17 White Forest (11)

While travelling in the forest Zed started to feel the changes in the environment.

It was not much significant but it changed gradually as he moved away from the centre.

The mana density became thinner and thinner, the plants and trees started to become smaller in comparison to those near the centre, the forest creatures became more active and he could see them run passed him sometimes.

After looking at the map he saw that he now travelled for almost two-third of the way out of the forest.

He avoided looking at the map because of how much he had to travel. Only now that he noticed the change in the atmosphere did he looked into it.

Years of travel made him ignore many things and he left a lot of miscellaneous things to Eva. She would just remind him of the direction from time to time in case he got distracted.

It was not that he did not want to travel a different direction but his grandfather without specifying any direction made him travel this path. And he felt it was not time for him to do whatever he pleased with his current capabilities.

As he travelled slowly observing the surroundings the spying eyes from the shadows stopped following him and disappeared slowly.

Just when Zed thought the mana would become thinner he felt the fluctuation in the mana but at the same time, it was so natural that he almost mistook it for a gust of wind.

Almost because when he was with Bitsy he felt the same fluctuation but only at times like when she would get caught doing something sneaky behind his grandfathers back.

Confirming with Eva he was sure that someone was just ahead of him hiding and got startled slightly when he became aware of Zed's presence.

After walking for a bit he the atmosphere changed again to more like Mother Silver Leo Argenta's home.

There were no beautiful runes or inscriptions but he could still see some small intangible runes formed. He concluded that they were formed by the natural mana to stabilize the mana pressure in the surrounding of that being. Because the being knew that nature would form the runes he did not particularly pay attention to the stability in the surrounding from certain distance of him.

He found himself in one of the most relaxing places he had been to after walking further.

The owner of that fluctuation did not deny them when they walked closer to him/her. So Zed and company decided to see what was this place.

The place had a small waterfall falling off the small hill beside a tiny pond. Tiny if compared to the giant trees which Zed still found quite fascinating.

The pond had different flowers surrounding it, variety of butterflies were flying around, small creatures and insects moving in-between.

Fishes would from time to time jump out the pond to catch insects in the air, some wild animals resting near. Those wild animals made Zed realise that this was a special space because they were normal wild animals and not strong enough to wield mana.

Even the sky was clear here compared to the rest of the forest because the giant trees being low in number.

He observed the landscape for a moment then looked at Silver who was squinting his eyes. He was squinting at a figure standing some distance away from the pond; It was of a woman.

She was holding a small brush in one hand with a colour palette floating beside. In front of her was what looked like a canvas.

She was drawing the pond and its surroundings.

Zed instead of observing her got attracted by the unfinished painting in front of her.

Even Eva who was lying on Silver's head got captivated by the painting.

Only Silver focused on the woman and did not bother with the painting.

The painting looked ordinary in the beginning but as Zed and Eva continued to look at it, it changed somehow. In the beginning, it was a scene in the present time; after a while, it started to move.

Like a video getting rewind, the painting showed different sceneries moving backwards until it only showed a small stream falling from the hill. Then it started to change again and it showed the process of small stream turning into a small waterfall and then forming a pond, the flowers and grass growing beside it.

The newly grown grass attracted animals which then attracted more animals who were in need of water.

He did not know how much time passed but Zed woke up and realised that the painting looked ordinary again.

Looking at the woman again he saw her smile lightly.

The woman was not extraordinarily beautiful but quite ordinary like any other woman he had seen in his dreamworld training.

She was above average height at 6 feet tall making him look straight in her eyes. And even though he himself was around 6'2 he felt shorter to her.

The woman had light brown hair reaching her back which she had tied with a pencil in them. Her green eyes looked deep like an ocean to him.

She wore a loose white shirt and light blue pants which had many side pockets and looked rugged. Looking at those pants he remembered that when he was living inside dreamworld some farmers used to wear pants similar to it.

Even her white shirt was not white anymore and was filled with different colours and brush marks.

Despite all that, her figure attracted Zed immediately. She could make any mortal man go wild with just her figure.

Zed calmed down slowly as he had many encounters with women like her but then again he thought that the woman in front of him probably was just a facade and she was not showing her true charms.

Eva who was lying on little Silver's head a moment ago was floating on her own. Her eyes were shining with light and she had a hard time controlling her drool from dropping on the ground.

Zed knew that she was looking at not the woman but the mana and the natural aura the woman was fluctuating.

As for little Silver; he was confused because he could not perceive the woman's true form.

The woman did not ignore them but she chuckled slightly and started to draw again.

She was startled earlier because she felt some unique auras passing by her domain and they were familiar at the same time strange to her.

After observing Zed, Eva and Silver she realised what those auras were.

Feeling nostalgic she drew her painting while smiling which affected the nature mana around her.

The surroundings began spreading a rich aroma. All those around her began relaxing due to that aroma.

The painting she was doing was not fast but slow in reality and by slow it was literally slow.

At first, Zed thought that too but as he observed her for a bit the painting seemed like thousand different scenes on top of each other.

The painting was not simply a representation of the scene but even the dirt on the ground was painted quite detailed.

"Fascinating"

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