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After having lunch, we decided to share the stew with the rest of the squirrel-folk population. They were small so they didn't need to eat that much, it was almost enough for everybody. After that, we decided to resume our search for the specific items with Acorn. These items were quite special, as we needed them to make the antidote for the disease of the squirrel-folk! There was this one very last ingredient we had to pick up, and here was the list:
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[Dark Essence]: 10/10
[Black Core]: 10/10
[Morning Flower Dew]: 5/5
[Spiky Purple Mushroom]: 5/5
[Leaf of Youth]: 0/5
[Golden Sap]: 5/5
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The only ingredient missing was Leaf of Youth, which we were already moving to grab with Acorn atop of our leveled White Goat, Belle, who had grown stronger through the battle quite a lot.
"Leaf of Youth is a bit farther away than Morning Flower Dew, that's why we didn't take that route first, we could have gone directly there after the Morning Flower Dew, but we were too exhausted to move any more than that… Well, we'll reach it in no time atop this powerful goat!" said Acorn.
"I see. What does the Leaf of Youth do? Does it make you younger?" I asked.
"Oh, no, it is not like that. The Leaf of Youth receives its name from its ability to make you feel younger and more energized, it is a small leaf that grows from a small patch of plants. I don't remember there being any monster in that place aside from the Horned Rabbits that occasionally wander around, so it should be way safer than the other places we went before!" said Acorn.
"That's good! I really don't want to fight any more for a while… in fact I wish we didn't have to fight like forever…" I said.
"Hahaha! That's a good joke, Lady Dryad, you're so strong that I doubt you'll ever face any difficulties in a fight! Your new Spirit Magic Skills are amazing, you can summon such strong Land Spirits that is no joke!" said Acorn, surprised about my power. He had begun to admire me as if I were some sort of powerful figure that he had to look up to. I really didn't know what to think about that, but I decided to let him think or say whatever he wanted. He was a young and cute little squirrel folk so I didn't mind his attention.
"And here we are!"
We crossed through the forest, and after almost 40 minutes of traveling non-stop, we reached a very ordinary-looking area of the forest. There were large trees like always, but below these trees there were some extravagant herbs that grew up to a meter long and had scythe-shaped leaves.
"Are these the Leaf of Youth?"
"Yes, they are!"
Acorn jumped out of Belle and quickly began to gather the herbs, stuffing them inside of his Item Bag. Although the place seemed peaceful, there were many Horned Rabbits wandering about, the moment they sensed us, they began to quickly jump towards our position! However, these monsters were around Level 1 or Level 2 at most, so I decided to leave this work to Belle and Loki. I chose to help Acorn pick up the leaves.
"Go have fun you two!"
"Meee!"
"!!!"
The two summons jumped into action, and Belle crushed the horned rabbits before they could even reach her, piercing them with her horns or stepping over them until they turned into particles of light. Meanwhile, Loki was even more savage, grabbing them with her vines and hitting them into the ground until they died, or devouring them with her sharp jaws. The scene was not gory but it was still quite terrible, so I decided to not look for the moment and concentrate on the pretty plants while I was gaining small passive bonuses of EXP in the sidelines, alongside a lot of dropped items such as horned rabbit meat, pelt, and their horn.
"And done!"
Acorn saved the last leaf of youth, and we decided to make our way back to the squirrel-kin village, I had gained around 1200 EXP from all the rabbits, which were a dozen, but they're low level so the amount of EXP they give was also low, nonetheless, we got a lot of rabbit meat that I could prepare in the future. Also I suppose we could use the pelt and the horns somehow, but I didn't really know how we could use them correctly.
"With this, we got all the items… I can't believe we did it in just three days, this is crazy! I'll go make the potions right away!" said Acorn.
We moved swiftly back to the village, and then we reached the Elder's house, where he was resting like every day as usual. Earlier, he had eaten some stew and felt quite well despite the disease. However, it wouldn't last forever, so we had to quickly make the antidote.
I saw Acorn slowly fusing the materials into the cauldron while using the power of his Alchemy Skill… I could also learn that Skill and I wondered if I could use it to do something…
"I think I could also learn that Alchemy Skill, do you think you could teach me how to make potions and other things?" I asked.
"Oh, of course! I don't mind doing so, Lady Planta!" said Acorn. "You can also make other things through alchemy, such as extracting the essence of products and making different types of oils. Herbs have specific oils that can be either consumed or used to make other things, the special soap we use to bathe is made out of several herbal oils. And the acorn oil is also made like this!"
"Oooh! I see. So it is good to make oils with it," I said. "I always thought it was just potions, but potions can range from a lot of different effects anyways… There are even those explosive ones you used to fight; they were pretty incredible. Do you have any more of those?"
"Yeah, but they're not the easiest to make. There are other offensive potions I could make, such as the Freezing Potions or the Paralysis Potions, but those need some very rare plants and herbs that I cannot find everywhere… The same for the Combustion Potions. Those plants are too rare, it is hard to come by them."
"Rare, huh…"
If I could make a small farm and raise any plants I want, perhaps we could pick these specific rare ingredient plants and raise them! Right? My Skills say that any plant I'd grow will receive insane growth bonuses, so I was sure it would work well one way or another… We just needed to find a good place to make a field, where the sunlight hit directly and also was not so far away either. I'm sure the nutrients of this forest' floor would do the rest, but we really need to set up a place for my farm… Maybe doing it outside the forest would be better? At the forest outskirts, maybe.
While waiting for Acorn to get done with the potion, I suddenly realized it was already 2PM outside, and my real-life stomach was no doubt experiencing a lot of hunger! So I quickly decided to log out for the moment to eat something.
"I'm going out for a bit, Acorn, I'll come back later," I said.
"Oh, okay! I'll have it done whenever you're back," said Acorn.
I quickly decided to log out, a bit tired and exhausted from the day, and then took out the headset from my head. I relaxed for a bit over the bed's cushion, resting my head over there while stretching lazily.
"Hahhh~ I really just want to laze around for a bit…" I sighed. Although I always felt lazy deep down, I worked pretty hard… I hoped one day I could embrace my laziness and don't do anything. But I was hungry so I'd go prepare something to eat for me and my daughter and her friend!
Today I decided to cook some pasta. I had bought some colorful one this time around, those ones with three colors. They're pretty interesting, I liked their flavor, although I've always wondered if the yellow one was just a normal flavor? Well, anyways, I mostly liked the green pasta with spinach flavor, but the red one with tomato flavor was also pretty good.
I left the pasta boiling after opening the pack and then decided to cook some home-made tomato sauce like my mother taught me to. I opened the fridge and took out some minced meat that I left unfreezing below, and left it at the side, afterwards I took out some onions, carrots, garlic, and tomatoes, and started cutting them up.
Oh, I really missed these ingredients in the game. I wished we could find carrots or onions, they're very essential for the preparation of various foods, garlic too!
I began by cutting the onions into tiny cubes several times, and as my eyes began to cry a little bit, I cut down the garlic into tiny pieces as well I then peeled the tomatoes and diced them into small cubes and then into even smaller cubes, constantly cutting them until they ended like a tomato paste. Right after, I then grated the carrots, so it'd boil quickly. Even small chunks would boil very slowly.
Oh! I almost forgot… some bell peppers were a must! I took some red and yellow ones and sliced them until they turned into tiny little cubes and added them to the veggie mix, which I then put over the pot and began to soft fry using some olive oil. While doing so, I added salt, oregano, black pepper, and some basil as well.
When everything was already mildly cooked, I added the meat and began to also soft fry it with the rest of the veggies, making sure to mix everything well enough. Ahhh, the scent of onions and garlic mixed with basil, tomatoes, and carrots were very strong, and the meat as it slowly cooked also generated a delightful scent.
When the meat was slightly cooked, I decided to add two cups of boiling water, mixing everything together and then adding a small sachet of tomato sauce from the mini market as the last touch, slowly mixing everything and then leaving it boiling for a few minutes before it was ready.
This was the recipe my mother taught me, and the one I've been eating since I was a little girl, so it was something I know is very tasty! Oh, and the pasta was almost ready as well. I should add some salt and olive oil—ah, I should have done it before! Oh well…
After everything was done, I called my daughter and her friend. The two came running out of my daughter's room and sat down to eat with me.
"Today I made tri-color pasta!" I said. "Anna, have you eaten homemade tomato sauce? You'll love it."
"Oooh! It looks nice!"
Anna quickly dug in alongside my daughter. My daughter was a silent beauty as always, but she was enjoying the food, she was eating pretty quickly while enjoying the flavor. If she didn't complain, it meant it pleased her greatly!
I sat down as well, and began to eat some pasta, coiling it around my fork with some tomato sauce mixed in, and I also added some parmesan cheese. The mix of delicious flavors was like an explosion inside of my mouth, very good, way too good, in fact…
Uwah, I really needed to eat something like this, I was dying of hunger. That game food was so nice that it tricked my brain into thinking that I already ate, but when I took out the headset I was attacked by an intense hunger. This really hit the spot!
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