Wizard: Starting from Escape from the Thorn Garden

Chapter 147 Eternal Night Forest

Kate and Amber's journey begins at the Evergreen Barrier's massive archway bathed in the morning light.

Amber seemed both comfortable and slightly uncomfortable with the abundant life energy within the barrier, which had been processed by the wizards, much like someone accustomed to the clear spring water of the mountains tasting a carefully prepared beverage for the first time.

Her small nose twitched slightly, and her amber eyes curiously surveyed the renowned wizarding city, but more than anything, they revealed an eagerness to return home.

"Let's go, Lady Kate," she urged softly, her voice like dewdrops falling on a leaf. "The forest is calling, and warning—time is running out."

Kate nodded and gave the dimensional bag and her equipment one last check.

He kept the Heart of Life Medal close to his body, and its gentle ripples seemed to resonate faintly with the almost invisible "forest token" vine thread on his wrist.

He took a deep breath and said to Amber, "Lead the way, Amber. From now on, you'll be the guide."

Leaving the protective array of the barrier and entering the legendary Eternal Night Forest, the surrounding air instantly became "wild".

It was no longer the docile, orderly flow of energy within the barrier, but rather a primal, mixed, sometimes conflicting, sometimes harmonious natural atmosphere.

They did not use the teleportation array to go directly to the edge of the forest, because according to Amber, the true path to the Tranquil Forest was not fixed; it changed with the "breathing" of the forest and the flow of the Ancient Path of Life, and required her guidance as the "Child of the Forest" to find the safest and correct way.

Her movements were also erratic, yet Kate sensed a strange beauty and a sense of order within them.

She doesn't walk on the ground, but often leaps lightly, her toes lightly touching the dew-covered blades of grass, drooping vines, or even the backs of occasionally gliding insects, and she can glide a great distance with fluid, poetic movements, making almost no sound.

She emanated a faint glow, like a moving little moon, dispelling the morning mist in the woods.

Kate then used a modified version of Windwalk, combining her exquisite control over airflow with her own powerful physique, to follow behind with steady and swift steps. Her Samsara Heart Domain unfolded slightly, like the most sophisticated radar, scanning, analyzing, and adapting to the ever-changing environment around her.

[Environmental Assessment: Green Ivy Corridor]

Visibility: Good

[Energy Environment: Dominated by mild life energy, interspersed with subtle elemental fluctuations]

[Threat Level: Extremely Low (Common small animals and low-level harmless spirits)]

The initial part of the journey was easy and pleasant, just like a regular outdoor excursion.

But as they continued eastward, the terrain began to rise and fall, and the trees grew taller and denser, their canopies overlapping and blocking out more and more sunlight.

About half a day later, they officially entered the outermost landmark area of ​​the Evernight Forest – a low-lying thicket called the "Ironthorn Bush Area".

The trees here have become short but extremely tough, with twisted branches covered in thorns, and a faint, alarmingly sweet and fishy smell has begun to permeate the air.

Amber slowed down and landed on a thick, moss-covered fallen log, sniffing the air warily.

"Watch out, Kate," she whispered. "We're entering the territory of the 'Spiky-Maned Wolves' and 'Poison Dart Frogs.' They aren't very strong, but there are many of them, and they're quite annoying."

As soon as he finished speaking, a rustling sound came from the bushes to his side, and several pairs of eyes, gleaming with greedy red light, lit up in the shadows.

A deep growl sounded, and three spiky wolves, as big as calves, with fur as rough as iron brushes and backs covered with sharp bone spurs, emerged, drool dripping from between their dagger-like teeth.

[Target: Spiny Wolf]

[Characteristics: Moves in groups, has high physical defense due to its fur, excels at charging and biting, and can briefly spray with its backstab.]

Threat Assessment: Low

Kate didn't even stop. "Stay close to me, Amber."

Before he finished speaking, he casually waved his right hand. "Life Absorption - Entanglement."

The ordinary vines on the ground were instantly infused with a powerful life force, like emerald green venomous snakes that came to life, suddenly leaping out and precisely wrapping around the limbs and neck of the three-headed spiky wolf.

The spiky wolves struggled and howled in terror, but the vines tightened their grip, not only restricting their movements but also rapidly draining their meager life force.

In just a few seconds, the three-headed wolf visibly weakened, whimpering and collapsing to the ground, unable to move.

Kate didn't even glance at them and walked right past them.

He didn't kill them; he simply made them temporarily lose their threat.

This exquisite control over life energy drew a hint of amazement from Amber, who was standing nearby.

"Your understanding of the rules of life—is truly remarkable," she said softly, her tone filled with respect.

"Just some simple tricks," Kate replied calmly.

He could sense that in this primeval forest, excessive killing could sometimes attract unnecessary attention and hostility.

After passing through the Ironthorn Zone, the scenery suddenly changed, and they entered a vast swampy woodland filled with misty water vapor—the "Misty Swamp".

Visibility suddenly decreased, and grayish-white fog swirled between twisted, withered trees and murky pools of water. Underfoot was soft, muddy silt, deep and shallow, exuding the smell of humus.

"Be extra careful here." Amber's voice sounded somewhat faint in the fog. "The fog not only obscures vision, but it can also interfere with mental perception."

"The water is home to 'phantom crocodiles,' and the mudflats hide lurking creatures—they are masters of camouflage."

She closed her eyes, stretched out her hands, and her fingertips emitted soft, luminous light, like dandelion seeds.

These specks of light drifted away and merged into the mist.

After a moment, she pointed in one direction: "This way, the road is the sturdiest here, and those nasty guys are asleep for now."

Kate could sense that the light emanating from her had a powerful calming and hypnotic effect, working on the simple nervous systems of the swamp creatures.

Sure enough, they followed the path indicated by the amber, and although it was muddy and difficult to traverse, they were not attacked at all.

Occasionally, you can see large shadows slowly passing by beneath the murky water, or a series of bubbles rising from the nearby mudflats, but these quickly subside.

Kate's perception of the Heart of Reincarnation was significantly suppressed here, as the mist seemed to contain some kind of spores that weakened mental power.

He relied more on Amber's guidance and also raised his preparations for "Spatial Blink" to a state where it could be activated at any time, just in case.

We crossed the swamp without incident, and the sky was already beginning to darken. Night falls exceptionally early and exceptionally deep in the Evernight Forest.

They stopped on a relatively dry hill covered by several huge rocks and decided to rest for the night.

The trees here are taller than imagined, their canopies forming an almost opaque canopy at a height of nearly 100 meters, and a true "eternal night" is about to descend.

Amber lightly leaped onto a rock, clasped her hands together, and softly sang an ethereal and ancient ballad.

As she sang, some bioluminescent moss and a few sleeping night flowers around the rocks slowly lit up, emitting a soft, non-glaring light that dispelled the darkness in the small area, creating a natural, secluded sanctuary.

"It's just a little trick of ours," she smiled somewhat sheepishly at Kate, "to get some gentle plant friends to help out."

Kate nodded, took out some high-energy food and water to replenish her strength, and handed Amber a small bottle of nectar extracted from the moonflower, specially prepared for energy life forms.

Amber took it with delight, sipped it slowly, and a satisfied expression appeared on her face.

Night completely enveloped the forest.

In the darkness, strange sounds came from afar: the distant, deep roar of an unknown behemoth, the sharp cries of nocturnal birds, the rustling of insects, and a faint, eerie buzzing that seemed to come from the depths of the earth—the various sounds intertwined to form a primitive and dangerous forest nocturne.

The air was thick with the stench of death and decay, a stark contrast to the vibrant life of the daytime.

Some dark-loving magical plants began to stir, emitting eerie phosphorescence or enticing scents.

Kate sat cross-legged on the rock, her Heart of Reincarnation slowly circulating, absorbing the relatively scarce energy in the environment while remaining highly vigilant.

He could sense countless eyes peering at the small halo of light from the darkness, but perhaps because of Amber's presence and the faint pressure emanating from Kate, nothing dared to approach rashly.

Amber curled up on another rock, its body glowing faintly, as if it had blended into the glowing plants around it.

She seemed to have entered a semi-meditative state, perceiving her distant home through an invisible connection with the forest. Her brows were slightly furrowed, clearly indicating that the situation in the tranquil forest was not optimistic.

Silent all night.

The next morning, in the still dim "dawn," they set off again.

The deeper you go, the more complex and bizarre the terrain becomes.

They traversed the "glowing mushroom slope," a place covered in slippery fungi and where they had to be constantly careful of falling traps.

We passed through the "petrified forest," a place of suffocating silence composed of countless enormous, ancient fossil trees.

We traveled upstream along the "Shattered Thunder River," a raging, roaring river with dark purple water that exuded an aura of thunder. The fish that occasionally leaped out of the water were accompanied by flashes of electricity.

The guiding effect of amber is becoming increasingly crucial.

She can always find the safest path, avoiding areas that exude an extremely dangerous aura, which she calls "the lair of the ancient sleepers" or "the nodes of the twisted ley lines." She can also provide early warnings of some hidden threats, such as a seemingly ordinary "hypnotic fern" that can actually spew deadly paralyzing spores, or a group of "strangling vines" that disguise themselves as vines and wait for their prey to come to them.

Kate also intervened several times.

On one occasion, she encountered a group of Shadow Leopards that had become ferocious and bloodthirsty due to the influence of a faint "dark" aura. Kate used the power of the rules of death and with a single "Death Resistance - Intimidation" attack, they were terrified and fled in a sorry state.

On another occasion, in order to collect a "Soul-Gathering Grass" that only grows at specific energy vortex points and has a miraculous effect on stabilizing the soul, Kate had to deal with a "Bewitching Butterfly" that was guarding her and was good at mental attacks for a while, and finally scared it away with a highly concentrated life energy arrow.

These battles were not large in scale, but they allowed Kate to gradually adapt to the environment of the forest and gave him a more direct understanding of the "darkness" that Amber spoke of—a terrifying power that could subtly distort the minds of living beings and stimulate their dark side.

The journey is not all danger and hardship.

They also encountered an amazing sight: in a vast, lake-like forest clearing, thousands of "tree spirits" emitting a soft blue light danced in the night, like a galaxy fallen to earth.

In a cave behind a waterfall, a "Spring of Wisdom" was discovered that could subtly enhance the purity of one's spiritual energy.

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They even spotted a group of elegant, airborne forest unicorns disappearing into the depths of the dense forest.

These adventures gave Kate a deeper understanding of the vastness and mystery of the Eternal Night Forest, and also made him understand why the Light Fairy race was determined to protect the balance of this land.

After several days of trekking, according to Amber's senses, they were getting closer and closer to the outer barrier of the Tranquil Forest.

The surrounding energy environment began to undergo subtle changes.

The life energy was still abundant, but the "dark" coldness and deathly stillness mixed in became more and more obvious.

Extremely fine, ash-like black particles began to drift in the air.

Some trees have leaves with unnatural curling and pale gray spots on the edges.

Amber's mood visibly somber and anxious. Pointing to the outline of a mountain range in the distance, she said, "Look, that's Whispering Valley—the place where the gloom first appears. We're almost there."

She quickened her pace, with Kate close behind.

Finally, after passing through a "psychedelic archway" naturally formed by a giant crystal orchid and emitting faint illusionary fluctuations, the scene before them suddenly changed.

They officially entered the territory of the Tranquil Forest.

The trees here are older and larger, and many exotic plants that Kate has never seen before are thriving, radiating a dreamlike glow.

The air should be filled with pure life energy and sweet floral fragrance that are refreshing and invigorating.

However, at this moment, a sense of disharmony washes over you.

As described in the amber, a kind of "gray" that is difficult to see clearly with the naked eye but is unusually obvious in perception is like a thin veil shrouding the distant forest.

The areas it touched became dull in color and lifeless, as if shrouded in shadow.

Kate could see that the vegetation in some valleys in the distance had an unhealthy gray-green color, and in some places there were even small patches of withering.

Besides the fragrance of flowers, there was also a faint, unsettling, cloying smell in the air.

The forest was still beautiful, but its beauty was heartbreaking, like a sick elf.

"We're almost home, just one more step through the Echo Valley ahead."

Amber's voice choked with sobs as she gazed at her ravaged homeland, her amber eyes filled with sorrow and anger. She then looked at Kate, her eyes shining with expectation.