Chapter 153: The Ancient Undead Tree
The journey was utterly unobstructed. Leon soon found his Alchemical Golem hunting Skeleton Warriors at the edge of the Black Wasteland.
"I wonder what the haul is like..." Leon murmured the control rune, and the Alchemical Golem that had been chasing a Skeleton Warrior immediately abandoned its target, trotting over to Leon like a well-trained hound.
Even before the Alchemical Golem reached him, Leon noticed a thick aura of death lingering around it. He knew this was the result of carrying large amounts of Soul Essence for an extended period—the death energy had seeped in and left its mark.
Clearly, the Alchemical Golem had made quite the haul over the past two months.
Sure enough, when the Alchemical Golem arrived, Leon used a control rune to open the storage compartment on its arm—etched with two spatial arrays—and found it packed full of Soul Essence. There were at least three thousand pieces, a staggering amount that would send the magical materials market in Thousand Sails City into chaos if word got out.
"Not bad at all." Leon nodded in satisfaction. This haul far exceeded his expectations; he'd thought the Alchemical Golem would bring back maybe a thousand Soul Essences from hunting in the Black Wasteland, but the final count was triple that.
It just goes to show how abundant the Bone Plane really is...
Leon whispered another control rune, instructing the Alchemical Golem to remain on guard. He piled all the Necrotic Essences on the ground, then pulled out the Sage's Chapter from his pocket.
With a trickle of magic power from Leon...
The Sage's Chapter instantly burst into dazzling light, releasing a surge of death energy that blanketed everything within dozens of meters.
The pile of Soul Essence on the ground, like a small mountain, resonated with that overwhelming death energy in an instant.
At first, only a faint glow appeared, but soon the light grew brighter. Dull Soul Essences turned back into radiant Soul Fire, illuminating the entire area around Leon as if it were broad daylight.
Then, the light of the Sage's Chapter pulsed, and thousands of Soul Fires surged toward it, drawn like moths to a flame.
One, ten, a hundred...
More and more Soul Fires poured into the Sage's Chapter. In just moments, it had absorbed hundreds. Leon could feel the artifact beginning to transform—what was once a dull slab now shimmered with flowing light as the Soul Fires surged in.
With each batch of Soul Fire absorbed, the Sage's Chapter grew brighter. By the end, after taking in thousands, it had become a crystal-clear slab, like a piece of pure crystal.
"It must have advanced..." Leon muttered, turning the crystal slab over in his hand. He could clearly sense a vast death energy flowing within, several times stronger than before.
Leon considered for a moment, then tried storing a second-level spell—Frost Ring—inside.
And it actually worked...
"It really has advanced."
Previously, the Sage's Chapter could only store first-level spells.
Once a first-level spell was elevated to a Limit Spell, its power was roughly that of a fourth-level spell—about the strength of a Grand Mage.
But now, the Sage's Chapter could store second-level spells.
A second-level spell, when elevated to a Limit Spell, instantly became as powerful as a fifth-level spell—leaping from Grand Mage strength straight to that of an Archmage.
That's not just a minor upgrade.
Except for freaks like Leon, the gap between Grand Mage and Archmage was nearly impossible to cross. But now, these thousands of Soul Fires had let the Sage's Chapter bridge that chasm.
Compared to before, the Sage's Chapter was now several times more powerful.
The only regret was that it could still only hold three Limit Spells...
"Well, three is plenty," Leon consoled himself, then stored two more second-level spells inside.
Then, with his Alchemical Golem in tow, Leon left the Black Wasteland behind.
Half an hour later, Leon stepped into a dense forest. It looked lush and vibrant, yet the atmosphere felt oppressive and sinister. The air was thick with the stench of blood.
Leon knew this had to be the infamous Bloodwood Forest.
Despite the towering trees and carpet of grass, every plant here was a monstrous, vampiric predator...
Sure enough, the moment Leon entered the forest, a shrill screech pierced the air. The lush grass suddenly writhed, and countless thorny vines shot toward his legs like venomous snakes...
But Leon wouldn't have set foot in the Bloodwood Forest without being prepared...
As the grass erupted, Leon uttered an incantation. A Path of Flames roared to life beneath his feet with a thunderous boom, instantly incinerating the thorny vines before they could reach him.
Leon didn't even glance down. With his Alchemical Golem by his side, he strode through the blazing fire deeper into the forest, never ceasing his incantations. Atop his Soulbound Staff, the Elemental Amber glowed with a persistent, dazzling light...
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Leon knew Bloodwood Forest was no ordinary place. It was home to plant undead, and while the sinister grass was only slightly stronger than Skeleton Warriors, the real danger lay in the colossal Necro-Ents—some towering dozens of meters high, nearly as strong as a Bone Demon.
And there were far more than just one or two of those ancient trees...
Sure enough, as the grass turned to ash, Leon felt the ground tremble beneath him. Suddenly, a whip-like crack sounded behind his head—he turned to see several thick branches lashing toward him like giant whips...
Luckily, Leon was ready...
The instant the branches whipped through the air, Leon unleashed his final incantation. The Elemental Amber atop his Soulbound Staff flashed, releasing a long-nurtured Fire Crash—a fourth-level spell, supercharged by Mana Harness. Its power was enough to make even an Archmage like Alan Watson wary, let alone a mere twenty-meter Necro-Ent.
With a deafening boom, the blazing fire struck the Necro-Ent and its branches head-on. A sharp crack echoed as the ancient tree split cleanly in two...
The thick branches were instantly reduced to ash, not even brushing Leon's robes.
But Leon didn't dare pause—he knew he'd only stirred the Necro-Ents of Bloodwood Forest. This one was just the beginning; soon he'd face ten, a hundred times more...
Sure enough, even after the first Necro-Ent was split in two, the tremors beneath Leon's feet didn't stop...
In the blink of an eye, four or five more Necro-Ents rose up, and it looked like even more were on the way...
"Damn, I knew it..." Leon couldn't help but force a bitter smile at the sight of so many Necro-Ents.
This time, Leon didn't dare hold back.
He uttered a control rune, and his Alchemical Golem—modeled after a Caucasus Battlemage—went into full assault mode. Its adamantine spear blazing, it dove into the Necro-Ents as Leon ramped up his spellcasting to the limit. With five Mana Harnesses now active, he unleashed spell after spell, turning the land for hundreds of meters into a battlefield of upheaval...
The battle raged for half an hour, with Leon and his golem felling over a hundred Necro-Ents. Only when Leon's mana was nearly spent and the golem battered did the Necro-Ents' assault finally slow.
When the last Necro-Ent fell, Leon finally caught his breath. All around, not a single tree stood within hundreds of meters; the grass was burned to ash and the land looked like a wasteland—bleaker even than the Black Wasteland ruled by the Bone Demon.
At this point, Leon didn't care about much else. He found a clean spot to sit down, using his Elemental Amber ring to slowly recover his mana. He ordered the Alchemical Golem to search the area, remembering that slain Necro-Ents left behind Life Crystals.
Life Crystals may not hold much magical power, but they're widely used in alchemical potions. Their potent life energy makes them ideal for two types of alchemy: recovery and berserk formulas.
Leon also remembered a few recipes from the peak of magical civilization that could make Life Crystals unbelievably effective.
In fact, there are three shortcuts to the Book of the Dead.
Leon chose this path not just for safety, but also to harvest Necro-Ents from Bloodwood Forest along the way.
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