Chapter 38 - Attempt

The descent lasted about twenty whole seconds. Zareth turned on Flash just in time for the landing to avoid shattering him.

However, the impact did still leave a minor crater on the ground.

He immediately turned to face the ledge again.

It was created entirely of stone, extremely steep, and impossible to climb using conventional methods.

It would probably take Zareth weeks, if not months, to climb it from where he was now.

Even still, as he took in his new surroundings, he continued to consider the possibility.

He knew from the books he had read about the Jormount forest at home that the ferocity and desolation rose dramatically the deeper you went into the forest.

Zareth assumed that, based on how far he had come, he had now reached a place that was, at the very least, one complete difficulty more difficult than the previous forest in which he had been practicing—the one close to Bolnuir.

Zareth was aware that, if not a completely other land with a higher difficulty level, he had nonetheless landed in a place that was unquestionably significantly more dangerous.

This new environment didn't look all that different from the forest next to Bolnuir.

Although the forest was still incredibly lush, the trees appeared to be a little bigger, with thicker, darker trunks and higher heights.

In addition, the vegetation appeared to be more alive.

The stems and leaves had an almost hard green shell surrounding them, and the leaves were larger.

Breathing was a little more challenging due to the air's tendency to feel damp and dense.

Zareth was currently certain of what he wanted to do, which was to use the 12 Tree's Elixir

Harnessing the power of this elixir was going to be the only thing that could possibly help him survive in this strange land.

He turned on Flash right away and started moving into the woodland.

He would feel secure enough to carry out his duties as soon as he was able to locate some kind of shelter that protected him and his possessions from wild animals.

He mostly traveled on top of tree branches to avoid being easily seen as this was where he was most concealed and also because his field of view was increased there.

After roughly ten minutes of looking, Zareth observed that a huge tree had started to emerge from the forest.

the tree has a trunk that is over 20 feet wide and over 200 feet tall.

He promptly came to a stop on one of the tree branches after noticing this.

Zareth spotted several trees with holes in them while walking through the forest. These holes were probably caused by deterioration or other creatures trying to make the trees their home.

Although these trees were quite large, they were nowhere near as large as the one that stood in front of Zareth.

However, if this tree also had a somewhat hollow inside and a sturdy enough entrance through which animals couldn't just waltz in, it would make the ideal location for a shelter.

He sprinted around the big tree's branches using Flash to hunt for any promising entrances.

He discovered a few that were nice, but they only led to tiny hollowed-out spaces.

Some of the ones he discovered had vast interior surfaces but extremely few or massive holes.

Naturally, he didn't give up looking because this tree was enormous and had numerous other holes to check.

He eventually came across a hole that was just the right size.

The inside was enormous and spacious, roughly the size of a typical door.

Additionally, this hole had a flat floor, something that none of the others he had seen had.

He made up his mind as soon as he realized this.

His search was going to end right now.

There was no justification for carrying on the search for a superior choice.

He saw no point in wasting time looking for locations that may be better because, for the time being, this one satisfied all of his criteria.

Zareth hurriedly went in search of a big leaf to cover the doorway because the light the elixir would produce was bright.

He then built a fire to keep the area lit at all times.

It was almost impossible for the tree to catch fire because the interior was so moist.

Zareth made sure the fire wasn't close to any of the walls since he didn't want to take the chance.

Finally, he pulled the elixir from the 12th Tree from his inventory.

In fact, a magnificent, intense purple light was cast throughout the interior of the tree as it summoned in front of him by the flow from inside the glass.

Zareth looked intently at the thing before him for the first time.

It wasn't really deserving of the moniker "elixir."

The purple, heart-shaped object that was infused into the tree log throbbed continuously as if it were a heart.

Zareth believed that this was the raw elixir that he needed to gather in some way.

'I suppose... the best way to go about this is to just break open the glass, and quickly absorb the mana from the elixir.'

Zareth mused to himself, but just as he was about to carry out his plan, he had another notion.

Why was this object first enclosed within a glass tube?

This question caused a lot of concern because anything that was completely sealed off from the outside air was typically not something that should be distributed so quickly.

Before deciding, he gave it a moment's thinking.

"Whatever happens, I'll handle it."

Before punching the glass tube, he added some mana to his fist.

BOOM!

Where Zareth had struck the glass, a purple mana barrier appeared inside it. The aura of protection appeared to be written in many rune languages.

When he made contact, Zareth's punch was hurled back at him with increased force, sending him flying into the tree's wall and setting off a loud explosion of sound.

He fell back to the ground, his body thudding harshly against the tree before he just managed to land on his feet.

His gaze immediately shifted to the elixir.

"What the fuck?"