Marigold-"The technomancer's huh? That sounds nice"
Damion-"No complaints"
Elise-"What does it stand for?"
Julius-"Technomancy is a combination of magic and technology. It's what I did with those robogolems and it's what I plan to continue doing. And I hope that you guys will help me in spreading technomancy across the world. Later down the line it may allow even people with low levels of magic to utilize advanced magical spells"
Joe-"That sounds like a nice goal. Although I feel like giving everyone the ability to use advanced magical powers could lead to some negative consequences"
Damion-"But you're the only one here who can't use advanced magic"
Joe-"Okay first of all, there is no definition for 'advanced magic'"
Elise-"Maybe having your skills evolved?"
Joe-"If that was the case than you wouldn't have had advanced magic before. Plus, Damion didn't get his skills evolved"
Adam-"That was because Damion uses Dark magic"
Joe-"Can you guys stop ganging up on me?"
Marigold-"It's not fair to be mean to Joe like that. You guys need to be nicer to people"
Joe(in his head)-"We had a whole conversation about being nicer to Julius and as a response they want to be mean to me, of course"
Adam-"Alright, sorry Joe. Let's get going to that dark forest now. Also, thank you for making that car Julius"
Julius-"Oh, you're welcome"
The technomancers team all get into the car. Joe is in the front passenger seat and Adam is in the drivers seat. Behind them there is Damion and Elise with Marigold in a small seat between them. On the front dashboard there is a tiny pedestal the size of a bottle cap that Julius rests on.
Elise-"These seats are insanely comfy"
Joe-"It's super soft like those beds were"
Marigold-"There is also a really nice smell in here, what is that?"
Julius-"That's called 'new car smell' usually it's caused by plastics and other chemicals dissolving which is actually bad. But I made a natural alternative that smells the same, it seemed fitting at the time"
Adam-"What is this thing?"
Adam grabs the steering wheel and spins it around.
Julius-"That's the steering wheel, it's what's used to control the car. Although I'll be controlling it myself with magic since it takes practice to use it, is everyone ready?"
Damion-"Yes"
Joe-"All set"
Julius-"Ok, let's go"
Julius uses his gravity magic to press the start engine button turning on the car. Next while still using gravity magic he spins the wheel and pushed the gas pedal. The car begins moving and drives towards the dark forest. The group looks out the windows and sees the landscape going by.
Marigold-"This ride feels much smoother than a horse carriage"
Julius-"I added a super strong suspension system to make it smoother while traveling off road"
Voice-"Why did you make this small pedestal for yourself, your still holding yourself in place while floating above it"
Julius(in his head)-"I don't know, I guess it just gives me the feeling that I'm taking a break. Honestly it's strange that I'm not always running out of mana since I'm constantly using magic"
Voice-"Normal people use the power of mana constantly throughout the body. The organisms of this world evolved with mana so they use it for all their bodily functions such as when they are dissolving food. You don't have these functions so you only drain a little more mana consistently than the average person"
Julius(in his head)-"That's fascinating. Does this mean people here need less nutrients to survive?"
Voice-"Only slightly less, but it does extend their lifespan by a few years. It could have been better but evolution is a very inefficient and flawed processes. Such as how humans still have wisdom teeth that they need to remove later in life"
Julius(in his head)-"Technically wisdom teeth used to serve a purpose in grinding down food. But once we started producing our own easier to chew food we didn't need them anymore. Overtime humans may evolve to not have wisdom teeth anymore"
Voice-"Like I said, inefficient. Thousands to millions of years of evolution for small changes"
Julius(in his head)-"You're just jealous that you don't have a physical form"
Voice-"Considering all the problems that come with having one, I don't want it"
Julius(in his head)-"Sure you don't"
Damion-"(Yawns) I'm tired"
Julius-"A lot of people in my original world would fall asleep in the car. We probably still won't be there for a couple hours so you can take a nap"
Damion snores having already fallen asleep.
Julius(in his head)-"That was fast"
Adam-"We still don't know exactly where the dark forest is"
Marigold-"I said I have an idea of where it is"
Elise-"Yeah a vague one"
Julius-"I can set the car to self driving mode, I'll go check ahead to find it"
Elise-(Yawns) I'm kind of tired too, I'll take a nap like Damion"
Joe-"You don't have to do that"
Julius-"It's no problem, it won't take long"
Marigold-"See you soon Julius, be careful"
Julius-"I will"
Julius activates self driving and floats up through a small gap in the window.
Julius-"Special skill: particle accelerator"
Julius flies forward at the speed of light and in less than a second he finds the forest.
Julius-"You know, I read so many stories back in my world where the characters are faster than light yet it takes them forever to get to places. I feel like people forget just how fast light is, I mean I can circle the planet seven and half times in a second"
Voice-"Are you certain this is the forest?"
Julius-"Well it's trees are dark, it's covered in vines, and it has an overall ominous feeling to it so probably"
Voice-"We can work on developing a teleportation skill, that way you can travel somewhere and then teleport your companions-"
Julius-"The technomancers"
Voice-"...You can teleport the 'technomancers' there"
Julius-"I'll work on it, but that will probably only be for emergencies, I don't want to take all the fun out of road trips"
Julius flies back to the group at light speed. Suddenly down in the forest an arm covered in a damaged metal glove grabs a tree branch.
Julius-"I found the forest guys"
Julius returns back to the car after only being gone for less than a minute.
Marigold-"That was fast"
Julius-"Well it's a giant forest, pretty hard to miss"
Marigold-"Giant? Lucious described it as a small forest"
Julius-"Well I don't know what his definition of a small forest is, but that doesn't matter. I just need to turn the car left a little and we will be heading straight there"
Julius turns the car and continues heading forward. On the way there the group continues their roadside banter until they arrive after two hours of driving.
Julius-"We've made it"
Adam-"Yo, wake up"
Adam pinches Elise's ear.
Elise-"Hey! Elise punches Adam in the arm"
Adam-"What was that for?"
Elise-"I was already awake"
Adam-"No you weren't, you were snoring"
Elise-"...I was faking it"
The group steps out of the car.
Julius-"Well we're here, what's the plan Marigold?"
Marigold-"Well, we need to find out what Lucious was using for his dark magic materials. Then we need to destroy the plants and find those here who are also using them"
Adam-"It might be a good idea to take some of the materials back to the guild for them to study"
Damion sits there listening to the group, all of the sudden he starts hearing whispering coming from the forest.
Damion-"You guys hear that?"
Marigold-"Hear what?"
Damion-"Some voices"
The group looks towards the forest, suddenly a man crawls out. It is one of the people from the party of adventurers who entered the forest earlier.
Adventurer-"Help me, please"
Adam-"What happened?"
The group tries to get to the adventurer. Suddenly vines wrap around the man's ankles and drag him back into the forest.
Marigold-"What happened!?"
Julius-"Quick we have to help him!"
The group runs into the forest after the man.
End of chapter 76.