Four months ago
Dalaran Forest
A vast ancient forest, even by cultivator standards. No one knows when it appeared here. Some believed it had always been here, even in times when there were no empires or kingdoms.
Its trees towered over passing people by tens, hundreds of meters, and their dense canopy nearly blocked out the sunlight, and by all accounts, such a forest should have been shrouded in eternal darkness, where little could survive. But each tree, whose branches and leaves touched the sun, seemed to glow faintly. As if sharing light with everything around them. One tree alone couldn't dispel such darkness caused by the absence of the sun, but dozens, hundreds, thousands of trees managed it perfectly. It was so bright that even an ordinary person or animal could navigate the forest freely without any special vision. And for spiritual beasts or cultivators, visibility was never an issue at all.
Rand and his faithful companions continued to follow the hunter Galik. Although it seemed they were simply "walking," in reality, they were more like levitating, stepping through the air about ten to twenty centimeters above the ground. As the hunter had told them, this way they would create less noise and vibrations, which many animals relied on for orientation.
Periodically, they encountered various beasts, but so far, nothing that could pose a problem had appeared. Most of them hadn't even reached the Foundation Establishment stage and were destroyed with one blow at half power.
Suddenly, something resembling a mix between a mole and a bear emerged from underground. Despite constantly scanning the area with their spiritual senses, they noticed this creature only at the very last moment.
"That's a young brown earth bear. Its hide is tougher than blue steel, and its teeth can chew through almost any spiritual armor. In maturity, they reach the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage, but this one is still quite small, with a long way to go. But don't underestimate it," the hunter informed Rand and the knights, then decided to share his experience of dealing with such a beast. "It's best to wear it down with ranged attacks first, and then try to finish it off." Prince Rand listened attentively, then inspected the approaching beast before turning to one of the knights.
"Carl, go and quickly kill this creature. We don't have time for this triviality," Rand ordered one of the knights.
"Yes, my lord. I'll do it right away," Knight Carl responded to the order.
"But... my prince..." the hunter tried to say something. In his opinion, it was much wiser to attack together, following his suggestion.
At that moment, however, a two-meter-tall elderly knight approached him and interrupted before he could say anything:
"Young hunter," just this address caused something akin to surprise in Galik; for the first time in fifty years, he was called a young man, although considering the cultivation and the elderly appearance of the knight, yes, perhaps he could rightly call him that, "I know you mean well and we value your advice since you know this forest better than us. But you seem to greatly underestimate the prince and the knights he personally selected. It's not wise, and furthermore, if an order has already been given, and the prince doesn't give them easily, then there's no need to try to dispute it, as according to the law, you could lose your head for such a thing." After the last words, the hunter's face paled; at that moment, he realized he had been very close to death just now. He already deeply regretted getting involved in all this, practically knowing nothing about the prince and the rules of noble conduct.
"I shouldn't have left the forest and returned to the people. I shouldn't have been lured by the wealth offered by the prince," the middle-aged hunter regretted within himself.
Meanwhile, as they conversed, the brief battle between Knight Carl and the brown earth bear was nearing its end. The knight, wielding his sword, hovered over the already wounded beast, then uttered, "Heavenly Light Beam," and a milky-white beam shot out from his sword, piercing through the bear as if its hide didn't exist. However, this didn't kill the beast; it only enraged it further, causing it to leap after the knight who always seemed to elude it at the last moment. But after a couple more beams from the sword, the beast couldn't endure and fell dead. The knight then approached the corpse, ran his hand with a ring over it, and it vanished, leaving only a small bloodstain behind.
"Though it was quite tough and resilient, its offensive potential was rather mediocre. What's the point of having teeth that can pierce almost any armor if you're so sluggish that you can't even touch your opponent? A weak beast," Rand commented on the fight. "It won't fetch more than twenty-five heads. We need to hurry; otherwise, we won't reach the required number for victory. And from now on, enough of hiding our auras," the prince said, landing on the ground. "The more beasts that come, the better."
Then the prince turned to the hunter, "We followed your advice and concealed our auras and minimized sounds when we were in the outer perimeter of the forest, where only minor creatures dwell. Killing them would be a waste of time. But since we've reached areas where more beasts of the Foundation Establishment stage reside, there's no need for that anymore. From now on, we'll kill everything in our path. Lead us to the largest concentration of enemies, and if you have any ideas on how to attract more of them, all the better."
"But... Yes, my prince," initially, the hunter, seasoned by experience, wanted to object, but thankfully, the recent conversation with the great knight Lark had just occurred, so he had the wit to restrain himself. "I obey. Most predators live solitary lives, so we need groups of herbivores or omnivores. The nearest such group is a large family of gorillas. But they are very strong. Gorillas are smart and act together like a small army," seeing the spark of interest in the knights' eyes, the hunter, who initially wanted to suggest bypassing them, continued. "I'll lead you to them now. As for attracting attention... Corpses attract beasts. Beasts in this forest grow stronger by devouring others. Literally. The stronger the one they eat, the more strength they can gain. The corpse of a truly powerful beast or human will attract a real avalanche of those willing to have it for dinner."
The knight who had taken the brown earth bear's corpse in the ring immediately threw it back to the ground, though he did remove its head first.
"Very interesting. Carl, carry this cub without stashing it in the spatial artifact. Perhaps his friends will come to avenge him. But for now, let's follow your advice, Mr. Galik, and head to the gorillas. Hopefully, they won't disappoint us," the prince ordered.
After that, the squad continued on the path indicated by the hunter. Occasionally, they encountered various beasts like water spiders, purple snakes, but they didn't pose any problems and were eliminated by several techniques from the knights; the prince didn't have to intervene even once.
And only as they approached the gorilla family did they encounter something that caught their interest: a massive moving tree. A real ent.
The hunter wanted to say something at the sight, but the great knight Lark preempted him.
"We're quite fortunate; trees that gain sentience and cultivation abilities are rare. And most of them don't live long since they're a real delicacy for insects, often being devoured in their 'infancy.' But if they survive that initial period, they become a true menace to the forest. I've killed several of them when I was still in the army. This one is still relatively young, just at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage, but I think it can withstand several of your strikes, my prince."
"Do you really think so?" Rand asked, and seeing his loyal defender nod, he continued, "Finally, I'm tired of doing nothing. Now I can warm up."
The prince immediately proceeded alone toward the ent, and as soon as he was within a few hundred meters of the living tree, it noticed him. Its leaves rustled, and the roots underground stirred.
Meanwhile, Rand, seeing these threatening signs that literally said "don't dare approach," just smiled and calmly continued his advance. At that moment, the ent, unable to tolerate such audacity, began to attack. Thousands of its roots shot out from under the ground at an incredible speed invisible to mortal eyes. And this real avalanche of razor-sharp roots flew towards Rand, but before they could touch him, the surrounding people heard the words
"First step." And the prince disappeared from where he was. A second later, the entire mass of roots crashed into the spot where he had just been. And Rand, already fifty meters ahead, continued his march towards the tree. The ent, seeing that it not only failed to kill the man but couldn't even touch him, became even more enraged. This time its roots surrounded the prince and shot from all directions, giving him no chance to evade. But new words were heard in the air.
"Second step." And the prince vanished again, and the roots struck only emptiness. This time the prince appeared a hundred meters away from the ent, which seemed to be slightly startled, and to get rid of the persistent annoyance, it decided to make a small sacrifice. Suddenly, leaves started falling from the ent in huge quantities, but instead of falling to the ground, they flew towards Rand like a cloud of arrows. Each one as strong as steel and as sharp as a dagger. This time evasion wouldn't help, as even if he moved to another spot, the leaves would just follow him.
"Interesting technique, but mine is better: Lunar Reflection." A silvery-dark dome appeared around the prince, into which the leaf cloud crashed and... disappeared. It evaporated in the dome as if it had never existed. And after a couple of seconds, the darkened leaves flew out of the dome but this time towards the ent!
It, truly panicking now, began to attack this darkened foliage with its roots and remaining leaves, but many of them still broke through its blockade and struck the tree. And the ent screamed in pain. Because these altered leaves not only pierced it, damaging its trunk and branches with their sharpness, but also emitted black smoke, literally corroding everything around.
"It's time to finish this, Third step." this time the prince found himself literally a couple of meters from the tree trunk. Ent, noticing that the man had come so close, “sighed” with relief. It was afraid that a person would attack from a distance with these dark leaves, and jump from the blows of its roots. The Ent was never afraid of close combat. Therefore it gathered all its strength in its strongest branch-hand and struck at the impudent man.
Seeing the huge branch looming over him, Rand raised his hand to meet it and uttered: "Absorption." The massive branch touched the prince's hand and... stopped. From such a sudden deceleration, the ent staggered and almost fell.
"Return." The prince said, then lightly slapped the branch, still half a meter away from him, after which it was literally torn out of the tree and thrown dozens of meters into the air.
"You have quite a strong strike," Rand said, flexing his hand, "And now, farewell. Dark Full Moon." A dark-silvery circle appeared above the prince, and from it, a beam of light shot towards the ent, slicing it in half.
"Incredible," the hunter's voice sounded in the distance. "Both at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage, but what a huge difference between them."
"This battle doesn't indicate that the ent was weak; most people and beasts at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage are no match for it. We didn't even see its incredible regeneration and several other abilities; the prince didn't allow it to use them. So it's not that the ent is weak; it's just that the prince is monstrously strong," the great knight Lark responded to the hunter's exclamation.
Looking at the smoking remains of the ent and at the prince walking towards them, Galik thought, "That's the strength of the future emperor."
Four months ago
Dalaran Forest
A vast ancient forest, even by cultivator standards. No one knows when it appeared here. Some believed it had always been here, even in times when there were no empires or kingdoms.
Its trees towered over passing people by tens, hundreds of meters, and their dense canopy nearly blocked out the sunlight, and by all accounts, such a forest should have been shrouded in eternal darkness, where little could survive. But each tree, whose branches and leaves touched the sun, seemed to glow faintly. As if sharing light with everything around them. One tree alone couldn't dispel such darkness caused by the absence of the sun, but dozens, hundreds, thousands of trees managed it perfectly. It was so bright that even an ordinary person or animal could navigate the forest freely without any special vision. And for spiritual beasts or cultivators, visibility was never an issue at all.
Rand and his faithful companions continued to follow the hunter Galik. Although it seemed they were simply "walking," in reality, they were more like levitating, stepping through the air about ten to twenty centimeters above the ground. As the hunter had told them, this way they would create less noise and vibrations, which many animals relied on for orientation.
Periodically, they encountered various beasts, but so far, nothing that could pose a problem had appeared. Most of them hadn't even reached the Foundation Establishment stage and were destroyed with one blow at half power.
Suddenly, something resembling a mix between a mole and a bear emerged from underground. Despite constantly scanning the area with their spiritual senses, they noticed this creature only at the very last moment.
"That's a young brown earth bear. Its hide is tougher than blue steel, and its teeth can chew through almost any spiritual armor. In maturity, they reach the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage, but this one is still quite small, with a long way to go. But don't underestimate it," the hunter informed Rand and the knights, then decided to share his experience of dealing with such a beast. "It's best to wear it down with ranged attacks first, and then try to finish it off." Prince Rand listened attentively, then inspected the approaching beast before turning to one of the knights.
"Carl, go and quickly kill this creature. We don't have time for this triviality," Rand ordered one of the knights.
"Yes, my lord. I'll do it right away," Knight Carl responded to the order.
"But... my prince..." the hunter tried to say something. In his opinion, it was much wiser to attack together, following his suggestion.
At that moment, however, a two-meter-tall elderly knight approached him and interrupted before he could say anything:
"Young hunter," just this address caused something akin to surprise in Galik; for the first time in fifty years, he was called a young man, although considering the cultivation and the elderly appearance of the knight, yes, perhaps he could rightly call him that, "I know you mean well and we value your advice since you know this forest better than us. But you seem to greatly underestimate the prince and the knights he personally selected. It's not wise, and furthermore, if an order has already been given, and the prince doesn't give them easily, then there's no need to try to dispute it, as according to the law, you could lose your head for such a thing." After the last words, the hunter's face paled; at that moment, he realized he had been very close to death just now. He already deeply regretted getting involved in all this, practically knowing nothing about the prince and the rules of noble conduct.
"I shouldn't have left the forest and returned to the people. I shouldn't have been lured by the wealth offered by the prince," the middle-aged hunter regretted within himself.
Meanwhile, as they conversed, the brief battle between Knight Carl and the brown earth bear was nearing its end. The knight, wielding his sword, hovered over the already wounded beast, then uttered, "Heavenly Light Beam," and a milky-white beam shot out from his sword, piercing through the bear as if its hide didn't exist. However, this didn't kill the beast; it only enraged it further, causing it to leap after the knight who always seemed to elude it at the last moment. But after a couple more beams from the sword, the beast couldn't endure and fell dead. The knight then approached the corpse, ran his hand with a ring over it, and it vanished, leaving only a small bloodstain behind.
"Though it was quite tough and resilient, its offensive potential was rather mediocre. What's the point of having teeth that can pierce almost any armor if you're so sluggish that you can't even touch your opponent? A weak beast," Rand commented on the fight. "It won't fetch more than twenty-five heads. We need to hurry; otherwise, we won't reach the required number for victory. And from now on, enough of hiding our auras," the prince said, landing on the ground. "The more beasts that come, the better."
Then the prince turned to the hunter, "We followed your advice and concealed our auras and minimized sounds when we were in the outer perimeter of the forest, where only minor creatures dwell. Killing them would be a waste of time. But since we've reached areas where more beasts of the Foundation Establishment stage reside, there's no need for that anymore. From now on, we'll kill everything in our path. Lead us to the largest concentration of enemies, and if you have any ideas on how to attract more of them, all the better."
"But... Yes, my prince," initially, the hunter, seasoned by experience, wanted to object, but thankfully, the recent conversation with the great knight Lark had just occurred, so he had the wit to restrain himself. "I obey. Most predators live solitary lives, so we need groups of herbivores or omnivores. The nearest such group is a large family of gorillas. But they are very strong. Gorillas are smart and act together like a small army," seeing the spark of interest in the knights' eyes, the hunter, who initially wanted to suggest bypassing them, continued. "I'll lead you to them now. As for attracting attention... Corpses attract beasts. Beasts in this forest grow stronger by devouring others. Literally. The stronger the one they eat, the more strength they can gain. The corpse of a truly powerful beast or human will attract a real avalanche of those willing to have it for dinner."
The knight who had taken the brown earth bear's corpse in the ring immediately threw it back to the ground, though he did remove its head first.
"Very interesting. Carl, carry this cub without stashing it in the spatial artifact. Perhaps his friends will come to avenge him. But for now, let's follow your advice, Mr. Galik, and head to the gorillas. Hopefully, they won't disappoint us," the prince ordered.
After that, the squad continued on the path indicated by the hunter. Occasionally, they encountered various beasts like water spiders, purple snakes, but they didn't pose any problems and were eliminated by several techniques from the knights; the prince didn't have to intervene even once.
And only as they approached the gorilla family did they encounter something that caught their interest: a massive moving tree. A real ent.
The hunter wanted to say something at the sight, but the great knight Lark preempted him.
"We're quite fortunate; trees that gain sentience and cultivation abilities are rare. And most of them don't live long since they're a real delicacy for insects, often being devoured in their 'infancy.' But if they survive that initial period, they become a true menace to the forest. I've killed several of them when I was still in the army. This one is still relatively young, just at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage, but I think it can withstand several of your strikes, my prince."
"Do you really think so?" Rand asked, and seeing his loyal defender nod, he continued, "Finally, I'm tired of doing nothing. Now I can warm up."
The prince immediately proceeded alone toward the ent, and as soon as he was within a few hundred meters of the living tree, it noticed him. Its leaves rustled, and the roots underground stirred.
Meanwhile, Rand, seeing these threatening signs that literally said "don't dare approach," just smiled and calmly continued his advance. At that moment, the ent, unable to tolerate such audacity, began to attack. Thousands of its roots shot out from under the ground at an incredible speed invisible to mortal eyes. And this real avalanche of razor-sharp roots flew towards Rand, but before they could touch him, the surrounding people heard the words
"First step." And the prince disappeared from where he was. A second later, the entire mass of roots crashed into the spot where he had just been. And Rand, already fifty meters ahead, continued his march towards the tree. The ent, seeing that it not only failed to kill the man but couldn't even touch him, became even more enraged. This time its roots surrounded the prince and shot from all directions, giving him no chance to evade. But new words were heard in the air.
"Second step." And the prince vanished again, and the roots struck only emptiness. This time the prince appeared a hundred meters away from the ent, which seemed to be slightly startled, and to get rid of the persistent annoyance, it decided to make a small sacrifice. Suddenly, leaves started falling from the ent in huge quantities, but instead of falling to the ground, they flew towards Rand like a cloud of arrows. Each one as strong as steel and as sharp as a dagger. This time evasion wouldn't help, as even if he moved to another spot, the leaves would just follow him.
"Interesting technique, but mine is better: Lunar Reflection." A silvery-dark dome appeared around the prince, into which the leaf cloud crashed and... disappeared. It evaporated in the dome as if it had never existed. And after a couple of seconds, the darkened leaves flew out of the dome but this time towards the ent!
It, truly panicking now, began to attack this darkened foliage with its roots and remaining leaves, but many of them still broke through its blockade and struck the tree. And the ent screamed in pain. Because these altered leaves not only pierced it, damaging its trunk and branches with their sharpness, but also emitted black smoke, literally corroding everything around.
"It's time to finish this, Third step." this time the prince found himself literally a couple of meters from the tree trunk. Ent, noticing that the man had come so close, “sighed” with relief. It was afraid that a person would attack from a distance with these dark leaves, and jump from the blows of its roots. The Ent was never afraid of close combat. Therefore it gathered all its strength in its strongest branch-hand and struck at the impudent man.
Seeing the huge branch looming over him, Rand raised his hand to meet it and uttered: "Absorption." The massive branch touched the prince's hand and... stopped. From such a sudden deceleration, the ent staggered and almost fell.
"Return." The prince said, then lightly slapped the branch, still half a meter away from him, after which it was literally torn out of the tree and thrown dozens of meters into the air.
"You have quite a strong strike," Rand said, flexing his hand, "And now, farewell. Dark Full Moon." A dark-silvery circle appeared above the prince, and from it, a beam of light shot towards the ent, slicing it in half.
"Incredible," the hunter's voice sounded in the distance. "Both at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage, but what a huge difference between them."
"This battle doesn't indicate that the ent was weak; most people and beasts at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage are no match for it. We didn't even see its incredible regeneration and several other abilities; the prince didn't allow it to use them. So it's not that the ent is weak; it's just that the prince is monstrously strong," the great knight Lark responded to the hunter's exclamation.
Looking at the smoking remains of the ent and at the prince walking towards them, Galik thought, "That's the strength of the future emperor."
