Wizard: Starting from the Skill Tree-Chapter 615: Spring of Life and the Serpent

"The World Tree Seed... is it guiding me?" Duke pondered in his heart.

The World Tree is one of the symbols of life and nature in the Endless Plane, and its seed has an innate desire for pure and powerful life energy, along with extraordinary perception.

That which can evoke such a reaction from it is definitely not ordinary.

This is undoubtedly a tremendous opportunity, but it could also be an unpredictable peril.

However, the guidance of the World Tree Seed holds immense value in itself.

Even if others were to come here, without the guidance provided by the World Tree Seed, they would likely find it difficult to discover what is hidden here.

Duke contemplated for a moment and decided to follow this intuition from the World Tree Seed.

He suppressed all emitted energy fluctuations, operating his Dark Attribute Affinity Talent Ability to the utmost, blending his entire presence almost completely into the shadows of the ancient trees around him, nearly merging into the Shadow Space, becoming obscure and hard to detect.

Duke moved like the most agile phantom in the forest, avoiding the soft humus that could leave traces, choosing instead to leverage exposed tree roots, rocks, or thick moss to silently proceed in the direction the intuition pointed.

The deeper he went, the taller and more robust the ancient trees became, and the aura of life grew more intense and pure.

Along the way, he saw many magical plants emitting waves of magic power, some even reaching the standard of Level 2 Magic Potion Materials, but he did not linger to harvest them.

Because he always remembered that this was a competition field, and he was not the only one here.

If he missed the opportunity to acquire more important treasures because he picked some ordinary Magic Potion Materials, it would be a case of losing big for something small.

The guidance of the World Tree Seed became increasingly clear, the goal seemingly within reach.

Finally, after passing through a natural curtain formed by hanging aerial roots, and bypassing an enormous silver-leaf ancient tree emitting a serene moonlight-like glow, a small forest clearing appeared before Duke’s eyes.

In the center of the clearing was a pond, no larger than a basin, crystal clear. The water was an indescribable, vibrant green, with a faint milky white mist floating above its surface, where tiny points of light seemed to dance.

Standing just meters away, Duke could feel the most pure life energy emanating from the spring, and just breathing a few vapors of that mist made his spirit uplifted, soothing the subtle mental fatigue accumulated from frequent battles over the past month.

"The Spring of Life!" Duke recognized it immediately; this familiar aura was undoubtedly the Spring of Life.

The Spring of Life before him seemed only as large as a basin, as if not much.

But only Duke knew how precious this was. The portion of Spring of Life he had obtained before was just a little original fluid sealed in a pedestal.

Compared to the Spring of Life here, that little portion amounted to no more than a spoonful.

Duke did not rush to act but remained calm and continued lurking, observing the surroundings.

The treasure may be fine, but he needed to have his life to take it.

His gaze was quickly captivated by something else beside the Spring.

On the edge of the Spring of Life, in the moist black soil, grew a small tree, at most reaching Duke’s waist.

The tree had a warm jade-like texture, its slender branches containing resilient life force, and its leaves appeared to be carved from top-grade emerald, with clear veins emitting a soft green glow.

On the sparse branches, five golden-yellow fruits were prominently hanging.

The fruits were about the size of a baby’s fist, with smooth and fine skin, showing a plump, dripping, alluring golden-yellow hue, with a golden liquid-like glow seemingly flowing inside.

The peel naturally bore extremely mysterious silver patterns, as though containing some ultimate truth of nature.

A strange fragrance, more introverted than that of the Spring of Life, yet seemingly reaching the source of life, wafted lightly from it. Just a hint of this scent made Duke feel his life’s energy cheering and dancing, even causing the World Tree Seed within his consciousness to be filled with utmost desire, trembling slightly.

"This tree... this fruit..." Duke observed for a moment, trying to identify any features he could recognize.

He had never seen anything like this in any book or information, but judging from the intense reaction of the World Tree Seed and the life source aura exuding from the fruits, these five golden fruits were likely of immeasurable value.

Still, Duke did not act rashly and continued to be wary of his surroundings, probing the situation here.

He had a constant feeling that if he were to move forward just like this, the outcome might be tragic.

But he could never pinpoint the source of this feeling, so he dared not make any rash moves, continuing to explore the situation.

About an hour later.

At the top of the emerald tree, beneath the shadow of an emerald leaf, the space rippled like water, a barely perceptible faint ripple.

Immediately afterward, a small snake, completely green, as thin as a finger, and about a foot long, seemed to slither out from another dimension, silently gliding along the jade-like branches.

The little snake appeared without any warning, as if its existence was entirely integral to that tree and that space.

Its green was pure and profound, akin to the most excellent imperial jade, its scales smooth and sleek, reflecting the filtered light of the forest.

Its vertical pupils were pure gold, cold and indifferent, with no emotional fluctuation whatsoever.

It appeared tiny and delicate, almost charmingly cute.

But at the moment it appeared, all the hairs on Duke’s body stood erect.

A danger sense originating from a life’s instinct, as if targeted by a natural predator, flooded him like ice water from head to toe, almost freezing his blood and thoughts.

Duke’s danger perception shrieked madly; the aura emanating from that green snake was obscure and unfathomable, with its energy level indiscernible, but it was a presence far beyond the first and second levels, seemingly touching some higher-order rule.

This was most likely not an ordinary guard generated by the Witch Array simulation system but rather was more like an imprint or projection left by some real higher-ranking entity.

The little snake did not seem to notice Duke in the shadows immediately. It elegantly slithered down the trunk, came to the Spring of Life, lowered its head, flicking its delicate tongue, gently sipping the green spring water.

As it drank, the light of the spring water dimmed slightly, while the luster on the green snake became more gentle and introverted.

Duke held his breath, even his thoughts seemed halted, concentrating on concealing all of his presence, fearing to attract the attention of that terrifying entity.

His only thought at this moment was how to retreat quietly without alerting the other party.