The journal entry reads:
Mother has always been content with mediocrity, but I cannot keep making cures for runny noses and glorified fertilizer forever. I would be an incredible wizard - the greatest, surely! - if only I had the power. I want nothing more than to sit on the Council of Grand Wizards, dressed in fine robes, eating fine food. Making the laws, rather than forced to abide by them.
I know there is a way to increase magical power - I just need sufficiently magical ingredients. Whatever power lies at the centre of the Dark Forest has been seeping into the surrounding plants and wildlife for centuries - perhaps I could collect some for experiments. But the scrub on the Forest's outskirts would not be enough - I'll have to venture deeper for truly potent ingredients.
Mother would not approve - she believes the stupid myth that no one who enters the Forest ever leaves. It's probably just easy to get lost or fall in a hole or something. Thankfully, my sense of direction is impeccable and I'm intelligent enough to see any dangers before walking into them.