Chapter 359: 360

Although Alice felt something was wrong with the treants’ present state, she didn’t go to them and ask about their condition. She still remembered Lilith telling her that the treants were no longer friendly with humans, and even revealing her identity as the Hero wouldn’t do her any good. If she were to reveal herself to the treants right now, the treants would probably group up and attack her immediately.

Hence, Alice decided to investigate the situation herself for the time being. If the treants’ situation was as terrible as it seemed and it was caused by some troubling or external factors, she could maybe help them resolve this problem in exchange for a block of Living Wood.

This reminded Alice of the Heroes in the games she had played on Earth. In those games, her game character would play the role of a Hero and go about doing quests to get stronger while earning money. Of course, Heroes in this otherworld did not need to worry about money. All they needed to do was focus on getting strong. Nobody would dare to give silly tasks to the Hero, either.

Regardless, although the treants wouldn’t take the initiative to give Alice a quest or clues, Alice decided to be patient.

Meanwhile, after circling the treants’ settlement while staying invisible, Alice found that the settlement was considerably primitive. She was astonished that even after thousands of years of development, the treant civilization remained in such a rudimentary state. She felt that the treants’ respect for nature had already reached an obsessive degree. Their obsession was so bad that they found the existence of artificial objects nigh-unacceptable.

Even in the case of necessary creations such as tables and chairs, the treants would only use the simplest method to deal with it. They also refused to create shelters that could protect them from natural disasters, opting to use a nearby cave as a temporary shelter instead. If a modern human were to stay in the treants’ settlement for a few days, this person would probably go crazy from boredom.

The treants’ obsession with nature also explained why the treants would be so hostile to humans. The treants naturally wouldn’t have positive feelings toward a civilization developed at the cost of nature’s destruction. The treants might have been able to empathize with and accept the human civilization of olden times, but modern human civilization was too much for them to understand with their stubborn minds. So, it was only natural for the relationship between treants and humans to grow tense.

These treants…sure move slowly.

After observing the treants’ settlement for a while, Alice observed the treants’ actions. Meanwhile, through her observation, she found that the treants moved incredibly slowly. Although their movements were agile, they would take long pauses between actions. During these pauses, they would remain motionless like a real tree.

Alice estimated this to be one of the treants’ characteristics. However, she didn’t doubt that the treants would spring into action and surround her in no time should she reveal herself.

Anyway, Alice still had over half an hour before Mana Concealment’s duration ended. After failing to find any clues in the settlement, she decided to switch her focus to the forest surrounding the settlement. She felt that something was wrong with this forest. Compared to the forest outside the two kingdoms’ cordon, the forest inside the cordon was enveloped by a strange aura that made the air slightly turbid. This was not the feeling air in a lush forest should have.

In addition, this aura caused the mana in the area to become strange. When Alice tried to absorb this mana into her body, she found that it contained complex impurities and had difficulty separating them from the mana.

Alice was familiar with the feeling she got from this forest’s air. Any demon brought to this place would also find this air.

Indeed. The air in this forest felt polluted, just like the air in the demon realm. The ambient mana’s weak corrosive properties felt especially similar. Meanwhile, unless a person had the unique organs the demons had developed to filter this corrosive mana, this person would be incapable of absorbing the mana here.

Thinking about it this way, Alice quickly understood why the treants were in such a terrible state. For the treants who were used to relying on nature for survival, living amidst this turbid air must feel extremely uncomfortable.

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Hence, when Alice saw the treants, the latter looked like a bunch of dead trees. Logically, the dry and dead-looking bark she saw should only appear on treants close to reaching the end of their lifespans. Yet, every treant she saw in the settlement had this kind of bark. There was no way every of those treants were nearing the end of their lives, right?

Alice wasn’t sure if the treants had noticed the bizarre situation taking place in this part of the forest, but she decided she would find the source of this problem. If the source of this forest’s pollution was the same as the demon realm’s pollution source, she might be able to use it to locate the demon realm’s pollution source.

The pollution in the demon realm had been going on for over ten thousand years, covering almost half the entire planet. It was unrealistic to try to find the pollution source in such a large area. However, the pollution here only covered the central area of the Kalu Forest. Alice guessed that the pollution’s limited coverage probably signified that it had only appeared recently. So, it should be much easier to find the source of the pollution.

So long as she could figure out what was causing the pollution in this part of the forest, she would have a much easier time searching the demon realm.

However, be that as it may, finding the pollution source wouldn’t be a walk in the park. The central part of the Kalu Forest was covered in trees, and everything looked the same to Alice. She couldn’t even tell if she was walking in circles while traversing this dense forest, let alone find the pollution source. Moreover, she didn’t have any clues to follow.

Although she could potentially learn some useful information if she could have a proper conversation with the treants…she wouldn’t be feeling so troubled if she could have a proper conversation with the treants.

While Alice was in distress, a small treant suddenly stood up from the group of treants situated in the central clearing. Then, this little treant walked in a particular direction and quickly disappeared among the layers of trees. When the other treants saw this, they only glanced at the little treant briefly before resuming their inanimate state.

The treants were a long-lived race with an average lifespan of a thousand years.

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For long-lived races, sleeping was the most common activity they would do to pass the time. This was especially true for the treants since they had barely developed their civilization. Hence, without any special reasons, they would normally behave like actual trees, remaining motionless as they stayed rooted to the ground.

Alice’s eyes lit up when she saw this situation. She didn’t think a solution to her lack of information would come so soon.

The little treant that left the settlement didn’t look very old. Although the little treant’s exterior had dried up due to the pollution here, Alice could still see that he was a youth based on his size. Of course, this youthfulness was relative to the treants. In reality, the little treant was probably several decades old already.

However, none of these things were important. What was important was that this treant should know some information about the forest’s recent changes, such as when the pollution started appearing, or whether any abnormal events had happened in the forest recently. These were all important information to Alice.

While figuring out what questions she should ask the treant, Alice quietly followed the other party.

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