Lem felt alarmed. The feeling of spiritual energy was too overpowering for his body to handle, and it was causing his simulated self to lose its sense of caution.
He briefly wondered whether the energy was a honey trap being used by some plant or beast to reel in prey.
It was impossible to know until his simulated self found the source of the spirituality.
He walked for a few steps.
The comfortable feeling increased.
His simulated self quickly made a determination about the direction, and walked forward again.
A few more steps.
The ambient spiritual energy had appeared to reach a saturation point.
Lem continued to watch, as his simulated self continued to advance.
Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of what lay ahead through the trees.
Water, with floating lilies.
The source of the spirituality!
Lem's simulated self continued to approach.
It was a pond.
The water lilies were gently moving, but the water was mostly still.
He quickly saw that one of the lilies was much larger than the others. It also had a beautiful harmony to it, a mesmerizing perfection to every detail.
Instinctively, he wanted to devour the lily, to consume every bit of it down to the roots.
At the same time, he felt the urge to protect it, to cherish it.
The feelings within his body were somehow without conflict, like they were mutually compatible desires.
He wanted it to become a part of him.
[You come across a small pond with many water lilies floating on the surface. You are certain that most of the spiritual energy is emanating from one of them in particular because it is significantly bigger than the others.]
As his simulated self was becoming increasingly enthralled by the lily, Lem had noticed a different detail in the environment, one that extinguished his excitement immediately.
A harvest tree.
One of the most dangerous plants that was known to exist in the forest, far more dangerous than tyrant sloths and dust cats.
It was a carnivorous plant with semi-sentience, distinctive for its barren, gnarled branches and gray-blue color.
In the village, it was known that it would not necessarily attack mortals, as the energy within their bodies was too small for it to stir.
Still, this did not mean that it never happened.
When it did attack, there was nothing that could be done for the victim.
Its branches and roots were tougher than any metal, and they could lash out in an instant, wrapping or puncturing anything in its path.
One of the texts detailed the experience of a villager who stumbled upon a harvest tree that had ensnared several dozen dust cats of various sizes, all at the same time.
The attacks of the desperate cats were like tickles to its branches, utterly harmless.
The harvest tree was in plain sight, next to the water lily.
It was slightly larger than average, a dozen meters in height with a trunk that was an arm's breadth in width.
Directly within view.
And yet, Lem's simulated self did not notice it.
He kept walking forward stupidly while he fantasized about eating the lily.
Lem wondered how powerful its spirituality was for it to have such an extreme effect on him.
Was the simulation about to come to an end?