B2 Chapter: Rubberbands are great!

[Year 22 Month 5: Continued]

Within minutes of the presence, I had a group of twenty golems, split evenly between Juggernauts and Alloy Soldiers, head over to the site of the intrusion. With me overclocking their mana and pushing them to their limits, it still took roughly an hour to reach the border. Since the outskirts of the Wildlands had been consumed by the miasma, the forest had receded by several kilometers and required purification. Having been in the process of creating more of the precious mana, I had a little backlog that I used to cut a thin path between the cleansed area and the remaining forest.

It was close, but there was just enough to maintain the small bridge, and redistributing an obelisk and pillars expanded my influence into the forest once again.

Unlike last time, in which I had expanded into it simply for the mana concentration, I had a mission, and curiosity fueling my exploration.

The Wildlands was a jungle-like paradise, and the miasma had done nothing to limit that. Vines that would snag any human and carnivorous plants capable of dissolving their prey within seconds were the inhabitants of such lands. It was only due to the Juggernauts walking first with their tremendous weight that my troop wasn’t inhibited by the hostile terrain.

Despite the lush forest, there was no wildlife; no creature with a mana signature appeared. The lack of animals and beasts alike left the ancient forest in an eerie quiet, with only the wind blowing in the distant canopies high overhead. The moonlight barely reached the forest floor, casting dark shadows all around.

It’s a good thing I didn’t bring Salfi or anyone else here. I had considered waking someone.

While Salfi would probably survive as she had previously, we were far deeper into the strange biome than she had gone for her evolution.

Actually. Vezin would probably feel comfortable. His plant control would be almost godlike within this region. I wonder if he can control the carnivorous plants… his skill allows him to affect mushrooms, which don’t fit nicely into the plant or animal category.

Something to think about when I wasn’t trying to trace something in a mostly unknown environment.

Placing down my pillars every so often allowed me to rapidly cover ground, and despite the growing mana cost, the further I went from my main body, the amount I was gaining from the surroundings was significantly higher. I was wary of draining too much mana, though, and stemmed the flow slightly, preferring to rely on my own regeneration.

Roughly two hours later, I found a small trace of the original presence that had drawn me here. Every time that I would ‘lock on’ to see whatever it was, it would vanish, somewhat like Dain’s old ability to mask his mana signature when standing still.

The further I went into the forest, the less ‘real’ it felt, and reality began to hold less sway. Trees began to distort into strange shapes that would have driven any mortal insane, and the ambient mana reached tremendous levels of concentration, to the point that liquid mana was forming, pooling between the plants and roots. In some cases, it even floated along, carrying small rocks.

In this place, my omniscience began to fray, my natural influence resisted by the magical properties of the environment.

It’s like the dungeon. My [Zone of Influence] isn’t being carried by the natural mana, limiting me, and yet, it’s not like a black box. Just restraining.

Having to push even more mana through the connection to forcefully project myself, I barely kept the golems under control. The pillars I had been placing needed to be replaced with several obelisks.

Perhaps I should simulate this environment back home. Deep Cobalt likely could not resist the level of ambient mana without rapid degradation. Maybe an alloy would work?

Considering that Deep Cobalt was found deep underground, maybe I simply had to go further into the crust. While Earth’s continents floated on a giant ocean of magma, who knows what Trendal holds under the surface. I had already found one ancient civilization and several more dungeon floors.

Turning my mind back to the task at hand. I pushed further and further into the anomalous region. One kilometer in quickly became two, then five, then ten, getting closer to whatever was the center of the forest and magic.

Suddenly, my golems breached into a large clearing, and while I could see another layer of even more distorted and warped forest, there was a large ring in which none of the mind-bending effects reached. Going on in both directions, it seemed to circle what I presumed was the core of the Wildlands.

It took several moments for me to feel, but suddenly, mana signatures began to appear all around the open field. I had been unable to see and feel them as they had been cloaked, but now that I was closer, it was evident where all the creatures and beasts had retreated to.

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They were sleeping. Hundreds to thousands of unique and powerful creatures were all in a deep state of hibernation, some sleeping closer to others, but never in groups larger than five.

Lit aflame, my mind struggled to make sense of the sight. What is this? Each of these is at least my level or higher. The mana radiating from them is absurd… but less than I would expect.

Deciding to inspect the closest of the animals, I came across what appeared to be a white tiger, just with much longer fangs and perhaps four times as large. By itself, it slept on a large polished stone; it was evident it had been sleeping for quite some time, perhaps a year.

Its mana is flowing abnormally slow, causing it to not leak nearly as much mana into the environment, or absorb as much. Interesting. Maybe the hibernation is a survival mechanism? Few apex predators would be willing to slumber next to potential competitors, and considering the number in this clearing, I don’t think it’s a self-imposed slumber.

It could be a natural phenomenon of the Wildlands, perhaps something in the mana itself was capable of causing extreme levels of fatigue or tiredness. If that was the case, however, I should have been impacted as well. As a mana-based creature, it probably would have actually been worse for me.

It’s possible I have a resistance to such effects, but I doubt it. That suggests a biological component, as neither I nor my golems would be impacted by such things.