After passing through the dim, silent environment of Whispering Woods, if you continued right along the road, you would see Starfell Lake.
But Nolan and Sucrose were headed for Stormbearer Mountains.
They needed to leave the main road and continue straight ahead. This area was all uneven hill terrain, sometimes requiring climbing.
Just like the current situation.
Nolan jumped and grabbed onto the protruding surface of the upper layer of the mountain wall, then used the strength of his arms to pull himself up.
Once he climbed up, Nolan turned back and reached out his hand to Sucrose still below.
"Ah, thank you."
Sucrose hurriedly tiptoed and stretched her hand up. The first time she didn't grab hold, their fingers just brushed.
A slight blush crept onto her face, and her gaze unconsciously drifted to the nearby rock wall for less than a second before she regained her composure to try again.
With her legs clad in thigh-high stockings that revealed a hint of skin tone, Sucrose slightly bent her knees and jumped. Her glasses slid down slightly, but she managed to catch Nolan's outstretched hand successfully this time.
Through Sucrose's leather gloves, Nolan could feel the boneless softness of her touch.
Just as he was about to pull her up, he suddenly felt his hand empty, leaving only a white glove.
"Oops."
Sucrose plopped down on the grassy ground, both hands propping herself up. Her legs wrapped in light black over-knee stockings prominently outlined her knees as they bent together slightly.
The round half-frame glasses on her face slid down to the position between her abdomen and legs, fortunately not falling to the ground or getting dirty or breaking the lenses.
"Miss Sucrose, are you alright?" Nolan jumped back down, somewhat helplessly.
"Sorry for making you laugh."
Sucrose groped around her abdomen, found her glasses, put them back on, then stood up, brushed off the dust on her buttocks, placed her hands behind her back, and looked towards the grass on Nolan's left.
"How could I?" Nolan didn't have the habit of ridiculing others over such minor things. "Here's your glove."
"Ah, thanks! Um..."
Sucrose took the white glove, but didn't put it on immediately. Seeing her seeming like she had more to say, Nolan could probably guess her meaning.
Nolan climbed back up to the ledge and reached his hand out to Sucrose again.
This time Sucrose successfully grabbed hold without the slippery glove. Nolan felt the warmth and softness in her bare fair hand even more.
The girl's body was light. He easily pulled Sucrose up.
"Thank you."
Sucrose stood in front of the young adventurer, her head slightly lowered as she spoke softly.
[Sucrose Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You, Obtained 90 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.2 (110/200)]
As a Vision holder, although she hadn't grown to the first breakthrough level, being engrossed in the vast topic of "bio-alchemy" meant she didn't exercise often, resulting in weaker physical abilities compared to others.
But it shouldn't be so bad she couldn't even climb a small cliff.
According to common human psychology, most people would try their best to present a good image to friends they just met.
So, she was mainly a bit reserved as a girl, which made it difficult for her to let go for a while.
But thinking back now to how she was seen falling in an embarrassing manner, Sucrose felt a tinge of anguish inside, feeling it didn't matter anymore.
Seeing Sucrose suddenly slump her shoulders and sigh, Nolan was a bit puzzled about what she was fretting over.
His gaze then turned to the situation on the mountainside.
The ground was covered with short grass, and looking ahead, it seemed like a green wilderness, but it was uneven, with many hills and slopes.
Nolan was suddenly attracted by a short tree covered with orange-yellow fruits. Wasn't this the berry that Timaeus wanted?!
"Miss Sucrose, look, we've found berries," he said with a smile.
"Huh?"
Sucrose's furry ears, nestled in her green hair, shook inconspicuously. She said with some surprise, "So quickly? We've already found some?"
They approached together.
After a night, the green grass looked very moist, with dewdrops still on some blades, leaving traces of water on Sucrose's white short boots as she brushed against them.
Arriving before the orange berries, Nolan examined them carefully. They looked like large fruits made of small orange beads, quite fascinating.
"One, two, three, four, great, four should be enough for Timaeus for a while."
Sucrose squatted down with legs together, the snowy skin exposed at her suspenders slightly obscured by the lotus leaf-like skirt hem. She smiled as she curiously counted the berry tree, "Let's pick them."
Although Nolan was a bit tempted to taste the berries, considering these were requested by Timaeus, he decided against it lest there wouldn't be enough.
"M-Mr. adventurer, um, please be careful when picking the berries, don't...hurt the tree. It will grow more in the future."
Seeing Nolan about to directly pluck the berries from the short tree, Sucrose quickly stopped him.
"Oh, alright."
Nolan thought the berry tree wouldn't be that fragile, but since Sucrose gave a reminder, he could only move more gently.
As a scholar in "bio-alchemy", she was understandably more sensitive about this.
After handing the picked berries to Sucrose, Nolan watched as she made them vanish into particles of light absorbed by her Vision. He felt indescribable envy.
"W-what is it? Do you want to eat berries?"
Seeing Nolan staring motionless at where the now disappeared berries were in her hand, Sucrose thought he was hungry.
"No, just a bit curious, how much can Visions store?"
Nolan stood up, then continued the material-collecting journey under Sucrose's lead.
With the berry harvest done, all that was left were Sunsettias and Pyro Flower. As an expert in this, Sucrose naturally understood their growth habits.
Like berries, Sunsettias were also low shrubs, the difference was they generally grew in shaded environments, like under trees or beside bushes.
Not as casually found everywhere like berries.
Due to these traits, Sunsettias weren't hard to find either. Just search around trees or bushes and you'll come across them.
While walking, Sucrose answered Nolan's earlier question:
"Hmm, how much it can store mainly depends on the item's weight. The stronger you are, the more a Vision can hold.
"For me, having stored my weapon, some lab equipment, flasks containing Anemo spirits, water and rations, and leftover space, it's around 10 kg total."
Hearing her answer, Nolan nodded enviously.
He took the initiative to chat with Sucrose about all kinds of questions as they walked, or the atmosphere might turn awkward with her personality.
They walked up a slope and suddenly saw some broken stone walls ahead, with wisps of black smoke rising within.
Nolan and Sucrose stopped and exchanged a glance, then somewhat curiously walked over.
(End of Chapter)