[Eon's POV: ]
The feeling of being in the presence of a high ranking spirit was nothing new to any of them anymore.
'We had played with many of the spirits during the familiar summoning event and there were many students who already owned high ranking spirits even among us.'
But being able to maintain high ranking sprints in the physical world for a long time was not something possible for the young students with a limited mana pool.
That's why no one had ever thought about having a spirit to ride on just yet... it was certainly a simple and possible thing but being able to materialise the spirits of high ranks and riding them was not something easy.
That's why I didn't suggest any of them to even try something so foolish.
'But the spirit that we were riding on, this special high ranking fire spirit that freely flew in the sky along with so many of us as if our weight had nothing to it, this special cheerful fire spirit was a special one.'
I didn't own it, and I also didn't have any contract with it.
It was simply one of the many guardian spirits that was affiliated with our house, something the owner house captain of the specific guardian flute could borrow for help.
{ "We have reached the landing spot. Be careful as you go down everyone!" }
The sensation of flying though the sky of this floating island wasn't new to us anymore since we had been trying something similar ever since we met the rainbow flamingos in the past.
We had experienced a lot of things since we came to this island and joined the academy, so, not many things were that surprising and exciting to the two of us anymore.
But still... what we were doing right now certainly was going to be more fun than just spending our time in a simple flower field.
"Oyyyyyy! What do you mean we are going to land?! There's nothing down there!"
"Where were we supposed to go, you fucking bastard?! Are you just playing with us?!"
Tia and Cradle both were shouting at me for not being clear or precise with my instructions, but it was fun seeing them like that.
"We're going down, simple as that."
We were currently in the border area of the sky island, at the mountain area covered in lush greenery.
There was nothing below us except for the green tall trees, not even a clear area to land on.
"Let's go, friend."
-Skiiiiiiiiiiiiiii~.
They just had to follow me as they had until now. There was nothing more to this.
The spirit guardian did what I wanted them to do through the new connection we had built up in the past few days, so it simply did as I said and dived directly towards the green forest.
[{ "You jerk." }]
And they all had no choice but to somehow follow behind me without getting lost in the thick lush green canopy.
-Sherrrrrrr...
"Quin, Chry, look after the ones behind you."
They did great until now by sitting well on this spirit body without falling down so, I knew they would do well as we dived down as well.
-Shrrrrrrr...!
-SHURRRRR...!
We passed through the canopy of trees, passed through the big leaves, and somehow, with the help of the guardian spirit and some magic from me, we found ourselves on the ground... though, the others weren't as good as a few of us.
They all gathered around us, and as I knew, the first thing Tia did was to glare daggers of questions at me.
But I had answers that she desired.
"I know, and I know unlike this dummy, some of you alredy know this is not the final destination.
So, please listen to me carefully."
We were on a mountain and this was not the only mountain in this place.
There were a number of them all lined up one after the other one and they continued like that until all nine mountains covered a sixth of the edge of the island.
There were a few things that were vary famous about these things, there were a few things that were dangerous in here and there were a few things in this place that were unbelievable that they didn't even try to find any truth behind them.
This particular mountain that we were on, also had one of those mind blowing elements somewhere hidden from the rest of the world.
"The final destination is the lake located in the center of this forest."
There were various things in this mountain that could have been attractive for this outing, but since we were primarily going for the flower gardens or the cool phenomenon that had appeared in the plains of the outskirts of this place, there were various things here that could have made them all happy.
But then again, there was a secret lake hidden somewhere on this mountains.
And to reach this place, we had to go through a few certain places that were like some points needed to be paired with others to open up the hidden path.
"There's a lake here?"
"Since when do these mountains have a lake?!"
"Wait, why didn't we see a lake when we were flying here?"
They should have seen something as big as a lake, or something that could at least be considered a lake when flying to the top of this mountain. So this was confusing to them.
"There's a lake here. I'm sure there is, and from how much I know, not many people had been there.
It's a secret place, open only to those who solve a certain puzzle of these mountains and catch the eye of the guardian of these nine mountains.
The headmaster had been here once, and after him, only a few students of the academy had ever made it to that place... the last one of them being the famous Witch-Wizard couple of the northern continent."
A hidden lake.
Just the concept of this place reminded me of the very first lake I had seen in my lifetime. The very place where I met those special creatures and the first great tree of my life.
"I don't know much about this place..."
These words came as a shock to them all, including Rein who I hadn't told much about this entire trip.
"But I know we are going to have some good fun together."
They will like it.
I know it for sure.
So...
"Let's get moving."
There wasn't much to talk about. This was an adventure that we were supposed to enjoy.
'It was a good distraction as well.'
So I knew as long as I'm doing this, with them... I could keep myself away from everything else happening in this world.
This was a break time for me. So, I wanted to enjoy it as best I was capable of.