“Well, at least one of these is obvious,” I said.
—---
You are about to spend (1) Platinum Request for “The Convict’s Guide to Foraging: Foragable Plants, Berries, Mushrooms, and Vegetables in Areswood Forest (Vol. 1-4)” Are you sure you want to buy this book?
—---
I was about to say yes when I paused. There were so many things that I felt I needed, starting with the book on trap plants and killer animals, but only so many requests. I also didn’t miss the subtext: it took me attacking a monster 500 times my level to get those diamond requests. So, the next diamond book might be my last. The same was true of platinum.
I swallowed and thought about it and then concluded that a book on forageable plants, berries, and vegetables was going to be the key to survival here. So I bought it.
—---
Congratulations! You now own “The Convict’s Guide to Foraging: Foragable Plants, Berries, Mushrooms, and Vegetables in Areswood Forest (Vol. 1-4).” You can read it in the library, reference it in your Identify skill, or ask Lithco questions regarding the content.
—---
Now was the hard part. I only had one platinum request left and three recommended platinum books—two of which felt critical.
“Trap plants or killer animals.” I grimaced, checked the clock to make sure I was doing well, then ran my fingers through my hair. Both were equally dangerous, but the trap plants… I shivered when I remembered the wandering reaper and Gullony’s Guillotine. I wouldn’t have seen either of those until I was dead. At the same time—there were animals everywhere in this forest, and I didn’t know anything about them. There was no Identify skill. I was blind.
Suddenly, I looked at it again and saw something strange. “Hey, Lithco. This’s a question about the guide. I see that some of these books come with multiple volumes. Can I get less?”
Lithco popped into my head, sounding groggy like he just woke up—just to be a dick, I was sure.
“Yeah. Some books cost epic requests for one volume. Others give a volume per request grade, like the killer animals book. You can drop the fourth volume and use a gold request for the first three.”
My lips curved into a hopeful smile.
“Just know that you’ll have to use a platinum request to get the fourth. That’s why it’s best to buy in bulk.”
My face reversed, forcing my lips into a deep frown. “Is there a lesser version on trap plants?”
“Nope. It’s one of a kind.”
“And it includes all of them?”
“Sorta. It’ll tell you about wandering reapers, but any plant with more sentience or even sapience ceases to be a ‘trap plant’ and becomes a predator. But as for just traps, yes. It has them all.”
I nodded. Then I want it.
—---
Congratulations! You now own “Trap Plants and Fungi in Areswood Forest: A Guide to Avoiding Innocuous Plants.” You can read it in the library, reference it in your Identify skill, or ask Lithco questions regarding the content.
—---
“I want the first three for killer animals,” I said.
—---
Congratulations! You now own “Killer animals in Areswood Forest (Vol. 1-3).” You can read it in the library, reference it in your Identify skill, or ask Lithco questions regarding the content.
—---
I felt a bit nervous as I considered my last diamond request. I decided to save it and prayed that my Free Requests would also have strong requests as well.
I looked at the clock: 7:49
“Eleven minutes…” I muttered. It was giving me anxiety. Still, I wanted as much value as I could get… Yeah, no. Not today. Knowing my luck, I’d trip and break my shin and then get halfway through crawling out the door when it locked down and cut my body in half. “Let’s go.”
I picked up my backpack and opened the door, taking a sharp breath as I turned back. Part of me believed it’d never open again. Still, I forced myself out into the fresh air and closed the door. After that, I turned, and my mouth slackened.
A new world opened up before me. Hundreds of plants and bushes had a light purple tint to them. Once I looked at an innocuous bush with a tri-leaf pattern and white berries, the name of the plant popped up over the plant like a planter label.
-
Bellisca Bush - Tri-leaf with White Berries
Poison Tier: 0
Poison Level: Mild (Topical), Severe (Ingested)
-
Naturally, I could identify the plant and there was even more information on the poison if I did, but that face-value label was on every poison plant unless I actively forced it out of my mind.
Now, this was a skill that could help me live.
Poisons, beautiful poisons.
Kline pouted.
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“What?” I asked. “You sad I took away your job?”
Kline looked away, unwilling to look at me.
I giggled and petted him. “Now you can be my full-time snuggler.”
Kline hissed and growled, pawing at my hand—but he didn’t fight for long. Then he let me just walk around with him in my arms a bit before I put him down and examined the plants.
“Let’s go find a trap plant,” I said. “I wanna make sure the places I sit are safe.” I needed to go through all my rewards, and that would take some time. But I didn’t forget that time I asked if it was okay to lean against a tree, and I was told that it wasn’t. Poison wasn’t enough—I wanted to see what type of notification trap plants gave me—or if I’d have to read about them.
Kline meowed in approval and strutted off ahead of me. I smiled and followed my little trooper.
Aside from paranoia regarding my exposed foot, the walk was extremely pleasant, and the forest felt welcoming and inviting despite the hellish danger I felt before.
Just as there were purple-tinted plants for poison, there were white-tinted plants for edible plants, and I found myself squealing as I ate sour berries. Terrible-tasting things that were still edible had a strange place in my heart because they were evolutionarily defiant. They were the evolutionary equivalent of someone saying, “Yeah, I’ll let you help me produce… if you ask nicely,” or, in some cases, “I’ll be your sugar daddy if you’re dying and literally have no other choice.”
God, I loved that.
I hummed as I walked because it just felt… good. I loved to be in nature, and feeling the warm sunshine and breeze as I looked at moss and brush and tree. I giggled when I stepped onto spongy ground and let my toes step right onto strange ground cover that wasn’t poisonous.
Considering that the forest was oddly free of insects—something I didn’t find random—I was in heaven.
Kline suddenly hissed ahead of me, and I turned to him with a stressed heart. I expected an animal but found something else wild—a trap plant.
And oh, was it a good one. It created a beautiful archway wrapped in white and yellow flowers, like something a newlywed couple would walk through after saying their vows. It was so extraordinary that I would’ve run through it like a giggling flower child if I had seen it—just for the experience. Instead, something popped up.
—---
Warning! You have discovered a trap plant.
—---
A map showed up showing me the exact location relative to my location. Then, it listed out the details.
—---
Name: Dapplevine (Wedding Trap)
Type: Trap Plant
Summary: If you want to get married in the afterlife, this is your chance. Take one step through this arc, and it’ll snap shut on you like a sundew—if sundew had hundreds of tiny syringes full of poison instead of adhesive. The poison—aureliana—gives the victim euphoric conditions for a few days before they slowly rot within. I’m sure there’s a cynic’s analogy of marriage somewhere in here.
—---
I laughed and rubbed my forehead. “Yeah… no.”
“Guess we’re going this—” I turned and froze when I saw a beast staring at us from the opposite end of the forest. It had the body of a wolf but was the size of a male deer—so two to three times larger. Huge. Massive. Absolutely terrifying. It had a head in the general shape of a pug and brown fur with orange and yellow stripes in the shape of bushes and flowers. It looked like a moving garden.
For the first time, I got a notification of what it was.
—---
Name: Mithrala (Garden’s Guardian)
Type: Spirit Beast (Canine)
Evolution: Second
Summary: The Mithrala is like an animal if it looked like it was wrapped in ugly floral drapes and could eat you. It has strong hearing and a bad sense of smell, which is a good sign you should shut the hell up, keep still, and stop breathing so loud ‘cause it can definitely hear you.
Key Facts: …
—---
A snapping twig broke me out of my reading, and my heart stopped. The mithrala started walking, sniffing in the air blindly, ears twitching. It took another step. The steps were slow, like my heart, but both crashed down violently and with purpose.
Suddenly, I felt something on my side, and I almost jumped. My ribs strained, and my lungs punctured, but I kept still as I looked down.
It was Kline.
He was… tugging my jeans. I looked around and saw he was tugging me in the line of the dapplevine. I didn’t need a college degree to understand what value that could have. I’d be a matador, leading it in and jumping out of the way, sending it flying straight into a trap. Great idea. Except this thing was, according to Lithco, over Level 125, whatever that meant, like everything else in the forest. I, by contrast, was a 23-year-old botany major whose hobbies included hikes and avoiding real exercise. In a jump competition, I would get mauled.
Kline tugged at me again and looked at me with eyes that said, “Trust me, mom!” I swallowed hard and nodded, slowly moving my foot. Then, I stepped down as quietly as I could.
The beast turned to our position with eerie accuracy—but it didn’t charge. It just started moving in our direction. It was far away but close enough that a charge could gore me to death. I wasn’t going to risk it.
Suddenly, it sniffed and looked around again, waiting for the sound.
Kline moved a step backward, far quieter than me. As he did, he turned invisible, stealthy—dangerous. I was glad that Kline wasn’t my enemy because he was far more terrifying than the big monster. I could barely see the light warping around him. He just looked like a bubble at most. Yet I could feel him. He tugged me, leading my leg to another opening. I put my foot there.
Almost there. Almost in front of the dapplevine. One more step.
The beast kept moving, closer and closer, walking hard on the soft ground. Thud. Snap. Thud. Snap. Each step it took made me shiver, and it was hard to hold my breath much longer, but I kept going. Thud. Snap. Thud.
Suddenly, the ground under my foot shifted. It wasn’t enough to make much noise, but it heard it—and acted. It charged at me, releasing a roar. There were 50 meters between us—then there were 10 in two seconds. I tried to jump forward, but an invisible force slammed into my body and sent me stumbling backward—fast.
My back slammed into a tree, making me gasp. And when I opened my eyes, I saw the beast fly right through the dapplevine. The beautiful archway snapped shut on the creature like heated cling wrap. It roared and rolled, trying to shake it off, but it was too late.
Blades of wind slammed right into its head. It only dazed the creature, and it roared, looking around. But more blades followed. One blade, two. Blood started pouring off the creature's head.
At some point, the mithrala stopped looking for Kline and just howled, rushing off into the forest at a speed that I didn’t think was physically possible.
Suddenly, I got a strange chime.
—---
You are currently at an evolution cap. New levels are suppressed. Please complete the evolution requirements in the Guide to reach the First Evolution.
Note: All experience after leveling will contribute to your evolution reward.
—---
I scoffed when I saw that notification. Apparently, I was weak and had to stay weak until I did more things, which would be, more than likely, insane.
I was disappointed, but Kline was devastated. He was sad he didn’t kill the creature. Once that registered, I stared at him—stunned. This little guy was a house cat. A domestic shorthair that was only mildly uncommon because he had calico fur. A house cat. And that beast was at least 250 pounds, making it far larger than a Saint Bernard. House cat. Saint Bernard. House cat. Saint Bernard. No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t believe my cat had the balls to attack that thing instead of grabbing me by the calf and screaming, “RUN!”
Cats really fear no one.
“Come here,” I sighed, taking a knee. Kline mewed and purred. “What’d you do?” A notification followed and it left me speechless.