—–
“Of course that decision will be for another time.” Said Titania. “Planta, I think it has already been five minutes, we should keep moving now. Has everyone eaten their fill?”
Everyone nodded, although Acorn was still eating tasty fruits and stuffing his cheeks with them.
“Alright then, everyone, let’s move on. The entrance was already located by the Fairy Spirits, it is towards this direction! I’ll make up a path so we can remain in our Terrain and not be weakened!” I said, moving onwards.
As we packed everything and decided to move on, I took my weapon, which I was able to shapeshift as it was made out of the Branch of the Tree of Beginnings, giving me the ability to shapeshift it using [Plant Manipulation], I shaped the weapon into a Shovel once more, and began hitting the ground with it.
TRUUUMMM…!
FLASH!
A wave of green and golden light erupted from the floor, spreading out and magically converting our surroundings into Healthy Soil, the Flower Garden expanded almost automatically, leaving a trail of flowers behind us as we advanced forward.
“Honestly, your abilities are amazing.” Titania sighed. “Not even I am capable of doing something like you, Planta. To be able to instantly change something contaminated with Miasma… It is incredibly impressive.”
“I-Is that so? It is merely Level 10 [Farming Tool Usage] Skill!” I said. 𝒃𝒆𝙣𝒐𝒗𝙚𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝒎
“Farming… Tool Usage? I had never heard of such a Skill before…” Titania said. “Players really do have impressive Skills, don’t they?”
“It is actually quite a non-battle Skill.” Said Titan. “I had no idea it could develop such effects after reaching Level 10.”
“Oh well, it also happens thanks to the power of Soil Manipulation and Terrain Adaptability, both at Level 10 too.” I said with a nod.
“T-Those are all Farmer Class Skills, right? I had never heard of those before.” Sighed Titan. “Maybe I should had picked up the Farmer Class myself now that I think about it…”
“I think your Druid Class is pretty strong, Titan! You just have to keep finding new ways to merge your Magic and Skills together. I am sure you can find a way.” I said.
“Hmmm… Certainly, I’ll try my best.” Titan said with a rather confident tone of voice. “I want to grow stronger and protect this forest. I’ve already grown quite attached to everything here… Although I also want to explore the outside world too.”
“Me too!” Said Achlys. “Quite honestly it is getting a bit boring for me…”
“I might be able to help you reach your home, Lady Achlys.” Said Titania.
“My home?” Rita asked while raising an eyebrow.
“You see, there’s a Forest of Dark Elves in an adjacent region to our own. They live close to the Dwarven Mountains of Rosenheim as well.” Said Titania. “If you ever think about meeting with your kin, you could go there.”
“Oh, that sounds interesting… Dwarves are those little guys, right?” Wondered Rita.
“Yeah!” Titania said. “We don’t have… good relationships with them. A vassal of them, who was also a Player, tricked us. He noy only betrayed our trust but also stole our treasures.” Sighed Titania. “I would like to get back the Spirit Wood Crown and the Translucent Fallen Star one day…”
“Wait, so that player stole treasures from you?!” I asked.
“Of course… If it wasn’t for him, we would had already given you them so you could use them against the Snake Queen. Without them, we were left rather hopeless against the snake invasion.” Sighed Titania. “The Spirit Wood Crown is an incredibly powerful Crown that multiplies Magic Power and Mana by several times, and it also allows for the usage of Summon Magic, which allows people to temporarily Summon powerful Spirits of the past. The other is a powerful Sword of Legends once wielded by the Mushroom Hero to slay the Snake Queen, the Mushroom King, and the Shadow Crow King…”
“Wow, so a Player just stole them…” Said Titan. “I was fairly sure NPC are protected by the System so a Player that tries to hurt them is punished, right?”
“Well, he fooled us and ended getting close to the Treasures. It only took a single tap of his finger over them for the treasures to disappear. We tried to chase him down and capture him, but he escaped easily from our grasp.” Titania sighed. “Ever since then, we haven’t trusted Players… Until all of you came here and saved us, so we have decided to change how we think.”
“I see…” I said while thinking about such things.
Whoever was that Player, he was really a terrible person… Well, maybe not that exaggeratedly bad, but he was really an asshole. But I suppose… it also depends on how people see the NPC of this world. As mere game characters with no real life, which doesn’t make them feel bad about stealing from them or tricking them, or as people like I am doing right now.
Maybe the correct way is not really the way I am doing things, but I feel like it is the right thing to do in my heart, and I think that’s the important part.
“Well, if we ever find him, we’ll try to take back the items.” I said with confidence.
“Eh?! But that would involve a PvP battle, wouldn’t it?” Asked Titan. “I bet he’s over leveled too…”
“I-I am just hypothetically saying! It is not like I will chase him to the ends of the earth, but if I happen to find him, we’ll try something…” I said with a nod.
“Thank you for your consideration, Planta.” Titania smiled charmingly at me. “But I believe this is enough talk for now, we are here.”
After waking for only five minutes while slowly turning the Swamp Tiles into Healthy Soil and then expanding my Garden Terrain, we suddenly came across the entrance to the very depths of this “Dungeon” which resembled caves that led down, dimly illuminated by glowing mushrooms and moss.
“This is the nest of the Snake Queen.” Titania said.
From within the caves, a foul aura of darkness and poison leaked… It was truly quite terrifying.
—–