Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 1105 - 218 Wood Essence

Chapter 1105: Chapter 218 Wood Essence

"What is this?" Catherine took the dark little stick from Pannis’s hand, feeling its unique texture. Softer than normal wood and more flexible, it wouldn’t break even when bent at a right angle. She examined it in the light for a while, unable to discern anything. The only result she got was her fingers stained black as if she had been holding a piece of charcoal. The knight girl casually rinsed her fingers with water, becoming even more convinced of the charcoal-like texture and couldn’t help but ask in confusion, "This thing is really strange, but why show it to me?"

"You don’t know?" Pannis made a surprised face and exaggeratedly exclaimed, "Good heavens, you actually don’t know!"

"Big sis, this is a type of casting material, called Wood Essence," Vivian took the black object from Catherine’s hand, playing with it as she spoke, "A really rare thing; it’s buried seven or eight thousand kilometers underground, even Dwarfs can’t dig it up easily."

"It’s a casting material?" Catherine, not understanding, asked, "But why must I know about it?"

"Do you really want to know, big sis?" Seeing Catherine nod fiercely, Vivian sighed and casually tossed the Wood Essence back to Catherine, saying, "Because this is the most expensive casting material. Just this small stick is worth over a million gold coins, and with some luck, its value can even double."

"Ahh!" The knight girl let out a sharp scream, her hands trembling as she caught the Wood Essence flying through the air, as nervous as if a cluster of Crystal bombs was flying towards her. Only when she confirmed that she had a firm grip on the Wood Essence did Catherine gently hold it in front of her with the gentlest motion, holding her breath as if fearing her exhalations would damage the astonishingly priced item. She stared at it, captivated, and murmured, "To be able to just stumble upon such an expensive casting material, this must be my late grandfather’s spirit blessing me from beyond, I..."

"Forgot to tell you." Pannis, seated cross-legged on the ground, casually said with his chin on his hand, "That one’s used already, its only value now is as a bit of firewood or a temporary charcoal pencil."

In the next moment, all of Catherine’s actions froze, her muscles stiffening instantaneously as if frozen, turning into a lifeless statue. Everyone around could feel the intense desolation emanating from the statue named Catherine, filled with a despairing sadness.

"Was I a bit too blunt?" Pannis asked the other girls with an innocent look on his face, tilting his head, "Was that blow too harsh for her?"

"I don’t know if big sis took the hit hard," Lina shrugged and said, "but I know that in a minute, your injuries will definitely be very severe. But don’t worry, I definitely won’t save you, so rest in peace."

"Why, why would such an expensive thing appear before me." The knight girl nearly in tears, lamented, "This must be a Divine Servant’s conspiracy to undermine our morale, a trap set to deceive us, sob, we must not fall for it."

"Ah, big sister, I think you’re the only one who’s been hit hard," Freya sighed, snatching the Wood Essence from Catherine’s hand and tossing it aside, "Rather than being upset that it’s been used, we should be more concerned about why it appeared here in the first place. That’s the key question."

"If it appeared here, it must be because the Council’s team used it here, so the waste was simply discarded," Catherine said, covering her face with her hands and sighing deeply. Although when she looked up, her face was streaked with dark finger marks, the knight girl still spoke as if oblivious: "Maybe it was even used by my grandfather. Wait, no, that’s not right."

"What’s wrong?" Lina was startled by the sudden increase in Catherine’s volume: "Big sister, why did you suddenly get so loud?"

"How could my grandfather possibly have such casting material?" Catherine said with certainty: "It’s impossible. Even if he once did, he would have sold it long ago. It definitely can’t be his."

"It must have been provided by the client, which means the followers of those two Divine Servants came well-prepared." Vivian waved her hand casually, and mana threads pulled the remnants of the Wood Essence to float in front of her. The Mage girl pinched the ends of the stick with two fingers and examined it closely in the light, saying: "Wood Essence is so expensive partly because it’s extremely rare, but also because of its use. The only magic that needs it as a casting material is Earth-penetrating Vision. Not just any Earth-penetrating Vision, ordinary Earth-penetrating Vision doesn’t require it. Once used as a casting material, the effect of Earth-penetrating Vision is enhanced many times over, even allowing one to glimpse mineral deposits thousands of kilometers beneath the surface."

"To peer into the deep underground? Using it to search for the possibly deep-buried Temple of Danacus sure seems like a good method," Catherine had recovered from the initial shock and nodded: "But how wide is the range of that magic? If the range isn’t large enough, their investment would be truly extravagant. With their status, they probably don’t have that much money to invest, right?"

"On the contrary, it’s very easy for them to get money," Pannis said with a sneer: "Remember those ghouls? Even though they possess Legendary Rank strength, they are still tempted by the moribund, willing to turn into Undead ghouls controlled by others, just to retain their consciousness. The same is true for those wealthy individuals—the wealthier they are, the more they fear death. If the moribund promise to let them live for another ten years as ghouls, in exchange for a huge sum of money, guess how many would be willing to make that deal?"

"That..." Catherine made a wry smile, not wanting to admit it but knowing that there would not be a few who would do so. All she could do was sigh softly and shake her head, saying: "Let’s not continue with this issue. Although we’ve found their camp, we still haven’t discovered much valuable information. What we’ve got is all trivial and meaningless. Should we keep following their tracks?"

"Of course, it’s better than wandering aimlessly in the Core Area of the Forest of Death," Pannis said: "Actually, I’m quite worried about the Core of the forest. I wonder how large the range of the Forbidden Land of Living Souls has become. After all, the only known clue we have now is that the temple is ten kilometers south of Divine Descent Mountain, but that range still covers a large area. If the range of the Forbidden Land hasn’t expanded there yet, then we’ll have to face the rulers of the Core Area on our own. I don’t think that’s a good idea, I..."

"Kyle, come here, I’ve found something," Dillie, who had been feigning sleep in a corner of the cave, suddenly shouted: "I think it’s something that was overlooked before."