Reënboog Forest (1)

At the same time that Reizo won the preliminary tournament, a group of soldiers prepared themselves to face the unknown.

Africa, on one of the scarce rainy days.

In front of a colorful forest, about seventy men were standing harmoniously in five ranks, each of them wearing black armor, also known as Project Alpha armor. The rain was falling hard on their bodies, generating a muffled metallic sound in the environment.

From afar, hundreds of tents could be seen around the forest, tens of thousands of uniformed soldiers moving from one side to the other setting up camp. War tanks, heavy artillery and even planes rose and fell all the time on the improvised airstrip, the different flags fluttering in the wind showed who each camp belonged to: It seemed that the countries had already deployed their troops.

This squad was fully equipped with the best technology that ever existed, in addition to armors and machine guns, they wore the ARGP-100, the Robotics Alliance's first-rate augmented reality goggles. These glasses could easily record your actions in 8k resolution and had a simultaneous translation for all languages in the world, you didn't even feel any delay in it. Of course, the amount needed to buy just one of these was enormous. Fortunately, the Robotics Alliance donated them to the armies for some reason unknown to these soldiers.

Those five ranks of men stood in complete silence as the rain trickled down their armor. The black metal seemed to glow slightly due to the reflection of sunlight on the water, anyone who looked from afar felt a shiver down their spines: it was as if they were seeing a death squad, imposing.

This impressive group was the new collective division of armies: The Pathfinder Division! The division was created after the European conference, where many countries signed an agreement to send one or two men who knew Cultivation to be part of an "independent" army. Even though they understood that this kind of independence did not exist, they felt that the benefits outweighed their losses. Due to the division being in Africa, its leader was the newly promoted Captain Zander!

Zander was the man who not only left the forest alive, but was able to punch that ferocious panther in the face! His fame spread like wildfire and he now had a huge responsibility on his shoulders as the leader of this division. The Pathfinder Division's main mission was to explore the forest and discover the truth, now they would lead a group of scientists inside.

This squad was built with men from totally different cultures. It would be hard, but Zander needed to make sure everyone respected and obeyed him. This was a clear rule of any military organization, something that goes without saying, obedience to superiors is sacred. Still, Zander didn't just want obedience, but respect for free will.

"As part of the Pathfinder Division, we are responsible for scouting that damn forest! Due to its mysterious colorful leaves, the forest is called Reënboog Forest, which means Rainbow! But do not be fooled by its name, the things inside can kill you easily!" In front of that group of men, Zander walked back and forth and explained their mission once again.

The captain looked around, unfortunately, the heavy rain and helmets hid their faces and so, he couldn't see his men's reactions. Zander was apprehensive about the naming, the forest was a damned place where a lot of men lost their lives! He wasn't sure what the higher-ups intended with this name…

A second later he continued.

"Today, we are responsible for escorting two major engineers from the Robotics Alliance and a group of scientists from Diamond Pharmaceuticals who will try to collect samples." Zander looked back at the forest, a thought crossed his mind: Would that black panther be waiting for him? He shook his head lightly without letting his men notice his fears. "Stay around, keep a closer look for ambushes, this is not a normal forest, anything inside may kill you! Do you all understand?"

"Yes, sir!" The group of soldiers answered in unison, their voices were strong but tinges of anxiety could be felt.

This didn't go unnoticed by Zander, he could sense that they weren't sure of their mission. He knew that some of these soldiers didn't believe the rumors, many were skeptical about what awaited them. But that was to be expected, as they didn't experience the black beast he encountered. Zander was sure they would change their behavior after today.

"Let 's depart! Stay in our formation once inside, and report if you see anything uncommon!" Zander declared and with heavy steps, took the lead towards the forest.

"Yes, sir!"

And so, Zander went forth to the infamous Rainbow Forest. To his side, his best friend Schalk.

"I got your back Bro, just say a word and I'll do it." Said Schalk in private.

*********

The seventy men entered the forest slowly. The closer they got to the edge of the mysterious forest, the smaller they felt. It was as if they were entering the mouth of a huge monster with its huge teeth represented by the gigantic trees. Seconds later the "mouth" closed and they were all inside the Reënboog Forest, and in fact they felt like they were somewhere else: There was no sign of rain, the sun shone through the colorful leaves refreshing the environment as in a sunrise.

At the same time, Zander felt the refreshing denser Qi adhere to his skin. What a majestic feeling, he almost needed no effort to cultivate at this place! The rest of his soldiers took a few seconds more to notice that, but soon Zander heard small exclamations of surprise.

"Hmm... the environment here is completely different from the outside." Exclaimed one of the Robotics Alliance scientists thinking that the soldiers' surprise was the same as his, unfortunately he didn't have any Qi training to know how wrong he was. "It's almost as if we were in a different dimension."

Zander just slightly raised his hand signaling him to be quiet and get his men's attention. Soon after, he moved his right hand in circles, indicating for the soldiers to move to isolate the perimeter around the scientists.

After a minute or so he got the confirmation that there were no threats nearby. But just to be sure the circle was not big and he could see every soldier if he wanted.

"Okay, you can start collecting samples now. Engineering team, did you find anything?" Zander asked bluntly.

"I really can't make contact with the outside, all signals are isolated..." The Japanese man was carrying electronic equipment and some paraphernalia in a metal backpack, Zander didn't know what it was. He placed his backpack on the ground and propped a laptop on top of it. After some time typing it quickly he looked at Zander, frustrated. "I can't understand: It's like this forest is able to block any signal from outside but at the same time our internal signal is not affected... weird."

"So, are you saying that we can communicate using this?" Asked Zander while indicating the ARGP-100 with his finger. At least there was some good news.

"Hmm…" The scientist nodded and returned to type fast in his laptop.

At this moment when the captain was lost in his own thoughts, another scientist walked over.

"I'm sorry sir, but we were unable to sample the tree…" Zander looked back and was met with a bald and slim scientist, who held in its hands a completely broken drill machine. "Its surface is too hard!"

[It seems I expected too much from the higher ups… even gunshots can't scratch these surfaces and they sent drills?]

"Maybe I can help. . ." He suddenly had an idea and replied walking to the nearest tree. He wasn't sure of his theory, but it didn't hurt to try. He removed the metal glove and touched the trunk of the huge tree with his right hand. It would take ten men to hug the trunk of that tree and Zander couldn't help but look up and marvel at it. He felt the touch under his skin, an almost rocky feel to that wood, and only now did he realize how similar it was to the trunk of golden oak.

Suddenly Zander directed as much of Qi as he could towards his hand and fingers and immediately closed it with full force!

*CRACK!*

The sound of breaking wood echoed through the room and the group looked at him in amazement, especially the scientists who had tried everything to get a sliver of the tree. Zander broke off a piece of the tree with his bare hands! Could it be that this was the power of a Cultivator that people were talking so much about?