A couple more days pass for the group with only a spattering of undead to disturb them. Not that it is peaceful. Every day Rosha gets better at spotting the plant monsters and this just reveals higher and higher leveled threats. None above level 49 yet, but if things don’t change, they feel it is only a matter of time.
On the third day, things change for the better. The hidden plant monsters for the first time go down in level despite her skill’s level increasing. She is almost disappointed by this change as the high level mobs had been great training for the skill.
On the other hand, she is relieved that she is now likely spotting all the hidden monsters. After all, she couldn’t be sure that level 49 was actually the strongest plant around and not just the limit of her skill. Plus, she only had information on the lower level monsters. It was entirely possible that 50 was some break point in the local plant's evolution and she just had no clue what to look for. The fact that she could see such high level monsters after all was entirely from knowing very specific things to look for. In any other location it is entirely possible she wouldn’t even be able to spot hidden monsters of equal level.
Still more days pass before Lily has a chance to fight. Rosha had spotted a few lower level plants early in the day but held off on telling the group until now. The others Lily should have been able to handle, but their tactics and tricks didn’t match what she wanted for the first fight. Now though, she has spotted a level seven leaf walker.
Rosha turns to the group and motions for them to stop. She turns so her back is to the walker and points in its direction so the monster can’t see that she has spotted it. The rest of the group takes a few minutes to spot the creature. If only because they are searching for it out of the corner of their eyes. A surprise attack would be of significant benefit to Lily, so they try their best to let her get it.
The monster itself is holding position at near the edge of a clearing. It was spread out on the ground, basking in the sun but has tensed up and carefully drawn its legs under itself. While the leaf walker hasn’t realized they spotted it, just the fact that people are so close has it nervous.
Courtney walks over to Rosha and stands shoulder to shoulder with her. Jason then stands with them between him and the walker. He crouches down and opens up the harness to let Lily out. She hops out of the harness and into his hand.
Jason holds her up to his face and whispers to her that, “we want you to fight the plant monster over there. Did you spot it when Rosha pointed it out?”
Lily nods her head and Jason pets her before continuing. “Good! Now we haven’t done any combat training because honestly, I wasn’t expecting this. Sloppy of me not to have done some with you in the last few days. Don’t worry though, if anything looks like it is going wrong I will jump in. Now go and show me what you can do. I believe in you!”
Lily tilts her head to the side and then hops out of his hand. She looks at the others and wipes her face off with her paws. Ready, she hops off towards the leaf walker.
Still trying to hide the walker stays still, hoping the approaching rabbit just goes by. At first this seems to work. Lily hops a little past it and out of sight. Internally the leaf walker relaxes but this is a little too soon. From it’s blind-spot a soft furry paw slams down and smashes the monster’s head into the ground.
The leaf walker forces its head off the ground from beneath her paw. It should have been defending itself. Lily takes the time it took to stand up to attack again. This time though she brings into play her best weapon against a plant.
Lily takes a great big bite out of the plant. Her teeth are perfect for slicing through the branch-like structure of the monster’s body. This doesn’t kill the leaf walker, but with its main body almost snapped in half, it doesn’t have much of a chance. While it is a plant, because it has gained sentience, the branch needs specific body structures to stay intact to survive.
With a leaf walker, this body part is the main stem. The offshoots and leaves can grow back, but when the tree created the monster, all that magic was anchored in that main branch. With one more bite, Lily snaps this leaf walker’s main body in half and finishes it. Monster dead, Lily starts to snack on the tender, newly grown leaves. She seems to even like them more than the berries of Jason’s Energy herbs.
Jason walks over and kneels down next to her. “Well, I guess we didn’t need to worry too much about you, did we?”
Courtney laughs, “From what I just saw she has been watching you fight and learning from that. Then again, she is in the perfect place to observe. Still, you should follow through on that training thing.”
Jason nods, “That was a good sneak attack but a straightforward fight isn’t as easy. I bet the leaf walker ignored her only because she is still quite small. It likely thought she was a lower level than itself. Besides that though I think no matter what we do, she will want to fight more going by how happy she is munching down on the monster.”
Rosha walks up next to them and shrugs. “The normal vegetables are just that, normal. Those berries you grow have Energy in them. Monsters? Monsters, especially higher level ones, have so much more power in them. The same is true for plants grown by more skilled growers. In NeoRealm, the power in food is like salt to bland food. It makes even the toughest cut of meat a joy to eat and the bitterest herbs edible.”
TFTC!
Fatality! Flawless Victory! Lily, wins!