"Don't you have any spare butcher's tools you don't use so I can dismantle monsters?"
The elf stared at me with those white eyes of his and his expression changed from calm to serious, as if my request was something I shouldn't have asked.
Ethren's sudden change of expression surprised me for a moment until he returned to his calm expression once again.
"Why would you need such tools to dismantle monsters, I can see your fingernails and they look sharp enough to gut and skin a wolf very easily?"
The idea hadn't crossed my mind when I saw the system telling me that it required tools I didn't think my nails could do such a thing, I guess it could be obvious to anyone, but I didn't see it that way, in the beta. If you didn't have those tools, recovering monster parts was impossible.
"I hadn't thought of that... wait, can you see what I look like?"
I couldn't help but ask Ethren, surprised that he still didn't attack me, although to be honest with myself, I didn't even know what my face looked like.
"I can see what you look like, even though only your silhouette is visible to my eyes, the most complicated details, I'm incapable of seeing them, I apologize."
Asking Ethren, why he didn't attack me was risky, as it would lead to more questions and I didn't want to waste time answering unnecessary questions.
"You must be hungry, right?"
The sudden question puzzled me, but it was obvious, I emerged from the mountain and seemed to be lost in the woods, plus I had just finished fighting monsters.
Ethren seemed to be the kind of person who cared more about others than himself, I decided not to deny things, even if my hunger meter said otherwise.
"I feel fine, I appreciate you asking, according to you. I can dismantle monsters with my bare hands, I guess I'll try now, I need the parts."
Ethren looked around for a few seconds and his ears moved a couple of times, something was in the woods.
"Looks like he's close. You said you need monster parts, yes?. Well, I'll tell you which monster is better to hunt to get good parts to use."
Ethren's sudden change of tone made me believe there was someone or something in these woods or possibly the thing Ethren was watching when he found himself being stalked by monsters until I showed up and helped him without realizing it.
"Follow me, I'm afraid we can't stay here long."
Ethren's voice sounded like he was scared for some reason, whatever was in the woods scared him, but that didn't mean I had to be afraid too.
I decided to keep up with Ethren without letting him leave me behind. Incredibly, the blind elf ran through the forest, stepping on the rocks around him without even tripping over one of them. He had probably run through the forest so many times that it was already etched in his head.
"Hey!...slow down, I'm not that fast!"
I couldn't help but scream, I was already starting to run out of breath, my stamina was high, but running in such a way without stopping to rest was something I couldn't do, Ethren, on the other hand, seemed fine. Not for nothing were the elves the masters of the forest.
I couldn't take it anymore, my heart felt like it was about to burst and I was forced to stop and try to catch my breath.
Ethren stopped and approached me, offering me a strange plant that looked like lettuce.
"What am I supposed to do with this plant?"
My curiosity made me doubt the plant and also because I did not know how to use the items in the game.
"Eat it. That flower will help you catch your breath and increase the amount of time you can run, it can even help you fight better because it helps you regain your energy."
I hesitated a bit, but in the end, I ended up eating a plant and a message suddenly appeared.
[You have ingested heart of green moss]
[Stamina regeneration increased by 25%]
[Stamina increased by 200 for 700 seconds]
The effect of the plant was real, its duration was a bit long, but not long enough to use it in the long term and it could really help fight better, because of the 200 extra stamina points.
"I appreciate it, but I guess that silver must be really rare to find."
Obviously, something that would give such a boost must have been very rare to find, but Ethren shook his head in denial.
"If you look around, the plant is overabundant in the woods and I'm afraid there are very few places to find it. If you want to take some time and pick some of them if you're lucky you might even find a heart of golden moss."
heart of golden moss, which was it, I was saying to myself in my head.
"What effect does the golden moss have?"
ethren turned his head from side to side, possibly preventing anyone else from hearing what he had to say.
"According to the ancient Elves, golden moss can increase the power of one who ingests it, golden moss is incredibly rare to find, and for that reason. The ancient Elves give a magnificent reward to one who brings them such a plant."
A great reward for a great item, it made sense, but surely everyone would be finding that plant if it grew everywhere.
"Surely the ancient elves have lots of those plants in store, don't they?"
Ethren changed his expression again and shook his head, denying the fact.
"Unfortunately, the plant has long been in poor bloom and I fear that the ancient Elves have been unable to find one for the last four centuries, a sad but deserved fact when the ancient tribes abused the mother earth, planting and cultivating the plant, abusing the land"
It seems that not only did humans abuse the land and then get punished for it, the ancient tribes also seemed to do so and paid dearly for it.
"Do you mind if I pick some of the plants? They would help me a lot for the journey ahead."
Ask first and take later, the elves are the masters of this place, and taking something without permission could bring me trouble or even worse, a bad reputation.
"You saved my life, the forest is yours to take as much as you like, the plant grows like weeds, but if you find golden moss let me know and I'll reward you accordingly."
It sounded good, but that's where a problem came in. According to Ethren, the ancient elves had good rewards for those who carried golden moss in their hands, and he didn't feel like going around seeing who would give the most for the moss.
~Hidden task found~ "Moss Collector"
~You have obtained permission from Ethren to search the forest for colored moss, a reward awaits you if you manage to find the colored moss Ethren requires.
[Reward]
600 EXP. Points + butcher's tools + increased trust with Ethren.
Ethren, after all, seems to be the one who needs it the most and the mission made it clear, the increase in confidence with him also had the possibility of taking me on an extra mission.
"Looks like it's time to pick some moss!"
To be honest, one would not know where to start, the forest was full of this plant, but it was better than not finding any at all.