The long caravan shuffled along in the dark forest.
The trees on both sides of the road were tall and straight, each of them at least 30 to 40 metres tall and wide enough for four people to wrap their arms around. Adding on to the lush foliage of the forest, the huge canopy extended all the way to the top of the road, leaving only a thin white line overhead.
Even though it was daytime, the road in the forest was so dark that they needed to light torches to see their surroundings clearly.
It was as if the caravan had passed through a dark and silent corridor. Apart from the sound of the wheels and the rumbling of the pack beasts, there were no other sounds.
Silence!
It was extremely quiet!
He could not hear the chirping of birds in the ordinary forest, nor could he see the panting hares, coyotes, and other jungle creatures.
The moment they stepped into the Dark Forest, Grimm could clearly feel weak magic energy slowly flowing through the forest. The activity of the elemental particles was also one or two times higher than outside the forest!
"A.I. Chip, collect the environmental data of the Dark Forest!" Grimm thought for a moment and couldn't help but order the A.I. Chip.
[Beep. Mission established … Collecting environmental data …]
Strictly speaking, the Dark Forest occupied 60% of the Magus Continent's area, while the scattered Forest of Towers and the three major Magus organisations only occupied 40% of the total area of the Magus Continent.
This meant that there was still a lot of undeveloped land in the Magus Continent, and the only thing stopping humans from advancing were the endless Dark Forest and the vast grasslands.
With the massive size of the Sorcerer World and its almost perfect environment with high magic power, even if only one-thousandth of the creatures in the Dark Forest and Wild Prairie were infected and turned into magical creatures, the terrifying number would be enough to make ordinary Sorcerers flinch.
Hence, if Magi wanted to expand the boundaries of their territories, they had to constantly extend their tentacles into the Dark Forest.
Cutting down trees, levelling roads, establishing settlements, erecting Magus Towers for protection …
This kind of colonization process was never smooth sailing!
Every step that humans took towards the Dark Forest would attract powerful forest creatures, terrifying magical beasts, mutated beasts, and corrupted creatures to retaliate.
If it was only a sporadic invasion by magical beasts, it was still manageable. At most, it would only cause a small loss of people, buildings, and resources. However, if a large number of magical creatures were to counterattack, or if a powerful magical creature drove a Beast Tide, then the newly established settlement might fall.
In the history of the Sorcerer Continent's colonization, there had been countless large-scale attacks by Dark Forest Monsters. Every time it happened, it meant that tens of thousands of civilians who had just moved into the settlement became the sacrificial pawns of the conflict between the two sides. In the entire newly colonized area, perhaps only the Sorcerer Tower could barely survive. Everything else would be razed to the ground.
That was why every step forward in the human's living space would require such a complex pulling force multiple times in order to exhaust the patience and numbers of the forest monsters, forcing them to move their territory deeper into the forest.
Therefore, in a huge territory that occupied an area of hundreds of miles, from the beginning of colonization to the stable settlement of ordinary people, it would usually take many iterations and dozens of years before it was possible. In the process, tens of thousands of people and double digit Sorcerer lives were common occurrences.
That was why every Sorcerer who led his followers and slaves to fight for a place to live in the Dark Forest was a true powerhouse that would be forever remembered by the younger generation!
To ordinary people, the Dark Forest represented mystery, evil, power, and even death!
But to Sorcerers, it was the biggest treasure trove of resources!
There were magic plants growing everywhere, a wide variety of forest creatures, metal mines with abundant resources, and mysterious and powerful magical creatures …
Many rare resources that were extinct in the Sorcerer World could be found in the depths of the Dark Forest.
Therefore, apart from conquering planes, small groups of Sorcerers would go deep into the Dark Forest to explore ancient ruins and hunt for magical creatures. This was the fastest and most convenient way for them to gather resources.
The prerequisites for conquering planes were too harsh, and not all Sorcerers could meet them. Hence, exploring the Dark Forest became the best choice for them to go out to train and gather resources.
Grim lifted the curtains of the carriage and looked at the dark forest in the distance.
Even with his eyesight, without using spells, it was difficult for him to see far. After all, the magical energy here was too active, and it was a huge interference to Sorcerers' spiritual senses!
Grim lifted the curtains a little higher, and on a tall tree not far away from the carriages, he saw an owl covered in black feathers. The owl was staring at the movements around the forest with its huge eyes, and occasionally made strange sounds at the carriages.
"That's the owl that the apprentice witches keep." Alice moved closer to Grim and looked at them with a bored expression on her face. "They're just some harmless little animals that can be their eyes and ears."
"Why don't they choose the more powerful small magical creatures?" Grim asked, puzzled.
"Tsk …" Alice could not help but roll her eyes. "Do you think everyone is like you, never worrying about magic crystals? They're very poor, and they can't even afford to keep those magical creatures! "
"What's the benefit of keeping them?"
"They can be used as eyes and ears, and can be considered a good flying sentinel. Also, the owls that have cast spells have a weak innate ability to see through invisibility, so they're the best guards. Of course, the most important thing is that keeping them doesn't put too much pressure on the apprentice witches' spiritual power. "
"What kind of pets do the witches have?"
"The ones they use the most are black cats, snakes, red bats, and crows. The Black Cat can give the host stealth and agility bonuses, the Flower Snake has infrared detection, the Red Bat can add light body spell and sound wave positioning, and the Crow has night vision … In short, witches like to turn themselves into these messy things! "
"What about you? How come I've never seen your pet before? "
"Hmph …" Alice snorted. "I've always wanted to catch a Hellhound, but I've never succeeded!"
"Hellhound?" Hearing this name, Grim's mind automatically thought of a strange abyssal creature that looked like a porcupine, with a body covered in black and red hard skin.
This kind of abyssal creature, which could be described as extremely ugly in all aspects, was actually Alice's first choice for a magical pet. This made Grim speechless.
"Why?" Grim could not help but ask.
"There was once a witch who caught a Hellhound as her magic pet, and from then on, she obtained the ability 'Spell Seal'. Also, a Hellhound can increase the host's spiritual power, so it's simply the best magic pet. "Alice's eyes immediately lit up as she spoke frankly with assurance.
"But don't you think Hellhounds are ugly and ugly? And as far as I know, they all stink, and their bodies are filled with the unique stench of the abyssal creatures in the underworld! "
"Is it really that stinky?" Alice's expression changed, and she carefully asked Grim. When she got an affirmative answer, she could not help but hold her small face and frown. "Then I'll skin it and smear it with perfume. That should be enough to cover its stench, right?"
Grim took a deep breath, and could not help but worry about Alice's future magic pet.
… …
The caravan slowly moved forward in the Black Forest.
When they were more than 30 miles away from Ibis City, they could already see the shadows of small animals in the dark forest along the way.
However, with the foreign mercenaries driving them away, the forest beasts did not dare to approach the caravan. They only dared to roar a few times from afar, and then quietly sneak back into the depths of the forest.
Although this road was not crowded with people, there were more than a dozen caravans shuttling back and forth, and almost all the dangerous monsters in the vicinity had been driven away. If the remaining ordinary beasts dared to approach the caravan, they would instead become food for the mercenaries.
Along the way, the 'scouts' sent out by the apprentice witches were simply the busiest group of people.
They spread their wings and flew in the dense forest that was difficult for humans to pass through, avoiding the dangerous beasts and birds, and looking everywhere for the traces of rare plants.
Once they found something, two or three apprentice witches would rush into the depths of the forest with a dozen mercenaries, and use the shortest time possible to pick up the rare plants they found. Without a doubt, this would bring them a considerable amount of income.
Of course, there were times when there were fierce monsters near the rare plants, and this was the time when the witches in the caravan would go out and find them.
Harvests like this along the way were not included in the caravan's account, but belonged to the witches' private trophies. After such a trip, the private harvest of each witch in the caravan would far exceed the rewards given by the caravan. This was why these women were so interested in this treasure hunting game.
However, it was impossible for the caravan to stop just to wait for them to search for treasures, so they could only use their magic pets to search a small area within 10 to 20 miles on both sides of the forest road. Even if they found something further away, they would not have enough time to harvest it.
And in such an area, after years of repeated searching, almost all the valuable resources had been harvested. Therefore, the witches in the caravan simply gave up on this mentally exhausting 'game', and handed it over to the apprentice witches who came out to gain experience.
For these 'poor' apprentices who did not have the qualifications to enjoy the family's offerings, even if it was just some 'mosquito meat' that the witches did not like, it was enough to fill their stomachs. Therefore, they became more and more happy!
Thus, in this seemingly slow but actually extremely fast movement, the caravan arrived at the first campsite of their long journey.
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