Mist Forest.
Its total area is roughly half the size of the Silver Mountain Range.
According to the data painstakingly gathered by Dongyang Beast Masters, Mist Forest is divided into the Inner Circle, Middle Layer, and Outer Perimeter.
The Outer Perimeter primarily contains Tier 1 magical beasts, with a small number of Tier 2 magical beasts, and is the active area for Dongyang Beast Masters.
The Middle Layer is the domain of Tier 2 magical beasts, with a small presence of Tier 3 and Tier 4 magical beasts. These Tier 3 and Tier 4 magical beasts are typically leaders of a pack or apex predators at the top of a regional food chain.
The Inner Circle, it is said, is the territory of the legendary magical beast, the Light Unicorn.
This pattern is not entirely accurate.
Sometimes, magical beasts from the Middle Layer will frequently appear in the Outer Perimeter, perhaps taking a stroll when they are in a good mood, or getting a craving and hunting for a lucky small animal as a snack in the Outer Perimeter. These situations are quite common.
In fact, many Beast Master adventure groups from Dongyang are often killed by these Tier 3 and Tier 4 magical beasts that come out for a walk or hunt.
Lin Chuan’s target for this trip is the Lost Trail Deer.
This is a gregarious magical beast, whose bloodline tier typically ranges from General Tier Upper Level to Commander Tier Middle Level. Its combat strength is relatively weak, and it is skilled at concealment, hiding, and escaping.
Their herds are usually active between the Outer Perimeter and the Middle Layer.
Even Lin Chuan doesn't dare to run around recklessly in this Mist Forest.
Stability first, survival above all!
Lin Chuan will first choose a location that is easy to defend and difficult to attack, while also being easy to escape from, to serve as a temporary stronghold.
Then, he will only take action once every 8 hours.
Using the temporary stronghold as the center, he will explore the surrounding area to search for traces of the Lost Trail Deer.
Why every 8 hours?
Because Wan Wan’s luck buff can only last for a maximum of 8 hours!
In such a dangerous wilderness, if he doesn't have a luck buff, Lin Chuan would rather stay holed up in the stronghold.
Of course, Lin Chuan isn't solely busy searching for the Lost Trail Deer, neglecting other matters.
This Mist Forest.
It can be said to be a natural Illusion Attribute training room.
It can't compare to the professional-grade training rooms of the Sixth Academy, as those are built with countless resources, and a natural environment is hard to match. However, the overall effect won't be too far behind. At least, for Lin Chuan and his spirit beasts, who haven't reached Tier 3 yet, these conditions are more than sufficient.
And so, in this manner.
Lin Chuan dedicates about half of his time to cultivation and training, leaving approximately 5 hours each day to explore the Mist Forest and search for the Lost Trail Deer.
The cultivation ideas and skill training tips learned from Zhou Tianque and Feng Yingge have yielded excellent results.
Lin Chuan himself and each of his spirit beasts have made significant progress.
Just like that, half a month passed quietly.
Guoguo reached Level 17.
Wan Wan reached Level 19, still some distance from Tier 2.
As the strongest combat force in the team and Lin Chuan's personal guard, Sakura needs to maintain good physical and mental condition at all times. Therefore, during this period, Sakura's daily cultivation and training intensity was reduced by about half, to the level of a daily warm-up. However, her level still increased by 1, reaching Level 23.
White Snow, on the other hand, reached Level 14. Crucially, its body size has broken through the 7-meter limit and is beginning to grow towards 8 meters.
This means White Snow has completely exited its Young dragon .
For a period of time going forward, White Snow's body size and strength will undergo a rapid Growth, leading to a qualitative change.
...
This is a cliff cave located in a dead corner of a cliff face, shrouded by the shadows of towering giant trees.
The surface of the cave is covered with dense vines, which are very tough, making them difficult to cut even with a small knife.
The interior of the cave is also similarly covered with dense vines.
The crucial thing is that these vines are not dead, but alive!
Like tiny snakes, they constantly writhe, extend, and intertwine.
The vines cover the ground, forming a carpet.
They climb the cave walls, completely blocking cracks and firmly securing loose rocks.
They also climb onto the cave ceiling, weaving various beautiful patterns.
When the entire cave is covered with fine vines.
The next moment, pink flowers bloom one after another on the vines.
Walls, ceilings, corners, everywhere there are pink flowers, softly emitting mist and faint light.
For a moment, the entire cave became mysterious and beautiful.
After being busy for over half an hour, Sakura let out a sigh of relief. Performing such intricate weaving with the Vine Armor Shield was still a bit challenging for her.
However, the result was great!
Sakura looked at her masterpiece with satisfaction.
Purely natural decoration!
Although some details were not perfect, overall, it looked like a very exquisite temporary stronghold room.
It suited her aesthetic: natural and elegant.
Wan Wan floated up, using Fairy Art: Float, controlling a trumpet-shaped energy lamp, and hung it on a vine-woven node on the ceiling, ten meters from the ground.
Immediately, Wan Wan's small hand lightly tapped the energy lamp, and a wisp of Fairy Attribute energy entered it.
The energy lamp lit up, emitting a soft and comfortable light.
The temporary stronghold was set up!
This stronghold, which Lin Chuan had just discovered, was the one that pleased him the most.
Here.
Lin Chuan could practice Meditation with relative peace of mind.
At the same time, this stronghold's natural location was both hidden and elevated, which was conducive to searching a wider area for surrounding conditions.
So, this stronghold would be the main stronghold from now on.
Lin Chuan prepared to rest.
Just then, Guoguo, who had been held by White Snow and was out patrolling and placing wards in the surroundings, returned.
Patrolling is easy to understand.
Placing wards means placing electronic sensing devices on tree branches or on the ground, then covering their surfaces with fine vines. Once spirit beasts with energy levels exceeding Tier 3, or a large number of magical beasts, approach this area, Lin Chuan will be alerted.
The vines at the cave entrance automatically opened, and Guoguo jumped out first.
White Snow was then recalled by Lin Chuan into his Beast Master space, and then released again.
The size of the cave entrance was not enough for White Snow to squeeze through.
Inside the cave, as long as White Snow didn't fly up or fully spread her wings, there was still just enough space for her to stay.
Yi ya ya ya~!
Guoguo's expression was a bit tense, and even White Snow looked uneasy.
Lin Chuan currently couldn't understand White Snow's words, only sensing her emotions simply.
But Lin Chuan instantly understood Guoguo's 'yi ya' language.
Beast Tide!
Lin Chuan heard these two crucial words from Guoguo's speech.
Images of magical beast hordes sweeping in like a tide immediately appeared in Lin Chuan's mind.
Combat pets can indeed dominate magical beasts of the same level, but they are very helpless against a massive Beast Tide. To face a Beast Tide, a large number of Beast Masters must be organized to potentially stop it.
Lin Chuan was still relatively calm and not overly panicked.
If it were the previous strongholds, they would probably be unavoidable under the impact of a Beast Tide.
But this current stronghold, located on a cliff, in a corner of a natural blind spot, and covered by vines, he believed it should not be easily discovered.
Even if it were discovered, he could ride White Snow and quickly leave, utilizing the geographical advantage.
Lin Chuan looked at Guoguo.
“Can you tell me the approximate scale of the Beast Tide? Is it small, medium, or large?”
Small Beast Tides typically refer to those with fewer than 10,000 magical beasts and an average level of around Tier 1. They are usually caused by natural reasons, such as the migration of a certain pack, or the passing of a powerful and terrifying magical beast, leading to small changes in the environmental ecosystem that trigger panic and unrest among some magical beasts.
Medium Beast Tides typically number between 10,000 and 100,000, and will include the presence of pack leaders and regional overlords. They are usually revenge-style Beast Tides where wild magical beast packs, due to severe and excessive environmental destruction, purposefully and organizedly attack human settlements.
Large Beast Tides number over 100,000, with no upper limit, and are often organized and planned. Their purpose is usually not simple revenge.
Behind a large Beast Tide, there must be a mastermind.
Because even if natural magical beasts possess high intelligence, their numbers are not large, and the organizational discipline of wild magical beasts is very poor, incomparable to humans.
Therefore, the masterminds behind large Beast Tides are often anti-human cult organizations that worship legendary evil spirits, or the instigators of hostile foreign powers.
Guoguo carefully recalled the scene it had just seen.
It shook its head slightly, then nodded slightly.
Unable to express itself through body language, Guoguo directly transmitted the images and feelings it had just experienced to Lin Chuan through their contract.
Immediately, a series of images, like slides, quickly appeared in Lin Chuan's mind.
The Beast Tide was not large, not even as large as a typical small Beast Tide, only a few hundred magical beasts.
From the perspective of quantity and scale, it could only be considered a mini Beast Tide.
However, the average level of the magical beasts participating in the Beast Tide was around Tier 2, with even a few Tier 3 magical beasts, and there were also magical beasts that made Guoguo feel a bit tricky and difficult to handle at its current level of strength.
The key was that this mini Beast Tide did not seem to be one that spontaneously arose due to coincidental reasons. Beast Tides formed by coincidental reasons are often very chaotic, but this wave of mini Beast Tide, judging from its composition of magical beasts, as well as its marching route and speed, was orderly.
They seemed to be searching for, or hunting down, something.
This mini Beast Tide had a purpose; it was hunting something!
Lin Chuan pondered deeply.
A moment later, he had a guess.
This guess should be almost certainly correct!
Dongyang's Beast Master circle, this unique Beast Master culture.
Capturing magical beasts, enslaving them for combat, creates a very serious conflict of interest with natural wild magical beasts.
Although wild magical beasts are not highly intelligent, they still possess some.
Such constant capture, enslavement, and slaughter of wild magical beasts over the years would inevitably accumulate natural hatred.
Therefore, once Dongyang Beast Masters did something else in the Mist Forest.
For example, capturing a large number of magical beasts at once, or hunting down an entire pack, leading to the destruction of the ecological balance, would immediately incite the magical beasts in this area to unite against a common enemy.
Even magical beast species that were originally natural enemies would temporarily put aside their mutual hatred and jointly pursue and kill human Beast Masters.
So, what should he do?
Ignore it, or go to their rescue?
Lin Chuan decided to observe the situation secretly first.
Leaving the cave, Lin Chuan rode White Snow and flew in the direction where the Beast Tide was occurring.
As he had guessed, that wave of Beast Tide was hunting and pursuing a small group consisting of 3 Beast Masters.
Two men and one woman, they were fleeing in a desperate state.