Chapter 17: Training (II).
Francisca's POV
Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!
Away from home we were, my mother took us to Mt. Ordonia to be trained by temple monks. We've been assigned to the eldest kid that was on the temple to gather some herbs, but for some reason-
"Like the elder monk said- you will not go past the barrier. You will only collect things that are on the list, it has been drawn for you to not get confused and be careful on getting any other plants that might be poisonous." she places a hand on her waist while holding her basket looking annoyed at us.
The other kids were already doing their own searching.
"You can go and find them now, we'll regroup back at the entrance of the temple in an hour to clean, hunt fish in the afternoon and then train." It seems that would be all, I took the list of herbs that we needed to gather and I couldn't recognize many of these…
The only ones I could notice was-
Garlic, Ginger, lemongrass, orchids, apples, mushrooms and that was basically it. They have the same appearance with the ones on earth but as for the other ones-
[Luminescent Mushroom], [Screaming Grass], [Crying Flower], [Premature Mandrake Root], aren't those supposed to be deadly though? There were a few more, hopefully they're not any deadly.
I could use the digital map on my phone to search them and see if I can get a few to fit in my woven basket-
"Excuse me- Can I ask a question?" (Kc) raised her hands slightly and the older girl's attention went to her.
"Yes, what is it?"
"What's your name? Strict scary looking lady?" (Kc) said nonchalantly in an innocent tone leaving the girl speechless and looking dazed.
"..."
"Kc! That was rude!" (John) leans over and nudges her sides, looking embarrassed. I agreed with John, although I have to give perks to Kc for asking a question with an insult while smiling so innocently like that.
Kc's eyes squinted at us looking confused, as if she didn't know what was wrong with her question. "What? But it's true she's scary! And I'm just curious on what her name would be. I don't want to stick with a scary lady the whole day or like the whole time we'll be staying here."
"Scary lady… but I'm not even that old- I'm the same age as him." The girl points at John who sighs nodding. "You… nevermind, you wanted to know my name. It's Nuo Lian."
"Nuo Lian…" I muttered and she seemed to have heard me say her name.
"Yes, but here you may also call me Jiejie, it means an older sister. While I am not related to you in any way- it's just an honorific to respect someone who is older than you."
Her name… Now that I think about it, the people in this temple seemed to be more acquainted with Chinese culture. From the chopstick, the names, and the design of the mountain temple.
"A graceful willow, your name… it's lovely." I told her, I never forgot one of the languages that I studied back in my past life.
Nuo Lian stares at me with wide eyes hearing my words, for the first time ever she didn't seem to be annoyed with me and even smiled.
"The meaning of my name, you know it?" (Nuo Lian) walks over to me crouching down. Her eyes sparkled while she tilts her head looking at me weird-
"I- must have come across it in a book but-" It was a lie, but before I could even continue that lie…
Ding! Dong! Ding!
A certain bell rang that caught our attention. Everyone turned their heads in the direction of the bell, I could hear Nuo Lian clicking her tongue and standing up. She collects herself going in another direction.
"I forgot to tell you, a bell would ring to check up on the children. The first bell would mean, 'Be safe out there'. The second bell means, 'Half an hour left' and the third, 'Go back to the temple'." She gestures to our empty basket and waves.
"If you want dinner, best to get as many as you can. Remember by the third bell you are all to gather at the entrance of the temple." (Nuo Lian) smiles at me before leaving.
I could see Kc scratching her head and John looking at me weirdly.
"It seems that she really likes you." (Kc) holds her chin, inspecting me as if I did something wrong, because she was moving those eyebrows of hers very suggestively.
"Are children your age usually that charming? Impressing her with knowledge is certainly something." (John) soon followed, earning a weird look from me.
I shrug and shake my head.
"I don't know what you two are talking about- come on you two. Let's go get those herbs that we need." I tell them, as I hold my basket and I take out my phone secretly out of my pocket.
Kc and John found their own corners holding the piece of paper that has all the listed things drawn. They were parting the tall grass, checking any of the bushes and trees for fruits.
"Let's see what we can find here." I opened my phone, unlocked it with my password and clicked on the map app. "I didn't realize we were inside a barrier- the map was not showing anything so meaning it's hidden."
The map was full of green shrubbery.
I clicked on the search bar and put one of the ingredients first.
"Let's try finding some garlic." I typed garlic and soon small little icons appeared around the map. I held the phone in surprise, this item is super overpowered to have. "Wow… there is a lot of garlic."
I looked around and followed the small icons making sure that I didn't get out of the barrier.
I found the motherload and started lifting the garlic with all my strength getting half of the basket full already. "I still have a few more- so I think I'll be carrying some of them instead."
I continued my search for the other ingredients.
"Found some ginger! Ugh now my hands are dirty." I had to dig the ground to get these, which was pretty fun. I had to find a branch to dig it more properly. I could use magic but I don't think fire magic or wind magic would be any help.
I haven't also learned any spells that might help dig this one.
After some ginger hunting I found a small glimmer at the side of my eye and saw the magical glowing mushrooms that were sticking out of a tree.
"Wow… glowing mushrooms- so these are those weird mushrooms on the list. Pretty magical items."
I had to double check if it was the right ones in my phone, I typed it on the search bar of the map and it confirmed that these were the right ones. I took some and placed them in the basket.
"Hngh… Climbing some trees for apples is troublesome." Found a few apple trees, I didn't think it would fit in the basket so- I had to pick only a few. I can eat some on the road back to the temple entrance.
"Wahhh! Wahhh!"
It was time to hunt a crying flower and well-
"THE FLOWER IS ACTUALLY CRYING!" I observed the weird yellow flower that was swaying back and forth, its leaves were covering its face and I felt horrible but I ran and plucked it out of the ground with ease.
"And um… huh the mandrake root definitely looks like a dead baby root…"
That was certainly the adventure.
Ding! Dong! Ding!
"The second bell already rang, so there's only half an hour left of ingredients hunting." I took a look at my phone and saw it was almost six in the morning with the sun going up, the light shone on my face looking over at the distance and then at my ingredients haul.
[Garlic] x20
[Ginger] x18
[Lemongrass] x10
[Orchids] x15
[Apples] x 5
[Mushrooms] x 19
[Luminescent Mushroom] x20
[Screaming Grass] x9
[Crying Flower] x1
[Premature Mandrake Root] x1
These were all the ingredients that I got. They didn't fit on the basket so I had everything on the ground for now…
"Hmm… It would be a waste to leave it and I haven't seen much of the other kids so I guess I'll be resting at the entrance first." I took my basket and found a huge leaf that I could place all my other ingredients in to drag it.
"Here we go…!" I grabbed the end of the leaf and ran through the entrance of the temple.
There weren't any other kids there when I arrived.
I decided to plop down onto the side for now and take a small nap, seeing that I'm in the temple I should be safe.
I have half an hour left, let's see when the others will arrive.