"Millennium Spiritwood?" Luo Wei exclaimed in surprise.

Laura leaned close to Luo Wei's ear and whispered, "It's something our feline ancestors planted. My parents took me there once when I was little. I know how to get there, but I don't know what it's called. I can take you."

"But there are many high-level magical beasts inside. It's dangerous for you."

"With a magic swordsman around, I'm not afraid."

Luo Wei hesitated. She didn't want to risk someone else's life, but she needed the Spiritwood.

"Troy, Laura says she can lead us. Can you ensure our safe arrival?"

Troy looked at them, hesitating before saying, "Two people... I can keep you from dying."

Luo Wei: ...

"What do you mean by 'not dying'?"

"Still alive," Troy said, seeing her darkening expression, and added, "Barely breathing, but savable."

"…"

"If you only take Laura, can you guarantee her safety?"

"I can," Troy nodded, then shook his head, "But what about you?"

Luo Wei: "Don't worry about me. I'll stay on the outskirts; it's safe. Besides, Theodore and Hol are here."

"Yes, Luo Wei will be absolutely safe with us. We can protect her," Theodore said, patting his chest.

Hol also said, "Yes, we'll take good care of Miss Luo Wei."

The plan was set: Troy and Laura would go find the Spiritwood, while Luo Wei stayed with Theodore and Hol to gather magical plants.

Theodore had been to the Magic Beast Mountains in the summer and was familiar with the central outer mountains. He knew exactly where magical plants grew and where magical beasts roamed.

"I remember there's a cliff over there with Purplegrass. Let's go check it out."

Purplegrass is a raw material for making low-level healing potions, priced several times higher than other low-level herbs, but it's hard to pick as it grows in cliff crevices.

At the site, Luo Wei looked at the steep cliff dozens of meters high and asked Theodore, "How do you get up there?"

"Climb!" Theodore rolled up his sleeves, grabbed a rock ledge, and started climbing. "Flying magic is only taught in the advanced classes. For now, I can only climb."

Fortunately, octopuses have a knack for climbing, and he climbed with ease.

Luo Wei fell silent and looked at Hol, "Are you going to climb?"

Hol shook his head vigorously, "No, I'm afraid of heights."

Liches prefer to stay grounded and dislike being suspended in the air. He didn't want to climb that high.

Luo Wei hesitated between flying up to help with her wings or staying and playing, ultimately choosing to sit and wait for Hol to come down.

The last time she could manifest black and white wings was because she drank a potion. Without it, she could only have either white or black wings. If the color was wrong and someone saw, it would be troublesome.

Sitting on a rock for a while, she suddenly felt a tickling sensation on her earlobe.

Just as she was about to turn her head, Hol spoke in a strange tone.

"Infernal Arachne... a soul?"

Luo Wei was taken aback, and Nicole had already jumped onto her lap, waving her front legs vigorously.

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Hol looked at Luo Wei in surprise, "Did you summon this?"

He could sense the dark element emanating from the Infernal Arachne and the magical aura it shared with Luo Wei.

Luo Wei cupped Nicole in her hands, "I summoned it. Her name is Nicole, and she's a girl."

Hol was surprised, "You can draw summoning runes?"

"Not me," Luo Wei fabricated, "I used to keep a small jumping spider. After it died, I asked a mage to help summon it back."

"I see," Hol gave a simple smile, "I thought you could use dark magic."

Luo Wei didn't respond.

As fellow dark element affinity users, Hol had a strong perception of dark auras.

He might have guessed something, but she wouldn't admit it.

Both tacitly looked at the little soul jumping spider, choosing to forget the topic.

But after a while, Hol spoke, "Miss Luo Wei, is your spider trying to say something?"

Luo Wei: "It seems so, but I can't understand."

Nicole's big eyes blinked, and her front legs and appendages gestured continuously, but Luo Wei couldn't grasp her meaning.

Luo Wei softly asked, "Nicole, can you write?"

Nicole tilted her furry head, dejectedly lowered her legs, and circled in Luo Wei's palm.

Just when Luo Wei thought she had given up, Nicole suddenly jumped two meters away onto a stone, looked back at her, and raised a leg pointing forward.

Luo Wei and Hol exchanged glances, both understanding this time that Nicole was leading them.

"Where does she want to go?" Hol asked.

Luo Wei shook her head, "I don't know either."

Seeing them still sitting, Nicole anxiously circled in place, then resolutely pointed her leg in the previous direction.

Luo Wei asked Hol's opinion, "Shall we follow and see?"

"Sure," Hol agreed.

They glanced at the cliff; Theodore was only halfway up and would take a while to come down, so they followed Nicole's direction.

Nicole led the way, jumping two or three meters at a time, then stopping to wait for them.

Luo Wei felt Nicole resembled a puppy, determined to take her owners to play where she wanted, leaving them helpless.

The two of them and the spider walked several hundred meters through the forest, but the spider showed no signs of stopping. Hol quietly asked, "Miss Luo Wei, where is she taking us?"

Luo Wei shrugged helplessly, "I don't know. Let's see. If we reach that vine waterfall and she doesn't stop, we'll head back."

Yet Nicole hopped along, leading them right to the vine waterfall.

The Infernal Arachne, only half a palm in size, jumped onto a green vine, tilted its head at them, then pointed inside the vines with a front leg.

Unknown green vines hung from a three-meter-high earthen slope, intertwining with heart-shaped leaves, forming a wall of green leaves.

The cold wind blew, making the leaves sway like rippling emerald waves.

Hol stared at the vines, slowly frowning, "Is there a cave behind the vines?"

As soon as he spoke, the Infernal Arachne jumped into the vines, seemingly waiting for them to say this.

"Nicole!"

Luo Wei called out, but the spider didn't come out, so she picked up a stick and pulled the vines aside.

Sure enough, there was a cave behind, just big enough for them to crawl into.

The Infernal Arachne lay at the cave entrance, glanced at them, then turned and jumped inside.

"I'll go in and take a look."

Hol said, bending down to enter the cave, leaving Luo Wei unable to stop him.

After a few minutes, Hol's head reappeared at the entrance, "It's big inside, no danger. Do you want to come in?"

"Yes."

Luo Wei bent down and crawled into the cave.

The cave was indeed spacious, enough to lie down twenty or thirty people. The stone walls were embedded with some kind of luminous mineral, casting a bluish glow over the damp, dark cavern.

Luo Wei looked up and saw countless white cocoons hanging above them, like clusters of tightly packed cotton balls, with a layer of milky white silk webbing on the cavern ceiling.

"Is this a spider's nest?"

"It should be the Infernal Arachne's nest," Hol said, peeling open a basketball-sized cocoon to show her, "The bodies inside have liquefied. This place has been empty for a long time; its owner must be dead."

A guess popped into Luo Wei's mind: could this be Nicole's old home?

"By the way, where's Nicole?"

"Over there, playing with bugs," Hol pointed to the pile of dirt at the back of the cave.

Luo Wei quickly walked over and saw the Infernal Arachne holding a fat bug and spinning around.

It seemed to want to wrap the prey in silk, but it didn't realize it was already dead, and souls couldn't spin silk.

"Nicole." Luo Wei squatted down, her gaze landing on the bug it was holding, suddenly startled.

Wait, this white, fat bug with two rows of black spots—wasn't it a fourth-instar silkworm baby!