To the east of Waterfall Town, less than 20 kilometers away, there is a near-primitive jungle: the Forest of Tranquility.

The northern part of this forest is connected to the rolling Dajianken Mountains, and the southern part extends directly to the Shadowmoon Inland Sea, which is the only way from Pushang Town to Twin Towers Town.

The Forest of Tranquility and the Black Pearl Forest face each other across the sea. The Hobgoblins of Hulk who live in that forest are under the pressure of Winter City, and they have to relocate to the Forest of Tranquility by boat with their clan to bring the town to the waterfall. While the serious threat came, it also caused a certain degree of damage to the forest.

Facing the afterglow of the setting sun, Thorne finally came to the Forest of Tranquility. He walked along the path lined with weeds and gradually stepped into the depths of the woods.

In this forest, which has almost no trace of civilized activities, there is no sign of a road at all, and there are dense canopy branches and leaves everywhere.

Fortunately, Thorne has the special ability of a ranger, "Through the Forest", and an invisible natural breath enveloped him. Whenever he passed through the dense branches and leaves, the bushes seemed to come alive, gently shaking the branches and leaves for this man. The half-elf ranger who is close to nature gives way.

Thorne's half-elf bloodline is the wood elves, which are not as inclined towards magical studies as their close relatives, they are the naturalists closest to the wilderness, the strongest elves of the elf race, and they are more inclined towards physical abilities. The pursuit of , especially good at archery, and the talent occupation is the Ranger.

The wood elf also has keen perception and fast pace, and can quickly and covertly walk through the familiar forest. Thorne's wood elf blood also inherited the ability of "wild mask", which is why he chose the wood elf blood. The main reason.

Whether he is walking in the bushes, heavy rain, snowfall, fog or other natural phenomena, his concealment ability will be enhanced with the blessing of the "Mask of the Wild".

A true ranger will integrate into nature and experience its holiness, and then be touched by the sacred nature like a paladin. Thorne is still a long way from this step, at least he does not even have the ability to cast the second ring ranger magic.

So he came here, mainly because there is a temple of the forest and the ranger goddess Melika in the northernmost part of the forest. He intends to perform a natural transformation ceremony in the temple and obtain the second-ring magic of the ranger.

There are all kinds of small animals and birds everywhere in the woods. It can be seen that under the protection of the Temple of Melika, this is a forest full of vitality.

Through the overgrown underbrush, Thorne faded into the shadows of fallen alders and birches, and finally into the shadows of giant maples and towering oaks.

Before he knew it, Thorne had come to the northernmost part of the forest.

Looking around, you can see that the forest in front of you is out of tune with the whole forest. There are old old trees everywhere. One of the tallest and tallest oak trees stands in the middle of the jungle, which is particularly dazzling.

There are a large number of small animals and birds gathered around, running and playing carefree, it looks like a harmonious natural scene.

A cool breeze blew, the trees swayed gently, exuding a strong natural breath, feeling the natural breath coming towards him, Thorne suddenly felt comfortable, and his tense expression gradually relaxed.

However, when Thorne looked at the oak trees that were vaguely surrounding the bushes, his expression flashed a trance, as if thinking of some unpleasant memory, and his face twitched slightly.

——“Shadow Hand School (Enhanced Skill): Shadow Cloak!”

In the end, he hesitated for a moment, waved his hand gently, and his whole body was wrapped in a shadow energy and disappeared without a trace.

Thorne, who entered the invisible state, was still not very relieved, and turned on the "Sneak" skill again, carefully passed the surrounding ancient oak trees, and walked towards the center of the temple.

"It's not that easy to sneak away."

When Thorne's figure was about to pass an oak tree beside him, the branches and leaves of the oak tree swayed gently, and there was a silver bell-like laughter.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Immediately afterwards, countless wildly growing vines surged on both sides of the trail, shrouding Thorne's hidden figure.

"Can this be found?"

Looking at the dense vines winding around him, Thorne's expression flashed a hint of helplessness, and then he did not resist, but stood quietly in the direction of the oak tree.

"Thorn, you are finally willing to come back. After disappearing for so long, you are still like a piece of wood. It's not fun at all, it's too boring." A clear and pleasant voice came from the oak tree beside Thorne.

As soon as the voice fell, a very beautiful creature emerged from the oak tree.

Her appearance is very similar to that of an elf girl, her delicate features seem to be delicately and meticulously sculpted, her head is covered with emerald green silk draped down to her waist, and her pair of crystal clear dark green eyes exudes attractiveness in the shadows of the trees. The eye-catching look, wearing a loose and simple light green coat floating in the wind, the slender body is looming under the clothes, making it even more charming.

Thorne's hands and feet were all entangled with vines, and he looked helplessly at the mischievous tree spirit girl who appeared in front of him.

Dryads are tree fairies who live in hidden forests. They are beautiful and intelligent. Most of their camps are chaotic and kind. They belong to the kind of beings who are full of temptation and have an unpredictable temper, but they still just like to play tricks. The chaotic and neutral lake spirit takes lives like that.

Although tree spirits rarely appear in front of the world, when they are interested in certain men, they will be very fond of teasing them.

There are many tree spirits living in the oak trees of the Temple of Merikai, who serve as guardians near the temple and observe the invaders from a distance in the trees.

Moreover, they have the ability to communicate with animals and plants. At a critical moment, they can even charm humanoids into fascination with themselves, so as to turn enemies into allies. They are a group of spirit creatures favored by nature and know a lot of nature magic. .

The only downside, though, is that each dryad is bound to a giant oak tree by a mysterious force that prevents them from leaving their oak tree more than a certain distance, and if any dryad does it, it will take a few hours. get sick and die.

In the same way, as long as the tree remains healthy and unharmed, the dryad can stay young and charming, and if the tree is harmed, she will suffer, and once the tree is destroyed, the dryad will gradually fall into madness and eventually die.

"It's still the same. If you want to pass from here, you have to beat me, so do you choose boxing or guessing?" The tree spirit girl walked up to Thorne with light steps, and gently brought him on his head. The hood was lifted, and he stroked the messy hair on his forehead. His dark green pupils shone with a sly light, and he looked at his face and said with a smile.

"Let's guess the boxing." Thorne sniffed the grassy scent emanating from the tree-spirit girl, his eyes were lowered, he didn't want to look at her, and he forcibly replied calmly.

The other party is a tree spirit with a challenge level of 12. All the surrounding plants are her eyes and ears. As the darling of the Merikai Temple, few people pay attention to their mischief. Thorne knows that he can't escape the opponent's palm. , can only follow the other party's mind, wait for her to play enough, so she can leave as soon as possible.

"Whoosh!"

The tree spirit girl looked at Thorne's interesting facial expression and enjoyed it very much, and then waved her hand gently, and the vines wrapped around his left hand disappeared instantly without a trace.

"Okay, as before, as long as you win once, I'll let you enter the temple, and add another bonus magic to your holy emblem." The tree spirit girl took Thorne's arm and leaned halfway. With a smile on him, he said:

"Is the [strong] entanglement technique that I blessed you with very useful?"

"Forget it, I'll guess the riddle." Seeing one arm resumed action, Thorne's expression loosened, and he forcibly endured the tree spirit girl leaning on him, and then changed his mind.

"Then you have to listen carefully. I thought about this riddle for a long time before I came up with it."

The tree spirit girl blinked her dark green eyes, and suddenly leaned in front of Thorne, and breathed out a prank in his ear. Seeing the other party's calm facial expression, she immediately appeared like a butterfly not far away. At the place, holding back a smile, he recited:

"Ye'erfen is small and bulging,

Grows in clay, streams are near,

The buds grow long, the buds are sad,

If you see a cat, you must hide it,

See it and eat it whole.

OK, what is it? Guess. "

"..." Thorne pondered for a long time, but he couldn't think of it, so he quietly moved his recovered left hand to the position of the dagger, and guessed casually: "Is it a pea?"

"That's not right, I'll give you another chance." The tree spirit girl sat on the branch of the big tree, holding her cheeks in one hand, and gently poking her delicate cheeks with the other hand, looking carefully at her dark green eyes that were half-smiling but not smiling. With a smile on Thorne's face, he shook his head.

"Then there's no other way, farewell." Thorne, who couldn't guess the riddle, dropped a sentence, and immediately pulled out a short sword at a very fast speed to cut off the vines wrapped around his legs and right arm.

——“Shadow Hand School (Teleportation Skill): Shadow Walk!”

Immediately afterwards, a cloud of shadow energy shrouded him and disappeared in front of the tree spirit girl who stomped her feet in anger after reacting.