Mystical Journey

The Cthulhuism Society and the Obscuro Society were planning some tricks. They were obviously intending to move to the top.

As Garen and Wukang entered the stronghold, they were discussing the new pieces of information.

The stronghold was completely empty. The initial totem users had all been chased away by the red-robed man. Fortunately, Daniela quickly sent some servants and maids to clean up the place. As the host, battles in strongholds like this were very common. There was an unspoken rule where normal humans with no abilities would not be harmed. Otherwise, no one would be willing to serve here.

They found a relatively clean hall at the side. Garen and Wukang sat at the table and looked at the innermost Ancestral God Tree through the giant window.

The Ancestral God Tree was lush and abundant. Its dense leaves and branches were like green clouds against the sky. From time to time, bubbles and butterflies passed by in the air. On the side of the trunk, a huge black castle was built. The castle was facing Garen's direction. A black, translucent vertical pipe was on the castle's outer wall. It was like an elevator. There were moving stone platforms in the pipes which continuously sent people to and fro.

All of the people in the stone platforms had followers with them. They didn't look like normal people.

As Garen and Wukang were relaxing inside, they were eating Daniela's specialty fruits, green bananas and fist-sized peaches which were already peeled.

"This full-green Ancestral is the largest tree in the area. The rest of the giant trees are not even half its height. Obviously, this is the legendary Ancestral God Pillar. I heard that the Ancestral God Trees have uncomparable power. I wonder whether it's true." Wukang spoke with emotions as he was admiring the Ancestral God Tree.

"Who knows?" Garen casually answered.

"Are we just staying here? You are not planning to enter?"

Garen shook his head.

"This is the limit. If we go any closer, we will lose more than we gain. The most inner layer is occupied by the top people of the royal alliance and the Cthulhu King. It's not a place that we can enter."

"True." Wukang took a piece of fruit and put it in his mouth. "Then we're waiting here for the gathering to start? Do you know the approximate time?"

"I'm unclear. But it should be within these few days. Be patient." Garen smiled. "Have you realized that the air here is different from other places?"

Wukang was caught by surprise. He carefully sniffed and closed his eyes to feel the difference.

After not more than a few minutes, he opened his eyes. There was a hint of shock in his eyes.

"The air here has an abnormal vitality to it! It seems to have a positive impact on our totems. I feel that my core totem has become more energetic."

"Likewise." Garen blinked. "No wonder so many elites are fighting for strongholds on these levels. Looks like it's not as simple as the seeds. The position of the strongholds is also a key factor."

"Looks like it. The central region is really mysterious. If I didn't come here personally, I wouldn't have imagined that there would an environment that energizes totems in this world. This is a perfect environment to culture totems. No wonder the mutants around are at such high levels. It is not without a reason."

So don't be impatient. Let's wait for a while." Garen took up a slice of peach. "Let's take this opportunity to investigate the information we want."

Wukang nodded his head.

　　******************

The two of them waited in the stronghold for over ten days. The vitality in the air around the Ancestral God Tree grew richer and richer. Both of their core totems became more and more energetic. Their energy levels were shocking.

Especially Garen. His core totem was different from the normal totem user. His core totem was an empowered totem instead of a silver totem. In an environment with this form of vitality, the Nine-Headed Hydra, which evolved from a living being, was exceedingly energetic. In Garen's black space, it was inhaling large amounts of living energy, then exhaling waste.

With this metabolism rate, it allowed the exchanging of waste. It made Garen felt like he was improving every day.

His heart was also originally from the Nine-Headed Hydra's heart. Under this environment, it became even livelier and beat faster than ever.

Garen took this opportunity to continuously practice the Black Water True Technique day and night. After some time, even the fourth dragon head had signs of being able to be fused. This made him delighted. He initially thought he needed a few more weeks of time. He never thought that this vigorous air could quicken the progress of his fusion.

Garen decided to seclude himself to train in a secret room in the stronghold. While Wukang was responsible for the outside matters.

Meanwhile, the Sixth Princess would come to visit Garen every day. Her pair of dreamy big eyes made no secret of her intentions. By secluding himself to train, Garen avoided her embarrassing pursuit. He'd let Wukang handle it.

Wukang was incredibly experienced in handling women. Every day, he would try to gossip with number six. He continuously tried to change her impression of Garen but to no avail.

It grew closer and closer to the time when the Ancestral God tree would disperse its seeds.

Some of the people from Kovitan who weren't afraid of death slowly crawled closer to this stronghold. They wanted to get a piece of the pie. They were previously chased away by the red-robed man. After some of them heard the news that the master of Kovitan's stronghold had changed, they instantly had a glimmer of hope.

Garen and the rest were too lazy to care about them. Everyone could only gather one Seed of the Ancestral God. The only difference was the level of vigor would differ according to the distance to the tree. The position of this stronghold was the most concentrated gathering area on the second level. The seeds gathered here were the best among the second level. The other positions were not comparable to it.

However, those that could enter the second level were naturally not normal totem users. They wouldn't presumptuously chase people away like the red-robed man. Since he couldn't absorb all the vigorous air by himself, and that they were from Kovitan, he didn't mind those people.

The time was approaching day by day.

Finally, there was something new happening at the Ancestral God Trees.

　　******************

Night

Garen had just awakened from his martial arts training.

There was a suspicious look in his eyes, which emitted a red glow in the dark.

"The vigor in the air seems to have grown stronger? Compared to the slow increase previously, it seemed to have multiplied this time."

He stood up, pushed open the door of the secret room and headed out.

Most of the defects on the white stone stronghold had been fully repaired. The outside scenery could be clearly seen through the semi-circled, full-length window in the hall.

Green lights filled the sky. They were descending slowly like snow, completely brightening up the night sky in the forest. Everywhere looked green. The fluorescent green light shone through the window, dyeing a huge portion of the stronghold's hall green.

Garen widened his eyes and looked at the descending green lights. There was a shocked expression in his eyes.

He hastened his steps and pulled open the door of the hall, planning to go and have a look.

Suddenly a ginormous grey toad was blocking at the front of the door. The three-meter tall toad completely blocked the doorway. As its white tummy was rumbling along, its two protruding eyes stared at Garen.

Its body was full of grey blisters of different sizes. Its rough skin was like tree bark. It looked tough but it also had the moisture of a swamp. A faint fishy odor came from its body.

Garen furrowed his brows. He was more sensitive towards smells.

"Attention sixth stronghold, the gathering is about to begin. Please get ready." As the toad opened his big mouth, it was speaking the language of Daniela.

"Alright." Garen nodded.

"By the way, the raw air outside is too strong. Do not go out carelessly, in order to avoid danger." Once the toad finished, he hopped away towards the wild.

Garen stood at the door to send it off. Wukang silently appeared behind him.

"It starts tonight?" He was still rubbing his eyes in a set of white pajamas. He looked like he just had a good sleep.

"Let's prepare." Garen nodded.

The two of them finished changing, drank some juice then took the breakfast toast provided by Daniela. As they ate, they came to the balcony on the second level of the stronghold.

The balcony was a full-white, semi-circle terrace without railings.

Both of them finished their bread and each stood on one of the marked areas on the ground. The marked areas were three oval-shaped tactic formations, obviously for gathering seeds.

The green light dots all over the sky slowly descended. Garen stretched out his hand to catch it but they were like illusions. The light dots directly passed through his palm and exited below.

The rich, vigorous air seemed to have a life force. It rapidly entered Garen's nostrils. The Nine-Headed Hydra in Garen's body was greedily absorbing the vigorous air. From its initial state of malaise, it grew more and more energetic.

He looked from afar at the Ancestral God Tree. The raw air had already reached a horrific density. The inner layer most likely would have been more terrifying.

Garen looked into the distance with his unnatural eyesight. He actually noticed Phiroth.

The strong King of Daniela was sitting opposite a black bear on a large branch on the Ancestral God Tree. There was a small stool between them with a chessboard on top of it. Both of them were concentrating on the chess game.

From time to time, the black bear would scratch its head in deep thought. Then it stood up, folded its hands and stared at the chessboard.

Besides the two of them were a handful of rabbit humanoids serving food and drinks. Each of these rabbit humanoids had a rabbit head with two ears standing tall. They had bodies of a beautiful human girl. They had huge busts, long legs, and white skin, while wearing breezy, low-cut dresses.

Chiiiii!!

Suddenly, a green light beam shot out from the right side of the forest. It soared into the sky, breaking through the layers of cloud.

The slender green light was pure, without any impurities. It soared directly into the sky.

Chiii chiii!!

After a number of light sounds, several green beams shot into the sky.

Garen regained his focus and nodded towards Wukang.

At the same time, the two of them quickly started to gesture in the air. Their ten fingers constantly drew large amounts of dense symbols, leaving shadows behind.

As their creation of tactic formations sped up, two of them were gradually surrounded by a layer of fluorescent green light.

Chiii!!

Suddenly, a ray of piercing green light shot out in between them and headed towards the sky.

The green light beam completely engulfed the two of them. Small black dots were gradually appearing in the airspace in front of their chests.

The dots slowly grew bigger and bigger. Their shape became more and more like an oval.

Then, as the black balls faintly released white water vapor, they became flatter and flatter.

Puffff!

A hole cracked open at the bottom of the ball, emitting white gas. Together with the white gas, a green toothpaste-like thing came out from the hole and suspended in the air before Garen.

The green paste was squeezed out in lines. They gathered in circles with a pointy end, while emitting mild heat. They formed artistic, mysterious objects.

Garen twitched his eyebrows as he looked at the legendary, poop-like object before him.

"Don't tell me this is the legendary Seed of the Ancestral God?"

Wukang's expression was also inquisitive. He glowed in green then in white. He looked at the green, poop-like object and didn't know whether he should take it.

The green light around the both of them dissipated and everything became calm again.

The green dots in the air also grew faint and finally disappeared. The green fluorescent waste was all over the ground, lighting up the whole forest in green.

"Congratulations to all for obtaining the legendary Seed of the Ancestral God! Hehe. Isn't this year's shape really artistic?" A clear voice came from the direction of the Ancestral God Tree. It was the voice of Phiroth.

No one spoke a word and the whole area was in silence. All of the elites didn't know how to reply. "Your Majesty's taste….is really unique…" An old man's voice came from one of the levels.

Two women followed suit with a dry laugh.

Garen looked at the Ancestral God Tree from afar. On the giant branch, Phiroth stood triumphantly with both of his hands on his hips. Behind him were the black bear and a handsome young man. Both of them looked ashamed. This time, Phiroth humiliated the eight generations of Daniela.

After tugging on the skin of his face, Garen still took the poop-like seed of the Ancestral God up and kept it. He didn't touch it with his hands but formed a tray with water vapor. He wrapped the green poop and placed it the isolation box, which was prepared beforehand.

"New experience. This is really a new experience.." Wukang shook his head at the side with a painful expression. "What do you think? Should we absorb it, or not?"

Garen tug on the skin of his face. "The outer appearance is just a facade. Do not be restricted by the eyes of the world…