The sacred tree carried Ethan's spiritual sense into the spatial rift.
He immediately arrived inside the gray ore zone. What entered his sight was Stone Six's team, working hard at mining.
And deeper in, a group of green goblins, holding pickaxes, were walking toward Stone Six and the others.
"Holy crap!"
"Why are there still goblins inside?"
Ethan turned pale with shock. He had clearly ordered the white eagle to patrol earlier.
Only after confirming that the gray ore zone was safe did he let Stone Six and the others stay to mine. But the moment he left, over a dozen goblins suddenly appeared?
'What is going on?'
The sacred tree seemed to sense Ethan's confusion.
The next moment, the sacred tree brought his spiritual sense through the ground of the gray ore zone and down into its underground area.
It was a huge underground world, long ago dug into countless caves by goblins. Those strange-looking goblins lived inside those caves.
And at the very center of the underground world, there was even a stone palace carved out by digging.
Inside sat a goblin holding a gem scepter. One that looked very much like Master Yoda.
Next to Master Yoda were several gigantic red goblins. Those red goblins were at least three meters tall, bodies bulging with muscles, each holding an enormous spiked club.
One look and you knew they were not to be messed with.
And they looked extremely strong in battle.
"Hm?", Master Yoda suddenly snapped his head toward Ethan's spying direction.
It seemed to have sensed Ethan's observation. The next instant, the scepter in its hand flashed with a green light.
The green light shot straight toward Ethan.
The next second.
"Ah!"
Ethan felt like his head had been smashed with a hammer.
The pain made him clutch his head and crouch down.
"Lord Leader, are you alright!"
"Lord Leader, what happened to you?"
"Meow?"
"Eeek~"
At this moment.
Ethan realized, at some point, everyone had gathered around him.
"I'm fine! Just a sudden headache."
Supporting his head, Ethan tried to stand by leaning on the tree.
But Daji stepped right between him and the tree, acting as his handhold instead.
Hunter Five hurried forward to help Ethan and said, "Lord Leader, you might not know, but you've been standing next to this tree for almost half an hour."
"We were all worried, but no matter how we called you, you wouldn't wake up."
"What happened to you?"
"I stood here for half an hour?", Ethan was shocked, "Impossible, I felt like only a few minutes passed."
"Lord Leader, I hunt year-round, so I have a sense of time," Hunter Five said, "I'm sure. Even if it wasn't a full half hour, it was at least over twenty minutes."
"Is that so?" Ethan felt confused and a bit terrified.
Because he was so unaware of time passing to such a degree.
If, at that moment, his people were not around, or he hadn't been forcibly interrupted by Master Yoda, then would he have stayed lost in that strange feeling forever, wandering endlessly until some monster attacked him, or until the sun went down and he died in this cursed place?
"That's right! Exactly like that!"
Now, Hunter Five quickly pointed at the motionless Daji, "Lord Leader, that was the exact expression you had earlier, standing still next to the tree."
Ethan turned to look.
Only then did he notice Daji had deliberately squeezed herself between him and the tree so he wouldn't touch it again, serving as his handhold.
But Daji herself hadn't been able to avoid it.
Right now the whole cat was frozen in place, eyes wide open, her blue eyes flickering with an unusual glow.
As if she had seen something unbelievable.
"Daji?", Ethan called her.
As expected, Daji didn't react at all. Even when Ethan waved his hand in front of her face, she stayed completely unaware.
This amazed Ethan.
'So just now… I looked this stupid?'
No wonder his people and Daji were so worried.
"Lord Leader, what-what is happening?", Hunter Five was nervous.
From Daji's condition, it was obvious everything was connected to this strange tree.
So he stepped back half a step to stay farther from it.
"Hmph! A centipede dies without going stiff, is that it?", Ethan glared furiously at this so-called sacred wood, "This wretched tree can trap people in illusions. Once you fall in, it's very hard to get out."
While Ethan reexamined the tree, he noticed that a red exclamation mark was actually being covered by the sacred wood's green glow, making it extremely faint and hard to notice.
No wonder he hadn't seen it before.
[Sacred Wood True Body: This is the sacred wood's main body. It possesses powerful spiritual control, allowing a person's soul to leave the body and roam the world. PS: If the soul strays too far or too long, it will never return.]
"Hiss!"
'So sneaky!'
This true body of the sacred wood was even more dangerous than the attacking vines.
If before it was just physical attacks, now it was absolutely mental attacks. Ethan had almost gotten lost in that bizarre world.
If not for Master Yoda's spiritual strike, he might never have returned.
"You damned thing, using mental attacks on me, huh?", Ethan sneered, "Fine, then I won't even spare your corpse. I'm taking everything!"
[Advanced Charcoal +10086]
[Wood-type Beast Cores +108]
[Life Spring Crystals +666]
[Sacred Wood +99]
[Five-Colored Beast Core +1]
(▼皿▼#)!!!
This amount of wood-type beast cores was ridiculous.
It said up to 108, and it really gave 108, 'But damn it, there were clearly more than one tree.'
"Meow?"
The moment the sacred wood vanished, Daji finally returned to normal.
She tilted her head, confused about what had happened.
But Ethan was extremely grateful. He rubbed the little creature's head. If Daji hadn't taken the hit, he might have gotten caught again.
And he wasn't even sure, if someone were forcibly awakened from this state, what would happen?
Sleepwalkers could get hurt when forcefully awakened.
Let alone someone whose soul had literally left their body.
But, since the system said what he saw was an actual out-of-body vision, not an illusion, then the goblins he saw in the gray ore zone must be real.
"Not good! Stone Six and the others might be in danger!"
"Lord Leader," Hunter Five asked, not understanding, "what about Stone Six and the others?"
"When my soul wandered through the sacred tree just now, I saw goblins inside the gray ore zone," Ethan waved, "Come on, we're going to save them!"
[T/N: I have started doing another fanfic— "Frieren: A Journey of the Demon King". It is a quite relaxing and humorous read, give it a go. Have a great read~]