After sleeping for a few hours Isaac no longer had bags under his eyes and Druak felt comfortable with continuing their journey up the mountain. Druak had also taken the chance to make some useful items while Isaac was sleeping.
The first item Druak made was a stronger poison resistant potion, this was easy to do since he already had the majority of the items around him, the main one being the black horn of the leopard they had fought recently.
Normally Druak wouldn't use such a valuable item to make a potion and would instead use it for a weapon but due to it not being fully developed that idea would be useless anyway. The other materials he used was one of the poison resistant potions and some of the tree back of the trees, this was used to counteract the poison within the black horn.
Druak smiled at the now darker green potion which was before him. "Now we have a stronger poison resistant potion. I'm glad that resipy came out before I died or I'd never be able to make a potion of this rank." Druak grabbed the [Intermediate tier poison potion] and put it into one of his side pockets in his leather jacket for use in the future
In Druak's past life after waking from his coma and learning that he could never go down the path of a mage because of his lack of knowledge he ended up going down any other path he could and one of those paths was as an alchemist.
Thanks to becoming an alchemist and blacksmith in his past life he was able to join the army as it was far more valuable to have someone who could do a lot instead of just one thing. The problem for Druak however was that due to him never focusing on one specific route of growth he never managed to get past the Intermediate tier rank of both alchemy and blacksmithing and was always stuck in the 3rd stage of his class until the time of his death.
The lucky thing for Druak was that unlike in his past life where this brought him many disadvantages, in this life it was now an advantage as it meant that his obsession with all types of knowledge gave him information about every type of field. This meant whether it be blacksmithing or alchemy he had already gotten a ten year advantage over anyone else in that field, even if the knowledge wasn't nearly as important to people in ten years time.
Thanks to this Druak hoped that he could sate his curiosity completely in this life and follow a path where he learned not only to be a mage but also an alchemist and blacksmith. That was also one of the main reasons why Druak had no problem with professor Ronalds request to go here, because this was the perfect place to get not only potion resources but blacksmithing supplies too. This meant there was no reason he shouldn't accept the professor's mission request.
For now Druak had to prioritise the flower which professor Ronald wanted but after that Druak had no plans to just leave and had even brought the space storage which he had used for Astra's egg, in hopes that it could store some of the resources Druak hoped to gain.
The sound of Isaac getting up brought Druak out of his reminiscence of the past. Druak got up and waited for Isaac to leave the tent before punching him across the head.
"Next time. Even if I'm half dead you need to remember that you also need to look after your health, you got it."
Isaac smiled and muttered. "Hypocrite." As he recalled all the times Druak didn't worry about his own safety and risked his life to save him.
Druak asked. "What was that you just said, I could hear you.
Isaac rubbed the back of his shoulder as sweat slightly went down his head. "Um. I said where we heading next." Isaac's body began to sweat more as he worried that Druak actually did hear him.
Slowly Druaks arm fell towards who squinted his eyes, but when he felt the gentle tap on his shoulder and saw that Druak smiled his tense shoulders loosened.
"We still need to get to the peak of that mountain. Once there we can wait till the flower blooms, but for now it's best to get there as fast as possible. So if you've finally had enough sleep let's head up."
Relieved Druak didn't hear what he said Isaac sighed in relief. "Haaa." Then ran to catch up with Druak who had already started going up towards the bottom of the mountain.
After travelling for a few hours they had finally gotten out of the forest which surrounded the mountain and they were also lucky enough to only encounter a few 0th stage snake creatures which Isaac alone was more than enough to dispatch of.
Before them was the giant mount du shan which was covered in wildlife that if not careful could kill even 3rd stage people in a matter of days. As Druak looked further up he could see the destruction and debri of previous battles all over the mountain, this wasn't that surprising as mount du shan was a well known place for people that learn nature related classes such as poisoning or healing.
The upside to this was the fact that thanks to so many people visiting this place it also meant that there were many maps about this place and it also meant that Druak already knew most of the creatures that lived here.
Druak looked toward Isaac who seemed to be sweating, thinking he was scared Druak tried to ease his worries. "From what I remember there should only be 3rd stage monsters around here since only one 4th stage monster can exist here at any given time. Since whenever there are two it always leads to a fight to the death."
What Druak didn't realise was instead of calming Isaac down it only made him worry even more, as Isaac knew both him and Druak combined had no chance against a 2nd stage let alone first stage monster.
Isaac face palmed as he said. "You're just making it worse. Let's just head up there and get this over with."
Realising his mistake Druak decided to shut his mouth and just head up the mount du shan as Isaac had suggested.
Lucky for Druak he had recalled a conversation he overheard in his past life, this was a conversation he heard only 3 years after he woke up from his coma so Druak believed that what he heard would still exist even now.
Druak recalled the middle aged man who wore loose leather armour who was speaking to a man wearing full plate armour. These two men had been speaking while Druak was taking a break from the army and was busy having a drink in one of the taverns near the war front.
"Hey. When I went to Mount du Shan a few days ago I saw some people going on to this hole in the mountain."
"And why are you telling me this."
"Because when I followed them I found a path that leads half way up the mountain, and theirs next to no monsters on the path so even 2nd stage people can go up there easily."
After listening to them Druak from his past life thought it was a good idea to follow them as he needed some resources for his blacksmithing and alchemy that he had just started while in the army. Thanks to this small shortcut Druak was able to get some really good resources despite not being incredibly strong at the time.
As Druak started walking around the side of the mountain Isaac became confused as he at first though Druak was planning to climb the mountain. Not knowing what he was doing Isaac asked. "Where are you going. I thought you wanted to climb the mountain as fast as possible."
Druak turned around and explained how he had gained information of a shortcut which would allow them to take nearly half the amount of time to climb the mountain. Isaac instantly trusted Druak as not only was Isaac very simple minded but Druak was also his best friend so why wouldn't he trust him.
After looking around for a few hours they were finally able to see a small hole in the mountain that seemed to be cancelled by some vines. If it wasn't for the fact that they were specifically looking for it this hole would have probably been complied unnoticed by them.
Druak turned towards Isaac with a serious expression on his face. "This route is much safer but don't forget that there are still plenty of monsters that could be dangerous to us along this path so make sure to be careful."
Isaac nods to Druak in response and after getting this response Druak seemed to feel comfortable with continuing forward as he started walking into the small hole in the mountain, moving the vines out of the way as he went.