What is she talking about now?

“And besides, dandelions have uses beyond combat. Couldn’t we grow them a bit more and have them make Panacea? Even if it’s a small amount, not a large batch like the one Master Jae has. There was a traveler who visited the 28th before, who specifically wanted to pick dryads that could be used as herbs. I think dandelions were on that list too. If that person visited the dandelion colony there, they might have picked them all…?”

“Wait a minute. After suggesting sending them to the 28th terrarium, why did the artifact come up?”

“Jae’s artifact is currently connected to the 28th terrarium, isn’t it? The 28th terrarium is just as much an artifact. Movement within artifacts is free.”

You could exploit it like that? Why didn’t you tell me sooner?

“Did you know about this, Mesquite?”

“Well, it’s my first time becoming an administrative dryad.”

She said with a light laugh. If Mesquite had known, she would have told me right away. This is Dandelion’s fault for not telling me in advance.

“The water springing up here only restores the bark, but it can’t lift life or debuffs within, so if those kids come and awaken their healing power, it would be a great help. There’s no need for a separate healer to be stationed here. Travelers passing by nearby will have to stop by the 28th terrarium. As visitors increase, commerce will thrive, and then…”

Daisy Dryad kept chattering endlessly, imagining a very distant future with the young Dandelion kids.

“You’re not saying this because you’re short on manpower to clean the terrarium, are you? You’re being overly enthusiastic.”

“Oh, carrying heavy things builds muscle strength and all…”

Whether she hit the nail on the head or not, her words grew fewer.

We discussed sending Dandelion and the kids to the 28th terrarium. Before that, I asked Mesquite if my soul’s capacity was broad enough to handle the two Dandelion kids. Because I can’t see it myself.

She said that for me, who had grown rapidly, it was sufficient. However, she quietly echoed Dandelion’s question about whether it was necessary to waste soul space.

You don’t know anything. The charm of a card game is collection!

Although the kids had to stay within the 28th terrarium, that place was larger and safer than the colony.

Daisy Dryad is an attack type, and I thought she could become a dryad capable of supporting Daisy Dryad in case of emergencies. The role model would be Daisy2, who is the same species as our Daisy.

“The kids are still too young; neither of them can become the King of the Forest anytime soon.”

Dandelion gave me plenty of opportunities to withdraw my earlier proposal, passionately explaining the situations I should be cautious about. She seemed worried about me willingly taking on kids who aren’t yet helpful.

“Then once they grow up, they could become the King of the Forest!”

With a colony nearby, if one of the two kids is ready… doesn’t that mean I could end up with a Dandelion Dryad on par with Dandelion? This is even bigger than I thought!

Seeing that I was firmly determined, Dandelion changed her approach. Instead, she switched to explaining how the kids could be helpful to me.

“That aconite seedling is similar to us dandelions in nature. Perhaps once the dandelion children awaken their power, the aconite might observe and apply it as well. Do you know what preparations are needed to take the wild dryads along?”

“Yes! We need unripe fruits! We don’t have them right now, but I plan to go to the 26th Terrarium orchard to buy some. I should stock up just in case. It seems I’ll have to pass through here on the way to the 18th Terrarium anyway.”

“Then I’ll teach the children as much as I can before you return with the fruits. Thank you for making this difficult decision for the children’s future.”

Aw, what difficult decision. Since I have leftover COST anyway, might as well use it.

The two dandelion children, upon hearing they could leave the colony, fawned over me endlessly. Because I’ll be their future owner. Though there’s no bond between us yet.

This time too, as I was about to turn in with the intention of leaving early in the morning, I saw Dandelion pull out a blue diamond from her bosom and stare at it endlessly, with a quietly sunken look in her eyes.

I deliberately turned my body away so I wouldn’t see her and closed my eyes. What was she thinking about?

***

I feel like I’ve become a certain Mr. Mo returning to the Primordial Village.

As I got closer to the 26th Terrarium—essentially my Primordial Village—the air touching my skin somehow felt different. It was as if I could clearly feel the intangible blessing cast by the branches of the 26th World Tree.

At some boundary, that blessing proved its existence in various forms when I looked around. Suppressed heavily by the blessing, the dispirited embers scurried around rolling about. Like a deflated soccer ball left abandoned in an empty playground after the children have all gone.

Those creatures, as if intimidated by the momentum of our side’s dryads, seemed to pretend not to see us and slipped past, circling around cautiously. Much like how aggressive mobs act non-hostile when a high-level player passes by.

Maybe because I still remember their early days, when they burned everything in sight without hesitation, I just can’t get used to this current version. Culture shock.

Come to think of it, if the terrariums found balance and that size of ember was originally meant for beginner hunting grounds, then I was a player who started on hard mode from the very beginning. Not just hard—more like hell mode?

That thing is the size you only see after cutting Daisy twice, isn’t it? Thinking back, that’s really unfair.

Mesquite lightly stopped us as we walked unhindered toward our destination. It seemed there was a commotion nearby. Judging by her expression, it appeared to be something that didn’t require much caution. Completely harmless.

Was it just consideration for me, who pokes into everything and has insatiable curiosity? She gently tilted her head down to look at me. Her eyes seemed to ask, “Curious about that commotion?” Of course I am!

As I approached, the commotion finally became audible to me as sound.

“Good! You’re doing well!”

I heard a high-pitched girl’s voice. The voice was lively enough to infer the owner’s cheerful personality. Then came a sharp sound of wind slicing through, followed by a whoosh.

Wow, he must be a druid! This was the first time meeting a druid outside since Siedling event, so my heart raced. And he’s even a girl! That made me even more excited for no reason! Was that urgent sound from a battle with a fire?

“Good! Smash it to pieces! Beat it to a pulp! Don’t go easy! Tear it apart!”

I saw the Elder’s expression stiffen slightly at the unfiltered language. As we reached a clearing where the battle seemed to be taking place, I spotted a dryad far away fighting fiercely against a fireball the size of a rugby ball.

A little further off, a druid was shouting with a hoarse voice, pumping their fist. The dryad with purple hair was swinging a saw as large as her own body, earnestly engaging the fire in combat. It was a menacing weapon that looked like just the blade of a chainsaw.

It was a weak enough fire that our Daisy could take it out with one thrown sword, but those dealing with it were as serious as if they were raiding a boss.

“Choke….”

“What’s wrong?”

Daisy asked me worriedly as I covered my mouth and sobbed.

“A newbie… a newbie…”

Of course, I’m only a few days old as a player too. This wasn’t about ‘elitism’ or anything. There’s a peculiar feeling most game players have.

The target of that feeling is a player lagging behind in game progress. When you add a Korean’s meddlesome nature, it amplifies even more, and it explodes in old-school games where newbie footsteps are rare.

For example, veteran players in some games, upon spotting a newbie, would shower them with all sorts of items like currency and gear, and even act like they’d give their guts and innards if needed.

This act is sometimes called ‘sleeve stuffing’. Of course, the newbie’s opinion isn’t needed here. It’s a ritual-like act of saying, ‘Take as much as you want and please stay in the game, no need to pay back.’

However, this game isn’t that old, nor am I a veteran starved for new players, so my feelings were of a different kind.

It was a warm feeling of recognizing, ‘I used to be like that too.’ Watching that dryad swinging a saw hard at a small fire overlapped with our Daisy’s struggles back then….

A good team, always working hard. Should I give them some diamonds to cheer them on? What if they take offense? Still, raising a dryad probably costs a lot of money….

While I pondered for a moment, the battle ended. Unlike when Daisy had found a solution by splitting and countering the fire, this was a messy beating of the flames until they were eventually retired.

“Amazing! You’re really strong, right? I have a feeling that if we catch a few more here, our soul resonance will get even higher! Let’s get stronger quickly and head to the 27th Terrarium too. I heard they’re giving out more free fruit there. Should we make more companions and go to a later one?”

I had been considering the timing of our appearance, but it was a pointless worry. Mesquite and Elder, standing tall, were quickly spotted by the druid. The druid, upon finding us, formed an ‘O’ with their mouth and stiffened.

“Pathetic dryad.”

As expected, Elder sneered. That mouth, that mouth! With such a pretty face, why do such ugly words come out of it!

When I shot her a glare, she blurted out the entirely predictable words, “What? That one is a Normal grade.”

“That’s really rude. If you say that in front of that druid… well, you’re no different from Siedling.”

It seemed that advice was quite effective. Elder’s pretty face scrunched up, and his mouth shut tightly.

“Hello?”

Nice to meet you, nice to meet you. I waved with a harmless smile. I’m just a passing player 1. Unlike in some games, I don’t pull out summons the moment we meet, shouting “Duel!”

“Wow, dryads… four of them. Incredible… They’re all awesome!”

And then she shouts to her own dryad, “You can do it too!” Good attitude. Having only seen druids who neglected Normal-grade dryads, meeting one who treated hers so well made me feel a sense of kinship and joy. A druid who recognizes the essence of their potential to grow into a fine dryad!

“It’s been a really long time since I’ve seen a druid outside the Terrarium.”

You’re the second one.

“Oh, really? There are more druids around here besides me. Usually, it’s rare for someone to come out alone like me. They usually form parties of three or more, or avoid the 27th Terrarium direction entirely.”

She pointed to where the other druids might be, continuing her words.

“Recently, the surrounding environment suddenly changed. The fires have gotten smaller and their power decreased, so the situation improved. Everyone’s saying now is the perfect time to go on an adventure, so they rushed out.”

As expected, the 28th Terrarium had recovered, bringing balance back to the area. By the way, they usually go out in parties? Just how reckless was I, coming out alone…