Chapter 386 Forbidden Forest
Heath said bluntly, “The number of Nightmares just now, I could defeat all of them. Now there’s only one left. Even if it escapes, I wouldn’t care.” “This…”
“Forget it. Sir Wizard, although you’re powerful, what if…”
The Underground Gnomes were still hesitant. After all, they had suffered a lot from the Nightmares. They had lost too many people, and their fear of this thing was deeply engraved in their bones. It was not so easy for Heath to erase the mark in their hearts with just a few words.
Seeing this, Heath could not help but say in a more serious tone, “I caught this Nightmare, and I have the right to deal with it. Now I want to keep it because it is crucial to my research. This is one of the reasons why I helped you.” Pausing for a moment, he said in a more serious tone, “Alright, that’s the end of the matter. There’s no need to say anymore.”
He had never intended to discuss this with these Underground Gnomes. From the start, they did not have a choice. After all, in this world, strength was still the number one rule. Here, Heath had absolute strength… He naturally had an absolute choice.
Seeing that things had come to this, Albert also knew that they had no choice. Thus, he quickly stood up and said, “We were able to obtain victory because of Sir Wizard’s help. If it wasn’t for the Sir Wizard, we would all have died here today. Alright, now that Sir Wizard needs this Nightmare to do magic research, we shouldn’t stop him. Since Sir Wizard can defeat them one by one, even if there is an accident, he will definitely be able to defeat them again. That’s
it.”
Thus, the matter came to an end. No matter how unwilling the Underground Gnomes were, they had no right to speak here. Everything was decided by Heath. Then, the Underground Gnomes cleaned up the battlefield. The war of cleaning up the bodies of the dead and recuperating had come to an end
After the matter was over, the Shaman came before Heath again. After the tough battle just now, the old man’s face was obviously very pale, and his spiritual power was also quite weak. It was obvious that he had exhausted all his strength.
At that time, he still insisted on walking to Heath. He bowed deeply and said, “Sir Wizard, I am really grateful to you this time. Thanks to your help, our tribe was able to persevere through this dark time.”
Heath shook his head and said, “It’s okay. To me, this is just a piece of cake. Moreover, this Nightmare is indeed a rare research material for me.”
The strength of a Wizard was different from those Underground Gnomes. It came from the digging and research of knowledge. This Shaman, Kerza, had heard of it before. Therefore, hearing Heath’s words that were crazy in the eyes of the other Underground Gnomes, he could reluctantly accept it.
He said, “It’s great to be able to bring help to Sir Wizard. If you need anything else, our tribe will not refuse if we can do it.”
After a pause, Shaman Kerza continued to ask, “I heard from Al that Sir Wizard needs some guides to collect some materials in the forest. Is that so?”
Hearing the old man’s words, Heath could not help but feel a little better. He nodded and said, “Yes, this is also the main reason why I came to the Underground World. I came here mainly to collect some materials.” Wizards often searched the world for all kinds of strange materials to make all kinds of strange potions. Kerza had heard of this a long time ago, so he was not curious about it at the moment.
If it were any other Underground Gnomes, they would be surprised. After all, the forest full of Nightmares was like h.e.l.l to the Underground Gnomes. If it was not a last resort… They would never go into the forest. Shaman Kerza continued to ask, “Sir Wizard, what materials do you need? Can you tell me? My tribe has some understanding of this generation’s situation. Perhaps it can help you, Sir Wizard.”
Heath’s eyes lit up. Because the Underground World and the Surface World were two different worlds, even Wizards rarely had any understanding of the situation here. Naturally, it was difficult for Heath to learn about the knowledge here from books and information. Before coming here, he basically knew nothing about the situation here. After all, this Achute Tribe was born and raised here. Although they rarely went into the forest because of the Nightmares, compared to Heath, who was an outsider… They definitely needed to know more about the situation. He quickly said, “If you can help me, it would be great.”
After a pause, he explained, “I came here for a material called the Rebirth Fruit. I wonder if you have heard of this material?”
“The Rebirth Fruit?” Shaman Kerza looked surprised.
Heath raised his eyebrows. “You know about
it?”
Kerza smiled bitterly. “Sir Wizard, you really know how to find things. It’s not easy to come to the Underground World and ask for the Rebirth Fruit.”
Heath was stunned. “What do you mean?”
From what he knew from the Wizard’s books, this Rebirth Fruit should be a kind of high-level magic material in the Underground World. Although it was expensive, it did not say how difficult it was for him to obtain it. Seeing Kerza’s expression at this moment, Heath was somewhat puzzled.
Kerza opened his mouth to explain. “This Rebirth Fruit is one of the oldest kinds of fruits in our Underground World. It is said that they were left behind during the Age of the G.o.ds. It was planted by a G.o.d himself.”
“In order to plant them, that G.o.d specially built a forest in the depths of the Underground World to plant this fruit.”
“In the ancient times, there were many such fruits. However, during the Battle of the G.o.ds 10,000 years ago, that forest was also destroyed. During the war, it was basically destroyed. At this moment, only a few fruits are left.”
“And because of the magic bombing, the forest is now filled with a very strong negative energy. To us Underground people, it is an existence that is even more terrifying than a Nightmare. Almost no one dares to approach it because it is too terrifying. Ghosts, strangeness, terror, pollution, all kinds of terror exist there.”
“That forest is also known as the Forbidden Forest.”
When he said the words ‘Forbidden Forest,’ Heath noticed that Kerza’s expression had obviously changed. He could not help but look pale, as if he was very afraid.
Heath could not help but become even more curious. Even in the face of the dangerous situation of eight Nightmares and when the Underground Gnome race had almost been destroyed, Kerza had not been so afraid. And now, it was as if an ordinary human had encountered a ghost, leaving only fear in his eyes.
After a pause… Kerza persuaded, “Sir Wizard, are you sure you must go to that forest? Are you sure you must have the Rebirth Fruit? If possible, I still hope you don’t go to that place. After all, it’s really not a good idea.”
Heath raised his eyebrows. “Then other than the Forbidden Forest, is there any other place that I can get the Rebirth Fruit?”
Kerza shook his head. “No, the Rebirth Fruit is a unique product of the Forbidden Forest. In the entire Underground World, only that place can have it. There were Wizards who tried to transplant this fruit to other places to plant it, but they all failed in the end. The G.o.ds seemed to have used a very strange method to cultivate this fruit tree in the past. Other than that forest, no other place in the world can let those fruit trees survive.”
Heath said, “Is that so…”
Kerza nodded and said, “Yes, then Sir Wizard, do you still want to go now?” Heath thought for a moment and said, “I’ll go and take a look first. If I really can’t handle it, it’s not too late to come back. Otherwise, it’s hard to come down here and spend so much effort. I’ve already come here. It doesn’t make sense to go back without doing anything, does it?”
He didn’t finish his sentence. After all, from Kerza’s description, that place didn’t seem to be a good place to go. Heath decided to go and take a look first. If he couldn’t handle it, he would give up and go another way. After all, there wasn’t only one way to mediate the side effects, but the price of other ways was higher.
Seeing that, Shaman Kerza did not continue to persuade him. He nodded and said, “If that’s the case, then it’s fine. Sir Wizard, when do you plan to set off? I will arrange two clansmen to be your guides.”
Heath thought for a moment and said, “Hmm… In a few days. I will study that Nightmare first before going.” If it was before, Heath would have decided to set off as soon as possible. In the beginning, he had planned to set off early the next morning, but now he had obtained a strange research material… Heath decided to put the matter of the materials aside for the time being and focus on the research at hand.
After all, Heath was a Wizard who was keen on researching all kinds of magic. For him, absorbing knowledge and exploring new things was always his first goal in life. He had to give in to everything else.
Kerza said, “Okay, then, Sir, when you are about to set off, send someone to tell me. I will ask my clansmen to prepare the things you need on the way and lead the way for you.”
Heath said, “Thank you, Shaman.”
Seeing that the Shaman was so easy to talk to, Heath could not help but have a good impression of him. Seeing that his spiritual power was so weak, Heath decisively took out a Spiritual Water and handed it to the Shaman.
Heath said, “Shaman, this is a kind of magic potion that I concocted. Its name is Spiritual Water. It can recover spiritual power. I see that your spiritual power seems to be a little weak now. Please drink it and see if it can help you.”
Kerza was flattered. “Ah, Sir Wizard, is this true?”
According to what he knew, Wizard potions were extremely precious. They were priceless treasures. He did not expect Heath to be so generous as to give him a bottle of potion.
Heath smiled and said, “You’re welcome. I still have a lot of this. I prepared a lot before coming here. To ordinary people, this may be a rare treasure, but to us Wizards, it is just a daily item. It is not a valuable item.” Spiritual Water might be considered an expensive treasure to ordinary Wizards, but it was really nothing to Heath. After all these years of research on potions… At this moment, he had reached an extremely terrifying level in potions. With the help of the system, he could quickly grasp any potion formula. With this large amount of knowledge… Now, it was as easy as flipping his hand to concoct a potion. He could easily concoct potions that were even more advanced than Spiritual Water.
After Shaman Kerza thanked Heath once again, he drank the potion. As soon as the potion entered his mouth, a surge of spiritual power immediately flowed into his sea of consciousness. The originally exhausted spiritual power was instantly replenished, and Kerza’s originally pale face instantly recovered a lot.
He could not help but smack his mouth and sigh involuntarily, “If we can have such a miracle, maybe we won’t have to struggle so hard against the Nightmares.”
Heath said, “It doesn’t matter. Before I successfully find the Rebirth Fruit and leave here, I will leave some for you. It’s enough for you to use for a long time in the future.” Shaman Kerza said in disbelief, “Ah, Sir Wizard, is what you said true? This… This is not a joke, right?” Heath smiled and said, “As I said, this is indeed not a great treasure to me.” Kerza did not know what to say for a moment. His grat.i.tude towards Heath had reached its peak.
Seeing that the old man was about to kneel down and kowtow, Heath quickly changed the topic. “Ahem, let’s not talk about this. Speaking of this, I have some questions about that Nightmare that I would like to ask you.”
Kerza asked, “The Nightmare? What do you want to know, Sir Wizard?”
Heath asked, “Do these Nightmares often attack the camp? I saw that everyone looked very familiar with them before. It seems that this place is often attacked by them?”
Kerza sighed and said, “Yes, since the day our tribe lived here, these Nightmares have never stopped. They attack us all the time. We can barely survive by relying on the magic array.” “Since the day you lived here?”
Heath felt that something was strange, but he could not tell what was strange.
He asked, “Then have you ever thought of moving to another place?”
Kerza said, “Do you mean to move?”
He smiled bitterly and said, “How could we not have thought of it? We have tried it for generations, but we have all failed…”