Jeanne, humming the song while seated on the back of the Wyvern, began to observe her surroundings. She looked around for a long while, but the environment seemed unchanged; the sky and earth remained as they always were, with whistling winds and falling snowflakes.
Yet, Jeanne felt that something had shifted. It wasn't particularly obvious—more like a change in something the naked eye couldn't perceive.
"What exactly changed? Could it be the wind speed?"
Jeanne did feel that the wind was slightly different than before, but wasn't this change a bit too minor? Was it merely a slight influence on the aerial currents?
She felt skeptical. She couldn't believe that something so highly valued by those ancients was meant only to slightly weaken a storm; such a thing wouldn't be enough to protect a city from the Catastrophes.
Jeanne sat there, gazing into the sky. Suddenly, as if struck by a thought, her eyes widened and she remained motionless, lost in contemplation.
Following that, Jeanne softly hummed the melody once more. This time, the drifting snowflakes began to thin out and decrease. Eventually, not only did the snow vanish, but even the layer of clouds disappeared entirely!
Jeanne knew exactly what she had been thinking: she wanted the snow to dissipate and the sun to come out. And her thoughts, through that song, had actually manifested as a physical change in the sky!
What kind of principle was this? Using sound to change the world? Could a vanished civilization truly reach such heights before its collapse?
For a continent plagued by Catastrophes, such technology was essentially the ultimate protection mechanism! When facing a Catastrophe, one would only need to play a song to disperse the disaster.
But why had such technology been lost to time? Had some accident occurred, causing this vital knowledge to be erased from history?
Jeanne found it hard to understand. Logically, shouldn't this be the most important technology of all? If nomadic cities could be unearthed by those who came after, how could something this crucial simply vanish?
Jeanne pondered this for a long time while looking at the sky, before finally flying back toward the village with her Wyvern. As for this discovery, she decided to study it further on her own before sharing it with the others.
Long after Jeanne had departed, the cloud cover returned to the sky. Snow began to fall in scattered patches, seemingly no different than before.
However, if one observed closely, they would notice something was wrong. The clouds in this area were behaving unnaturally, as if they were accumulating something massive high above.
Jeanne, having already left, remained unaware of this.
The clouds continued to build for several days, creating a heavy atmosphere as if the very sky were about to collapse. Travelers passing through the area quickened their pace, desperate to leave as fast as possible.
This state of tension lasted for three days. Finally, on this day, a massive blizzard broke out—one so severe it was considered rare even for this frozen tundra.
"Who the [Ursus Profanity] did I offend? I run into this just trying to get back to the village! Why don't you just make it bigger? Why not just manifest a whole mountain of snow while you're at it?"
Coincidentally, Talulah was leading a group of villagers through this area today to return to the newly built village. The entire journey had been clear and cloudless, only for this to happen right at their doorstep!
To see your home right before your eyes, only to be blocked by such nonsensical weather—who could possibly emphasize with that frustration?
A disgruntled Talulah paced around the area for a long time. Finally, unable to contain her anger, she pointed at the sky and began to vent.
Going back to find another route? What a joke. With this many people, taking a detour would add at least several days to the trip. Whether the people had the patience for that was one thing, but their physical stamina certainly wouldn't support it. Many might collapse along the way if they had to travel that much further.
"Peace of mind, peace of mind! It's already happened, so why not just wait a little bit?"
Jeanne sat by a fire nearby, boiling noodles in a pot. She looked at the black sky and the terrifying blizzard with a peaceful expression.
It was indeed suspicious. How could the snow be this "precise"? It had fallen exactly on their mandatory path without a single flake out of place, perfectly blocking their way home.
If it didn't stop soon, it looked like they would have to break out the tents and set up camp for the night to see when the snow would let up.
Jeanne scooped out a bowl of noodles and handed it to the fuming Talulah. Seeing the other woman so angry that her tail looked like it was about to stand on end, Jeanne smiled as she passed the bowl.
"Cool off. Even if you're furious, what can you do to the sky? You still have to wait. Careful now—staying angry leads to wrinkles on your face and losing scales on your tail!"
Jeanne was used to weird things happening in this place, so a blizzard was nothing extraordinary. At most, it was just bad luck, right?
Still, it was strange. Even if odd occurrences were common, a blizzard of this scale was peculiar. It was almost on the level of a Catastrophe! Yet, the Catastrophe observers in the team hadn't noticed any warning signs. Had the local climate begun to mutate?
"It's easy for you to stay calm; you've been flying back to the village to sleep every night. Have some pity on me—I haven't slept well in a single night because of that crappy tent."
Talulah took the noodles from Jeanne and shoved them into her mouth without worrying about the heat. Her expression remained unchanged, as if the freshly cooked noodles were cold.
This woman had maximum resistance to heat. No matter how hot the food was, it felt cool to her! Truly a benefit of having the blood of a dragon. But on second thought, it made sense. She could breathe fire without burning her mouth, so what was a little thermal energy from noodles?
"My anger isn't just about the sleeping arrangements. The main point is that this situation is extremely suspicious. Even Patriot said it's as if someone influenced a Catastrophe. Who could possibly have that kind of power?"
Talulah pondered the mystery. She couldn't understand who could be behind it. If someone had the ability to influence a Catastrophe, why use it just to block a road? Had she offended someone?
"Who knows... right?"
Jeanne replied, then looked up at the clouds in that specific part of the sky. She began to mutter inwardly:
Wait, isn't this the exact spot where I experimented with that song a few days ago? I didn't recognize it at first because I was flying so high. Wait... the person who caused this scene... couldn't be me, could it?
Jeanne suddenly had an epiphany. Could it be that because she had forcibly dispersed the wind and snow earlier, she had disrupted the local environment, resulting in this delayed reaction?
No, I absolutely cannot let her know about this! Otherwise, this hot-headed woman will probably chew me up and swallow me for dinner tonight.
With that thought, Jeanne fell silent and continued eating her noodles with intense focus.
"Are you that hungry? I've never seen you eat with such dedication before."
Talulah looked at the uncharacteristically quiet Jeanne with curiosity. What was wrong with her today? She had never noticed Jeanne having such a deep passion for noodles. Why did she seem so strange? Talulah eyed her suspiciously; her intuition told her that Jeanne was hiding something, but she couldn't guess what it was.
"You're overthinking it. I'm just lamenting the fact that we might not get back tonight. I'll have to help you pull guard duty in the middle of the night."
Jeanne rolled her eyes at Talulah and then looked up at the howling blizzard. Can this thing please stop? Forget everything else, just let this single-threaded woman shift her attention away, okay?
Whether it was Jeanne's thoughts influencing the sky again or simply that her previous interference hadn't been long enough to cause a permanent shift, the blizzard began to weaken. Soon, it returned to a normal scale. Aside from the snow on the ground, one could no longer tell that a Catastrophe-level event had just occurred.
"Eh? Look, the snow stopped! Let's finish eating and head out immediately. We should be able to get settled before dark!"
Jeanne pointed at the horizon and spoke to Talulah. Seeing the path clear, Talulah forgot all about Jeanne's strange behavior and quickly finished her meal to begin mobilizing the others.