“This isn’t a mountain….”

Elder tried hard to argue how absurd my claim was, but I ignored him. That’s a mountain. If it rises above the plains, it’s all a mountain.

I sniffed the fragrant scent of dandelion flowers and plopped down in a spot where they were sparse. Just lying down felt like my fatigue was gradually recovering.

Daisy was a popular dryad among the dandelion children. Her popularity rivaled that of a celebrity.

“Did you take care of all the fires outside too? That’s amazing.”

With cheeks as red as a tomato, Daisy insisted that Mesquite and Elder were more impressive than him, but the children seemed to be filtering out what they heard.

The children chattering away were so cute. I wished I could form a soul contract with one of them as my dryad, but before I could even think about it, Dandelion spoke first. He said there were a few children who wanted to go on an adventure following Daisy.

However, since the children in sapling form were too immature for adventure, he hoped I would firmly refuse them. He said that no matter how much the children begged, I had to shut it down.

Unlike Daisy, the newly born sapling children were too fragile and mentally immature, making it highly likely they would act out against the druid’s intentions.

Moreover, being hardly different from a tiny world tree, they had no power or experience to protect a druid who should be prioritized above all.

It wouldn’t be a problem if they went through a socialization process in the forest and matured, but he said dandelion dryads had a high chance of returning to the embrace of the world tree before fully growing. That’s why the dryads in the current colony were all small in size.

Dandelion had already lectured the children once, saying that although Daisy bloomed as a mature individual, she lost her power and became a sapling, so she couldn’t be their role model.

Even if I thought about what might happen if I paved a diamond path, it was impossible since the guardian, akin to a king, didn’t agree. Also, Dandelion saw the limits of my soul at a glance, just like Mesquite did.

He said that in my current state, it would be better to take another mature dryad for protection rather than going out of my way to take a dandelion child.

It was a shame, but oh well. It was just my little greed.

Daisy, playing with the little children, looked full of energy. Her sullen expression from the last battle lingered in my mind, so even after hearing hopeful words from Dandelion, I was secretly worried.

But above all, since Daisy herself had shrugged it off and was having so much fun now, I needed to let it go too.

Wait, wasn’t this not the time for me to whine about climbing a mountain, worrying about my stamina? There might be countless mountains ahead even tougher than this one. Let’s reflect.

I can’t be my usual self now. Now, I’m a druid leading my dryads. I need to change and grow to fit this world.

I must wake up earlier than anyone in the morning and prepare to set off. No complaining. That’s what I resolved.

The dandelion children, who had been running around like crazy and playing nonstop while the sun was up, became astonishingly calm as soon as the sun vanished beyond the horizon.

They huddled around the Dandelion and babbled away, using their chatter as ASMR, then fell into a deep sleep, as if my attempt to zone out was utterly in vain.

I seriously thought the mute button was pressed. If it weren’t for the colorful sound of breathing, I’d have thought I was the only one lagging and the playback had stopped.

The yellow flowers, which had bloomed so fully that I mistook them for being in a yellow galaxy, closed their petals and fell asleep. The stars of the day yielded their place to the stars of the night.

Wasn’t it a given that children whine and resist at bedtime, then fall asleep with their exhausted guardian? When the time came, they all drifted off as if by magic.

The only dandelion dryad who did not fall asleep was Dandelion herself. The claim that dryads don’t need to sleep or eat seemed to apply only to her among the dandelions.

“The children are still frail. And since they’ve entrusted their souls to me, they’re no different from human children now. They follow their maternal instincts.”

She said this as I stood blankly staring at the dandelion children gathered around her, lost in deep slumber. In a voice as low and gentle as a lullaby, softly seeping in.

Mesquite, just in case, patrolled around the colony and came back. Then she coaxed me to join the children on their dream journey.

I counted how many times she left the colony’s center a few times, then dozed off. I fell into such a deep sleep that I didn’t even dream.

***

Who was it that said if you look forward to the morning, your eyes open naturally when it’s time to get up?

Why doesn’t that apply to me? They said you can do it if you have a strong will!

I jolted upright with a chilling sensation of my heart sinking and my head going cold.

Oh, I’m doomed… Whenever I wake up feeling like this, it’s a hundred percent a disaster.

This feeling… it’s the same as when, from the moment I could speak fluently, I had to leave my cozy home every weekday morning for the path of learning, and my ancestor would splash water on me to tell me I had severely overslept.

Wake up, sleepyhead. How can you neglect your studies by sleeping in? Our family is a prestigious lineage that has honed academics for generations. I’ve never seen a descendant with such weak will to learn, who won’t even consider waking up until someone rouses them.

If left alone, you’d sleep until evening, so I couldn’t bear it and woke you. But it’s already too late, so you’re going to get scolded badly.

If you’re going to wake me, why not do it earlier? Why do you always wake me when I startle up only to find it’s already ruined?

Instead of the chirping sparrows in the morning, the dandelion children were giggling and chattering. Everyone was already awake.

Despite the resolution I had made the night before, I overslept again. I crawled to the well with bleary eyes and splashed water on my face. The water was just cold enough to slowly wake me up.

Elder looked at me, washing my face like a cat, and spoke disdainfully.

“You were sleeping so soundly, I couldn’t bring myself to wake you. You seemed really tired.”

“I always sleep like I’m dead.”

Sometimes my mom thinks I’m actually dead and puts a finger under my nose to check. She gets so worried she shakes me awake in the middle of the night. I don’t even have bad sleep habits. I’m such a proper person.

“You’re impressive too. You didn’t even think of waking up when the dandelion seedlings were running around noisily.”

“It just occurred to me—if danger came while I was sleeping, it might be faster to just grab me and run than to wake me up.”

I’m a hopeless case. Even when I make life resolutions, this is what I am. A proper person? Yeah, right.

Still groggy and not fully awake, I thought about dunking my face into the well and pulling it out to snap out of it.

Shaking my body like a broken toy, I saw Daisy in the distance, surrounded by dandelion children. Daisy was pulling out a dagger and showing off attack moves according to the kids’ demands.

Adorable. The kids went “Wow!” in awe, following Daisy’s dagger with their eyes.

“Our Daisy sure has energy. How can she move so lively in the morning? I have no energy at all in my whole body.”

I tied up my hair, which I had let down for sleeping, roughly, and honestly admired her.

When I was that age, I used to run around the playground so much that I wouldn’t go home even when my mom called me in. I even came in first in the running race at the elementary school sports day.

After shaking my high-ponytail like a horse’s tail once and stretching, Elder’s hand, wrapped in a white glow, touched my forehead.

“You don’t seem to be hurt, do you? No energy? Did something happen to your body from the explosion yesterday?”

I, who had been constantly protected by the dryads, couldn’t have been injured. Even if I were hurt, I’m such a coward who’s even afraid of needles that I definitely wouldn’t have stayed still.

“No, it’s just a figure of speech. I guess it’s because I’m getting older.”

It’s a remark that would get me beaten if I said it in front of the seniors right above me, but you can’t expect the stamina from school lunch days to match the stamina from school knowledge days.

“Mesquite is way older than you, isn’t she? He was out patrolling all last night and went out again this morning.”

“Don’t compare that extraordinary being to me. How dare you use Master Mesquite as a benchmark for someone like me!”

I should start exercising and such from now on. Even though it’s a world inside a game, I brought my own physical condition here and I’m already whining.

As Mesquite returned, we bid farewell to the dandelion dryads and quickly left the colony. And my resolve to wake up early like last night was defeated within a single day, just like I had wasted this morning.

Daisy bouncing with lively steps over the rocks, and Mesquite trudging steadily up without a hint of strain, clad in heavy armor, shield, and lance… Elder walking with a serene expression even in his flowing garments.

Among them, the most ordinary me was climbing the mountain with a deathly expression, chewing over dozens of declarations of giving up. Elder deliberately lagged behind to match my pace because of me. Seeing my state, he feared I might lose strength and roll backward….

It’s not a mountain, you said… I told you it wasn’t. My claim that any elevation just 10 meters above flat ground is a mountain was right.

No, this wasn’t just a height of 10 meters. Korean mountains at least have paths paved for hikers. This is a true wild mountain, untouched by human hands!

A hundred percent uphill slope without a single man-made structure, not even a stone step!

Though I was climbing a relatively wide-open path, my lack of skill kept causing my shoes to slip on the dirt, nearly making me fall. Call a taxi, a taxi.

Picking up a long wooden stick along the way to use as a walking staff, I still gritted my teeth and climbed without complaint, not wanting to be a burden to the group.

I almost wish this endless hiking would just continue like this. It’s easier just to stare ahead and walk mindlessly. But maybe the druid ahead hadn’t taken this route… because fire kept appearing.

I was already dying from the heat, but every time it appeared, the flames warmed it up again, making it stifling to breathe.

Sorry for complaining that you swept the hunting ground clean. Since you didn’t sweep it, the monsters are spawning at a burst level (a phenomenon where monsters suddenly appear in large numbers).

The ones emerging from the ground were the lesser evil. The apex predator of this ecosystem seemed to be not land-roaming beasts but sky-soaring birds, as fire swooped down from the sky with flaming wings.

Crazy fire is now flying around! What kind of fire is that! It’s a phoenix!