Before seeing the so-called Lake Beia that Marina mentioned, Hilia thought the lake in the Forbidden Forest of the school was the smallest in the world—its maximum diameter was less than five hundred meters.
This Lake Beia, rather than calling it a lake, is more like a small pond formed by streams converging from all directions. Its diameter is only around thirty or forty meters. It lies surrounded by mountains, with streams flowing down the mountains to gather here, and then forming a river that winds down, flowing towards Beia Village.
The fantasy of a super-large lake was shattered by reality.
Then again, if it really were such a big lake, how could there only be one small village nearby?
"The source of the mutation is right here." Marina pointed at the small pond. "This tiny lake is Beia Village's water source. If we don't resolve the mutation, Beia Village could be in danger."
"Why not just move away?" Hilia asked.
"If it really can't be resolved, maybe we will have to move. But right now, no one in the village wants to leave, and even if we did, we wouldn't know where to go. This river is the only water source nearby."
If the source of the mutation wasn't dealt with, it wouldn't matter where they moved—as long as they still depended on this river to survive, it would be no different from not moving at all.
Hilia didn't ask why they couldn't move to somewhere like Xue Shan Town.
If it were that easy, surely they would've moved long ago.
She, intentionally or not, glanced at the Magic Puppet.
Rose was currently operating the Magic Puppet, conducting an investigation around the small lake.
Marina, unaware of the secret within the Magic Puppet, thought Hilia had begun her investigation upon seeing its actions, so she fell silent, intending to wait until it was finished before speaking again.
A moment later, Rose completed an investigation and walked over to Hilia's side.
"So, did you discover anything unusual?" Marina hurriedly asked.
"This is a node of the Sea Successor White Whale Summoning Array. It's currently at the third stage," Rose said to Hilia in her mind.
"This might be caused by sect activity," Hilia said aloud.
"Sect?" Marina frowned. "There's nothing here—why would a sect target this place? Is there some treasure in this lake?"
"No, there's no treasure here. Miss Marina, tell us how you first discovered the abnormality and what exactly the abnormality is."
"The abnormality dates back to a month ago. Uncle Jack from the village, together with his friend, came to Lake Beia to fish. It all started when they caught a white fish they had never seen before."
Marina looked at Lake Beia. "The fish in this lake are not abundant, there are only a few small types. But back then, that white fish, which looked like a whale, attracted the whole village's attention. However, I sensed a strange Magic Power fluctuation from it, so I didn't let anyone eat it—we killed it and buried it on the hill behind the village instead."
"The right choice," Rose affirmed. "Sea Successor White Whale meat is delicious and nutritious, and offers a great boost to mages. But any fish affected by the Summoning Array contains only Abyssal Magic Power—also known as 'pollution'—and nothing but the usual nutrition besides that. Eating these polluted fish will only cause the pollution to accumulate within you."
Hilia selectively relayed Rose's words to Marina. Marina, shocked, patted her chest. "Thank goodness—you almost let Beia Village become a sect's base."
"And after that?" Hilia asked.
"After that, we fished up quite a few white fish from Lake Beia and the upstream and downstream rivers too. Then half a month ago, Emma's youngest son went missing while fishing. When we found him, his body had been horribly gnawed on…
"I'm normally busy with classes and didn't have time to deal with this. I just told everyone not to eat that fish. It wasn't until that happened that I realized things weren't so simple.
"But after investigating the entire water source, I still couldn't find the true origin of the anomaly. All I learned was that the white fish in the river already had enough power to fight me. With no choice left, I put out a request at the Mercenary Guild, but…"
Marina sighed. "Those who took the commission all had high demands—some even tried to get village girls to be their attendants—but none of them could actually handle the anomaly. A week ago, I discovered that there were possibly Tier Two white fish in Lake Beia…"
A simple enough story: villagers discover white fish, nearly become sect members from eating them, only for Marina to stop them. But unable to locate the source, the mutation gets constantly more dangerous until now, when Hilia arrives.
"So how do you break the Summoning Array, Lord God?" Hilia asked Rose in her mind.
This kind of large-scale Summoning Array was beyond what a Little Mage who'd only recently become a mage could handle.
Her classes on Magic Arrays at school had only taught her some basic Tier One arrays. Every node in such a major Summoning Array seemed more complex than what she'd learned.
So either ask Rose for help, or go back and ask the school for help…
Ask for help?
Hilia suddenly thought of something: "Don't you think this is related to the sect? If it is, you could totally ask the Holy Court for help—there's a Divine Hall in Xue Shan Town."
Marina was momentarily stunned, and then nodded. "I suspected it might be related to the sect too, but…"
"But what?"
Marina answered helplessly, "If the Holy Court could send anyone, why would I bother putting out a request with the Mercenary Guild?"
She added angrily, "The Holy Court are all a bunch of hypocrites. The priest at the Divine Hall in Xue Shan Town said I have no piety towards the Gods and insisted there's no sect in Xue Shan Town. He even warned me that if I made rumors again, he'd make me atone."
Hilia was furious. "Are you sure? The priest in Xue Shan Town really said that?"
Marina nodded. "The priest told me to go put out a commission at the Mercenary Guild. The Divine Hall is busy, and unless I was there to buy an Absolution Certificate, not to bother him."
She snorted. "With that attitude, no wonder the Holy Court ended up carved into four Empires."
Hilia fell silent.
Rose smiled. "As the saying goes, seeing is believing, hearing is deceiving. This Summoning Array node just reached the third stage—there's still a week to go before the fourth stage."
"Got it." The girl took a deep breath and said with solemnity, "Miss Marina, I'll help you solve this matter."
Marina had a strange feeling that what Hilia called "this matter" seemed to mean more than just the Lake Beia mutation.
"No rush, let's go. It's getting late. Miss Hilia, the village chief surely has a lavish dinner waiting for us. Let's deal with supper first, then think of a solution." Marina smiled.
Rose did not tell her how to resolve the Summoning Array, but Hilia didn't say anything. She felt that even without Rose, she could find a way to solve the mutation herself.
Can't solve the problem alone? Then call for reinforcements!