Much like yesterday, my Daily and Weekly Dungeons are still available for me to access, though I have confirmation that it isn't just me. All Awakened under Level 5 who have a crafting-based Class still have access to them. However, the lack of Gates spawning has continued into today.

Fortunately for my shop, my Weekly Dungeon was packed with reagents I could use to make both health and mana potions. I can keep my expanded stock of mana potions going, add in some higher-quality ones since they're from a Rank 5 Level 2 area, and expand my stock on health potions. Some of the additional stock will need to change based on what reagents I was able to acquire this week, but that's fine.

With both my Weekly Dungeon and Daily Dungeon out of the way, I should probably start preparing for my date with Ryan. There are still a few hours before I really need to start preparing for it and I'm not one of those who need to spend hours getting ready. A ten-minute shower to scrub down, then five minutes to get dressed at the most. That's really all I need. Even if I take a little bit longer, that's only twenty minutes.

Part of me wants to refrain from going into the Mythic Forest to check on things before then just in case I lose track of time, but another part of me really wants to return there today. In the end, I decide to return once I finish unloading my loot from today.

With my pack pulled back on, I access my gate and enter the Whispering Life Spring. None of the mythical beasts are here right now, but that might change shortly. I pull off my pack and set it down in a grassy spot as I examine the area.

It's now lush and filled with life around the pond. More than a dozen berry bushes have grown, the trees have gotten much larger, several more trees have grown, and some of them have fruit on them. The area around the stream has grown well, too, and I can see a few trees growing or grown in the space at its edges and toward the fog wall that runs along the stream.

The added growth doesn't seem to be as strong after about a hundred feet down the stream and fades away completely after awhile, but that means that there's been enough growth here that the plants would have gone past the fog wall around the spring itself if they could.

This isn't just from time that's passed but a mixture of the waters from the spring keeping the water moist, the magic in the soil helping provide additional nutrients and boosting growth, and the earth magic crystals from last night boosting growth.

Some of the things here, I can immediately recognize as magical in nature as well. Those are plants that I didn't grow with [Grow Plant] but which grew from the magics here. This will help my shop regardless of what happens with the Dungeons, though that wasn't my intention.

I walk over to one of the bushes and examine one of the berries on it. The berry's golden in color and resembles a cross between a strawberry and a raspberry.

[Regeniberry] Tier: 8 A berry which heals those who consume it and restores a small amount of HP over time after consumption. Potency: 1,024 HP Regeneration: 256 HP per second Duration: 8 seconds

This is a rarer form of healing item and the higher its Tier, the vastly more potent it becomes. Its base is 8-12 HP, but that range is doubled each Tier up it goes. For the regenerative effect, it's 2-6 HP per second, doubled each Tier up it goes. Its regeneration effect lasts 1-3 seconds per Tier of the berry as well, so this one hit the minimum on all three aspects of its effects. If it ripens a little bit more, however, those will be even greater.

I can use this to produce potions that don't have as strong of an assumed effect based on reagents, but with a regeneration factor which lasts even longer. A fresh Rank 5 might appreciate being able to recover 500 HP per second for 60 seconds over a potion which restores 3,000 HP at once and 300 HP per second for 30 seconds.

The real use for that would be in Dungeons of lower Categories. They're limited to only Category 5-1 Dungeons from that set, but they can be used in more ranks of the lower Categories. A Category 4-2 Dungeon is roughly as dangerous as a Rank 5-1 one, for example. Maybe a little bit less so.

That said, I can't use these alone to make such potions, so I'll need to wait until I can acquire other reagents. Considering the nature of this spring, that probably won't be too long. The plant growth has reached the fog wall now and those look like newer growth plants. Once they grow in, they might contain more items I can use.

Some of the herbs growing around the spring might be useful for me, though.

Before I can begin looking at those, a notification appears in my vision.

A Special Quest is available! Slay all of the goblins in the special zone. Reward: 10,000 EXP Time Limit: 1 hour

That's a higher reward than when it popped up the same Special Quest for the Great Napping Spot. Either there are stronger monsters there, more monsters there, or it's another location altogether. One thing I do know is that I have time to clean up the goblins and still be ready for my date, based on that time limit requirement.

Which actually makes me suspect that they're stronger beasts. I doubt the System would give me a Quest beyond my ability, so I accept it and immediately find myself in a pretty curious area.

I'm now standing in front of a curved fog wall with about two hundred feet between it and a fog wall in the center. Said second fog wall starts off circular, but I can see from here that it gains a straight aspect that stretches all the way to the edge of here. Looking at that, I realize that the outer fog wall matches that design for a few hundred feet, before curving to meet up with the inner one.

Based on the designs of the fog walls, the dimensions of the inner one, and what I was just looking at, this is probably the space outside of the Whispering Life Spring. The System has registered that the growth there is enough that it's time to clean up the monsters around that zone and let the forest begin growing in more.

According to the Special Quest, there are only a hundred goblins here.

Slay all of the goblins within the special zone. Slay all goblins: 0/100 Time Limit: 1 hour

I step through the barrier and begin casting [Magic Missile], the spell punching straight through the nearest goblin's head when it fires. These goblins… they're the same strength as the ones from my initial Awakening Quest, aren't they? That means this is even easier than I expected.

So why the higher EXP reward?

By the time the last of the goblins here have fallen, I've come to a conclusion about the Special Quest: the higher EXP reward is because it's to expand flourishing area around the Whispering Life Spring. For whatever reason, the System considers doing something for that purpose to be worthy of a higher reward.

Rather than teleporting me away when I slay the last of the goblins here, there's simply a notification appearing in my vision, a Mrow popping up out of the ground, and the inner fog wall vanishing, revealing the Whispering Life Spring just as I'd expected.

Special Quest completed! +10,000 EXP

"Mrow, wait," I say as it goes to eat a goblin. "I want to harvest the essence crystals."

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Mrow looks at me, then swallows the goblin. I should have collected them while I was slaying the goblins, except I didn't want to have to deal with them potentially attacking me while I did that. The assumption I had was that since I was already in here, I'd just be teleported into the Whispering Life Spring and could return before Mrow showed up.

"Mrow…"

I guess he doesn't want to wait.

"Can you at least dump the soil near to the plants?" I ask. "I want the fertilized soil closer to it. The stuff here's still pretty dead."

Even in the section right beside the fog wall. Either that prevents stuff from spreading out, or the monsters were somehow affecting it.

Mrow slides over to the former boundary and as it passes by, releases the fertile soil. I should probably start harvesting essence crystals, except he'll be faster at grabbing them than me and the essence crystals aren't a necessity for me.

As the lifeseed finishes depositing the soil, a sparkly green crystal pops out.

"You can separate the crystals?" I ask Mrow, who nods. "Oh! Thanks, buddy. Can you do that from now on?"

Mrow nods, then returns to work. It amazes me that even without [Animal Communication] at only Level 1, the mythical beasts seem to be able to understand me just fine… as long as they have words and terms that mean the same thing. Chances are, they can understand people on their own and so my Skill only needs to work for me to understand them.

I walk back to the spring and kneel beside it to inspect one of the herbs. It's leafy and resembles a cross between basil and a poppy, with a pair of circular leaves, inside of which grows more ovular in alternating pairs. The veins of the leaves are golden in color and shimmer faintly in the grey light of the Mythic Forest.

[Nullileaf] Tier: 8 An herb which nullifies toxins within those who ingest them. Potency: 63

At Tier 8, they'll have a potency of 56-96, or significantly higher than what someone could reasonably expect to encounter in a Dungeon. It's one of the very few herbs which can survive in areas with extremely high levels of magical energy, however, which means that it's a crucial ingredient for potions intended for those going into the most dangerous Dungeons. I can dilute its effect down to a more reasonable amount and extend its use to more than one potion. That will help it last for my shop.

Just the two plants I've examined alone have already confirmed that the more this forest returns, the more powerful and rare brews I'll be able to make. This is a Mythic Forest, a realm which grows the most powerful and rarest of reagents. Long before I have access to its full two or three miles of space, I might be one of the few shops in the entire city which can brew potions for the most powerful of Awakened.

Which isn't really my goal, it's just a bonus. My goal is the same as what the System seems to want: to bring this Mythic Forest back to life. If I'm right and all of the Mythic Forests have ended up in this state, the System might even have others doing this for those.

Not that anyone has talked about it, if so. I've looked on the net and there's not a peep about anyone having access to a dead Mythic Forest. They might be like me and just haven't told anyone, or it's possible I'm the first to be given this and the System wants to focus on one Mythic Forest at a time.

"Hey, Flow," I say as the pup walks over, then plops himself beside me. "Leaving the pups with the others?"

The azulvitt wolf gives a quiet and tired woof, then laps up some of the water from the pond.

"I'm not sure if the earth magic from the crystals is used up or not," I tell him. "But as you can see, the good area around the pond has cleared up a bit. Next time I've got plenty of time, we'll get more from the Sparkly Earth Cave and get the pups to break and bury them so this place can grow a bit more."

The help from the pond probably won't stretch too much further so the growth will likely be slower further out, but I'm sure it will water at least to the new boundaries. Past that might be tricky, but I'm not sure how to get rain to start happening.

I do still want to try as much as I can, though. I'm sure the water problem will fix itself after awhile. The next step might be to work on opening up more water sources, if I can. That should begin the condensation cycle in full for here.

While this place is its own little realm, I'm sure there is a rain cycle that happens. It's not a Dungeon so it doesn't just disappear after it's used, it continues to exist when people aren't inside.

"Hey," I rub the wolf's head after he woofs again. "Are they at the leisure pond or the hill?"

The impressions and images I get from him indicate that the others are the Pup Leisure Pond right now and he came to take a break.

"Alright," I say. "Working on the plants for there will be part of the next batch of crystal planting sessions."

He gives me another woof, then I check on more of the plants, plucking an apple from a tree to munch on as I do. The apple's not a magical one, though I'm sure a magical apple tree will grow in at some point.

"Hey, Mrow?" I say after I finish the apple, and the lifeseed worm looks over from where it's processing a goblin. "Catch!"

I flick my wrist and send the apple core to him, and the lifeseed worm darts forward, snapping it out of the air.

"Thanks, bud," I pull on my pack. "I'm going to the Happy Butterfly Hill now, you two. I'll see you later."

I access my gate there and find the hill covered in grasses, flowers, bushes, and a couple of trees. The entire zone hasn't flourished like the former smaller zone of the Whispering Life Spring, but the section I had the earth magic crystals planted in is full of life now. That's extended out about twenty to thirty feet past that as well.

Another new creature has appeared. This one looks like a wolf pup as well, with night-black fur covered in gold and silver sparkles reminiscent of the night sky. His paws, the tips of his ears, and the tip of his tail are all silver in color at first, but become gold at their very tips and on his toes. Unlike mythical creatures, his eyes are amethyst in color.

The way he jumped upon noticing me, I definitely startled him a fair bit. He's at one of the bushes, eating the blackberries growing on it. There's quite a bit of the juices on his maw and plenty of the berries missing.

While he's clearly not a mythic beast and he's not any type of magic creature I'm aware of, I get the feeling he's not a monster.

"Don't eat all of them," I tell him as I walk over. "You'll make yourself sick, and you'll over-forage, too. Leave some for others, and don't eat the unripe ones."

The pup sighs and I scoop up him, realizing that he seems to be extremely sticky not just around the mouth and paws, but even a little in his fur. With him not being a monster yet being here, I'm sure his fur isn't supposed to be coarse, either, so that might be from stuff that got stuck in the stickiness.

He struggles for a moment before giving up, allowing me to carry him over to the stream.

"Let's clean you off," I tell him, and he huffs. "Don't be like that, Aster. Always a messy boy, aren't you?"

Aster groans as I realize that once again, I've picked up a creature's name without realizing it. I didn't inspect him yet so I do that as I set him by the water.

Aster Category: Messy Make sure he cleans at least once every fullest moon or he might get very sticky. Make sure he's not sticky when he climbs on you. Keep honey out of his reach. Lick extra well if he gets into it.

"Um…"

That seems more like someone's personal notes on Aster. The licking bit is particularly telling, but the part about keeping honey out of his reach is as well. The way it's worded seems less professional and more like notes.

Which implies that there's something which uses the System as a note system… and they can edit informational windows.

Whatever that being is, I'm sure they'll come to me on their own at some point.

"Get in the stream," I tell Aster as I set down my pack and start undressing. "You need a good scrubbing."

Aster huffs and I finish undressing, then sit in the shallows of the stream and pull the pup over to me. I try washing him off with just the waters here, but the sticky stuff is apparently dried on and not from fresh berry juices. It seems I'll need soap to clean him with.

How does his fur not look sticky and covered in dirt and probably other stuff? It looks extremely clean despite the state it's clearly in when touched.

"Alright," I pull him out of the stream, then stuff all of my things into one of my bracelets. "We're going somewhere else to clean you off. You are super sticky and need soap."

I pick up the sticky pup and access my gate. While I'm sure I can use it to bring others with me, I'm not completely certain about that. It's called a "gate", however, and that's why I suspect I can.

Rather than using it to return to my workshop, I focus on my home. There's nothing that says I have to return to the exact spot I left and I don't want to dry off only to get back into the shower.

There's a little bit of resistance from the gate, but I find myself in my bathroom at home, Aster still held against my chest.

"Whooooa."

"What was that?" I look at the pup.

"Woof!"

I narrow my gaze at him. He just said "whoa". Then again, it could just be a similar sound since it's mostly just an exhaling of breath.

"Alright, sticky boy," I say. "Let's get you cleaned up."