ALL NOVEL Chapter 36: Forest of Gloom
I walked under the massive trees, surveying my surroundings. The chirping of birds loomed overhead. I put a barrier on my hand and pressed it into the red bark of a redwood. The tree didn’t give a reaction, but it definitely felt like a normal tree.
There was a thought that this place was an illusion, but the ground beneath my feet and the bark told me otherwise. I looked behind the particularly thick tree, hoping that a golden scroll would pop out of the roots.
I sighed. “Of course it won’t be that easy.”
The thick roots had a small gap between them, just large enough for me to sit down. I sat between them, pondering how I would even find a golden scroll in such a huge forest. Surely it will stand out like a sore thumb? Oh, right!
I remembered the small piece of canvas I shoved in my pocket. A small butterfly was painted there. I checked my surroundings again, making sure no one was in the vicinity. I pushed mana from my core towards the paper, and the flying butter flapped off the page.
It flew into the sky, and I changed perspectives with it. After staring at myself from a tree for a few seconds, I flew around.
The sound of rushing water reached my flying butter ears. Do butterflies even have ears?
Either way, I landed my insect legs on a tree branch, overlooking a small river. There was a golden glint near a tree by the water. I flew closer, and I grinned internally.
I canceled the draining spell. Returning to my body gave me some whiplash, and the emptying of most of my mana made me queasy. I stood up and gripped the tree until my world stopped spinning.
Once I reoriented myself, I took a deep breath. There was no way for me to tell if any of the other students made it into the forest, and Janie definitely wasn’t around me. I hoped she would be okay, but I didn’t have the luxury of wasting time.
The great thing about daily demonic drill sergeant training was that I could run without worrying about stamina. Since the distance wasn’t far, I began sprinting towards the sound of the river.
A golden scroll caught my eye, and I cheered it was still there. I bolted towards it.
Whoosh! A fluffy white tail flung past me. The pointed eared fox girl dove past me, grabbing the scroll.
I skidded to a stop, almost tripping over a root in the ground. “Hey! That was mine!”
Cold blue eyes met my own, and they were stunning like sapphire gems. She pointed the scroll at me and winked. Her voice came out playful. “It ‘was’ yours, but now it’s mine.”
Any response died in my throat.
She pushed mana into the scroll, and white particles—similar to the ones from the elevator—spread around her. The girl vanished before my wide eyes.
After standing there stunned for a few seconds, I sighed. “Was she watching me the whole time!?”
No, it didn’t matter if she was watching me. I still needed to find a scroll, and now I knew for sure. All of the students were on the playing field. That means Janie is here somewhere.
The moment Janie changed into a new uniform, her claws destroyed the evil box. The voice of a spirit echoed in her mind. “Was that really necessary?”
Janie gasped but shook her head. The spirit had been with her for two years now. It rarely communicated with her, and she still didn’t understand. She had no idea what the great spirit meant.
The dragon girl had asked her mother about spirit dragons before, but her mother had never heard of a dragon that used spirit arts. The closest thing was her father who used life.
Before Janie met Enala’s butler, she didn’t even know teleportation was feasible. Now, she had seen it used on at least four occasions. But the teleportation array used by the school seemed fundamentally different from Roland’s. There was a strange resonance with the voice in her head. Maybe that was why she heard it now?
The dragon girl’s senses were sharp. Naturally, dragons had sharper senses than most of the creatures and races making up the kingdoms. Even now, she could hear the voices of other participants as they walked. The sounds of the rustling leaves rang in her ears.
“Aren’t you going to find the princess?”
Janie’s eyes widened. Of course, she needed to find the princess! She jumped into a nearby tree, focusing on the sounds around her. Her nose twitched with the mingling scents.
The dragon girl would never mistake her friend’s scent for anyone else. She picked it up quite a distance away. However, the water made the scent faint. It could be that she was closer. Janie flipped out of the tree, landing like an acrobat.
“Wait! Aren’t you going to look for a scroll first?”
The small dragon tilted her head. “Why would Janie do that?”
“That voice before. It said you needed to find a scroll.”
“Janie knows, but what about Enala?”
“I am sure she can find it on her own. But if she can’t, wouldn’t it be better if you found two scrolls? Think about it like a game.”
“A game!” The small dragon cheered. “Okay!”
Janie focused on her sense of hearing again, listening to the distant voices. Some of the participants seemed to be intertwined. It was as though they had formed a team. She focused on the closest voices—a boy and a girl.
“I already have a few ways to find the scrolls,” the boy said. “All I need is for you to fend off any potential threats.”
“You don’t have any defense magic?” The girl asked.
“No, I never learned them.”
“You never even learned barriers!?” The girl huffed. “Whatever, you’re going to owe me big time!”
“Hey! I am the one looking for them!”
With her target locked, Janie ran towards the voices. The closer she got, the louder they became.
She could finally make out her targets. The boy had bright green hair and an overly slender body, making Janie think he would even lose to the princess in an arm wrestle.
The girl had fiery red hair, similar to most of Janie’s. Though it was lacking the orange streaks.
Janie stealthily trailed her new targets.
