Chapter 171 - Peculiar Forest

As we walked deeper and deeper into the forest, we eventually came across some strange trees, both thinner and darker than normal ones. They bent at strange angles, in ways that made it look like they were about to snap off. Yet, the trees were completely still.

I got down on one knee and felt the bark of this strange tree. It was a little more squishy than what I expected a tree to be. Though it wasn't the most outstanding feature about them, it also made the trees feel a little more alive.

The piece of paper hummed.

"What is this place?"

I shrugged my shoulders.

"I don't know."

The necklace trembled.

"You don't seem to be the best tour guide."

I laughed.

"I'm just exploring new things along with you. That doesn't change my status as the tour guide."

The piece of paper turned to me.

"I-It doesn't?"

I lifted my fist up to my mouth and coughed.

"Anyways, let's have a closer look at this place."

And so, I walked through the assortment of trees. Because of the strange angle they were bent at, I had to duck down and jump over various trunks and branches to make my way forward.

The piece of paper sucked in a sharp breath.

"This truly is a fascinating place."

As for the necklace, it responded in an astonished way as well.

"Indeed."

Even the pale grey light was letting out faint sounds of amazement in the form of cooing that babies make.

On the other hand, I was a little confused.

Yes, this place was definitely cool because of all the twisted trees and such, but there wasn't much else to this place. Though they probably were going to be amazed by even trivial things after being in the dark and dingy place for a while.

After several hours had passed, I made my way through all the strange trees. Now, it was a normal forest just like before. My eyes narrowed.

I couldn't help but wonder if there was something more.

The piece of paper crumpled up slightly.

"It is quite strange that none of the creatures attempted to attack us. They looked quite hostile from what I saw."

The necklace trembled.

"That is quite strange, but I suppose you can't judge something by the way it looks."

I froze up.

"You guys saw creatures?"

The piece of paper nodded.

"Well of course, there were so many of them."

The necklace scoffed.

"Oh come on, don't tell me you didn't see them. You even looked directly at several!"

I furrowed my brows.

"I did?"

The piece of paper coughed awkwardly.

"Well, yes. There were times when they were right in front of you."

I turned around and had a good look at the forest.

Because these trees didn't have too much foliage, the light of the sun let me see quite far in. Yet, the only thing my eyes could make out were trees.

My eyebrow twitched.

"I seriously haven't seen a single creature. Are there any in front of me right now?"

The necklace scoffed.

"Of course, are you blind?"

I narrowed my eyes, trying to look closer. But no matter what, the only things my eyes picked up on were trees and more trees. I let out a soft sigh.

"What does it look like?"

The piece of paper floated into the forest then stopped, as though something was there.

"Mm... it appears to be a black monkey? Their eyes are far different from any monkey I've seen. There doesn't even seem to be a pupil, but rather a pure yellow. It makes one wonder how they are able to see in the first place."

I slowly walked forth.

"Try to lead me to it."

The piece of paper nodded by bending itself a little.

"Alright."

Before I even made it close to the piece of paper, it gasped.

"It ran away!"

I clicked my tongue then sighed.

"Could you lead me to where you see things?"

The piece of paper looked around.

"Um, ok."

I nodded.

"Thanks."

The necklace muttered.

"I thought you were supposed to be the tour guide."

I raised my fist to my mouth and coughed.

"Anyways, let's get going."

As we traveled, the piece of paper frequently made comments.

"Um, there's another monkey here. Oh, it ran away as you walked over."

"What the... there's some strange thing with really large jaws."

"There's a huge spider over here. I believe it's several times larger than you."

However, I couldn't see any of it.

"Where is the spider? Surely it's too big for me to miss, right?"

The piece of paper crumpled a little awkwardly.

"Uh..."

The corner of my lip twitched.

"Just say it!"

The necklace muttered.

"You are halfway inside it right now..."

I blinked a few times.

"What?"

After looking down, my eyes could only pick up on the bare floor.

"Are you guys joking with me?"

The piece of paper coughed.

"Earlier I thought you were joking with us. But seeing as your body is physically incapable of interacting with the spider... you may really be unable to see it."

I rubbed my chin with my thumb and forefinger.

"Under the assumption you two are telling the truth, then it appears this place is quite magical."

The necklace let out a soft hum.

"It truly is. But what allows us to see it while you can't?"

I shrugged my shoulders.

"It appears to be something with the fact you guys aren't exactly in a real physical body."

The red light from the piece of paper dimmed slightly.

"This truly is a place filled with mysteries then. What would we have to do to get you to see these?"

I scratched the back of my head.

"That I do not know. Perhaps we can continue traveling through to find out?"

The piece of paper nodded excitedly.

"Yes, yes. Maybe we figure out something revolutionary!"

The necklace giggled.

"You still like doing research after doing it for so long?"

In response, the paper trembled like it was embarrassed.

"W-Well if I didn't like it at all I wouldn't be able to do it for so long!"

With that, we continued walking through the forest.

Other than the sounds of Noah trying to describe the various sights he saw, there were my footsteps and the various sounds of amazement from the pale grey light.

At some point, I froze in place.

The piece of paper turned to me with a bit of confusion.

"Is something wrong?"

I didn't respond. Instead, I abruptly whipped my head to the side.

Then, I narrowed my eyes.

"...What?"

The necklace trembled.

"Is something wrong?"

I rubbed my temple with my palm.

"There was... something."

Though it was faint, my eyes just barely caught onto some black figure. If I had to hedge a guess, it was probably the monkey Noah was referring to earlier.

However, the strangest thing was that I could only see it while it was in the corner of my eye. I turned to it once I saw it start to flee, but then it disappeared completely.

I closed my eyes.

"Hmm... Noah, I'm going to point my finger forth. If you see something, could you tell me?"

The piece of paper tilted to the side.

"Uh, ok."

With that, I raised my finger, pointing it at the place in front of me.

Noah spoke up immediately.

"There is a spider in front of you right now."

I tilted my head to the side, trying to look at my front using the very corner of my vision. Yet, there was nothing there.

Then, I casted the firebolt spell, launching it on ahead. However, it only kept going forward until eventually colliding with a tree. My eyes shifted to the piece of paper.

"Did I miss?"

The piece of paper was speechless for a moment.

"Um, no. It just passed through. By the way, did you create that spell yourself?"

I blinked a few times.

"Uh, no I didn't make the spell. It was just one of the many spell diagrams we are given."

The piece of paper hummed.

"Wow."

I shook my head.

"Uh, how about this time you tell me if there is a monkey?"

The piece of paper cleared his throat.

"Alright."

Although I was expecting it to take a while, it was only a few seconds later that the piece of paper spoke up.

"I see it in front of you right now!"

I immediately turned my head to the side.

"Ah... I see it."

As Noah said, it was a monkey with black fur. However, its eyes were a bright solid yellow. At first, the monkey was looking curiously back at me, but the moment I laid my gaze on it, the monkey began running away.

Without hesitation, I casted the firebolt spell towards it.

And it exploded upon hitting the monkey, blowing it up into pieces.

I rubbed my chin with a small smirk on my face.

"Interesting."

As for the others, they seemed a little speechless.