Chapter 129 -129-Yorick... Has He Gone Mad?

After talking with the others for a while, Caelan belatedly realized something.

Aside from his own Star Ascension Quest, every other awakener’s quest in the Inner Forest Instance only required them to stay alive inside for a certain period of time.

But his task was different.

He had to kill every monster he had ever encountered!

Before this, even in the historical records, there had never been a single adventurer who had accomplished such a feat.

Caelan nodded lightly, then scratched his chin, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face.

It was obvious that

his [Class Mutation Request] was once again proving absurdly overpowered.

It clearly had no intention of treating him like an ordinary awakener!

Then again... he really couldn’t be considered an ordinary awakener.

Still, as far as Caelan was concerned, this task was not actually that difficult.

After all, his class was also a bug-level existence. Killing a few monsters would hardly cost him any effort.

Just then,

the previously calm surface of the lake suddenly took on a faint tinge of blood-red.

In the next moment, a fierce gust of wind swept through the area, and then a massive tree made entirely of flesh was blown toward the lake.

And in the blink of an eye, that flesh-tree seemed to fuse with the lake’s surface, as though it had grown there naturally!

Countless fleshy roots, like agile tentacles, rapidly burrowed into the lake.

At the same time, Caelan noticed that with the appearance of the flesh-tree, the awakeners nearby all revealed wary expressions.

"Why is it a flesh abomination again? Why does it feel like we’ve been running into more and more flesh abominations lately? We never used to see them before!"

"Exactly. Not only are flesh abominations incredibly troublesome, they’re also hard to kill. I really don’t know what’s going on!"

Hearing their conversation, Caelan could not help narrowing his eyes slightly.

In truth, he had also noticed that the timing of the flesh abominations’ appearance felt... off.

And during this recent period, he truly had encountered quite a few of them.

Could it be that flesh abominations simply hadn’t existed before?

Subconsciously, Caelan searched through the historical records in his mind from beginning to end. The result made him suck in a sharp breath.

No way...

There were fewer than ten recorded memories of flesh abominations in all of history???

That frequency was not merely low—it was terrifyingly low.

To put it this way, the recorded history of humanity stretched back nearly ten thousand years.

And yet, records involving flesh abominations appeared fewer than ten times.

Even if averaged out, that meant they would appear at most once every hundred years!

And even then, those appearances were highly irregular. From what Caelan vaguely remembered, according to the history books, the last time a flesh abomination had appeared in human history was over two thousand years ago!

So what exactly were these things?

Could they have been summoned by [Sacred Armor]?

But in the next instant, Caelan firmly shook his head.

To be precise, these flesh-made monsters were not summoned by [Sacred Armor]—they were attracted by it!

Ever since the first time he encountered [Sacred Armor] on the outskirts of Mylanne City, Caelan had been almost certain of one thing: flesh seemed to possess an indescribably intense desire for [Sacred Armor].

It was like a bear discovering honey—utterly unable to resist.

At that moment, a finely dressed awakener squeezed his way out from the middle of the crowd.

Putting everything else aside, just his clothing alone was enough to show that his background was anything but ordinary.

Very quickly, someone recognized him.

"Look! Isn’t that Yorick, the eldest young master of the Edmund family? I didn’t expect even he would personally come to the Inner Forest Instance!"

"Brother, are you stupid? Even if he’s a young master, he still has to show up in person for his own Star Ascension Quest!"

"Oh, right, I forgot about that. So Young Master Yorick’s task is also in the Inner Forest Instance? That’s some awful luck. I heard this Young Master Yorick’s favorite hobby is bullying commoners like us, so we’d better stay away from him!"

"Brother, don’t overreact. He’s already been stuck here for a whole month. He’s practically turned into an idiot. Just don’t go near him."

Even so, the awakeners present still seemed to deliberately make room for Yorick at the front.

As for their attitude, Yorick appeared long since accustomed to it. He simply walked calmly toward the lake.

At the same time, he spoke in an indifferent tone.

"I truly didn’t expect that I would return here again today. It seems I really do have quite the bond with the world of the Inner Forest."

"Come to think of it, my record yesterday seems to have reached 9 minutes and 37 seconds. If I can just hold on a little longer, perhaps I’ll be able to complete my 6-Star task."

Hearing him mutter to himself, the surrounding awakeners could not help whispering among themselves.

"Do you think Young Master Yorick has gone insane?? That record of 9 minutes and 37 seconds was clearly from half a month ago! He hasn’t entered the Mirror Lake at all during the past two weeks!"

"Ah... what a pity. He’s only twenty-one years old. He was considered a genius too, but the Inner Forest world drove him completely mad. That’s just tragic!"

"Brother, don’t say that. Our ending might be even worse than his!"

The awakeners were speaking boldly, but Caelan could hear the deep helplessness hidden in their voices.

In truth, Yorick was far from the only one trapped by the Inner Forest Instance.

So everyone was worried—would they one day end up like him as well?

A perfectly promising genius, backed by a powerful family, yet forcibly delayed for more than a month by the Star Ascension Quest... and possibly driven insane in the process.

The risk was simply too great.

Although each awakener made different choices, all of them were trying to complete their own tasks in their own way.

Caelan nodded slightly as if he had come to an understanding. Then, together with the other awakeners, he turned his gaze toward Yorick’s back.

At this moment, Yorick’s eyes held both determination and numbness.

It was as if he could no longer sense danger at all. Step by step, he walked toward the center of the lake.

However, the instant his foot touched the lake’s surface, the surrounding environment underwent a heaven-shaking transformation!

As a dense fog rolled in, Yorick’s figure was swallowed up by it in an instant.

Yet even through the fog, one could still make out flashes of powerful monsters moving within!