It took Kyran almost half an hour to find his way back to where the trunks of the trees started to thicken. After that, he picked up his pace and searched for the Duali Trees located within two thousand kilometers from his current position.
Finally, after a few minutes of running, Kyran found the Duali Trees.
‘So this is a Duali Tree,’ Kyran thought as he stared at the massive tree in front of him.
The Duali Tree’s leaves were a very peculiar blend of purple and green.
Kyran wondered if the miasma caused the purple color because Vaness said the color of regular Duali leaves was the same as most trees; shades of green. However, the Duali tree’s lifespan exceeds the normal Duali found in other forests, so Vaness was unsure whether the trees in Misty Forest had that shade because of their age.
As for its trunk, it could grow more than 8 meters in width, with a bark that had golden-like veins that gave a faint glow.
‘Vaness said the width of these gold veins can estimate a Duali tree’s age,’ Kyran remembered as he approached the tree.
He immediately saw that the width of the veins was only around half centimeters, which meant that its lifespan was only about 250 years.
‘I need to find a tree where its vein’s width is at least two centimeters.’ Kyran thought as he looked around.
Different trees grew too close to each other in this part of the forest. Normally, it would affect the tree’s growth because it had to share the land’s nourishment with others. However, these trees ignored this logic and were able to grow well.
It made Kyran wonder whether the miasma had anything to do with it or because the soil was richer in this part of the land. Either way, this place was good in growing medicinal herbs and might be helpful for the Alchemist Association. If they could grow some rare herbs year-round, Kyran would have fast access to materials if he needed them.
‘I’ll add it to my list,’ he decided, making a mental note to explore this possibility in the future.
The next Duali tree Kyran found was at least 200 meters away from the first one. Disappointingly, its gold veins were also only half a centimeter wide.
With a slight frown, Kyran crossed his arms and looked around him.
He had expected that finding a thousand-year-old Duali tree would take time, but he had already wasted a lot of time because of what happened to him near the Chaos Palace. If he did not think of a better way to search, he would end up staying longer in this forest, which was not a good idea.
Kyran tried to think of a better way to search as he continued walking along the path. He thought of surveying the whole area at a higher ground. However, because the miasma obscured the surrounding, he gave up the idea.
‘I wonder if using magic sense helps,’ he thought with a bitter smile. He thought of this because he felt the Duali tree gave off a different feeling than most trees. But it was too abstract for Kyran to have a full grasp of. If he could use his magic sense, maybe he might be able to figure it out. Alas, he did not know how to use it, so thinking about it was rather pointless.
‘I need Nolan to teach me how to use it when he gets back,’ Kyran thought with a sigh.
After half an hour of searching, Kyran still failed to find a thousand-year-old Duali tree. However, he noticed that there were more Duali trees as he moved further west.
‘Hm?’ Kyran strained his ears after hearing something other than the forest’s silence.
The reason why Kyran m
‘That’s a sound of flowing water,’ he realized and followed the sound.
Sure enough, he came into a small clearing where a small waterfall flowed to a small pond. The miasma around this area was lesser, making it easier for Kyran to see the edge.
Kyran drew close to the pond and looked into its water. Just like there were no forest beasts or insects around, there were also no fishes in the water. It amazed him how much this miasma could ward off most living things apart from the plants.
Something glistened near the edge of the pond that attracted Kyran’s attention, ‘Hm?’
He knelt and checked what it was. It was not that he fancied shiny things, but light barely passed above that could reflect light, so he wondered what kind of material would glow in this place.
What he found was a peculiar-looking stone with jagged edges. The reason for its peculiarity was its color. At first, Kyran saw it had a dark shade on it, but then it turned dark purple before turning into an indigo shade.
Kyran picked up the stone and examined it. It was translucent, which explained how it could reflect light.
‘But how can it detect light?’ He wondered.
He looked around him and found no trace of light nearby that would cause this stone to glisten.
Kyran looked at the water again and found more of these stones. His instincts told him to collect them. He was unsure why he had that feeling, but he did it since there was no harm.
When he was done, he resumed his search for the Duali Tree.
While he continued his search, he examined the stone in his hand. At that moment, the stone was still changing color as it glowed faintly.
Black. Dark Purple. Indigo. Off-White. Silver. Dark Gray. Off-White. Light Green. Dark Green. Black.
‘Such a strange stone,’ Kyran thought. He also noticed that the shade of color it had was similar to his Draconic and Void cores.
‘Maybe I’m drawn to this because of it?’ He pondered. But reject the idea at once. Because he did not feel his magic cores resonate with the stone.
Kyran smiled bitterly at the thought of his magic cores. Before, he only had a vague idea of magic flowing inside him. But now that he knew about magic cores, it had become easy for Kyran to feel them.
Suddenly.
The stone in his hand changed into a different color.
Gold.
‘Hm?’ Kyran frowned.
It then returned to black before turning to dark purple again.
Kyran stopped and waited for the stone to turn to all the colors he already saw. And after it turned to dark green, it did not turn to black but instead turned to off-white, then light gold, then gold.
Kyran was sure that something around him changed, making the stone add another color to its pattern. He looked around and examined his surrounding.
His eyes caught sight of a massive Duali Tree a few meters away to his left
Immediately, Kyran’s eyes narrowed as an idea came to mind. He retraced his steps to where the stone glowed gold.
Sure enough, the moment he was out of a specific range of the Duali tree, the stone did not include the gold glow in its pattern.
A smile appeared at the corner of Kyran’s lips.
He approached the Duali tree, and once again, the gold shade appeared on the stone’s pattern.
‘It seems this stone does not detect a light around, but aura in the surroundings.’ Kyran guessed.
He looked at the Duali tree and checked its vein.
Unfortunately, the vein’s width confirmed that the tree was about 500 years old only. But Kyran was not disappointed. He was making progress, after all.
‘So the aura the Duali tree emits are shades of gold,’ Kyran thought with a smile. He also guessed that the purple and the silver might be his auras. He could not see auras, but his magic cores had these colors, so he assumed his aura would also have the same colors.
The green might be the auras emitted by the other plants around.
‘But with this stone, I can detect if a Duali tree is close by.’ With this in thought, Kyran continued his search.
As Kyran suspected, the stone did alert him if there were Duali trees around. He also figured that the golden glow on the stone was stronger the older the tree was. So for the next few minutes, he did not bother approaching the tree and just focused on checking the golden glow on the stone.
It did not take long for Kyran to find a thousand-year-old Duali tree. He immediately got to work and took the amount he needed.
Vaness taught him how to protect the golden dust from the miasma. But because the miasma kept a certain distance from him, he easily got the golden dust without a problem.
Once Kyran was done collecting the golden dust, he examined the miasma around him. He also promised Malia and Avrum to take samples of this miasma. He took out the last remaining magic orbs he got from Nolan and concentrated.
Although the miasma kept a certain distance from him, Kyran knew he could transfer them using his warp ability inside the magic orb.
After getting used to his warp ability, Kyran had better control of the size of his warp hole. Unfortunately, he had not figured out how to create a warp hole that was not directly connected to him. So he had to make four small warp holes to collect the miasma. He first had to create a warp hole where he would insert his hand. Then the other end of the warp hole was connected to where the miasma was. Then he collected the miasma and created another warp hole from there that was connected to a smaller warp hole inside the magic orb.
It was tedious, to be honest. But that was the only way Kyran knew of how to collect the miasma for now.
Kyran was suddenly reminded of what his predecessor had told him.
‘Only when you find it yourself will you attain a deeper understanding of your magic.’
Yes. Kyran knew he had a long way to go in figuring out his magic.
Then he remembered his predecessor’s parting words.
‘I hope you will find that Void Magic is not all about destruction.’
Kyran took a deep breath. He looked at the magic orbs in his hand and stared at the thin purple barrier he created inside to keep the miasma from destroying the orbs. After learning about his magic cores, he now had better control over his magic, so he did not have to worry about the purple barrier accidentally breaking because he lost focus.
”Void Magic is not all about destruction, huh,” Kyran repeated. He was still unsure of what his predecessor meant, but seeing the purple barrier made him think if this was what he wanted to tell him.
Depending on how he used it, his magic could ‘protect’.
Kyran shook his head. He had an inkling that what his predecessor meant was not as simple as using his magic to create protective barriers.
With a sigh, Kyran pushed all of his thoughts to the back of his mind. All of his ponderings had to wait until he finished his task.
He stored the magic orbs back in his pouch and made his way out of the forest.