Chapter 97 Return to the Forest

Van spent the next few months training, studying, and repeating all that over and over again until his birthday when he turned nineteen. During that time Van had learned the sixth form of blood weaving while Luna had mastered all eight forms of it.

The sixth form allowed her to attack pressure points, the seventh allowed her to create strings of blood from wounds she created enabling her to somewhat puppeteer her opponent, and finally, the eighth form temporarily unlocked her body's limit, effectively a limit breaker that increased her physical abilities for a short time. With all that she finally got to start learning the first form of shadow weaving, shadow layer. Which was a barely visible layer of shadow on her body, which was used to confuse opponents since it can be independently moved, making it appear like a shadow of a fist either before it connects or after. Done so quickly that even trained experts could confuse which was the real attack to dodge.

Luna also learned some better bowmanship, allowing her to rapid-fire arrows at great speeds and accuracy, evening going so far as to imbue them with aura to either explode on contact or swerve to hit its target.

During this time, Van learned more swordsmanship from his father, learning the technique to unleash a wave of aura from his sword at an opponent. Luna also joined in from time to time, though her swordsmanship was not the best, she was a quick learner.

Van was finally able to get Isa to evolve into a greater hobgoblin, and then made sure to hatch all the eggs and start working on turning the goblins into greater goblins or hobgoblins. Altogether he had about fifteen hobgoblins from his original ten and sixty goblins, half of which were now greater goblins, for a troop total of seventy-five.

As for the harpies, he hatched the three eggs given to him, but it will still be a while before they can start to properly train.

He also got over his concerns and started to breed with Isa again. Slowly growing a clutch of eggs to be hatched later. He also started doing the same with the harpies since there were so few of them, though he still didn't feel like naming them yet, though it probably soon would be inevitable that he would one day.

More importantly, after learning everything he could and begging his parent's permission, Van finally got the go-ahead to travel to the forest and train. Without the parents, of course, his excuse? He wanted to hunt for resources for himself and his goblins and make them stronger, emphasizing how much he would be able to grow and how much stronger he could make his goblins troop if he properly trained them, the need to have proper experience leading them and so much more. With the promise that Kella would be there with him.

After much debating, it was agreed that he and his small army would leave, alongside his Annas and surprisingly, Luna. who he was not expecting to come with him at first. But Van couldn't really turn Luna down, even if he feared for her, after all, she felt the same, and considering how much she had grown, it would have been looking down on her if he turned her down from coming with him.

So with that in mind, Van and his group started to work on gathering a few supplies which were stored all inside him. It was also generally agreed that all his goblins and harpies will also be stored inside him as they traveled since it would save costs and they would only have to take one carriage. It would also be eye-drawing to see a large group of goblins passing through the castle town.

"Are you sure you got everything you need?" Thea asked worriedly from outside the carriage, peering in and looking at her daughter. "Food rations? Extra pair of clothes? Potions for health and disease?" she continued, concern clear in her voice and face.

"I'm fine mom," Luna said, trying not to roll her eyes, "I have everything I need right here." patting Van's pants where his crotch was, who then turned to give her an incredulous look.

A single tear formed on the rim of one of Thea's eyes. "That's my girl," she said with pride as the two shared a moment of complete understanding with each other while Van wished they would have left him out of it.

After that strange showing of affection, Van, Luna, and everyone else said their goodbyes as one of the Annas took control of the reins and got them moving.

Slowly, they made their way out of the town and onto the road that would lead them to the outpost, where they would drop off the carriage and make their way on foot to Van's old campsite. From there they will go a little further and make a new camp to scout around and start mining the area for resources to finally get proper gear for his goblins and to test himself out on the wildlife.

"Well, what's the first thing you want to do when we reach the outpost?" Kella asked from across from him.

"Well… I was thinking that we stay the night there, then the next morning we go to my old campsite, then push past that a little deeper and make a new larger one where we mine the area for resources. Speaking of which." he then turned to Anna who was sitting on the other side of Luna. "have you learned enough about basic tailoring to make some clothes?"

"I've learned a little, some to make plain clothes, but they won't look very good, and at most they would be average," she said plainly.

"That's fine, I have been experimenting more on alchemy summoning and a few other things. As long as I have a good base, I can make some decent armor and weapons out of the things we gather." Van said.

"That's good," Kella added. "We are going to need to be flexible if we want to survive six months out in the wilds. Not to mention we only were given a month's worth of food. It could very well be that our ability to gather resources and your ability to change what we have into something useful will either make us last our allotted time, or send ourselves back with our tails between our legs before the month is out."

Van nodded seriously. He really didn't want to have to turn back too soon. The forest was beautiful and fascinating, and it would look bad if he were to run back home so soon after entering, especially since he confidently told his parents that he could survive that long alone.

"Luna… are you okay?" Anna suddenly asked her friend, who had slowly been squishing herself closer and closer to Van as she held his arm.

"Huh? Oh… ya…" she said sheepishly. "Sorry… it's just… this is the first time in a long time since I have been away from my mother. The last time was…" she let that sentence hang. Everyone understood what she was going to say.

"Well don't worry," Van said, hugging her closer to him. "When we're together, we can do anything. And I know Thea would be very proud of you if you were to come back stronger after this trip. Don't tell her I told you but, dad and mom told me she has been changing back to her old outgoing self like she used to be. And they believe it's all because of you…"

Luna looked at him in surprise. "Really?"

Van nodded, and Luna didn't know how to take that, so instead she just let it sink in in silence which was soon shared by everyone else during the rest of the trip.

They made their way to the outpost and stabled their horses and put away their carriage.

Then they went to look for some lodgings, which wasn't so hard to do since there were only five of them. Van, Luna, Kella, and two Annas. It also helped that he was recognized for who he was and the people who worked there did their best to accommodate him.

Luna held on to him the entire time he was setting things up for their stay. It seemed she was far more nervous than he realized, but let her be, hoping that giving her some time will help her relax eventually.

Since they had some free time, Van showed Luna and Anna all the facilities that the outpost had to offer and what each one did. When that was done, they went into their cabin and prepared for the morning. It was a bit hard to sleep with how tightly Luna was holding onto him, but he managed and in the next morning they left bright and early.

After that they made their way to the old campsite, Luna holding onto him nervously, looking left and right at the wonders and hidden dangers the forest had to offer. Van doing his best to calm her down while trying to explain what she really should watch out for and, as well as some of the amazing facts about the forest.

It was then that Lyn decided to pop out of his soul realm. Looking around she gave a nod then popped back in. A few seconds later, a small horde of insect kin flew out of him.

"I'll be right back, I have to check something out real quick." Lyn said as she waved her goodbye."

It was then that Van remembered the story Lyn told him when he had some free time. He wondered how much of it was true, and obviously, there was a lot more to the story than she let on. But for now, he supposed he had no choice but to trust her and hope that she would be safe doing whatever she was planning to do.

Van and the rest of the group slowly made their way to the campsite. It was just as he remembered it, a good-sized open area with flowers and a peaceful feeling to the place. With the help of Kella and Anna, they soon got the place set up and looking somewhat like it was before he left, just with an extra-large tent instead.

Taking his time, Van then began a thorough explanation to the group about the dangers of the forest and what to expect when staying here. Kella seemed to already know all this, and Anna heard all before through the link they shared. Luna on the other hand seemed to drink his words as she paid close attention to him while flinching at every unexpected sound the forest made.

For some reason, Luna had this strange mixed feeling about being in the forest. Terrified by what it may hold, while at the same time feeling completely at home. The contradictory feelings made her even more nervous than she probably should feel, which is why she was so easily jumpy.

"So, this was the place you and your father stayed at? I must admit it's not a bad stop." Kella said, looking around appreciatively. "Good line of sight, open area, and if I'm guessing right, it's close to a river."

Van nodded, "just one of the many reasons why this place is so great." he said pridefully. "But we won't be staying here for long, I want to go deeper, and from there make like… a small fort or something, and start gathering resources that we can use to upgrade the goblins with."

"You are awfully ambitious, a fort in the middle of the forest? Perhaps you should start smaller. Not to mention… are you sure you can handle going so deeply? The monsters are no joke, and we should be careful not to accidentally run into the electric venom tiger." Kella said.

"Electric venom tiger?" Luna and Van asked at the same time. Luna worriedly and Van more out of curiosity.

Kella nodded. "It's a large tiger-like monster with green and black fur. It's larger than a person and its bite will not only shock you but poison you as well. It is said that the electric shocks of it are green and that if you're hit by its lightning, it will feel like you have electric poison running through your veins, both trying to kill you and paralyze you."

Van was shocked, no pun intended. By the fact that electricity could act like some sort of poison that could infect you. It would never occur to him that such a thing was possible. But then again this was a fantasy world, or at least that was what Ren said it was, so what exactly was he expecting?

"Is there anything else we should be worried about?" Van asked concerned, wondering what else he should prepare for.

"Well… while you were showing Luna around the outpost, I asked around and talked to a few of the rangers. They said that the forest has gotten very dangerous as of late, giant insects are swarming all over the place and the forest is on edge. Sometimes they would come across whole swathes of the forest littered in dead insect bodies, both big and small, and that some adventurers have gone missing, probably caught up by whatever is happening." Kella said.

"From what I heard, the rangers called some higher-ups from several guilds, such as the ranger guild, the environmentalist guild, and a few others, to see if they can't find someone who can speak to the fairies, since they usually have an idea of what's going on."

Van had a flashback to Lyn's story, and now was feeling very unsure if he should have just let her leave like that.

"The environmentalist's guild?" Van asked the first time he was hearing such a thing.

Kella began to explain. "They work alongside the druids guild, though it's called the druids guild not many druids consider the guild to represent all of them. Most druids keep to themselves after all. Anyway, they work together to help forestry efforts and keep the peace in the wild. They are the ones that help regulate such places so that adventurers can safely hunt and not overkill one particular monster or beast population or another. After all, for baronies or counties, a forest like this could represent half their taxes from all the valuable resources that are naturally produced."

"It's important to regulate such things, so they are usually in charge of what is allowed to be hunted and what's not. But because of this, they are also in charge of taking care of such forests or other places that might hold both environmental and resource importance to the barony, county, dukedom, and nation."

Van listened in fascination at what Kella was saying, it was truly the first time he heard about this. He probably would have learned all this himself eventually, but it was nice to know it now where it could matter.

"You know an awful lot for someone who I heard spent most of her time doing nothing but training in the castle," Van said, now a little curious as to why Kella knew so much.

Kella blushed a little. "Well… I was always interested in challenging myself and pushing myself to become stronger, so one day, a long time ago, I thought about taking a few days off to go to the forest to test myself. But Vanessa…" she paused and her gaze looked distant as if the name invoked old memories before a small smile took her.

"She made it clear that just charging into the forest with that kind of attitude was a no-go. She drilled into me everything I would need to know about how to take care of myself in the forest and all the rules that would apply to me when I am. After that she challenged me, saying if I couldn't beat her, what would happen if I ran into an electric venom tiger? After that, she trained me so hard that I completely forgot to go training in the forest. In a way I suppose that was her way of worrying about me." her gaze took on a more nostalgic look as she remembered the good old times.

Van leaned in a little, interested in hearing more about his namesake, and his father's older sister who was so dearly loved. Somewhat feeling cheated for not being able to meet such an amazing woman.

After that, Van prompted her to tell him more about Vanessa, which Kella was only too happy to oblige with. Telling Van how she was quite the lively character, always running all over the place and pushing herself to absurd extremes. Whether that was training with the sword or studying to be a great ruler, she would put her one hundred and twenty percent into everything she could get her hands on. That she was the type of woman who had so much fun just being alive and enjoying everything life had to offer her, even the bad stuff.

This continued until nightfall, and sadly they were forced to stop the story train and get ready for bed. Everyone felt a bit disappointed that they couldn't hear more from Kella about the wacky adventures of Vanessa. Even Luna seemed to have largely settled down and stopped worrying about every little noise from the forest and was enthralled by what she heard Kella say.

In the end, they got into the tent and went to bed, some nervous for tomorrow, others different, and one a little excited by what adventures could happen come morning light.

But there was one thought that passed through Van's mind that he couldn't quite shake, a nagging feeling that just wouldn't let go. If Vanessa was such a great person, why in the world has he never seen her grave? Van was worried by what that could mean, and promised himself that when he got back that he would ask his parents why there was never a grave for such an amazing woman.