Settlement

"Wait, do you hear that?" It was soft, but Lucius could just barely hear it, the sound of water crashing. He turned to look in the direction from which the sound was coming, and saw a bright shimmer in the distance.

"Get back to the main group and tell Alpha we're taking a break. I'm going to check on something," he said quickly, running off before Ghost even had the chance to reply.

The humid forest air washed over his face as he zipped towards the source of his curiosity, the smell of wet sand becoming stronger the closer he got. He nimbly jumped over small pebbles and sidestepped every shrub in his path, until finally...

"A river, a massive one at that," he shouted out. He began surveying the area and found a large mound just a few meters away from the river banks.

~The reeds surrounding it are good cover, but it's kind of a bother that we can't see through them as well. But that can be solved if we do perimeter runs,~ he thought to himself before scouting the area properly

From what he could tell, this river probably cut through the entire forest as there was no end or beginning in sight. Though there were probably other animals living along the banks, he hadn't sighted any within a substantial distance.

"Captain, you're back," said Alpha as Lucius returned back to the main group.

"I found a place to settle. It's a mound just a bit further up, beside a river," Lucius replied, before ordering the leaflings to march towards the aforementioned area. After getting all the injured on the top of the mound, Lucius called a meeting at the center.

"Welcome to your new home. I can't say that it's the ideal place to be setting up camp, but it's better than our old place anyway. We have the river to watch our backs, so we only have to worry about everywhere else. Which brings me to why I called this meeting," said Lucius.

"The exercises you guys have been doing till now were sort of forced on you. You had to do them to survive, you basically had no say in the matter," as he said this he began speaking slower, looking over all the leaflings lined up there.

"It's strenuous work, and doing it even though you don't want to will only make it harder. So, I'm giving you guys an out." There was a slight pause after he said this, perhaps they needed time to think things over.

"An out? What's an 𝘰𝘶𝘵?" whispered one of the leaflings, his face fraught with confusion.

~Sigh.~

"If you don't want to be part of the squadrons anymore you can leave. There won't be much need for them anyway since we're relatively safe up here, though it would be nice if a few of you could stay to act as perimeter control. But don't worry about that, if you want to leave, you can leave," Lucius explained.

"No more training?" asked on leafling, the realization finally hitting him.

"No more waking up with leafy aches," answered another, a slight hint of relief in his voice.

"No more learning," said Alpha, so soft that Lucius could barely hear him.

Most leaflings were ecstatic, though they appreciated all the time Lucius spent training them, their bodies and minds just weren't in it. Every day they woke up in pain, and every night they dreaded the training they would have. For them, it was finally the end of a major inconvenience.

"Thank you sav- Lucius. Thank you," said the leaflings, each of them thanking him before heading back to the injured. When all was said and done, only five leaflings remained; Ghost, Alpha, and three others. Lucius recognized them from last night, they were the leaflings that Alpha had introduced him to.

"It seems that you're the only leaflings left. Are all of you certain that you want to continue training under me?" Lucius asked, his voice more serious than it had ever been before.

"Yes captain," replied Alpha, to which the three other leaflings repeated as well.

"What about you, Ghost?" Lucius asked, turning to look at her.

"I'd be bored if I didn't. Besides, I think I really like being a scout," she replied.

~Great, now that I have that out of th-~

[Unlock New Skill] There it was, the quest notification. Though he ought to have been used to the sound by now, he couldn't help but cringe as it rang in his mind.

"Can you guys give me a moment? I'll call you back in a bit," he said to them before walking down the mound.

~Unlock a new skill, huh? So skill tree I'm guessing,~ he thought to himself before opening the 『Skill Tree』tab. As he stared at the tree, he noticed something odd. One of the circles was glowing a bright yellow color, though it was merely an image in his mind, it felt almost as if it was calling to him.

[Unlock 『Catalyst Absorption』?] - {1 Evo point}

Without much thought Lucius agreed, spending the only evo point he had on the new skill.

*Ding*

[Daily Quest complete.]

[+20 exp]

~Hmm, only 20 more to go~

[New Quest. Absorb water.]

~A chain quest, huh. Seems I might reach level 2 today,~ Lucius thought to himself as he walked down to the river bed. Though he had no idea what would happen at level 2, he couldn't help but get excited. After all, now that he found a safe place for the leaflings, there wasn't much else to do besides train the few that had remained in the squadrons and play around with the weird... system? In his mind.

~So what do I do now? Just drink it?~ He wondered, as he skipped down, closer to the river. The soil was moist and sticky, making it hard for him to move, and based off the way the water rushed, bubbled, and crashed into the rocks, Lucius could tell that getting too close to it would be a fool's endeavor.

"I guess it's more like an ocean for leaflings, huh?"

~Catalyst Absorption.~ He decided that it would be wiser to try and get more information on his new skill, just like he did with photosynthesis. After all, since it was a chain quest, it only made sense that it would have something to do with the skill he unlocked.

[Catalyst Absorption creates roots that allow enhancing substances to be absorbed into the body. These enhancing substances may improve the rate of growth, or the efficiency of other processes such as photosynthesis.]

[To use catalyst absorption, imagine strings of roots reaching out of your body into the enhancing substance.]