After I lay Alex on the petal, I turn my attention down to his leg. It’s in bad shape, caked in blood and mud that the wound is barely visible, yet somehow still bleeding despite that. I untie the snarly makeshift bandage from before to find that the wound itself is still somewhat clean. Using the bloody but mud free side of the bandage I start trying to scrape mud out of the biggest wound. Alex winces in pain and lets out a whimper but otherwise doesn’t move. Once I’m done I use what little clean parts are left to knock mud out and away from the various other wounds on his leg. As I finish up I notice Alex has stopped crying and has propped himself up with his arms.
“You’re $#% going %$ rape me?” He asks.
Rape him? WHAT, THE, FUCK! I’m disgusted, what kind of accusation is that! Do other dryads rape their victims or something, or is this guy delusional from blood loss? I guess the disgust showed clear enough on my face that he got the message. With a thunk he lays back down on the petal and just starts laughing. It’s a low intermittent laugh at first, but soon enough he’s laughing loudly and hysterically. Yea this dude has lost his marbles due to lack of blood. I need to stop the bleeding quickly.
I move over to the inner portion of my pod and try to get some sap to come out. To my misfortune nothing happens, not even a drop. Maybe I don’t have enough control and need to reconnect. I order the tail to reconnect and watch as it grows out of the center and slithers it’s way around to my back. I brace myself for the shock but still let out a yelp and jump a little as it slams into my lower back. Instantly everything becomes so much clearer. My control having also improved I try again, ordering my pod flower to secrete small amounts of sap in the middle area. It works and slowly little globs start to form. I start gathering them up, only stopping once I large handful of the sap. I order the flower to stop production, I should have enough for his wounds with my handful plus the excess. Looking at the sap in my hand I’m surprised to get a notification.
Dryad Pod Sap: Sap from the inner sleeping pod of a dryad. Extremely nutritious and sweet, it can sooth an upset stomach and help combat dysentery. It has anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and pain soothing properties. As well as promotes healing and regeneration effects when applied to wounds. Extremely expensive and slow to produce, it dries up very quickly after a dryad’s death, making it difficult to acquire.
Well damn, is there anything this stuff can’t do other than bring back the dead? Alex is a lucky boy, because my pod is telling me just how expensive this stuff is. It’s going to take a while to replace too, still better than him dying.
I shuffle back over to Alex and start carefully applying the sap to his wounds. I start with the large missing bit of his calf that seems to be bleeding quite a bit. Liberally applying the sap seems to be enough to stop the bleeding, hopefully he hasn’t lost to much blood. Moving up his leg I can see some bites and scratch marks on his thigh. Unfortunately, his pants, while probably useless with all the holes in them, are still in the way. Not helping the I’m not a rapist dryad image but I have to rip the parts covering the wounds away. I start tearing away at the pants on his right leg, removing basically the whole pants leg on that side.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Alex is suspiciously quiet about the pants removal. I look up to see Alex out cold, his chest is still rising and falling so I know he is not dead. Getting back to work I finish applying the sap on his wounds leaving his leg a sticky, but hopefully better off mess. Once that’s done, I run over to the trees on the edge of the glade and grow out some leaves. I make them as big as they can get using my remaining mana, which isn’t much. I only stop once I feel I’ve reached zero, good news mana deprivation won’t kill you. It just makes you a little nauseous and lightheaded.
Health:203/205
Mana: 0/1558
Stamina: 249/430
Moving back over to Alex I apply the leaves over the wounds like bandages. I’m not too concerned with infection because the sap should take care of that. I just need to get them covered from dirt and stuff. Once I’m done, I step back and double check my work. Functional, but still an ugly mess. Hopefully its enough to get him out of deaths grasp. I give Alex another look over just to make sure everything is fine.
Alex (Human, Level 26 Fire Mage)
Still a human male in his late twenties. I doubt the sap would do anything freaky to him but you never know in this world. His face is a bit pale but otherwise he seems fine. No more bleeding, even from the mostly missing calf section of his right leg. I exhale heavily and sit down on my flower. I’m a bit exhausted myself after playing whack-a-mole with fireballs and exhausting my mana. I want to go to sleep myself, but I need to keep watch. I have a sneaking suspicion that some wolves are going to show up. I think it’s the blood that attracts them, that’s why all the young ones show up, thinking its an easy kill. And right on cue I hear a howl nearby.
“GROOOOOO” “GROOOOOO” “GROOOOOO”
Grey Timber Pup (Level: 9)
Grey Timber Pup (Level: 9)
Grey Timber Pup (Level: 7)
And three little puppies come bursting into the glade together. Well, two level nines and a level seven. This will be fun. I stand up from my flower and step down to meet them. The level seven burst forward ahead of the other two, who sit at the edge waiting to see what happens. Once it gets close enough it leaps at me, trying to rip out my throat. Unfortunately for it, I’m not an easy kill. I slam my fist into the side of its head with a loud crack, and it goes spiraling off to the side. Landing with a heavy thud it lays on the ground motionless, it’s dead.
Defeated: Grey Timber Pup (Level:7)
+ 22 EXP
The other two wolves upon seeing this, decided to try their luck elsewhere. They skulk back between the trees and disappear into the forest. I don’t know if it’s good or bad they are smart enough to piss off when they are outmatched. Probably bad because they are smart enough to learn. And something tells me that monsters plus learning equals bad.
After that little fiasco I sit down to keep watch, there will be more wolves, it’s always more wolves. I look to the horizon and see the sun already halfway out of view. This is going to be a very long night.