tamina stared, her expression a mix of confusion and curiosity. What kind of cloud is this? she wondered, her sharp eyes scanning the strange phenomenon.
"Look! I can stand on this cloud! Is this some kind of treasure? Come on, Tamina, try getting on here," Anda urged, her voice bubbling with excitement.
Anda stepped onto the cloud, her feet sinking slightly into its soft, fluffy surface. To her delight, it held her weight perfectly. She bounced lightly, giggling as the cloud wobbled beneath her like a giant marshmallow. "Tamina, come on! It's like standing on a pillow made of air!"
Tamina hesitated for a moment, her instincts warring with her curiosity. Finally, she stepped onto the cloud, her eyes widening as she felt the strange, buoyant texture beneath her feet. "This is... incredible. Is this cloud natural? It feels so... alive." She stretched out a portion of the cloud and bent it with her hands, marveling at how easily it yielded to her touch.
"You're right. What a mysterious cloud. It supports our weight and doesn't change shape when we stand on it, but we can mold it so easily with our hands," Anda observed, her brow furrowing slightly as she noticed the contradiction.
The two women began experimenting with the cloud, their initial apprehension giving way to childlike delight. Anda shaped it into a chair and sat down, laughing as it gently bobbed up and down. Tamina molded her side of the cloud into a spear tip. But when she pressed her finger against the tip, it simply compressed without causing any harm. "Hmm, it's too soft to be used as a weapon," she muttered, a hint of disappointment in her voice.
"Look at this! It's like playing with clay, but it's a cloud! And it's so clean and pretty!" Anda exclaimed, shaping the cloud into a panda. "Hehe, now it's a panda cloud! I wish I could color it."
Tamina chuckled as she shaped her side of the cloud into a complete spear. "This is so strange... but fun. I wonder if there's more of this cloud around?" She glanced around and spotted a few similar clouds drifting nearby. Without hesitation, she leaped onto the nearest one, landing with a force that would have shattered stone. Yet the cloud held firm, barely quivering beneath her weight.
As they played, they noticed the cloud was slowly descending. "Hmm, it's sinking," Tamina observed, her eyebrows raised slightly. The descent was so gradual that it had gone unnoticed at first, but now the ground seemed closer than before.
"You're right. Maybe your butt is too heavy, Tamina," Anda teased, a mischievous grin spreading across her face.
Tamina rolled her eyes, then glanced pointedly at Anda's backside. Clearly, your bum is bigger than mine, she thought, though she kept the retort to herself.
At the same time, Anda was deep in thought, her brow furrowed as she considered the cloud's slow descent. If it keeps sinking, it'll be useless for anything practical. There must be a way to make it stop, she mused.
Curious, she placed her hand on the cloud and channeled a small amount of her Qi into it, watching intently to see if anything would happen. Instantly, the cloud responded. Its surface shimmered like molten gold, and the entire mass shifted to a warm, fiery orange. The edges of the cloud flickered faintly, as if alive with tiny flames, though it remained cool to the touch. Most importantly, the descent stopped.
"Oh?" Anda said, pulling her hand back slightly as she observed the transformation. "It changed color, and it doesn't seem to be sinking anymore. Hehehe. I am so smart. Of course a mystical cloud would react to Qi!"
Tamina's eyes lit up with curiosity. "Let me try." She placed her hand on the cloud and channeled her earth-attributed Qi. The cloud she was on also changed color, this time turning a rich, earthy brown. Its texture became slightly denser, almost like packed soil, but it still retained its soft, fluffy feel.
"It really is reacting to our Qi, and it changed color based on our Qi element. But the soft and fluffy feel doesn't change," Tamina said, her voice filled with excitement. "What a strange cloud. Anda, if we collect enough of these, maybe we can build a house and live in the sky."
Anda giggled, her eyes sparkling with delight. "Hehe, you're right. I can't wait to show this to Leyvi. You can be our floating house neighbor, Tamina."
Tamina shook her head, a mock scowl on her face. "No, I don't want to see another couple being lovey-dovey near me."
Anda laughed at Tamina's response, her voice echoing lightly across the snowy landscape. She turned her attention back to the cloud, her curiosity piqued once more. "Let's see what else it can do. What if we add more Qi?"
She concentrated, directing her fire-attributed Qi to one side of the cloud. Slowly, the cloud began to drift in that direction. She repeated the process on the other side, and the cloud obediently moved in the opposite direction. Finally, she directed her Qi to the top of the cloud, and it rose slightly, hovering in place.
"I see. So we can control its movement like that," Tamina said, her sharp eyes taking in every detail as she watched Anda experiment.
"Haha!" Anda laughed, her excitement bubbling over as she shaped the cloud into a small boat-like form. "This is perfect! This is definitely a treasure to bypass the stupid flying prohibition. We can use this to travel across the snowy region. Let's collect as many of these clouds as possible, Tamina. This is quite the unique treasure we've found here."
Tamina chuckled, a rare smile tugging at her lips. "We've put so much effort into finding treasures on and below the ground, but the real treasure might actually be high in the sky. Ironic, isn't it?"
Anda blinked at her statement, her laughter fading into a thoughtful expression. Tamina might have said it as a joke, but there was a possibility that it was true. Now that they had these mystical clouds, they had the chance to explore the forbidden sky.
A few days later, they had collected enough of the mystical clouds to construct an entire airship. However, practicality won over ambition, and they decided to keep most of the clouds stored in their space rings, using only enough to create a small, efficient flying boat. They had discovered that the more clouds they combined, the more Qi was required to move the structure—a wasteful expenditure of energy. Instead, they focused on experimenting with the clouds, testing their limits to avoid any potential mishaps. They tested weight limits, top speed, maneuverability, and even how the clouds responded to different types of Qi.
On a crisp morning, a fiery orange boat-shaped cloud lifted off from the edge of the snow-capped mountain. As usual, their destination was the towering colossal tree that loomed in the distance, its silhouette piercing the horizon like a natural monument.
The speed of the mystical clouds wasn't impressive—it couldn't even reach half the average flying speed of a Foundation Building Realm cultivator. Back in their home continents, such a mode of travel would have been dismissed as impractical, useful only for Qi Refinement Realm cultivators who couldn't yet fly. But here, in a land where flying was prohibited, the mystical clouds were a game-changer, offering a level of convenience and freedom they had never imagined.
Every 100 kilometers, the two women would switch roles—one would supply Qi and navigate the cloud boat while the other sat back and replenished their Qi. The skies were unpredictable, with strong winds that sometimes forced them to adjust their course and other times gave them a free, exhilarating ride. Along the way, they continued to collect more mystical clouds, though they noticed that most of them seemed to drift in from the same direction.
"Tamina, should we take a detour and investigate where these mystical clouds are coming from?" Anda asked, her gaze fixed on the distant horizon where the clouds seemed to originate. It was Tamina's turn to navigate, and the cloud boat had shifted to a rich, earthy brown under her earth-attributed Qi.
"Why not? The tree isn't going anywhere," Tamina replied, her tone thoughtful. "I'm curious about these clouds too. Maybe we'll find their origin—or something even more interesting."
