Lis got ready early, and with the help of the lovely maid Rossi, he dressed in a sturdy and convenient adventure outfit, and then headed towards the Mercenary Guild with Welf.
Wearing a Mage Robe for an outdoor adventure was just showing off too much.
If Lis had the strength to sweep through everything, perhaps he might have done so, but not now.
At the entrance of the Mercenary Guild, Lis waved for Welf to leave on his own and went straight into the bustling Mercenary Guild.
"Over here, over here!"
The others had already arrived early; Ya'er was waving and calling out to Lis.
"We've been waiting for you."
Lis walked over to the group, and Arsen said to him,
"Take out your mercenary ID card for registration, and we'll be ready to leave. The carriage is already prepared."
Lis took out his Moriarty ID card and had it quickly registered by the Guild staff.
Unfortunately, the on-duty officer today was not the broad-hearted Miss Lia.
Lis took back his mercenary ID card, which had just been updated again. After completing a Magic Beast subjugation mission with the Ya'er Adventure Group, he had officially become a Bronze Level mercenary.
"Let's go, we're setting off."
Seeing that Lis had also completed the task registration, Arsen called everyone to set off. The pre-rented carriage was already waiting at the entrance of the guild.
Since this journey was a bit farther and required staying overnight in the wilderness, Arsen had rented a more spacious and comfortable carriage.
The destination of this trip was to the south of Bright City; once they boarded the carriage, Lis took out a voluminous Magic Book to continue his studies, with bursts of Magic Light occasionally flashing in his hands.
Lis was seizing every moment to absorb and solidify his foundation in Magical Knowledge.
Ya'er and the others quietly stayed in the carriage, conserving their strength for the upcoming exploration of the secret realm.
This mission might not be as easy as the last Magic Beast subjugation.
However, they encountered no Extraordinary Monsters blocking the way this time. It seemed that the relatively affluent southern part of the Kingdom had more effective sweeps and subjugations of various demons.
The two-day journey passed quickly for Lis, who, apart from resting and preparing delicious meals to relax, spent almost all his time immersed in studying the Magic Book.
For Lis, having a clear goal made grinding seem like a minor issue!
His teammates also tacitly did not disturb Lis, recognizing that he was in a phase of rapid strength improvement.
On the third day after departure, at noon, the carriage finally arrived near their destination, Kola Village.
Since this mission was more urgent and the situation was clear, Lis and his companions did not detour to the local Nobles and headed directly to the affected area.
According to the map provided by the Mercenary Guild, Kola Village should be at the end of this road.
However, oddly enough, in front of the dirt road where the carriage was traveling, a large forest suddenly appeared. The trees were lush and dense, with numerous thick vines interlaced between the trees, blocking any clear view of what lay beyond the forest.
It was strange that the dirt road was flanked by open fields and wastelands all along, but here, without any transition, a row of trees about tens of meters high stood directly at the roadside.
It was as if the heart of a forest from another place had been dug up and placed directly on this land, with the path underfoot abruptly cut off here.
Seeing this, Arsen called everyone to get off the carriage.
Lis and his companions also noticed the strangely dense forest in front of them, and they were somewhat surprised.
"What's with this forest? It shouldn't be on the map, right?"
Ailina asked, and for some reason, the naturally forest-affined Elf Ranger didn't feel the usual sense of belonging from this forest.
"It's very strange. The map shows that if we continue on this road for another three or four kilometers, we should reach Kola Village..."
Arsen furrowed his brows and said,
"Could it be... the intelligence mentioned rapid plant growth, could this forest have formed in just these few days?"
Lis looked at the lush green leaves and blue-green trunks in front of him, his eyes twitched, and he said,
Lis felt that his guess must be true, which was simply too preposterous!
A forest grows to this extent in just a few days?
Good heavens, is this a magical version of a forest-rising event?
"Something's not right!" Arsen dragged back the restless Ya'er, who was already eager to try his sword on the trees at the forest's edge.
This forest exuded strangeness everywhere; the task commissioned by the guild did not seem so simple anymore.
Just as Arsen was pondering how to further investigate the intelligence, he saw Lis slowly rise from the ground and ascend to a height of several tens of meters.
How could I forget that we have a mage in the team who knows Flying Technique!
Arsen promptly came to this realization.
After observing for a moment, Lis then descended.
"Did you find anything?"
Arsen directly asked, and everyone's gaze also turned towards Lis.
Lis shook his head and said,
"About ten kilometers ahead from here, it's all similar forest, with nothing particularly unusual."
"The only strange thing is that the area covered by this forest seems to form a neat circle."
Lis gestured, as normal forests are rarely shaped .
Arsen felt troubled, it seems that without entering the forest, merely observing from the outside wouldn't yield any useful intelligence.
Suddenly, several figures came running from the right side of the dirt road, shouting loudly while calling out to Lis and the others.
Lis scrutinized them—they were clad in standard armor and appeared here, so they must be guards of a territorial noble.
"You people, this forest is very dangerous, do not proceed any further."
The few, panting heavily, ran up to where Lis and the others were standing, the leader among them saying, gasping for breath,
"Hello, we are the team designated by the Mercenary Guild to handle this incident; here is our commission."
Arsen took out the commission received from the guild before departure from his storage ring and handed it to the leader, saying,
"Are you the ones responsible for patrolling around here?"
The opposing leader took the commission Arsen handed over, checked it, then respectfully handed it back to Arsen,
Bowed in a knightly manner, and said,
"Hello, we are grateful for your assistance, I am Child, a knight of Lord Viscount Ross."
"Hello, can you tell me what has happened in this area these past few days?"
Child quickly responded, this being an elite mercenary group appointed by the Mercenary Guild, much stronger than his own status as a Bronze Warrior,
"This is what happened, five days ago, Lord Viscount Ross had the Guard Team scout around, and realizing it was not something we could handle alone, we asked the Kingdom for help."
"The day after the person headed to the Royal Capital, an anomaly occurred!"