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Chapter 345 Forest Journey
Chapter 345 Forest Journey
The long line of caravans rattled as they trudged through the dark woods.
The trees on both sides of the road towered over the travelers. All the trees were above thirty meters and were thick enough that four people were needed to circle a tree. The tree foliage was extremely dense as well. The giant canopy completely covered the sky, only leaving thin strands of light shining upon the road.
Even though it was daytime, the merchants had to light up torches to have a clear view of the path.
It was almost as if the caravan line had moved into a silent and enclosed corridor. There were no other sounds apart from the rattling carts and the hooves of the horses.
Silence!
Unusual silence!
One couldn't hear the chirping of ordinary forests or the pattering feet of leaping rabbits and foxes.
Greem could distinctly feel a faint magical energy flowing through the Black Forest the moment he stepped foot in it. The elementium particles were at least one or two frequencies more active than the ones outside of the woods.
"Chip, gather the environmental data for the Black Forest!" Greem thought for a moment and gave this order to the chip.
"Beep. Constructing project. Gathering environmental data."
In truth, the Black Forest took up more than sixty percent of the Continent's land mass. The territory occupied by the Zhentarim Association and the three massive adept organizations were no more than forty percent.
This meant that much of the World of Adept's land remained unexcavated. What stood in the way of humanity's progress was the boundless expanse of the Black Forest and its wild, primal grasslands.
The World of Adepts was vast and had an almost perfect high-magic environment. When this was taken into consideration, along with the massive landmass of the Black Forest, you realized the terror that lurked in the wild. If only one in every thousand wild creatures had been polluted and mutated into a magical monster, then the number of magical creatures was still numerous enough to run over all the adepts put together.
If the adepts wanted to expand their territories, they had to reach their tentacles into this monstrous stretch of woods.
They needed to fell trees, pave roads, construct settlements, and erect adept towers.
This process was not always a smooth one!
Every step the humans took into the Black Forest would draw an intense backlash from the woodland creatures, magical beasts, mutated monsters, and polluted beings.
It was tolerable if humans were only dealing with the occasional assaults; the most these could do was cause minor losses. However, the entire settlement was at risk if a whole tribe of magical creatures struck, or if a powerful being instigated a stampede.
Such massive assaults had happened countless times in the history of colonization on the World of Adepts. Every time this happened, it meant that the tens of thousands of peasants that had moved into the settlement were doomed to be the victims of the conflict between the adepts and the wild beasts. Most of the time, an adept's tower was the only thing that could survive the bloody fight. Everything else would be razed to the ground.
Every piece of additional living space that the humans earned had gone through such a complicated and drawn out tug-of-war. It was only when the adepts whittled away the will and numbers of the magical creatures that they were able to force the beasts further back into the Black Forest.
Thus, a sizeable territory over fifty kilometers in width and length required an investment of several decades. It was primarily the case if you included the entire process of colonization. The moving and establishment of a population were repeated after the conclusion of every single battle that happened over the land. Exhausting tens of thousands of civilian lives and several dozen adept lives in this process was a familiar sight.
Every adept that braved the storm and led their followers and servants into the Black Forest to forge a path of their own were real heroes that were worthy of remembrance throughout the ages!
For ordinary men, the Black Forest represented mystery, wickedness, power, and especially death!
However, this place was a treasure trove of resources to the adepts!
Magical plants that grew all over the place, wildlife of immense diversity, abundant reserves of metal ores, and mysterious and powerful magic creatures were treasures to the adepts.
Adepts could find a lot of rare resources that had gone extinct or exhausted in the adepts' lands within the depths of the Black Forest.
Apart from plane invasions, venturing into the Black Forest for ancient ruins and magical creature hunts had become the easiest and most convenient way of accumulating resources. Squads of three to five adepts did most of these.
The prerequisites for plane invasions and conquering were far too strict. Not all adepts could achieve them. As such, exploration of the Black Forest had become their best option for training and gathering resources.
Greem pulled apart the curtains and looked at the dark forest in the distance.
Despite his perfect eyesight, he was unable to see too far into the forest without casting any enhancement spells. After all, the magical energies in this forest were too active! They were a massive hindrance to an adept's spiritual senses.
Greem pushed the curtain even further aside and saw a pitch-black owl on top of a tall tree not far away from the carriages. The owl was observing everything in the forest with its large eyes. It would occasionally hoot at the transports.
"That's an owl reared by the apprentice witches." Alice crouched beside Greem and looked on with boredom, "Harmless little critters. They can only serve as their eyes in the dark."
"Why don't they pick a more powerful animal?" Greem asked doubtfully.
"Tch… " Alice couldn't resist the urge to roll her eyes, "Do you think everyone is like you and doesn't need to worry about magical crystals? Those girls are broke. They can't afford to buy or even rear stronger pets!"
"What's the benefit of having a pet like that?"
"They can be your eyes and ears usually. They are decent flying scouts. Moreover, enchanted owls also possess a weak ability to see through invisibility. They are fairly suited to be guards. Of course, more importantly, rearing owls like them isn't that much of a strain to an apprentice witch's Spirit."
"Then what kind of pets do witches generally have?"
"The most common ones are naturally black cats, flower serpents, red bats, and the crows. Black cats can give stealth and agility bonuses to their masters, and flower serpents have infrared sight. Red bats can cast weight-reduction spells and have sonar, while crows have night vision. Anyway, the witches love to transform themselves into all these weird critters!"
"What about you? Why have I never seen your pet?"
"Hmph… " Alice grumbled, "I've always wanted to catch a hellhound, but sadly I haven't succeeded yet!"
"A hellhound?" When he heard this name, Greem instantly thought of a bizarre abyssal creature with harsh black and red skin.
This creature that was ugly from every perspective was Alice's ideal magical pet. Greem was speechless.
"Why?" Greem couldn't help but ask.
"Because there was a witch that once caught a hellhound for a pet. She obtained the ability 'Spell Lock' from doing so. Moreover, a hellhound can provide Spirit bonuses to its master. It is most definitely the best magical pet there is." Alice's eyes instantly started glowing when they raised the topic. She went on and on about her favorite abyssal creature.
"But don't you think a hellhound is a little ugly and hideous? Also, from what I know, they all stink terribly. They have a pungent stench unique to the abyssal creatures from the lower realms!"
"Do they really smell that bad?" Alice's face turned as she cautiously asked Greem. When Greem confirmed his answer, Alice rested her little face in her hands and frowned, "Then if I skin the hellhound and smear him with spices, it should be enough to mask the smell, right?"
Greem drew a cold breath. He couldn't help but start worrying about Alice's future pet.
…………
The caravan line slowly proceeded through the Black Forest.
They could already start to make out the silhouettes of small animals in the dim forest when they were fifteen kilometers away from Ibis City.
However, with the mercenaries intimidating the beasts, none of them dared to draw close to the caravans. They growled from a distance before retreating to the depths of the woods.
This road might not have been very populated or crowded, but the frequent passage of a dozen merchant groups had already cleared the path of most of the more threatening magical creatures. The remaining ordinary beasts would be turned into the mercenaries' dinner if they came too close.
The scouts of the apprentice witches were the busiest of the group.
The beat their wings and wove through the dense forest that was hard for humans to navigate. They avoided the dangerous beasts and birds of prey as they searched for rare plants and herbs.
The moment they found something valuable, two or three apprentice witches would charge into the forest with a dozen mercenaries at their sides. They would retrieve the plant as quickly as possible. This was undoubtedly a lucrative income for them as well.
Of course, there were times when powerful creatures guarded the rare plants. In these moments, it was up to the witches in the group to take care of the beasts.
They didn't include the yields during the trip in the accounts of the merchant company. They were private possessions and spoils of war for the witches. Thus, after an entire journey of doing so, every accompanying witch would find their collection exceeding even the pay that the merchant company paid out. It was why every one of them was so excited and passionate about doing this treasure hunt.
That said, the company couldn't possibly stop for their treasure hunting. They could only explore a small area within five to ten kilometers of the road. Any further and they wouldn't have time to harvest the goods even if they found anything.
Moreover, areas like these, which were close to the road, had already been exhausted from repeated searches by traveling witches over the years. Anything that was of value had already been scoured and taken from the place. Thus, the witches of the group decisively gave up on such a game that was only a waste of Spirit and passed the chance on to the training apprentices.
For these poor apprentices, that had no right to enjoy the resources of the clan, even morsels that the witches didn't want were enough to keep them full. Consequently, they too were glad to busy themselves with the task of searching for plants.
And so, the caravan progressed in such a seemingly slow, yet truthfully quick manner, and soon arrived at the first camp of their long journey.
It was barely noon at this point!
The long line of caravans rattled as they trudged through the dark woods.
The trees on both sides of the road towered over the travelers. All the trees were above thirty meters and were thick enough that four people were needed to circle a tree. The tree foliage was extremely dense as well. The giant canopy completely covered the sky, only leaving thin strands of light shining upon the road.
Even though it was daytime, the merchants had to light up torches to have a clear view of the path.
It was almost as if the caravan line had moved into a silent and enclosed corridor. There were no other sounds apart from the rattling carts and the hooves of the horses.
Silence!
Unusual silence!
One couldn't hear the chirping of ordinary forests or the pattering feet of leaping rabbits and foxes.
Greem could distinctly feel a faint magical energy flowing through the Black Forest the moment he stepped foot in it. The elementium particles were at least one or two frequencies more active than the ones outside of the woods.
"Chip, gather the environmental data for the Black Forest!" Greem thought for a moment and gave this order to the chip.
"Beep. Constructing project. Gathering environmental data."
In truth, the Black Forest took up more than sixty percent of the Continent's land mass. The territory occupied by the Zhentarim Association and the three massive adept organizations were no more than forty percent.
This meant that much of the World of Adept's land remained unexcavated. What stood in the way of humanity's progress was the boundless expanse of the Black Forest and its wild, primal grasslands.
The World of Adepts was vast and had an almost perfect high-magic environment. When this was taken into consideration, along with the massive landmass of the Black Forest, you realized the terror that lurked in the wild. If only one in every thousand wild creatures had been polluted and mutated into a magical monster, then the number of magical creatures was still numerous enough to run over all the adepts put together.
If the adepts wanted to expand their territories, they had to reach their tentacles into this monstrous stretch of woods.
They needed to fell trees, pave roads, construct settlements, and erect adept towers.
This process was not always a smooth one!
Every step the humans took into the Black Forest would draw an intense backlash from the woodland creatures, magical beasts, mutated monsters, and polluted beings.
It was tolerable if humans were only dealing with the occasional assaults; the most these could do was cause minor losses. However, the entire settlement was at risk if a whole tribe of magical creatures struck, or if a powerful being instigated a stampede.
Such massive assaults had happened countless times in the history of colonization on the World of Adepts. Every time this happened, it meant that the tens of thousands of peasants that had moved into the settlement were doomed to be the victims of the conflict between the adepts and the wild beasts. Most of the time, an adept's tower was the only thing that could survive the bloody fight. Everything else would be razed to the ground.
Every piece of additional living space that the humans earned had gone through such a complicated and drawn out tug-of-war. It was only when the adepts whittled away the will and numbers of the magical creatures that they were able to force the beasts further back into the Black Forest.
Thus, a sizeable territory over fifty kilometers in width and length required an investment of several decades. It was primarily the case if you included the entire process of colonization. The moving and establishment of a population were repeated after the conclusion of every single battle that happened over the land. Exhausting tens of thousands of civilian lives and several dozen adept lives in this process was a familiar sight.
Every adept that braved the storm and led their followers and servants into the Black Forest to forge a path of their own were real heroes that were worthy of remembrance throughout the ages!
For ordinary men, the Black Forest represented mystery, wickedness, power, and especially death!
However, this place was a treasure trove of resources to the adepts!
Magical plants that grew all over the place, wildlife of immense diversity, abundant reserves of metal ores, and mysterious and powerful magic creatures were treasures to the adepts.
Adepts could find a lot of rare resources that had gone extinct or exhausted in the adepts' lands within the depths of the Black Forest.
Apart from plane invasions, venturing into the Black Forest for ancient ruins and magical creature hunts had become the easiest and most convenient way of accumulating resources. Squads of three to five adepts did most of these.
The prerequisites for plane invasions and conquering were far too strict. Not all adepts could achieve them. As such, exploration of the Black Forest had become their best option for training and gathering resources.
Greem pulled apart the curtains and looked at the dark forest in the distance.
Despite his perfect eyesight, he was unable to see too far into the forest without casting any enhancement spells. After all, the magical energies in this forest were too active! They were a massive hindrance to an adept's spiritual senses.
Greem pushed the curtain even further aside and saw a pitch-black owl on top of a tall tree not far away from the carriages. The owl was observing everything in the forest with its large eyes. It would occasionally hoot at the transports.
"That's an owl reared by the apprentice witches." Alice crouched beside Greem and looked on with boredom, "Harmless little critters. They can only serve as their eyes in the dark."
"Why don't they pick a more powerful animal?" Greem asked doubtfully.
"Tch… " Alice couldn't resist the urge to roll her eyes, "Do you think everyone is like you and doesn't need to worry about magical crystals? Those girls are broke. They can't afford to buy or even rear stronger pets!"
"What's the benefit of having a pet like that?"
"They can be your eyes and ears usually. They are decent flying scouts. Moreover, enchanted owls also possess a weak ability to see through invisibility. They are fairly suited to be guards. Of course, more importantly, rearing owls like them isn't that much of a strain to an apprentice witch's Spirit."
"Then what kind of pets do witches generally have?"
"The most common ones are naturally black cats, flower serpents, red bats, and the crows. Black cats can give stealth and agility bonuses to their masters, and flower serpents have infrared sight. Red bats can cast weight-reduction spells and have sonar, while crows have night vision. Anyway, the witches love to transform themselves into all these weird critters!"
"What about you? Why have I never seen your pet?"
"Hmph… " Alice grumbled, "I've always wanted to catch a hellhound, but sadly I haven't succeeded yet!"
"A hellhound?" When he heard this name, Greem instantly thought of a bizarre abyssal creature with harsh black and red skin.
This creature that was ugly from every perspective was Alice's ideal magical pet. Greem was speechless.
"Why?" Greem couldn't help but ask.
"Because there was a witch that once caught a hellhound for a pet. She obtained the ability 'Spell Lock' from doing so. Moreover, a hellhound can provide Spirit bonuses to its master. It is most definitely the best magical pet there is." Alice's eyes instantly started glowing when they raised the topic. She went on and on about her favorite abyssal creature.
"But don't you think a hellhound is a little ugly and hideous? Also, from what I know, they all stink terribly. They have a pungent stench unique to the abyssal creatures from the lower realms!"
"Do they really smell that bad?" Alice's face turned as she cautiously asked Greem. When Greem confirmed his answer, Alice rested her little face in her hands and frowned, "Then if I skin the hellhound and smear him with spices, it should be enough to mask the smell, right?"
Greem drew a cold breath. He couldn't help but start worrying about Alice's future pet.
…………
The caravan line slowly proceeded through the Black Forest.
They could already start to make out the silhouettes of small animals in the dim forest when they were fifteen kilometers away from Ibis City.
However, with the mercenaries intimidating the beasts, none of them dared to draw close to the caravans. They growled from a distance before retreating to the depths of the woods.
This road might not have been very populated or crowded, but the frequent passage of a dozen merchant groups had already cleared the path of most of the more threatening magical creatures. The remaining ordinary beasts would be turned into the mercenaries' dinner if they came too close.
The scouts of the apprentice witches were the busiest of the group.
The beat their wings and wove through the dense forest that was hard for humans to navigate. They avoided the dangerous beasts and birds of prey as they searched for rare plants and herbs.
The moment they found something valuable, two or three apprentice witches would charge into the forest with a dozen mercenaries at their sides. They would retrieve the plant as quickly as possible. This was undoubtedly a lucrative income for them as well.
Of course, there were times when powerful creatures guarded the rare plants. In these moments, it was up to the witches in the group to take care of the beasts.
They didn't include the yields during the trip in the accounts of the merchant company. They were private possessions and spoils of war for the witches. Thus, after an entire journey of doing so, every accompanying witch would find their collection exceeding even the pay that the merchant company paid out. It was why every one of them was so excited and passionate about doing this treasure hunt.
That said, the company couldn't possibly stop for their treasure hunting. They could only explore a small area within five to ten kilometers of the road. Any further and they wouldn't have time to harvest the goods even if they found anything.
Moreover, areas like these, which were close to the road, had already been exhausted from repeated searches by traveling witches over the years. Anything that was of value had already been scoured and taken from the place. Thus, the witches of the group decisively gave up on such a game that was only a waste of Spirit and passed the chance on to the training apprentices.
For these poor apprentices, that had no right to enjoy the resources of the clan, even morsels that the witches didn't want were enough to keep them full. Consequently, they too were glad to busy themselves with the task of searching for plants.
And so, the caravan progressed in such a seemingly slow, yet truthfully quick manner, and soon arrived at the first camp of their long journey.
It was barely noon at this point!
Age of Adepts
Updated to Chapter 1499 - The Orc Pantheon
100Chapter 99
101Chapter 100
102Chapter 101
103Chapter 102
104Chapter 103
105Chapter 104
106Chapter 105
107Chapter 106
108Chapter 107
109Chapter 108
110Chapter 109
111Chapter 110
112Chapter 111
113Chapter 112
114Chapter 113
115Chapter 114
116Chapter 115
117Chapter 116
118Chapter 117
119Chapter 118
120Chapter 119
121Chapter 120
122Chapter 121
123Chapter 122
124Chapter 123
125Chapter 124
126Chapter 125
127Chapter 126
128Chapter 127
129Chapter 128
130Chapter 129
131Chapter 130
132Chapter 131
133Chapter 132
134Chapter 133
135Chapter 134
136Chapter 135
137Chapter 136
138Chapter 137
139Chapter 138
140Chapter 139
141Chapter 140
142Chapter 141
143Chapter 142
144Chapter 143
145Chapter 144
146Chapter 145
147Chapter 146
148Chapter 147
149Chapter 148
150Chapter 149
151Chapter 150
152Chapter 151
153Chapter 152
154Chapter 153
155Chapter 154
156Chapter 155
157Chapter 156
158Chapter 157
159Chapter 158
160Chapter 159
161Chapter 160
162Chapter 161
163Chapter 162
164Chapter 163
165Chapter 164
166Chapter 165
167Chapter 166
168Chapter 167
169Chapter 168
170Chapter 169
171Chapter 170
172Chapter 171
173Chapter 172
174Chapter 173
175Chapter 174
176Chapter 175
177Chapter 176
178Chapter 177
179Chapter 178
181Chapter 180
182Chapter 181
183Chapter 182
184Chapter 183
185Chapter 184
186Chapter 185
187Chapter 186
188Chapter 187
189Chapter 188
190Chapter 189
191Chapter 190
192Chapter 191
193Chapter 192
194Chapter 193
195Chapter 194
196Chapter 195
197Chapter 196
198Chapter 197
199Chapter 198
200Chapter 199
201Chapter 200
202Chapter 201
203Chapter 202
204Chapter 203
205Chapter 204
206Chapter 205
207Chapter 206
208Chapter 207
209Chapter 208
210Chapter 209
211Chapter 210
212Chapter 211
213Chapter 212
214Chapter 213
215Chapter 214
216Chapter 215
217Chapter 216
218Chapter 217
219Chapter 218
220Chapter 219
221Chapter 220
222Chapter 221
223Chapter 222
224Chapter 223
225Chapter 224
226Chapter 225
227Chapter 226
228Chapter 227
229Chapter 228
230Chapter 229
231Chapter 230
232Chapter 231
233Chapter 232
234Chapter 233
235Chapter 234
236Chapter 235
237Chapter 236
238Chapter 237
239Chapter 238
240Chapter 239
241Chapter 240
242Chapter 241
243Chapter 242
244Chapter 243
245Chapter 244
246Chapter 245
247Chapter 246
248Chapter 247
249Chapter 248
250Chapter 249
251Chapter 250
252Chapter 251
253Chapter 252
254Chapter 253
255Chapter 254
256Chapter 255
257Chapter 256
258Chapter 257
259Chapter 258
260Chapter 259
261Chapter 260
262Chapter 261
263Chapter 262
264Chapter 263
265Chapter 264
266Chapter 265
267Chapter 266
268Chapter 267
269Chapter 268
270Chapter 269
271Chapter 270
272Chapter 271
273Chapter 272
274Chapter 273
275Chapter 274
276Chapter 275
277Chapter 276
278Chapter 277
279Chapter 278
280Chapter 279
281Chapter 280
282Chapter 281
283Chapter 282
284Chapter 283
285Chapter 284
286Chapter 285
287Chapter 286
288Chapter 287
289Chapter 288
290Chapter 289
291Chapter 290
292Chapter 291
293Chapter 292
294Chapter 293
295Chapter 294
296Chapter 295
297Chapter 296
298Chapter 297
299Chapter 298
300Chapter 299
301Chapter 300
302Chapter 301
303Chapter 302
304Chapter 303
305Chapter 304
306Chapter 305
307Chapter 306
308Chapter 307
309Chapter 308
310Chapter 309
311Chapter 310
312Chapter 311
313Chapter 312
314Chapter 313
318Chapter 317
319Chapter 318
320Chapter 319
321Chapter 320
322Chapter 321
323Chapter 322
324Chapter 323
325Chapter 324
326Chapter 325
607Chapter 606
608Chapter 607
611Chapter 610
612Chapter 611
613Chapter 612
614Chapter 613
1235Chapter 1234
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