The journey to the Veridian Province was like traveling into a different world. The military transport flew them over the rocky landscapes surrounding the Academy and into a sea of green so vibrant it almost hurt to look at.

Full forests grew on rolling hills. Rivers went like snakes through fields with glowing flowers.

"Incredible," Lira whispered from her seat by the window, her face pressed against the reinforced glass like a child seeing the ocean for the first time. "The mana here is so… pure. So full of life."

"It's also full of pollen that will make your sinuses explode if you're not careful," Master Fen grumbled from his seat across the aisle. He was tinkering with a strange device of brass and glass that seemed to be a portable, self-heating tea kettle. "Nature is beautiful, yes, but let's not forget it's also trying to kill you in a thousand inconvenient ways. Like allergies."

Jonah smiled. Their new team was an odd mix of personalities, but somehow, they fit together. As the transport began its descent towards the town of Greenfield, however, the perfect green landscape started to look worse. Ugly, grey-brown patches appeared in the forest below, like a sickness spreading through the land's green skin. A strange smell, like rotting fruit trying to be perfume, drifted up to them even through the transport's filters.

Greenfield was the last large town near the spreading blight. It was a frontier town, with a strong wooden wall around it. Soldiers with hunting rifles and old energy weapons stood guard, their faces showing worry.

The moment the transport landed in the town's central square, a small group of people rushed out to meet them. They were led by a short, fat man in a formal, but stained, robes of a governor. The man looked like he hadn't slept in a week, his eyes wide and bloodshot.

"You've come!" the governor exclaimed, his voice cracking with relief. His desperate eyes immediately found Jonah, easily identifiable from the news reports. He stumbled forward and fell to one knee in the dust. "The Saint of the Scar! By the heavens, we are saved!"

Jonah felt a familiar, uncomfortable wave of awkwardness wash over him.

"Please, just Jonah," he said, quickly moving to help the man back to his feet. "We're here to help."

The governor, weeping with relief, quickly explained the situation as he led them into the town. "The blight advances slowly, a few feet a day. But anything it touches… it twists. The plants become aggressive, and any animal that wanders in… it comes back out wrong." His voice dropped to a grim whisper. "We call them Thorned Horrors. Monstrous things. They're not just beasts anymore; they're full of hate."

The town had given them a strong stone building to use as a base of operations. It was dusty and empty, but it was secure. Within an hour, the team had transformed it into a functioning mobile research lab.

Vanessa set up her runic scanners, silvery arrays that hummed with quiet energy. Lira found a small pot plant in the corner and began to gently coax it back to health, her soft humming seeming to make its leaves unfurl.

Master Fen, meanwhile, was loudly complaining about the rustic conditions.

No catalytic crucible? No mana distiller? How can I do genius-level alchemy in these… basic conditions?" he complained, unpacking a messy mix of beakers and vials that made a loud, uncomforting sound.

"You'll manage, Master Fen," Jonah said, unrolling a large map of the province onto a central table. "First things first. We need to see it for ourselves."

Their first expedition took them two miles north of the town, to the very edge of the blighted zone. The transition was sudden and deeply unsettling.

On one side, the Veridian forest was a magical, almost fairy tale place. Glowing blue mushrooms gave off a soft, ethereal light on mossy tree trunks. The air was filled with the sound of chiming insects and the constant, vibrant buzz of life. The air itself felt clean and alive.

On the other side was a wall of nightmare.

The ground shifted to black, cracked soil, wrapped in thorny, coiling vines. The trees were grey and skeletal, their branches twisting into aggressive claws. The air became heavy and cold, filled with the same cloying smell of decay. The gentle hum of the forest was replaced by an oppressive silence.

"By the ancient trees…" Lira breathed, her hand flying to her mouth. Her face was pale, her eyes filled with a horrified empathy for the suffering land. She took a step back, as if dodging a physical blow. "It's in so much pain. The entire forest… it's screaming."

Jonah felt a chill run down his spine. He could feel it too, a faint, unsettling wrongness that bothered his senses.

Vanessa was already at work, a small, handheld scanner in her hand. "The magical energy here is chaotic, but it's structured. It's not a natural phenomenon. It's… designed."

Master Fen, however, looked almost delighted. He knelt by the corrupted soil, pulling on a pair of thick alchemical gloves. "Fascinating!" he declared, scooping a sample of black dirt into a glass jar. "A complex mutagenic agent, airborne and soil-borne. This is terribly effective!"

He took another sample, this one of the air itself, trapping it in a sealed vial. His senses for alchemy, refined by a hundred years of practice, were actively buzzing "This isn't just a curse that kills things. This is a formula that rewrites them. It's brilliant!"

Jonah looked from the grieving Druid to the excited Alchemist, and then into the twisted maze of the corrupted forest. He could feel the cold intelligence behind it all. This wasn't just a disaster; it was an attack.

He now understood the true nature of the challenge ahead. They were facing a living, adaptive corruption, a plague with a purpose. And somewhere within that dark forest was the mind that had created it.