Chapter 6: Chapter 6 — Back in Spirit World

Laden felt some warmth on the left side of his chest the moment his mind thought of activating, and though he couldn’t see it, the tattoo was currently producing a soft blue glow.

Upon the tattoo activations, Laden immediately felt himself growing lighter and his mind getting elevated; though his eyes were closed, he felt his sensitivity to the environment gradually increase.

"Damn, this is a terrible feeling," he muttered.

Laden could hear the soft beating of his heart, the silent melody of the wind as it blew, and the tiny insects that crawled on the ground, and they were getting stronger and louder.

Little by little Laden felt the sensitivity increase so much that he felt as if he were about to go mad, and just when everything felt it was going to climax. It stopped.

"I have arrived at the Spirit World," he muttered.

Laden immediately breathed out a sigh of relief as he noticed that he wasn’t back in the red plains anymore.

"But where the hell is this, and how do I find the sapphire tree?" he said while scanning his surroundings.

In front of Laden was nothing but trees, but the trees were by no means normal. They were extremely gigantic, with crowns that seemed as if they were about to pierce the heavens.

"Now this is special," he said in excitement as he moved closer to touch the tree.

The instant his hand touched the tree, he suddenly felt a shudder, and a large sound echoed in the environment. The tree was moving.

Laden was immediately shocked out of his mind as he quickly took back his hand, but the tree didn’t stop moving.

"It’s just one tree; it shouldn’t be that bad—" he was just about to say when he noticed the other trees also slowly turning around.

"What can trees even do anyway?" Laden wasn’t done asking the question when he suddenly heard something whipping straight at him from somewhere behind him.

The alarm bells in his head rung extremely violently, causing him to instinctively duck.

His eyes widened in shock as he noticed what just came at him.

"Is that a freaking root?" Laden shouted.

But he didn’t have time to even say anything else when he noticed another one coming from somewhere beside him.

He twisted his spine so harshly, resulting in him barely escaping the root and leaving him with a small cut.

"Why the hell are these trees attacking me, and how am I supposed to get out of this?" he thought to himself.

After the two warning root strikes, the next attack wasn’t just one root but multiple roots approaching at the same time.

Using some weird acrobatic technique, Laden was able to successfully dodge those ones too despite receiving minor injuries.

Round after round of roots came striking at Laden while he thought of a means to escape, and then something suddenly popped into his mind.

"They are just trees. Yes, they have murderous roots, but yet they are just trees," he said out loud in excitement.

With a plan in mind, Laden finally managed to remain calm, waiting for the perfect opportunity, the instant he dodged the next root barrage, he scanned his surroundings for an opening, and he ran.

Yes, he ran. He ran as fast as his legs could take him, hoping to escape the range of the root systems of those trees.

While he ran, Laden still encountered root attacks, but he managed to dodge them and continue his sprint, and as time went on, he noticed that the attacks reduced until they completely stopped.

But Laden didn’t stop instantly; he ran for a bit more before coming to a stop and resting on his knees.

"That was crazy," he said while gasping for air.

"Rule one of the spirit world: Anything can kill you," Laden said as his mind went back to those bunnies and how many times he narrowly escaped death while dodging those roots aimed for his vital parts.

"Rule two: Don’t touch anything carelessly."

After catching his breath for a while and stating his self-made rules out loud, Laden finally raised his head to check his new surroundings.

He looked around him to see a completely bare ground with cracked soil, which immediately shocked him again.

"What the hell, wasn’t I just in the forest? How am I in the desert now?" he said while looking back at the forest behind him.

He wanted to wait and observe for a bit longer, but from his experience, he knew standing in one place isn’t advisable, so he looked around him for a rock to rest on, and that’s when he spotted it in the distance.

Dragging his body covered in tiny cuts, Laden began walking towards the rock as carefully as he could while making sure he was paying attention to his surroundings.

After a while of walking, Laden finally arrived in front of the rock, and he instantly plopped down to sit and rest his exhausted body.

"Fucking Spirit World, how am I supposed to find the Sapphire tree now?" he said in frustration with his eyes looking at the distant forest.

He didn’t need anyone to tell him that the Sapphire tree was most likely in that forest, but Laden was just feeling unwilling to return there after what he experienced there.

"Do I really need to go back there?" he muttered while his mind strayed. His thoughts wandered to the duel he had in two days, the chaos the voice said was about to ensue, and the fact that he needed to become a Summoner as soon as possible.

"I guess I have to, but this time not touch anything, and I will enter through another side," he said after a while of thinking.

Laden quickly got on his feet and began approaching the forest again, but this time his eyes were determined and his gaze was firm.

"The Spirit beast better be something extremely worthwhile," he grumbled.