I moved silently through the dense underbrush, careful not to disturb a single leaf more than necessary.
Each step was deliberate. No snapped twigs. No footprints in the softer soil. Even my breathing was subdued, wrapped beneath the veil of Essence. I wasn't just sprinting, I was ghosting through the forest.
My Psynapse stretched outward in subtle pulses, detecting nothing yet. The traces I left earlier were meant for the Holts to chase. Here, in this untouched pocket of the forest, I moved like a shadow.
Roughly an hour passed.
Then I felt it—a subtle distortion ahead. Not a person. Something else. I crept forward and found it: a towering creature fused into the base of an ancient tree.
[Withered Ent - Level 131]