Chapter 37: Fos Aster Flowers

"If it's just that, our organization can do that, Master. Will that be all?"

Keon is already satisfied if he can buy a spatial ring after just a single trip to a wild realm. But since Gabe and the people behind refuse to explain the overall situation to Keon then he will gladly take more advantage of them to benefit himself

"If they can help scatter naturally occurring treasures in our way to the mission, that would be a great help. And it would be better if the treasures can be used to improve my physique or soul"

Keon still remembers Dante's lesson and also his own learnings. The body and soul are like a vessel, the higher the quality of these two is, the stronger a mystic will become. Instead of relying on items such as weapons to gain power, it would be better if the items that Keon will get can be used to improve his vessel

"Alright, Master, I'll convey your desire to the higher-ups" Gabe replied agreeingly

The two stayed in that cafe for a short time to finish more planning before going into the Hunter Department to buy some resources

Keon still has his almost 37k thanks to the crystal slime cores. He can buy some helpful things with that amount especially since he will be sent on a dangerous mission

Keon just brought some purified energy cores, these cores are the ones that mystics can use to increase their cultivation speed. Most of the time, the energy inside the energy cores came from different creatures

Even if the energy came from a single creature, the energy is still not for cultivation usage. It would be dangerous to use the unpurified cores

Fortunately, with human technology and mystics, it wasn't that hard anymore for them to purify the energy cores. The cores appropriate for Keon's usage was only a bit more expensive than the unpurified cores

Aside from that, Keon also bought pills that will replenish his mystic energy faster than before along with pills that will give a temporary increase in power

It would be better if Keon uses his money for resources that will make his foundation sturdier but it can't be helped. The mission is dangerous and as long as there is still a choice, Gabe and Mady won't use all of their powers

----

August 8 Year 1,000 of the Mystic Calendar

The day of the mission finally comes and with the help of the teleportation point, the four easily arrived at Realm #49857

As soon as the four exited the fortress, their eyes were immediately assaulted by strong lights. This realm is really brighter than normal

Outside the fortress was a simple plain with a moderate level of greenery. However, there are some plants here and there that stored light

Of course, not all those plants are monsters that will attack any creature on sight. They are like normal plants and the only difference was that they can store light energy causing their bodies to be brighter than other plants

However, aside from being lighter, they don't have much difference from normal plants

"Our target in this mission is to gather at least forty fos aster flowers. Resource gathering might be easier than killing monsters but this mission still poses great danger. The fos aster flowers don't grow that abundantly, at most there would be four or six in a certain field. However, these flowers are the favorites of many monsters. The danger came from those monsters. To secure the fos aster flowers, the monster or monsters that will guard them would need to be stronger than their peers. To minimize the risk, three of us will distract and attract the guarding monster away while the other one will take the flowers"

Keon briefly summarized their group's plan and everyone nodded their heads in understanding. If they can avoid battles in this dangerous mission then that would be good since they need quite a lot of these flowers

To gather forty of them just how long would it take? Fortunately, their group will be 'cheating a bit'

Keon had the forces behind Gabe to place more fos aster flowers so that it would be easier for their group to gather the required amount

Aside from Nath, the other three knows of this and it is really a big help

The four entered their alert mode and explored this wild realm. They walked for around five kilometers while avoiding as many monsters as they can with Kreon's help

At normal times, five kilometers is not that of a great distance for these four but since they are in a dangerous place with a lot of Level 3 monsters here and there, it took half a day for them to reach the area where their target mostly grew

There is more vegetation in this area but there are also stronger monsters lurking around. Since it took them such a long time to reach this area, the four decided to rest first

"I'll be our guard" Nath volunteered and the others didn't bother stopping him. They knew that Nath is filled with self-blaming since his friends were also forced to take the punishment because of him

"Alright, but don't guard for too long. You also need to rest" Keon said but in the end, Nath didn't listen to him and stood guard for a long time

"Hmm, based on the reports, there should be three areas near us that most likely contain the flowers. Should we target the closest one?"

Although Keon and the others already know where the monsters and flowers are, they still need to 'act'. Nath is with them and although the chances are low, who knows if their actions are being monitored by other people to make sure that they will do their best in this mission

Not to mention, it's not like the cases where professional mystics that took the police's job had a sudden strange death doesn't happen before. The government are surely behind those things to warn other people from doing the same

After confirming their plans again, the four explored the wild realm and after a few minutes, they entered an area with a strong smell of urine

Urinating in the ground is one way for the monsters to show that they are the owner and masters of a certain territory. With this, it was already almost confirmed that there would be a monster/s ahead of them

The four looks at each other and nodded their heads before moving forward cautiously. After hiding behind trees, the four looks at a tiger from the distance that is licking its paws

Near the tiger was a patch of ground containing nine fos aster flowers in total. Each petal of those flowers are white in color as they were filled with light energies

This flower has quite the demand as they are also useful for a lot of things. The flowers are also quite pricey since they are always guarded by strong monsters

The tiger suddenly shot its head in the side as it felt eyes staring at it. Fortunately, the four managed to hide their poking head from the tree in time

Keon motioned for his team and they moved away from where the tiger is

"Nath, you take the flowers and we will distract the tiger" Keon said but how can Nath accept that?

The people that will attract the monsters will face the greatest danger and since this punishment was because of Nath, he wants to be the one that will face the danger

Keon knew that Nath will react like this and he already have words to persuade him

"Nath, you are the perfect one for this job. You are not skillful at it yet but you can cover your feet with light and increase your speed. If you can take the flowers and retreat at a fast speed, we won't need to fight the monsters for a long time. These kinds of monsters are territorial and they won't leave their lair for a long time. This is really the best course of action for us that will minimize the risks"

Fortunately, although Nath has some brains for most parts he was a simpleton. Since Keon said that this is the best course of action, Nath can only reluctantly agree as he wants to do what will make his friends safer

Keon patted Nath's shoulder and three of the four went to the tiger with Gabe shooting condensed water in it

The tiger easily dodged Gabe's attack with its fast speed. Seeing three humans staring at it, the tiger growled angrily and pounced on them

They really don't want to fight the tiger as that would be a waste of energy and the three split into different directions while avoiding the area where Nath is hiding

The tiger momentarily stops before going in the direction where Keon went to since he runs in a straight line while the other two splits to his left and right

However, the tiger hasn't even chased Keon for a long time when it felt another attack from the side. It thought that the attack it senses was dangerous but it actually wasn't

Mady merely threw a rock at the tiger and as expected, the simple tiger change its direction to vent its anger at Mady