"This damned place! Something's not right!"
Lynn couldn't help but mutter under his breath. His face had been engraved onto the tree trunk, which was an ominous sign.
Judging by the twisted human faces on those trunks, Lynn was almost certain that those faces belonged to people who had entered this formation before.
"If someone dies here, will they become part of the tree? Will their face merge into the whole, ultimately completing it and allowing it to open its eyes?"
A chilling thought flashed through his mind.
Lynn's mind raced. He had reached a fork in the road and seemingly chosen the wrong path, triggering some sort of danger.
"In that case, as long as I keep moving until I reach the next dead end, I should be safe from attacks, right?"
With this in mind, he continued forward. However, after taking just two steps, he realized something terrifying the tree with his face on it was following him!
"Hmm?"
Lynn raised an eyebrow. Now that his mental energy was no longer restricted, he began chanting an incantation for a Fireball spell.
Yet, at that very moment, an icy sensation crawled up his spine, and an overwhelming sense of danger flooded his entire body.
It was as if an indescribable force was closing in on him. If he were to cast that fireball, it seemed he would suffer an even more terrifying backlash.
"I can't attack..."
Lynn took a deep breath, forcing himself to remain calm. He quickly withdrew his spell and did his best to ignore the tree behind him bearing his face.
He understood that he couldn't act recklessly now.
Continuing forward, he speculated that this place indeed operated under some kind of strict rules.
He would only encounter danger when reaching a dead end, and it seemed he had two chances.
The first time he took a wrong turn, a tree with his face appeared behind him.
If he made a second mistake, that tree would cut off his retreat, leaving him completely trapped.
As for what would happen if he made a third mistake whether he could break free from the trees Lynn neither dared to gamble nor wanted to find out.
He did not want to take a second wrong step. Yet now, another fork in the path lay before him.
Two roads one right, one wrong.
If he chose incorrectly, he would be surrounded. Whether he could fight his way out was completely unknown.
"My detection wizardry can't reach that far…"
Lynn muttered to himself. He had already tried using detection magic when he first reached an intersection, but it had been completely ineffective. That was why he had taken the wrong path.
His brows furrowed. He had noticed that in this environment, wizardry was heavily restricted. When surrounded by tree-trunk faces, spellcasting became difficult, and even his tracking spells were severely weakened.
"If only I had a pet or some kind of animated magic tool or alchemical item…"
Lynn pondered how he should make his choice.
Just then, his mental energy wavered slightly, prompting him to abruptly turn around and stare at the tree with his face.
"If my senses aren't wrong… that tree just moved a little closer?"
Lynn's gaze darkened. He wished it were just an illusion, but as a third-tier apprentice, there was no way he would misinterpret his perceptions!
"After the first mistake, there are further restrictions. The time allowed to choose a path is limited!"
Lynn knew he couldn't afford to waste any more time. He had to pick a path before the tree reached him.
"This place must follow a fixed set of rules. If I can fully decipher them, I should be able to avoid all dangers…"
His mind worked frantically. From what he had already deduced, he could see there was a pattern. But he no longer had time to carefully analyze it.
Since that was the case, he had to prepare for the worst fighting his way out.
"When surrounded, my wizardry is restricted. Unfortunately, my wizardry framework is already complete, but I don't have the chance to use it. That means I have to rely on potions or magic-infused tools..."
Lynn pinched the bridge of his nose. He had one last resort fully activating his Life Seed. But the price for doing so would be several days of complete exhaustion.
Ever since experiencing it once, he had never used it again. He had no desire to put himself in such danger.
"Today… I might have to rely on you, Yfgríd. You've been parasitizing my mental domain for so long if we don't make it through this, we're both dead."
Lynn smirked bitterly and shook his head.
At that moment, Yfgríd trembled slightly within his mental domain. Lynn's eyes widened in surprise.
"The resonance is complete?!"
Before being sent here, Lynn had already known that his Resonance Progress Bar was full.
However, the Azure Sky Breathing Technique only allowed him to sense one innate trait of a Life Seed in advance. If a Life Seed only had one trait, then naturally, he could only choose that one.
But some Life Seeds had multiple traits.
Lynn's Yfgríd, for example, had two Life and Guardian.
So, when his Resonance Progress Bar maxed out, he entered a deep resonance with Yfgríd, forced to choose between these two traits.
Unfortunately, he had intended to complete this process in the Furnace, but the damned Furnace's orders had forced him into the perilous Emerald Island Forest.
Now, at last, his Resonance Trait had been determined.
"Let's see…"
Lynn closed his eyes. In his mental domain, his tender, vibrant-green Life Seed released a warm, radiant glow.
At the same time, the tree behind him inched even closer. The face on its trunk seemed to curl into a faint smirk as if it were smiling at him.
"The Guardian Trait… I guard the sky, the land, and nature…"
Lynn opened his eyes, a sharp gleam flashing through them. He had now sensed the effect of the Guardian Trait.
If Yfgríd were to fully bloom, Lynn would be able to forcibly establish a connection with nearby natural plants and borrow their power.
"If my Yfgríd had already matured, couldn't I just take control of these trees and use their strength? This challenge would be over in an instant!"
But rather than feeling excitement, Lynn shook his head with a hint of regret. Right now, he could only use the trait through resonance.
Thus, the Guardian Trait's power was far from its complete form.
The most crucial difference was this mature Yfgríd could forcibly control natural plants, while his current state only allowed him to communicate with them and request their power.
Lynn glanced at the tree creeping toward him. This thing wanted him dead there was no way it would lend him strength.
"What about the trees on the sides?"
He wasn't sure. These trees also bore countless hidden human faces. They only revealed their menace once he took a wrong step.
"Plants… Is there anything here that I could borrow power from?"
Suddenly, his eyes lit up.
He had thought of something.
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