Wizard: My skills can be upgraded indefinitely.

Ian had only been in the swamp for a short time when he sensed something was wrong.

Looking down, I saw that the ground beneath my feet was becoming soft, making a "squeak" sound when I stepped on it.

In the grayish-white mist, many crooked, withered trees could be vaguely seen standing in the murky puddles.

Dark red vines hung from the tree trunk, like congealed blood.

Ian was about to go around when suddenly...

"Shh...shh..."

A faint rustling sound came from the swamp on the left.

He stopped immediately, concealed his breathing, and silently scanned the area.

As the mist slowly drifted, a "plant" about two people tall "stood" up from the swamp.

It has a human-like outline, with a main trunk like a twisted torso, branches like arms, and no leaves at the top, but dozens of dark red, constantly wriggling, slender tentacles.

The surface of the tentacles is covered with suction cups, and in the center of each suction cup is a pale white eye the size of a sesame seed, which rotates erratically.

The most bizarre thing is that the roots of this "plant" are not embedded in the mud, but are made up of countless pale human hand bones, moving slowly in the swamp like feet.

"The Soul-Eating Tree Demon's companion servant... 'The Weeping Blood Vine Puppet'."

The information Mira had provided flashed through Ian's mind.

This monster has no intelligence and attacks by sensing the mental fluctuations of living beings. Its tentacles can release weak mental interference and absorb the life force of its prey.

"We can't let it sound an alarm..."

Ian's mind raced, and he quietly raised his right index finger.

The icy blue light condensed and compressed at his fingertips, but he did not release it immediately.

He is waiting.

The vine puppet slowly turned, and dozens of pale white eyes simultaneously "stared" in Ian's direction, while its tentacles moved faster.

It's now!

[Secondary Frost Ray] Instant cast!

A very thin, icy blue ray pierced through the fog and struck the center of the vine puppet's trunk with pinpoint accuracy.

No sound.

A terrifying, extreme cold erupted in an instant!

The vine puppet froze, and its dark red tentacles were covered with a thick layer of frost at a visible speed, spreading from the roots to the tips.

Those pale, white eyeballs, still moving, were frozen in the ice, making them look even more eerie.

In less than a second, the entire vine puppet transformed into an ice sculpture.

Ian stepped forward and gave him a gentle push.

"Snap... Splash..."

The ice sculpture shattered, turning into ice shards along with the vine puppets inside. The pale hand bones also brittled and disintegrated in the extreme cold.

"The freezing effect is surprisingly effective against this type of plant-based monster."

Ian nodded silently, and without lingering, quickly bypassed the swampy area.

As they ventured deeper, the chill in the fog grew stronger, and faint whispers began to emanate from their ears.

At first, it was just a faint, indistinct murmur, like the sound of wind blowing through a crack.

But as they went on, the whispers gradually became clearer, as if countless people were whispering in their ears.

It was in a language Ian had never heard before, with distorted syllables and a crazy rhythm.

"Whispering Forest...truly deserving of its name."

Ian activated his meditation technique, and the array of will runes glowed faintly, filtering and dispelling the external noises that were invading his mental sea.

But the whispers did not disappear; instead, they grew more frequent, surging in from all directions like a tide.

To make matters worse, hallucinations began to appear in the fog.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of a figure flashing behind a tree, but upon closer inspection, there was nothing there.

Suddenly, a hanging corpse appeared on the road ahead, but it turned into mist and disappeared as you approached.

A familiar voice called out to him, like Talia or Hawke, but the voice came from the completely wrong direction...

"Psychological interference is increasing."

Ian maintained a steady pace, silently reciting the incantation for the Bloodline Purification Technique.

The dark red "Soul Devourer" rune shimmered with a blood-red light, slowly rotating in the mental sea, emitting an invisible suction force.

The mental noises around him that were trying to invade his consciousness were like hitting an invisible filter.

Silently devoured and decomposed by the "Spirit Devouring" rune, it turned into wisps of cool energy, which actually nourished his spiritual power slightly.

"It worked!"

Ian was invigorated, gaining a more intuitive understanding of the practical effects of the "Soul Devouring" special effect.

After traveling about five more miles, the terrain began to rise, and the trees became taller and denser.

The trees here are no longer twisted and grotesque, but exude an ancient and solemn aura.

The trunk is straight and thick, and the bark is a deep grayish-brown with natural spiral patterns on the surface.

The tree has a dense canopy, and its leaves are a deep, dark green that shimmers faintly in the gray mist.

"The subspecies of the Tree of Life... this is it."

Ian stopped and hid behind a giant tree, using his mental connection to the eye in the sky to carefully perceive the surroundings.

The concentration of magic in the air reached a peak, and its nature became mild and full of life, forming a stark contrast with the surrounding desolate and cold environment.

But amidst this vitality, there was an unsettling spiritual force.

Cold and sticky, like an invisible spider web, it enveloped the entire area.

At this point, the eyeballs above were severely disturbed, making it less effective than observing them personally.

He looked out and, through the thin mist, could see a small, relatively open clearing in the woods a hundred meters ahead.

In the center of the open space stood three exceptionally tall ancient trees.

They are nearly ten times thicker than the surrounding trees, and over a hundred meters tall. The spiral patterns on their trunks shimmer with a pale golden light, their crowns are like canopies, and their aerial roots hang down like curtains.

The tree trunk is covered with pits and condensed with amber-colored, translucent resinous crystals, exuding a rich aura of life energy.

These wounds are the "masterpieces" of these five Soul-Devouring Tree Demons, who have long parasitized these three ancient trees of life, absorbing their sap.

"Bark extract is extracted from the crystallized bark..."

Ian's gaze swept across the edge of the open space, and his pupils suddenly contracted.

There, five even more bizarrely shaped "small trees" stood quietly.

They are about six meters tall, with trunks like twisted gray stone pillars, and surfaces covered with honeycomb-like holes.

It has no branches or leaves; at the top is a dark red lump that constantly wriggles, expands, and contracts. Several cracks appear on the surface of the lump, like an unopened eye.

The roots of these "trees" are deeply embedded in the soil, but the rootlets protrude from the ground like blood vessels and spread outwards.

Each root tip is entwined with one or more skeletons—human or wild—with dried, dark red marks still visible on the bones.

"Soul-devouring tree demons... and there's more than one."

Ian held his breath and quietly put away the [Eye of Vigilance].

These soul-devouring tree demons are also very sensitive to energy, and he was unsure whether his "hidden" eyes could fool them.

He hid behind a tree and carefully observed that the air around the tree spirits was filled with an invisible, viscous, gelatinous spiritual energy field.

Any living thing that steps into it will be instantly sensed and suffer a strong mental impact.

What's more troublesome is that the five tree spirits, though seemingly randomly positioned, actually form a subtle encirclement, protecting the three ancient trees of life in the center.

"Let's try to sneak in quietly and find a way to distract them. If that doesn't work..."

Ian's mind raced as he scanned his surroundings, searching for any terrain or opportunity he could exploit.

Whispers echoed in my ears, and the mist drifted slowly.

At the entrance to the mountain, a team of three senior apprentices silently guarded the entrance and concealed themselves.

They were dressed identically and moved in perfect coordination, seemingly very familiar with the area.