Cheese felt like he was in terrible shape, and the buzzing in his head hadn't stopped. The whispers, the curse-like words, were still vibrating against his eardrums, and he couldn't remember the first time he had to stop his mount at his crotch and try to keep his balance from falling off his horse. It's so bad, he thought. The cold wind blowing from behind ruffled the mage's black hair, and the cold feeling somewhat made him find himself, and Cheese looked around a little dazedly, hoping to determine his position.

The sound of running water from a distance told the mage that he had not deviated from his direction, and that he had only to follow the sound to the Dragon's Blood Stream, and then down the water, and he would reach his destination, Vale City. "Let's hope it's all in time. Cheese didn't know if he was convincing himself or praying, but it didn't matter which one he had, the mage got off his horse, and he was afraid that he would be asking for trouble if he continued to ride in this state. The Frost Guardians don't keep horses, and they don't need the animals that roam the plains in the Dragon's Back Mountains, so the horses led by Cheese are just as uneasy about the trip as their riders.

"Purr!" the long-haired horse snorted, apparently resistant to stray from the main path and through the bushes. The animal's instinct tells it that it is not safe to do so, and that the terrain in the forest is not suitable for running on its own. Cheese pulled twice, realizing that he couldn't control his mount with his strength, and now he somewhat regretted his decision to go alone. However, this is also a helpless thing, the Frost Guardians are not well manned, although they have won in several nezumi attacks with sufficient previous preparations, but the casualties still exist. In addition, the mage didn't want to explain to an uninformed person what was happening to the lion, so he just asked for some basic supplies and a horse, and went south alone.

"Well, you brought it on yourself. "Magical lights began to appear in the mage's eyes, and it was not difficult to use magic to bend the minds of creatures, especially horses that were not cognitively capable of their own abilities. But in his previous experience, Cheese tried to avoid it, and he didn't like it. The exhausted mage, tormented by a headache, had no energy to appease the mount, and he used his empty left hand to complete the gesture needed to cast the spell, and then stared into the horse's eyes.

The effect of the magic soon became apparent, and the horse, which had been a little irritable just a moment ago, slowly quieted down, and its willingness to resist was noticeably weakened. But just as the spell was about to be completed, the headache that had weakened just now invaded Cheese's mind again, causing the magic he had prepared to escape in an instant, and the energy that escaped from his eyes turned into a large blue thumb meteor shower, scattering and crashing into the ground around him, leaving small holes in the crackling sound.

"Puff!" startled the mage's mount by this unexpected turn of events, and the horseman rose to his feet, shaking off the reins of Cheese's right hand, its wildly waving front hooves forcing the mage to step back to dodge. And after the horse landed on all fours, it very decisively abandoned its new owner and ran in the direction of Longji Mountain.

"Stop!" cried out in vain, trying to stop his mount, which was carrying all the supplies, but he didn't take two steps further before the growing pain forced him to his knees, unable to catch up. The sound of horses' hooves quickly disappeared, and it would take a lot of time to chase the fleeing horses back. And only if cheese can get rid of the headache. "Damn!" the mage cursed, slamming the ground hard, and he found nothing but pain in his hand that relieved his brain.

In desperation, Cheese had to stagger through the woods by himself, but fortunately it had been ransacked by the nezumi, and the large beasts of the forest had long been devoured, and there was nothing to cause trouble for the mage. Otherwise, I am afraid that it only takes a wild wolf to kill the cheese in this state. Speaking of which, this headache is also a no-brainer, the broker did give the mage something on the ice field before, and his methods are quite clever, and it will not cause any discomfort to the cheese. However, there is another legacy of a high-ranking existence in Cheese's mind, and the mage's mind has now been reduced to a battlefield of the power of the Wet Soul and the Broker, although these two forces are not strong, but their existence form is too ingenious for Cheese to channel.

However, this is not without benefits, the two energies fight and consume each other, but the knowledge contained in them completely falls into the hands of the mage, this pure knowledge does not contain any risks, and it is like instinct that is deeply seared into Cheese's brain. By the time the mage, kneeling by the Dragon's Blood Stream, had submerged his entire head in the water in the hope that the pain would subside with some stimulation, he had already mastered quite a bit of knowledge that he had not been exposed to before. The most important of these, and the knowledge that the mage hurried back to Vale City, was the solution to the rat-man plague.

It was a solution, but it was actually an exhaustive document of the primordial plague, and Cheese couldn't tell which side had stripped it from, and perhaps even the mage had been given it to both the Wet Soul and the Broker. At the same time, he also noticed that the method of arranging these materials was very familiar, and that it was the form used inside the Gray Tower, which came from the personal habits of Clark, the lord of the Gray Tower. Cheese couldn't be sure if it was a coincidence, if they had deliberately made the information look like this, or if it was from inside the Grey Tower. When he thought of the last possibility, he thought it was ridiculous, so he immediately put it away.

The sound of "grunt, grunt" bubbles and streams of water filled the mage's entire sensory world, and in this environment, he found a long-lost calm. If he could, Cheese even wanted to be in this environment for a long time, but the requirement of breathing as a human made him give up on this plan.

"Poof!" the mage who pulled his head out of the water breathed heavily, the feeling of being alive was so real. He looked at the river in front of him, its clear color, it had been some time since he had gone to pour medicine, and even the blood of the dragon would be diluted by the flowing water. Thinking of this, Cheese couldn't help but regret his decision to give the dragon flute to Elsa, if he could summon Migo now, he wouldn't have to be embarrassed by a frightened horse.

However, the thought only existed for a moment, and he was more worried about his friends than his own safety. Especially when Odor was defeated, he didn't confess to Cheese what had happened outside Vale. Did the demon kill them? Didn't Elsa summon Migo to protect her companions? Or did the dragon have descended, and he was obscured by the smoke over Vale City and didn't see the red form? Too many questions and speculations plunged into the mage's heart like a knife, making him paranoid and unable to stop to rest.

"Go back quickly, quickly. Cheese muttered as he stared at the reflection in the water. But what if you lose your horse, how fast you are? A more feasible way is to cast a transfiguration spell like a crow, turning yourself into a bird, so that you can move quickly. But the mage had never used Transfiguration before, and he knew how to cast it, but he couldn't estimate the effect it had on him. Coupled with the fact that the previous failure to pacify the mount was still vivid, Cheese really didn't want to take any chances.

But the pale faces of their companions appeared in the water as if they were real, and their empty eyes stared at the mage, as if to question why he had abandoned them. Cheese quickly shook his head, how could there be a reflection of his companions in the water, they must be alive and well now, they must live well, otherwise he can't forgive himself.

Wait, the reflection ... Cheese realized something from the chaos of his thoughts, and he once again focused his gaze on the water. yes, why did I turn into a bird? Isn't this river also leading to Valley City, so can I... What about swimming?