The duo of Scarlett and Ethan waded through the black forest, following the palm-sized Elderly Hungjun with his granddaughter on his back. The sun overhead wasn't too different from the sun on Earth; it was harsh to look at but warm regardless.
With a quick jump, Hungjun jumped to the top of a tree, and Ethan and Scarlett exchanged glances before climbing the tree tentatively.
It was one of the smaller trees among the bunch, and as they reached up and found themselves already sweating, the elderly Spirit Race man, who seemed like a fantasy fairy from Earthian legends, looked at them. "As I expected, your bodies are no better than little insect-sized beings—our sized beings. So indeed, people from a lower dimension pulled into this world, huh, not surprising but brings back memories."
The old man seemed to relish in the fact that Ethan was huffing and puffing while helping Scarlett up, but his granddaughter admonished him by pinching the old man's hair. That made Hungjun chuckle.
Ethan, who was filled with an inward sigh, looked into the distant sight that only the height of the tree could let them see—The monstrous Dark Wall. The wall stretched to a distance that seemed infinite sideways and to nearly the clouds upwards.
He asked, "What is this wall meant to do?"
Hungjun considered his stand. People chosen by the Supreme Sects were rare. They usually went out of the walls in their first month at the most. Their sectmates would soon arrive and take them away.
He had seen four of them before, each blessed by powers they were blessed with, not by cultivating but by luck. His green gaze settled on the duo, just like these two people's power—power gained by sheer luck.
Neither Ethan nor Scarlett had ever struggled enough to have earned the powers that they both had at their disposal. They hadn't trained like a true cultivator when they needed to master a specific ability. Yet, he could feel a complex set of Magiclines in them, constructing powers inside through unique channeling of energy that they themselves were unaware of.
They were completely unaware of the Magicline, but he could see clearly enough.
The complex channel of it all was like armor surrounding the duo—it was bright in the gaze of a cultivator. Like someone wearing a shirt that was obviously too big for their size. An aura of looseness indeed.
A powerful cultivator, probably someone whom a little Spirit patriarch like himself couldn't even fathom, must have drawn those lines into Ethan and Scarlett.
Heritages… as the sects called it. A normal cultivator training in an ability would need decades of practice after they initiate training of a particular ability to use them without preparation. To cast abilities by instinct like a Magicline allowed, they would have to practice even more.
But for Ethan and Scarlett, a set of abilities came packed with themselves. They didn't have to train it. Just like an instinct, it was a part of them. Even though not entirely, as it was still loosely spread around and not yet tightened around their body and soul, Hungjun knew the sects had a way to go with doing that.
They wouldn't even need to think about channeling the Essence inside themselves to activate these abilities; the Manalines were more like another part of them now, making the use of the abilities instinctive like they had learned it with painful toil over centuries. Lucky indeed.
What if they were born in the Lower World?
They had luck that barely anyone here in the world of Immortals could even dream of. The duo was bound for greatness, unlike the little people inside this caged space for posterity.
One might as well sow some good karma with these sorts of people. Thinking till that point, Hungjun stopped considering.
He took a sniff of the misty air of the black forest and spoke with a wisened sigh, "That wall is no normal wall; a Mortal God had erected a Spirit Formation around it, and anyone who tries to escape would only die and become more fuel for the thing that would kill them. It is impossible to leave here for even Gold Halo Cultivators."
Ethan was gobsmacked. "The Spirit Formation surrounding it is that strong?"
"It is strong…" The old man looked at the wall, his gaze slightly veiled. "And the wall is there to keep things inside where they are; nobody would let us move out. Nor would the Corruption be allowed to leave this place."
"Corruption?"
"Dark Walls, dark trees, dark leaves… and more than anything… rotten World Essence that is reeking of death and lifelessness. That is because of the influence of the Forbidden Land Sea of Leviathans… It slowly corrupts everything it touches, and inside here, no one can even cultivate because of the lack of lively World Essence. This is a prison."
"…If I am not offensive—"
"Don't bother asking. My Spirit Race is abandoned here because of the crimes of my ancestors. All of the people you see inside are descendants of prisoners ages past, already dead ancestors.
"For all it's worth, this is a prison. They cripple people's cultivation and drop them into this place. The Black Forest."
Ethan felt awfully privileged to have a complete stranger, an old man, explain this to him. He also strangely felt as if he owed one for this. He didn't particularly like that feeling, but Emmy's cheerful giggle made him sigh inwardly.
Cute girls were really something at bending people's emotions.
…
As he had expected, he had ended up in a sort of prison. Here, no one could cultivate. Except for Hungjun and two others, that is… considering that there were only two other sentient races—Humans and Stormdreams—Ethan could guess.
Yet, the old man seemed to have read his mind.
He spoke calmly, "The Spirit Race, Storm Dreams, and Humans. Each of the three races is allowed to have one person cultivate using World Essence Crystals every generation, and I am this generation's Spirit Patriarch. There are two cultivators in the Black Forest other than me: the Storm Dream Patriarch and the Human Matriarch.
"The Human Matriarch of this generation is a humble woman; she would help you, but I would guide you not to meet the Storm Dream Patriarch; he is a bit on the other side of the spectrum. That much is really all you have to know about this god-forsaken Black Forest."
Ethan felt Scarlett's hand tighten around his palm. He comforted her. By now, he could tell Hungjun was not an enemy.
"Senior, you said that there were Otherworlders like us before us—people from the Lower Worlds. How are they… um, treated in the outside world?"
Hungjun smirked. "Of course, like… kings. There are 9 Supreme Sects as far as I know, and all of them recruit people from the Lower Worlds by throwing Heritages at them, so you guys are not really rare. Everyone you will see in the sects you will enter soon will be people similar to you. Travelers from the Lower Worlds.
"These Forbidden Lands, like the Sea of Leviathan, are the places where the Sects usually summon them for some reason. That's why humble prisoners like us often get to meet you grand… kings."
Ethan took a deep breath. He was getting more of a picture as to where they were.
He wanted to ask for the materials to prepare the Pill of Comprehension, but the old man said calmly, "Anything you want, the Human Matriarch should give it to you."
With another shake of his head and a chuckle, the Spirit Patriarch jumped down from the tree and ran away faster than Ethan's eyes could follow, Emmy on his back.
The old man had told them he'd help teach them common sense, and having done so, he had vanished. They had been taught enough.
Things were now clear to Ethan. At least the important bit.
For now, the only threats who could kill him were just three people in this entire place: The Three Patriarchs of the three sentient Races.
And, of course, whatever was atop the wall guarding it.
But as long as he didn't try to do something like enter the actual Forbidden Land Sea of Leviathans once again or mess with the Patriarchs, he should be fine. The old man had definitely implied that with his words.
Ethan bowed slightly, and Scarlett also followed.
"Ah, Ethe… I already miss Emmy."
"You dumb bitch, that was a person who could've killed us…"
"So your teleportation really didn't work, jerk. I had a subconscious feeling it was like that…"
"It didn't work."
"Damn… we have to be more careful, Ethe, so what's the plan?"
"First of all, we will coop up somewhere hidden, and I'll read every book we have. We need to have some basic understanding of all this first. I have to understand my own limits, too.
"Then, we will move on to getting the materials needed for the Pill of Comprehension. The Human Matriarch should have it or help us out somehow."
Scarlett nodded, her hand tight around his. She could see he was agitated.
They needed to think things through in a calmer setting.