Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The Gnarled Grove was a mysterious place.
Ecologically very distinct from the outside world, the grove could cause illusion in people where they had entered an alien forest. There was no green here. All vegetations glowing with a metallic lustre of fuchsia looked a bit flirtatious at first glance but mysterious at subsequent looks. Most plants were tall and gnarled. Also there was a kind of bushes as tall as a human growing like a flame in a spiral. Under the thick bushes and on the compost, strange fungi grew on the terrain, they looked a bit like a combination of mushroom and moss: a large coat of lavender-coloured fungi covered the rocks and the surface of other plants with umbrella-like structure grew abruptly on it. These fungi were growing strong and bright in dark corners. But it wasn’t sure whether the rule of thumb applied here: the better it looks the more poisonous it is. The ground was covered with a thick layer of fallen leaves and other dead plants. All the plants were growing naturally and wantonly indicating the lack of disturbance from human.
In addition to the shorter, secondary vegetations, there was only one kind of wood in the gnarled grove: the tall, gnarled and broad-leaved tree. Its bark was iron gray. The lower trunk had no branches and grew straight up in a helical shape but at the upper trunk branches bursting out explosively. The crown of the tree was full of fuchsia, oval-shaped broadleaves. These broadleaved trees were abundant in the forest and looked the same—the gnarls, the twigs, and the branches were all carbon copy of one another except that their sizes might be different. Hao Ren had spot these unusual characteristics of the trees in the beginning, he studied the crown of two different trees and they were exactly the same.
The group was moving on the ‘official route’ in the gnarled grove. The church had spent enormous manpower and resources to build this road several hundred years ago. Generations of people had contributed their efforts in maintaining this no-so-wide road. Several hundred years had past, the ferocious monsters in the gnarled grove had got used to the existence of the road and would stay away from the watchhouses along the road: the road had become a part of the ecological system and the forest had even given way to it.
This had provided a buffer zone to travellers who traversed through the grove. As long as they didn’t stray away from the magic arrays lined along the road, they would be safe.
"These trees have no scientific name, they’re just a part of the huge ‘gnarled grove’ like fur on a beast. Anyway mercenaries and adventurers called them ‘spiral tree’. Look like one, doesn’t it?" Becky had noticed Hao Ren was staring at the strange-shaped tree, so she took the initiative to tell him. "All these trees are connected as one. Their roots are entangled and growing together while the part exposed receiving the sunlight. A group of elf-scholars had come and studied the gnarled grove back then. It’s said that before the world was destroyed, gnarled grove was the backyard of Goddess. Back then Lorrisa, the elf mage-emperor, stole the life gene from the gnarled grove and used a root from the tree to clone the tree of life. However, the tree of life was destroyed by fire as the end of the world, all was left was a char. How similar they looked is hard to tell now."
"You’ve said that the entire forest’s a plant," said Nangong Wuyue. She snuffed. The high humidity in the grove had made the siren feel more comfortable. "but it’s a huge forest, I wonder how much of it’s hidden underground?"
"No idea. But it’s said that the root part of the gnarled grove extends all the way to the centre of Beinz Blood Lake in the west, and beneath Droganspine Ridge in the east. This whole area was built up of roots of the gnarled grove. There’s a legend that some one hundred years ago, some dwarf miners tried to mine chrysotile in Dragonspine Ridge; they were digging a tunnel and as they dug they stumbled upon a huge black root toward the direction of the blood lake. Half of them went mad. Later the church came out with an explanation that the wrath residue of Goddess who ended the world was trapped underneath, it’d take a few thousand years before the wrath residue could be cleaned up by the forest. Since then, mining wasn’t allowed in the west of the range. You need the permission from the church even if you want to extract well water there.
Hao Ren was amazed by these giant trees. It was hard to imagine there was a massive life form hibernating underground by just looking at the surface. All he could see of it was some exposed roots functioning as breathing organ. But one thing was sure and Becky was right, there was no credible explanation to the amazingly identical trees except that they weren’t of natural occurrence but organs of a large living body.
"Please excuse me for a minute." Something suddenly came to Hao Ren’s mind. He took the pot and walked off the road. Becky asked, "Where’re you going? It’s dangerous!"
Hao Ren waved and said, "I won’t be long. And won’t be far."
Becky wasn’t convinced. Then Lily tried to explain. "He’s just taking a leak. He’s got kidney problem..."
Vivian was half shocked. "How do you know that?"
"Didn’t he have a DI, diabetes insipidus since in the village of the mountain people a few days ago?
Everyone: "....."
Maybe the maiden’s mind had a little short circuit and was still stuck at that particular moment.
Meanwhile Hao Ren had pulled off the official route, out of sight of Becky. But he didn’t dare to go too far off; though there were magic lamps made from divine crystals on both sides of the official route, area outside the energy range of magic lamps were still the world of monsters. He went to the back of a shrub. As he unlid the pot, Lil Pea poked her head out, splashing water as if she was greeting him.
Hao Ren used his finger to jab the tiny head of the little mermaid as sign of affection. He then told the MDT, "Get out of there. I need you to scan the surroundings—in high power mode."
"Now you start to mean business." The MDT whined as it got out of the pot as Lil Pea looked on. It rose in the air and glowed in a blue light.
The high powered radar scanned the ground and analysed the underground structure.
"A massive root system detected, just like what the maiden has said—the forest’s a single living organism." The MDT started showing a hologram of the entire gnarled grove. The stunning images shocked him: the ground was filled with a web of roots which radiated outward for many kilometres. The roots were entangled together and formed a giant, compressed, gully-filled, and oval-shaped ball. It was a little like a deformed walnut.
And it was disgusting.
The MDT explained, "If the roots disappeared, a large hole as big as a hundred kilometres across would be left behind and everything above it would be swallowed. Now you know how massive this thing is. But it’s not all, the maiden has been right in one thing too: the root system hasn’t just extended under but past the blood lake. It almost reaches the plain and the mountain range in the far west but strangely half of the roots have died probably because soil problems in the crystal plain."
"It’s kind of hard to imagine what’s underground is so much massive than what’s above ground." Hao Ren was totally overwhelmed by awe. He wasn’t awed by the ancient miracle but by the nature itself—just like the nature of Raven 12345.
"There’s another thing which might be worthy of investigation," said the MDT suddenly. "The entire forest...no, it fact it’s the entire Beinz Blood Lake region, the ecosystem of which, is incompatible with the outside world."
Hao Ren was at a loss. "Incompatible?"
"This’ the topography of this region," the MDT had spun the hologram around so that they could have a bird’s eyes view. "where you can see the entire region of Benz Blood Lake is a closed system. Dragonspine Ridge in the east, the sacred mountain of the mountain people in the west, the grand canyon in the north, and the ocean in the south; all these are natural dividers to the ecosystem. That’s how Beinz Blood Lake becomes an ecosystem on its own. The plants in this area—of what I’ve detected fo far—wouldn’t grow outside of region. They’ve a unique way of using the nutrients which could only be done in the environment provided by Beinz Blood Lake."
"Totally unadaptable to the outside world? They couldn't survive at all?"
The MDT affirmed categorically. "Not at all."
Hao Ren was becoming more curious about Benz blood Lake.
The lake was sustaining an ancient ecosystem. But what was inside the lake?
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The Gnarled Grove was a mysterious place.
Ecologically very distinct from the outside world, the grove could cause illusion in people where they had entered an alien forest. There was no green here. All vegetations glowing with a metallic lustre of fuchsia looked a bit flirtatious at first glance but mysterious at subsequent looks. Most plants were tall and gnarled. Also there was a kind of bushes as tall as a human growing like a flame in a spiral. Under the thick bushes and on the compost, strange fungi grew on the terrain, they looked a bit like a combination of mushroom and moss: a large coat of lavender-coloured fungi covered the rocks and the surface of other plants with umbrella-like structure grew abruptly on it. These fungi were growing strong and bright in dark corners. But it wasn’t sure whether the rule of thumb applied here: the better it looks the more poisonous it is. The ground was covered with a thick layer of fallen leaves and other dead plants. All the plants were growing naturally and wantonly indicating the lack of disturbance from human.
In addition to the shorter, secondary vegetations, there was only one kind of wood in the gnarled grove: the tall, gnarled and broad-leaved tree. Its bark was iron gray. The lower trunk had no branches and grew straight up in a helical shape but at the upper trunk branches bursting out explosively. The crown of the tree was full of fuchsia, oval-shaped broadleaves. These broadleaved trees were abundant in the forest and looked the same—the gnarls, the twigs, and the branches were all carbon copy of one another except that their sizes might be different. Hao Ren had spot these unusual characteristics of the trees in the beginning, he studied the crown of two different trees and they were exactly the same.
The group was moving on the ‘official route’ in the gnarled grove. The church had spent enormous manpower and resources to build this road several hundred years ago. Generations of people had contributed their efforts in maintaining this no-so-wide road. Several hundred years had past, the ferocious monsters in the gnarled grove had got used to the existence of the road and would stay away from the watchhouses along the road: the road had become a part of the ecological system and the forest had even given way to it.
This had provided a buffer zone to travellers who traversed through the grove. As long as they didn’t stray away from the magic arrays lined along the road, they would be safe.
"These trees have no scientific name, they’re just a part of the huge ‘gnarled grove’ like fur on a beast. Anyway mercenaries and adventurers called them ‘spiral tree’. Look like one, doesn’t it?" Becky had noticed Hao Ren was staring at the strange-shaped tree, so she took the initiative to tell him. "All these trees are connected as one. Their roots are entangled and growing together while the part exposed receiving the sunlight. A group of elf-scholars had come and studied the gnarled grove back then. It’s said that before the world was destroyed, gnarled grove was the backyard of Goddess. Back then Lorrisa, the elf mage-emperor, stole the life gene from the gnarled grove and used a root from the tree to clone the tree of life. However, the tree of life was destroyed by fire as the end of the world, all was left was a char. How similar they looked is hard to tell now."
"You’ve said that the entire forest’s a plant," said Nangong Wuyue. She snuffed. The high humidity in the grove had made the siren feel more comfortable. "but it’s a huge forest, I wonder how much of it’s hidden underground?"
"No idea. But it’s said that the root part of the gnarled grove extends all the way to the centre of Beinz Blood Lake in the west, and beneath Droganspine Ridge in the east. This whole area was built up of roots of the gnarled grove. There’s a legend that some one hundred years ago, some dwarf miners tried to mine chrysotile in Dragonspine Ridge; they were digging a tunnel and as they dug they stumbled upon a huge black root toward the direction of the blood lake. Half of them went mad. Later the church came out with an explanation that the wrath residue of Goddess who ended the world was trapped underneath, it’d take a few thousand years before the wrath residue could be cleaned up by the forest. Since then, mining wasn’t allowed in the west of the range. You need the permission from the church even if you want to extract well water there.
Hao Ren was amazed by these giant trees. It was hard to imagine there was a massive life form hibernating underground by just looking at the surface. All he could see of it was some exposed roots functioning as breathing organ. But one thing was sure and Becky was right, there was no credible explanation to the amazingly identical trees except that they weren’t of natural occurrence but organs of a large living body.
"Please excuse me for a minute." Something suddenly came to Hao Ren’s mind. He took the pot and walked off the road. Becky asked, "Where’re you going? It’s dangerous!"
Hao Ren waved and said, "I won’t be long. And won’t be far."
Becky wasn’t convinced. Then Lily tried to explain. "He’s just taking a leak. He’s got kidney problem..."
Vivian was half shocked. "How do you know that?"
"Didn’t he have a DI, diabetes insipidus since in the village of the mountain people a few days ago?
Everyone: "....."
Maybe the maiden’s mind had a little short circuit and was still stuck at that particular moment.
Meanwhile Hao Ren had pulled off the official route, out of sight of Becky. But he didn’t dare to go too far off; though there were magic lamps made from divine crystals on both sides of the official route, area outside the energy range of magic lamps were still the world of monsters. He went to the back of a shrub. As he unlid the pot, Lil Pea poked her head out, splashing water as if she was greeting him.
Hao Ren used his finger to jab the tiny head of the little mermaid as sign of affection. He then told the MDT, "Get out of there. I need you to scan the surroundings—in high power mode."
"Now you start to mean business." The MDT whined as it got out of the pot as Lil Pea looked on. It rose in the air and glowed in a blue light.
The high powered radar scanned the ground and analysed the underground structure.
"A massive root system detected, just like what the maiden has said—the forest’s a single living organism." The MDT started showing a hologram of the entire gnarled grove. The stunning images shocked him: the ground was filled with a web of roots which radiated outward for many kilometres. The roots were entangled together and formed a giant, compressed, gully-filled, and oval-shaped ball. It was a little like a deformed walnut.
And it was disgusting.
The MDT explained, "If the roots disappeared, a large hole as big as a hundred kilometres across would be left behind and everything above it would be swallowed. Now you know how massive this thing is. But it’s not all, the maiden has been right in one thing too: the root system hasn’t just extended under but past the blood lake. It almost reaches the plain and the mountain range in the far west but strangely half of the roots have died probably because soil problems in the crystal plain."
"It’s kind of hard to imagine what’s underground is so much massive than what’s above ground." Hao Ren was totally overwhelmed by awe. He wasn’t awed by the ancient miracle but by the nature itself—just like the nature of Raven 12345.
"There’s another thing which might be worthy of investigation," said the MDT suddenly. "The entire forest...no, it fact it’s the entire Beinz Blood Lake region, the ecosystem of which, is incompatible with the outside world."
Hao Ren was at a loss. "Incompatible?"
"This’ the topography of this region," the MDT had spun the hologram around so that they could have a bird’s eyes view. "where you can see the entire region of Benz Blood Lake is a closed system. Dragonspine Ridge in the east, the sacred mountain of the mountain people in the west, the grand canyon in the north, and the ocean in the south; all these are natural dividers to the ecosystem. That’s how Beinz Blood Lake becomes an ecosystem on its own. The plants in this area—of what I’ve detected fo far—wouldn’t grow outside of region. They’ve a unique way of using the nutrients which could only be done in the environment provided by Beinz Blood Lake."
"Totally unadaptable to the outside world? They couldn't survive at all?"
The MDT affirmed categorically. "Not at all."
Hao Ren was becoming more curious about Benz blood Lake.
The lake was sustaining an ancient ecosystem. But what was inside the lake?
