Arriving at a large forest in the northwest of Waryar Province, Goris ordered the driver to stop, paid the fare and sent the driver away.

  Looking at the vast forest in front of him, Goris felt extremely good. Only by returning here could he feel a sense of satisfaction. Thirty years ago, he moved here mainly because this mystical forest had many precious medicinal materials and minerals. Having lived here for so long, he had grown accustomed to it. In the past thirty years, except for occasionally going out to purchase some daily necessities and special items, he rarely left this place. After thirty years of experimentation, he finally felt confident that he could fulfill his wish from many years ago. And the key to fulfilling his wish lay in this silly Ah-Dais body.

  "Lets go, well have to proceed on foot from now on." Goris said calmly.

  Ah-Dai had never seen such a vast and endless forest before, excitedly saying: "Teacher, do you live here? The air is so good!"

  Goris ignored Ah-Dai and walked into the forest alone. Ah-Dai hurried to follow, closely following behind Goris.

  This forest is called the Mystic Forest, mainly because there are no landmarks within it. The dense growth of plants makes it difficult to discern directions, and the high terrain occasionally brings in mist that creates an air of mystery. Even people living nearby rarely venture deep into it, fearing they wont be able to find their way out. After Goris arrived here, he set up many magical mechanisms throughout the forest, especially a device that attracts mist, which is his masterpiece.

  After half a days journey, Ah-Dai was both tired and hungry, gritting his teeth as he followed Gori behind him. The surroundings were a vast expanse of white, with visibility of less than three meters. If he fell back just a little, he couldnt see Goris body anymore. The feeling of fear sparked the potential within him, keeping him from falling behind.

  After entering the forest, Goris didnt say a word. The dense fog around him made him feel exceptionally comfortable. People who studied dark magic wouldnt like sunlight, and Goris was no exception. Relying on the positioning magic array he had set up in his residence, he didnt need to identify directions at all.

  Ah-Dai closely followed Gori, suddenly, his foot was tripped by something and he fell to the ground with a thud. Gori seemed not to have noticed and continued walking forward as before.

  It hurts so much! Ah-Dai struggled to sit up, the mornings rush had already made him unable to support himself, his vision was blurry and dizziness filled his brain, he wanted to call out to Gori, but couldnt make a sound, the white mist around him seemed to swirl, Ah-Dai could no longer hold on, fell to the ground, and fainted.

  Suddenly, everything in front of him became clear and distinct, and several small cottages appeared before Gollum.

  "Ah, finally back." Goris looked at the few unremarkable rooms in front of him. Who would have thought that this was the laboratory of the Flame Mage, Goris? He glanced down at the idiot tucked under his arm and excitement filled his body. Finally, he could make the final preparations for the experiment. Years of effort would be truly realized in just one more year.

  After entering the forest, Goris deliberately ignored Ah-Dai to see if he would ask for himself. However, Ah-Dais tenacity really surprised him, and he persisted for more than half of the journey before fainting. At his age, even if he had taken the Nine Revolutions Easy Birth Pill, it was already not easy to achieve this level of endurance. Hmm, having a strong personality is good too. Goris carried Ah-Dai into the southernmost wooden hut, which was empty except for a wooden bed and a few chairs. He threw Ah-Dai onto the bed and sat down on one side, drawing a six-pointed star in the air with his hand. A red glow lit up, and he silently sensed the fluctuations of the magical elements. After a long time, Goris opened his eyes and smiled satisfactorily. Through the magic exploration of the surrounding magical arrays, he felt that during his absence, no one had come here.

  Goris muttered an incantation, and a rift appeared in the air. From it floated out a woven bamboo basket that he had purchased in Nino City. Initially, he had left to find a suitable subject without any specific destination in mind, simply heading north until he arrived at Nino City. He chose Ah-Dai because he felt this was a controllable child. If someone didnt genuinely cooperate with his experiments, it wouldnt work no matter how good their innate abilities were. Ah-Dai looked extremely gullible with his silly expression, so Goris had chosen him.

  Gorith carried a bamboo basket to a nearby orchard not far from the wooden house, where there were many varieties of fruit. At first, Gorith also took a long time to figure out what these fruits were called, which ones could be eaten and which ones couldnt. He picked some fruits that could fill his hunger, returned to the wooden house, ate a few casually, and then sat in meditation.

  Until dusk, Ah Diao finally woke up, and the soreness all over his body and the strangeness around him made him feel fearful. With a whoosh, he sat up, and he couldnt help but let out a sigh of relief, because he saw Goris sitting opposite him on the bed, deep in thought. He didnt go to disturb Goris, but looked around, and the emptiness around him was almost visible at a glance, with nothing special anywhere. His gaze was quickly drawn to the empty chair beside Goris, no, more accurately, it was drawn to the basket of brightly colored fruit on the chair.

  His right foot touched the ground, and the piercing pain almost made Ah-Dai cry out. However, the temptation of the fruit was too great, he gritted his teeth and endured the pain, carefully moving to the chair, glancing at Goris even breathing, quietly picked up the basket and walked back to the bedside. He carefully counted the number of fruits, a total of seventeen, with different colors, few were the same. The hunger in his stomach made Ah-Dai throw away all his worries, picking up a fruit and taking a big bite, the sweet juice flowed down his throat, Ah-Dai felt an indescribable refreshment throughout his body, even his foot didnt hurt that much anymore.

  Ah-Dai stopped after eating eight pieces of fruit, although he wasnt full, but he still left most of them behind and carefully put them back in their original place. Opening the slightly ajar door, Ah-Dai walked outside, and what entered his line of sight was a vast expanse of whiteness, including the wooden house he had just been in. There were three houses here, with the northernmost one being the largest, looking to be around 50-60 square meters. Within a radius of 30 meters around the houses, there was no fog or plants, but beyond that, everything was shrouded in fog. In the fog, you could vaguely see tall trees, and even above, the fog obscured the sunlight. As it was already evening, the sky gradually darkened, and an eerie feeling permeated the surroundings. Is... is this really Teachers home?

  When Ah-Dai walked out of the room, Gori opened his eyes. He had already woken up from his meditation long before Ah-Dai got out of bed. He clearly knew everything Ah-Dai did. Looking at the remaining nine fruits in front of him, Goris heart was constantly changing.

  He stood up, Goris let out a light sigh and walked out of the door. He saw Ah Duan standing there in a daze.

  "Idiot."

  "Ah! Teacher, youre awake. I...I just ate some of your fruit." Ah-Dai lowered his head.

  "Actually, it was prepared for you all along," Goris said warmly. "This is the teachers home, and from now on, it will be your home too."

  ADiao was startled by Goriss sudden gentle tone, and he had never seen Goris with such an expression before. The hood that had always covered his head was taken off, revealing a face full of wrinkles with a faint smile on it. "Old... teacher, what can I do to help you?"

  "Today, nothing needs to be done. From tomorrow on, youll assist me. The teacher is going to conduct some experiments."

  "Oh, okay."

  The next morning, before dawn, Ah-Dai was woken up by Goris. After dressing, Goris took him to the forest where they had picked fruit yesterday and said: "The fruits that grow here will be our food in the future. You must remember, when you come to pick them, dont wander off, or you wont be able to tell which direction to go. Do you understand?"

  Ah-Dai nodded, gazing at the vast expanse of fruit in front of him, recalling the wonderful taste from yesterday, and his saliva flowed involuntarily.

  Goris casually plucked a few red fruits and handed them to Ah-Dai, saying: "This is rice fruit. Eating it can provide most of the nutrients your body needs, and it will be our main food later on. You must remember its appearance. Although there are many fruits in this forest, not all of them are edible. Some contain potent toxins. Ill tell you about them slowly later. Your task for today is to remember the shape of this fruit, got it?"

  The silly boy carefully looked at the red fruit in his hand that was shaped like a calabaza, carefully memorizing its characteristics.

  "Have your breakfast, this is yours. We still have a lot of things to do when we get back."

  After breakfast, Goris took Ah-Dai to the largest wooden house on the north side. As soon as they entered the house, Ah-Dai was stunned. The room was vastly different from the one he had stayed in yesterday. Inside, all sorts of strange objects were placed around. What struck him as most bizarre was a row of large cabinets along the walls, each composed of numerous small drawers with labels on them. However, to Ah-Dai, the characters on these labels were merely unrecognizable symbols.

  Goris looked at these familiar experimental tools, sighed and said: "From now on, you must remember the names of a few things every day. I will test you tomorrow, if you cant remember, you will be punished to eat one less meal. Today, you need to remember all the labels on this row of cabinets." As he spoke, Goris walked to the far left of the cabinet and pointed to the small drawer at the top: "The two characters above are saltpeter, which is something that alchemists like us often need. All these drawers store different items."

  "Saltpeter? Saltpeter." Ah-Dai kept muttering to himself.

  Goris recited the labels on the leftmost row of drawers from top to bottom, Ah-Dai followed suit and memorized them. Goris left him there and went aside to start preparing.

  The stupids memory was really poor, and it took him a whole day to repeat the question of what his name was thirty or forty times before he could barely remember the names of these ten tags. From that day on, Ah-Dai also began his memorization process. At first, what he remembered on the first day would be forgotten by the second day, but although Koris said he wouldnt give him food to eat, he always gave him some extra fruit at the second meal. Ah-Dai felt Koris concern and worked even harder to remember these characters he had never seen before. His daily task was to pick the fruits he and Koris needed to eat and memorize the names of these tags. As for Koris, he spent his days fiddling with those experimental instruments, constantly merging and configuring something with magic. At night, Koris wouldnt let Ah-Dai sleep, but instead made him meditate. At first, Ah-Dai was not used to it and would often fall asleep when memorizing the tags on the second day, but after a period of time, Ah-Dais spirit became better and meditation became his best sleep. A night of meditation could make him feel refreshed and energized for the next day. The only thing that made Ah-Dai feel regretful was that since he came here, Koris had never taught him any magic spells again. When he was idle, he could only use small fireballs and flame techniques to relieve his boredom. Occasionally, when Koris was in a good mood, he would teach him some simple characters.