Along a flower-lined path beneath the twilight, a puff of pink cloud that pointed the way led Tang Qi and his group onward.
The little bald man carried an iron pot on his shoulder, filled with cooked game chicken stew. Its savory aroma had utterly overwhelmed the fragrance of lavender. Even Tang Qi had not expected that he would actually manage to stew a good chicken this time.
"Clearly, I followed exactly the same steps as I did in Twilight Forest. Why was the last one's flavor so indescribable?"
Amid his doubts, Little Beard continued their earlier topic. "Inexhaustible resources, skies where the sun never sets, abundant and lengthy time—everything we see today is sustained by the World Tree of Ebony Forest, the Mr. Potato you met.
"It is the root system of Ebony Forest. Every creature born in Ebony Forest is a leaf upon its branches, its child: satyrs, sprites, pixies... As the fey creatures of Ebony Forest, Mr. Potato grants us innate magic and a sensitivity to the Magic Web, giving every living being here the potential to become a professional or a Spellcaster.
"Our long lives, too, are inseparably tied to Mr. Potato.
"But just as roots draw nourishment from the earth and grow lush branches and leaves, leaves also absorb sunlight and produce organic nutrients through photosynthesis—nutrients that likewise feed the roots and stems.
"This is nature's truth, a cycle of life. Like vapor from the ocean gathering into white clouds in the sky, then flowing as rain through streams across the land, before ultimately returning to the ocean.
"But precisely because this cycle of life is so exquisite, when a single balance is abruptly broken, the entire chain undergoes a qualitative change."
Little Beard had Little Rascal use [Druidcraft] to summon a breeze carrying clouds.