The fairy led me to the river after I'd recovered enough to keep going. I made sure to keep my distance away from the trees in case any of them were Stationary Ents. I could've sworn I saw a couple of branches move on their own, but that might've been my paranoia talking.

All thoughts of the tree monsters disappeared when the sound of rushing water reached my ears. I sped up my slow jog into a full out sprint, outpacing the fairy easily. She called after me, but I ignored her. She was probably telling me to be careful. My desire to conquer my thirst trumped my safety.

I found the river shortly and fell to my knees once I reached the bank. Shoving my hands into the rushing water, I cupped my palms and bent my head to drink. I didn't care if it was polluted, or even if it had bugs; it was the best gosh darn water I'd ever tasted. I slurped the vital liquid in my hands sloppily. Most of it fell out but that didn't matter because I scooped up more and more until I'd had my fill.

Stomach positively bulging with river water, I sat back on my haunches and burped.

<That was terribly irresponsible!> The fairy came flitting over to me, her wings casually spitting fire as she hovered in front of my face. <Don't you know there could've been water beasts in that river? Waiting to snatch you up so you'd never see the light of day again?>

My gut groaned and sudden pains drowned out the rest of her words. I wrapped one arm around my stomach, squeezing my sides tightly as I tried to press the pain away. That only made them worse, however, and the same forceful, queasy sensation I'd felt when the fairy teleported me to this world returned. I held it in long enough to lean over the riverbank before I puked the water into the raging, foamy coating the rushing river.

<That is so gross,> the fairy muttered, gagging from far above me.

I didn't deign to give her a response, falling flat against the moist riverbank. Groaning, I made a mental note to never stuff my stomach full of water again, no matter how pure and cold it tasted. I wanted to lay there forever and never get up again but the fairy had other plans.

She drifted down until her head was level with mine. This left her hovering mere inches above the surface of the river. I watched bemused as she kept flinching whenever a bit of foam would fly up and splash against her wings, only to rapidly evaporate when she beat them super fast. I wonder how much energy that takes up. Does she need to eat a lot to keep her stamina up? She's about the size of a hummingbird and her wings can beat twice as fast. She hovers a lot, too. Come to think of it, do cultivators even need to eat? I remember her talking about my 'mortal needs' being a pain so maybe they didn't-

<Austin,> she said, poking my cheeks. <Get up. We have work to do.>

"I don't wanna..." I mumbled.

<Weren't you the one excited to start your sect?>

Ugh. Right. Man, I hadn't even started but already the process of getting my revenge sounded time-consuming. Once I got my disciples, I'm going to take the best, longest nap in the history of the best and longest naps.

Sighing, I pushed myself up and onto my feet. "Alright," I said. "What do I have to do?"

The fairy flew up until she reached my shoulder, where she promptly sat herself down and folded her wings across her back. I was sorely tempted to slap her off - I didn't want an agent of my enemy touching me without repercussions - but something told me that wouldn't end well. Remembering the easy way she'd slapped aside the tree monster's branch, I let her be. For now.

<First,> she started, <you need to find some spirit herbs to harvest so you can use [Summon Qi Condensation Cultivator]. I sense some over there.> She pointed toward the tree line, where a cluster of brownish flowers grew in the shade of the giant oak tree. <Those are radiating a good amount of earth qi and I sense hints of wood and water. Not a lot, but they're likely there because of the proximity of the cluster to the tree and river. Keep that in mind when you're harvesting spirit herbs; while it might have an abundance of one qi element, if other sources of another element are at least ten feet of proximity, the plant will likely contain a trace amount of that other element.>

"Good to know," I muttered. I still hadn't moved an inch toward the cluster, though. Eyeing up the tree, something felt decidedly sinister about it. "That thing's a Stationary Ent, isn't it?"

<Hmm...Now that I'm close enough, I can tell that it's just achieved sentience. I'm sure it senses me; I'm not bothering to hide my aura. I outclass it by several stages, though, so hopefully, it'll keep its branches to itself.>

"Yeah, well, what about me?"

The fairy patted his ear. <Don't worry. I'll stay close enough that the beast won't attack you. Just get in and get out quick.>

"Okay, but...I don't know how to harvest spirit herbs. Or regular herbs. I don't have any tools, either."

<It's not that hard,> she said, her growing impatience adding a growl to her voice. <Just get closer and I'll tell you the instructions.>

I shuffled closer to the tree but she huffed. <We don't have all day!> she snapped. <Come on! The tree won't hurt you.>

Reluctantly, I picked up the pace until I stood directly under the tree. I stood stock-still, eyeing its motionless branches. When they showed no sign of movement, I started to bend down. I froze when the lowest one shifted toward me.

The fairy groaned and rose from my shoulder. <You'll be fine,> she insisted. <Now, focus on the plants. I actually know these; they grew a lot in my homeworld. These are Stone Blossoms. Their roots are typically used in body strengthening pills while their petals are used in body weakening elixirs.>

"That's great," I whispered. "But how do I get them out of the ground?" The tree monster had since stopped moving ever since the fairy came in between me and its branches, but I couldn't help but sweat. My mind kept imagining scenarios of a sneaky branch slipping by her and grabbing me, gobbling me up before she could act. I wanted to get out of here and fast.

<So impatient,> the fairy replied, rolling her eyes.

"You were the one rushing me," I hissed.

<Mortals and their silly fears. Alright, alright, just come down. Your shaky hands might break the flower.> She drifted down to inspect the flower patch. Singling out a flower on the edge of the cluster, she dragged her finger in a wide circle around. <Dig around here until you get dig enough to see its roots. Once you see them, you'll gently tug the flower out by its stem. Don't pull too hard or you might rip it.>

I followed her instructions, trying not to think about how she'd left me vulnerable to a branch attack. Digging was the easiest part; it only took a couple of minutes of chucking clumps of the soil before I found the shallow root system of the Stone Blossom. I moved to grab it but the fairy stopped me.

<Are you crazy? Don't grab it with your whole hand! Those things are huge; you'll ruin it! Use your thumb and forefinger to pull it out of the ground. Make sure to pinch it around the middle - no, that's too far down. Up, up, stop! There we go. Go ahead and tug. Gently, gently.>

Eventually, I had a whole Stone Blossom held in my hand. I'd nearly ripped it when the roots refused to untangle from a tiny pebble embedded in the dirt but I managed to remove it without too much trouble. The fairy fussed at me the whole time, but she gave me a begrudging nod when she surveyed the spirit plant.

<You did a good job, despite your mishaps. The plant is in pretty good shape.>

⌈You have collected 1x Stone Blossom.⌋

I retreated about five feet from the Stationary Ent, glad to have my prize and be done with it. "What am I gonna do with it now?" I asked. "How does the skill work?"

The fairy shrugged. <I dunno. Summon-skills normally use qi to bring whatever they want to their plane. Since you don't have nearly the amount of qi required and the system wouldn't likely spend egregious amounts of energy every time you wanted to summon a cultivator...Who knows? If I had to guess, it's probably taking the qi from the spirit plant> she pointed at the dangling flower in my hand <and somehow turning it into a cultivator> she gestured toward herself. <Don't ask me how that works, though. System magic is...strange.>

So how it'll be done is a mystery. It didn't matter so much to me how as long as I got the result. A real cultivator to join my sect...Man, I was excited. Much as I didn't like her, the fairy had shown some real fighting prowess. Would my disciple be able to light themselves on fire as she did? Would they be strong enough to casually smack aside a Stationary Ent's branch?

Eager to find out, I held out my hand and said with all the strength I could muster, "[Summon Qi Condensation Cultivator]!"

⌈Error. Cultivator Summoning Altar not found.⌋