After Halen Vera left, the five first-class wizard apprentices immediately looked toward Locke, waiting for Locke's instructions.

These five wizards were all relatively old. Generally, wizards who had the strength to enter the Forbidden Forest secret realm were either exceptionally talented geniuses or veteran first-class wizard apprentices who had slowly worked their way up.

In other words, this opportunity to enter the Forbidden Forest secret realm was a once-in-a-lifetime chance for these five veteran first-class wizard apprentices, possibly their last chance to turn their fortunes around in this lifetime.

At this moment, they all looked at him with reverent, trusting gazes, even somewhat fortunate, because a year ago Locke had already made a name as the "Eye Demon" wizard. His deeds had already spread widely throughout Lilith's Cottage and were admired, envied, and worshiped by these wizards.

Therefore, after learning that this Forbidden Forest secret realm trip would be led by wizard seed Locke, quite a few of them felt fortunate.

This was a good thing.

Similarly, leading them meant both power and responsibility.

With responsibility came power. This was a truth Locke had comprehended at Lilith's Cottage.

Locke swept his gaze over them and stated plainly, "The interior of the Forbidden Forest is very dangerous. There are many dangerous wild magical plants you've never seen before. Forbidden Forest magical plants have always been renowned for being mysterious and powerful. The reason plant-type wizards in the southeastern quadrant are so formidable is also because they have the Forbidden Forest as a natural treasure trove."

"So after we enter, you must follow my commands. If you leave the group on your own, all consequences are your own responsibility."

The five first-class wizard apprentices exchanged glances with each other, all seeing conviction in Locke's eyes reflected in the others.

First-class wizard apprentice Sebastian immediately spoke up first, "Yes, Senior Augustine. Having a white wizard with actual combat experience like you leading the team is truly our honor."

Sebastian was a fat man wearing white wizard robes. He actively curried favor with Locke, "This Forbidden Forest expedition will depend on Senior Augustine."

The others also offered their compliments one after another.

Locke glanced at them and proactively walked into the Mist Forest Path.

His main purpose this time wasn't to obtain forest resources, but to find the sealed special-grade research project laboratory of Wizard Foucault and Wizard Lewis from five hundred years ago.

However, taking these few people to farm the secret realm wasn't much of a problem either. With his current extreme apprentice-level wizard standard of 900 magic pressure, even facing ordinary formal wizards, he had certain escape capabilities.

As soon as Locke walked into the Mist Forest Path, he could feel he had entered an ecosystem different from the outside world. The interior of this Forbidden Forest seemed to form its own ecosystem. Even the magical tides were different from the outside.

The magical tides inside the Forbidden Forest seemed more suited to plant-type magic.

Locke spread open his left palm and rotated it slightly. Immediately, the leaf blades of the Gentleman’s Orchid flew out and spun in his palm for a moment.

'As expected, plant-type magic has bonuses here, though I don't know the specific principle.' Locke thought. 'The wizard world still has many secrets for me, like this Forbidden Forest. It doesn't look naturally formed. There are traces of magical transformation.'

'But who could transform a forest as vast as the Forbidden Forest? Their methods are too grand. What could be in the depths of the Forbidden Forest has always been what wizards in the southeastern quadrant care about.'

It was said that even First Circle wizards had difficulty escaping unscathed from the depths of the Forbidden Forest, and their so-called secret realm was just circling around the Forbidden Forest's exterior.

Locke said in a low voice, "Regardless, this is indeed a good place to hide things. No matter what important items, throw them into the Forbidden Forest and outsiders will find it difficult to locate them again."

Various tree-type magical plants on both sides of the Mist Forest Path began emitting faint green fluorescence from their canopies. Those rays of light seemed to be some kind of blessing.

As they walked farther along the Mist Forest Path, the mana from the first-generation dean increasingly focused on them.

At the end of the Mist Forest Path stood a statue of the first-generation dean, the mysterious Witch Mist. On the pedestal of that statue was written a line of text: 'For wizards, the greatest enemy is not ignorance, but the foolishness of thinking oneself wise.'

After they reached the end of the forest path, light emanated from the eyes of that statue. Then the statue began moving in place, making way.

Opening a path to the true Forbidden Forest!

A mysterious and chaotic aura rushed toward them. This was the true magical tide belonging to the Forbidden Forest.

An elderly first-class wizard apprentice over a hundred years old behind Locke slightly changed expression. Obviously, he had already sensed the layers of danger behind the Forbidden Forest's magical tide temperament.

Sebastian was about to take the first step but was stopped by Locke. Sebastian paused, then immediately reacted. "Right, right, Senior, you go first."

Locke frowned, "That's not the reason."

"Look."

The Omen Mandrake Vines under Locke's right wizard robe sleeve rolled up a stone and threw it toward the wild grass-covered ground of the Forbidden Forest ahead.

As soon as the stone landed on the ground, countless grass blades suddenly opened small mouths with densely packed sharp teeth. They opened these terrifying mouths and continuously tore at everything around them.

Sebastian broke into a cold sweat. "There was clearly no magic pressure fluctuation at all... That's why I was careless. Could it be that the entire ground of this Forbidden Forest is full of these damn things? Wouldn't that make it a zone of death?"

The other four first-class wizard apprentices were also terrified after watching this scene.

Locke frowned slightly. "This is a mid-to-high-grade magical plant, Frog Tongue Moss. It's one of the common specialized magical plants of the Forbidden Forest. Actually, it's not a grass-type magical plant but a moss-type magical plant disguised as a plant. It disguises itself as various shapes of wild grass, so its appearance isn't consistent. But as long as it hears abnormal sounds nearby, it will instantly frantically attack the surroundings."

"Still quite troublesome."

"Haven't you heard the saying that the Forbidden Forest is a green desert?"

"Although the Forbidden Forest appears to have diverse species, actually the specialization degree of life forms inside is very high. A magical insect will only eat the third leaf of a specific magical plant. The Forbidden Forest is full of such creatures with extremely high specialization degrees."

"So while there are many animals and plants, it's a green desert in another sense, extremely dangerous. For us entering the Forbidden Forest, this isn't a green paradise where we can easily obtain food, but rather a green hell."

Locke looked left and right. The complex ecology inside the Forbidden Forest would produce a special phenomenon where solutions were in the surrounding area.

Locke immediately saw two types of flora and fauna near the Frog Tongue Moss that could easily solve this magical plant.

One was Sound-Absorbing Mushrooms. This type of mushroom would absorb any sound. Carrying it would allow absolutely silent movement without activating the Frog Tongue Moss's reaction.

The other was the Tree Sloth Stone Lizard, a magical lizard that clung to trees and remained motionless all day. Its call would emit a sound attack effect similar to Slow, which could slow down the attacks of surrounding Frog Tongue Moss and allow them to walk past easily.

The interior ecology of the Forbidden Forest was extremely complex, with mutual influences like the most sophisticated machine. Among them were countless gears meshing and rotating, so around any flora or fauna, there would definitely be flora or fauna that countered it.