Taking a completely new path would let him cover more ground, but Ackster followed the same route as last night. It wasn't because of any special reason. He just wanted to find the grove of Sun-kissed grass and pluck the herbs in case he got injured again. Besides, the forest was so large that taking another route wouldn't increase his chances of finding his target.
In his fever-induced maddened behavior, Ackster had rolled around and crushed a lot of the herbs. But if he were lucky, there would still be a few left that he could harvest and bring with him as he traversed deeper into the forest in search of his objective.
Ackster couldn't help but be surprised when he returned to where he had slain the goblin, stumbled around in a fever, and found the Sun-kissed grass.
The goblin's corpse and the signs of their short battle were gone. If Ackster hadn't recognized the surroundings since they were etched in his memory, he would have thought he had taken a wrong turn somewhere.
There was also the glade of Sun-kissed grass that was in the same spot as before, which confirmed he was indeed in the right place. However, unlike the scene of his struggle with the goblin, the glade wasn't even close to recovering. It was still obvious that someone had rolled around and squashed most of the herbs.
Well, it was magical plants, after all. It was only natural it took some time for them to recover. A corpse disappearing and a few broken branches or footsteps in the ground were nothing in comparison.
After inspecting the surroundings, Ackster rummaged through the remains of the Sun-kissed grass. The squashed plants had most likely lost their medicinal efficacy since they didn't glow anymore.
Eventually, after looking around on his knees and hands for several minutes, Ackster finally found several mostly intact plants at the edge of the glade. They weren't as mature as the ones in the center had been, but they were better than nothing.
Unfortunately, Ackster didn't have a way to store them that would let them retain their effects for as long as possible. The most he could do was pack the herbs carefully and make sure they didn't break while stuffed in his pockets.
After putting the few intact plants he found into his pockets, Ackster took note of his surroundings before striding deeper into the forest.
He hadn't encountered any goblins or noticed any tracks of other beasts or monsters moving around. Ackster had a positive feeling regarding his excursion. And the Sun-kissed grass in his pockets helped him stay relatively at ease, despite venturing further into the forest, where greater danger than lone goblins lurked.
Ackster was a little worried, especially since the goblin's corpse was gone as if it had never existed. Only a few pieces of the skull remained on the ground. He wanted to believe that it was scavengers that had picked the corpse clean, even the bones.
Unfortunately, his transmigrator's privilege was limited to information provided in the original story and any bonus content. And there wasn't an extremely detailed compendium of any and all monsters that lived in the Degrest Forest that he could refer to when he thought about what might have cleaned the goblin's corpse.
The original story might have given him a lot of information about the world. But there was so much more he didn't have the faintest clue about regarding the more detailed information of the world. Ackster briefly made a mental note that he should put information gathering on his to-do list after escaping The Hero's death sentence.
But he quickly returned his focus to the forest and sharpened his senses so that he wouldn't be ambushed or attacked by anything.
The only thing Ackster heard was the leaves rustling in the soothing night winds. The sounds accompanied him as he carefully stepped deeper into the forest, where the trees gradually grew taller.
He would occasionally step on a branch or a few fallen leaves that made sounds. Each time he did, Ackster would freeze on the spot and warily watch his surroundings. But when nothing happened, he sighed in relief before continuing forward.
Ackster wanted to move faster so that he could increase his odds of finding what he came for, but he knew, deep down, that he had to be careful. He had almost died to the goblin, and there were almost certainly more dangerous monsters deeper inside the forest. Even if he felt rushed, Ackster still had to take care as he advanced into an area where his target was more likely to be found.
Fortunately, what he was looking for wasn't necessarily something that would only appear in the depths of the forest. It could technically show itself on the outskirts even. But Ackster didn't want to rely on such a slim chance when he only had to walk a little further to greatly increase the likelihood of finding it.
When he finally reached a depth that should be suitable, Ackster stopped moving deeper and instead started moving in a spiraling pattern to leave no stone uncovered.
He slowly realized that he had been lucky enough to end up in a place where no strong monster or beast had chosen to set up a territory. Monsters stronger than goblins could still show themselves, but it wasn't as likely as if he had ended up in a territory.
But that wasn't why Ackster felt lucky. It was because what he had come looking for preferred places like this. It wasn't exactly known for its intelligence, so it had to be by instinct that it came looking for places where it could do whatever it wanted without too much care.
Ackster felt his hopes surging and began looking around with fervent eyes.
Unfortunately, he wasn't much of a tracker and couldn't really tell if there were any traces of what he was looking for or anything else in the area. Ackster's hopes fell, and he wasn't looking around the forest as energetically as before. It even got to the point where he wondered if he should call it a night and start heading back.
However, he still had time to make at least a couple of more laps. So, even if he felt a little hopeless, he still looked through the forest with determination.
But that determination wasn't for naught. Ackster's face lit up as he finally found something that could be what he was looking for.