Rise of the Dark Witch

Rustling.

The comatose pharmacists woke up one after another.

Listening to the exclamations and screams from others, Roja knew that he could no longer pretend to be faint, it was time to "wake up".

"Yeah——"

Roja rubbed his eyes weakly with both hands and slowly sat up from the ground.

The soft white light shone into his eyes, which was a bit dazzling.

"Is it daytime?"

After Roja blinked, his eyes opened completely.

"Where is this?"

Looking at the walls covered with vines and trees, Roja's face was full of doubts.

Then he looked up toward the sky.

But where did the sky come from?

On the ceiling more than twenty meters high, white flower buds the size of faceplates bloomed. The flower buds emitted soft white light and became the only light source in this sealed room.

"what happened?"

After the shock of coming to a strange place for no reason, Roja found that the other pharmacists present were checking their bodies one after another, and then screamed in horror.

Every pharmacist has vines growing on his body!

Roja pulled open his clothes and saw that there were also vines growing on his body.

Staring at the weird vines that were symbiotic with his body, Roja thought of the vine beast.

Dryads create extremely powerful vine beasts by letting vines and monsters coexist together.

Have they become "vine beasts"?

Does that mean these are all done by tree spirits?

After the shock, everyone present looked around, looking for the person who captured them here.

Soon, they saw a tree spirit on a high platform directly in front of the room.

Dryads are much smaller than humans. The height of an adult tree spirit is no more than 1.2 meters, and they look about the same as a primary school student.

Their skin is emerald green, as full of life as the buds growing in the new spring.

The limbs and facial features are similar to humans, but instead of the soft hair like humans, they have long strips of leaves similar to bamboo leaves.

Looking at the delicate and cute tree spirit in front of him, exuding the aura of nature, just like the spirit of the forest, one can't help but feel close to him.

The expressions of everyone present changed suddenly.

They all backed away in fear, until their bodies pressed against the wall and could no longer retreat, and then they had to stop.

"Who are you? Why did you bring us here?" Someone with the courage asked with a trembling tone.

Looking at the terrified pharmacists present and listening to their angry questions, the dryad standing at the front of the room showed a friendly smile.

"Dear pharmacists, hello."

"You can call me Glock, the person in charge of this medicine cage."

"The reason why we go to all the trouble to invite you here is because we want you to help us refine the potion."

The dryad named Glock sighed slightly.

"You should all know that we tree spirits are the sons of the forest and the darlings of nature."

"We can control monsters, control trees, and plant herbs to speed up the formation of herbs. Moreover, our body's ability to absorb herbs is several times that of your humans."

"Using the same medicinal herbs, the effects we dryads can achieve are far superior to those of you humans."

"So we tree spirits should be natural pharmacists. Every tree spirit can become a senior pharmacist or even a potion master with a little study."

"However, we tree spirits are the sons of the forest and the darlings of nature."

"This identity and physique have brought us many benefits, but they also come with many constraints."

"For example..."

Dryad Glock raised a finger and said, "We admire nature and live in nature. In our daily lives, we rarely make too complicated modifications to things in nature."

"In terms of housing, we live in a tree, and the house can be built with just a few dead trees."

"In terms of food, we usually eat fruits and tree sap, and occasionally we eat meat sliced ​​and raw."

"As for the skills of weapon forging ore refining, we don't have it and don't need it."

"We tree spirits hate you humans who wantonly destroy and transform nature."

"But we have to admit that you humans have many things that we tree spirits cannot reach, especially potions."

"If you mix different herbs together, you will get just a decoction. No matter how powerful the medicine is, it cannot be called a medicine."

"The essence of the potion refining process is to extract the essence of medicinal materials. A lot of props are needed in the process. These props are the crystallization of your human wisdom. We tree spirits cannot make them at all, and we are not used to them at all."

"But herbal potions are really useful to us dryads. We really need herbal potions, so..."

Dryad Glock smiled slightly, "I hope you can help our tree spirit refine the medicine."

"In this medicine cage, we will provide you with all the raw materials you need, the best equipment for refining medicine, various books related to medicine, and even the methods to become a potion master for free."

"You are here. Apart from not being able to leave and having to complete the pharmaceutical tasks we gave you on time, it is a paradise for you pharmacists."

After saying that, Dryad Glock put his hands behind his back and said, "Are you willing to accept my invitation?"

Dryad Glock's tone was so gentle and his attitude was so friendly, but everyone knew that since the other party risked their lives to kidnap them here, it was impossible to let them leave.

If they refuse, what awaits them...

Everyone was deep in thought, everyone turning their eyes to see the others' reactions.

After thinking for a few seconds, a pharmacist with an upright face stood up.

"You tree spirits are the enemy of us humans!"

"How can we, as humans, work for you dryads? Make potions for you to make you stronger, and then in turn kill us humans?"

"Isn't it just death?"

"I'm not afraid!"

Inspired by this upright and just pharmacist, one pharmacist after another stepped forward.

"We won't help you damn trees refine potions!"

"Rather than stay in a cage all my life, refining potions day and night like a tool, I would rather die!"

"You underestimate us humans!"

Under the angry curses of many pharmacists, Dryad Glock narrowed his eyes.

"You guys take a look at these first and then make a decision." Dryad Glock waved his hand, and the vines on the surrounding walls immediately began to shake violently. Under the shaking of the vines, the walls cracked and soil and stones continued to fall.

Could it be that it was so angry that it wanted to collapse the room and crush us to death?

As soon as this thought came to mind, the walls around him shattered.

"ah--"

People screamed, but after the wall was broken, the wall did not collapse.

Because there are other rooms.

The room they were in just now was just one of many rooms in this underground space.

Now the walls of the room have collapsed and are connected to other rooms, and the scenes from other rooms can be seen.

"What?"

"what happened?"

"Who are those people?"

In other rooms, there are vines growing, and those vines tie up a person.

The condition of those people was extremely miserable.

Some were disemboweled, some had their bodies broken into dozens or hundreds of pieces, some had their skulls opened, some had their skin peeled off and were bleeding continuously...

Ants crawl on the wound.

Rats gnawed at their flesh.

Vultures flapped their wings and pecked at people's eyeballs.

What’s even more terrifying is that even so, those people still didn’t die!

It’s better to say that you are still alive and well!

Bound by the vines, those people screamed in pain.

"Uh-huh, kill us--"

"Please, I know I was wrong, I am willing, I am willing -"

"Whoa, who can save me? Who can save me?"

Seeing those people screaming in pain, constantly begging for mercy, and unable to die even if they wanted to, the pharmacists who just screamed at the tree spirit Glock were so frightened that their legs became weak.

Suddenly, someone recognized one of the people tortured by the vines.

"Isn't that person Black? He was one of the inner courtyard pharmacists last year!"

"That person couldn't be Senior Pharmacist Wade, right? Why is he here when he should be in Green City?"

"That person is the pharmacist Abe who has been missing for twenty years?"

Everyone was surprised to find that those who were being tortured were actually pharmacists, and some pharmacists had been missing for decades!

People have been missing for decades, yet they are still alive and being tortured?

Looking at the pale-faced crowd, Dryad Glock chuckled, "This is a method of punishment invented by our tree spirits, called tree punishment."

"The principle of tree punishment is to make you humans live in symbiosis with trees and vines. After the symbiosis, you will not die even if you don't eat or drink, and you will also prolong your life. There is no problem in living for a hundred years."

"And it can also clear the pain tolerance produced by your body every day, so that the pain your body feels every day will not attenuate at all."

"There are people here who have been subjected to tree torture for nearly a hundred years."

Dryad Glock's words made the already pale man become even paler.

Many people are not afraid of death.

But life is worse than death. Who can bear it for decades or hundreds of years and endure a punishment that is more painful than being cut into pieces with a thousand cuts?

Dryad Glock squinted his eyes and stared at the people who had just jumped out and accused him righteously, "Aren't you willing to accept my invitation? It's such a pity."

Uh-huh! Uh-huh! Uh-huh! ——

A series of vines squirmed to tie up those people.

"Wait, wait! If you have something to say, please tell me!"

"I do! I was just impulsive! Please give me another chance if you have enough time!"

"I was just incited by them. It's all their fault! I am very willing to serve you, Mr. Dryad!"

"Kill me if you can! Kill me!"

The next second, there were more than a dozen scalp-numbing screams in the room.

In panic and fear, many people's bodies became limp and their lower bodies became incontinent.

But at this time, no one would despise them at all.

Dryad Glock squinted his eyes at the remaining people, "What are you going to do?"

Everyone looked at each other.

If they refuse and the outcome is death, many people would rather die than help the tree spirit.

The problem is that death is not that simple!

"I do."

The first pharmacist made the decision.

Then——

"I do!"

"I do too!"

As if a chain reaction had occurred, everyone was afraid that speaking too slowly would dissatisfy the tree spirit, so they rushed to express their wishes.

This scene made Dryad Glock nod with satisfaction.

"very good."

"But we don't raise medicine cages to support idlers. What we tree spirits need are only medicines refined from herbs, which are medicines from the herbal school."

"You don't need any of the other beast schools and mineral schools!"

As soon as these words were spoken, many people present turned pale.

Among them is Tina Cyril, one of the four inner hospital pharmacists!

As a rare genius of the ore sect, Tina was eagerly sought out in many places. After all, there were too few ore sect pharmacists.

But it’s different here!

Dryads only need potions from the herbal school!

Here, Tina, as one of the geniuses in the inner courtyard, is not even as good as the pharmacists in the outer courtyard that she usually looks down upon!

Tina couldn't help but move her eyes to look at the follower who usually fawned over her.

However, those followers in the cub yard at Scarborough Market who wanted to lick her toes actually lowered their heads to avoid her sight and silently distanced themselves from her.

Looking at those people walking away, Tina gritted her teeth and blood spilled from her bitten lip.

People with similar experiences to Tina keep appearing.

Many pharmacists who knew nothing about herbal medicine broke down and cried.

Dryad Glock has seen similar scenes many times, so he doesn't have much impression.

"Next, we will give you three days to refine the potion. Show off your talent and level of potion. We don't raise waste in the medicine cage!"

Uh-huh! Uh-huh! Uh-huh! ——

Vine after vine shot out suddenly, each vine tied up a pharmacist present, and then pulled the tied pharmacist into an unknown room.

Roja was brought to a potion refining room by the vines with a huge but harmless force.

Luo Ya narrowed his eyes slightly as he stared at the equipment in the room that was more complete than the lion cub courtyard.

"Dear pharmacist, what potion do you plan to refine?" A childish and cute voice came from Roja's feet.

Roja looked down.

He found that standing at his feet was a strange creature with a leaf on its head, a body similar to a white radish, many white roots, and a mouth and eyes.

"You are?" Roja asked doubtfully.

"I am the Bailuo Elf who assists the pharmacist in refining medicines. If you need any materials or equipment, just tell me and I will get them for you." Bailuo Elf said.

Looking at the white radish spirit that looked like a white radish turning into spirit, Roja was extremely curious.

After staring for a long time, Roja looked away from the Bailuo Elf and touched his chin in thought.

"What potion are you refining?"

"As a pharmacist in the Young Lion Academy, I should have no problem refining high-level potions, right?"

Although Roja has never refined high-level potions, he has relevant theories and knowledge.

For other pharmacists, even senior pharmacists, if they want to refine a high-level potion that has never been refined before, it may take several months of learning and practice.

After all, high-level potions are not that easy to refine.

"After all, there are only three days, and time is tight. Let's choose the high-level healing potion that is easier to refine among the many high-end potions."

Roja ordered the white radish elf: "Prepare ten raw materials for advanced healing potion for me."

"OK."

After Bailuo Elf nodded, he grabbed a vine on the floor of the room, and then "Hey, hey, hey," he pulled it up like a tug of war.

After pulling out more than ten meters of vines, the Bailuo Elf pulled out something nearly half a meter in diameter and heavily wrapped in vines from the ground.

After untying the vines, there are ten ingredients for advanced healing potions inside the package.

Roja didn't expect the potion materials to appear in this way.

He looked at the vines and small trees growing on the walls, floor, and ceiling of the room. If he pulled them out directly, would he be able to get the medicinal materials he wanted?

"Haha, how is that possible?"

Luo Ya stretched out and said, "Let's start refining a high-level potion for the first time in our life."