I am currently making my way further to the south, arriving at the river that is starting from the lake, where I met the fairy.

The fairy, by the way her name is Evie, told me that there are two ways to grow a Crystal Flower. The first one would make it from scratch with her Fairy Magic. That’s how she grew the flower at the waterfall. But unfortunately, that would take a lot of time. So that option is out of question.

For the second option, we would use the existing flower to grow a new one. But therefore we would need a few ingredients. They are actually nearby, but first I have to cross the river. It doesn’t seem like there is a place where I can just walk through and the current is too strong to swim. Can I maybe just jump over? I think the distance is about 8 to 9 meters. So it could be possible. But let me try it first on solid ground.

I mark a line because that would be my starting point. Then I take a few steps back to run-up and jump. I measure the distance in steps and it comes out as about 10 steps. Alright, that should work.

Now the actual part. I run-up to the river and jump and I really jump over the river. Good. I look at the forest in front of me and focus on my senses.

“Shit!” I almost expected it, but I can’t rely on my sense of smell this time. That means I have to rely on my eyes this time. My ears could also help to pick up the enemy’s movements. This time, the enemy is skilled at blending into its environment. Maybe I can use Analyze to identify me monster beforehand? If I find it beforehand, I should have no problems defeating it. But the matchup isn’t in my favor. At least if I only consider my sword.

I step into the forest, wary of ambushes. After about thirty minutes, I still couldn’t find the monster I was looking for. I used Analyze again, but this time I got the result I was hoping for. There is a tree about 4 meters in front of me. It looks exactly like every other tree here. Even with my eyes, I can’t spot any difference. But it can’t deceive my Analyze ability, because said tree is actually a level 18 Treant, a monster with the body of a tree. It’s an E-Rank monster because of their ability to blend into their environment. If it were not for that ability, they would be just F-Rank.

But Evie was right. Because of its defensive abilities, there is no way I can cut it with my sword. She was worried when she told me. But fortunately I have other means to defeat it, even if I don’t really like using it.

“Blood Needle.”

My attack hits the Treant and deals a considerable amount of damage. But it was not enough to defeat it. The Treant morphs, and I can finally see how it really looks. Its body is darker than the other trees around it and it actually has a big face molded into the center of its body. I fire another Blood Needle in its face. The Treant becomes even slower, but it is still moving, so I fire another Blood Needle. Then it finally stops moving. That’s it, right?

I am not really sure how to tell when a Treant is dead. So I walk up to its body, but still wary of my surroundings. But it seems like it’s actually dead.

First, I finish the simple part. I gather a small amount of the fragments of the Treant’s body that fell on the ground when it got hit by my Blood Needle. Then I took out the flower pot I bought in Gilicia. I bought it to put the Crystal Flower in, since I didn’t want to risk it withering after I pick it. But now we are going to grow the flower in there. That’s why I fill the flower pot with mulch from the Treant and then put some dirt over it. With that, I have the first ingredient. Highly nutritious soil.

I put the flower pot away and take out the knife I used for dismantling. It is lucky that I can get the second ingredient from the Treant, too, but taking it out will be annoying. But there is no helping it, so I carve a hole at the center of the Treant’s face.

“Ah, finally…” It took me almost an hour, but I finally got the Treant’s monster core. It was really hard to carve it out with a simple knife. But I’m done. Now it’s time to go back. I got the soil, and I got the catalyst Evie needs for her spell.

While making my way back to the river. I suddenly hear some rustling behind my back and I make a jump forward on pure instinct. It was the correct choice, because when I turn around, I saw another Treant that tried to ambush me. You have to be kidding me. I was so focused on making my way back that I didn’t analyze the trees anymore.

A bit annoyed at myself, I got ready to fight the Treant. Well, even if I say fight, I just fired three Blood Needles at its face and the Treant stopped moving. Treants are really an annoying match up for me. I can’t sense them by usual means and I can’t use my sword. My Blood Power is at 15/21 after fighting the two Treants. That means I can fight another four without entering Blood Rage.

I should better not risk anything, so I am going to avoid fighting more Treants. I make my way through the forest and I actually encountered two more Treants on my way. But since I recognized them early enough, I was able to avoid the fight by circling around them while keeping my distance.

I arrive back at the river and like before I jumped over it and an hour later I arrived back at the waterfall.

“Hey Evie, I’m back. I got everything.” I called out to her. I couldn’t see her at first, but a few moments later, I saw a familiar light ball flying to me and Evie appeared next to me.

“Welcome back Benji. Then let me see what you got.” She said impatiently while fidgeting in the air. I took out the flowerpot and the Treant’s monster core.

“Oh good, now we can finally grow another Crystal Flower. It’s the first time I am growing it with this method.” She said excitedly. I couldn’t help but smile at the fairy. She is the one being that excited, but it is me who needs the Crystal Flower.