"This trash is finally dead." Mr. Royce cursed as he ran. "You want to hit us with such a small thing? You still want to say that we had an accident in the Dark Forest?"
"Why don't you take a look at yourself! And what kind of place is this?" Mr. Rhys panted as he ran. "I can't even use a magic broom and must run. This is my first time running so far. I'm exhausted."
"Hurry up and run. It's over if you get caught." Carl said. He was already thin and weak, and such high-intensity running was a little difficult for him. His body was already a little unstable.
Mages usually relied on magic power or brooms to travel. How could they run at such a high intensity? As a result, most Team Z members were panting from exhaustion.
However, the cries of the magical beasts were getting closer and closer.
Michael looked at his companions and realized he could not continue running like this. He had to find a place to hide.
However, this place was a plain that could be seen at a glance. There were no trees around. No matter where he was, he would be found by the magical beasts chasing him.
Michael thought awhile and called out to Little Bat, "Think of something. You can fly. Find a place to hide!"
"Why won't you just open Google Maps?" The little bat complained and flew into the air to search again.
"Take a break,everyone," said Michael, stopping. He couldn't keep running like this.
Everyone had just used a lot of Stamina and Mana in the battle, and after running for such a long time, they were already very tired. The thin and weak Carl was even a little exhausted.
If he continued to run aimlessly like this, he would fall to the ground sooner or later due to exhaustion. At that time, he would be found by the magical beasts.
They wouldn't even be able to counterattack. That would be the end.
"When I get back, I must train my body," Mr. Royce panted. "Otherwise, if you die because of your physical strength, you'll be laughed at by others."
Hearing this, Michael pondered for a moment. Although he didn't need to run outside, he rarely needed to run in the outer layer of the Dark Forest. However, there were always accidents. He still needed to train well. Otherwise, it would be too troublesome if he encountered a magical beast the next time and couldn't escape.
After all, the follow-up quest of the quest book still required them to search for the quest materials in the Dark Forest. The final quest even required them to go deep into the Dark Forest.
The biggest difference between the Dark Forest and other places was that all magic-driven vehicles would be ineffective. Only simple teleportation charms could be used, but they could not be used continuously for long distances.
This was because black magic had deeply eroded this place, and it had even become a new source of black magic pollution. The magic power required for transportation was restrained by black magic, so no matter how strong a mage was, they could only rely on their legs to move here. From a certain perspective, everyone in the magic world was equal.
However, there were exceptions. Magical beasts that had been tamed could be used as mounts. However, on the continent of Tyre, only high-level mages and some highly talented people could tame magical beasts that could be used as mounts. Most mages would find it extremely difficult to even tame magical beasts like rabbits.
None of the mages in Team Z had talent in this area. Michael could only tame low-level magic beasts, while Carl could use spiritual plants to tame medium-level small herbivorous magic beasts. Mr. Royce was a complete mess in this aspect. He couldn't even tame a bug. It could be said that he was even worse than his alchemy.
Fortunately, taming magical beasts was an elective subject and not counted in the annual assessment. Otherwise, with Michael's ability, he might have been eliminated long ago.
Training magical beasts relied heavily on talent. Without talent, no matter how much training one did, it would be useless and a waste of time. Of course, if he became a high-level mage, he could also use his magic power to force the magic beasts to obey him.
However, Michael sighed when he thought about the EXP required to level up. He was looking forward to leveling up to a high-level mage in a short period of time, so he might as well think about how to obtain the talent of beast-taming. The probability of the latter was slightly higher than the former.
Nina, the female protagonist of the original book, had a very high talent for taming beasts, but Michael did not know when he would meet the female protagonist. After all, the current environment was completely different from the book.
The things they had encountered so far were completely different from what they had encountered in the book. Michael could not say for sure if the plot of the original book had changed. Perhaps the female lead was no longer in the original place.
Seeing that the magical beast had not caught up to them, the few of them sat down and rested for a while.
Carl closed his eyes and said nothing while Mr. Royce took out a few sandwiches from his storage bracelet. "Have some first. Don't starve. We still have to continue running later. We can't do without stamina."
Michael took a slice of ham sandwich and took a light bite. The fragrance of the meat and egg spread in his mouth.
Carl took the salmon sandwich and ate it quietly. It had consumed too much energy, so he didn't want to say anything now.
Mr. Royce took a big bite of the sandwich stuffed with beef. "What does this magical beast look like? We must get a magic beast as a mount when we become high-level mages. Running around is really unbearable. Grandpa, my legs are about to break from exhaustion."
Michael called out to the magical beast in his heart, asking how it was progressing. Did he find a hiding place?
"Found it!"
After everyone finished their sandwiches, Little Bat finally flew back. "I found a place to hide. Follow me! "
It had come in a hurry and used a lot of strength to search for the map. This time, it had forgotten to use spiritual power to communicate with Michael, so almost everyone heard what the little bat said.
"Your bat is too powerful!" Mr. Royce's eyes widened in shock. "He can actually speak human language! Our spirit pets can't speak."
"Let's go." Michael ignored Mr. Royce. Seeing that everyone was almost done resting, he called everyone to follow the little bat in a direction where they could hide.
After following the little bat for a while, a hidden cave suddenly appeared in front of them. Michael hurriedly led his companions to hide inside.
In the cave.
From the outside, there was only a simple small hole. If one did not look confidently, one would not even be able to discover its existence. However, when he walked in, he realized that there was a world inside.
After passing through the narrow passage, a vast cave came into view. The walls of the cave were littered with fragrant plants and flowers, and the ceiling and ground were inlaid with all kinds of night stones, illuminating the cave as bright as day.