Energy Amethyst!

After Lou Le entered the Ghost Wood Forest, he simply walked along the path.

This forest path has been traversed by many people; it's the route most herb gatherers and adventurers have taken, making it relatively safe.

There are very few kobolds or anything like that.

Conversely, very little useful information can be found.

Generally speaking, you can only find valuable items by leaving the path and heading deeper into the forest.

For example, certain ores, whether copper ore or iron ore, are very precious.

Lou Le activated his Scrooge's Eye, constantly scanning the trees and jungle on both sides.

Most of the prompts are things like "healthy trees", "trees infested with insects", "boring weeds", and "slightly fragrant flowers".

Lou Le didn't block it because he was afraid of missing out on something precious.

The path soon came to an end, and further in would lead deep into the forest.

She chose a direction and walked into the forest.

This was the direction she had come from. She wanted to see why she had ended up there.

Light the nearby branches, and three fireballs will burst into flames.

Lou Le kept these fireballs circling around him to deter the dangers in the forest.

Even monsters like kobolds have a deep-seated fear of magic.

On one hand, there is a natural fear of magic, and on the other hand, there is the fact that in the social structure of the kobolds, the leader is a priest.

Priests typically rule over kobolds with tyranny, and the kobolds' shrunken brains subconsciously lead them to mistake mages for priests, thus keeping their distance.

They would only attack the mages when driven by the priests.

However, this does not mean that the Ghostwood Forest is safe for mages.

—Because other mages have no way to keep the spell constantly manifesting around them.

The kobolds couldn't tell who the mage was either; they could only judge by whether there were spells around that person.

Even at midday, in the Ghost Wood Forest...

The forest was rather dark, with little sunlight filtering through the dense foliage to reach the ground. Everywhere was covered in decaying, soft, crumbly debris.

The tree trunks are mostly covered with mushrooms, but unfortunately most of them are not alchemical materials and have no medicinal properties.

It can barely be considered food.

After walking for a long time in the woods, Lou Le suddenly discovered a plant that was glowing with golden light under the Eye of Grandet.

She strode forward and peeled away the humus layer of withered branches and leaves.

The glowing part was a brownish-yellow plant, resembling a withered, dry branch. Its overall shape resembled a winding, curved mountain peak.

At the highest point, there are three or four tender green branches.

【Immature Earth Roots】

It is an alchemical material of the element "Earth".

"Earth Root is one of the most famous alchemical ingredients, named for its ability to exhibit magical properties in formulas containing earth elements."

(Note: When the Earth Root matures, the branches on its back will turn yellowish-brown and grow additional roots downwards. These branches, along with the roots, can be removed together and become the Earth Root.)

(Note: If not removed in time, these branches will wither and turn into seeds of the earth's roots after they mature. Once these seeds fall into the ground, they will randomly appear anywhere along the earth's veins.)

(Note: It needs to be planted in the earth and absorb energy from the earth's veins in order to survive.)

Lou Le opened the map and compared the location of the mountain peaks with the location of his own dungeon.

She quickly found her location and drew a circle on the map, writing the three small characters "大地根" (Dadi Gen).

After reburying the earth roots with withered branches and leaves, she walked further in. She was now quite close to the lake, having walked about another hundred meters.

We finally arrived at the lake.

But upon closer inspection with the eyes of Grandet, there were four or five places that glittered with gold.

"Hmm? The chances of finding alchemical materials here seem higher than in other places. Could there be something wrong with this lake?"

She muttered to herself, but she didn't immediately check the alchemical materials.

Because several trees were extremely conspicuous.

Most of the trees had been eroded by purple crystals, and even some of the leaves looked like crystals.

There were seven trees in total. Lou Le looked at the spot and said, "Hmm, it looks like the tree from my first experiment. Did it spread to the surrounding trees?"

Lou Le felt a mix of emotions.

Twisted Trees

It was distorted by magic.

It is highly contagious, but its infectivity will decrease over time.

"A tree that accidentally came into contact with something imbued with magic is now being distorted by that magic. Is it a blessing or a curse for it?"

"Will it bring good luck or bad luck to the people here?"

"Hmm, this information."

Lou Le hesitated for a moment, but still did not destroy the trees.

She was curious about what these trees would eventually look like after being twisted so much.

Besides, destroying these trees wouldn't help. Lou Le hadn't forgotten that kobold. It was a mobile source of infection.

Looking around the lake, I saw a large expanse of sparkling crystals at the bottom.

Lou Le broke off a piece of crystal and examined it with the same Scrooge's Eye.

It turned out to be completely useless.

【The Chaotic Crystal】

It is unstable.

"Crystals that appear in a world filled with magic contain extremely subtle magical power. They are extremely unstable and very prone to evaporation or explosion."

"But perhaps it's possible to extract its power through some method."

After holding it in his hand for only a short while, the crystal began to tremble. Lou Le hurriedly threw it away, and the crystal exploded on the water's surface with a loud bang, scattering countless glittering powders.

"Guh, let's gather some materials first."

Lou Le sighed and began to walk along the lake.

The first thing to radiate golden light was a low shrub by the lake, which was covered with a bunch of small, green fruits about the thickness of a little finger.

【Divine Berry】

It is food.

It is the alchemical material of [Life].

"A wondrous plant cultivated by druids, whose fruit does not grow after flowering, but rather on the branches, resembling nodules on tree bark. However, the fruit is smooth, sour, and possesses mild healing properties."

"When used as food, it provides a strong feeling of fullness, keeping you full all day, but it cannot fully replenish the nutrients consumed throughout the day."

"When used as an alchemical potion, the branches, leaves, and fruit must be removed together, ground together, and placed into a crucible."

(Note: When the fruit turns from green to black, it becomes a seed. New Divine Berry can be planted, but the probability of a Divine Berry producing seeds is extremely low.)