On the wasteland entwined with black soil and decayed leaves, ghostly blue flames flickered and swayed with the wind, resembling the will-o'-the-wisps drifting in a forsaken graveyard.
An ancient withered oak tree stood silently at the center of this desolate plain, its immense trunk requiring several people to encircle it. Its mottled bark bore the traces of countless passing years.
Right on the trunk of this old oak tree, a peculiar sight unfolded before his eyes—
A crystalline, translucent crystal emanating a faint, eerie glow was embedded in a hollow of the bark. Its surface pulsated with waves of blue light, blending with the surrounding ghostly blue flames, adding an otherworldly hue of wonder to the forest.
Standing on a nearby hill, Lynch's gaze was utterly captivated by the blue crystal, and his breath grew shallow and uneven.
Soul Crystal!
This was a soul material in the Wizard World, formed by the aggregation of the soul energy of the deceased. It tended to parasitize certain Magic Plants or Demons.
Though it appeared as a crystalline substance outwardly, its internal composition was actually fungal in nature. Much like most fungi, the formation and development of the Soul Crystal remained a mystery, shrouded in the arcane processes of absorbing trace elements. Even Wizards had yet to master techniques for its cultivation; it could only be harvested in the wild.
Soul Crystals contained an immense concentration of soul energy and were extensively used in the Wizards' profound discipline of Soul Study, categorized as a material beyond Apprentice Level, belonging instead to Wizard Level.
Its scarcity and strong utility naturally determined its high value, with market prices for Soul Crystals rarely dipping below ten thousand Magic Stones.
"Ten thousand Magic Stones..."
"How many batches of Magic Devouring Flowers would I have to refine to match that?"
Lynch almost instantly made up his mind to acquire this Soul Crystal. After all, in the two and a half years since he had come to the Tower, the total Magic Stones he'd amassed barely exceeded a few hundred. The vast sum of ten thousand was a fortune he simply couldn't resist.
He instinctively began stepping down the slope.
Yet, the moment he reached the edge of the hillside, before descending, the Magic Wand in his hand suddenly lit up with a crimson beam of light.
At the same time, a nearby tree trunk twisted and distorted, conjuring an illusory mouth from its bark.
The mouth opened and closed, issuing a sharp warning:
"Warning! Tower Apprentice, you have reached the boundary of the Tower Protection Zone. The area ahead is dangerous; do not proceed!"
"Warning! Tower Apprentice, you have reached the boundary of the Tower Protection Zone. The area ahead is dangerous; do not proceed!"
Lynch frowned and immediately retracted the foot he'd extended forward. The momentary greed clouding his mind was swiftly dispelled.
"The boundary already?"
In this Dark Forest, the area they moved within was under the direct surveillance of the Wizards. These monitored zones were of relatively low danger levels, heavily embedded with the Tower's watchful network. Should any unexpected situations arise, assistance from the Tower would arrive promptly. Collectively, these regions were referred to as protection zones.
Beyond these zones, no Wizard safeguards existed—a realm that was the very definition of the Dark Forest.
Standing on the hilltop, Lynch frowned as he stared ahead. Just one step, a hair's breadth of distance, yet he didn't take that step easily.
He deeply understood that this single, simple step could very well mean the difference between life and death.
Despite the fierce battles and constant perils within this Forest, the Magic Plants and Demons here were preselected and marked with Spell Imprints by the Wizards. In life-threatening situations, these entities were prohibited from doing irreversible harm to Apprentices.
But stepping beyond the boundary was a completely different matter. Out there, the only rule was the most primal law of the jungle. Every living thing was bent on one purpose—to kill.
So, would it be dangerous?
Lynch wasn't certain. What he did know was that the Dark Forest beyond teemed with innumerable Magic Plants and Demons. A mere unnoticed insect or an unassuming blade of grass could easily claim his life. It was a true no-man's land.
The Tower's protocol also strictly forbade apprentices from straying off designated paths and leaving the protection zone under any circumstances. If caught, punishment was inevitable.
Under normal circumstances, the punishment might be tolerable. But now, during the examination period, any penalty could jeopardize his evaluation.
So should he give up?
He hesitated for only a second before dismissing the thought. He had too much knowledge he wanted to acquire, too many Magic experiments he wished to realize. All of it was currently constrained by the scarcity of resources, leaving these aspirations as mere fantasies. But with such a windfall, those ambitions could finally materialize.
More importantly, Lynch was confident in himself.
Although the area ahead was beyond the protection zone, it was still within the Corrupted Forest. The ecosystem and creature behaviors here were identical to what he was familiar with. The only difference was this side couldn't kill him, while that side most definitely could.
"Believe in yourself!"
Running through his knowledge of the Corrupted Forest in detail, Lynch made up his mind and began preparing for his task.
He first retrieved the corpse of a Corrupted Tree Demon, placing it on the ground. Then, taking a dagger, he carefully sliced a shallow cut on his palm, smearing the blood over the Tree Demon's body. Next, he set up a Magic Array on the spot, placing the Tree Demon at its center.
This was a simple Spirit Substitute Array, a very rudimentary aspect of Magic Knowledge that Lynch had learned during one of the Tower Library's open access events.
The purpose of this Magic Array was singular: to anchor Lynch's Spirit Imprint within it.
When they were admitted to the Tower, the Wizards had planted a Spirit Imprint on each apprentice, allowing them to trace their movements directly. As Lynch had just seen at the protection boundary, the Tower could monitor apprentices' positions precisely.
Lynch had studied the tracking mechanism of these Spirit Imprints in detail. They only followed the primary anchor point. By setting up such an array, he could effectively create an illusionary duplicate of himself, confusing the Tower's tracking.
He had tested this method before. In those instances, the Tower's tracking still pinpointed him to a location within the protection zone, granting him freedom of movement effectively unnoticed—a loophole in the system of Spirit Imprints.
Such loopholes weren't uncommon. Naturally, no one enjoyed being monitored. Apprentices had devised numerous means to bypass the Tower's Spirit Imprints, and the Tower itself didn't enforce strict management in this regard.
For the most part, the Tower adopted a free-range approach to its apprentices. It forewarned them of risks and provided protection, but if an apprentice insisted on circumventing its security to engage in self-destructive behavior, then the consequences were their own to bear.
Finally, using Rose Tears, he healed the wound on his palm. Gripping his Magic Wand tightly, Lynch descended the hill.
"Whoosh..."
A cold wind blew through, perfectly timed, whistling through the withered woods and producing an eerie "woo-woo" sound, like the sinister laughter of devils.
That single step—only a step away, yet it felt as though he'd crossed the veil separating life from death.