Chapter 235 Anomaly
Nasi's fragmented memory was temporarily put aside.
After all, not to mention at birth, how many people can recall what specifically happened when they were very young?
Perhaps Nasi couldn't remember her past simply because she was too young at the time.
The priority now was to continue clarifying the current situation, and then find a way to leave this place.
Thinking this, Colin raised his eyes to Nasi above him and asked the final question:
"Nasi, is there any danger in this place?"
Upon hearing this, the Nasi playing with her hair on top of his head suddenly paused, as if she had thought of something.
But after pondering with furrowed brows for a moment, she couldn't think of anything. So, she cast the thought aside and shook her head, saying:
"There's no danger here... Great giant, do you have any candy gemstones?"
"No danger?" Colin nodded slightly, then suddenly asked again:
"Little Nasi, why did you freeze just now, did you think of something?"
"Why did I freeze..." Little Nasi repeated his words, then suddenly seemed confused and asked back, "Did little Nasi freeze?"
The little elf said this and then paused again, staring blankly above him, her hands letting the golden strands of hair slip from her grasp limply.
'This kind of pause again...' Colin felt a slight heaviness in his heart.
The little elf had paused in the same way when responding to his previous question.
He had thought it was just Nasi pondering, but the image conveyed by the spiritual power extended above was not the case.
Just like now, little elf Nasi seemed to be paused, her eyes unblinking, "frozen" stiff in place like an intricate doll without life...
Before he could voice a probing question, Nasi atop his head suddenly returned to normal, grabbed a strand of his golden hair again, and asked:
"So does the great giant still have any candy gemstones?"
Colin exhaled discreetly without changing his expression, and replied as if nothing had happened:
"Of course, there's more."
Having said that, he stepped toward a robust glass ancient tree not far ahead and slowly reached out his palm.
Although the entire forest had turned to a glass-like state, it still was the oldest forest he had ever seen.
This was apparent from the thick ancient trees around, big enough to be embraced by several people.
Seeing this, little elf Nasi put down the hair in her hand and looked on with anticipation at Colin's palm pressed against the tree trunk.
She remembered that the last delicious candy gemstone Colin gave her had been conjured up just like this.
A moment later, the Ancient Tree Heart spell was completed.
A pale red Ancient Tree Heart Crystal appeared in Colin's hand.
'Can it really be cast successfully?'
Colin caressed the Ancient Tree Heart Crystal in his hand, surprised at the idea that had come to him after he had turned off his Supersensitive Vision to use the Ancient Tree Heart Witchcraft on the glassy trees around him.
He had thought these trees were long dead, but now it seemed that perhaps some of the ancient trees with resilient life force still harbored a sliver of vitality.
"Great giant, are you going to give the candy gemstone to little Nasi?"
"Yes, but you will have to wait a moment," replied Colin, pinching the Ancient Tree Heart Crystal and bringing it in front of his eyes for a closer look.
"Okay!" Nasi nodded excitedly upon Colin's affirmation, waiting with an eager face.
"Here you go," he said after a while.
Soon after, Colin shifted his gaze away and handed the Ancient Tree Heart Crystal to Nasi.
This newly formed Ancient Tree Heart Crystal was lighter in color and slightly smaller compared to the previous two. The tree selected this time was larger than the previous two, with a glassy exterior...
As he thought, he secretly activated his Supersensitive Vision and observed Nasi licking the Ancient Tree Heart Crystal.
Under the supersensitive vision, the crystal of the ancient tree heart appeared a light green, exuding a sense of vibrant life force.
But as the sprite Nasi licked it, one could see tiny specks of red light being filtered out by her golden-green spiritual light, kept at bay.
Unlike filtering out murky streams of light, the golden-green spiritual light seemed even more thorough when filtering the energy of the ancient tree heart crystal—perhaps because the crystal itself is a product of refinement, making it easier to filter.
After all, once filtered by the golden-green spiritual light, only the pure, pale green energy was absorbed by Nasi... at least to his observation, no impurities could be discerned.
Additionally, as Nasi began to lick the ancient tree heart crystal, the murky streams of light that were initially flowing toward her gradually thinned, eventually disappearing.
This seemed to be a good thing; under the supersensitive vision, Colin clearly felt a flicker of brightness in the golden-green light around Nasi.
After observing all this, Colin turned off the supersensitive vision and took another look around.
By now, more than half the day had gone since his arrival, but the purple-red sky showed no sign of change. There were no clouds, nor any changes in brightness.
Here, there seemed to be no night.
Withdrawing his gaze, Colin found a wide branch to sit crossed-legged on and took out Margaret's storage ring.
After asking Nasi and learning that there was no food to be found here, the pressing matter wasn't to find an exit but to take inventory of what supplies he had left for survival.
A first-rank wizard needs much less food and water than an apprentice, but it isn't completely unnecessary.
In fact, as he knew, even advancing to the second rank did not mean "eating" was no longer required.
Where there is energy consumption, there must be energy replenishment.
It's just that at the second rank, this "eating" might take on other forms depending on the wizard... like absorbing plant energy, for example.
Even at the second rank, aside from a very few wizards who had undergone deep bodily transformations, the rest would typically supplement their energy with specific foods, albeit at a much lower frequency.
For Colin, the amount of food he usually kept in the storage ring in case of emergency was about enough for a month, or possibly stretched to a month and a half if used sparingly.
As for water, with the Condensing Water Skill, it wasn't too much of a worry.
'I wonder how long I could survive without food...' Colin pondered, caressing the storage ring that belonged to Margaret.
'But, being the Ultimate Knight and possessing the talent of Strong Life, I should at least be able to hold out for half a month...' He thought to himself and refocused, working hard at erasing the spiritual imprint from Margaret's storage ring.
Nasi, with the ancient tree heart at her disposal, behaved very well and didn't disturb him as he seemed busy. She found a branch to rest on.
Several hours later.
The feeling of the spiritual imprint being successfully erased surged, and his spiritual power flowed unhindered.
Colin let out a long breath, refrained from resting, and began to probe into the storage ring.
Shortly after, with the aid of his superbrain, he meticulously checked the inventory of items within Margaret's ring one by one.
'Deserving of being a member of the Nine Major Schools!' Colin opened his eyes, unable to hide his delight.
The abundance of resources in Margaret's storage ring far surpassed his expectations!
Setting aside other items, there were as many as two hundred thousand magic stones alone, not to mention an assortment of precious and unidentifiable magical materials.
'Unfortunately, the urgently needed food is quite scarce, probably only enough for five days... and not much in terms of witchcraft knowledge either,' Colin shook his head.
This suggested that Margaret was clearly not a wizard who loved to study knowledge...
But this was also normal; wizards like Margaret, who come from extraordinary backgrounds, have a much easier and smoother path in cultivation.
With their potent witchcraft and Meditation Method, and careful tutelage from a mentor... it's unlikely that many would be willing to risk the danger of mutation and degeneration to explore unknown knowledge.
They just need to follow the program, choosing the right existing witchcraft combinations, and that would be enough.
With these thoughts, Colin smoothly took out the most conspicuous witchcraft booklet from Margaret's storage ring.
The booklet was about the size of a palm, with a cover intermixed with yellow and red, looking like flames burning, with a few big characters on it—
"Light Flame Soaring Skill."