The First of Many

[Leliurium Mammuthus Slain]

[Relic Obtained]

Emile stared absent-mindedly at the orange abomination in the center of the hall. Now that the essence was running low and the stocks of wood finished bursting to life, the lavender balls began to appear.

They sprouted all around the wooden ball, hanging from the solid mass like Christmas ornaments. Expanding his gaze, Emile met eyes with Willow.

She nodded in enthusiasm as her hammer and armor faded out of reality, revealing her disgustingly greasy skin underneath. Her sweat had dried creating white crystals around her body that mixed with the dried blood of the corrupted beasts.

The black blood and white, dried sweat joined together to form mini galaxy's on her skin. Meanwhile, Emile heard the shuffling of legs to his right.

Blood recovered, enough to walk at the very least. He winced as he pushed himself up and held onto the hall's wall beside him for support.

"So what now?" Blood squeezed out.

"We return," Emile replied.

"What about the foxes?" Willow chimed in.

"We already defeated their invaders and we don't know where they went to begin with —" Emile looked up at the gaping hole in the ceiling, "and if this place was attacked, who's to say the camp is much better."

"You think the camp might be in danger?" Willow asked.

"I don't know what's going on —" Emile shook his head, "but the forest suddenly filling with beasts isn't a good sign no matter how we look at it; and what were they called? Corrupted?"

"Yeah, corrupted. Although I'm not really sure what that means. I've never seen it before," Blood commented.

The two boys looked at Willow, expecting her to provide an explanation for the 'corrupted' title in the beast's name.

She scratched the back of her head, the dried blood on her arm peeling off from the movement, "I'm not familiar with it either, it's a classification I've never heard of."

Emile suddenly remembered the final beast. Concentrating on his soul core, he reviewed all the notifications from the battle.

His eyes brightened at the message involving the relic, he didn't know what he'd do without his sword, but then he processed the name of the final creature.

"Leliurium Mammuthus…."

"What?" Blood asked.

"Leliurium Mammuthus, it's the name given to that behemoth," Emile replied.

"Leliurium…" Willow repeated, "I've never heard of that either."

Emile didn't recognize it either. Of course he recognized Mammuthus, he could have told you what animal inspired the beast an hour ago.

There are only so many creatures with trunks, even in this world it seems.

"We should leave soon, if the camp really is under attack then every second we spend here is another second of disaster for them," Emile brought the focus of the group back together.

"Yeah we know —" Blood responded, "we're waiting for you. You're the one who still needs to pack up the garden."

"Oh yeah…."

***

The group decided to split up. Blood and Roy went down the stairs to their left, Blood would help Roy finish ransacking the garden: pulling plants from the ground and gathering freely available nuts and saplings.

Emile and Willow instead went upstairs to the production hallway he was directed towards prior. As they entered the hallway, they saw papers strewn across the floor, splatters of ink painted the walls, and memorabilia crushed and broken by the stampede of foxes that must have run out of here.

Emile and Willow searched each of the rooms. Any sword or dagger, shield or bow, any weapon Willow could get her hands on she kept.

She tucked a dagger inside her bra, ran a sword down her back, and strapped two bows across her chest. She also ate whatever food the foxes had left out before escaping.

So the mixed nuts kept in a jar on the edge of the desk vanished. The bowl of fruit tucked away on a chair hidden in the corner of the room disappeared just as easily.

Across the hall, Emile sat at the fox's desk. He pulled open the drawers one at a time; the two top drawers were filled with nothing of value, just a lazily put together mess of loose papers and an assortment of writing tools.

The bottom drawers, however, contained a neat compartment of seeds, bulbs, and saplings. They were organized in rows, kept in a mini chest within the desk drawer.

The chest was birch colored, a light cream, and naturally possessed dug in rows for the seeds to lay in so that they don't mix. In addition to being laid out in rows, the chest also contained a pamphlet detailing the various crops such as their growth time, how to plant them, their multiple uses, etc.

Emile immediately pulled the chest from the desk drawer and planted it on the top of the desk. His eyes carefully ran through the different rows of seeds, counting each distinct one.

Overall, there were twenty-two different things to grow, most of which were flowers that Emile didn't find very useful.

There were seven crops, nine flowers, four trees, and one other thing; the silk bush. Emile wasn't sure if the silk bush could be designated a crop since it wasn't consumable, but he had the seeds for it nonetheless.

Emile specifically looked at the four trees, or their respective saplings, and eagerly went to grab them. Ever since he advanced and unlocked his second ability, Hundred Saplings, he's been unable to use it since he couldn't find any saplings.

But now that they met the foxes who possessed a handful of different trees, Emile was ecstatic. He immediately picked up a small, white pearl wanting to inspect it, but the moment his fingertip touched the small bead, it crumbled into essence and was absorbed into Emile's body.

Before he could react, his soul core resonated with the sapling and he felt a new node appear within his soul. Unsure of what just transpired, Emile willed some of his essence into this new node and, without delay, the white pearl appeared in his palm again.

He raised the pearl to his eye and spun it around. No matter how he looked at it he was sure it simply was a pearl, nothing about the rock solid marble hinted that it was really a tree, but since his soul recognized it as a sapling he couldn't complain.

He willed more essence into the node and a second pearl appeared in his hand. Twirling the two around, Emile smiled in satisfaction.

His days of struggling to find something to grow are over.

Emile could finally embrace his true role, otherworldly farmer. He chuckled to himself as the pearls vanished and returned to his soul core.

He closed the chest and left the office.

They had a camp to save after all.