Chapter 10: Summoning of the Spirit

The Erdrit region of Baron Brandon’s domain was a notorious backwater. Seen from above in summer, it resembled a scar on the land—highly visible.
There was a well-known saying in Erdrit: to survive in Brandon, one must be prepared to fight against the Thornbushes. Their scientific name was Thornbushes, but the locals called them “Stumbling Cows.”
“Damn! How did the Stumbling Cows grow so big? I seriously suspect they’re those legendary demonic plants!” After Barret led the team into Baron Brandon’s domain, everyone was astonished by the wildly growing Stumbling Cows.
The dark green Thornbushes used to be mere perennial shrubs, with thorny branches coiling like snakes. Their leaves were yellowish-brown with a hint of green, looking half-dead most of the year. But if you measured them, you’d realize they grew quite rapidly.
However, after the first snowfall since winter began, the Thornbushes started growing abnormally fast. Those branches, once no thicker than a thumb, were now thicker than a bowl’s rim—no longer shrubs, but actual trees!
They grew in thick clusters, entangling with each other, blocking out the sun, and bearing clusters of black-red berries…
“Ah, this reminds me of wild grapevines in autumn…” Witt scratched his head.
“What did you say? Witt, your nerves are really on edge. Do you think this looks like a vineyard? It’s probably a hellish vineyard!” Dick said, eyes wide.
“Hehe! It’s pretty nice! A little grove!”
“…” Dick glanced at the depths of the Thornbush forest, which already seemed gloomy even in daylight, and was utterly speechless about Witt’s sense of aesthetics.
“Why isn’t the captain here yet? Is something wrong?” Tony chewed on a piece of tough meat, sitting on the edge of the large sled, swinging his legs listlessly.
“I guess the captain must have kept heading east, leading those Blue Devils past, then turned south only to be blocked by this Thornbush forest. He’s probably taking a detour now!” Hagen, holding a small wooden bowl, walked over to Witt. “Want one? Freshly cooked deer tendon—the more you chew, the tastier it gets…”
Just as Witt grabbed one and put it in his mouth, he heard snapping sounds behind him. Turning around, he saw Barret.
Seeing that he had everyone’s attention, Barret said, “Enough resting. It’s time to work. According to our team’s rules of self-sufficiency and strength, Bichir, your task today is to make cotton armor for yourselves. Boglem, you’re the best at delicate work here—teach them.”
“Oh, okay.”
“What about the materials? What will we use?” asked a militia member.
“There are plenty of materials. The good cotton fabric for the black brats isn’t used up yet, and there’s also animal fur. I guarantee your cotton armor will be just as ugly as ours—no, even uglier!”
Everyone laughed. Some shouted, “Pfft, we’ll definitely surpass your skills!”
“Enough!” Barret signaled for silence. “Dick, take some people to skin and process the pelts—those taken off Bichir and the others. The captain wants everyone to wear rubber armor from now on—uniform, neat, lightweight, and good at protection. Apparently, if it gets damaged, it can be reprocessed and become new again.”
“Whoa, that’s amazing! Is this another invention of the captain?”

“Hmm, that’s right. I was looking for you! Taylor, you’re a shoemaker in Solace City, right?”
“To correct that, I’m not yet fully trained; strictly speaking, I’m still a shoemaker’s apprentice. Thank you.”
“The captain ordered yesterday that everyone needs boots that are breathable and warm, made from the skin of humans or beasts. I have samples here. Take them and study them to come up with a feasible plan. Then bring two people to start working. We need to start with the lastries, right?”
“Hmm, I’ve seen knives and awls, but I still have to say—making boots is very labor-intensive!”
“The captain said it doesn’t have to look good. It’s hard if the stitches can’t be seen, and it’s also hard if the stitches stick out all around, right?”
“That’s much simpler!”
“Hmm, the only principle is practicality. Just like our concept of cotton armor.”
“Understood!”
“Barrett, what are we doing?” Vitz asked, chewing on some tough meat and spitting saliva.
“Sharpening knives! Didn’t the captain make two hand-cranked grinding frames last night? There are over a dozen weapons waiting to be sharpened.”
“Alright!”……
While Barrett was methodically organizing the work according to the plan, Neo and White Socks were trekking through a thorny jungle in Baron Branden’s territory.
“Neo, I have a very bad feeling!” White Socks said seriously for once.
“Hmm, I’m also a bit uneasy. But it feels unfair to reject the first attempt by a spirit to contact me!”
“Just admit you’re greedy…” White Socks gave Neo a glare.
Neo shrugged, acknowledging it. Most spirits in the world are quite ‘cautious and shy.’ They rarely take the initiative to contact strangers or shamans who have just begun their journey. As in this case, even a fool could realize that the abnormality of the thorny bushes and the spirit’s call represented a rare opportunity—of course, one with dangers involved.
Just as Hagen guessed, Neo led those fools from the Blue Ghosts eastward, obviously going too far. After the pursuit ended, using the simple map drawn by Tony, Neo set out from Roslaw Town, the northernmost town in Baron Branden’s territory, and headed south. After traveling a few kilometers, he encountered this strange thorny jungle.
The abnormality of the thorny bushes caught Neo’s attention. The restless earth element within him made him realize that not only were the plants problematic, but the land itself was also suffering greatly.
Although Neo had only recently become a shaman, he had held firm beliefs since childhood and possessed a simple shamanic heart. Naturally, he wouldn’t stand by idly in such a situation. He used spirit perception for the first time, trying to communicate with the spirits here to find out the truth. As a result, he heard the call from the thorny bush spirit—a call directed at anyone capable of hearing the voice of nature (usually shamans and druids are more likely to sense it).
There was no snow in the thorny jungle, and the soil was the typical black soil of Erdrit territory. But instead of appearing fertile, it seemed extremely barren, like the soil in the Gobi Desert—large areas of hard ground scattered with gravel-like clumps.

The brambles were intertwined in various twisted arcs, forming natural obstacles, fences, arches, and corridors—eventually resembling cages. They overlapped densely, layer upon layer, turning what was once bright daylight into mere patches of dim light. It was still morning outside, but inside it was as dark as dusk.

“It’s uncomfortable to walk on this ground. Where did all the snow go?” White Socks grumbled irritably.

Neo pointed at the thick brambles. “I guess it’s in here.”

“What an appetite! Huh? It seems there’s no way forward!”

“Hmm!” Neo drew his twin swords. As he moved forward, swinging his arms and twisting his wrists, the two steel swords, empowered by the ‘Petrified Weapons’ spell, cut through the brambles blocking the path, gradually clearing a route.

“Look at this bramble sap—it’s disgusting!” White Socks dodged, trying to avoid the dark red sap from hitting it. With Neo’s help, the scars on its body had slowly faded, and its fur was turning snow white. It certainly didn’t want to get dirty here.

Neo also noticed the excessively abundant sap flowing from the cut brambles. It was thick, somewhat like grease, with a cloying and sweetish smell—truly unpleasant.

The brambles were tough yet flexible. Neo relied solely on the sharpness of his swords and his skillful movements to cut through them effortlessly, but as the brambles swayed, splashes landed on his armor, leaving it covered in stains.

The passage was a kilometer long. After cutting his way through, even Neo felt exhausted. Yet there was no other choice.

He had heard of the Battle of Bitter Brambles, though he hadn’t witnessed it firsthand. Bitter brambles grew like weeds, constantly encroaching on farmland. The people of Baron Branden’s domain tried various methods—burning, pulling them out, even hiring magicians and alchemists—to eradicate them, but to no avail.

Later, it was discovered that wild red willows had a natural enemy relationship with bitter brambles, leading to the custom of building willow fences: for weddings, for childbirth, for festivals—even when burying the dead! Wild red willows were also highly resilient; just planting them would make them survive. Over generations, this gave rise to Branden’s “Willow Wall Barrier.”

But now, the rampant growth of bitter brambles had completely destroyed the willow barrier. Though Baron Branden’s domain hadn’t yet turned into a sea of bitter brambles, the passages had long been submerged, turning into huge clusters of brambles. There were no shortcuts—only the option to cut a path or parachute in.

Glancing in the southwest, if he wasn’t mistaken, Village Wald should be in that direction. That was also where the spirit that had called out was located.

“Hey, go check it out for me. Be careful,” Neo said. He removed the snow plow attachment from White Socks, attached a neck flag, and then pointed in the direction.

The neck flag was a green triangular flag pinned to the collar—it was a universal symbol used by the three major factions, indicating that the animal was tamed, not wild, to prevent accidental hunting.

White Socks was a good scout and enjoyed such exploration tasks. It let out two “woos” and dashed off in the southwest direction.

Neo used the Pearl of Life on himself once, then took out Bupa from the snowplow to wipe the thorn juice off his sword blade. This thorn juice was extremely sticky; usually, a light flick of his steel sword could remove blood stains, but it didn’t work with this substance—wiping was necessary to get it all gone.
Sheathing his sword, Neo sat down in the snow, wiping the thorn juice off his armor while taking a short rest.
Before long, White Socks returned.
“More bizarre plants, and those humans are in trouble!”
Neo frowned. “Even humans are being altered—this is clearly not just a simple plant mutation.” Looking at the sky, he clapped his hands and stood up, saying to White Socks, “I’m going to see what’s going on. You stay at the passage and keep an eye on our exit. If anything unusual happens, alert me immediately.”
“Hmm, these plants are growing at an terrifying rate. You need to be careful about time.” It turned out White Socks had also noticed the rapid growth of the plants. If they encountered an enemy too strong to resist and the only passage was blocked again, they’d be in trouble.
The two partners separated. After thinking for a moment, Neo brought an extra bag of arrows and set off with his most convenient bone bow.
It was a clear, cloudless day with excellent visibility, allowing Neo to see from afar the vast forest of bitter thorns—taller even than the spruces and firs at the southern foot of the Annuel Mountains in the south.
“This isn’t just bitter thorn anymore—it’s like the tentacles of a legendary giant sea monster!” The closer Neo got, the more awe-struck he became.
White Socks’ mention of even more bizarre plants referred not only to these thorns, whose roots were as thick as buckets and grew chaotically upward like steel needles, but also to another type of root-vine plant. These strange plants had no branches or leaves; they resembled blood vessels, vines, or snakes, entwined tightly to form a mossy layer covering the ground. Together with the giant bitter thorns covered in thick spines, they created a region that felt eerie and cruel.
As he got closer, Neo saw the village of Wald. To the south and west of the village were small hills, both with steep sides facing the village. To the east was a low hill with gentle slopes on all sides. A large stone watchtower, twelve meters high, stood atop this hill, serving as the most prominent landmark in the area. But now it was ruined—a thick bitter thorn had grown straight up from below, completely filling its interior.
It wasn’t just this historic watchtower that was unlucky; half of Wald Village was also devastated by the giant bitter thorns, torn to pieces. Even the half that survived was completely enveloped by dark red root plants.
“What exactly are these plants that look like roots and wild vines?” Looking at the houses completely covered by roots, with doors and windows sealed shut, Neo couldn’t help but marvel at the growth rate of these mutated plants. Just a few days? These plants had accomplished what normal plants would take decades to do—it was absolutely insane!
Chirp! Chirp!

“Ugh… so disgusting!” Stepping on this vine-like plant, he felt a moist, viscous substance deep within it, as if stepping on the corpse of a recently dead animal—the strange sound it made easily reminded him of fluids being squeezed in the intestines. Neo could sense that he was approaching the core of the problem; the fluctuations from the spiritual summons grew significantly stronger, and the more he ventured into the depths of this bizarre jungle, the more intense they became.

Whoosh!

A dark shadow flashed past diagonally ahead, moving with agility and speed—movement that certainly wasn’t human.

“Human troublemakers…” Neo drew an arrow and nocked it, continuing forward.

Bang!

The sound of the beastbone bowstring was powerful and forceful, sounding like the beat of war drums, inspiring and exhilarating.

Howl… Amidst a sharp beastly cry, a human-shaped creature fell from the thorny tree above Neo’s head, crashing heavily to the ground. It struggled to get up, but Neo didn’t give it a chance. A flash of sword light severed its head, and its limbs trembled before it lay motionless.

“Amazing transformations!” Neo exclaimed.

This creature used to be human—its skin and clothes proved that. But now it wasn’t anymore. Its muscles no longer had a fresh glow; its blood was dark green with tiny dark clots. Its skin was shriveled, its muscles contracted, yet overall, its body remained moist, as if a mummy had been soaked in water for days. Additionally, the creature’s bones were severely deformed—not animal-like, but plant-like, with many areas broken through and branching out in an awkward manner. Its skin resembled fertile soil covered in dense vines.

“More vines…” Neo sensed he was on the right track. Just then, more mutated humans emerged from the ruins. It seemed the monster Neo had killed had died with a scream that acted like stirring up a hornet’s nest.

Bang! Bang! Arrows were fired immediately.

For warriors, battle was work. Neo was an experienced veteran who reacted swiftly to situations, almost instinctively.

The arrows used by these human-beasts were three times thicker than human arrows, resembling those from small scorpion crossbows. Fired at close range with great force, they even knocked lighter monsters backward due to their momentum.

Yet what would cause severe injuries in ordinary people had little effect on these monsters. Neo saw a creature with a pierced forehead still get up, roar fiercely, and charge at him.

Seeing that arrows weren’t effective, Neo removed his quiver and tossed the beastbone bow aside, hanging it on the thorns of a bramble tree. He took off his helmet and stepped forward to face the approaching monsters.

He took a deep breath, then let out a loud roar.

Howl…

A battle cry of faith! His fighting spirit was fully ignited. His eyes gleamed like sharp blades as he gripped his green steel sword still sheathed in his hands. With a monster’s withered claws less than 30 centimeters away, he suddenly drew both swords and twisted them in front of him, slicing the monster in half.

These monsters were agile in nature, so Neo’s tactics focused on brute force—attacks weren’t frequent but were powerful and forceful. His moves were straightforward, with grand and impactful slashes. Unfazed by the large number of monsters, Neo used the bitter thorn trees as obstacles, moving through them, targeting any monsters within a fan-shaped radius in front of him as his main targets. It was like a lion fighting a pack of hyenas—gritty howls and slashing sounds filled the air, with flesh and limbs flying everywhere. No monster could withstand Neo’s direct attacks; his sword strikes were like thunderbolts, creating one breathtaking slash after another—fierce and unstoppable. Yet, Neo soon discovered a problem: the severed limbs of the monsters he killed would sprout roots, rejoining to form twisted, strange monsters that joined the battle again. “Roots…” Neo finally understood the issue. “Hah!” With a low roar, he used his second combat skill, Charge, killing four monsters with consecutive slashes. Neo led the monsters toward the outer areas free from roots, but they only fought around the edge covered by roots, refusing to cross over. “If you won’t come, I’ll send you there!” Determined, Neo would kick the monsters’ limbs into the icy snow after each kill. Without the protection of the bitter thorn trees, Neo was surrounded on all sides, making the battle much harder. Fortunately, his armor provided protection, along with healing spells from his life-based magic, allowing him to fight bravely. When captured by monsters, he would twist his twin swords around them, severing their limbs and sending them to the ground. He mostly ignored less threatening attacks; with his armor, even if injured, it was only minor flesh wounds. Such sacrifices yielded immense combat power. After over half an hour, more than a hundred monsters were slain. “Huh… ahh!” Breathing in the cold air, Neo spread his arms wide and roared loudly. A warrior grows through bloodshed—after each tough battle, there’s growth, refinement, and courage forged. That fearless spirit becomes even stronger. Thus, a powerful warrior reaches the peak amidst blood and bones, without any pretense. Swish swish swish! With a cough, Neo wiped away the dark green blood from his twin swords and swiftly sheathed them. He focused his life energy on his heart, sending healing power throughout his body through his strong pulse. Under his light meditation, his body emitted vapor as if just out of a steam room, expelling all waste and monster toxins. His minor wounds healed at a visible pace. Removing his armor, Neo took off his sweat-soaked leather clothes and underwear, grabbed snow, stuffed it into his mouth, and rubbed it on his body.

“Ha!” His body trembled as he shook off the snowwater. Neo moved his limbs and, wearing only pants and boots, pulled the snowplow back. Glancing at the scattered limbs and debris, he saw that the relatively thin roots on their surfaces were already frosted. With a smile, he said, “If you’ve got the guts, keep growing!”

Experienced veterans are often the ones who best embody composure in their fields of expertise. Though young, Neo was no longer a reckless newcomer to the battlefield. He understood well the significance of rhythm, moderation, and stages. Unless forced, one would not act like this after a battle—instead of charging immediately, they would rest to regain strength, not only physically but also to calm overly agitated emotions and return to a better state. Neo always believed that in most cases, the outcome of a battle depended on the judgments and decisions made at the outset; once fighting started, it was about adaptability and instinctive reactions.

On the way back to rejoin White Socks, Neo gained a more direct understanding of the growth capacity of the bitter thorns. In just that short time, more than 10 centimeters had grown back from the severed parts. What moved Neo even more was that the dark red branches and leaves, when in contact with the ground, had an effect similar to that of a strong solvent. The bitter thorn stems he had cut and discarded haphazardly were able to burrow back into the soil thanks to this effect and begin growing anew. Neo pulled up a few at random—their roots were already over 30 centimeters long.

“It seems the deep roots of the wild red willows have also been exploited!” Neo scraped and cleared a path as he walked alongside the snowplow.

“Is the problem solved?” White Socks asked as she approached, seeing Neo come out almost naked.

“I’ve dealt with a group of mutated humans. Let’s rest first. Interested in catching some snow rabbits? Otherwise, we’ll just have to eat dried rations together.”

Rather than waiting here for Neo to start a fire and cook, White Socks preferred to explore around and see if she could find anything useful.

There were still some wooden planks on the snowplow, originally used to lay on top of the Blue Ghost’s corpse, and now they could be used to build a campfire. By standing the snowplow upright, it became a roasting rack. Inserting one end of the bow made from animal bones into the snow and draping clothes over it also turned it into a shelter against the wind.

After lighting the campfire, Neo took out an ointment made from animal fat, rubbed it on his body, and then roasted himself by the fire for a while. Wearing his fur coat and using his armor as a seat, he began to roast the dried rations.

White Socks lived up to expectations, catching two snow rabbits, ensuring they had a delicious lunch.

After eating with White Socks, Neo dozed off in her arms. Around 2 p.m., he got dressed again and entered the bitter thorn forest with her.

This time, Neo asked White Socks to wait outside the area with the roots, then he went deeper into the vast thorn forest. Picking up the bow and arrows hanging on the thorns, Neo followed the strength of the spiritual calls toward their source. Passing by the ruined village of Wald once more, he encountered about a dozen monsters created from humans. Judging from the houses, these seemed to be the last remaining villagers. Everyone in the village had been mutated without exception. Neo couldn’t figure out what kind of disaster could have led to such a result.

Instead of leading those monsters to the Root Vine Zone for annihilation, Neo turned them all into hanging paintings. This method was just as effective—the root vines growing on those corpses couldn’t penetrate the hard, smooth surface of the giant bitter thorns, and since they couldn’t connect with the root vines on the ground for a while, they lost their vitality and died.

The deeper they went, the denser the bitter thorns became, though the extremely thick ones were no longer visible. They were all about the thickness of a human wrist, growing in clusters like bamboo, with branches and leaves that resembled willows yet weren’t willows, and thorns yet weren’t thorns. Seeing this, Neo became even more convinced that these plants were no longer ordinary bitter thorns but mutated plants that combined the characteristics of bitter thorns and wild red willows. As for their origin and the causes behind their transformation, Neo believed that the spirit summoned to seek help from natural allies could give him the answers.

“It must be here!” After a long journey, Neo finally reached the edge of a giant crater, which seemed to have been formed by an explosion from within. The vertical depth from the bottom to the edge exceeded 10 meters, but the slope wasn’t very steep, making it not too difficult to ascend or descend.

Judging from the remnants of the explosion, this place used to be a basement, built from solid rock that was extremely sturdy. Complex carvings could be easily found on the rock surface—whether they were magical runes or some kind of decoration, Neo couldn’t tell. He couldn’t determine its age either, only that it couldn’t be very recent. He knew something about architectural styles from the past few hundred years, and none of them matched what he saw here.

In this huge crater, the most prominent thing was a plant at the core of the bottom layer—or rather, the source of the root vines, a twisted mass.

The plant couldn’t be called ugly; it was just oddly shaped. Neo wasn’t interested in its appearance. What caught his attention was that near the base of the plant, there seemed to be a rock platform in the shape of a sacred chalice, from which a faint green glow seeped out.

“This is probably the source of the problem!” Neo knew that anything that gave him a sense of danger couldn’t possibly be those mutated monsters he had killed. He continued forward, both to uncover the answer and to approach a deadly danger…