The darkness thickened as the team ventured into the middle areas of the forest. Here, more uncommon materials could be found, but the potential gains are accompanied by corresponding risks.

“Wow, there are so many new plants here!” exclaimed Emily.

Leopold was like a person who went to a buffet but could only look at all the food. He had already created his tower, so he couldn’t do anything with most of the resources here. Chronus, Emily, and Griffin all began to examine the new flora around them.

Unable to sit still, Leopold decided to satisfy his adventurous spirit and slightly wandered off from the other three. Harboring delusions of grandeur, he had the idea of discovering a hidden treasure or a relic left by a master. He had only moved a few meters away from the team when he tripped over a gnarled root of a tree.

As he lost his balance and sat down on the forest floor inelegantly, a flash of green whizzed past him and narrowly missed his head. It wasn’t fully avoided and struck his shoulder, ripping apart his shirt and drawing blood. Feeling the sharp pain, Leopold shrieked and scrambled back to the team on all fours in a panic. Two more whips slashed down behind him, bringing up clods of soil.

Noticing the commotion, Chronus directed his flashlight at Leopold and past him. A tall tree with long dangling branches was revealed. It was a whipping willow, a type of tree that lashes out at anything that came near it with its sharp slender branches. This action serves as both self defense and a way for it to feed. Small animals that approached it unknowingly would be attacked, and their bodies would decompose at the base of the tree, providing nutrients.

Lacking accurate senses, the whipping willow’s strikes aren’t precise. Once a person is aware of their existence, unless their movement was impaired, it wouldn’t be difficult to escape the range of one of the trees.

However, once hit, the trees can be very deadly. The strength of their whips are not to be trifled with, a solid connection can even buckle steel. Another danger comes from the fact that they tend to grow in tightly knit groves. Once the willows are agitated, it can be difficult to leave in one piece.

“Everyone, back away from the tree!” shouted Chronus. Sure enough, upon realising its prey was about to escape, the whipping willow raised its branches and began to lash out in all directions in a frenzy.

Following the movement of the willow, the branches of many nearby trees began to stir. The branches drew thin green arcs through the air as they tried to assault their prey. Leopold felt helpless, his mud shot ability was useless against these trees. Leopold tried to block the rapid onslaught with his wooden spear, but he felt a tremendous force slam into it. The spear instantly splintered in half and he flew backwards into the ground.

“Follow me!” said Chronus urgently, motioning with his light. He was too far from Leopold to try to help. Emily and Griffin were already close by and quickly backed away from the danger. They had not been very close to the trees and were able to make it out with only a few scratches.

Leopold, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. After suffering two more injuries, he managed to stumble away from the rioting section of the forest, groaning. Chronus dragged him up and the group rushed out together in a direction away from the range of the trees.

After distancing themselves from the dangerous grove of whipping willows, the team regrouped under the shade of a large benign tree. Griffin squatted down, panting from exertion. Chronus examined the wounds on Leopold.

There were two that were quite serious. One was the first strike on his shoulder. It was a large cut from his clavicle all the way to his back. The second was much more severe. He had been hit on his left thigh while retreating. A large gash had been carved out of his leg, almost reaching down to the bone. Blood was rapidly pouring from the wound.

Having a tower whose nature was partly mutant genes, Leopold had a slightly improved physique. Even so, his puny mudcastle only brought it up to the level of a normal human athlete. Without treatment, he might die from blood loss.

“Is he going to be okay?” inquired Emily nervously, her face pale on seeing the horrific injuries. Leopold whimpered.

“I have some herbs that can stop blood loss,” said Chronus, reaching into his backpack and bringing out a handful of dark green leaves. After sorting out some under the flashlight, he squeezed the leaves into a pulp and applied them to the bleeding wounds. He then wrapped it tightly with a strip of cloth cut from the remains of Leopold’s shirt.

The rag quickly turned red, but the bleeding slowed down. This emergency treatment would most likely be able to save his life. His panic subsiding and the adrenaline leaving his body, Leopold weakly leaned against the tree trunk.

“Leopold is injured, we should return now,” said Chronus, “It's not safe to stay here for long.”

Chronus and Emily helped up Leopold, who was limping due to the injury on his leg. The group of four slowly backtracked along the way they arrived, taking care to circle around the territory of the whipping willows. Shortly, they withdrew from the middle area of the forest. Leaving the shadowy area where the sun couldn’t reach behind them, the group was silently relieved.

The return journey to the campsite took much longer with one of their team being so heavily injured. After an intermittent migration, they finally arrived at the shelter leaning on the boulder. Leopold quickly collapsed inside, falling asleep from exhaustion.

The other three members of the team gathered outside around the ashes of the previous night and recounted their adventure and spoils. The basket Griffin carried and some of Chronus’ collection was taken out.

“Do you two have any thoughts on what to absorb with your embryonic tower cores?” asked Chronus.

“I want this grass,” replied Griffin, “It has druid, alchemy, and nature magic rule fragments. According to my understanding, this has a good chance of having healing abilities.”

Chronus nodded, then turned to Emily. “Do you have any ideas?”

“Um, not really. There’s too many. I don’t know how to choose. Maybe this flower?” said Emily hesitantly, pointing at the bellflower.

“Well, there’s no need to rush. There are many new types of materials in the middle area of the forest. The other team also probably found many new objects. Maybe one will catch your eye.”

Griffin nodded. “He’s right, there's no need to rush.”

Chronus closed his eyes and started his meditation, waiting for Edward’s team to return. It was two hours until they caught sight of the other team. They were in a similarly embarrassed state as Chronus’ team, covered in scratches, dirt, and mud. Edward and Kenan had claw marks on their bodies, and their clothes were stained with blood. They also dragged a large sack of stones and crystals behind them.

Reaching the shelter, the other team also sat down tiredly. While Kenan was stretching, he turned and glanced at where Leopold was lying down. He noticed Leopold’s poor condition and exclaimed.

“What happened?”

The other three who just arrived also looked over, shocked by the sight of his injuries. Chronus briefly recounted their experience in the forest and their encounter with the whipping willows.

“The forest seems much more dangerous than the mine from your description, not being able to see where danger could come from,” said Edward, “The mine had many large lizards wandering around, but the area was much more open. We could avoid the monsters and collect materials. We couldn’t go deeper inside, but we gathered a lot of interesting stones and crystals. There was also a lizard guarding a metal deposit and we managed to fight it off, which is where we got our injuries from.”

Alice sighed, “The animals and trees are all so strong. This world is really dangerous.”

“Which is why we need to increase our strength. It is probably our limit to explore the middle areas of the mine or the forest. Once we do so, it’ll be time to construct our towers.”

“If that’s the case, we should explore the middle area of the forest first. We are beginning to run out of water. From your description, the mine is unlikely to have it. We can find both materials and potentially a water source in the forest,” said Chronus.

“Yes, only three of us arrived with water. The amount can’t support eight people for much longer,” said Kenan.

Edward nodded, “If that's the case, those of us that can move will explore the forest tomorrow.”