The discussions this morning and Ryan's mission yesterday made me think of something. Now that today's Daily Dungeon of goblins in a cave network is completed and the loot stored back at the house is done, I want to try something.
Cole called me while I was eating dinner and offered to bring me my order, so I went to his shop's website and placed it officially so I could pay that way before he brought it. The bracelets are similar in appearance to the one I'd already purchased and I'm wearing them on my right wrist as well.
With them, more options have opened up for me to try and restore the Mythic Forest. Right now, I'm actually kind of wanting to see what the Great Napping Spot looks like, and if it's really a great place to take naps when it's fully grown-in. Trying to do that on the dirt… isn't too fun.
After checking to make sure I have everything, I access my gate to the Great Napping Spot, then look around. It's the same as it was before, but that doesn't surprise me.
The river flowing along Happy Butterfly Hill may have contaminated the soil along it, but that will clear up on its own over time. The area around the Pup Leisure Pond will clear up over time as well, though it might take decades of time within the Mythic Forest. This area doesn't have a water source yet as far as I can tell so it's better not to worry about restoring it just yet.
That leaves one area to focus on unless I try to gain access to another water source or find a way to bring water to this gentle slope. One thing to take into consideration with the Whispering Life Spring is that even with the life spring beside it, it's going to take time for it to grow some more.
I want to speed that up.
All Mythic Forests were reported to be several miles across in size and I can access only three small and one large zone in this one. There's a significant amount of this land that I don't have access to yet.
Which means there might be caves. Nearly five percent of all Mythic Forests are said to have caves or cave networks where magic crystals grow, including some where an abundance of earth magic crystals can be found. Regardless of what else is going on here, those shouldn't be affected even with monsters in them. Magic crystals grow from the presence of the related magic as it pools, then concentrates, then crystallizes.
The monsters here are weak enough that they probably can't even affect the mines at the growth rate of the crystals in a Mythic Forest would have.
Accessing my gate power, I try to see if I can find mines with crystals. A large amount of resistance pushes at me, which means there probably is some. Does the amount of resistance indicate the distance from my current location?
I push through and find myself appearing in the dark, a notification popping up. As I read it, I reach up to a headband I've put on and press a button, activating the light magic crystal within it.
Pretty much all experienced hunters and scavengers have two of these, in case they end up in the dark. Since I was hoping for this, I made sure to put mine on in advance.
The tunnel lights up, showing sparkling crystals all around me even with the visibility of fifteen feet through the fog. They are large and I can feel the immense amount of magic in them. With a wall of fog behind me, I probably won't be able to see what's outside but I'm fairly certain it's dead lands in abundance, just like everywhere I've been so far.
There might be quite a lot of earth magic crystals here, but I think part of what killed the plants everywhere were monsters trampling them and ripping them out. If that's the case, then no amount of earth magic crystals in an area will help plants grow – after all, they can't spread if there's nothing there.
While I can't see any enemies, I know there are some here due to the message nowfloating in my vision.
Special Quest Initiated! Slay all of the earthfang spiders within the limited zone. Slay: 0/7 earthfang spiders Time Limit: None Reward: 10,000 EXP
Earthfang spiders are roughly the height of a tween boy and have extra-hard chitin bodies. Their webbing is extremely tough and resilient to damage and they're capable of breaking stone with their legs. The increase to the Quest Reward indicates this might be a little bit challenging, so I want to check to make sure there's none too close before I start harvesting the earth crystals nearest to me.
Even a small harvest of these will help me out with the restoration of the Mythic Forest I have access to. It's odd that there are only seven of the spiders as they usually live in colonies of about thirty, but the Special Quest only mentions them as the thread.
I doubt that would be the case if there were other monsters around. Since the System wants me to eliminate all monsters from the Mythic Forest, I'm sure it would list others if there were more than the spiders. It does seem that the zones each have a single monster type and variation, too, which I find a little bit strange.
As I take a step forward, another notification pops up in my vision.
+1 earthfang spider slain
"Uh…"
+1 earthfang spider slain
What in the forest?
I stand in place and watch as the messages pop up one after another. Every seven or eight seconds, another one appears, until the last of the spiders has been defeated.
Special Quest completed! +10,000 EXP!
A new area within the Mythic Forest is available to access via your gate: the Sparkly Earth Cave!
That could be the azulvitt wolf and fox pups handling things when considering that Mrow was able to complete a Special Quest for me, but I can't imagine why they wouldn't have come to visit me before going to take on the spiders. Something else is going on here, I can feel it.
The fog has cleared up to about fifty feet in all directions now, so I walk through the tunnels while remaining alert. This cave network feels familiar to me as I walk and I find myself eventually entering a large cavern where thirty-three web cocoons hang from the ceiling, massive earth magic crystals growing out of the ground, ceiling, and walls of the chamber.
Feasting on one of the earthfang spiders is another spider, this one taller than I am with a grey-and-black body and silver eyes and markings on her. Upon seeing me, she gives me a happy wave, then resumes eating.
I was right, something else was going on here. The Quest initiated because of my arrival and only registered the monsters still alive at that time. While the remaining spider might be even larger than the ones I was to kill, she's a mythic-level beast who seems a little on the friendly side rather than a monster. There's nothing for me to worry about with her.
As with when I first examined Mrow, an information window pops up for the surviving spider.
Dreamsoft Spider Category: Mythical A mythical-class creature which converts her prey into the finest of silks in a variety of colors.
She jumps down from her food and approaches me as I close the message. I feel no sense of danger from her and when she reaches me, she gives me another wave. A rush of information and awareness enters my mind. An attempt at communication by her, I think.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
"Redips?" I ask, and she wiggles her front legs in happiness. "That's your name?" She wiggles them even more. "Do you mind if I harvest the earth magic crystals from here? The ones growing in these caves are high-quality and can help me in restoring the Mythic Forest."
Another attempt at communication by her.
"This… isn't your cave?" I ask, and she nods as more enters my mind. "Oh! You only came here because… of something? Because you could sense Flow doing stuff and wanted to see what was going on. Oh! I get it now."
She doesn't live here but somewhere else, much like Flow and the azulvitt pups. After noticing Flow coming to the Mythic Forest a few times, she decided to visit to see if it had been restored yet. It hasn't, but she wasn't going to turn down food as delicious as earthfang spiders.
Since this isn't her lair, she's not going to try and stop me from taking the crystals.
"Alright," I say. "Thanks, Redips."
I pull off my pack and pull out my mining tools, then start breaking off chunks of the earth magic crystals to store in my bracelet.
Earth Magic Crystal Tier: 9 A crystal containing crystallized earth magics. When buried in soil, it bolsters the land's fertility and boosts the growths and bounties of all nearby plants.
The price on these is roughly two to three times the value of an essence crystal, as befitting of its more specific use and how it's good for more than just crafting magic items. The description only mentions its benefits to the land but it can be used in magic magic tools, magic weapons, and even act as a focus for spellcasting.
Though I am planning on using them for the soil fertility aspect, the same thing which will no doubt drive up their prices beyond that two or three times value over the coming weeks.
I use my mining tools by hand at first, but this is far more than I've ever mined on my own before so I switch to using [Telekinesis] on the tools. Doing so takes me a few minutes to adjust to but I manage to adapt quickly and begin harvesting the crystals even quicker than before.
Once my pack and two new bracelets are packed full of the crystals, I look over to Redips, who's devouring her sixth earthfang spider. Like Mrow, she's able to quickly process her food through magic. I don't see her making her special silk so she's probably storing it up with her magic, but she's really going to town on the other spiders.
"It was good seeing you, Redips," I tell her as I pull my pack back on, my tools stored away, and the massive spider looks over. "I'm heading out to do some stuff. See you around."
She waves to me, then I access my gate to the Whispering Life Springs.
The plants here have spread some more and there are a couple of new blackberry bushes, a blueberry bush, and plenty of grasses, herbs, and flowers. The trees have all grown much taller now, and there are a few more trees that have sprouted up in other areas.
It's hard to tell how long it's been since I was last here as I don't know the growth rate for many plants and the magics in the water and soil are boosting the growth rates as well, but I do know that this area could use a little bit more help.
The amount of earth magic crystals I acquired is lower than what was acquired during the expedition to the mines yesterday the city arranged, but their quality was lower. Ryan told me during lunch that most of the crystals were Tier 2, which they'd expected. That's still enough to help the city's crops for six months.
While I only acquired around 250 cubic feet of magic crystal rather than closer to three thousand, the quality is Tier 9, or three times as high. The value for those acquired by the expedition was over $110,000,000 in total, while mine is probably around $45,000,000 or so.
That's just a very small fraction of what's in the caves, though.
If I wanted to, I could help the city out a bit with those caves. It would even make me absurdly rich for almost no cost to me. However, I'm sure the city will be fine and that the Dungeons will return, and I'm not really interested in money outside of what lets me continue to run my shop and indulge in my hobbies.
Restoring the Mythic Forest so I can see its beauty is more important to me. Why? I can't really put a reason to it, there's just a part of me which wants to see it flourish again.
I break up the crystals further, into fragments no bigger than an inch, then bury them about four inches deep. I've managed to complete about a tenth of the area before a group of azulvitt wolf and fox pups charge in through the fog wall, Flow at the head.
"Hey, boys!" I laugh as they tackle me to the ground, jumping on me and licking my face. "It's good to see you all again!"
The pups and I wrestle around and play for a bit and once we're all out of breath, we relax on the ground, the pups all snuggled up against me. This is pretty soothing and I find myself drifting off to sleep.
When I wake, I'm sleeping against Flow in his full size while he watches the pups quietly play. Sitting near the berry bushes is another large azulvitt wolf, this one female. There's also a large, male azulvitt fox nearby, though he's not quite as large as the two wolves. In addition to those, there are about four new azulvitt wolf pups, all girls, and three new azulvitt fox pups, all male.
Some of the pups are charging toward the bushes right now, and the wolf sitting beside it looks at them and shakes her head a little. It seems like all of the ripe berries have been picked clean and she's making sure they don't over-forage.
"Hey, everyone," I sit up.
At my voice, all of the pups look over and charge toward me. They go to tackle me, except Flow lets out a soft growl, slowing the pups down.
"Want to play a game?" I ask, and the pups all tilt their heads at once. I pull a piece of earth magic crystal out of one of my bracelets. "I want to get a bunch of these broken down into pieces about the size of your paws, then buried. But they need to be spread out through this zone. If we can get this done, then the plants here will grow faster and there will be plenty of berries for all."
That makes the pups excited, so I pull out more of the crystals and set them down. The pups immediately get to work breaking the crystals apart and running around to bury them. As they work, I can feel Flow's body shifting up and down a little, and I turn my head to see that he's silently laughing.
"It worked, didn't it?" I ask, and he shrugs. "Once they're done, can you take them to the Happy Butterfly Hill? I want to get that area started as well."
Flow dips his head to me, then I stand and pull my pack on before warping to my next destination. This area is much too big for just what I have left in my bracelets, so I use one of my tools to mark out an area. With at least some water flowing past it, the soil here's become a little bit moist and that will let me grow stuff in the zone and not have it all dry out and die off.
Most of the area won't manage well without at least occasional rainfall, but that's something I can't handle at the moment so I'll just do what I can.
Just as I finish marking off the area I want treated and removing the earth magic crystals from my bracelets, Flow jumps out of the fog wall on the other side of the river in a long jump that takes him onto the hill. The adult azulvitt fox does the same, and the pups all follow… completely unaware of the river or the need for a long jump to avoid it.
Nearly a dozen pups fall into the shallow river and freak out from the shock for a moment before they start playing around. The other adult azulvitt wolf performs the long jump as she exits the fog wall after the pups, landing cleanly on the hill.
Flow wanted to mess with the pups and the other adults decided to roll with it.
I let them play for a few minutes, then I clap my hands. The pups all run out of the stream and shake themselves off, then hurry over to me.
"Same thing as before," I say. "But this time, plant them all around the area within the markings I made in the soil, okay? While you guys do that, I'll grow some plants. They'll only be babies so they can't bear fruit, but this will give more plants and maybe even more berry bushes."
The pups all let out happy woofs and yips, then start running around, breaking the crystals and planting them. The adults watch and sometimes nudge them into planting the crystals more spaced out and after I'm satisfied things are going well, I begin using [Grow Plant].
Rather than making a single patch focused around something like I did at the Whispering Life Springs, I create several different patches scattered throughout the marked zone. Some are by the edge of where the river will probably be once it's full of water, some are further away. This should help it spread more as it grows while I'm gone.
"Alright," I say once we're all done, and the pups run over to me. "Thanks for the help. I'm going to head home and get cleaned up. You all have a good one, alright?"
The pups all woof and yip at me in agreement, then I bid farewell to the adults before returning to my shop.
I put my gear down and head up to my house to take a shower. Only after that's done do I check my phone and realize the time. It's nearly three in the morning and everyone on my contacts list except for Adam is asleep.
It seems trying to restore the Mythic Forest is pulling out an old habit of mine. I'll need to be careful to make sure it doesn't affect other aspects of my life.
Though with how slow business is for my shop even without the Dungeon drought, it wouldn't hurt to open a little bit later in the day than I already do. I only picked the hours of 8-5 because that seemed to be standard for busier shops.
I should head to bed properly now, though maybe Adam would be interested in meeting up and hanging out for a little bit? I'm curious if he's ever met a mythical beast before.