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Acorn had felt the presence of Planta some time ago, but she didn’t come to the village and he was growing worried about that. As he had grown more fond of her and wanted to give her the new potions he crafted for her, while also asking how her new farm was doing, he ran into the dangerous forest with nobody but himself. Squirrel-kin were incredibly agile and stealthy, he easily climbed trees and jumped around the branches, reaching the area where he felt her presence.
Planta’s presence was very special, it contained a large quantity of Mana, she had grown so strong that she exuded such a big quantity of mana that almost all beings in the forest could sense her. The majority of low-level monsters by now feared her a lot, so they often never got closer to her now, and this might prove to be a bad thing in the near future if she wants to grind more levels… However, it also made it easy to track her.
Acorn quickly found the last place where she was, and in there, she found a strange entrance to an underground cave. When he looked into the place, he found there was a strange scripture in the cave entrance, and he felt it emanated a strong aura of mana he had never felt before. ．
“What sort of power did Lady Planta use to create this cave?” He wondered, slowly sniffing around, and finding nothing weird except the succulent smell of moss and mushrooms, both which squirrel-kin consumed. Although because they had been spoiled by Planta, they had begun to favor cooked meals now.
“Ah, this moss looks delish!” He said, quickly using his tiny hands to pick it up, saving it inside of his pouch, and then also picking up the mushrooms which he found were not poisonous. NPC are part of the System but lack many of the functions that players have, Acorn cannot see the complete details of an item by looking at it like Planta can through some detailed holographic window, but by seeing and sniffing the items, he can guess what they do and if he asks his grandfather who is very wise, he would be able to tell what it is by reading books.
Although NPC were able to level up and gain skills, which were concepts they knew about, they were unable to easily tell their stats and other things, as they were not able to see a status like players can. This is why NPC favored the “travelers” as they called players, as they were useful in many things and had special powers they lacked, alongiside… well, being virtually immortal.
However, the squirrel-kin village knew that Planta was something like a “traveler” in some sort of ways regarding her powers, but they saw her in even higher regard because she was said to be the messenger of the goddess Gaia, so she was considered something more equal to a divine being… a spirit and not a player. Therefore, their treatment to her was even more respectful than they would treat another player.
Over the time Acorn had spent with Planta, he had grown very fond of her, and saw her as her adoptive mother at this point, lacking a motherly figure because his parents died when he was young to the monsters, he was raised by his grandfather and his grandmother, but his grandma had died some time ago due to the disease, before Planta showed up to save everybody.
After she did all the things she did, Acorn couldn’t help but always think of Planta, she was like his protector, someone that spoiled him, petted him, and made him very happy. He had never felt so happy with anybody before and wanted to make her happy. Could this be love? Not really, Acorn didn’t felt romantically attracted to other species than Squirrel-kins, but he did love Planta as family.
“Hmm, these mushrooms and moss will be nice! Maybe Lady Planta can cook them or I could use them for alchemy, sounds nice!” Acorn wandered around the cave, getting deeper and deeper as he felt the presence of Planta in the depths of the cave.
“Huh? Is Lady Planta all the way down? Ugh… I-It is a bit scary to walk alone, I don’t know if I could use my explosive potions in such a closed space, I might end up damaged as well…” Sighed Acorn. “N-No! I have to arm myself with valor! Lady Planta is probably having trouble if she’s stuck down here! I-I have to go help her out!”
Acorn rushed down as fast as possible, but quickly slowed down as he felt fearful. He had night vision as a squirrel-kin, but he was afraid that a monster might jump on him and eat him up easily… so he walked very slowly, sniffing everywhere with his sharp sense of smell to not find any strange monster that could eat his tender squirrel meat.
“Uwah… I-I am scared…” He cried… And just after he thought that, suddenly, something enormous showed up behind him!
He didn’t even managed to sense him and he showed up.
It was an enormous… giant. It was made completely out of wood, with a shiny red jewel on his chest, and a menacing-looking head which was actually the skull of some sort of deer, with big horns.
“UWAAAH! A-A monster?!” Cried Acorn, freaking out.
However, the monster didn’t attacked but stood there looking at him in silence, and then it spoke with a gentle young man’s voice.
“A squirrel?!” The wooden giant asked. Acorn immediately felt angered, squirrel-kin disliked being called mere squirrels.
“Name’s Acorn! I am not a mere squirrel!” Said Acorn. “Huh? You’re not a monster?!” Acorn quickly realized this wooden giant was not a monster if he spoke.
“Err, I am a… traveler from afar. I came here looking for a Nature Spirit and found this dungeon. Are you lost?” Wondered the wooden giant, petting Acorn’s head gently.
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