The Forest was called Jade garden for several reasons, the first was the green soil on this land and then there were the trees that were covered in a green glittery substance. According to John, it was because these lands used to belong to fairies but they have all immigrated out of these places. He also informed Dave about trees that have been completely turned into jade because of the high concentration of magic.
The fairies were a race divided into four categories, Forest elves, high elves, dark elves, and pixies. The land of the jade garden is off-limits to humans and they are banned from bringing any natural resource out of the forest. Only hunting is allowed and that is also to a select few individuals that include adventurers as well.
" Those who have been caught stealing from this forest were punished with death so not many people try to steal." John spoke and then added, " However you can buy these herbs from the public guild as they have many herb gardens in this forest."
" I don't think that's what we need to focus on, we need to hunt the other remaining turtles." He spoke.
" That one was smaller than the usual lava turtles and easy to kill because its shell was too soft. You will need a sword to kill the beast, your punches are not enough." John replied.
Dave was only able to make a crack in the shell of that turtle and if that was a soft shell then he didn't know how hard it would be to break the shell of the other turtles. On the way, they saw various other beasts that looked dangerous but they avoided fighting them. The deeper they went inside the more glitter they saw on the trees. He wondered if he would be able to know something different using his [Appraisal] skill about this strange green glitter. However, he knew that he could do that later.
Suddenly a white leopard-like animal jumped in front of them and growled.
" Don't Attack! It's just warning us to not go further but not stopping us." John stopped Dave from attacking and walked in front of him.
They walked while the beast stayed still and kept a watch as they continued to walk. Dave had also never strayed his eyes away from the beast while continuing to walk behind John.
" That beast is like a guard to the King Of Jade Garden," John spoke.
" The king of Jade Garden?" Dave asked in confusion.
" The monster at the top of the food chain, you will know when you see him," John answered.
*****
" Skill Activate [ Flash Series]" John spoke as he flashed in front of the huge lava turtle. While the turtle continued to attack with lava spit like there was no tomorrow and it was different from the turtle they faced before. The lava spitted by this turtle was different, as soon as it touched the ground its caused explosions and shattered the ground.
The green glitter filled the battlefield because of these explosions and it became bard to see. Dave was told to wait and attack when John asks for help. They were taking turns in hunting down the beasts.
Dave was amazed by the flawless swordsmanship that John was performing in this fight. He avoided every attack that came his way and those he couldn't avoid were dealt with by the swift and precise movements of his blade. John continued to move forwards and in just a few seconds he was very close to the neck of the beast.
His sword pierced the neck of the turtle and the turtle shook his head and tried to go inside its shell. But a golden light covered the blade of the sword because of his [ Flash Series] skill. From its neck, the head of the beast was cleaved in two halves.
" You never called for me!" Dave shouted once he saw that the beast was dead.
" ...Oh, I forgot about you in the heat of the battle," John replied.
" I am attacking next time and you will assist."
The Lava turtle quest included hunting four Lava turtles. This monster was comparatively massive to the first turtle they faced. However the bigger they were the slower they moved.
After that, they found two more turtles and Dave acted as the vanguard. He fought with his fists but was hardly ever able to crack the shells with one punch, and his continuous punches on the shell would trigger the turtles to go back inside of thier shells and spin but Dave held onto the crystal on thier backs. Once they stop he would punch until he broke the shell and ripped it off the turtle's back. It was too much hard work and Dave was finally understanding why he should learn swordsmanship like John, he wondered if John would agree to teach him.
He finished off the next turtle in a similar fashion and even got the death energy for it. Just when they were done the white leopard monster returned in front of them.
" It's time for us to go back, the King will not allow any more of these beasts to be hunted," John spoke.
" How do you understand what it's saying?" Dave asked.
" It has been monitoring our movements since the moment we entered the forest. The King of the Jade garden will not allow any over the killing of its subjects." John answered. " In the first place, before issuing the quest the Public guild has to negotiate with the King."
Jade garden, this forest was a weird place. A hunting quest wasn't that hard with the two of them but if Dave would have come here alone then he would have faced a lot of problems. Even though he had the guide it only mentioned things he need to do to survive, there was no mention of the king of the forest in that guide. It wasn't a guide for adventurers but explorers and mainly focused on basic survival.
He checked his system for the notification that he received after killing the turtles and he was right. Coming to the forest unlocked three new skills, he wondered if they would be useful as he wanted to swap some of his new skills with the old ones that he never uses.
Meanwhile, John extracted the soul core from the turtle and gave it to dave. He safely put the crystal into the same waist bag in which he had the other three crystals.
" John, Can you teach me how to fight?" Dave asked.