Eddie had mentioned that Pretti's power was pretty low compared to the other spirits. But Eddie explained to him now more about what they would face.
The forest was quite vast, and the only safe places were the areas around the monoliths like the one they were currently at. In the forest's majority, spirits mainly were the type of creatures one would encounter. Also, there were a wide variety of types of spirits, and some had troublesome exclusive abilities.
The King's Council had created the monoliths to help people pass through it easier, but still, it was a way that only a few selected to travel that way. The drowsing effect of the woods was a unique curse that Eddie was uncertain of who started it but had been active for hundreds of years and had shown no signs of getting any weaker.
The spirits living in the woods weren't the results of the curse, but the curse had made an excellent place for spirits to live at. Spirits usually had a more challenging time living in the outside world. For example, they could mostly move at night, but here in the woods, they could move normally for almost the entire day. It was like the curse had the opposite effect on them than on regular people.
As for the distance between each monolith, even if, in theory, it was the same, each trip had obstacles one had the chance to face. Therefore, the journey was even more challenging, especially when reaching the monoliths closer to the forest's center.
One could face the biggest problem of being in the woods at night. At night, not only spirits were more active and more powerful. It wasn't just because the little sunlight that passed was gone and didn't affect them, but also because the curse was getting more potent at night. Meaning its drowsing effect was stronger against non-spirit individuals. At the same time, it boosted the spirits even more than during the day.
Still, monoliths granted protection against spirits both day and night, but there were some powerful spirits in the deeper part of the woods that could pass them if they tried. Still, even if they did, the monoliths would weaken them while they were within their range, but that didn't mean that anyone could easily beat them.
According to Eddie, the power aura of the spirits they could find around the area they were at shouldn't be too far from Pretti's, with the majority being lower than hers. Even if Eddie had said that she wasn't much of a danger, that was because she didn't want to fight people, bringing her danger level to be low.
According to Eddie, most of the Spirits in the area were Spirits that had a punish-loop. Each spirit had its own punish-loop, but this gave Eddie and Zarin a great time to strike.
Typically, spirits had to spend all day doing their punish-loop, and they could only stop if they succeeded or the day was over. Still, that was the case for weak-willed spirits, as after a point, if a spirit strengthened its will enough, it could stop sooner. Still, no matter the spirit's will, if one had a punish-loop tasked on it, they needed to spend some time on it each day, just the amount of time depended on their willpower.
Pretti had developed her willpower to stop herself, but she still needed to spend a few hours on it each day.
Since they were in a clearing, they could see the sky and knew that it wasn't the end of the day.
Even if Spirits couldn't pass in the area shielded by the monoliths, that didn't mean that they stayed far from them. Especially for those low-level ones, the area was nonexistent to them and didn't trigger and danger to their senses. It was like the place was just like the rest of the forest, but they subconsciously went around it.
They would not investigate much of it even when one hit the field, just like what happened with Pretti.
Eddie had mentioned to Zarin that they needed to stop at four more monoliths, meaning they would need five days to exit the forest. The last one wasn't at the exit but at a similar distance from the forest's edge with the nearby monoliths. Eddie had a stack of potions for at least a week for both of them, meaning they should have some to spare for 'hunting spirits' sessions.
Still, they wouldn't be able to go too far or be out for long, as the potions were still getting weaker with each consumption. So they needed to let a few hours pass to avoid encountering that problem.
But if they planned to try to fight spirits in the woods, the potion's effect was a must.
This time, instead of the effect being affected, it affected its duration as it decreased to 1 hour and 57 minutes. It had been reduced by three minutes compared to its typical duration, but still, it was far from getting too weak.
'If it works as I presume, then the next decrease will be at the effect by 6%, and then after that a reduction in the duration by 4 minutes.'
Since Zarin's mind was still clear from the drowsy effect, it didn't take him long to notice the pattern. He was aware that one should exist, but without the System's help, it would be very challenging to detect it.
In a matter of a couple of minutes, they encountered their first spirit target. This one wasn't eating stuff like Pretti but instead was punching the trunk of a gigantic tree. One could see that the spot where the spirit was heating the tree was decently damaged, but compared to its size, it was like a minor wound.
Eddie had told Zarin that physical attacks would have almost no effect on spirits, so he had to use his Spell Skills on them. Some spirits also had protection against certain elements. Still, encountering one in that part of the woods was impossible.
The spirit didn't notice them as it focused entirely on punching the tree. However, Zarin moved carefully closer to it. He used [Stealth] for the last few meters before reaching the range to use his Skills.
Both Skills typically had a range of 20 meters, but he didn't have a clear view to target him because of the trees. The spirit didn't show any signs of controlling any of the elements, so either [Wind Rocket] or [Burst of Frost] should be similarly effective.
Even if he knew the power of those skills was great, he planned to use both, just had to decide the order he would do it. Using them wasn't instantaneous, as he had to chant a few words and move his hand in a specific way.
Fortunately, as with every Skill, he had embedded in him all the information he needed on how to use them when he unlocked them. But because he had earned them at their max level, there were no secrets on how the Skills worked missing from his mind.
Of course, since he had unlocked them at max level, the amount of information was much more detailed than what he had taken for the other Skills that started from level 1.
But even if he had all that information in his mind, that didn't mean that he was an expert at using them. After all, he knew the theory of everything about those Skills, but theory and action sometimes are miles apart.
The chanting was quite easy to repeat and wasn't that long, just two words for each Skill. As for the hand gesture, which was tracing a rune in the air, that helped manipulate his mana in the form of the Spell, it wasn't that easy to pull off.
Before, when he used those two attacks on Oriel and her guard, he didn't do the somatic element of the Skill. Doing it that way didn't mean that the Skill would have no effect, but its power would be much weaker.
The more precise his gestures, the better the power of the attack. Without them, the Skill would at most have half its power. Still, that much was enough to one shot of those two back then, but Zarin was confident it wouldn't be the case this time.
Since the spirits around here were higher level than him, even by a couple of levels, his attack, even if it was by a max level skill, wouldn't be as effective because of the difference of levels between him and the target.
Still, if he attacked somebody while they were unprepared for a fight, there would be a boost at his attack because of the surprise. That was why Zarin wanted to make sure that his aim would be true, especially since the drowsy effect of the forest would affect his combat ability, too.
Fortunately, he had still a clear enough mind as he carefully moved his hands, making the gesture for [Burst of Frost]. But since he didn't say any of the arcane words, the Skill didn't happen, but he just did so to practice.
Since he knew better than maybe even the Spell's creator how the last gesture would be, he could pinpoint what he lacked. So he also made the gesture for the [Wind Rocket] and then paused for a bit and closed his eyes.
Others, seeing him, could have thought that he got affected by the drowsing effect of the forest. But in reality, he did something that even Eddie, if he knew what he was doing, would have gotten mad from learning it.
He had entered his Inner Place.