Chapter 1828: Chapter 49: The Quails

“I knew the school wouldn’t let us land that easily!”

Xin Fat Man’s voice, filled with shock and anger, echoed in my ear: “Thundercloud layer? Does the school think we’re Big Wizards needing to overcome ordeals? Why don’t they just strike us down with a Thunder Curse!”

“It’s not just as simple as a thundercloud layer,” Zhang Ji Xin’s slightly anxious voice followed: “My intuition tells me there are definitely more obstacles waiting under the clouds!”

“With so much fat on you two, are you still afraid of being struck by lightning?”

Compared to the two warlocks, Li Meng seemed particularly brave, her chatter filled with eagerness: “As for what’s below the clouds, there might be a flock of man-eating Big Birds… like that group of Shattach that burst onto the Pedestrian Street last semester! Though they looked ugly, riding them would surely be exciting!”

“Shut up.” Jiang Yu weakly scolded.

Listening to the bickering of his teammates, Zheng Qing instinctively increased the magic power supply to his flying curse—earlier, due to the thin air, the two pairs of mayfly wings behind the warlock couldn’t fully support him staying aloft, and even with a flying curse, he was still plummeting downwards at a high speed.

However, compared to being thrown out of the plane cabin, the flying curse allowed the young wizard to better control his posture and slightly slow the descent.

The vast magic power poured forth like a flood through the spell formula of the flying curse. The magic envelope originally shrouding Zheng Qing’s body, upon receiving this mighty magic power, expanded several times over, like a fire ignited with oil, causing the two pairs of mayfly wings extending from Zheng Qing’s shoulder blades to also grow significantly.

While there’s no phrase like ‘mighty flying brick’ in the Magic World, there is a similar saying—if you have enough magic power, anything can be achieved—even though the air pressure is extremely low at high altitudes, with ample magic support, Zheng Qing’s rapidly falling figure was immediately arrested.

Similarly, the other students weren’t fools. In just a moment, this expansive high-altitude space became somewhat noisy. One by one, enormous magical envelopes bloomed at the edge of Zheng Qing’s vision, and everyone stopped conserving their bit of inner magic, striving to control their descent speed.

Because of this mishap, the Absolution Hunting Team gathered sooner than expected.

“I always thought we had passed through the cloud layer.” Zheng Qing tried hard to recall the wet cold as he fell from the cabin, involuntarily shivering: “I mean, didn’t you see the surrounding cloud layer when you just fell out of the cabin? How could there still be a cloud layer below?”

He looked up.

Above was an empty expanse—no trace of clouds, not even the massive plane could be seen anymore.

“Two possibilities,” Xiao Xiao shook the tail of his envelope—he wore a swallow-like envelope, with a forked tail trailing behind, like wearing a long-tail coat that matched the black hardcover notebook in his arms—he explained concisely:

“One possibility is that the plane itself carries a magic cloud layer to aid its mid-air hovering; the other possibility is boundary-crossing clouds… meaning the cloud layer we just passed through and the one we see below are not in the same world.”

“The boundary-crossing cloud possibility is high,” Jiang Yu interrupted: “Meng Meng just said that the feeling here is different from the school… Spirit Witches are very sensitive to changes in the magical environment.”

The witch’s envelope was a massive Oriole, golden all over, with gray wings and a black tail, shimmering brilliantly in the sunlight as if wearing a gorgeous plumage garment.

“Regardless of the situation, it doesn’t matter!” Zhang Ji Xin waved impatiently, his speech quick: “Normal cumulonimbus clouds are usually between two thousand five hundred to three thousand meters high, but now we are…”

He looked around as if trying to find a point of reference.

But all he could see, besides clusters of young wizards and the endless cloud layer below, was the sky empty above and beyond, glittering with infinite light from nowhere.

The red-faced male wizard flapped his wings dejectedly.

The ‘Mayfly Wings’ he used was similar to the flying curses used by Xin and Zheng Qing, all related to mayflies—in fact, ‘Mayfly Feathers’ and ‘Mayfly Wings’ are the most widely used flying curses in the wizard world—of those visible now hovering in the sky, about half have two pairs of transparent wings behind them.

“We are now above ten thousand meters in altitude.”

Xiao Xiao did not let the silence linger in the air, manipulating the divination tokens in his notebook, replying without raising his head: “Based on magical measurement results, my current altitude is thirteen thousand five hundred and sixty-two meters… in a low-pressure, frigid, fierce wind, and oxygen-deprived environment, though magically protected, the magic power consumption rate is extremely fast and won’t last long.”

“…so we must break through the cloud layer below as soon as possible.”

Zhang Ji Xin obviously sighed with relief: “We can’t keep expending vast amounts of magic power staying in the air. Once the magic power is exhausted, we’ll fall again.”

“How much safe time is left?” Zheng Qing inquired directly.

Xiao Xiao shifted a few divination tokens, studying their position, hesitated: “For me, seven to ten minutes, beyond ten might risk the descent after passing through the cloud layer… you all should be within this range too.”

“Five minutes.”

Jiang Yu decisively gave her opinion: “Li Meng is the biggest variable, so we must leave some leeway, start descending within five minutes.”

“Who? Who’s calling me?”

A chubby quail flapped its small wings vigorously, shooting out from beneath the wizards like an out-of-control projectile, bumping left and right, exclaiming excitedly: “Cousin, cousin, did you see? There’s a Spotted Dove over there! Is there such a flying curse? I want to turn into a Spotted Dove too!”

Jiang Yu glanced at her, suddenly sighed.

Zheng Qing comfortingly patted her shoulder.

The witch’s earlobes visibly turned a shade of pink. The boy immediately realized his brashness and quickly withdrew his hand amidst the fat man’s intense coughing.

“Three minutes.”

The young cost student raised his finger, pretending the gesture was intentional, looked around blankly, and said dryly: “Considering Li Meng’s current condition, it’s highly likely she won’t last five minutes.”

On this point, the other four companions had no objections, nodding collectively to express agreement.

“You’re the one who won’t last five minutes!”

The chubby quail flapped her small wings, almost poking Zheng Qing’s nose, her face full of anger: “How could I be worse than those two idiots!”

Her short tail leaned to the side, pointing at Fat Man and Zhang Ji Xin.

The two warlocks pretended not to see the little witch’s provocation, craning their necks and whispering to each other like two actual quails, seemingly discussing some serious matter.