Chapter 0003: The Murderous Tree

This was a sinister, fearsome magical swamp.

Even during the day, the warm sunlight could not pierce the thick, lingering mist, leaving the light dim and the entire environment swathed in a cold, earthy hue. The oppressive gloom seeped into the very air, and those who lingered here found their characters growing more sullen and dark.

When the stone gate closed slowly behind them, Tony pulled up his hood and spoke coldly, “I’m going over there!” Without waiting for Grim’s reply, he turned and strode down the narrow, winding path to the left, the one paved with scattered white pebbles.

Once Tony’s robust figure vanished into the fog, Grim drew up his own hood and turned onto the right-hand path. As he walked, he murmured quietly, “Pull up the detection data for Tony.”

The next instant, a report was projected in his mind—a scan from his biochip on Apprentice Tony.

Name: Tony
Attributes: Strength 7, Agility 3, Constitution 8, Spirit 6
…

Grim pursed his lips in surprise. With such a constitution, why not become a barbarian warrior instead? Both strength and constitution were twice his own, meaning if Grim were to fight Tony in close quarters, he’d likely be knocked out in a single punch. Yet, as a wizard apprentice, Tony’s Spirit was only 6, two points lower than Grim’s. This fundamental advantage was something no amount of strength or constitution could compensate for.

It seemed Tony intended to tread the path of a combat wizard—fortifying his body with arcane potions, then using wizardry to enhance his melee prowess. That was likely the only path available to him.

Having spent some time in close proximity, Grim’s biochip now analyzed Tony’s behavior and movements, extracting this precise information. This gave Grim a significant advantage in dealings with others, allowing him to avoid needless risks—a capability he valued above all.

Yet such methods would likely be useless against true wizards. Formal wizards radiated powerful elemental waves from their bodies—both instinctive displays of their amassed energy and deliberate measures to mask their true state from outsiders. Amid such intense energy interference, how much valuable data could the biochip really extract? Grim wasn’t even sure whether they could sense the chip’s presence. Thus, within the tower, he had to be exceedingly cautious in its use.

The stony path snaked endlessly through the mist. On either side, strange plants could be glimpsed, tall and short, their forms bizarre. Short, conical trunks, leaves curled and closed upon themselves, dangling vines here and there, mysterious flowers with petals as large as basin lids and vividly colored, wet and fetid pools of muddy water…

Each scene appeared ordinary enough, but Grim knew better than to stray a single step from the pebble path.

Surviving plants and creatures in a magical swamp were rarely gentle, each one a monstrous predator, ruthless and deadly. Those seemingly shy, stunted trees were actually murderous, and if approached, their curled leaves would suddenly unfurl, wrapping you in a deadly embrace. Then, the bloodsucking vines hanging from their branches would coil around, stabbing you with countless sharp tendrils, draining your blood drop by drop, making you feel your life slipping away.

Once your blood was exhausted, your flesh and bones would become fertilizer for the killer trees. If you ever peeled back the blackish, crimson-tinged soil beneath their roots, you’d find a dense layer of bleached bones—human and animal alike—the only evidence left by their prey.

The swamp tower kept these monsters for two reasons: to deter intruders, and to harvest special wizardry materials. The roots of the killer trees and the blood sacs cultivated within the bloodsucking vines were excellent tonics, vital supplements for wizards whose constitutions were often lacking. Periodically, wizard apprentices had to risk attacks by these monstrous plants to collect such materials—a perilous task with a high mortality rate.

Perhaps sensing Grim’s living presence, the previously lifeless swamp forest suddenly grew lively. Creatures lurking beyond his senses began to writhe and creep, slowly approaching the pebble path. But when Grim’s gaze swept over them, they froze, as if they had never moved.

Grim ignored these sly maneuvers, paying them no mind. However frenzied and savage they might become, they never dared cross the simple, humble pebble path he walked upon, as if something about it inspired their dread.

“Query the database—catalog the magical plants ahead!” Grim ordered.

“Task failed… Primary database damaged, unable to match species… Activating elemental vision, reconstructing models…”

A series of chip prompts sounded, and the image projected onto his retina flickered. Data cascaded down like a waterfall, rendering every object in his field of vision in radiant, shifting colors.

Elemental vision? Was this a special ability granted by the chip’s fusion with his current body?

A green base indicated the plant nature of these monsters, while red, yellow, blue, and purple clusters marked their energy concentrations. In addition, humidity, temperature, wind speed, toxic particle density, elemental particles—every parameter the chip could detect—now appeared as dynamic color charts before his eyes.

Grim frowned. This riot of color and complexity disrupted his normal sight—how was he supposed to see anything like this?

“Eliminate irrelevant spectra… Remove diffuse glow… Focus elemental vision on a few common energy bands…”

Step by step, Grim issued commands, and the dazzling, blinding lights gradually dimmed. Objects returned to their natural forms, though their edges now appeared semi-transparent under the chip’s powerful elemental vision. Even the elemental particles drifting through the air became faintly visible.

Where thick, pallid mist had hung, Grim now saw clusters, strands, and sheets of water element particles, slowly flowing. Bound by some mysterious force, they could not disperse, and so year after year, they shrouded the magical swamp in gloom.

Grim halted, his eyes glowing beneath the shadow of his hood, staring unblinkingly at the magical plants by the path. With this new perception, their hidden natures were revealed in vivid detail.

Beneath the shriveled, wrinkled bark, clusters of sinister ghostly faces pressed together—souls forcibly bound by the killer trees. On the trees’ pale trunks, the curled leaf edges, and the tips of their needle-like thorns, Grim saw a blue-green glow. This was the spectral emission of the killer trees’ paralyzing venom.

The bloodsucking demon vines parasitizing the killer trees appeared even more terrifying in Grim’s elemental vision—a writhing, vivid red monster. Beneath its twisted, green exterior flowed pure blood, and where it joined the killer tree, inside the hollow trunk, fist-sized blood sacs pulsed rhythmically, looking eerily like human hearts.

Caw, caw…

A shrill cry echoed as a flock of carrion crows flew in from the distance, landing on a branch, their crimson eyes fixed on Grim.

Truth be told, being watched by such a group of ominous monsters made Grim uncomfortable from head to toe.

He dared not underestimate these uninvited swamp denizens. Carrion crows were not powerful beasts, but their blood-red eyes possessed a mild “mind-corruption” ability, and there had been dreadful instances where wizard apprentices had their eyes pecked out by them.

Seeing the crows poised for action, Grim raised his right hand and chanted a spell he knew by heart. After five seconds, a burst of brilliant red magical fire erupted in his palm, twisting and surging endlessly.

His entire right hand was enveloped in magical fire, yet remained unscathed.

Burning Hand!

This was the sole spell Grim had mastered after six years in the wizard tower. With his current abilities, he could extend its magical flame only five paces ahead—any farther was beyond his reach. Thus, it was still merely a close-range spell.

The magical fire blazed, illuminating the thick mist around him. The intense fluctuation of fire elements finally made the monsters in the swamp forest realize this human was not an easy target.

Those creatures that had gathered near Grim were startled, fleeing in terror from the path’s sides. The carrion crows took flight with loud cries, circling briefly before vanishing into the depths of the fog.

Grim exhaled deeply, feeling a measure of relief.

The monsters would never dare set foot on the pebble path, but that did not prevent them from trying to lure or frighten wizard apprentices off it. If Grim were intimidated by their gathering and fled the path in panic, even magical wards might not save his life.

A wizard apprentice’s soul and flesh were far more delectable than those of ordinary humans or beasts, and besides, such predation did not violate the pact between the monsters and the tower’s wizards. Each patrol outside the tower was thus a stern test of willpower—should the monsters find a weakness in the apprentice’s mind, his fate would surely be grim.

“Record the information on these monsters,” Grim said calmly.

“Done… Recording complete! Please assign names.”

“Killer tree… Bloodsucking demon vine… Carrion crow…”

“Naming complete! New data entered into the database.”