The forest was composed of thorny bushes whose leaves were covered with black-red mottles.

However, upon closer observation it would be discovered that the spots were actually small insects, thus forming that massively extended insect-infested area that caused arrivers to feel terrified.

Glenn took out a test tube and carefully collected a number of "mottle insects". They were only one-tenth of a human fingernail in size. Strangely enough, in addition to an oral cavity in the frontal part of their body and a black gland that secreted venom, their legs seemed to have shrunk and degraded into a sucker.

"Well, I've never seen this kind of creature before. Maybe I could explore them and see if its toxicity can be used in the toxin constitution-building practices later on." Glenn dropped the test tube into his space pocket as he was thinking about this.

As Glenn was about to turn around and leave, he made a sudden exertion and rushed to one side about five meters away, to avoid a tree that was coming at him at high speed. Its branches had the leaves that had contracted the same mottle sickness.

Glenn was surprised and he said: "Oh, a symbiotic relationship has been formed! No wonder the insects' legs have degenerated into almost nothing."

With a swish of his Nine-Headed Snake Sword, a branch was hacked off and green blood squirted out.

After the exertion of the thunder force, the worms on the branch's leaves were all shaken off. He then put the struggling twig into his space pocket.

Having taken a look around, he then flew off toward a certain direction.

The flight went on for several kilometers and he gathered a few of the creatures exclusive to this land. He stopped at a tree that dwarfed the other trees.

The tree was up to 300-400 meters high, and it still distinguished itself in size in this forest where tall trees were common to be found.

It was rumored that the highest tree existed in the wonder world. The so-called "world tree" was the guardian of that world and it supported the heaven there so that the sky would not fall. Life propagated and thrived with the tree as the hub. In Glenn's understanding, its importance compared to the Holy Tower of Seven Rings for the nearby schools.

There were also beliefs that many legendary life trees were well-known for their height, and an example were the life trees in the sorcerer world, which could be as high as several thousand or even tens of thousands of meters high. The tall trees always overwhelmed the smaller ones nearby as a tree had to prevail over the others to grow to that height. This was determined by the law of the jungle.

Despite all that, the tree in front of Glenn...

Glenn gathered himself and walked around the tree which was 4-5 meters long in diameter. Soon he found a cavity in the tree above one bulky root. The cave could only allow one man to dive in as far as its width was concerned.

He didn't act rashly and rush inside. Instead he produced the Inextinguishable Flame and looked inside. In the huge space within, Glenn saw many pairs of green, round eyes.

Squeaking sounds were heard.

Rats the size of butterflies swarmed outside. They seemed to be fearful of lights and parted into two ways around the flame. Glenn waved the flame on his hand and saw an empty cave.

Looking into the cave, Glenn found many dark-colored stones floating in the trunk. It seemed like the cobblestone-like rocks were levitating in midair by using their repulsive force against nearby objects. Strangely enough, Glenn couldn't even feel the power of their leylines even by using his own repulsive and attractive forces!

"Wait a minute. Isn't this the Tjugealong stone?" Glenn became shocked.

The Tjugealong stone was transliterated from a word existing in the language of a foreign world. They were used by black sorcerers to help the sewed-up creatures, cursing beasts and mutation beasts to overgrow themselves. They were poisonous to live beings of nature but they differed from the toxins that could be used for constitution-building. It belonged to the field of Occult.

What was inconceivable was that the lives here had adapted to this evil material's toxicity and had grown huge in stature.

Although these materials might not be useful for Glenn's current research, they might prove to be so in his future experiments. Therefore, he gathered all of the stones in the trunk and threw them into his space pocket arbitrarily.

"Wait a second, look at the rats' feces, they're giving off special life waves. I can use them to cultivate certain plants, like the explosive mushrooms..." Glenn grabbed the dung with his bare hand without caring for the filth, and also put them into the pocket.

Time was precious because Glenn might get thrown out of this fragment any time. He didn't tarry after having collected the stones.

With that in mind he shot off a repulsive force against the ground at his feet and he then took to the air, and flew toward the canopy of the huge tree.

"Eh...is this the Shade butterfly." Glenn uttered a strange noise.

Above his head were thousands of Shade butterflies fluttering their wings in pairs.

Shade butterflies were recorded in the Canine Olfactory Enhancement and Odor Mapping. According to it, they could live by feeding on the odors they collected. But they had gone extinct in the sorcerer world. It would be out of the question for Glenn to forget such a wondrous creature.

Several of the butterflies were pulled into Glenn's hands after he had put forth his gravitational force. He then sampled them before throwing them into his space pocket.

Afterwards, Glenn looked up at the golden fruits hanging in the canopy, and an enormous bird nest.

Glenn gulped and sneaked toward the crown of the tree. Snoring was heard as he approached closer. The nest was 30 meters in diameter and it would be no wonder if its inhabitant turned out to be an avian monster or something of that sort. And Glenn would not bother for the provocation.

70 or 80 golden fruits hung in the tree top, glittering in the sun. Glenn took a deep breath and picked one. As he was getting a second one, the sound of babies crying filled the air nearby.

"Lylia's been taken. Woo..."

"A robber invading... Lylia is gone. Get some help..."

Glenn stared at the golden fruits, displaying a stunned expression.

Features began to show on their faces and odder even, they were crying and communicating in the language of the sorcerer world like babies at the age around three, tears in their eyes, showing fear.

Aye...

A surge of terrifying aura overtook Glenn. A huge, one-eyed head with a red cockscomb was glaring at him.

Glenn's skin crawled. The atmosphere turned heavier.

He made a sudden movement and had moved away 100 meters without sparing time for thought. He made a consecutive sudden movement and finally disappeared from the monster's sight.

The huge bird showed no intention of capturing Glenn itself. Instead, the bird made a long chirp.

Seconds later, animals of all sorts--Dark Night Owls, three-eyed monkeys, two-headed dogs, six-winged cicadas-- were summoned and they headed to where Glenn had escaped.

This bird must be a high grade soul slave belonging to one of the ownermaster of the Black Tower.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Glenn continued fleeing until that giant tree disappeared from his sight. He landed with a start and rested putting his hand on the tree.

"It was terrifying!" Glenn gulped. "That must be a level-three sorcerer creature at least. I'd be so dead if this wasn't in the Black Tower mirror but a total strange place."

Glenn recovered a little and noticed a rock coming out of the ground. He came to it with surprised look on his face. Finally, he touched it.

"Feels like metal and crystal...Must be a product of some sorcerer, or is it a relic from ancient times?" Glenn hesitated. "That couldn't be possible. Quite Spring said ancient relics were guarded by soul slaves. But this place is but empty grounds, a clearing of the forest. Nothing special."