At the moment of the visit by the Branch Master, it was midday.

That meant the three friends had a day and a half to finish their staffs, go to the forest, and write the report they had to deliver before midnight if they wanted to continue being part of the academy.

Working as fast as they could, they finished the few details their weapons needed to be functional, such as sticking the rune and the rods together.

A few hours later, they had them ready, and they began to plan their trip to the forest.

"Ok, we would need a few hours to reach the forest and a few more to explore it to check the beast population. I suggest we travel there today and camp outside so we can explore it tomorrow in the morning." Nathan said.

"Sound like a good plan," Marianne said.

"No, it is not a good plan. It would be a good plan if we had time, but we need to scout the whole forest in not much more than a day. I think we are going to need to start exploring today." Travis said while crossing his arms.

"Are you suggesting that we explore a corrupted forest with powerful magical beasts with powers that we don't fully understand while it is night?" Nathan said while arching an eyebrow.

"Yes," Travis said with a smile.

"Do you want us to die?" Nathan asked.

"Man, we have new weapons. We haven't been learning how to use the symbol for weeks to be scared of some turtles. Now that we can use it, we shouldn't have any problem unless we find a high-stage enemy." Travis said.

"What if we encounter a lot of enemies instead of one? What if we get ambushed?" Nathan tried to convince Travis.

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"I trust in your scouting skills to prevent that," Travis replied with a wide smile.

After hearing that, Nathan couldn't help but keep quiet. It was obvious that Travis wouldn't change his mind no matter what he said, so it was better to go along with him and try to make sure he didn't do anything stupid.

"Ok, fine. We will do as you said." Nathan gave up as he realized he couldn't do anything.

After that, the three cultivators began to prepare for the expedition. They got food and a tent so they could camp at night.

As they were leaving, they realized how the rest of the academy's members looked at them while walking through the corridors, but they soon realized that it was because of their staffs, as no one else was carrying anything similar to them.

Without paying much attention to the other people's gazes, the three cultivators left and began walking toward the forest. In just a few hours, they got there.

As soon as they arrived, they realized that a lot of things had changed just by looking from the outside. The trees were dying and more corrupted, while most of the grass had disappeared from the ground, leaving behind a floor composed of dirt and stones.

While the last time they managed to see a few birds flying around, this time they couldn't see even one.

It was clear that life in the forest had become more difficult in the last weeks, something that didn't make the three cultivators very happy. For the whole area to change at such speed, it meant that there was something inside that could change its surroundings, so either there was a powerful creature or the population of corrupted beasts had increased by a large margin.

Either way, it wasn't good news for them.

When they were about to enter deep into the forest, there were still a few more hours of daylight. Nevertheless, Nathan tried to convince Travis one more time before entering.

"I mean, you can't be so blind that you are not seeing this. It is obvious that there is something dangerous in there. Are you sure you don't want to wait until tomorrow in the morning?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure. With our new weapons, there is nothing that could go wrong." He replied with a smile.

A few seconds after he said that, a loud roar resounded across the whole forest before an explosion happened inside it.

"Ok, maybe it is not the best idea to go now. Let's camp and rest so we are in our best condition tomorrow." Travis said as he began to unpack the tent.

"That's what I thought," Nathan said while laughing.