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Sura, an ordinary person from the Valley of the Wind.
From a young age, he dreamed of seeing the world beyond the desert, of exploring those strange places that only existed in old people's stories and tattered books.
But later, like most people, he came to understand himself.
He had neither the physical strength and knowledge of Master Yupa, nor the talent of Princess Nausicaä as a wind rider; he was just an ordinary person with some strength.
Furthermore, after starting a family and having a wife and children to take care of, that dream was completely stranded on the beach called reality.
Now, the opportunity for the tide to rise has arrived.
He not only walked out of the valley, but also stood on the edge of the Sea of Corruption, touching the mysterious Sea of Corruption with his own hands.
Moreover, the Divine Tree himself said that he would be rewarded no matter the outcome of the experiment, a promise that no amount of work points could buy.
"Master Yupa," Sura said, trying to suppress the excitement in his voice, "I'm about to begin."
Yupa nodded, took a few steps back, and used the corner of his eye to keep an eye on the surroundings for Sura.
Sura stretched her arms to her sides, adopting the starting posture of Incantations that was imprinted in her consciousness.
Golden light, accompanied by the Erdtree Mark, emerged from beneath their feet and spread outwards.
The Law of Regression.
Yupa gazed at the light screen, he couldn't help but recall information about the power of the Erdtree.
The function of this Incantations is to remove all "states" and restore things to their original state, whether those states are positive or negative.
But this raises the question: how do we define the state that things possess?
This is a topic that the Law Research Department has previously explored, and they conducted an experiment on it.
A glass of water is "being contained in a glass" as its state.
However, the Law of Regression cannot allow water to levitate out of the cup, indicating that certain fundamental physical properties or spatial relationships are not considered "eliminable states."
Adding salt to water makes it "salty," but Incantations are ineffective; the salt seems to be regarded as part of the water itself.
But if you heat this cup of water to a boil and then release Incantations upon it, a miraculous thing happens: the churning water instantly calms down, and the water temperature drops back to normal the moment golden light shines through it.
The concepts of "boiling" and "high temperature," which are "additional to the object itself and are in progress," were erased by the power of Incantations.
Therefore, Gol and others reached the following conclusion:
Only external, temporary, and ongoing changes are considered "states" by the Law of Regression.
And remove it.
Yupa was distracted, the golden light burst forth completely.
Before embarking on this mission, Sura was granted a second Blessed Dew, giving her a slightly higher level of Rune than a typical Blessed.
At this moment, exerting its full power, the golden hemispherical light screen easily broke through the twenty-meter radius, completely enveloping the middle of the insect food tree trunk, and also swallowing up a large area of low-lying fungal vegetation around it.
The Incantations was finished, and the golden light slowly dissipated into the air.
Without any hesitation, the two rushed back to the Horseclaw, gripped the reins tightly, and were ready to evacuate according to plan at any time.
Two seconds.
Five seconds.
Ten seconds.
The forest remained silent; even the chirping of insects from its depths did not change or cease. The Sea of Corruption seemed to have completely ignored what Sura had just done.
Sura turned to look at Yupa in confusion, only to see that the other man's brows were furrowed and his eyes were fixed on the ground.
Following his gaze, several grayish-white veins emerged within the mycelial network.
Immediately afterwards, the grayish-white color spread rapidly along the mycelial veins, and the fine, cracking sounds of ice blended together, turning the surroundings into a black and white world as if all color had been stripped away.
In just over ten seconds, centered on the spot where Sura had just stood, all the fungi that had been illuminated by the Incantations turned into dry, grayish-white "fossils."
The insect-fed tree even exhibited the peculiar phenomenon of its lower half dying while its upper half remained vibrant and full of life.
Yupa was the first to react.
He rushed back to the edge of the grayish-white area, quickly pulled out another empty test tube, and put a cluster of petrified mycelium into it.
Then he immediately turned around, mounted his horse, and snapped the reins, "What are you standing there for? Let's go!"
Sura then realized what was happening and quickly urged his horse to catch up.
The two retreated at full speed along the path they had come from, constantly looking back to observe the forest and remain vigilant for any movement.
There are two taboos that must never be violated when navigating the Sea of Corruption.
First, never attack insects proactively, otherwise you will incur endless retaliation from the insect swarm.
However, if attacked first by solitary predators such as giant dragonflies or snake crickets, one can use melee weapons for legitimate self-defense; the Sea of Corruption is still quite "reasonable".
Of course, that's assuming you can beat them.
Second, the Sea of Corruption must absolutely not be destroyed on a large scale.
Burning, logging, blasting—whether intentional or unintentional, any act of large-scale destruction of forests will also invite a frenzied attack from insect swarms.
In a circular area nearly fifty meters in diameter, all the fungi had completely withered and turned grayish-white. This definitely qualifies as "large-scale destruction," and they must be removed from the site immediately.
The Horseclaw kicked up dust, and the two quickly returned to the sand dune about a kilometer away.
The eight team members who remained had already seen the Yupa sign. At this moment, they all lay prone on the back of the sand dunes, with only their eyes showing to observe the direction of the forest.
Seeing Yupa and Sura return, the group breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Yupa dismounted and lay down on the edge of the dune, his gaze fixed on the distant, strikingly conspicuous gray-white circular area amidst the grey-green forest.
Time ticked by, and finally someone couldn't help but ask, "Master Yupa, what's going on?"
"I—I don't know." A rare hesitation crept into the swordsman's voice. " The Incantations worked, but the swarm didn't react."
This left him somewhat puzzled; couldn't they at least send an insect to scout ahead?
In the past, throwing a flashbang in the forest would attract a swarm of insects. If it didn't harm the insects or the forest, that was fine, but if it did something bad—you could only pray that your legs could run fast enough.
Ten minutes passed, but no trace of insects was seen.
Yupa slowly sat up and let out a long breath under his mask, while the others were sweating profusely from the prolonged tension.
"We should be safe for now."
Everyone then sat up one after another, stretching their stiff limbs.
Sura moved closer to Yupa, looking at the test tube containing grayish-white powder in the master's hand. "Any discoveries?"
Yupa did not answer immediately. He pulled out the cork from the test tube, took out another small vial containing a clear test solution, sprinkled a little powder into it, and shook it quickly.
The reagent solution remained clear and transparent.
Yupa's pupils constricted slightly.
He repeated the test, and the result was the same.
These grayish-white fungal remains are completely non-toxic.
Instead of feeling relieved, Yupa furrowed his brow in a deep frown.
As mentioned before, the Law Research Department has concluded that additional and ongoing states such as boiling, burning, poisoning, and corrosion can be eliminated by the returning power.
However, they made another discovery.
The inherent stability of an object is unaffected by Incantations.
Examples include salt in seawater, impurities in metals, water in plants, and venom in the venom sacs of poisonous organisms.
Sea of Corruption fungi are known worldwide for their extreme toxicity, but that toxicity should be an inherent property of the fungi themselves.
But now, the toxins in the Sea of Corruption fungus have disappeared, and it has withered away rapidly as a result.
This means that either the Law of Regression has encountered an unexplained exception.
Alternatively, the fungi may be in a state of "poisoning".
Yupa slowly raised his head and looked towards the boundless, silent forest in the distance.
An unprecedented conjecture took shape in his mind.
Is the Sea of Corruption itself non-toxic?