Stepping out through the gate, Lan took a deep breath, the city fading from his mind as the gate slid to a close. He didn’t have much in the way of directions, so feeling excited and oddly centred, he started towards the closest part of the forest, which was still a good ten-minute walk.

For some time, Lan just walked amongst the trees, looking for the Silk flowers and taking in the environment around him. Unlike the first time he had just followed the others on the road, Lan looked around. Which was a sight indeed.

The forest was dense, with few of the large gold and red bark giants that Crownguard was famed for standing sentry between the smaller green life while they themselves towered over Lan. Some parts were just open enough to allow one to see for a distance, while deeper in looked to only grant passage to occasional rays of light.

The air was filled with the ancient signature of a world of green, occasionally mixed with the sweetness of ripening fruits and flowers, although none bore the silver leaves that he was looking for.

Lan stopped and picked a small yellow flower he knew from the village. A sweet drop. When he was young, he and the others would spend all day picking them on one of the hills that overlooked the village until they felt sick.

As Lan sucked the nectar from the flower, he was surprised by just how sweet and how much there was. It was better than any that he could ever remember.

Lan looked back to where he had come from. He could still see where the fields met the forest, yet it was like he had entered another world. Not only was he colder under the trees, but he could also hear every sound the forest made. Just then, Lan heard a snap and turned to find a deer watching him.

The Large majestic Gray Crown was a sign of good luck, and Lan found himself bowing like in the tales. Instead of bowing back, the beast just watched Lan, and he shrugged.

‘Well, I tried.’ He chuckled, guessing he wouldn’t have any luck, as he started looking for silk flowers. Immediately stopping as his head snapped over to a rather dark patch of trees. It was no doubt just his imagination, but Lan was sure he had seen a ball of light fly past. Now that would have been some real luck, he thought.

Deciding that he was joking around too much, Lan started his search. Which was easier said.

Despite the flowers literally glowing with the mana inside their leaves, Lan had a nightmare of a time finding any near the edge of the trees. No doubt other adventurers had already picked those areas clean, Lan guessed, seeing more and more stems as he looked.

His luck shifted when he spotted a glow of silver from the corner of his eyes, coming from deeper into the forest.

‘Well, that’s one.’ Lan said, gently plucking the flower from the stem. As Lan turned to place the flower in his bag, he paused as he spotted the Grey Crown again. Not only did it look like the deer was keeping up with him, but it looked to have closed in a little. Rising to his feet, Lan turned to face the deer and… waited, and so did the deer.

For a long moment, Lan just waited for the deer to… be a deer. Although he didn’t know much, Lan was sure that deer were supposed to be afraid of people, and for good reason, because of their highly prized grey pelts, The animal watching him should have been one of them.

Finding a rock, Lan thought about trying to scare the animal off, but the idea of hitting the creature soured his mood, so he left the odd beast alone, finding another silk flower a moment later. As if this was what it was waiting for, the deer wandered off to chew on some grass.

Two more flowers came quickly before Lan found himself moving deeper into the forest. The only bright side was the flowers became easier to see as the light fled from the depths of the woods. And even then, it wasn’t long until he came up short again. With only six flowers to show for an hour of walking, Lan chewed his lip. Even after going a little deeper, he had made sure that he could see the tree line as much as to keep to Mari’s advice as acclimate himself.

Now he was faced with the realisation that this wouldn’t work out. Lan had hoped to take a chunk out of the remaining experience he needed. At this rate, he would have to take this job more than once. And it would no doubt get harder as he did.

With one more look at the tree line, Lan pushed deeper into the forest.

The deeper Lan went, the more centred he began to feel. The feeling was so significant enough that Lan almost missed a silk flower that he nearly walked over. As he crouched to pick it, Lan heard a twig snap and turned to see the deer again. Just like before, it just watched him as if waiting for something. And there was no doubt that it was watching him, even from where he was. Lan could see the recognition and odd focus in the animal’s eyes. The only reason it was standing there was because of him.

Putting the flower away, Lan put his hands behind him before quickly clapping them once in front of him. As the sound rang through the trees like a bell, the deer didn’t even flinch.

Then it walked off again after a moment, disappearing into the trees.

‘Okay then...’ Lan said, finding another flower soon after before going nearly enough another hour before finding his ninth flower. At this point, the tree line was little more than a line of broken light hiding behind an army of trees.

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But he couldn't see it anymore when he found the next two. But that wasn’t all. As he moved deeper into the forest, the feeling of calmness increased. It wasn’t the feeling of purpose he found in the battle with the Razerwolves, and it wasn’t the warmth thinking of home brought him, but it felt just as right as the two. Like those others, it was a world he could understand with time.

With it came more flowers. Lan had sixteen by the time he looked up and saw the deer again. Lan spotted it on the other side of two trees, looking at him as if the force compelling it had taken hold the moment it saw him. As if animating from the dead, the deer moved from behind the tree to get a better look at Lan. Freezing with one foot in the air as Lan turned to face it. Then it wandered off again.

As Lan looked for more flowers for the next hour, he would see the deer. It didn’t come as close as it had, but it was always around. Only after spotting it again right after finding his nineteenth flower did something that had been hiding in the back of his mind hit him.

The whole time Lan had been walking around, hours, no less. It had only been him and the deer. The whole time, Lan hadn’t seen a single other animal. No birds or squirrels. At this time of year, he should have found a horned rabbit or two out on the hunt. But there weren’t even any birds, not just the ones he could see; Lan couldn’t even hear any of their songs carrying like his clap had.

The only answer he could come up with was that he really wasn’t trying to be quiet, and no matter how far he had gone, it couldn’t be that far for a hunter, so maybe the animals and monsters knew to stay away. but then…

Lan looked back to the deer, who just then looked up from eating. Just before he chose to leave it alone. Even if it seemed interested in him for some reason. Lan couldn’t feel any ill intent from it. It was just a deer, not a magic beast or monster, after all.

If anything, having it around made him wonder if he actually knew why he was having such a hard time finding the flowers. That sounded like a good enough reason as to why it would be following him.

Leaving it at that. Lan started looking again.

Lan looked for another half hour without any success before he stopped to rethink what to do next. he had planned to gather more than the twenty he needed, but it was just not working out. He was starting to lose track of time; he couldn’t even use the sun while under the trees. At least it didn’t seem darker than when he started.

But the twenty would have to be enough. Maybe the next day would be better. Lan thought sourly. It may even help to enter the forest from a different side, and there were always other jobs.

He mollified before he saw something as he scanned the forest bed.

A ball of light. This time Lan was sure he had seen it. A small ball of white bobbed through the air like it was keeping a tone that wasn’t there.

Even though there was no denying it, Lan found himself just looking as the Light Wisp slowly flew away. With the flowers momentarily forgotten, Lan started towards it before it got even further away.

There was no way that there should have been a wisp so close to the city. Light Wisps were beings of pure mana, and although they didn’t need it to survive, they were never too far from places of high magic concentration. For there to be a place this close to the city that had enough mana to draw on was definitely something worth further investigation.

Still bobbing along, the wisp flew into a thicket that which, as Lan got closer, made him reconsider. Smaller red giants formed the foundation of the thicket, while a net of vines and branches webbed between and linked them.

Lan almost thought about just leaving it until he saw another Wisp fly into the blockade of vegetation.

With a sigh, Lan started to work his way through the roots and branches. Not even a second later, he regretted not taking off his cloak as it caught on a hooked thorn, It clawed through the last third of his new cloak, wbut it could have been worse, when he turned to look at it, and nearly took another hook to the face.

While watching for more, Lan pushed forward, even at one point being suspended in the air as he squeezed himself through a root and a fallen tree that hadn’t made it long enough to join the wall.

After getting past the vines at the toll of a tenth of his cloak, Lan was faced with a much more manageable wall of green branches, which he pushed through, only to be greeted by a beautiful sight.

A small glade sat at the bottom of a depression, through the middle of which was a small river cutting the meadow in two, with the larger side being across from Lan. The two sides were joined by an ancient root that had emerged from the ground before plunging back into the earth. Feast for the eyes aside, what took Lan’s heart was what was planted all over the glade. A sea of earthen stars covered the ground shining with silver leaves.

Filled with a new fire, Lan rushed into the glade, momentarily forgetting what had driven him to come to look in the first place. As he did, Lan was reminded as five or more Wisps darted from the flowers they were hiding amongst, Fleeing back to the wilds.

At the sight, Lan felt guilt, disappointment and shame for scaring them. Even as he acknowledged that they really had blessed him with luck. For all that the Lords of Light had created, the living lights were the purest sign of their favour. Just spotting one was said to bring good luck for a month.

Looking around, Lan had to say that he couldn’t have gotten luckier. There had to be a good hundred flowers around, if not more. Lan placed one hand in the praying form.

‘May you carry my gratitude to the Lords.’ He said, reciting the prayer that all were taught for this very occasion, even if he didn’t think anyone would believe he had seen five of them.

Which brought him back to the glade. Flowers aside, he didn’t see anything all that magical enough to draw one, let alone five Wisps.

‘How much magic is in those leaves?’ Lan asked the voice.

[Each plant a trace of mana, roughly a point of mana in your mortal units.]

‘A point?’ Lan asked again.

[Yes.]

That didn’t make sense. Although a hundred or so points were massive compared to his forty. Even to Lan, it didn’t make much sense that that would be enough to draw a wisp, let alone five.

‘Do you know why they are gathered here?’ Lan tried and, after a moment, knew he wasn’t getting an answer.

With a sigh and a stretch, Lan set about picking the Silver Flowers.

[Guild job complete.]

The voice said a moment after he picked the twentieth one. Looking at nearly half the experience he needed for the next level, Lan cleared the side he was at before crossing over the root to the other side.

Lan had almost made it up the other side of the depression when he stopped to check how much he had. Seventy, and it looked like there were another sixty. At this point, it looked like he would run out of space in his bag before he finished. Lan thought as he turned and crouched. The moment he did. A scream ripped through the forest behind him.

Lan’s head shot around, but as he did, he saw something from the corner of his eye. Large amber eyes opened wider to take in light.

Lan tried to move, to get out of the way. But something slammed into his chest plate before he could.

As he fell back down the rise, Lan’s head slammed into the ground as he slid to a stop, and his vision flashed. When his mind focused, he found a large green head looking hatefully down on him as it held a crude dagger up to the sky.