Artis!
Leaving the abandoned black stone cemetery, after a lot of investigation, Richard figured out what 'Attis' was.
Artis is a place name, to be precise, it is the sacred place of the wizard organization "Jungle Lodge".
The wizarding organization Jungle House is not unfamiliar to Richard: it is located in the southwest of Florentia, with a sapling brown robe as its iconic clothing, and the girl he has come into contact with who has an incredible sense of justice is Nellie. De Clark is a member of this organization.
According to the information obtained through his investigation, Jungle Lodge is different from several other wizard organizations. Compared with the highly centralized force of White Stone Tower, it is more like a loose association, similar to the Moorish Alliance.
The other party is located in the Witch Forest, with more than a dozen gathering places distributed in a ring. There are many wizards and wizard apprentices in each gathering place. They are independent of each other and have a certain degree of autonomy. They are nominally a whole. The so-called Holy Diatis is located in the deepest part of the Witch Forest, surrounded by more than a dozen gathering places.
It is said that this is so that Artis can be protected by the people who gather in all the jungle huts. Therefore, not to mention outsiders, even the insiders of the jungle hut, it is difficult for them to approach the holy place without special circumstances. If you approach forcefully, you will face the wrath of the mysterious guardian of the holy land and the attacks of many wizards in the jungle hut. It is scary to think about it.
But Richard was not afraid. At this time, he was following the established plan to find a way to enter a jungle hut gathering place in the Witch Forest.
…
The cold rain was pouring down, falling on people's bodies and freezing them to the bone.
The sky was gloomy, as if it were soaked in ink, or like a pile of lead. Occasionally, lightning flashed, slightly brightening the sky and the earth.
On the gray earth, strange trees grew out of nowhere, which was the Witch Forest.
If you go deep into it, you will see that every tree in the forest seems to be abnormal. The trunks are twisted, the branches are entangled, the gray bark is cracked, and after being wetted by the rain, it looks like a wailing mouth - every tree seems to have been killed in a spasm and nailed to the muddy ground. Monster, extremely weird, extremely crazy.
An evil, gloomy, and strange aura mixed with the cold and damp air filled the air all around. The cold wind was mixed with a ghost-like cry, and the sound was as sharp as a woman's long fingernails scratching a person's eardrum, which stung people's ears and frightened them. I was so shocked that I broke into a cold sweat.
As we continued walking deeper, a rugged path appeared in the forest, winding into the distance. There are overgrown weeds on both sides of the road, and occasionally you can see patches of open fields. The fields were planted with early-maturing red pumpkins and disgustingly wet scarecrows.
Most of the early red pumpkins in the fields were piled up like hills, and some were rotten, giving off a sour smell. Some of them were placed on the roadside or on branches by someone unknown, and the insides were hollowed out suspiciously, carved into skulls, and then placed in flames. Seen from a distance, each pumpkin looks like a dark elf laughing ferociously, staring at the visitor with a pair of red eyes, full of evil.
Richard was walking in the forest with this weird atmosphere, and there were many people walking with him, more than thirty people in total. Most of them are teenagers, and occasionally a few young people in their early twenties can be seen.
These people are students who have passed a simple test and are qualified to enter the jungle hut gathering place.
Well, students.
Similar to the former White Stone Tower, the Jungle Lodge will also recruit students, but the time will not be as regular as the White Stone Tower—sometimes it will recruit once a year, sometimes it will recruit twice a year, and sometimes it will not recruit any students for several years. people.
In addition, different gathering places in the jungle hut have different recruitment requirements. Some have extremely high requirements - almost a decathlon, some have very low requirements - as long as they know how to run into the house on rainy days, and some must be girls. , some must be boys.
After Richard left the Blackstone Cemetery, he spent more than a month and a half to find out the information about "Artis" in detail. After that, it took more than a month and a half to determine all the matters for infiltrating the jungle hut, and waited for the right opportunity.
More than three months have passed since we left the Black Stone Cemetery, and the east coast has also entered the autumn month of September, the cool month.
During this period of time, Richard was not entirely busy with the "Artis" matter. He studied a lot of gadgets in his free time. There has been some progress in the research on the design drawings of the so-called "World-Destroying Gloves", but the deeper the research, the more I realize that the "World-Destroying Gloves" are ridiculously complicated, and there are many places on the design drawings that are not described in detail.
He guessed that this might be intentional. He didn't know the reason, but when he found the last treasure of the Black Spirit King, there should be an explanation.
With this thought in mind, Richard stepped on the muddy ground and kept moving forward with a steady pace. The many fellow travelers before and after him were far behind in comparison. Many of them felt the strange atmosphere in the Witch Forest and had a look of fear on their faces. After seeing the burning pumpkin and the wet scarecrow on the roadside, his eyes couldn't help but widen, and his face became extremely pale. Several people began to tremble as they walked, which obviously slowed down the entire team.
The leader at the front was a woman in her thirties named Martha. Plump, with light purple lip gloss and a brand new jungle hut-style robe.
Martha keenly sensed that the team's speed had slowed down a lot. She raised her eyebrows slightly, stopped, turned her head and quickly scanned the entire team of students. After discovering the "culprit", he quickly approached, patted the shoulders of several boys and girls who were extremely frightened, and said slowly: "
What's wrong, are you afraid that this forest is dangerous and will hurt you? Oh, don't be afraid, it's just your random thoughts. Although this forest looks a bit strange, that's just it. As long as you walk properly, I guarantee that you will be fine.
On the contrary, if you are disobedient and continue to slow down the entire team, then there is no need for the forest to hurt you, I will do it myself. Did you hear me! When the time comes, I will twist off your little heads one by one and stuff them into pumpkins on the roadside! You must be wondering why the pumpkin is hollowed out, right? That is specially prepared for you! "
"Gah!" After hearing this, several boys and girls looked at Martha with wide eyes. They looked like rabbits whose ears were lifted up and their arteries were cut. It took them three seconds to digest what Martha said. The next moment, he ran towards the front of the team faster than anyone else. By accident, I fell down on the slippery road with a "snap". I didn't dare to cry out in pain, so I got up and continued running.
"Haha, you are so good." After looking at it, Martha smiled, walked back to the leader's position, and led more than thirty students towards the depths of the Witch Forest.
…