A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 94 Sorry, someone's peeking at my ID card

The situation has not improved.

After dealing with the monsters, the investigation team examined the entire village ruins. There were charred marks on the moss, mycelium, vines, and under the trees, clearly indicating that a large fire had destroyed everything.

The eternal night in the core area of ​​the forest has not been lifted, and the senses of Master Humboldt and the other apprentices of the Forest Tower that were blocked have also disappeared.

Rorschach suddenly realized that the eternal night here might correspond to the eternal day in the secondary plane.

The forest returned to silence, but it was far from peaceful. No other animals appeared after that; the wood owl summoned by Archmage Humboldt flew away, cooing softly.

"It said the forest, inside, is terrifying, and we are terrifying." Humboldt's expression was icy as he translated.

The whole group was in low spirits.

"There's a mound here." Cavendish considered digging it up, but Couber stopped him.

"Young man, may you rest in peace." He patted Cavendish on the shoulder. "Let's search other places first, and only disturb these elf friends if we really find no clues."

"An elf? You mean..."

"Master Colbert told you not to rush to dig up the grave." Rorschach pulled Cavendish aside, but he seemed to hear Colbert also calling out to the local aboriginal friend, "How old are you, old man?"

After a preliminary search of the ruins on the surface, the team paused for a long rest.

Just like in the secondary plane, people easily lose their sense of time in an environment without day and night. It is precisely at this time that they need to rest and recuperate according to the rules, especially after a battle, a battle that left them with a bad taste in their mouth.

Decades later, smoke rose from the chimneys once more. The trapped monster, which had been pounding on the cage that bound it, had now fallen silent, staring blankly at the campfire and the pot.

Peterson pondered a question: "Should the little boy's body remain here, or should it be taken back to his parents?"

"Although it's cruel, this place belongs to the elves, so let's take him to his family." Rorschach felt that making up a "white lie" now would not work on the couple at all. If he had a change of heart and ran into the depths of the forest one day, wouldn't that just harm them again?

"The couple is still in the hunter's village. There haven't been any beast tides for the past two nights." Fortunately, Master Humboldt did not lose contact with his clone, just as Grandpa Kober's clone is still alive and kicking.

The hotel had run out of milk, so the emergency food was boiled in water and turned into a milky cereal porridge, which was served with bread. Luckily, there was still some bacon, otherwise it would have been just carbs on carbs.

After finishing his meal, Cavendish went stargazing again to ensure the accuracy of the "navigation map." The trees in the village weren't that dense, so he didn't need to bother Rorschach with building a high earthen platform anymore.

Rorschach unrolled his communication scroll and continued writing to Cano, also sending over some samples of the monster's tissue.

Peterson noticed Rorschach's movements: "A communication scroll? Rorschach, you seem to use it every day."

"Yes, I keep in touch with my advisor."

"But aren't you sending messages too frequently? Sending messages consumes a lot of energy from the main magic circle. The main magic circle inside the Forest Tower needs to be recharged every day after sending and receiving messages."

"Really? I think the Magic Guild" is something Luo Xia didn't know, and even if he did, he would still keep sending messages. Anyway, all he has is a portable port, and since Kano gave him the mailing address, he can just keep sending messages.

"Forget it, maybe the Tower of Stars, like the guild, has better research results in this area. We in the Tower of the Forest are really not good at it; our entire loop system is outdated." Peterson shook his head and walked away.

Rorschach found himself dreaming of an empty village, with low buildings and round roofs made of stacked pottery shards, and walls made of bluestone covered with vegetation, the leaves trembling rhythmically in the moonlight.

In the very center of the village, in the largest house, stood the only structure built entirely of grass and wood, with the Deer-Headed God standing on its leaf-covered roof. He gazed silently toward the giant tree.

There's a deer pretending to be an expert.

"You've come at just the right time." Rorschach said, stepping forward. He felt for the first time that he was actually quite happy to see Dryaz in a dream. He didn't bother complaining about the show-offs anymore; he had many questions that the Stag-Headed God needed to answer:

"What's going on with the monsters in the village? Why is it eternal night here? Is Master Humboldt's loss of consciousness related to the strange changes in the forest? What dangers lurk in the giant trees and the core of the forest?"

After a moment's thought, Dryaz replied:

"These degraded wood spirit imitations appeared only after my fall, and I have no idea why. Perhaps the answer lies where I stand—according to elven custom, this is the residence of the elders and the center of the settlement, where the elders impart elven knowledge and poetry."

The answer to the second question lies within your heart. When desolation and prosperity were separated, the celestial phenomena of yin and yang were also divided. But the land of eternal night was not originally of its current size; perhaps this is a chain reaction resulting from the mutation of the desolate land.

The third question: Originally, Druids, those of you who follow the Druidic path among the spirit summoners, could command the spirits and essences of the forest; this was your ability to sense them. In my understanding, two forces are locked in a tug-of-war within the forest, and this place has now become a silent battlefield. According to the law of the Great Tree, the forest is no longer open to others.

Finally, on the approaching day, I will tell you the truth: at the heart of the forest, the giant oak bears my reproductive power, ensuring it does not dissipate or go out of control and keeping the earth vibrant with life.

However, the power of procreation has attracted an ancient, surging, and distorted force. The master of this force is unknown and is still sealed. Only a small amount of it can seep out to corrupt the giant tree and my lost power.

Originally, I only wished to return to this place to rest, but now circumstances have changed. Send my last remaining traces of soul to the source of the pollution, so that I may end all of this. If there is any danger, my blessing will ensure your safety.

Having answered, the Deer-Headed God drew the moonlight to shine upon himself, and the village gradually disappeared.

His voice gradually faded: "Until the very last moment arrives, I must gather my strength. Danger does not necessarily come only from the outside; I sense that among your ranks are servants of the distorted and surging, and the underlying aura makes me nauseous."

"Peterson?"

Dryaz nodded and disappeared into the moonlight.

I'm just guessing. When they first met and entered the forest, Peterson praised his student Anastasia, which caught Rorschach's attention. Obviously, Rorschach didn't expect that he had seen Anastasia and had obtained information about the Order.

The next guy's performance was unremarkable. Until today, after the battle, everyone else was listless, but he was exceptionally active, seemingly excited about something.

In this way, the master of the filthy power that the Deer-Headed God had been shrouding in riddles and concealing was about to be revealed, at least Rorschach knew His disguise.

Rorschach woke up after Delyuaz disappeared. The night was still there, and all he could see when he opened his eyes was the once-intact village reduced to ruins. What made him even more uneasy was that he was fully awake both in his dream and in reality. Although he was no longer tired or sleepy, he didn't feel the comfort of waking up naturally. It was as if he hadn't slept at all.

Besides Peterson, could Ella, with her high intuition, also be a problem? He hesitated, deciding to create an opportunity to contact Humboldt or the old man Couber alone. After the archbishop's eavesdropping, he no longer trusted [Communication], especially when facing a nature-based being skilled in psychic perception.

Looking at Peterson, who had gotten up even earlier than him, Rorschach thought to himself that it was a pity he had climbed out of his sleeping bag.

"Grandpa, shouldn't we try to explore the village's underground? I feel that the stone slab in the center of the village is quite out of place." The stone slab that Luo Xia was talking about was the place where the child's body was placed, and it was also the remains of the Elder's House - the building, which was full of grass and trees on the ground, was completely gone, leaving only that square blue stone slab.

There will be another update tonight! Acknowledgments will be in the third update.

(End of this chapter)