Serpent suddenly screamed.
"Oh my god! You can see me!" Serpent screamed.
"Woah! That thing could talk?!" Vanessa said.
"But how?"
Raliz couldn't lie now. But she's confused. How come Vanessa saw Serpent? Raliz thought hard about it.
Raliz looked at Serpent. "You said that I'm the only one that can see you, why she could?" She asked.
"I don't know! But... I think this is because of the Blood Contract. Yes, It is because of the Blood Contract." Serpent guessed.
"I think that thing is right." Vanessa interrupted.
"Hey! I'm not a thing. I'm a spirit. Calling me a thing is rude. Call me Serpent instead." Serpent said grumpily.
"Okay. Can I say you're cute?" Vanessa suggested.
"No... Really?" Serpent asked.
"Oh, yes very much. Can I pet you?" Vanessa asked. Then put her hand on Serpent's head.
Then she rubbed it.
"Don't you dare...ooh, ooh, there, there...hah..." Serpent acted like a dog after Vanessa pet it.
Raliz got confused. Vanessa could also touched Serpent!
"How?"
"Maybe one effect of the Blood Contract is something like you can't hide anything from each other, I think." Serpent said.
"I guess you're right. Come here." Vanessa agreed and pulled Serpent towards her and pet it again. Serpent like it, though.
Raliz told Vanessa about her class and about Serpent.
Vanessa was surprised when Raliz told her about her class. A Spirit Summoners are rarely seen class. In this time, there has been no reports about Spirit Summoners, and now Vanessa was teaming up with one.
Spirit Summoner was a very powerful class. If you are gifted enough to be one, you could be compared to a God.
The Powers of the Spirit Summoners were harvested on their Animal or Beast Spirit. So if they gifted a beast with a godly power, they could train in using its power.
Just like Raliz did with her Serpent's Vine Slaughter.
...
Now they were in the premises of the Dark Forest. To passed the Dark Forest fast, they should passed the Dark River. Their task is to deliver something. And they should deliver it on time, their given time were all only 6 days.
The Dark Forest has 6 layers. The First and Second layers had some Warrior and Elite level Creatures. Raliz and Vanessa are now in the First layer of the forest.
In the 3rd Layer, Master Level Creatures are lurking everywhere. In the 4th Layer of the Dark Forest, it's the home of Grandmaster and King Level Creatures.
And after that is the 5th Layer, the area where Legendary Creatures are living. People who can only goes there were at Legendary Level.
And in the 6th Layer, no one knows what Creatures could be lurking there. There was no specific reports about the sixth layer. People who entered the 6th Layer had never returned. The 6th layer is the center of the forest.
They say Divine Creatures dwelled in there. Divine Creatures are similar to God Level Creatures. Divine is the term for the Creatures in God Level and God is the term for people who are in God Level.
People could tell that there are layers because of the pillars. These pillars tell you that which layer are you.
Every Layer has its own pillars. Every layer has own unique appearances.
Surrounded with stone pillars is the first layer. These stone pillars are ones outside the Dark Forest.
The 2nd layer is surrounded by bronze pillars. 3rd Layer is surrounded by silver pillars. 4th Layer is surrounded by Gold pillars. The fifth layer is surrounded by emerald pillars then the sixth layer is surrounded by Diamond pillars.
The pillars were also mysterious. From the 2nd to 6th layer, their pillars could only be seen from above but if you try to reach it, you won't. No people could touched the pillars since the beginning of time.
The Dark Forest was like a circle that was cut half by a river. To get pass the Dark Forest, there are three ways.
Usually, people passed the Dark Forest in about 4-6 days. But Raliz and Vanessa can't make out that too long.
First way to pass the Dark Forest was going around it by staying in the first or the second layer and it'll take them 4-6 days. In this way, people could be safe but took them some time.
Second, They could take the river and follow it until they could reach the 5th layer then they'll go around it. They'll pass it in 3-4 days.
Lastly, They could try to follow the river until the end of it but they'll cross the 6th layer which is very dangerous. And even it is the most fastest way, still they don't know what will they encounter or what will happen to them if they set foot in that layer.
Raliz and Vanessa chose the second way which is a 3-4 days of track.
3-4 days
It'll take them 3-4 days because of how long the the route and the time that you will spent on dealing the Creatures that you'll encounter.
Raliz had thought a solution about that. With the help of her gem they could escape those incoming Creatures and get out of the forest about in 2 days.
Serpent warned them about those residing Creatures in the Dark Forest. Aside calling it Dark Forest because it's Dark, it is also home for many Dark Creatures.
The Forest also contain some negative energies that make a person's mind weak and make people prone to illusions and hallucinations.
Evil Ghosts resides in there too. People with weak will got easily possessed. It also made them kill themselves or kill their own comrades.
Vanessa summoned something out from her Endless Space Pouch.
A jar filled with white light. Vanessa opened it and she said an incantation that Raliz didn't understand.
The light came out and covered Raliz and Vanessa's body with white light. An announcement rang in Raliz head.
" Master Level: Will Blessing. Will increased. Ordinary illusions can't affect you. Negative Energies can't harm you."
Raliz smiled.
They continued their journey. Raliz looked into the map. Right now they're in the first layer of the forest and Raliz's gem picked up many Creatures around but they easily avoided it.
Raliz climbed a tree, she wants to see if they are closed to the second Layer of the Dark Forest.
Raliz reached the top. She could see the clear sky again. She looked at the horizon and saw a bronze pillar up ahead north.
Also, every layer has its own kind of atmosphere or pull of gravity. The deeper they get the heavier the atmosphere is or the stronger the pull of gravity..
So that's how you'll know if you have passed a layer or step in another layer.
Raliz and Vanessa went North. Raliz saw the bronze Pillar up ahead. She ran to reach it and when she arrived, she sat next to it. He leaned her back to the pillar and rest for a bit.
Vanessa was stunned. She couldn't move. She couldn't believed what happened.
"Is this real? Or am I in an illusion? Hallucination? Did the Will Blessing didn't work?" these questions appeared in Vanessa's head. She really couldn't believed it. They've just reached one of the pillars!
She went to the pillar. She was dumbfounded.
While resting, Raliz saw little white rocks surrounding the pillar. And then she saw Vanessa walking towards her but on top of the rocks, Raliz saw that the air suddenly tighten. You can totally see that there is a something like a barrier.
Raliz saw a little bird coming for the bronze pillar. And when the bird hit the barrier, the bird suddenly disappeared.
Raliz was shocked and immediately warned Vanessa.
"Vanessa stop moving..."
But Raliz was too late. Vanessa suddenly disappeared, when she touched the barrier.
Worry flashed in Raliz's eyes.
She had no idea of what happened to Vanessa.
"Did... Did I lost her?" Raliz asked herself.
Tears suddenly fell down in her eyes.
"I'm so slow. I'm so weak. Why did I let her disappeared like that." Raliz criticized herself. She was very angry in herself.
...
Serpent was by her side, wondering. Serpent went to the the barrier and touched it. Then, Serpent appeared somewhere in the forest.
Serpent was glad when it saw Vanessa. Vanessa saw Serpent too.
"Serpent! Where's Raliz?" Vanessa asked worriedly.
"She's at the pillar. She was very worried about you too." Serpent said.
" Come on, there's Creatures up ahead. Hold me tight." Serpent added when it detected some Creatures around the woods.
Vanessa grabbed Serpent and held it like a baby.
"Now go that way. Faster!" Serpent hurriedly said point in the direction where the barrier was located.
Vanessa couldn't see the barrier, she just went in the direction where Serpent pointed out.
...
Raliz was still weeping when suddenly an image appeared in the barrier. The image suddenly became more realistic and Vanessa and Serpent came out of it.
Raliz was happy to see the two. Raliz immediately hugged Vanessa.
Vanessa hugged Raliz too.
" I thought I lost you..." Raliz said while crying.
" Mee, too. " Vanessa looked at Serpent. "Thank you..." She thanked Serpent for what it did to her.
After a minute, Raliz was comforted. She regained herself.