73 Exploring the Fertile Plains

Lightning enjoyed the feeling of the breeze in her face as she flew through the air. Flying was often quite relaxing and it was something she enjoyed doing. It gave her the freedom to go wherever she wanted and not be bound by the land.

Today though, she was on a mission. As the leader of the Neverwinter Exploration Team, she was the foremost expert on exploring new places. It had always been her dream to follow in her father's footsteps and become a world renowned explorer. She wanted to be able to map out the entire world.

That is why when Roland assigned her to explore the Fertile Plains, she was ecstatic. There was so much land out there. Most of the landscape was completely unknown to the humans that lived on the other side of the mountain range. It was her job to explore the unexplored and reveal what is hidden. Her father had been the greatest explorer of the seas. It was her job to explore the land. The vast continent was now becoming open to humanity and she would be the first human to set eyes on the interior of the land in 400 years.

Roland chose Lightning for the task because her ability was especially useful. While it was indeed true that a plane could also do scouting, planes needed fuel and maintenance. Furthermore, Lightning's top speed was faster than an airplane. She could even move supersonically after her ability evolved. So, she was much better at evading any demon patrols. Since the exploration wasn't particularly time sensitive, having multiple groups exploring was not needed so sending out just Lightning was enough.

Lighting was proud for being chosen and vowed to not disappoint the king. She would try her best to explore the Fertile Plains and bring back accurate charts of the land. She carried paper and writing tools with her in her bag so that she could properly document the geography and topological features of the land.

Lightning would be quite high in the sky, so of course she needed to wear warm clothing and goggles. From high up she could see quite far which improved her efficiency. She wasn't too high up as then she wouldn't be able to make out enough features on the ground. It was a balance between how much detail was on the map and how quickly she would map out a territory.

After arriving to a location, Lightning would begin noting the various geographical features such as rivers, lakes, and mountains. She would make a sketch of the area, making sure to mark any special features like mountain passes. Next she would describe the various features of the land. For example, forests would be marked on the map by drawing the borders on the map before marking the enclosed area with the correct symbol for forest. There was also a section to write a brief description of the land in case there was a need for noting something that wouldn't be adequately described using the symbols of the map.

After mapping out an area, she would then quickly fly further until she reached a point where her field of view barely intersected with the described area of the previous map. Then, she would begin marking up the next section of the map, making sure that the pages were properly marked so she would know what order they were in. She mapped out the region rather systematically, mostly moving in a grid. In this way, she was able to map out quite a bit of territory over the past few months.

Today, she was operating a bit differently from normal. She would be approaching the ruins of the city of Arrieta which was formerly one of the Holy Cities before it fell to the demons. It was guaranteed to be occupied by a large demon force so she needed to be careful. She would only take a cursory glance, enough to have a rough estimate of the demon force and note any important features. She would mark the location on the map and leave.

The map of the area around the city would be a bit less detailed than normal because of the difficulty of collecting information in the area. Fortunately, the surviving witches from 400 years ago still had a few maps of the Holy Cities which could help fill in holes in their intelligence. However, it might be a bit outdated which was why the city would still have to be examined.

Lighting took a look around the city as she approached. She noted down her observations quickly. Soon, some demons began approaching from the distance and she quickly ran off. The demons were still quite far away so when she began moving away quickly, the demons didn't have much option other than to let her go. She would approach the city from several different angles over the next few days to fully survey the area around the city.

Lightning was quite cautious with her exploration and she would always leave once demons started getting anywhere near. Roland had been very insistent that she follow the safety protocols. She was absolutely forbidden from approaching the demons in any circumstance whatsoever, even if she believed that it was safe. Roland told her that the demons had many secret weapons and that she needed to be extremely careful.

Although Lightning was a bit skeptical of this, she ultimately agreed and followed all of Roland's instructions when it came to exploring. She still had a lot of work ahead of her. Even after completing the scouting of the city's surroundings, she needed to explore the rest of the land.

There was hard work ahead of her, but Lightning didn't mind. She was doing what she loved, exploring the unknown. She also got plenty of days to rest where she could be with her friends and the rest of the witches. Lightning would often tell the others about the great sights she saw and how great exploring is.