It was decided that Darren and Nile would leave the next day of Nile's 4th birthday. For Nile, the next few months passed hastily, with a monotonous schedule. In these past months Nile rested only when necessary, he spent a large part of his days cultivating, and now was a human-3 cultivator. The rest of the day was spent memorizing the skill scroll and weapon training. Even though Darren a warrior rank cultivator was accompanying him, Nile did not like the very idea of being dependent on someone. Everyone was happy seeing his progress especially Elora. She knew, stronger her son would be the greater will be the chance of his survival in the wild.
A day before the departure.
Nile's Birthday
"Nile, here is a small gift for your 4th birthday" Drake said, holding 2 talismans. Then he continued further "Nile both these talismans will be of great importance in your journey." He then stretched his left arm and said "This talisman will create a barrier around you which can withstand an attack of a master ranked monster (or cultivator) and below." Drake paused and stretched his other arm and continued "The second talisman can teleport the user to 60kilometer, but the direction will be random. I suggest you use this talisman in urgency. You have to crush these talismans to use them and they can only be used once and for a single user." Drake handed both the talisman to Nile and hugged him.
"Thank you for the gift, father" Nile said smiling.
After Drake Elora stepped forward with her gift-
"Son your present" Elora said while giving Nile a small pouch and further added "The dagger Darren gifted you earlier is in it. Be careful when wielding it."
"Thank you mother, this storage pouch will surely come in handy" Nile thanked Elora while impatiently checking the storage space of that pouch.
As the name suggests it was a magical item used as a storage space, the storage space depends on the quality of the item. The pouch gifted by Elora had a storage space of 4 sq meters.
Inside the pouch laid a dagger with a red shiny shaft.
Next, it was Darren-
"I do not have much to offer, I can just give you these" Darren said while giving Nile 5 monster cores- 4 human rank and 1 warrior rank core.
"Darren, thank you for these" Nile said smiling and accepting the cores.
After Darren Kaya and Mia stepped forward-
"Master Nile this -." Kaya was only midsentence when Nile interrupted her.
"Aunt Kaya you can just call me Nile, I have already acknowledged both Mia and you as part of this family." Nile said casually.
"Bu-" Everyone was startled in the room, especially Kaya. As soon as she heard Nile tears welled up her eyes. She further tried resisting but failed to withstand Nile's stubbornness.
'He has such a gentle heart. I hope this hideous world does not corrupt him.' Mia thought while standing beside Kaya.
"Please accept this gift from us." Kaya said. It was a dagger sheath gifted by both Mia and Kaya.
"Thank you aunt Kaya and Mia" Nile said while accepting the gift.
Holding the sheath Nile surprisingly said-"Huh, this is not an ordinary sheath."
"Yes, the sheath is made especially for the dagger which sir Darren gifted you a year back. This sheath mends your dagger even if it is broken and will help in maintaining its sharpness." Kaya said while smiling warmly.
"Thanks, aunt Kaya and Mia," Nile said while examining the sheath, the sheath was black in colour, and if one looked closely there were dull snake scales like texture present on the sheath.
Elora who was looking at Nile's small beautiful face was feeling gloomy.
'I would not cry, come on Elora he will be fine, he is strong, you don't need to worry much. Even Darren is with him. They both will manage just fine and this is the best possible way, do not think too much everything will be fine.' Elora had sorrow in her eyes, which she hid perfectly with an elegant smile.
Nile who was standing with Drake and Dareen asked curiously-"Darren why WildWitch forest" It was mutually decided by both Darren and Drake that Nile would be hiding and training in Wildwitch forest. This forest was huge with an area of thousands of kilometers. This forest touched the boundary of Withlock town.
Darren replied-"There are 2 reasons for choosing this forest, firstly it is close to the town just lying on the boundaries. Secondly, only a few people dared of hunting or traveling through WildWitch forest."
"But is it not marked as a Darkred zone? There must be some Grandmaster ranked monsters." Nile asked with a thrilled expression.
'What is wrong with this kid? Why does he look excited rather than being scared.' Drake thought while staring at Nile.
"Yes it is but there is another reason for it being a red zone" Darren took a deep breath and continued explaining "There was an incident hundreds of years back, a team of Master rank cultivators led by a Grand-Master were all killed except for one. The sole survivor later told that they were attacked by a Savage female cultivator who effortlessly beheaded the group leader in a single strike. The survivor used a talisman to escape, he was lucky to have been traveling a few hundred meters behind the group. After this incident, many cultivators went in to discover the forest out of curiosity and those who traveled too far to the center never returned, thus naming the forest after that Wild female cultivator WildWitch forest. When all the cultivators that went in the forest and met the same fate the cultivators started avoiding the forest out of fear. The only cultivator who explored this forest and survived was Solomon Withlock."
"Did Great-Grandpa tell about that female cultivator?" Nile asked, now even more excited than earlier.
Drake's eyes widened seeing Nile so excitingly asking about the WildWitch of the Forest. 'I don't even remember how many nightmares I had in my childhood after hearing about the WildWitch, and this boy is acting as if he is listening to a Fairy tale.' Drake thought while clearing his throat and answered
"After King Augustus requested Grandfather to tell him about the WildWitch many times, Grandfather just said- 'If Ablon wants to exist in peace, she should not be meddled with.' King Agustus later told my father (Gordon) that it was the first time he saw fear in his friend's (Solomon) eyes. King Agustus later marked the forest as a Darkred danger zone."
"But, if that is marked as a Darkred zone because of WildWitch, will there be any monsters to slay?" Nile was disappointed.
"Hahahahaha" Darren guffawed (laugh loudly) seeing Nile and said "There are many monsters in WildWitch forest like any other. I have spent a lot of time in there hunting monsters."
"Darren did you come across WildWitch?" Nile questioned
"I would not have been standing here if I would have. I avoided the dense center of the forest and focused on the outskirts of the forest " Darren replied.
"Why not other cultivators do the same then?" Nile questioned again
"The new generation of cultivators hardly knows about it, they are just aware of the WildWitch forest being a danger zone, on the other hand, the old generation of cultivators who actually knows about the horrors of this forest keeps it a secret from the younger generation to protect them." Darren answered
"Protect them how?" Nile was puzzled
"Cultivators are a greedy bunch of people. If they get to know a strong cultivator is living in there they would try confronting her for different purposes- Some would try recruiting her, some would try killing her so she could not pose a threat in the future, some would be curious of the type of treasures she may posses and so on. Cultivators in the past have already tried and lost their lives so the older generation thought it would be best to keep the whole existence of the WildWitch a secret." Darren answered Nile.
"I understood." Nile said.
'I will explore this forest and confront the female cultivator once I am strong enough.' Nile was curious about the treasures the forest may hold, if it was not yet explored, especially the dense center where the WildWitch resided.
The party soon ended.
The Sleepless night somehow passed for both Elora and Drake.