Chapter 127: Air-Dropping a Freya!

As Olivia continued her relentless teasing, Leo found himself pushed to his limit. It is said that a man pursuing a woman must overcome a mountain, while a woman pursuing a man needs only to pierce a layer of gauze. Olivia had shed even that layer of gauze, and Leo could no longer hold back.

Just as Leo, breathing heavily, lunged to pin Olivia down and prepare to strike, he suddenly froze in place. Deep within his mind, a distant, faint call from Freya echoed: "Leo, give, give~ Leo, give, give~"

Olivia, breathless with anticipation, watched as Leo stopped his movements, descending into a state of incoherent rambling.

"What? You’re coming to Riverbend?"
"Master Boback is sending you over?"
"Master Boback has returned as well?"
"What? You’re here already?"

Olivia finally understood and asked happily, "Is Freya coming to Riverbend?"

"Yes!" Leo replied joyfully. He pecked Olivia on the cheek and rushed out the door, throwing on his clothes.

Olivia hurriedly dressed as well. No sooner had she reached the entrance of the lord’s manor than she heard a piercing eagle cry. A loud, majestic shriek echoed throughout Riverbend, and above the sea of trees in the Wolf-Driving Plain to the north, a massive shadow swooped down toward the Riverbend encampment.

It was a golden eagle of immense size, like a dragon, nearly blotting out the sun. Every resident of Riverbend looked up, stunned and rooted to the spot by the sheer presence of the giant bird.

In its talons, the eagle clutched a writhing prey. It looked like a chrysalis, but more closely resembled a brown bear. As the eagle dove to a height of one hundred meters, it suddenly dropped its captive. With a single beat of its wings, the giant bird halted its rapid descent. The prey it had carried let out a long, piercing wail, its body plunging like a cannonball into the River Anzelo bend between the three camps.

Amidst a massive splash, the giant eagle circled the Riverbend peninsula once. With another powerful flap, it shot into the high sky like lightning, vanishing into a mere speck in the twilight within seconds.

Leo guessed this was Master Boback’s giant eagle form, but he hadn't expected them to arrive so quickly. He hurriedly shouted in his mind, "Master Boback! Come down and stay a while!" He had hoped that Master Boback’s visit to Riverbend might provide some guidance for the village or help treat the severely wounded soldiers. In this world, the master was the only one he felt safe "fleecing" for favors.

Master Boback’s gentle voice drifted back, "Apologies, I am quite busy."

***

Several people rushed to the riverbank and hauled the struggling Freya ashore. As they stood around the dripping bear, they exchanged bewildered glances. Leo asked first, "Freya, why have you become so small?"

The Freya before them was less than two and a half meters long. When she crouched, she was no taller than Leo—the size of an average adult brown bear. This was at least half the size she had been during her last visit to Riverbend.

Freya shook herself frantically and stated with righteous indignation, "Teacher starved me until I became like this!"

Olivia, being the most empathetic, embraced Freya and offered soft, soothing words of comfort, while casting a fierce glare at Leo.

"???" Leo thought, "What does that have to do with me?"

Nevertheless, acting as an emotionless telephone relay, he dutifully passed on Olivia’s resentment to Master Boback.

"A large size is meant for intimidating enemies and resisting damage," Master Boback explained patiently. "Shrinking is for convenience in hunting and gathering food. Freya has reached the age where she must learn to be self-reliant."

Leo felt the unfairness of it all for Freya. "But she’s only an eighty-year-old child!"

"She is a princess of the Elven Royal Family—the Silver Moon Tribe, the largest elven clan in Thrassir. Before reaching adulthood, she must master all survival skills to become a qualified druid. Eighty is no longer young. It was my excessive pampering that led to the stagnation of her intellectual development. From now on, she must broaden her experience."

In Boback’s inner thoughts, there was a clear sense of concern for a developmentally challenged child. Leo rolled his eyes; considering how casually the master had airdropped Freya, the word "pampering" seemed rather inaccurate.

Of course, the one happiest about Freya’s arrival was the little mouse. The two creatures stood together, shaking their tails frantically to convey their joy. Leo slapped them both. "Why are you acting like dogs? You are mice, pull yourselves together."

The little mouse replied, "Woof, woof, woof!"
Freya added, "I’m not a mouse, I’m a bear!"

She began to wave her claws like a brown bear, roaring, "Moo, moo, moo!"

Before long, Freya was already carrying the little mouse on her back, running circles around the Riverbend camp, surrounded by a group of little kobolds. Every time she completed a lap, she would stop outside the communal kitchen to peek and see if dinner was ready. The little kobolds were also delighted; they remembered their former roommate. Although she wasn't as close as the little mouse, she was very familiar, and they were no longer afraid.

Moreover, with Freya’s reduced size, the little kobolds and human children were much bolder. Before, they had to be extremely careful when playing with her, lest they be accidentally sat on by an oblivious Freya.

***

Now it was much better; they could hug her and roll around without getting hurt. The only one unhappy was Olivia. When night fell, Freya and the little mouse both scrambled onto Leo’s bed, refusing to budge.

It was a world where only Olivia suffered.

The two creatures wrestled on the bed, nearly crushing Leo’s wooden frame. Fortunately, Riverbend lacked the capability for precision woodcraft early on, so even the bed slats were three inches thick of oak; otherwise, they truly couldn't have withstood Freya’s antics.

While Master Boback hadn't yet traveled beyond the range of their soul link, Leo hurriedly sought advice on his own problems.

"Master Boback, have I awakened?"

"Yes," Boback’s answer put Leo at ease. "Beyond the atrium, you triggered the sword intent of an ancient beast-kin Sword Saint. Although I blocked that intent, the dissipated spiritual energy allowed you to break your shackles and awaken your mana."

"Ah! No wonder I’ve been feeling a warmth in my dantian lately!"

"My apologies, transcendent awakening is a concept of the spiritual realm. What you call a warm dantian is likely just a need to urinate, or perhaps the restlessness of youth. It will pass once you marry Olivia."

"Oh..."

As he conversed with Master Boback, Leo gradually gained an understanding of what was meant by mana. In this world, mana was like air—omnipresent. Everything was in contact with mana; the only difference was between active and passive absorption.

Humans, other races, beasts, and even plants that had not yet awakened were constantly absorbing mana passively to strengthen themselves. This was why some ordinary people could become formidable warriors despite not being "awakened." Many beasts and non-human individuals were much stronger than their peers despite never having awakened, simply because their innate potential was higher, allowing them to contain more mana before awakening.

Transcendents who had awakened could hold far more mana than the average person and began to actively absorb it to apply it to combat. Whether physical or magical, both paths absorbed mana through meditation.

The difference was that magical professions increased their spiritual power through mana absorption and used spells, incantations, materials, and mediums to manipulate external elements for combat. Physical professions, on the other hand, increased their physical strength and attributes through mana absorption, though many could also unleash mana violently to form battle skills.