Two Days Later.
Lumine had finally mastered the "Musou no Hitotachi," significantly boosting her strength.
She was now at level 85.
With that done, Nolan and the others began preparing for their journey to Suru.
Well, "preparing" was a bit of an overstatent—since he had his Wonderland, everything they needed was already stored inside.
They could travel light without any worries.
---
"Paimon wonder what kind of nation Suru is... Paimon is really looking forward to it!"
Walking leisurely along the road to Suru, Paimon excitedly twirled around in front of Nolan and Lumine.
"Paimon, aren't you supposed to be the best guide in Teyvat? Don't tell you've never been to Suru?"
Nolan teased her with a chuckle.
"Ugh! You! Even the best guide can't have visited every single place! Not knowing so areas is totally normal!"
Paimon crossed her arms, turned her head away with a "hmph!"
"Hehe, it's okay. Paimon is the best companion. Any place we haven't been to, we'll explore and witness together—that's what makes the journey aningful."
Lumine smiled warmly.
"Hehe, that's right!" Paimon giggled, doing two loops mid-air.
"Alright, if Paimon is your best companion, then what about ? I'm traveling with you too, helping you find your brother. That should make your best companion as well, right?"
Nolan grinned and suddenly grabbed Lumine's hand, interlocking his fingers with hers.
"Hmph! You're the worst!"
Lumine's cheeks flushed pink, and she quickly looked away, as if recalling sothing.
"Oh? If I'm already bad, then I might as well be worse!"
Nolan smirked mischievously, suddenly crouched down, and lifted Lumine onto his shoulders. He gently held her ankles and took off running.
"Hey, idiot! My skirt—it's gonna fly up!"
Lumine yelped in embarrassnt, hastily pressing down on the hem of her dress.
"Hey! You two, stop running so fast!"
Paimon, struggling to keep up, flapped her tiny wings in a panic. But she didn't have the sa stamina as Nolan and couldn't keep up for long.
So, with a hmph!, she decided to climb onto Lumine's shoulders, forming a three-person tower—leaving Nolan to do all the running himself!
---
The journey to Suru was not short. The region bordered Liyue's The Chasm, and beyond Cinnabar Cliff lay the Avidya Forest—Suru's verdant rainforest.
Suru City, the nation's capital, was nestled deep within this rainforest.
However, the rainforest itself was vast. Even from the nearest settlent to Liyue—Gandharva Ville—it would take about a month of walking to reach Suru City.
If they had traveled from Liyue Harbor, the journey would have been even longer.
But with Nolan around, they could simply teleport or fly through the already explored regions of Liyue to speed things up.
Once they reached Suru, however, they would return to traveling on foot.
After all, the point of a journey wasn't just to reach the destination—it was to experience the sights, treasures, and adventures along the way!
---
As the sun neared the horizon, painting the sky orange, Nolan, Lumine, and Paimon finally arrived near the border between The Chasm and Suru.
"Wow, look at that huge forest ahead! Hehe, we're in Suru now, right?"
Paimon said excitedly.
Suru was a land of rainforests and deserts.
They had already experienced the vast plains and snowy mountains of Mondstadt, as well as Liyue's towering peaks and mountainous terrain.
Now, they were eager to explore the rainforests and deserts of Suru!
"Before we ca here, we read about Suru's situation. It seems there's been a problem in the rainforest—sothing called the 'Withering' has started appearing. We should be careful."
Nolan reminded them of the dangers ahead.
"Pfft! Co on, Lumine and Paimon have been adventuring in the wild forever. We know way more about dangers than you, you lovestruck fool!"
Paimon scoffed, crossing her arms smugly.
"Alright, alright. In that case, I won't warn you about the tiny spiders and green snakes in the rainforest. They like to drop from trees and slip into travelers' clothes..."
Nolan smiled wickedly.
The mont he said that, they officially stepped into the rainforest, entering Suru's territory.
Paimon's face instantly paled as her mind conjured horrifying images of a spider suddenly falling into her collar while she hovered under a tree.
"UWAHHH! Why would you say sothing so terrifying?!"
She yelped in fear and shot straight up into the tree canopy, thinking that flying higher would keep her safe.
But then Nolan shook his head and said:
"If you fly that high, you'll just beco an easy snack for the monsters hiding in the treetops."
"EHHH?!"
Realizing this made sense, Paimon imdiately tried to fly back down.
But then she rembered—there were spiders below!
Now she was stuck in a dilemma, hovering back and forth, unable to decide whether to go up or down.
Lumine sighed, reached down with her soft, thigh-high-boot-clad leg, and lightly kicked Nolan on the forehead.
"Why are you scaring Paimon? If there really are spiders, just deal with them ahead of ti!"
"Oh, right! Paimon have you guys! Paimon don't need to be scared... hmph! You jerk, why'd you scare Paimon like that?!"
Paimon finally realized she wasn't in any real danger and imdiately yanked Nolan's cheeks, pulling them left and right in revenge!
—You're just the easiest to tease…
---
As they continued walking deeper into the rainforest, Nolan suddenly noticed sothing ahead.
A section of the ground looked different—the land was withered and lifeless, drained of its vitality.
It looked eerily dark and desolate, like a piece of the world had rotted away.
"What's that?"
Riding on Nolan's shoulders, Lumine also noticed the strange phenonon and furrowed her brows.
"No way... did we already run into a Withering Zone?"
"It certainly looks like it. This matches the descriptions we read earlier—no doubt about it. This is what they call the Withering."
Nolan nodded seriously.
"Ugh... even just looking at it makes feel uncomfortable. Should we just go around it?"
Paimon shivered and hid behind Lumine.
"The Withering is said to drain the vitality of anything that enters—even people can't stay inside for long."
"Unless soone has a Vision, which allows them to resist the decay for a while, most people wouldn't survive in there. That's why only Vision holders are capable of cleansing it."
Lumine lightly tapped Nolan's cheek with the inside of her thigh, signaling for him to let her down.
Nolan nodded slightly and gently set Lumine down from his shoulders, straightening her slightly lifted skirt.
"So, are you planning to cleanse this Withering Zone?"
"Yes. I feel that the energy that devours life here is a manifestation of Abyssal power."
As Lumine stepped forward, her golden hair gradually lightened into a pale, silvery gold, and her entire deanor beca noticeably colder.
This was her "Abyssal Princess" form.
Nolan exchanged glances with Paimon, as if they had already guessed Lumine's intentions, and followed her forward.
Lumine carefully stepped into the Withering Zone, her high-heeled boots making contact with the corrupted ground. Just as she suspected, the area had no adverse effects on her.
She could even sense and manipulate the energy here.
"How is it?" Nolan asked from behind.
"Mm, there's no mistake. This is definitely Abyssal power." So of the tension in Lumine's pale expression eased.
Since it was Abyssal power, dealing with it beca much simpler. In her "Abyssal Princess" form, this energy couldn't affect her.
"Follow . Let's find the source of this Withering Zone. As long as I'm here, it won't harm you."
She turned slightly to glance at Nolan and Paimon.
"Alright, let's figure out what's causing this phenonon." Nolan nodded as he and Paimon followed Lumine into the Withering Zone.
Thanks to Lumine's ability to manipulate the Abyssal energy, neither he nor Paimon felt any discomfort.
They carefully examined their surroundings.
All the trees and plants in the area were withered. Any signs of life had long been drained away.
Even monsters were scarce.
After all, monsters still possessed life energy and would instinctively avoid such areas.
At the sa ti, sothing in the Withering Zone seed to distort their vision. Everything was tinted with a dark red hue, as if viewed through a corrupted filter.
Even without directly losing life energy, staying in this environnt for too long brought a sense of irritation and unease.
"Whoa… so this is what happens when an area is affected by the Withering? This is terrifying!"
Paimon clasped her small hands together, shrinking her shoulders as she hovered close to Lumine.
"I can sense a denser concentration of Withering energy ahead. We should be close to the source. Destroying it should solve the problem."
Lumine gave a slight smile.
"By the way, since this Withering energy really is a variant of Abyssal power like you said, do you think you could actually control it?"
Nolan suddenly had an idea.
The Withering energy was undeniably dangerous, but that was only because it was uncontrolled.
If Lumine could harness it, she could use it to fight monsters—or even for research.
"Hmm… I think it's possible."
Lumine paused for a mont before nodding.
"In my perception, the difference between Withering energy and pure Abyssal power is mainly in its properties.
"If I keep observing the Withering energy, I should be able to grasp its nature. Then, I can simply convert Abyssal power into Withering energy."
"Hiss~ Just like that? That easy?" Nolan exclaid in admiration.
"We've arrived at the densest point of Withering energy. I think this is the best place to analyze its properties."
Lumine looked ahead and spotted a massive, withered, fallen tree lying across the ground.
Several dark red crystalline plants resembling flower petals had grown on top, on the sides, and beneath it.
A network of dark red energy lines connected them, pulsating ominously as they released Withering energy into the surroundings.
It was clear.
These crystalline plants were the source of the Withering Zone.
Destroying them would purify the area—but recklessly attacking them might trigger a counterattack.
Fortunately, she had a better plan.
That ant, just as Nolan suggested, she could master the Withering's power and then absorb it completely to cleanse the area.
"We'll stay here for a while. Once I fully grasp the nature of the Withering's energy, I'll clear this place out," Lumine said to Nolan and Paimon.
"Alright! You got this! Paimon won't let anything disturb you!" Paimon nodded enthusiastically, tugging on Nolan's clothes.
Nolan glanced at the flying Pokemon with amusent, silently thinking to himself: You're just scared and don't want to be too far from , aren't you?
Still, the Withering Zone wasn't entirely devoid of danger apart from its corrupting energy.
Just like in the ga, if this Withering Zone had only recently ford, there was a chance that so monsters hadn't had ti to escape.
So might even be trapped, unable to find a way out, slowly having their life force drained while being subjected to this oppressive environnt.
Over ti, they would likely beco highly agitated and more aggressive.
So while staying in the Withering Zone, one still had to remain wary of dangerous monsters. Just because most creatures instinctively avoided these areas didn't an there was no threat.
As Lumine focused on attuning herself to the Withering's energy, and Nolan and Paimon kept watch on their surroundings, a sudden snap ca from their right.
The sound was like a brittle, decayed tree branch breaking underfoot.
Nolan and Paimon instinctively turned their heads, expecting to see so kind of dangerous monster.
But to their surprise, instead of a beast, a green-haired girl ca running toward them in a hurry.
She stopped in front of them, panting heavily.
"Thank goodness, you're all okay!" she gasped.
"Huh? And you are…?"
Paimon touched the white strands of hair beneath her crown and blinked her starry eyes at the green-haired girl, confused as to why she was here in such a dangerous place.
"H-Hello! I'm Collei, a trainee forest ranger! You must be travelers who got lost in the Withering Zone, right?
"Quickly! Follow out of here! If you stay any longer, even if you manage to leave, you'll still end up seriously ill!"
Collei, still catching her breath, hurriedly explained the situation.
That day, Collei had gone on patrol as usual with her senior forest rangers. When they passed through the area, they discovered this newly ford Withering Zone.
As per standard protocol, they planned to return to Gandharva Ville and report it so the problem could be handled.
However, Collei, with her sharp eyes, suddenly noticed several people inside the Withering Zone.
There was a high chance they were foreign travelers who didn't understand the dangers of the Withering.
She had encountered similar situations before while patrolling with her master.
Back then, her master would usually enter the Withering Zone himself to bring out any reckless adventurers who had wandered in.
After all, staying in the Withering for too long could beco life-threatening.
But this ti, her master wasn't here. And the senior rangers accompanying her didn't have Visions, aning they couldn't resist the Withering's corruption.
In order to get the lost travelers out as soon as possible…
She had no choice.
As a trainee ranger who did have a Vision, it was her responsibility to lead them to safety!
(End of Chapter)
❇❇❇
Support on Patreon - Read Up to 25 Advanced Chapters There!
patreon/RedX43
❇❇❇
User Comments
0 comments from readers