The Silent Forest at night was not friendly, in every sense of the word.
The Recording Stone's image shook slightly. The patrol member's heavy breathing and rustling footsteps could be heard clearly. That only made the forest's silence, darkness, and desolation stand out even more.
The Patrol Team advanced along a tributary of the Silent River—a nameless little creek. The creek wound down from the mountain, babbling as it went. There were very few clearings along its course; everywhere was cluttered with jagged stones and lush thickets, as well as those gloomy great trees that blocked out the sky and cast everything beneath pitch-black shadows.
The rippling Magic Power, conspicuous spheres of light, and wary gazes caused the lurking figures deep in the forest to quietly retreat. No Magical Creatures on Puji Island would challenge the school's Patrol Team.
Even if today's Patrol Team looked a little weak.
Along the way, the wizards from the North District carried out their duties well—helping rabbits trapped by vines escape, repairing magical markers gnawed apart by mice, driving away Red-banded Snakes and ghouls approaching the campus, and, most importantly, setting up alarm devices at every point the Black Tide might pass through.
These alarm devices were Talisman Boards made of acacia wood. The patrol members nailed them to thick tree trunks to monitor changes in the surrounding Magic Power fluctuations and Qi Mechanism. If the "Magic Power disturbance" passing through a particular tree grew significantly stronger over a period of time and exceeded a certain threshold, the Talisman Board would shatter, alerting the monitors far away on Gu Diao Street.
Naturally, this crude alarm system often sent false reports. For instance, a group of passing Tree Monkey Frogs or two Poison-Horned Beasts in the midst of a duel might trigger the highest-level alert