bookbashuk Chapter 475 Picnic Time
Chapter 475 Picnic Time
The magical girl treasure hunt has been going on in Silver Sand Valley for many years.
To attract tourists, the Hero Association sets up many fun activities on the valley trails every year:
This year's activities included observing and recording tree types and small animals along the way; next year, it may be replaced by a stamp-taking service with rows of stamps hanging in the pavilion.
But the most important concern for people remains unchanged—
What treasure did the retired magical girl, Kalia, leave behind in Silver Sand Valley?
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"Little fish, look, the first rest camp is just ahead."
Su Tianqing, leaning on her walking stick, followed the cat girl and pointed to the open space paved with cement not far away, saying.
It's almost noon now, and many teams have already arrived at the campsite to prepare for lunch.
This is a rare open-fire area, with many earthen stoves and insulated trash cans provided in the open space, as well as a ranger's cabin and forest fire tower hired by the Hero Association.
"My stomach is growling! How about we make some lunch?"
"Okay, let's use this pack of outdoor rations. I've had it before, and it tastes pretty good."
Nan Jiayu rummaged in her backpack, pulled out a large bag of outdoor rations, and showed it to the fox girl beside her.
Having a hot meal outdoors is the most important need for hikers, but obviously, opening a restaurant on a mountain trail is not realistic; providing a stove is already quite good.
Su Tianqing, who was setting up a makeshift stove, thought so too.
Two bricks, a few iron skewers, and two packets of solid fuel—that's how a simple lunch stove was set up.
"This outdoor ration has a wide variety of recipes. I bought the number 10 meal this time, which should suit your taste better, Tianqing."
After Nan Jiayu finished speaking, she took down the kettle of hot water, placed the opened instant food from the ration package onto the makeshift stove, and then began to unpack other food items.
Most of them are side dishes in retort pouches or soft cans, and there are also instant beverage powders in sealed bags. Regardless of the taste, at least the variety and nutritional balance are guaranteed.
"Having a picnic like this is quite fun!"
Watching the fragrant food gradually steaming on the makeshift stove, Su Tianqing shook her fox tail vigorously, feeling quite fascinated.
"Yes, having a picnic at the campsite to replenish energy and prepare for the next exploration is actually quite interesting."
Nan Jiayu nodded, smiled, and said,
"This rice is chicken fried rice. After heating it up, it tastes a bit like zongzi (sticky rice dumpling), but it's not as sticky. This is canned beef, and it's very fragrant after heating it up."
"Alright, let me try it—ooh!"
A steaming bowl of soft canned rice was placed in front of her. Su Tianqing took out a spoon, scooped up a mouthful, and chewed it carefully.
"Hmm...it does taste a bit like zongzi, but it's not as sticky as glutinous rice, and the diced chicken has a pretty good texture."
"Although it's not as good as the rice Xiaoyu makes, it's still quite delicious!"
The catgirl chuckled softly and said:
"After all, it's outdoor rations. There's no time to cook in the wild, so it's already pretty good as it is."
Fried rice as the main dish, heated canned food as a side dish, plus instant drinks and chocolate, is enough to replenish the energy consumed during the morning hike.
After eating and drinking to their hearts' content, cleaning up the leftovers and resting for a while, Su Tianqing began to summarize the intelligence she had gathered during her hike that morning while sipping her beverage.
Just then, the group with kids who had taken another trail arrived at the campsite. While the big dog and the little dog were figuring out how to build a simple stove, Su Tianqing secretly called Aurora over.
"I made a point of observing the conditions along the way during my hike today."
As Aurora ate her bread, she said...
"There are very faint magical fluctuations in this forest, so faint that they are almost imperceptible, but it is certain that someone has set up a hidden spell somewhere."
"I did some investigation. The intensity of the magic fluctuations didn't change much during the hike, but the characteristics changed slightly. This might be our breakthrough point."
"It seems Aurora is quite perceptive of magical fluctuations; I didn't notice any of that," Su Tianqing said, shaking her fox ears twice.
Nan Jiayu took a sip of her drink without saying a word, knowing exactly what was going on.
Tianqing's magic level is higher than anyone else's, but she spent the whole morning playing wildly on the trail, so she didn't pay any attention to the characteristics of magic.
But what does it mean that the magical characteristics haven't changed?
Magical girls rarely receive systematic training in magic-related knowledge. They rely entirely on the talent bestowed upon them by astral magic and their knowledge as stargazers to cast spells, and they are completely ignorant of these profound subjects.
—She was the only exception, and Su Tianqing was well aware of this.
"Wait a minute, let me go look through some books."
While stopping Aurora's narration, Su Tianqing took out her phone, switched to the Divine Stone mode, and began to browse through a series of magical knowledge she had learned from Inari.
"Advanced Magic and Astral Magic Theory," by Inari
"Hmm...I see...Oh..."
The fox girl made a sound of sudden realization, took a sip of the instant orange-flavored drink in her cup, and looked up at Aurora, who was looking at her with an expectant expression.
"There are only two situations in which magical characteristics do not change when space changes."
"The first possibility is that the magic is on you, but that's clearly not the case."
"That leaves only the second possibility—"
After a brief pause, Su Tianqing said softly:
"—We've been within the magic's range since we entered the forest, which is why we feel that its characteristics haven't changed."
Aurora blinked, and the Nanja fish curiously wagged its tail.
Although I didn't understand the technical terms they were just using, I did understand these two concise conclusions.
"So that means... Miss Kalia's magic level is actually very high, so she can set up such a large-scale barrier?" Nan Jiayu tried to express his analysis.
But Su Tianqing quickly rejected it.
"No, no, it's not what Little Fish thinks. A barrier isn't necessarily better the bigger it is!"
"A barrier can only be used to maintain one spell, and the larger the barrier is, the more it indicates that the person who created it could not miniaturize it."
"I see, I understand now."
Aurora nodded and continued,
"So, the barrier is too large, and the magic power is diluted by the environment... uh... that's why it exhibits roughly the same characteristics?"
Aurora struggled to pronounce the slightly awkward sentence in Chinese.
Although Su Tianqing really wanted to say that she could understand English, she didn't say it for Xiaoyu's sake.
"Yes, that's roughly the idea."
"...Then what about that barrier we encountered in Hong Kong?"
Nan Jiayu immediately thought of the massive barrier set up by Inari in the underground of the port city. The scale of that magic was no joke; even a villainous magical girl like herself couldn't penetrate deep inside.
"After all, she's Inari-san. She used a very complex nested structure, which is why she's so powerful, and her abilities are much stronger than this barrier in the forest."
"But then again, Miss Kalia must have hidden the treasure's location with a barrier. If we find the barrier node with the most abundant magic in the forest, we can trace back to the treasure's location!"
"We must find that node this afternoon!"