The portal spat Yvlena outside the gates of the Rose Manor, beside the gate a similar brazier had spawned near the entrance where Yvlena appeared.

The girl picked herself up and tried to gather her bearings when a figure ran towards her at light speed.

"Yvlena the Depths!" Risel said. The elven girl said, It took Yvlena a moment to realize she was talking about the Bloom Forest depths.

"What about it Risel?" Yvlena asked.

"What do you mean! I studied the growing Miasma there in hopes I could find a way to beat the one in the Verdant woods but all of a sudden it's gone!"

"Well it's not all of a sudden Risel, I cleared it up," Yvlena said sheepishly. Risel paused before a loud sound escaped her.

"What?!"

"I'm the Harvest Guardian after all—" Before she could finish her sentence, Yvlena and Risel noticed Beatrice walking towards them. The old woman strode forward and fixed Yvlena with a sharp gaze.

"Is it true? Is the path from the old ruins once again functional?" Beatrice asked.

In the face of the questions, Yvlena backed away from the two NPCs, she nodded.

"I found the Ever Bloom, met Viseli, and cleared the Miasma. What's going to happen now?" Yvlena asked fearfully. Beatrice strolled forward and clutched Yvlena's hand.

[Affinity with Beatrice Increased +3]

"Yvlena did you find anything else at the temple ruins?" Beatrice asked in desperation. "Anything at all?"

Yvlena retrieved a locket from her inventory, the old locket she had intended to show Beatrice when she got back to town. Studying it now, she noticed it was a gold locket in the shape of a leaf, with a faded gold chain.

Carved on the surface were the initials T.F.

Beatrice gasped. She held a trembling hand up towards Yvlena who deposited the locket in her hands.

"What is it?" Risel asked upon seeing the old woman's face.

"Do you recognize it, Beatrice?" Yvlena asked in concern, Beatrice didn't say anything for a moment before she turned her eyes to Yvlena.

The two elven girls saw the tears of gratitude fill the old woman's eyes, Beatrice clutched the locket to her chest and wept softly.

"That's Twyla's locket isn't it?" Yvelan said slowly. Beatrice nodded as the tear rolled down her cheeks.

[Beatrice's Daughter 5% completion]

Risel placed a hand on the woman's shoulder in a comforting gesture. She pulled Beatrice close allowing the old woman to sob.

"I've been there," Risel said sympathetically. Yvlena could only hope she could beat the Miasma in the Verdant woods as well. Only then would Risel be able to see her brother.

"I'm glad I was able to help you find it, Beatrice. This is a sign that she's out there. She must have passed through the Miasma somehow." Yvlena said.

"Maybe before it created a barrier," Risel suggested.

Yvlena stopped to consider her friend's words. Beatrice wiped her tears.

"Thank you Yvlena, for your work as Harvest Guardian and for helping me find a piece of my daughter," Beatrice said.

"You're welcome Beatrice, I'll do my best to find her," Yvlena said.

[Beatrice and Risel Admire your Noble Character]

[Both Consider You A Dear Friend]

On reading the notification, Yvlena smiled. In her short time playing the game she had come to care for the two NPC and their surprisingly life-like qualities.

Knowing how deeply connected they were to her mother and possibly father made her all the more fond of them.

"If you need anything to help with the Miasma in the Verdant woods too. Yvlena I would do anything." Risel said, her green eyes pierced Yvlena deeply and the girl knew at that moment she would finish these questlines no matter what.

"Of course Risel, you can count on me," She said.

The elven Alchemist smiled brightly at her. Beatrice nodded too.

"Be careful Yvlena, the Verdant Woods are incredibly dangerous now," Beatrice said.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"I will."

----------

After the two NPCs bid her farewell, Yvlena is left alone with her thoughts. She pushed the gates of the Rose Manor inwards and once again found herself in the overgrown grounds.

More progress had been made since the last time she left it, her plants had grown and now cried for water.

She rushed to get the flower pot, then began watering all the plants in the little patch she had grown.

"I really need to do something about these weeds," Yvlena said retrieving the scythe from her inventory.

She thought about the Secret key in her inventory and how it could unlock a room in the Rose Manor that would reveal something to her about her family.

"Could mom have put the deed in the game? A digital document can be stored in code right?" Yvlena said.

----------

After a few more minutes of swinging the scythe around Yvlena is struck with an idea.

"Why don't I just cut a path straight to the front door of the Manor." Yvlena told herself.

Realistically she wasn't getting any work done trying to get the whole area cleared at once. And it would give her a change of pace to do it rather than if she did the whole area at once.

"I feel kinda dumb for not thinking about it earlier, but this way I can try to get to the room and then restore the manor a bit before I have to confront the Verdant woods." Yvlena drooped under Bloom Haven Sun.

"I don't want to face a Miasmic Guardian any time soon. I need to get a bit more stuff." Yvlena said.

She looked towards the entrance of the Rose Manor and raised her hand to measure a distance within the tall grass.

Here we go.

She struck the first plot of dense grassy land and moved forward, grass struck her in the face and tickled her nose as she walked, swinging the scythe. The more she swung the sharper her scythe grew until the rust stained blade now gleamed duly.

It wasn't as shiny as a brand new blade but on the handle, Yvlena could make out a small gem embedded in the scythe's handle. The stained gem seemed to have some sort of enchantment on it.

Yvlena caught her reflection in the gem as she studied the tool in her hand.

"Do all the tools have this?" She asked.

Putting the thought aside she continued her endeavors to clear the grass when she was assailed by a weed Mimic.

Without thinking she swiped her Scythe at the offending creature, forgetting her sword completely, to her surprise the Scythe made short work of the weak creature.

Yvlena paused, as she examined the blade. The rust is even less visible now.

"Was the Rael's weapon his Scythe?"

[Story of the Harvest Guardian 8%]

"Guess, that answers that," she said pressing on. She swung again until she was stopped by the hard wooden surface of one of the Manor's trees. She cursed.

Yvlena traded her scythe for the rusted axe, it tool looked like it had seen better years but that might as well have been true with how long ago Rael disappeared.

Yvlena wondered what he was like, the book said he was beloved by the town, one in a long line of Harvest Guardians but no one seemed to be mentioning the others, just her predecessor.

She hit the tree hard, the axe made a dent in the wood not big enough to tilt the tree. She struck again and again, sweat poured down her brows as she hefted the axe.

Then finally, she heard the creak of the wood give out.

The tree tumbled, landing in a heap and collapsing into bundles of wood.

[Yvlena Acquired

***

Wood x20]

Yvlena huffed and puffed, dropping the axe and falling to her knees panting.

"That was so much work!" Yvlena groaned.

[Subclass Skill: Herblore Leveled Up]

[Subclass: Leveled Up

Herbalist(Harvest Guardian) 6/10]

"At least I'm becoming a better Harvest Guardian." She said getting up again, the grass before her was still as dense as ever, she looked behind her to see the path she had cleared.

"That's some good progress and I'm at least almost at the entrance," Yvlena said. She took out the scythe and began hacking and hacking at the grass and any weed Mimic that dared to cross her path.

"So glad this game doesn't have a stamina bar or I'd be in deep trouble," she said.

She thought about it. Was it that she didn't have any stamina or was she just more proficient with her tool?

"Kinda like the sword. I wonder if I should get a weapon upgrade, Nah that's too much to think about."

Finally, she broke through to the other side of the Manor grounds, far from the gates. She looked at the Manor's porch finding the place crumbling and in ruins.

"I'm going to have to restore this aren't I?"

Yvlena stepped through the grass and gazed at the Rose Manor. What was once an elegant building was now a crumbling mess. The front of the home sloped forward as if it would fall if there was a bit too much wind.

The Rose Manor was aptly named, with a faded and now dirty pink exterior. Yvlena imagined what it must have looked like at the height of its beauty.

Now the rain gutters, eaves, and even window trimmings brimmed with mold and other unsavory disturbances.

The turret, topped with a glass dome that presumably housed the rare plants the Harvest Guardian had once collected, was stained with an algae like sludge Yvlena could see from the outside of the Manor.

The glass was cracked or just outright broken along the window's edge. No doubt there would be enemies waiting for her within the Rose Manor once she opened it.

"This place is a Wreck!"

She stepped forward again, her feet pushed down on the broken wood that used to be the porch of the beautiful place.

Retrieving the Rose Manor Key from her inventory, she brushed some moss and dirt out of the golden key hold and inserted it into the slot.

As the new owner of the Rose Manor, it was only right that she would be the one to take care of it.

The door opened, swinging back slowly into a dark abyss. A foul smell hit her but Yvlena would recognize the odour anywhere by now.

"A miasma? Within the Rose Manor!"

Something flew out at her, a dark figure cloaked in pale, rusty, flowery armor, holding a long sickle that reminded her of the one she wielded when cutting the tall grass.

This couldn't be Rael's last whereabouts, could it?

[You have encountered Corrupted Mimicry: Visage of the Harvest Guardian]