Wizard: Starting from Escape from the Thorn Garden

Chapter 110 Void Aphid

The entrance to the nursery was guarded by two enormous, living ironwood trees. Sensing the rich and pure life force emanating from Kate and the fluctuations of his authority token, their thick branches slowly moved aside, revealing the entrance shrouded in a verdant light curtain.

Stepping into the light curtain, the scene before you suddenly opens up. It's as if you've instantly stepped from the fortified stone buildings into a separate, vibrant miniature ecosystem.

The air was humid and warm, filled with the unique fragrance of hundreds of different magical plants, which was refreshing and invigorating.

Soft artificial sunlight streams down from special crystal panels on the ceiling, simulating the optimal light cycle for plant growth.

The ground is made of a mixture of nutrient-rich activated humus and fine magical crystals, making it soft and elastic to walk on.

Countless magical plants of various shapes and colors, emitting a faint glow, are carefully planted in separate areas. Each plant is protected by an independent miniature barrier, and tiny sprites made of water and light elements move among them, carrying out the work of watering, pruning, and pest control.

An elven plant grower, dressed in a long emerald green robe, with pointed ears and a gentle face, was already waiting there.

Sensing Kate's life force and authority level, she bowed respectfully: "Lady Kate, welcome to the Rare Magical Plant Nursery—Emerald Nursery. I am the plant artist Elana, here to assist you in cultivating the 'Heart Lily of the Valley.' Please follow me; that child's condition—is somewhat troublesome."

The elves have always loved plant life, and magical plants are their partners and friends.

Kate nodded and followed Elana to a secluded cubicle deep inside the nursery.

This compartment was clearly different from the other areas, with a stronger barrier and a more unique environment. The air inside seemed stagnant, the temperature was slightly lower, and the light was a soft, moonlit simulation with a faint blue halo.

In the center of the cubicle, a beautiful plant grows in a flowerpot made of pure moonstone.

It is about half a meter tall, with a slender trunk like jade, heart-shaped leaves, and natural silver patterns on the edges.

At the top, a bell-shaped, translucent flower, seemingly sculpted from moonlight and amethyst, droops slightly, emitting a gentle, calming ripple.

But this flower, which should have been dazzling, appeared somewhat dim at this moment. There was even a slight, barely perceptible withering and curling at the edges of its petals, and the spiritual fluctuations it emitted were intermittent, making it seem very weak.

"This is the Heart Lily of the Valley," Elana said, her voice tinged with heartache and helplessness. "It's a rare fourth-tier magical plant. The trembling of its flower stamens produces a heart-bell-like sound that can purify the spirit and soothe restless soul, having miraculous effects on meditation and healing of soul trauma for first-ring wizards. However, it has extremely demanding environmental requirements, especially regarding the 'purity' of life energy and the 'mental background noise' of the surrounding environment."

"About ten days ago, it began to show signs of decay. We checked all the environmental parameters: soil nutrients, light wavelength, humidity, temperature, element concentration—everything was normal. We even consulted a wizard specializing in mental arts, but he couldn't find any obvious source of mental pollution. But it just keeps weakening. If this continues, it probably won't last a month."

Elana looked at Kate with anticipation in her eyes: "The mission description mentions that you have a very deep understanding of the rules of life. Perhaps you can discover the problems we have overlooked."

Kate did not answer immediately, but slowly approached the lily of the valley.

He did not directly touch or use any detection spells, but instead closed his eyes first.

Within the sea of ​​consciousness, the heart of reincarnation subtly turns, and the power of the seed of life is quietly stirred.

A gentle, restrained yet incredibly pure life force, like an invisible ripple, slowly spread out from Kate's center, softly enveloping the entire Lily of the Valley.

Under the precise control of the Seed of Origin, this perception is not a forceful exploration, but rather like the gentlest caress, attempting to resonate with the life frequency of the Heart Lily of the Valley itself.

Elana held her breath. She could feel the profound, inclusive, and slightly majestic life force emanating from Kate, which was far purer and more advanced than any nourishing magic circle in the nursery.

A moment later, Kate opened her eyes, her brows furrowed slightly.

"The energy is pure, and the environment is unpolluted," he said softly, his sharp gaze sweeping over every leaf and petal of the lily of the valley. "The problem isn't external."

He extended his right index finger, a barely perceptible emerald light swirling around its tip—a highly condensed life force mixed with the analytical force field of the Seed of Origin—and slowly pointed it toward a tiny, almost seamlessly integrated protrusion on the slender, jade-colored stem beneath the drooping flowers of the Lily of the Valley.

Just as Kate's fingertips were about to touch the protrusion!

call out!

A thin, almost transparent shadow suddenly shot out from the protrusion with astonishing speed, aiming straight for Kate's fingertips!

It was a bizarre little insect, only the length of a fingernail, with a completely transparent body and only a pair of tiny, pitch-black mouthparts that gleamed with a cold light!

Elana gasped in surprise; she hadn't even noticed the worm's presence.

But Kate seemed to have anticipated this, and the wisp of green light at her fingertips instantly solidified.

"Spatial confinement".

hum!

A faint spatial fluctuation flashed by, and the transparent worm suddenly froze less than a centimeter from Kate's fingertip, as if it had been frozen in amber, unable to move.

Its tiny mouthparts remained in a piercing posture, but could no longer advance even an inch.

"This is... a variant of the Void Aphid?!" Elana gasped, her face showing lingering fear. "How is this possible?! Void Aphids are extremely rare, feeding on energy from spatial rifts, and almost never attack physical creatures, let alone magical plants! And how could the nursery's protective barrier have let it slip in?!"

"It's not an ordinary Void Aphid." Kate's fingertips flickered as she pulled the imprisoned insect close to her eyes, the power of the Seed of Origin scanning it deeply.

"It has mutated, or rather—been modified. Its core no longer absorbs spatial energy, but instead generates an extremely weak yet unusually sharp mental noise," directly interfering with the most sensitive mental resonance core of the Heart Lily. This noise is not a malicious mental attack, but more like a kind of—dissonant background noise. Ordinary mental detection would ignore it, but for a magical plant like the Heart Lily that pursues the ultimate pure mental resonance, it is a continuous torment and drain."

Kate's gaze swept over the flowerpot and the moonstones around it: "Its hiding place is also very particular. It is located at the intersection of the energy flow of the moonstone and the life fluctuations of the heart lily of the valley itself, perfectly concealing its tiny energy."

Elana suddenly realized, then was horrified: "Who—and why did they do this?"

"The purpose is unclear, but the method is very clever," Kate said calmly. "It's more like some kind of test or prank than real destruction. Otherwise, it wouldn't have been such a small thing."

He said no more, and with a change in the light at his fingertips, a wisp of life energy containing a faint purifying power slowly flowed into the main stem of the Lily of the Valley.

At the same time, he mobilized the power of the Heart of Reincarnation, and a trace of extremely pure spiritual fluctuation, with soothing and resonant characteristics, like the gentlest song, slowly enveloped the lily of the valley in his heart.

The withered magical plant trembled slightly, and its drooping flowers lifted up a little, as if a person who had been ill for a long time was finally breathing in fresh air.

Kate's movements were gentle and precise.

He first guided that purifying energy, like the finest scalpel, carefully dispelling the last trace of "noise" remaining at the core of the lily of the valley's spirit.

Then, he increased the injection of life energy, simulating the frequency and purity most suitable for the heart lily of the valley to absorb, gently nourishing its damaged roots.

Finally, he maintained that soothing spiritual resonance, helping the lily of the valley readjust its own spiritual frequency and restore harmonious resonance with external energy.

The whole process lasted about half an hour.

Elana watched, mesmerized. She had never seen such exquisite cultivation methods, so perfectly aligned with the essence of life.

Without complex magic arrays or expensive potions, it is simply a profound understanding and precise control of the rules of life that transforms the mundane into the miraculous.

When Kate withdrew her finger, the lily of the valley had been completely transformed.

The main stem is even more upright and verdant, the leaves are spread out, and the silver veins shimmer. The bell-shaped flower at the top is fully bloomed, becoming crystal clear, radiant and colorful, emitting a stable and melodious sound like a heart bell, like heavenly music, making the spiritual energy in the surrounding small area exceptionally pure and active.

"Alright," Kate said calmly. "It needs to rest for a few days; don't move it for now. Also, I suggest you upgrade the nursery's protective barrier to increase its filtering of microscopic spatial fluctuations and specific frequency mental noise."

"Yes! Yes! Thank you so much, Lady Kate!" Elana was overjoyed and thanked her repeatedly. "You not only saved it, but you also helped us find the security loophole! I will settle your mission reward immediately, and I will also apply for additional contribution points for you!"

Having temporarily resolved the crisis of the Heart Lily, Kate considered her mission complete. However, the Void Aphid, a rare method of life modification, piqued Kate's interest.

The Void Aphid's survival method of absorbing spatial energy was weakened, and it influenced the Heart Lily of the Valley through "mental noise," relying on absorbing the spiritual energy dissipated by the Heart Lily of the Valley due to its decline to maintain its vitality and grow its form. This is an essential transformation and application of life. The test subject's ability to understand and modify the rules of life allowed Kate to see a new direction for perfecting the Heart of Reincarnation.

Kate left a Thorn Shadow puppet hidden in place to wait, hoping to see if the instigator would arrive and inform Elana.

This elven plant grower is actually the property of the stronghold. Due to her racial talent being suited to cultivating these magical plants, she has long been imprinted with a mental code and will spend her entire life maintaining this conservation garden in the Emerald Nursery. Leaving a puppet here requires explaining to her to avoid it being eliminated.

The justification for keeping the puppet was, of course, to completely complete the task of taking care of it and prevent future troubles.

Elana looked at Kate with even more admiration. "Lady Kate, you are the most caring wizard I have ever met. The life force emanating from you, and your willingness to put in extra effort for this child's safety, truly move me. If other wizards came, they would simply collect their payment and leave once they restored Heart Lily to health. They would never consider anything else like you. Please accept the reward for this mission."

Kate nodded slightly and accepted the exquisite jade box handed to her by Elana. Inside were the mission reward: three "Star Fruits" that radiated starlight and contained pure spiritual power.

He didn't linger; he turned and left the jade nursery.

Back at his temporary residence, he conducted a more detailed analysis of the Void Aphid.

Through capturing the mutated Void Aphid and deeply analyzing the Seed of Origin, Kate was able to glimpse an extremely rare application of microscopic rules. It perfectly conceals itself at the intersection of spatial folds and life fluctuations, and the mental noise it releases is a targeted interference that precisely strikes specific frequencies, rather than an indiscriminate attack.

This reveals the adversary's sophisticated understanding of spatial concealment, energy frequency resonance, and the embedding of rules at the microscopic level.

This experience greatly benefited Kate in perfecting her concept of reincarnation:

The unique location of the mutants' hiding places inspired Kate. He realized that while his spatial perception was vast, he lacked the ultimate insight into microscopic gaps and the intersections of energy flows.

This spurred him to hone his ability to explore even more subtle spatial structures, causing the spatial foundation of the Heart of Reincarnation to evolve towards "meticulousness".

Previously, the domain defense of the Heart of Reincarnation focused on macroscopic energy clashes and rule suppression.

The successful infiltration and interference of the mutants exposed potential blind spots in dealing with "soft" attacks that are low-intensity but consistently precise and targeted at specific frequencies.

This prompted Kate to consider how to add an active frequency filtering and microscopic anomaly monitoring network to the Heart of Reincarnation, making the defense system more "intelligent" and "targeted," and truly invincible.

Meanwhile, the transformation of the space aphid demonstrates how space, life energy, and mental frequency can be cleverly woven together to form an atypical attack pattern.

This highly "synergistic" approach to rule application provides Kate with a valuable micro-example and approach for her future attempts to more deeply integrate and link the three major rules of life, death, and space within the Heart of Reincarnation, helping her mental image evolve towards a more refined and integrated direction.

After spending half a day sorting through the findings, Kate continued her exploration mission.

Based on the coordinates provided by the mission scroll, Kate arrived at the edge of Evergreen Fortress via the fortress's teleportation array. She then activated Thorn Sprint, her figure transforming into a blurry green shadow as she sped off in the northwest.

The further away from the fortress, the more desolate and lifeless the surrounding scenery becomes. This place was originally a land ravaged by the undead, which was only gradually improved after the wizards of the Hand of Life built the Evergreen Fortress. The northwest direction has always been a training ground for low-level apprentices and has retained its original appearance. This mission was also reported by a wizard apprentice after his training, and then the fortress launched an exploration mission to a first-ring wizard.

The gray earth, the sparse and twisted dead trees, and the faint smell of decay in the air all serve as reminders that this was once a land ravaged by the dead.

But Kate could sense that beneath this deathly silence, a faint yet tenacious life force was slowly reviving deep within the earth. This was the result of the Hand of Life's years of purifying efforts.

A day later, he arrived at his destination—an area on the edge of a place known as the Whispering Woods.