Chapter 6.1 – Long Journey
While walking between ancient trees that towered over a hundred meters into the air, O’Brien couldn’t help but sigh in wonder towards this world. Tall and straight ancient trees were everywhere, and below the trees were emerald green shrubs and large plate-sized mushrooms. Thick vines winded about the several meter thick tree trunks like snakes, coiling layers upon layers around them upwards, unknown just how high they were going to reach.
When one raised their heads and looked past the faint mist that seemed to never scatter, they would find vines interweaving several dozen meters above them, as if they were weaving a three-dimensional web that linked up these ancient trees one after another.
The treetops of the ancient trees were tall and wide, with some of the thickest and most solid large trees directly reaching into the low-hanging clouds full of radiation!
The sky was always dark, just like how the clouds dense with radiation would never scatter. A faint layer of light illuminated O’Brien’s surroundings, making it a bit brighter around him. This was a radiance produced when powerful radiation made contact with his defensive force field. If those from dragonrider headquarters saw this scene, they would definitely be completely shocked and wonder if this was still the same O’Brien they knew.
Even now, the impression most people back at general headquarters had of O’Brien was a somewhat shy boy who had an extraordinary identity, outstanding natural talents, and unique hobbies. No one doubted his future prospects, and there were even those that privately speculated that a second general might appear in the Arthur family. However, O’Brien was, in the end, still too young, and his status wouldn’t allow him to take too many risks to accumulate evolutionary points.
The were many women in dragonrider headquarters who were even more unwilling to see the handsome O’Brien take risks. In their hearts, O’Brien was the best choice for a guardian. He liked the arts, and didn’t those that have an interest in the arts always yearn for true love? Even though love and art were similarly rare, this only further illustrated O’Brien’s uniqueness. Taking a step back, even if they couldn’t become O’Brien’s lover, becoming one of his loved playthings wasn’t too bad of a choice either.
Regardless, if one were to only look at things in terms of ability, then inside general headquarters where officers were always moving about, O’Brien who was only a second lieutenant wasn’t that eye-catching. However, right now, how could he so casually support the fifth level elemental defense force field seemingly tirelessly?
The forest wasn’t that dark. The tops of the mushrooms lying about all released glowing lights of varying colors, creating a brilliant world within the lower levels of the forest. Many bright and tender plants were doing everything they could to grow, waving their purple, red, and emerald green leaves. This looked just like the tropical rainforests of the olden era.
However, O’Brien didn’t let himself be confused by this scenery. The feeling on his skin told him that the temperature right now was negative 35.7 degrees. Under this type of temperature, no creatures should be able to survive, let alone in such an exuberant manner.
A flower that scattered out a faint blue glow slowly descended towards O’Brien. It looked extremely weak, as if it might scatter into pieces along with a gentle wind. It was beautiful like something out of a fantasy. O’Brien’s defensive force field also began to shine in response to this sparkling blue flower.
O’Brien reached out his hand to try and touch this floating flower. As soon as his hand made contact with it, the nearly transparent flower petal shrank like it was startled. Then, O’Brien’s fingertip began to darken at a visible speed, and it even began to release strands of smoke.
O’Brien laughed and lightly waved his hand. A gentle stream of air carried this splendid floating flower upwards, slowly bringing it through the interweaving vines.
Perhaps out of an interest towards this floating flower, the forest suddenly released waves of low roars. A dark figure rushed past a vine that was several tens of meters above him with incomparable nimbleness, devouring that floating flower in one go. It then moved through the tree vines with lightning speed, and only when it reached another large tree did it stop. Its green eyes were full of vigilance and hostility as it stared at O’Brien below.
This creature’s entire body was covered in black fur and it looked like a leopard. It was a mutated beast with six sharp claws. At the end of its long tail was a terrifying sharp hook. Its large mouth cracked open, releasing a low roar towards O’Brien. From its four long fangs, one could still see the remains of that floating flower that radiated with a glowing radiance.
Roar! The strange beast released an even more menacing roar, and it also adjusted its body. Under the support of six powerful claws, the perfectly straight tree trunk was no different from level ground. It was a bit anxious and fretful; it seemed like that pretty and tempting floating flower didn’t suit its tastes. An even more powerful burning sensation could be felt within its belly. It seemed this creature called a human below it was more to its liking. It wasn’t willing to attack humans, because the seniors of its race had told it before that humans that came to these parts alone were all extremely dangerous, more dangerous than any ferocious beast.
O’Brien looked at the strange beast above him that was eager to give him a try. He shook his head, showing what seemed to be pity, but also a bit of ridicule.
The strange beast on top of the tree trunk suddenly released a whimper. Its body couldn’t help but twitch. Its six claws continuously scratched towards the tree trunk and vines, but its sudden weakness made it unable to support the weight of its body any longer and thus made it fall from the tens of meters height.
O’Brien watched as the strange beast fell, breaking apart who knew how many vines before heavily landing on the ground, sending countless mushroom fragments as well as shrubbery leaves and branches flying everywhere. From the momentum at which it fell, this strange beast’s body weight should be at least a hundred kilograms. Judging from how it had pounced from vine to vine, one could imagine just how great the power of its body was. It was quite likely that its six claws could hack through thinner steel plates.
A subordinate whose body was completely covered in light combat armor walked out from behind O’Brien. With an elaborate looking instrument in hand, this individual said while looking at the readings, “Your distinguished self, the data from the analysis has been received. Just now, that flower’s radiation intensity was extremely great, making it not much different from nuclear waste. It can kill any weaker creature that makes contact with it in under a minute, and those that stay around it won’t live for a long time either.”
O’Brien lightly twirled the somewhat charred black finger and then looked at the strange beast’s corpse not too far off. With a smile, he said, “it seems like I just directly touched nuclear waste.”
“Correct, your distinguished self.” The subordinate replied. Even though no one could see the expression he had behind the helmet, one could hear his admiration for O’Brien from his voice.
Unlike the fully armed subordinate, O’Brien was dressed rather casually, without any equipment for dealing with various harmful environments or physical bulletproof armor. This young family master who still looked somewhat soft and immature had maintained a defensive force field the entire time, using this to withstand everything. Compared to this, touching nuclear waste wasn’t that big of a deal at all.
The sky was already darkening, but floating flowers appeared one after another, drifting about between the ancient trees one after another, brightly illuminating the forest. These beautiful killers shone with resplendent and varied colors, but behind their gorgeous appearances laid a fatal trap.
O’Brien looked at this gorgeous scenery, feeling deeply moved by the wonders of this world as he gently rubbed his charred black finger. The black skin on his fingertip shed off bit by bit, revealing the soft and light new flesh underneath. Soon after, a new layer of skin would cover that area.
