"I sometimes wonder who actually approved of this." Kenneth said, as he gazed around in the almost pitch black forest. 

"Approved of what?" Lucas, who was right beside him, was feeding Mesmer some carrots.

"Approved of building the large highway above the forest. If it hurts the things down here, then what's the point?" To make an example, Kenneth had Catalyn bend over and grab a leaf. 

After being handed it, a few seconds of inspection was all he needed to find concerning flaws in the leaf.

"It has lots of holes in it, it's noticeably larger, and the color doesn't even seem like it's one of leaf's."

"What do you think happened to it? Did the plants go crazy?" 

"What? No. Well, I guess you could say that. The plants must've had to adapt to the darkness. What small rays of sunlight that would pass through the cracks between the leaves, are now gone." 

"And to add insult to injury, the water that falls down onto this place is also lessened. I heard from the checkpoint A.I earlier that some magicians do come here every now and then to water the place, but without sunlight, the plants would've have to evolved to take energy through other things."

"And that is?" Lucas, who wasn't able to pay attention to the conversation, asked. 

"The mana in the air. Plants in this world all need three things to live, no matter if they live on the soil, or in water. They need sunlight, water, and the mana in the air." 

"Huh. I never knew that. So plants can also cast magic?"

"I... I don't know. Just because they can take in mana might not mean they have it's powers. Maybe I'll ask Aurelia, since we're in her home grounds right now anyway. Giddy-up, Bulwark." Lightly kicking the side of the large horse, it neighed, before increasing it's speed.

"Catalyn, don't you think Magius is a weird guy?" Having done talking with his older brother, Kenneth turned to his caretaker, who was sitting behind him.

"Catalyn does not know of what kind of person Magius is, young master."

"Well, I'm sure you don't. But you both have Spatial Magic, and he's going to be the one helping us get stronger." 

"In that case, Catalyn thinks Magius is a weird guy." 

"How so?"

"If what young master says is true, then Magius has been hiding in his tower for a while now." 

"I guess that sort of makes him a hermit. I wonder if he'll actually talk to us. Hey, we're losing Lucas. Let's go a bit faster." 

The blinking lights that Lena had left behind were beginning to flicker. They were losing their brilliance quickly.

"But that doesn't mean we won't be learning anything from him, right?"

"Young master is right. Surely Magius will help us once we present him with the World Tree Seed." 

"Oh, now that you say it, we did have that, didn't we? Could you bring it out?" 

"At once." Opening her personal portal, Catalyn reached her hand inside the hole. Taking a few seconds, she was eventually able to grab it after frisking her hand around inside. 

Once she brought it out, she tightly shut her palm over the seed. 

She then moved her arm towards Kenneth, and placed the seed into his open hand. 

"You wouldn't think that this is the World Tree Seed, with how small it is. It also looks pretty normal." 

"Catalyn thinks this is better. People who can't tell that it is what it is won't bother stealing it." 

"I guess you're right." Kenneth kept his palm open, and inched closer in order to furthet inspect the seed. 

As he had said, the seed was not very different from normal plant seeds. Even the Life Eater ones that Aurelia had were more unique looking, with spikes on its husk. 

But something about it just felt very grand. Maybe it was the fact that Kenneth knew it was the World Tree Seed. Maybe that sense of cautiousness made him vow in his head to keep it safe.

Having had enough of the seed, he passed it back to Catalyn, who placed it into her personal portal. 

And then, Kenneth turned over to Gwyar, who was riding beside them on his new horse, Vendetta. 

The dhampir was already beginning to get accustomed to riding a horse, but he would often make some mistakes. He's pull on the horse reins too hard, or perhaps kick it too hard. 

But the reddish-brown horse seemed to understand that its master was not very experienced in riding it. It was very patient, and did not scream out, but neigh slightly louder than usual. 

"What about you, Gwyar? You've been quiet this whole ride." 

"I'm still struggling to comprehend all of this." 

"Comprehend all of what?" Kenneth looked over at the dhampir, confused.

Gwyar had tears in his eyes. They weren't pouring out, but were beginning to gather on the sides of his eyes. 

"That there was a world, outside of the cage I once knew. That there were many more things to see. That there were many more things to experience. I feel like I haven't even touched the surface."

"Oh, I know that feeling. It's a large world, isn't it? But is that really why you're crying?"

"No. It's because I thought back to the times of my old self. Instead of focusing on escaping my cage, I was contented in staying inside and disrupting the people. I was happy with living in that cell, if it meant that I was happy." 

"But you showed me that there was perhaps more to this wonderful world. It might seem like the wrong place to say this, but even this dark forest seems so bright and colorful, thanks to you." 

"Right, no need to get dramatic." 

"But I am. I once again thank you, for saving Lobeck from that prison."

"If you really are, you'd focus on getting stronger. There were few reasons as to why I decided to pick you, even if I didn't like you. Don't lower the already low number of reasons I have." 

"You're right. Thanks." With that Gwyar rode on ahead with his horse, leaving Kenneth and Catalyn behind.

"What a sappy man. Did young master have a hard time dealing with him?"

"Leave him be. He's still very new to this. And besides, you showed the same reaction when we got you out of your glass chamber, right?"

"I- I didn't think young master remembered that."

"Hah! Me, a Mental Magic user, forgetting things? Not happening."

After that, they had decided to get going even faster, in order to catch up with Lucas, who was long gone.

And finally, they had caught up with Lucas, who had seemingly slowed down to wait for the two.

"Hey, little bro. Slow down for a second." 

"Yeah? What's up?" Pulling the reins on Bulwark back, the horse immediately stopped, placing weight onto its legs to help it to stop moving.

"Lena told me that Aurelia and Thanatos are already at the end, and they should be heading back to us." 

"Okay, so what's the problem?"

"The forest opens up to something unexpected. I just thought I'd tell you it."