"Hey, before we go, Arin, you have the best connection to this place. How is the ecosystem doing in the forest?" Tom asked, knowing that the family had become increasingly concerned about maintaining the forest's health. His question was not entirely unrelated to their discussion about breeding combat dogs, since introducing another predator into the ecosystem could potentially cause problems. Back when the forest had been much smaller, there had barely been an ecosystem worth discussing in the first place. They had needed to keep an eye on the few deer living nearby because there had been nothing hunting them, which meant their population could easily grow beyond what the forest could support.
"Wait, let me check," Arin said as he closed his eyes. This time, however, he was not simply meditating to become one with the forest or to help direct the mana flowing through it. Previously, his connection had mostly allowed him to experience the different types of mana produced by the trees, which was already an interesting sensation when combined with his physique. Now he wanted to communicate with the forest itself and determine whether it was healthy. More importantly, he wanted to know whether there was anything he could do to help.
Calm down, Arin. Stop thinking and let yourself become absorbed by the environment, Arin reminded himself. He slowly emptied his mind of unnecessary thoughts before beginning to circulate his mana through his body. As the mana moved, his awareness gradually expanded beyond his physical body and into the surrounding forest. The others had moved beneath the tree line while he meditated, leaving the open clearing behind them, and through his connection he could sense himself and his friends sitting beneath the canopy.
The sensation was difficult to describe because Arin could both see and feel what was happening around him. He could sense birds sitting inside nests hidden among the branches, while underground he could feel moles digging through the soil. None of these things appeared in the traditional sense of sight, because there were no clear images or colors attached to them. Instead, the trees seemed to communicate their existence to him, giving his mind enough information to understand that something was there without actually showing him what it looked like.
As Arin allowed himself to sink deeper into his connection with the forest, another sensation began to emerge. He could feel something resembling the mood of the forest, although calling it a mood was probably inaccurate because the forest itself was not conscious. Even so, there was a strange imbalance somewhere within it, almost as if the entire forest had become heavier on one side. The sensation was subtle, but it was different enough from what he normally experienced that Arin immediately became suspicious.
What could have caused that shift in weight? Arin wondered as he searched through the forest with his newfound awareness. Nothing should have been there that could produce such a strange sensation, at least nothing he knew about. Then another possibility entered his mind, and his thoughts immediately focused on the secret realm. The moment he realized what might be happening, a feeling of horror began spreading through him, and he instinctively started pulling himself out of the meditation.
It seems we aren't too late, Arin thought as he hurriedly returned his awareness to his own body. He could feel that the strange shift had only started recently, which meant they still had time to react. If the disturbance had been present for much longer, he was certain the forest would have been screaming at him through every instinct it possessed. The forest might not have been conscious, but it still had survival instincts, and those instincts would react violently to something capable of disrupting its balance.
That realization also explained something else that had been bothering him. The animals were already beginning to move, with their behavior subtly changing as they responded to whatever was happening beneath the surface. Arin had experienced the forest's defensive instincts before, and he had no desire to experience them again. Whatever was happening with the secret realm, he needed to tell his grandfather before the situation became more serious.
"And what did you learn?" Tom asked eagerly when Arin finally opened his eyes. The others had been waiting patiently, but his sudden change in expression had clearly made them curious. Arin stood up almost immediately, his thoughts already focused on the workshop where his grandfather was likely working. He did not have time to explain everything because there was something more important that needed to be checked first.
"Well, the forest is fine," Arin said, giving them the answer they had originally asked for. "Getting dogs to replace wolves as hunters wouldn't necessarily be a bad idea, but that isn't important right now." He looked toward the trees with a serious expression before turning away from the group. "I need to see Grandpa." Without waiting for another question, Arin disappeared between the trees.
"What did he find that made him run off like that?" Bertho asked in confusion. He immediately reached for his phone out of habit, only to stop halfway through the motion when he remembered that he no longer carried it around with him. Phones had become useless if they were taken beyond the original forest, so the family had developed the habit of keeping them beside their beds instead. Even after all this time, however, old habits were surprisingly difficult to break.
"I don't know, but let's find out," Bill said. He immediately ran after Arin, apparently having reached the same conclusion as Bertho. Bertho followed a moment later, and the two quickly disappeared beneath the trees. Tom was left behind for a moment, staring after them before deciding that he probably had little choice but to follow as well. Whatever Arin had discovered, it clearly sounded more important than their discussion about combat dogs.
Meanwhile, Karl was busy with a completely different problem. Last time I proposed something at one of those meetings, it went on far too long, he thought while carefully braiding several lengths of plant fiber together. His hands continued working automatically as he followed a pattern that had taken the family hundreds of years to perfect. These fibers were being turned into bowstrings, and the family had spent generations experimenting with different ways of braiding them to produce the strongest and most reliable strings possible.
The newest pattern was particularly impressive because it had been designed with the assistance of a supercomputer and artificial intelligence. After analyzing countless possible combinations, the system had produced a weave that was roughly thirty percent better than the family's previous method. That improvement might not have sounded revolutionary to an outsider, but for a craft that had already been refined over hundreds of years, it was an enormous achievement. Karl was therefore quite pleased with the result, even if he was increasingly frustrated by how long it took to produce each string.
As for why he was complaining, Karl simply should have finished this string already. He still had several more to make, and every minute spent talking was another minute that left him vulnerable to falling behind his schedule. Bowstrings were in surprisingly high demand within the family, especially because only recruits with previous experience in arts and crafts could reliably produce the highest-quality versions. Karl also used plants that he personally cultivated, which gave his strings an additional advantage over ordinary examples.
The family valued those bowstrings because they could sometimes elevate a bow into a higher rarity if the difference between the bow and its components was not too great. Such opportunities were rare, which made high-quality materials particularly valuable to experienced craftsmen. Karl therefore had no shortage of work even before considering his responsibilities as head of the family. Unfortunately, that was exactly why he had little patience for meetings that dragged on for hours.
"Come in," Karl said with a tired sigh when he heard a knock on the door. His workshop was, as usual, a complete mess, with tools, materials, unfinished projects, and various pieces of equipment spread across almost every available surface. He barely looked up from his work before the door opened. What he saw standing there was Arin, whose solemn expression immediately told him that something had happened.
"Grandpa, I believe the secret realm is getting ready to open again," Arin said. His voice was serious enough that Karl immediately stopped working. "There is a noticeable difference in the weight of the forest." Arin struggled slightly to explain the sensation because it was something he had experienced through his connection to the forest rather than through his normal senses.
"What do you mean by the weight of the forest?" Karl asked, clearly confused. "That is the first time I've heard anyone describe it that way." He placed the unfinished bowstring on his workbench and gave Arin his full attention. Whatever the boy had sensed, Karl knew better than to dismiss an unusual observation involving the secret realm.
"I communicated with the forest today," Arin explained. "I could feel that the animals were being drained from one side of the forest while the rest of the forest was filling up." He paused, searching for the right words before continuing. "When I say drained, I mean that the living presence of the animals was being pulled away from that side, almost as though something was changing the balance of the entire area."
Karl's expression immediately became more serious. He had enough experience with nature to understand that strange changes in the surrounding environment could be warnings rather than coincidences. If Arin was correct, then the portal might already be preparing for another opening. That would explain why the forest itself had begun reacting before anything visible had happened.
"All right, then let's go take a look," Karl said. He carefully set aside the half-finished bowstring before standing up from his chair. There was no point continuing his work when the secret realm might be about to open again. Whatever was happening, they needed to understand it before the portal actually became active.