I have a gut feeling that catching that carriage boss just now solved a big problem.

Glancing at the path the carriage boss came from, it was devastatingly decimated. With such mobility and being that powerful, that monster sweeping through the surroundings must have played a major role in the anomaly at the 28th Terrarium.

That must be why novice druids who ventured out with just one or two dryads ended up losing.

Our Daisy has grown from a little kid into an adolescent, my level seems to have shot up, and I’ve unlocked the Graft skill with the Elder, so there’s no fire that can stop us now.

You said that no matter which of the two paths we take, we’ll end up at the 28th Terrarium, right?

The downhill path has the Siedling dryads camped out, so let’s take the uphill path next to them to avoid trouble. Even if it’s a bit harder for me.

‘Let’s hurry up and part ways with them,’ I thought, urging the dryads to set off.

“Where do you think you’re going? Go back to the Terrarium you came from. Didn’t you see that battle just now? Did you learn nothing?”

“Yeah, yeah, that I held the Elder’s hand and pulled off a cool finish? It’s enough that I helped you out. How much more do I need to do for you? I’m a busy person. Stop clinging and let’s coolly part ways, okay?”

I got a good opportunity to glimpse a few high-level combat techniques through Siedling. That’s when I realized the Graft too.

But now it feels like I’ve seen everything I need to, so let’s wrap it up. Pick up a diamond or something. I said, pointing with my hand and turning my back.

Still, when they tried to grab me with more words, I quickly hid behind Mesquite.

Hey, hey, our dryads really dislike humans who make me feel bad, you know? There have been precedents, so back off nicely.

“Oh, right. You. Honestly, you seem to have business at the 28th Terrarium too, so contrary to my wishes, I can’t say we won’t meet again next time.”

“Oh dear… As expected of Siedling. We haven’t known each other long, and you’ve already earned his dislike. That’s why I told you to be careful, didn’t I?”

Belladonna said in a voice full of pity.

“But when we meet next time, don’t even speak to me. Don’t talk to me first until I say you can. It’s annoying.”

“That…”

“Starting now.”

When she looked dumbfounded and tried to approach, Mesquite, reading my wish, stretched out her lance. Siedling’s outstretched hand, somehow filled with regret, returned to its place.

“Siedling, stop. I understand your desire to talk more with that druid. But doesn’t the other party dislike it? Don’t provoke Mesquite further. A dryad showing excessive loyalty to its master can act beyond the common sense you know.”

Still, I waved my hand flippantly at Siedling’s dryads and bid them farewell.

As I moved away from them, my phone buzzed briefly with a message saying the connection with the other artifact was cut off. The party disbanded too. Now that I’m away from Belladonna, it should be fine.

Because the battle with the carriage boss took up so much time, the day quickly grew dark.

Normally, Mesquite would suggest taking a break, but it seemed she understood my desire to quickly put distance between us and the others, so she just kept moving straight ahead.

“How is it? Do you think they’re following us?”

“No, I don’t sense any presence. My master, Jae. Did you not like them? If you want, I can put down roots and send a warning whenever they get close.”

“No, no, you don’t have to go that far. Those dryads there were fun, but their master, that Siedling guy, is just absurd. He’s ignoring people! And calling our Daisy small too…!”

If there’s no presence felt, I should rest a bit here. I settled onto a wide rock and sat down.

I hadn’t eaten anything all day, so I was getting hungry. I took out some emergency rations and started my own little struggle. I’m hungry, but this tastes terrible.

“Still, I learned a lot. When my level goes up a lot later, will I be able to fight directly like that Siedling guy? Swinging a sword too. It was amazing how he brought a field from the artifact. Turns out druids can do a lot.”

When I get back to the village, I’ll look into whether there’s any weapon I can use. Even if I can’t swing something heavy like a sword because of my poor stamina, there must be something.

Watching the dryads fight together was pretty cool. Since I can’t do that, I was stuck scurrying around Elder, just busy running away.

I broke off a little piece of the emergency rations, put it in my mouth, and immediately washed it down with water, like swallowing a pill.

When I return to the village, I’ll have one more thing to do. I’ll throw out all the emergency rations and replace them with proper food.

“Jae doesn’t need to fight directly. And there’s no need to feel down about not doing so. As I’ve said repeatedly, Jae is… just by existing…”

“Still, that Siedling guy looked cool in every way except for his nasty mouth.”

“Is that so? To my eyes, Jae looked the coolest. And the graft… the graft between Jae and little Elder was truly impressive.”

Mesquite’s words made my face heat up. They said I was cool. So maybe I should just use grafts constantly? The dwarves have properly installed a faucet on the cart too…

But as if reading my thoughts, Mesquite gave me a word of caution.

“The graft is not a power you can use at will every time. You can only use it by raising your bond with the dryad through continuous battle. Realizing the graft is certainly something to celebrate. But you must not recklessly jump into every battle relying on it. You’ll end up in danger.”

I suddenly felt like my vision went dark. So it wasn’t a constant skill? That meant it was a finishing move skill I had to charge up in battle to use?

And just when I was happy that my Diamond finally had a place to shine.

“You don’t have to look so down. If your affinity with me is high in normal times, it’ll be faster to raise rapport in battle. So, to build some rapport, give me more diamonds.”

That diamond maniac. Just when things were going well with Mesquite, she’s back to talking about diamonds.

“Didn’t I give you a lot earlier?”

“If a situation comes where you can’t use diamonds, unfortunately I’ll have to use your diamonds to activate Graft’s power.”

“That situation won’t happen, right?”

“You might use them all up, you know?”

“That situation won’t happen, right?”

“You’re wasteful; one day you’re bound to blow everything like last time, obsessing over some weird box, aren’t you?”

“That situation won’t happen, right?”

Elder looked dumbfounded. Even the diamonds I’m using now are said to be scarce among my dwarfs? This kid still has no clue how many diamonds the owner has.

“C-can I also someday use the power of the Druid and Graft?”

Daisy, who had been sticking close to me and listening to the conversation, asked. Come to think of it, when it comes to rapport or affinity, isn’t our Daisy the best among them?

“There’s no need to rush like Jae. It’s because Daisy isn’t mature enough yet to share the branch’s power with Jae. First, the roots need to be firmly strengthened, right?”

At the same time, as Mesquite tried to lift her up, Daisy hugged me tightly and resisted. Mesquite hesitated for the first time.

Your knack for identifying weak points is improving day by day… Mesquite chuckled bitterly and let Daisy go. Daisy bowed her head in embarrassment.

“Don’t just use your head; you need to strengthen your body too, kid.”

“Druid, what kind of Graft power can I use? Can I make it rain too?”

Elder’s words were ignored. I thought about Daisy’s question. It did seem that the rainmaking skill suited Elder, a recovery type, well. So if I Graft with Daisy, a combat type, what skills would I use? I also got curious about Mesquite’s Graft skills.

If the day comes when I can use Graft with all three of them… combat would become totally dynamic, wouldn’t it?

We spent the night chattering away, imagining each other’s Graft skills, until I, weak to drowsiness, fell silent along with my closing eyes.

As usual, I woke up late and was barely awake, so I walked while thinking about rolling down the finally encountered downhill slope. If I got hurt, Elder would heal me, so wouldn’t it be fine? I just don’t want to walk.

Walking deep in random thoughts for a while, I snapped wide awake when the sight of the 28th Terrarium appeared in the distance.

It was as devastated as I imagined. Unlike the 26th Terrarium, which had been full of greenery, this one was buried in ashes.

Collapsed buildings and everything was covered in black ashes. Smoke was still rising, and occasionally flames burst up like sparks. My god, is that the village?

Finally arrived at the 28th Terrarium, the destination of the first quest, but the surroundings were an inferno, making it difficult to approach.

We hid from a distance, out of range, and scouted the area. Large and small fires were crawling around like caterpillars.

When the fires collided with each other, the smaller ones were absorbed into the larger ones, making them grow significantly in size.

“The barrier has completely collapsed. Having that many fires near the Terrarium means… the adjacent Terrariums could all be in danger. The 28th branch of the World Tree has… lost its power.”

Listening to Mesquite, I clutched my pounding heart and searched in areas with fewer fire entities. Without needing to eliminate all of them, if I could just clear a path to the village…

“Leaving this place as is could endanger all the Terrariums in the 20s. It’s like a hole has been poked in the wall of blessings built from the World Tree’s branches. Through that hole, fire will keep pouring in. Under normal circumstances, the massive fire we encountered earlier would never be seen in this region. That’s because the power is suppressed by the World Tree’s Terrariums scattered everywhere. Fires cannot grow beyond a certain level of strength.”

If it’s the 20s, it’s still an area adjacent to the World Tree. Under normal circumstances, it should be safe.

The 26th Terrarium suddenly suffered from drought as well… The druids, who were at a beginner level, underestimated it and rushed in, losing their lives.

So the branch that should have existed in the right place was gone, and the defensive wall was breached.

“I don’t understand. How the great World Tree’s branch could end up in such a wretched state. Something is seriously wrong.”

Mesquite was incredibly angry. That anger made me a little scared. He looked really furious.

Hmm, but wasn’t the carriage boss something my party and I could somehow handle? That carriage boss seemed a bit lacking in firepower to have burned the Terrarium like that.

If Mesquite was that enraged, I felt that something worse than that carriage boss must be inside there.

Impatiently tapping my phone, I suddenly picked up a weak signal.

I glanced at my phone… strangely, the messages were flickering in and out as if there was a lag.

It switched between Stonehenge mode and Wallet mode. It spun in circles trying to connect to the network, then went back to Wallet mode.

What’s wrong with this thing? Is it broken again? I picked up the phone and shook it around. I even held it near different spots like trying to catch Wi-Fi.

Then, when I stretched my hand forward, it switched to a message saying it was looking for an adjacent artifact network.

Oh, it looks like someone’s up ahead? If it’s Siedling, I’ll be pretty annoyed. Getting scooped like that.

Artifact network connecting

Adjacent Terrarium Artifact: Scarecrow

The adjacent Terrarium Artifact’s emergency rescue mode has been activated, giving it highest priority for connection.

Please reduce the distance between artifacts to connect to the network.

“Someone’s there! There’s someone up ahead!”

Crazy, it looks like there’s a person in that fire! And it’s in emergency rescue mode. What is that, even? I know it’s seriously dangerous, at least! At my shout, the Dryads shifted into combat stance.