Back in Higelsdale’s Adventurer Guild building, Helmuth sat in his office right at the far end of the building. Far from the annoyance of others and noise they could bring. His brows furrowed as he sensed a distinct energy enter his field, one that was concealed to the humanly possible maximum.

  He closed whatever document he was reading; it wasn’t interesting anyway. Just by Wenn’s footsteps, he knew that he was bringing something far more interesting. He wouldn’t have bothered to walk all the way here if it weren’t.

  “Boss! Got some bad news.” Wenn barged into the office without knocking, unfazed by Helmuth’s deathly glare that had fixed on him before had even crossed the doorway, he continued. “An adventurer from the Gryogens Grave came back. The party had reached a bone wyvern, failed the encounter and fell into the depths.”

  “Alright?” Helmuth didn’t budge as Wenn was evidently still hiding something.

  “A-Alright? Shouldn’t we start a quest? a mere lookout would increase their chances.” He waved his hands around as if that would help help his odds.

  Helmuth sighed and rubbed his graying hair, “If you trust some random punk’s word that they fell—then they fell.” He said, using his final technique.

  “Understood, then I’m going.” The room paused for a moment. Neither of them budged, until Wenn spun around and faced the door, which prompted Helmuth to speak.

  “Why on Adam’s earth would you, of all people, want to go? Send in Li, he’s not a pipsqueak like you.” It simply didn’t make sense. A lazy one like Wenn would never.

  “Why not? Besides, I may or may not have withheld this information from Li.” The way he said it irked Helmuth to the core. There was still something he wasn’t spilling. Why would he lie to Li when he pushed his problems on him every other day? Then it clicked.

  “Did you suggest them that dungeon? They’re fucking piss-low greenhorns! Weak! You fucked it up. You know what that means? Get ‘em back home safe!” Helmuth shouted. A punk who flunks his rank-ups as a joke, he had to go, or he was going to meet a general, not his boss. Boss? That gave him an idea.

  “Wenn, wait.” He glanced back. “No paid leave.”

  “Ouch.” He paused before turning the handle. “Oh! Just remembered—I skipped the line. There’s someone here to see you.”

  Despite him saying that, Helmuth had trouble believing it. His field was spread out in such a way that maintaining it would never strain him, while it decreased its size, it reached far out into the hall. As the handle turned and the door slowly opened. His breath got stuck.

  A dark-skinned man with long black hair stood right behind the door, barely a few inches away. He promptly covered his mouth as if embarrassed, though it didn’t his smile. “Hello boys… I have a proposition.”

  ?

  Han wanted to push the fruit out the way, but after taking another glance at the gooey mess, he circled around and shoved it awkwardly this way. Its waxy, smooth outer skin practically stuck to his fur. Rubbing in it in would have been a stupid move. Anyway, he had already clocked the smell, at least the behemoth won’t need to shower after this.

  After he shoving it maybe a feet or two. Just enough so Berdrogh wasn’t smothered by the stench and everything, he noticed how Berdrogh’s ankles were deep into the ground. Surprisingly, it didn’t look like he had broken either of them. After doing a rough check, or anything it for that matter. Speaking of which, what was that skill he kept using?

  True iron body?

  As the name implied, it probably increased the body’s mass and or density, but he couldn’t pinpoint which skill tree it came from. Berdrogh skills were beyond where his knowledge went, by now he had to be level 36 or so, and Han he had memorized the top registered classes. None of them fit the bill. Though, he had mentioned getting them from a priest. His eyes drifted back to the lying Berdrogh.

  I got sidetracked…

  The unknown skill’s intrigue fought over the more pressing issue that Berdrogh now knew his whole ordeal. But did it matter? If anything, he realized that a huge chunk of stress he had been holding had disappeared, and that wasn’t because he had gotten stronger, at least he assumed. And it wasn’t something he could explain to Kanade. That would make things worse than they already were. She should know, but preferably not in this hell.

  Besides, Berdrogh didn’t seem like a horrible person. He could’ve easily lied or attempted to kill him. Him focusing on keeping Kanade safe was another major component that got an oil change. It made his job easier. And if ever he switched sides—Han would win. All this thinking made him forget about how it must have looked to Kanade.

  “I-Is he okay?! Why did he do that?!” She ran up to them, her wary expression one bad piece of news away from turning sour.

  “He’s fine, but stupid.” He said it, then registered that she was out of breath, first time he had seen that. She collapsed to her knees and went mute. As if his sight wasn’t enough, even her rapid heart was skipping beats.

  Han’s mind froze for a moment. Did he really need to overthink every time he had to console someone?

  “Hey…”

  “I… am… I’m, it’s fine. I’m okay.” She jolted upright like she hadn’t nearly crossed the breaking point, “Help me get him out of there.” She said it, but he figured he would be the one doing all the work. And after taking another glance at her, that was probably for the best.

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  He moved to the unconscious Berdrogh and gently bit his front teeth into the exaggerated shoulder plates. Seeing as how he had gassed up the saplings, he had to be careful with his bite strength. He dragged him out without much issue, though he could feel the metal bending under his fangs. After plopping him down on the ground, a decent distance away from the plum, Han straightened himself—

  “Phu—you fucking…!” Berdrogh’s was watching him.

  “Haha! I scared ya.” Berdrogh’s gaze tracked him as he stood. Han caught on and decided to play nice, by not ripping a leg off.

  “Stop it you two!” Kanade’s yell cut off anything either of them had been considering.

  “Yes, miss. Now…” Berdrogh responded. All them of them turned to the painstaking, for Berdrogh at least, looted, edible treasure. “You two.” He winked at Kanade with his unfunny quip, “Do your thing.”

  Han didn’t catch what he meant, but once Kanade leaned slightly closer to the fruit, though still ways away; he got it. The inside had taken a more solid, orange with red streaks, shape. He guessed as the main impact happened, one layer had turned to mush and the rest had followed.

  He promptly turned his nose to fully capacity and gently hovered it near the amber, juiciest parts of it. Then immediately regretted it. He recoiled at the pungent sweetness, fruitiness that occupied every minute corner of his nose and then his mouth. He would have rather been shot, or stuck his nose into smelling salts than this. It carried something bitter it that overpowered, or rather, enhanced everything.

  “Shit… yes, it should be fine.” He coughed, but answered honestly.

  “Mm, I couldn’t pick up on anything either.” She nodded in agreement.

  He assumed that he did what he was asked. But then neither of them moved to try it. Although Kanade was focused on the plum and didn’t say anything, Berdrogh nudged Han’s side.

  “Oh? Just because I can heal I’m the guinea pig?” Noticing that look of his, he said sarcastically but managed to snap Kanade out of whatever she was doing. She stuck her hand into the fruity part and pulled it back a moment before she could try it—

  “Pig?” She turned questioningly.

  “He called me a pig?” Berdrogh asked, which only added to the confusion. Kanade frowned at him as if he was blabbering nonsense.

  “What? No.” She said.

  —Chomp

  [4620 EXP GRANTED]

  [DISCOVERY: Yggdrasil’s Sapling’s Plum]

  “Tasty.” Han said after taking a large bite of it, and it was. Despite the initial aggressive smell, the taste was of a plain-old plum. Mild sweetness, very refreshing tones, with pulp that wedged itself in between your teeth, or maw, in his case.

  Kanade tried some after watching him. Berdrogh took a piece off of hers and both threw it in their mouths. A second later, they both curled up standing with their faces scrunched, coughing.

  “What’s wrong…? I didn’t lie.” He quickly checked his menu just in case. The status effect tab was empty. With several things running through his head, one stood out. His numbness. If his barely registered pain, then that plum must have been—

  “A bit strong.” Kanade said, coughing again.

  “You didn’t notice the burn?” Berdrogh chucked and added.

  “Mm?”

  “It’s alcoholic, and very much so. The fruit is packed, everything’s bigger about it, that even meant that the littlest of, whatever this process is called, made it stronger. That’s why it tasted so bitter, yet sweet.” He watched as both of the stare at him. Though, his explanation made sense to Han, who knew nothing about plums or winemaking.

  “You seem to know a lot about this.” Kanade was the one to point it out.

  “My father’s been near one. A strawberry, though it was much smaller than this one, yet the tree was as big as that one.” He pointed at the plum tree behind them. “Imagine that one filled with thousands of strawberries, quite a sight… well though I hadn’t seen it personally. Wasn’t born yet.”

  “I don’t know how a strawberry looks like…” The moment seemed to be winding down, and then Kanade threw that out there.

  “Once we get out, I’ll buy you a basket-full. You too, Pooch.” He stood up, his knees cackling while doing so. “Well, time to venture. We’ve no water, no food source and we sure as hell don’t know what’s out there.”

  “Isn’t this plum good enough? It should have water in it.” Kanade asked.

  “It will dehydrate you. Alcohol does that.” Han said. Berdrogh was left intrigued, waiting for Kanade to interpret. But then he just knowingly smiled once she did.

  This old-ass b—

  Regardless, he followed them. Ignoring the awkward climb back up on that bastard’s shoulders, they made it up quite fast. They crept near their root’s edge and peered over it, searching for a way down. That was a bad idea.

  “Don’t. We’re done for on flat ground, if there even if one.” Han shouted, his eyes sweeping at the horizon instead.

  “There is.” She turned back to him, “What do you suggest?”

  “Go with the roots.” He explained, but then got an idea. She nodded and repeated his words to Berdrogh, while she did so, Han approached her ankle and unsheathed the dagger.

  Might as well use that 2% proficiency.

  He wasn’t even sure if it was a good idea for them to follow him, though he kept it to himself. He had already seen some paths he could take, high drops and no way back up. Kanade might manage the climb back up, but Berdrogh would be stranded if by chance they needed to return back. Back to the one place they were reasonably sure they wouldn’t get killed.

  “What are we searching for exactly? I see a couple paths we could take.” Kanade added, but Han kept leading without stopping. By then they had circled to the back of the tree, where they could see one of the giant stone wall. But his focus shifted when he found the perfect path. One that jutted straight out from the root wall, running into the distance with minimal turns and no sudden elevation changes.

  —Glush! Glosh!

  Out of nowhere, a massive sloshing sound seized their attention. They immediately dropped low to the ground. But after another guess, it was clear the sound was coming from below them, somewhere near the base of to the stone wall. Han leaned out over the ledge.

  Two creatures. The only way he could describe them was moving clay. They were so amorphous, shifting, and irregular that his eyes needed more than a second just to understand what he was looking at. A giant hunk of earthly clay came sailing toward him.

  —Hpow!

  The root path beside of him splattered into splinters, one of which flew right into his eye. The wood split with the sound of ice crackling of a frozen lake but with a vibration that went through his body. Yet, despite it, he turned back to the others. Their eyes were wide and sunken. In his peripheral, another mass of clay was catapulted at them.

  “True iron body.” Berdrogh’s whisper reached his ears. But that wasn’t what mattered. He lunged in front of it—

  ARGHH! TICKPLODE!