Ethereal Ascendance: A Journey of Transformation(Vol 5)

Vol 5/Chapter 19: The Mysterious Border Military Base

This was the southeast part of the Ilandra Dominion. Galadra had teleported us to a spot right in the middle of a forest.

It was very hot here. Because of the wet climate, the trees in the south grew thicker than in the north.

When I first came to this world, I arrived at the Elara Woodlands. That place had mostly pine trees and tall trees. But here, we saw mostly small bushes. There was green moss and vines everywhere, wrapped around tree trunks and rocks. It was a completely different ecosystem.

With so many plants, there must be many animals too! We could hear different animal calls from nearby. If you paid attention, you could see all kinds of small animals running around. The jungle was very lively! There were even some magical creatures.

"No way, are there so many magical beasts in the south?" Cyra was very surprised when she saw this. We had never seen anything like this before. You know, we are angels! Even though we had put away our wings, the light energy we gave off should scare normal magical beasts.

But the magical beasts in this forest didn't avoid us. They didn't dare come right up to us, but they came quite close.

Magical beasts with no or very low intelligence are usually called "monster beasts". Compared to smart and powerful magical creatures, monster beasts act more on instinct. To humans, they're basically just wild animals changed by dark energy.

Because light and dark are naturally opposite in this world, monster beasts are usually very afraid of light mages. When they sense light energy, they usually stay far away. And they're even more scared of angels!

But strangely, several small monster beasts that looked like wild cats ran past us just two or three meters away. They didn't even look at us. They didn't show any anger either. It was like we didn't exist at all.

"These magical creatures escaped from the north to here a long time ago," Galadra explained casually. "They've lived here for many generations. Their habits are very different now."

"I see! No wonder the dark energy from these monster beasts feels so weak!" I suddenly understood. It was still stronger than normal animals, but much weaker than the ones invading humans in the north.

Magical creatures breed very fast. But in the south, they might not find enough of their own kind. So they often have to breed with normal wild animals. Sometimes they even have to breed with different species. So it's normal that their dark energy became weaker.

I should explain something here. Of course there are barriers between species, even in this magic world. But dark energy creatures are very special (angels have wings which is different, but our bodies are mostly the same as humans).

Usually, the more dark energy a magical creature has (you could say the more "changed" high-level magical creatures are), the more likely they can have babies with completely different species. But high-level magical creatures are usually very smart. They prefer to breed with their own kind. Also, many mixed babies have problems and can't survive or fight well. So we don't see too many mixed magical creatures.

"This dark energy is quite strange!" Cyra said thoughtfully after hearing my explanation. "It can turn people into zombies and break barriers between species. It feels familiar somehow..."

"Now is not the time to discuss this," Galadra interrupted, looking at her meaningfully. "Don't forget why I brought you here!" After all, we didn't come here to study nature. We came to help her get through a difficult time.

"When exactly will the Cycle of Rebirth projection come? Should we wait here? But..." Adrian frowned, worried about wasting time just waiting around.

I had wanted to leave him and Cyra in Crescent City and come alone. But they strongly disagreed. Luckily Galadra didn't mind, so we all came together.