The Legendary Arcane Master

13. The Dark Forest pt(1).

Colossal trees encased within thick, hardy bark were all one would see upon entering the ominous dark forest that separates the prosperous kaunan city from the rundown countryside region.

The dense overgrowth of towering tress managed to block most of the sun's light from ever touching the forest floor, casting an everlasting shadow over the place.

The surroundings gave off a eerie vibe, as if the forest was a conscious, breathing thing that was observing them closely. Even inside the carriage, all the passengers were feeling deeply creeped out.

Strangely enough, they also couldn't help but feel invigorated. These passengers who had never left the countryside region felt as if they had lived within a stinky swamp their whole lives.

If one placed the darkness and creepy aura aside, this forest, would be a paradise! The air was cleaner and smelled fresher. Their lungs seemed all too happy to be filled with the air.

They could feel themselves becoming relaxed and rejuvenated. Their minds clearing up. Everybody just....mellowed out.

Dragx who was also affected, felt astonished by the forest's ability to stir up such contradicting feelings within him. His subconscious told him to be tense, while his body felt relaxed.

This caused a tug-of-war between his body and mind that was stuck in a stalemate. Unconsciously, his ever curious analytical mind began ponder upon the queerness of the forest.

The physical feelings of comfort and and contentment was probably caused by either two things.

One being the higher density of plant-type magical energy and the other being an increased level of oxygen in the air.

Dragx wouldn't be able to make anymore speculations until later but he knew that magic had played a role in this phenomenon for sure.

O:.

The day slowly passed by uneventfully. With most of the sun's rays being blocked, many of the travelers were unable to keep an accurate track of time. Only a few wealthy gentlemen and merchants were able to do so by using their expensive wind-up pocket watches and then share the time with the other passengers.

At around midday, the caravan stopped and the passengers got down from the stuffy carriage and began to properly take in the wonders of their surroundings.

A few rays of sunshine were able to penetrate the thick covering of vegetation. Thanks to this, they were able to better observe their environment.

Immediately after stepping down from the carriage dragx could hear the crunch of dead and decaying plant matter beneath his feet.

As he looked around, he noticed that the place didn't look quite as grim as he imagined. The thick and pure aura that just oozed vitality was too thick in the air.

A few merchants who sold rough farming produce looked around in approval. In a rocky mountainous area such as this, roots like as Yam, Cassava, potato and Guango would thrive here!

One of them squatted down and began scrapping away the decaying leaves until his fingers touched the soft brown dirt.

Taking a handful, he grinned at the pile of dirt as if he were holding a pile of gold! The brown soil was damp and had and earthly scent to it.

He began screaming: "Fertile! This soil is extremely fertile!"

His mind raced at the thought of chopping down these damn trees and making this place fit for cultivation!

Upon seeing the greedy smiles on the faces of the merchants who had obvious thoughts of growing crops in the dark forest, many of the mercenaries curled their lips in disdain.