Chapter 159: The Silver-Leaf Forest
Hidden deep within the heart of a lush, ordinary green forest where the sun is obscured by dense canopies lies a completely different world, dubbed the Silver-Leaf Forest. The transition between the two worlds is almost imperceptible, like a curtain being drawn to hide a precious secret right at the center.
Stepping across that invisible boundary, the space immediately changes. This place no longer holds the green of moss or the brown of damp earth; instead, it is a dazzling shade of white. The ground is stark white-silver, reflecting the faint light filtering through the trees above, creating the feeling of having just entered a land covered by a layer of eternal metallic snow.
The most overwhelming sight is the trees. Every trunk carries a perfect silver color, smooth and cold, reaching straight toward the sky like pillars cast from liquid steel, yet they are not at all taller than the trees of the surrounding ordinary forest. Instead of green leaves, the branches are covered with slender silver leaves, shimmering like millions of tiny mirror shards.
A light breeze gently glides through. In that moment, the Silver-Leaf Forest becomes vivid. The silver leaves begin to sway, creating a mystical sound—a dry, clinking rustle, entirely different from the sound of ordinary leaves. Light refracted from the trembling leaves dances around, making the entire forest seem to breathe and glow, creating a mesmerizing metallic dance, affirming its mysterious and isolated existence in the heart of the natural world.
Everyone's eyes lit up—not just from excessive interest, though that was present. But what made their eyes shine was that silver color. The whole group fell silent and gazed at the forest for a while.
Ayaka spoke up, breaking the silence, her eyes showing clear curiosity:
"Is this the Silver-Leaf Forest? So beautiful."
Aoto was the one in the lead; he stopped observing the forest and looked down, frowning slightly as he gazed at the stark white ground resembling snow, which combined with the soil of the surrounding forest to make the silver forest look like a separate world.
Aoto kicked his foot forward; his foot hit the white ground. He kicked it into a scatter, silver dust flying everywhere like a shimmer. Aoto's eyes widened; feeling something was wrong, he immediately jumped back and shouted:
"Everyone, get back!"
After hearing Aoto's shout, the group who were observing the forest snapped out of it and immediately jumped back; they trusted Aoto, so hearing that panicked tone in his voice meant something was definitely wrong.
Kazuka and Elyssia said in unison:
"What's the matter?"
Ayaka turned over, her voice confused:
"What is it, Aoto?"
Aoto held up the shoe he had just used to kick the silver dust on the ground, bringing it close to everyone's eyes. The black shoe was still covered in no small amount of silver dust.
"Look at this. I just kicked this dust, thinking it was snow, but it seems this is silver dust."
Airi frowned.
"If so, then it's dangerous. No matter what metal it is, if it's crumbled and fine like this, inhaling it is truly very toxic, though it takes a long time. But if inhaled too much, it will be very uncomfortable and silver dust will cause injuries inside our bodies."
"Although we can extract it ourselves, in an important situation, how can we stop to push this silver dust out? Not to mention it's even finer than ground powder like this; removing them would be called too difficult."
Kazuka nodded in understanding.
"In that case, we need to cover our noses and mouths to avoid inhaling it, otherwise it will be very exhausting."
Elyssia: "This silver dust looks just like snow."
Fortunately, Aoto had a shirt that he had torn while training; the shirt was still in his pile of things in Airi's spatial ring. After searching for a while, they found it; each person tore a piece and covered their mouth and nose, tying it very tightly.
Ayaka felt it still wasn't safe.
"If something happens in there and we let this silver dust fly into our eyes, it will truly cause us big trouble."
Elyssia: "We don't have thin cloth, so we have nothing to cover our eyes. Now, covering our eyes and fighting while blindfolded and emitting energy would truly be much harder."
Aoto thought back: "Not worth worrying too much; keeping energy enveloped all the time is also hard. Let's just head in."
Just like that, the whole group stepped into this silver-leaf forest. Passing by trees of only one silver color, their clothes were different from the silver color, so they stood out quite a bit. They walked on piles of silver dust as if walking on a surface of snow; every time they lowered a foot, the foot pressed down heavily, making the silver dust let out a sound as it was compressed.
Six dots of color in a forest with only silvery-white. A light wind blew through, making the leaves of the silver trees sway gently. All the trees stabbed straight up; there were branches growing out sparsely and leaves were also sparse.
After walking deep inside for a very long time, in their eyes there was only one color of white, but they unexpectedly encountered a silver river flowing slowly.
The silver river did not have water; instead, it was silver flowing in liquid form, thick as if it were mercury but not as toxic. The silver river was quite small, only about 2 **tharn** wide. With a bit of strength, one could jump across easily; this river seemed to divide this silver forest into two.
From a distance, the group also saw what was a silver waterfall. The waterfall poured down, creating a shimmering silver mist, emitting a sound like wind chimes, along with silver blocks protruding quite largely.
Kazuka stood with hands on his hips. The cloth covered half his face but still showed his interest.
"This place is truly interesting."
After a moment of observation and exchanging a few brief words, they jumped over the silver river and stepped forward to look for something interesting.
Walking another stretch, the group encountered a place with many protruding silver blocks, temporarily called the Silver Block Valley. The silver blocks glowed from the dazzling sunlight, jutting up, each block a different shape, spaced quite naturally. These silver blocks truly stimulated greedy people, but the group, while having a bit of interest, found it insignificant; they were exploring, not going to get rich.
Takeshi pointed at the silver blocks.
"So much silver. There might even be a large block that's probably 2 **tharn**."
Kazuka braced his hands.
"Probably when we go outside, we can take a few blocks along too; after all, we're still going many places, so we also need money."
The group just kept going straight ahead into the Silver Block Valley.
Airi: "Of course we need to take some; this place seems mysterious. Not sure if anyone has found it yet, but if they do, there will surely be disputes."
Kazuka: "This amount of silver is probably enough for us to use for a lifetime."
Aoto: "For now, we'll decide when we head out. I feel it's better not to take anything; who knows what kind of thing might jump out?"
"A precious thing like this being safe is truly untrustworthy."
Passing through the Silver Block Valley, they continued on.
Passing by trees with vines sharp as daggers, covered in shimmering silver thorns. Along with that were silver mushrooms that looked very eye-catching; the group did stop to observe for a bit, but it was best not to touch them, so they just went deeper inside.
In reality, if only one person went in, they might be curious, but because all six were going together, if someone made an unstable decision, the whole group would analyze it and feel it wasn't right. Generally speaking, "friends in trade, partners in a guild." Going anywhere with people accompanying you is always better—analyzing, advising, making decisions.
Walking another stretch in the silver forest where there was only a dazzling white color, not to mention the sun shining down, and furthermore, it was currently summer; they wore layers of cloth to cover their noses and mouths, making them feel quite hot.
The wind blew through; those silver leaves were both hard yet also soft, clashing against the silver tree trunks, causing a "clinking" sound that was quite pleasant to hear. But the group was different; they became even more vigilant. They went adventuring and exploring, not fearing danger, so going deep inside was precisely to explore the whole forest to see if there was anything interesting. Perhaps by the time they went back, no one would dare pick those mushrooms or maybe just use a stick to poke at them.
Walking another stretch, the group stopped and looked up at a treetop.
On a branch, there were two birds of only a glowing silvery-white color; the two birds were chirping and hopping back and forth between branches. There was no other color; eyes, beaks, feathers—all were silver. The whole body being silvery-white like that gave an even more eerie feeling.
Aoto also had to gape when seeing the birds.
"There's even this type of bird? Should we catch it?"
Ayaka: "I'm curious too."
Takeshi: "You shoot it, Ayaka?"
Ayaka was dazed, then she shook her head.
"Can't, shooting it will kill it; finding a way to catch it would be more appropriate."
Kazuka thought of a makeshift plan.
"Aoto, fly in the sky to prevent the bird from flying away, then we will surround it."
Elyssia only now spoke up; she was the one who felt very interested in this forest; she had gone nowhere, so such beautiful scenery in her eyes became even more perfect than ever:
"We don't have a birdcage, so how to catch it? When we go outside, use wood to make a cage."
Takeshi turned over.
"But my Earth element can make a cage; just leave holes for it to breathe."
Elyssia braced her hands and countered:
"Then do you know what it eats? Even if it eats silver, how much is enough? We aren't rich."
Takeshi was told off; he turned away and didn't know what words would be appropriate, only knowing how to laugh.
Airi sighed.
"Forget it, let's just go around this whole forest once, take everything in with our eyes, then after that turning back to collect things later won't be too late; anyway, there's no one here, no one to dispute with."
Aoto sighed.
"That's fine too. Suddenly I thought about what if when we touch it, we turn into silver? Our whole body turning into a silver statue."
Takeshi: "There's that possibility, so let's skip it for now."
Airi stepped forward first.
"Who would even come to a place where monkeys cough and storks crow? No need to worry, let's go."
The whole group followed right behind.
Suddenly Kazuka remembered Airi's phrase:
—"Monkey coughs and storks crow."
Then he burst out laughing; the quiet atmosphere that only had the "clinking" of leaves clashing against tree trunks was suddenly shattered.
The whole group stopped; everyone looked at Kazuka.
Takeshi and Aoto beside him were also confused.
Takeshi: "What are you laughing at?"
Kazuka clutched his stomach, trying to stifle the laughter; he tried to speak to explain, a bit difficult to hear because it was mixed with laughter:
"You... try thinking about it... A monkey... coughing... a stork... a stork... crowing."
Aoto and Takeshi also imagined it—a monkey not screeching but going around coughing, a stork crowing like it had asthma. So the two of them also burst out laughing with Kazuka as they walked.