Novel Full Chapter 470 - Taming the Gold 2 Ring
Chapter 470: Chapter 470 – Taming the Gold 2 Ring
The transition to the second gold ring was marked by a fundamental shift in the ecosystem that left Zhao momentarily breathless.
Where the first ring had contained patches of Golden Noses scattered across varied terrain, the second ring was dominated by a single, massive forest of the creatures. They had evolved here, grown larger and more sophisticated.
“Sweet dragon of…” Zhao caught himself before the curse could fully form, aware that even whispered words might carry farther than intended in this place.
The Golden Noses here stood at least twice as tall as their younger cousins, their multiple trunks together were now thick enough that a dozen men almost couldn’t wrap their arms around them. Their golden horns had developed intricate branching patterns that created a canopy of deadly spikes high overhead, while their long snouts had gained longer beaks that glowed faintly with accumulated mana.
Most unsettling of all, they moved a lot more.
Not quickly, not dramatically, but with a deliberate coordination that transformed the forest into a living labyrinth. As Zhao watched, a section of the forest shifted position, the massive creatures stepping in perfect unison to close what had been a corridor through their ranks.
“They’re not just joining against predators,” Zhao realized with growing unease. “They’re actively managing their territory together.”
His raptor’s camouflage flickered nervously between different patterns before settling on something that approximated bark texture.
Zhao pulled out his remaining vial of marking fluid, noting with dismay how little remained. The original mixture had been calculated for crossing the first ring’s patches of Golden Noses, not navigating an entire forest of their evolved cousins.
“Going to have to make this stretch,” he muttered, applying the smallest amount he could manage while still maintaining the scent’s effectiveness.
The larger Golden Noses also reacted differently to the marking fluid than their smaller relatives had. Instead of simply entering defensive mode, they began a low, thrumming communication that resonated through the ground like distant thunder. The sound was felt more than heard, a vibration that seemed to bypass his ears entirely and speak directly to his bones.
“They’re talking to each other,” Zhao whispered, fascination overcoming fear. “Getting ready to fight together against him?”
The conversation, if that’s what it was, continued for several minutes before gradually fading into silence. When it ended, Zhao found that pathways had opened through the forest, corridors between the massive trunks that hadn’t existed moments before.
“They’re… letting me pass?”
It seemed impossible, but the evidence was undeniable. The evolved Golden Noses were actively facilitating his passage, creating a safe route through their domain. The question was why.
His owl’s enhanced senses caught something else then, a familiar footprint near a big clawed one… both beneath layers of earth and mana.
Being followed? Following?
Dragarion had passed this way, but not recently.
“The trail’s getting old,” Zhao murmured. “But at least we know we’re going the right way.”
As they moved, luckily with ease, deeper into the forest of evolved Golden Noses, Zhao began to understand the true scope of it.
The creatures here weren’t just larger than their first-ring cousins. Their society, if it could be called that, operated on principles that suggested some intelligence rather than mere instinct. They had architecture, crude but deliberate arrangements of their bodies that created structures with clear purposes.
Some formations seemed designed for maximum mana absorption, with the creatures positioned to create resonance patterns that amplified the ambient energy. Others appeared to be defensive arrangements, overlapping fields of their horns that would make approaching certain areas suicidal for any potential threat.
It seemed that maybe the creatures were intelligent enough to know not to mess with “the human” who occasionally hunted their predators and passed through… Perhaps Zhao, being similar in form, had the luck of being feared by them?
Whether that was the reason or something else entirely, Zhao continued along the long straight path for several hours until he reached near Gold Ring 3.
The realization struck him gradually. These creatures had developed not just size and coordination, but memory. If they remembered Dragarion’s previous passages…
If to them, humans weren’t prey or competitors… but forces of nature that occasionally swept through their domain. Better to facilitate their passage than risk drawing their attention.
“Smart,” Zhao murmured, appreciating the elegant simplicity of the possible solution. “Very smart.”
♢♢♢♢
The transition to the third gold ring hit Zhao like a slap of evolutionary reality.
“What the…?” he murmured, stopping at the edge of what had once been familiar territory.
The landscape had completely transformed. Where enormous “trunks” of Golden Noses had once existed, now rose a true forest of incredible vegetal giants that defied all logic of proportions. The new “trees” stretched toward the sky like living columns, their 15 trunks together forming circumferences so wide that they would need 100 people to surround them.
But the real surprise wasn’t just their size.
“They moved up in the food chain,” Zhao whispered, his enhanced senses picking up the subtle changes in the ecosystem… and the corpses. “The trees have become the predators.”
His camouflage broke for a moment, his scales adopting nervous patterns that couldn’t decide between mimicking bark or earth.
The evolved Golden Noses had grown to become something that could no longer serve as food for the Giant Cat Bears even if they had leveled up. Their main trunks had become so massive that the super thick ’bark’ had so little nutrition (mana) that it wasn’t worth it.
The beaks no longer even reached the ground, and the horns had transformed into appendages for catching prey. But most striking were the spherical formations that hung from their peaks like enormous grotesque glowing fruits. These spheres pulsed with concentrated golden light, clearly specialized organs for accumulating and processing mana.
“The legendary mana fruits,” Zhao murmured, fascinated despite the danger. “They developed external organs to accumulate the mana concentration necessary for the first evolution to Platinum.”
Each fruit represented years of accumulated power, a crystallization of the creature’s evolutionary ambition. Some glowed brighter than others, suggesting different stages of development or perhaps different intended purposes.
The beasts always wanted to advance, and Platinum Ring 1 was the only thing these creatures had on their minds… These monstrosities weren’t even the worst he would see yet.
The Platinum rings…
Zhao, being Silver 3 in his strongest beast, could be in Silver Ring 3 without major problems. His beast having matured allowed him to be in Gold Ring 1 with little difficulty, and now being a double thanks to Ren, Gold Ring 3 was a limit where he wouldn’t feel too affected…
The problem would be the 3 Platinum rings… during the journey that would be twice as long as that of the gold rings, Zhao would have to endure increasingly worse mana concentrations while hiding from terrible beasts.
Each ring represented exponentially increasing danger, not just from the creatures but from the mana itself. His body, enhanced though it was, had limits. The anti-mana potions in his pack might not be enough even for the one way trip there.
His raptor stirred restlessly, sensing his apprehension. The beast’s natural instincts were screaming warnings about the mana density ahead, about creatures that existed beyond their ability to survive.
“I don’t love it either,” Zhao whispered, more to himself than to his companion. “Still… We’ve come too far to turn back now.”
First he would have to survive this ’legendary’ forest.