Pivot of the Sky Chapter 21.1

Chapter 21 – Behind the Mountains Are Higher Mountains (part 1)

Amon had been travelling through the jungle and the mountains for three days. Every night, he practiced the air magic according to Crazy’Ole’s instructions. With the experience gained from learning water magic and the staff, Amon quickly learned the primary air magic. After he had understood the methods and had succeeding in casting it, he no longer used the staff and tried to practice alone.

Schrodinger never walked by itself. When Amon travelled, it slept in his bag. When Amon had dinner at sunset, it ate with Amon, but Amon had to prepare food separately for it. Amon learned the cat’s habits quickly as well. He made food for it first, and filled himself with other food later. Schrodinger seemed to be happy with it.

The air became humid when they went deeper into the mountains. Although the change happened very slowly, as a newly minted water and air magic practitioner, Amon could still sense it.

To the north and east of Duc stood the Syah Plateau and the high mountains. The warm oceanic air from the west met no obstacles until it passed Duc and rose over the lofty mountains. As the air rose, it cooled and condensed into plentiful precipitation, breeding the thick flora as well as birthing the Euphrate River.

The mountainous landform wasn’t suitable for living, and neither were the Charcoal Forest or the desert. Duc occupied the transition area, at the edge of the mountains and deserts. The streams from northeast highlands only assured a supply of water, not fertile soil.

Amon climbed his way to the east and entered the rainy area. He had not seen much rain in Duc in the past, but in the jungle he experienced several rainstorms in three days. Sometime the raindrops dampened his clothes like fog, sometimes the rain was so heavy that he could hardly find his way and the trail became extremely slippery.

Travelling in the mountains on rainy days was dangerous. Mud covered the trails, and the traveller could easily slide into deep cliffs. Common practice dictated that Amon should take cover and wait out the rain before moving forward, but he found that it never stopped for long. So he decided to travel despite the intermittent rain and moisture. On the other hand, Schrodinger sneezed whenever it rained. Amon assumed that it wasn’t catching a cold but was simply expressing a bad mood.

Amon did not want to put his life at risk. He found his own way to avoid danger. When he noticed a light drizzle coming, he would use the staff to spin away the raindrops. If the rain was heavy, he split the rain curtain by deflecting the rain around him. As such, he managed to keep himself dry and clean. As an added bonus, it also allowed him to see the ground ahead. Other mages might spit blood if they saw Amon use magic as a raincoat while travelling.

Real mages should never travel in the rain! Even if they had to, they travelled in comfortable carriages. When carriages were not available, there were still waterproof cloak and boots, and strong slaves holding big umbrellas. Magic power, like muscle strength, was exhaustible. Mages needed to take rest and meditate to regain magic power. Besides, mental exhaustion was much more unpleasant than physical. Esteemed mages wouldn’t torture themselves like this unless it was absolutely necessary.

Of course, there was also the matter of Amon’s staff. If those noble mages found out what kind of staff it was, they would immediately pass out from spitting too much blood. Amon could not have travelled through the mountains and used magic power so easily without its help. At first, he did regard it as a crutch in practice, but quickly saw it as a practical need because of the bad weather, since Crazy’Ole had told him not to practice with the special parangons.

However, the water and wind came to him every now and then. It was the power of nature that obeyed nobody’s will. Walking along the path, Amon happened to recall Crazy’Ole’s last words, “When you practice the two kinds of magic, the first thing you should care about is not how powerful your magic can be, but how to use them to fight against the power of nature and protect yourself. Don’t say that you can control a drop of water, until you learn to maintain it in a surging river.”

Amon felt that he found a new way to practice magic: not summoning the rain or wind, but learning to cope with the natural power of rain and wind. He tried to cooperate with them, using his magic to get through them without getting wet. He could only practice this way because of the powerful staff.

So Amon travelled three days and three nights in the rainy mountains holding a fine iron staff and carrying a lazy cat, casting magic to protect himself from the intermittent storms. It was a great challenge to his strength, stamina and magic power, a training that was more intense than that of any army on this continent.

Although he tried his best to keep himself dry and clean, he often had to climb the muddy slippy hills or chop his way through bramble and thistle, which demanded excellent explosive strength, endurance, dexterity and coordination. Thus, Amon forged his body through a very different kind of body art practice, one that was different than combat training, although he did have encountered some beasts. Even then, Amon found that it was not him that should be worried. A quick wave of the staff sending out some minor magics, and the beasts would all flee in fear.

Amon did not chase them, nor did he do any hunting. He remembered Crazy’Ole’s words and kept moving eastwards. Three days later, he came to a hilltop. Gazing at the landscape around him, he felt perplexed. According to Crazy’Ole, he should climb up the highest mountain he could find, but there were apparently two towering mountains. One was on his left, the other on his right. He saw them yesterday, and he reckoned that even if he travelled eastwards for two more days, the highest mountains he could find would still be these two.

The problem was, Amon couldn’t tell which of the two was higher. He was at the their feet and all he could see were clouds hiding the peaks. The one on the left was steeper, full of grotesque rocks and cliffs. It was very hard to climb. The one on the right was grand and less steep, with various slopes and ridges.

Which mountain should he climb? Amon was still hesitating while Schrodinger suddenly jumped out of his bag and ran to the right. This fatty wanted to go by itself! Amon hurried to chase it, almost slipping over the muddy, mossy slopes. He cried out, “Schrodinger! Where are you going?”

Chapter end