The moment Will and Grace arrived at the base, they noticed blood stains on the grass that wasn't there before. It looked fresh.
"Dad!"
"Adaline!"
Both of them ran inside the base by breaking down the wooden door. Did this mean that another fight occurred while they were outside? If so then Adaline and Arbor might be hurt.
As soon as they entered, they saw Arbor sitting on the patch of grass with Adaline waiting by the wooden door for Will.
"Are you okay?" Will checked Adaline's HP and felt relieved.
"Dad, what is that blood outside?" Grace asked in elven tongue.
Arbor explained what happened before they arrived.
"Um…" Will was listening closely but could barely make out a few words. He needed a lot of practice before he could speak elven tongue.
"He said that more men from that village came back but with more people. This time they weren't as tough. Dad killed them all but some fled. He didn't want to chase them down because it would've left Adaline unguarded."
Will listened and frowned. That village is poor and couldn't possibly come back at the same strength like when Jim led over 60 men. At most they were fighting with their bare hands or whatever weapon they had. And with their skinny, frail, weak bodies, it would be a miracle if they were able to make it from their village to his base alive.
Will walked up to Arbor and said in elven tongue, "Thank… yew… for p.. Pr…"
Grace whispered in his ear to help him. While Arbor raised his brows.
"Protecting Adaline."
Arbor nodded and said, "My pleasure. She's important to me too."
"Did he say thanks or…?" Will looked at Grace. He thought that Arbor added a few more words that he couldn't make sense of.
"Later you'll understand. Just practice." Grace shook her head but felt proud of herself by teaching him a bit.
Will quickly took Adaline to the far side of the walls away from the elves, he didn't want Grace or Arbor to know about the exotic flower and seed that he had with him.
Arbor turned to her daughter, "You're teaching him how to speak our language?"
"Yeah, it's getting bothersome having to translate for you and him." Grace sat down on the patch of grass beside her father. She whistled for Sten to come inside the walls. Sten was busy eating the grass outside.
"I thought you hated humans. What's so different about him?" Asked Arbor.
"At first it was because we made a deal, he'd give me food and water on the way and in exchange I'd teach him a bit of elven tongue. But, after being attacked by-"
"You were attacked?" Arbor grabbed her arm and a green glow coursed through her body.
"I'm fine. I'll tell you what happened to us until now."
Meanwhile Will was also talking to Adaline while feeding her goblin parts.
"Listen, Adaline, do you know what this is?" Will showed her an exotic flower.
Adaline nodded and resumed eating. Her color was returning and so was her energy.
"This is extremely dangerous if anyone sees you producing this from… behind. So, whenever you want to eat goblin parts and 'poop' make sure you do it somewhere isolated. I'll build you a safe place. So please, promise me, that you will never, ever show anyone, even Grace and Arbor. Understand?"
Once again, Adaline nodded her head and resumed eating. As she ate she continued producing more and more exotic flower seeds until she was full.
Adaline managed to produce 2 more exotic flowers but no seeds out of it.
"I'm going to be busy from now on." Will had a lot to build and tend to. For example his camels, ajio, the fruit seeds, enchanting, a safe room for Adaline, mining gold, and probably more stuff that he forgot for now.
What he did first was build an isolated place for Adaline underground. It was a bit dark but Adaline couldn't see at all.
Next, what WIll did was dispose of the evidence by eating it.
First, he grabbed the potion stand that he got from the garbage in the kingdom of Reyes.
He read through the guide book on how to make potions.
But, it was easy because of his system so he could skip through most of the steps. Like when he smelts iron ore, a screen appears in front of him, all he had to do was add the fuel source and smelting materials. And then a timer would appear telling him how long it would take to smelt the materials he inserted.
It was the same for potion making. A screen appeared with 5 boxes on it, which meant that he needed to place the materials in there.
He first grabbed one ajio and one exotic flower, no sooner did a timer appear.
{9:59}
Will sat there for 10 minute straight not even looking away. He was in his own room where Grace nor Arbor could see the exotic flowers he stored in his chest.
After 10 minutes had passed, he had unlocked a new potion recipe.
{Exotic potion}
{Grants 25+ permanent HP}
{It's extremely poisonous to all races except elves, and the user}
It was still poisonous but not to him anymore.
Will ate that potion and it dissolved in his mouth as if it were a cloud, tasteless, and yet somehow satisfying to eat. It was the ajio's effect, as soon as it comes in contact with saliva it'll dissolve and break down into millions of particles.
{HP: 75/75}
He had longed the day where his measly 50 HP would increase at least by one number. And now it happened.
Will looked and still had 21 exotic flowers, but four ajios, and 50 ajio seeds left. Seeing that he had a limited amount of ajio's left, he planted some ajio seeds inside a stone pot, with dirt in it. He left it underground and watered it a bit.
Will got soil because of Adaline. Adaline was not only able to grow grass but also convert the land into soil slowly. It was thanks to the various elements that this land had that it was able to grow soil. The rate she's producing soil was slower than she was able to produce grass, but it was better than not having soil.
Will decided to get risky, so he added one ajio, and 2 exotic flower seeds to see the results.
{9:59}
Once again he sat down for 10 minutes until the results came back.
{Exotic potion}
{Grants 50+ permanent HP}
{It's extremely poisonous to all races except elves, and the user}
Will rubbed his chin. It seems that no matter how many exotic flowers he adds at once, it would still give him 25 health per each flower. But it does save him time from making potions every 10 minutes. The potion stand can combine 5 materials at once. It meant he could add 4 exotic flowers each time, and with an ajio as well.
He sighed because he thought he would get a little bit more permanent HP, but not everything would go his way.
{HP: 125/125}
Will continued making potions until he ran out of ajios.
{HP: 425/425}
He could've easily had over 500 HP but he ran out of ajio. There were 7 more exotic flowers to be used, plus all the other flowers that Adaline could still produce.
"So… a monster's poop is what's basically giving me life. Never thought I would say." Will thought of something confusing.
Throwing out those thoughts he continued building as the ajio seeds grew, and he could keep consuming more and more pills.
First, he built the diamond power source, the very thing that would be able to give him enchants.
He grabbed the diamonds and the the materials required to make it, and successfully made the diamond power source.
The diamond source looked somewhat weird. It was like a music stand that one would use in an orchestra, it's size could barely reach Will's legs so it was short. There was also a diamond the size of his fist standing a top of the stand.
The brown book glowed but Will didn't pay attention to it for now.
Will touched the diamond power source to see how enchantments work.
A screen with 3 boxes, and a bar appeared. The bar read.
{Enchantment power 0%}
{Enchantment power 1%}
It was slowly rising for some reason.
Next, the first box was just right beneath the bar that read.
{Insert fuel source: optional}
Will did not know what that meant exactly. He put some coal in it but it didn't go through, meaning that it doesn't accept coal as a power source.
Next, he inserted a diamond, and the bar went up to 100% instantly.
"Okay… but what does this mean?"
The next box beneath that read.
{Insert item}
Will got his steel pickaxe, it seems that it could be enchanted right now, and enchanting his pickaxe would be beneficial for him. It was a new pickaxe with full durability.
"Hope this works."
He inserted the pickaxe inside, and it shrunk so much that it fit inside the diamond on top of the diamond power source.
The pickaxe came out without him doing anything, and it was enchanted. Will carefully examined the pickaxe in his hand.
{Steel pickaxe: Enchanted}
{Enchantment: Excavate II: Easily mine through harder rocks/ores}
{Enchantment: Durability I: Increases this item's durability}
"So it's completely random?" Will thought that he could choose the enchantments, but it was completely random. Still he was extremely happy to use enchantments.
He checked what he had unlocked in the recipe book.
To his amazement, a completely new section of the book was added: enchantments. It details all the enchantments he had unlocked. It even had the enchantment bullets he got from killing JIm. The reason he didn't get this section unlocked is because he needed to touch an enchanting power source.
That wasn't all he unlocked.
{Super power source generator}
{This power source will fill up the {enchantment bar} faster than any other power source stand. It will also let you choose which enchantments you want instead of getting it randomly. And enchantments will also be more powerful}
{Crafting materials needed: Diamond power source}
{Crafting materials needed: Ruby power source}
{Crafting materials needed: Emerald power source}
{Crafting materials needed: Sapphire power source}
In order to craft the super power source generator, he needed to craft another 3 other different types of power sources.
Will was curious about that enchantment bar. Did it need to be at 100% to actually enchant an item.
He inserted his assault rifle in the diamond power source even though it only had 1% right now.
And to his surprise, it worked.
{Assault rifle: Enchanted}
{Enchantment: Durability I}
He tried testing it on other tools when it reached 1%, but it all had the same garbage enchantments. Will understood now that in order to have more powerful enchantments, he needed to wait for the enchantment bar to rise.
Will times how much time was needed until the bar number keeps going up.
Until it reached 3% he understood how long it took. Approximately it takes 5 minutes for the bar to go up by 1% meaning that he'd need to wait 500 minutes until it was maxed out. For some reason, it takes a second for the power source to go up to 1% so he needs to wait a full 8 hours until the enchanting bar reaches 100% which is indeed slow.
"Although it takes time for the enchanting bar to go up, it's still better than nothing. I've been meaning to enchant these items of mine for the longest time." Will wasn't bothered by the long wait. While he tended to other stuff, the enchantment bar would go up, and he'd get stronger as well. And luckily for him it didn't require more minerals to enchant them. All he had to do was wait.
Next he released his two camels, planted the fruit seeds. He now had 7 camels. A few more and he can eat meat.
Camels obviously had to release their body waste and it would start to smell, but Adaline absorbs their feces to enrich the soil. It's a good thing he didn't need to clean it up because he didn't feel like it.
"Why do I feel like I'm forgetting something?" Will racked his brain to remember what he had forgotten.
"Will!" Grace said.
"Yeah?"
"We need to speak to you about the exotic flower you found." Grace and Arbor showed up with the flower in hand.
"Oh yeah, I forgot I gave it to you." Will realized he was one flower short, because he gave one to them and ate the other one. He had forgotten to take back the exotic flower from them after that.
"We would like to propose a trade." Grace said.
"For the flower?"
"Yes. It's beneficial for us, elves, but it's poisonous to everyone else. The next exotic flower that will bloom in the elf kingdom will take about another 100 hundred years. So we need this."
"Well…" He didn't want to let go of the chance to increase his HP.
"Is there anything that you need or want? I am sure that my grandfather will comply with your requests as long as it's reasonable."
The flower technically belonged to Adaline, but Will was the one who tamed Adaline. They guessed that the next time Adaline produces a flower it'll take a few hundred years.
They really did need this flower to increase their lifespan.
Will thought about this. Increasing his HP is something he really needs, however HP isn't the only way to go. Adaline could produce more for him as long as he fed her more monster parts. And he had an exotic flower seed as well, but still had no idea how to grow it. He didn't want to accidentally destroy the exotic flower seed by using normal means.
"There's a few things that I want. But I need to know one thing." Will said after planning it out.
"What is it?"
"Are you two planning on going back to the elf kingdom?"
Grace talked to her father. Arbor looked at Adaline for a while and responded.
"He said that only we will go back, but will return here to check on Adaline."
"As long as you both go back, I need these items: healing herbs to make healing potions, actually give me all the herbs and flowers and seeds you can and bring them back." Will needed to make more than just exotic potions. Potions could give him a huge advantage in the future if he knows how to make and use them.
Grace talked to her father and he nodded without hesitating.
"Done. Anything else?"
"Is it possible that elves have rare minerals like diamonds, rubies, gold and such?"
Grace translated to her father.
"He said that some elves do have those items. We use them for enchanting our weapons."
"I need those. I need about 10 emeralds, 10 rubies, 10 sapphires, and 10 diamonds. And also gold will be nice, not coins though. If you have more I'll gladly take it." Will didn't need the diamonds, but they were a great fuel source for enchanting quickly.
Grace translated to her father again.
"He says that's fine too, but it wouldn't be fair on your end to end it like this. Anything else?"
"Yes. I need info. As you know I am a hero and I don't know much about this world. I need maps, info about this world, and also is possible info about the other 99 heroes. Everything that I need to know please tell me."
Will still wanted to explore and not remain in the same place for a long time, it would remind him of his time in quarantine. Having the basic information about this world's history, and geography would help him.
Also, he needed to know if his ex-girlfriend was doing fine.
"Done. Anything else?"
Will raised his eyebrows. It felt like he suddenly got a good deal thanks to the exotic flower. Then again, it's rare and it grows once every 300-500 years, and it's the reason why humans want to take over the elven race.
"I realized that your father's blades are made out of something called metal-grass, bring me a bunch of that."
If he could make weapons out of that metal-grass, his power would rise significantly. It's definitely stronger and lighter than steel.
Grace looked at Will for a second before translating it to her dad.
"He said that's fine too. So I guess that's it then?"
"Yup." Will really wanted to ask them about how they grew flowers from the exotic seed and if there were any special or unique methods he didn't know about. But if he asked them they would get suspicious of him. He wasn't stupid enough to trade it. The only reason he traded the flower is because they knew about it, and wouldn't rest until they had it completely in their hands.
Grace nodded to her father and he nodded as well.
"We'll take Sten. Adaline is a faster mount, but she cannot take Sten and us both at the same time. We'll be back in about a week or two."
Arbor and Grace mounted Sten and rode off. They needed to get the flower back asap.
Will realized that he was alone again with Adaline.
"It's just us again." Will patted her head gently.
Now he took the steel pickaxe, went to the deepest part of his literal man-made cave, and mined the granite. It was easier to mine granite than before.
"It's still hard, but at least now I'm making noticeable progress." Will chuckled and smiled.
He continued to mine and mine granite. When his steel pickaxe would come close to breaking, he fixed it like he had always done.
If he had to complain about one thing when he's mining, is the light source. Torches only last so long. It's a pain to make another torch, light it up, set it up every 20 minutes. And when he got too far he had to take it with him because it got darker.
But it was worth it. He had already found way more ores than he did further up. But still no sign of gold.
"Diggy-diggy hole, diggy-diggy hole. I am a dwarf and I'm digging a hole." He sang to himself as he mined. It's a very good and popular song somehow.
Then, he found a cave that he didn't make. It was pitch black so he couldn't see the entire cave because it was big. He was all the way at the top and almost fell.
He heard faint sounds of something below. Like water or something else. And screeching as well.
"Did I find another water source and bats? Oh god, I hope those things don't spread another disease again in this world."
Will grabbed another lit torch and threw it on the ground.
The torch dropped 15-20 feet before landing. On the ground were none other than monsters living in the darkness. It wasn't just ordinary monsters, they were scorpions the size of a full grown man. The number of scorpions could well be over 100.
They were all black, had long pointy tales, the light of the torch reflected off their skin. As soon as the torch touched one of them and burned them, they shrieked and began attacking the torch.
"Nope." Will blocked the wall and went back up.
"That was scary as fuck. It was like facing a terraria monster. God, that's scary." Will wasn't prepared for that. He didn't expect to find a cave, much less monsters living in it.
It did seem like there were monsters living in these lands, but were deep underground. Probably nobody noticed until now.
"No, I cannot let that be. I need to find gold." He cannot rely on Grace and Arbor bringing him gold. It was safer and probably quicker looking for it underground. And there was probably a lot more valuable minerals that could be of use of him if he continued mining deep underground.
"I'll go back tomorrow. After I enchant a few weapons." It wasn't safe going down there when there were that many scorpions, especially with his weak guns.
He took this chance to take a break and to find out how to make more flowers than just using Adaline.
Will grabbed the exotic flower seed, placed it inside a pot full of soil, watered it, and left it on the sun.
"I hope this works." He said.