Chapter 3.3: Making The Effort

Elma's POV

I was on the way towards the girls after treading through the tunnel and see the overview of a massive forest biome. Lots of trees to see but the only one that is outstanding and plain in sight is that tall living wood tree in the fair distance.

The 'Living Wood Tree', the only perennial plant that is conspicuous and the most unusual of all stationary location spots other than the dungeon.

It didn't made sense to me at first of why it referred to itself as 'living wood' but after thinking it through, I understood why it called itself as it is.

It's supposed to be a nurtured ever-growing tree and a residential place for the dryads, hence the name "living" is attached.

It should also be the place to where the final dryad last resides and is now currently in unknown whereabouts.

"Hmm.. that spot could either be a good starting point to farm loot or not. Although there are other living wood trees and a lake from the far side."

I checked the minimap on the top right corner of the terraria interface and see the pixel image of the guide's face alongside the girls near that particular living wood tree.

And looking at the height of this cliff, I can't help but feel stunned.

"Wow. And here I thought they'd wimp out and back away when they made it this far. They even dare to climb down this steep slope too! Now, what do I do to fast travel in this cliff?"

I was then spotting a tall tree near the steep slope while conversing to myself.

Then I crafted out a rope coil and steps back to prepare myself to run up the cave hole off the cliff.

"Alright alright, no need to be scared anymore. You're a daredevil! You've done this before! Go out there and feel the thrill! ... whoo!! Let's do this."

After giving myself a pep talk, shook off the uneasiness and now mentally ready, I run to the cliff as fast as possible and then jumped.

While in the air, I had the rope coil ready to throw and next moment, I threw it at the tall tree I spotted beforehand.

The rope hit the top branch and connected, I then swing myself when the rope was fully stretched and made a hard landing.

"Oomph!! Whoo, that was crazy!! How did I even landed that.. Oh.."

I looked at the branch holding the rope and see the branch broke but still connected to the tree. I barely managed to land safely, it seems.

"Or maybe not. I'm surprised I didn't get struck with fall damage. Okay, then I'll just be on my way now."

And so I awkwardly ran up towards the direction of the living wood tree. It took me a while to inevitably reach them but I eventually did and spotted them getting surrounded by slimes.

Jenny was swinging her copper shortsword frantically while barely dodging the slimes' relentless attacks. Andrew on the other hand was firing his bow and arrow while watching his surroundings, he is on full alert in defending himself.

However on Aimee's case, she's not trying to defend herself and just runs around the place, and many slimes gathered around whenever she ran somewhere, she would get blocked and gets redirected her course of running. Eventually, she got caught in the slimes' little hunting circle.

"Whoa, they are getting surrounded all around. Luna is not around too.. what has she been doing?"

I pulled out my copper shortsword and started picking on the slimes.

Right off the bat, I swung my sword at the slime near Aimee and when it grazed its jelly skin, the slime was left with a dent mark that was hit on a spot where the sword made contact.

I muttered to myself.

"... Somehow there's a change when I hit that slime. Is it just me or did the sword became more lethal? Forget that, clear all the mobs first!"

The slimes were easy to slice because of their soft jelly skin layer, compared to slicing a zombie that has rotten flesh and bones.

I was clearing out all the slimes around the place, one by one I slowly chipped away their health points and numbers until none was left.

When this place was finally cleared, Jenny, Aimee and Andrew walked up to me and I conversed with them.

"That was a close call. Glad I was able to catch up with you guys."

"Yeah, it was a nice timing too. Glad we didn't ended up dying early in here." Jenny replied.

"Hmm.."

I can sense her staring at me like she's analyzing every inch of my body. Perhaps she might be an observant type, the kind of people I disliked the most.

I just feigned ignorance to her examining gaze and shifted my view.

"Andrew.. you really did come along."

"Yeah. Well someone's gotta give advices to novices, or maybe just be there with them for additional manpower." Andrew answers.

"Right.."

And they say he's useless most of the time. Look at this fella being helpful to the players for once. Is the sarcasm not noticeable enough?

"By the way, is someone's missing?"

After all that cleanup done and over with, I asked them the golden question. And Aimee, knowing who I'm referring to, answers while pointing at the treetop.

"Ahh, she is right up in the tree over that branch."

There I saw Luna peek at us and goes into hiding. I don't want to bother asking her what she's been doing as I don't wanna disturb her or even deal with her tantrums.

As I was about to call for her informally, I remembered my conversation with Loki. I then changed my way of speaking.

"Hey lady! Can you get down from over there?!"

"... Yeah yeah! I'll be there in a sec!!"

That took a while for her to answer but I noticed she almost stuttered with her words when she replied back.

And then she moves her legs into moving towards the vines. When she got to the vine rope, she was having difficulty again in looking down to the ground.

When she grab hold of the rope, she couldn't put her lower body down to the rope and had been on a standstill between the branch and the vine rope.

"Oh-hoh great, here we go.. Oh well, this is going to take some time, I guess." I muttered in grief.

I walk up to the vine rope and stroke it.

"Hmm.. what was that rope strap thing again?"

I then imagined what the rope holder used to look like in the initial game.

I remembered it like there's a handle and two cogs bonded together used for elevation but that's not what it really looked like, right?

Surely enough, my other hand was then covered in a ball of light and shapes itself into a modernized rope ascender. It's also already strapped to the belt on my waist.

"Ehh.. this is not what I pictured but this could work." I casually said.

I then connected the ascender to the vine rope, and tested it for a while.

"Okay, now how does this work.. going up-- OOH!!"

When I thought about going up, the rope ascender slides the rope on its own and lifted me up. It caught me by surprise.

I then went up the tree, hopping to a branch to another vine rope until I got to the shivering Luna.

"Uwah, she's an actual mess right now. Her legs looked lethargic." I whispered to myself.

When I set foot on the branch she's in, I went up to talk to her alone.

"Hey! Are you afraid of heights? Or are you just not composed?"

"What do you think?! Is it wrong to be this pathetic?!"

Uhh.. I only asked a simple question but seems like I'm going to get reprimanded for no reason again.

"I just wanted to be capable, but now this shitting clusterfuck of a mess has to fucking happen!!"

Ugh, and here comes her tantrum.

"Just-- How do you get worked up in all of this fiasco of bastards and aliens! If you're going to be sending us in a place full of monsters and shit, just how do you get so easygoing on this hell-on-earth!! They should at least give us something to help us out with!! Why would I bother getting my hands tied to a payload shit ton of dirty work!! I DON'T WANT THIS JOB!!"

I could cringe and talk my way out of this or wait it out. But I don't wanna listen her outburst at the moment so I just straight up interrupted her.

"Hey now, I know your sorry ass won't let up so could you just quit your whining and get it over with!! We still have a couple of people to inform over there!"

As she was abruptly taken aback, she looked down at the three people watching her.

"Luna! Can you get over here?!" Jenny shouts at us from the distance.

Luna was contemplating when she heard her. She then faces me with a scowl.

"You better be telling me some stuff I don't know about, you hear me?!"

".. Sure." I replied to her half-heartedly.

"So, tell me what's that thing on your waist?"

"Oh. It's a rope ascender. Just picture it on your mind and it'll pop up in yours too."

"Hmm.. you seem to recall many things from the outside world.."

"That's because I occasionally play the game while my other computer monitor was playing variety shows or something else."

"Mmm.."

And after that, she was able to calm herself down, properly assessed things, and descent her way down the living wood tree without much trouble. I was following right behind her.

Jenny walked up to Luna when she landed.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"..."

Luna stared at her for a moment before she mustered up to speak.

"I'm sorry."

"Ehh?" Jenny looked bewildered by Luna's somber tone.

"I didn't think through and let my temper get ahead of me. What I did up there was a terrible performance." Luna looks down in gloom.

"Oh, so that's what you mean.." Jenny softly mumbles in relief. She continues,

"Look Luna, that might not have been the best idea, but you've done your part. You naturally immersed yourself to correspond to our situation. Wow, I sounded so earnest there."

"Nn?" Luna was fazed by what Jenny said.

"Maybe I've given you too much burden on your shoulders. I'll try to adapt this world's rules and mechanics just for you, okay?"

"Jenny..." Luna looked like having felt a sense of ease.

While the two girls are having a moment, the other girl said something. It was Aimee.

"Uhh everyone, can we start getting a move on? We're wasting time in here."

"Yeah." I followed up and continued. "We need to watch out for more resources. I'll check up on this tree you guys drilled."

I went up to the hole of the tree trunk and see nothing but a wooden chest.

"Hmm.. Empty chest, and nothing more to spot in here. Not even a hole down to the tree root." I muttered on my own while Aimee is also spotting things standing to me close by. She then said something to me.

"What do you mean by a hole down to the tree root?"

I then responded to her while stomping hard on the ground to check for a hollow foothold.

"Oh, it's just a redeeming feature of the living wood tree. Consider it as the extension for scavenging resources in this particular venue."

"Oh, I see."

After stomping all around the wooden ground and found no hollow ground, I took the empty wooden chest and stepped out of the tree trunk.

"Alright people, seems that there's nothing more in this living wood tree so let's move somewhere else."

"Huh? Where to?" Luna asked.

"Where else? To the other living wood trees. I spotted more of them north of our position."

"What, there's nothing more in here? Talk about anticlimactic!" Jenny said.

"Yeah, so let's get moving before more slimes spawned in here."

And thus we departed towards a new spot for exploring.

***

Back near at the homebase.

Ando and Loki was just chilling at the meadowlands taking out some slimes and get loot from them.

Ando starts talking first.

"Hey man, you ever entered a place of void or abyss?"

"Hmm, well I did think about it before and it's an environment I definitely don't want to be in. But at this point, nothing should scare us if we're in a familiar world so I don't know what you want me to say."

"I mean yeah but, it's the dark and dense underground layer, aren't you not going to get frantic?"

"Sure, but we'll have to make the effort to get used to it and maybe prepare ourselves for the worse. So anything goes, they say." Loki answered with a carefree attitude.

"Gee, you sure are calm and collected about this. What am I going to do with you? Oh hey, this slime's got some iron ore in it." Ando muttered on his own.

"Yeah, slime's often carry a material on their body."

"You think I don't know that already. Maybe the girls might wanna hear that kind of stuff from you."

"Right, my bad."

While Ando was wanders the meadows and taking on some slimes, Loki spoke out.

"By the way, you're handling a sword just fine. Are you also gonna be using a sword?"

"Huh, no. This thing feels clunky to hold and it doesn't fit me either. I'm thinking of using a yoyo for the time being."

"A yoyo?! Are you skilled with it?"

"Yeah. It'd be awesome if I were to have a sick throw with it."

"And you're gonna fight with it... that's going to take some skills, man. You sure you'll be fine with it?"

"Of course. I can ask you the same thing too. Are you going to keep on using bow and arrows?"

"Hmm, well this is what I have right now. It's not too bad when I got used to it but, I don't think I can do rapid fire with this thing so I'll make a switch if I find a better weapon than this."

"Oh yeah, what's that?"

"Let's see, I think it would be fitting for me if it was a gun. I can do straight shooting with it and do rapid firing unlike the arching bow and arrow."

"Oh hey, that's smart. Skills don't level up just by stacking experience, you see, it's also being smart with it. So it's a wise choice for you, man."

"Yeah. Only problem right now is how the heck am I going to get such a weapon?! The only way to get one is by through the three risky biomes; namely the Crimson, Corruption, or the Jungle."

"Well that sucks. You'd normally grind so carelessly when it's in the game. Now that Terraria has become more like an open world, we have to visit such places in person."

"We are also in a 3D environment so there are even more things we have to watch out on. Remember when Andrew describe to us that there's an AI controlling the state of things here."

"And we need to be well versed in anything that comes in our way. Of course I'll be digging for anything fishy goes around here, you hear me?"

"You're up for the job, I guess. Don't forget we have people to attend to."

"Sure. We might need to band together and talk properly if we're gonna do that. Do you think we're gonna be alright with that bastard?"

"I've already talked things with Elma so I think we'll manage."

"I dunno, Loki. He seems like a guy who pushes forth without anyone on his side."

"Give him a little bit of trust, Ando. Maybe he'll comply if we gave him a hand."

"Well whatever, I didn't have it in me to sway those people anyway."

***

Aimee's POV

When someone make an effort to push forward towards their desire, it can be overcome with a little bit of persistence. At least, I already know that much.

But a wall that can be climbed filled with patience and persistence can be excruciating for an average person.

And when I see them struggle, I watched them dismayed thinking things can be attained by the worthy, not for deserters.

I could not stand myself anymore.

So when I was about to take it easy, I was brought here into a new world. It was bland when I first saw the environment but I slowly came to my senses, I am in a place far away from the ordinary.

And so, I decided to come along and explore.

While still treading the way for so long, we are getting close near an uncharted living wood tree.

Elma spoke out first as I watch him bash a few of the normal trees.

"I gotta say, the spot full of living wood trees should've been called the Cedar Grove."

One particular tree has some birds inside the leaf bush of the tree and when shook, they come out flying off.

He continued.

Oh, we're definitely hitting it close. Almost there, guys!"

"Are we?! Because I feel like collapsing right about now!" Jenny implied looking sluggish.

"And we definitely walked so far out. I didn't think it'll take this long." Said Luna seemingly flustered.

"Oh, then you might wanna take out some snacks you're hiding on your inventory." Andrew asserted.

"What.. you have a snack in your bag, Jenny?!" Luna raised a voice.

"Hey! How did you know I had food in me?!" Jenny remarked.

And these is the people I have to follow along. I don't know if they are being obstructive or stiff.

But they are the people I could only get along with. This place, or rather this world, is an isolated space managed by an AI and I have no idea of what to do.

The only memory I have is me installing the game by the recommendation of a friend I couldn't remember and was about to play for the first time. Before I knew it, I was here.

But the good thing is some of the people here knew the progression and right now, I'm blindly following them while paying attention to the surroundings, learning every tad bit of knowledge I can take.

The one that is leading the party is supposed to be Luna, but circumstances changes and now it was this swordsman, Elma, who kicked a slime right in front of me before, that is leading us.

He's been clearing the slimes and getting its loot while leading the way towards our new destination.

"Guys, can we keep on moving." Uttered Elma. "We need to garner more resources."

This guy is our leading vanguard. He appeared to be more capable and well informed. And so I started paying more attention to him.

"Oh hey! Found a hatch already!" Said Elma on a high note.

"That's just a hole though." Andrew chimes in.

When we made it to the living wood tree, we entered through an already open stump and spotted a hole leading to the underground.

"Are we seriously going down this pitch black dugout?" Jenny asked appearing vexed.

"Yes. And under there is an anomaly too. But the loot can be either rewarding or a flop." Luna remarks.

"Yeah. Good thing there's more than one living wood tree around the place." Elma quotes seemingly unfazed.

I looked at the multiple living wood tree scattered right in of us. There is about 7 of them not far apart of each other.

"Well, now that it comes to this, how are you guys going to traverse on this dense tree root?" Andrew commented.

"Hey, no question asked, I'll be going down there. You girls will decide if you're in for the expedition or get left behind. Make your choice, ladies." Elma spoke ahead of us and just stood nearby the hole.

And we, or maybe they, started debating on what are we going to do. Leaving me off of their conversation once again.

"Okay Luna, how are we going to deal with this? I didn't think we're going underground so soon.""

"Jenny, I've said this before, we have shabby weapons and a shit ton of enemies right outside the cave. Are you going to back off right about now?"

While Luna and Jenny about to have their own little debate, I slowly walked up to Elma, as he was conversing with Andrew, and stood by near him.

"And so what about you, Andrew?"

"I think I'm just gonna head home. My role ends here after all. What about you, El?"

"I will have to watch over them and maybe try learning to talk properly.."

"Is that so? Okay, later then."

Andrew then pulled out a thing, to what looks to me is a mirror, and sparkles come out of him until he was washed up by the sparkles and vanishes when the sparkles slowly dissipates.

"Hmm.." Elma notices me and spoke to me. "You're not gonna talk with them?"

"Oh.. uhh, I was already out of their field of discussion before they knew it."

"... Were they discussing without you at all?"

"Yes. I feel so left out. Or maybe they thought I would not be able to offer any ideas with my limited memory."

"Hey, I can feel you there. Sometimes I have my friends not invite me to their events so I can relate to that."

"You know, people who say that kind of stuff don't actually have friends."

"Well I can definitely not remember them right now so I can't really talk back to that."

"Huhumm." I chuckled at his solemn remark. "Yes. Now that makes the two of us. But hey, I'm learning. So could you also tell me more about this world?"

Elma widened his eyes at my request and he happily obliged.

"Of course. Now where do I start.. right. First off, the loot on this living wood tree barely have things to offer. But it's a gold mine full of pots to break just like in the pyramids at the desert or the dungeon at the forest outskirts."

"Oh, so there's unique places out there too? But why do we have to break the pots?"

"Those things usually carry miscellaneous items like money and basic stuff. It's just basic necessities we barely need, but if you spot one of those and drops an item when you break them, you better bring it back home."

"Hmm.. so this game has a rich inventiveness put into it, huh?"

"The developers definitely poured a lot of ideas into this game, including the demands of the community. Heck, this game wouldn't have been this developed if it wasn't for the player-base."

"I see."

"Yes. And so--"

"Hey!"

He was then interrupted by the two people deliberating earlier.

"We didn't have that much to consider on our subject matter so are we still going to mull it over?!" Luna interjected.

"There's no dispute here whatsoever so how about letting us in on that topic session?" Jenny follows up.

"Okay! So, how about we just move on! Hop on in, everyone.." Elma awkwardly steps down to the artificial wooden hole while holding out a torch and all of us followed through.

Right down on this narrow passageway, we slowly navigate the surroundings.

Elma was holding both a torch and copper sword while Luna was holding out the bow and arrow half-stretched. They were both very vigilant for just traversing under a tree root.

"Hmm? The layout of this underground tunnel have definitely changed. The path has become more like a steady slope instead of a drop-way down from the initial game." Elma nonchalantly commented.

"Yeah. And it wasn't cramped like I originally thought. This tunnel maybe connected to the other living wood tree roots." Luna assessed our surroundings.

"Okay.. so how are we going to roam this narrow hallway?" Jenny asked out.

"Surely we can split up and cover more ground but.." Elma said so worryingly.

"We'll have to be wary of that nimble little mob, or maybe short if that's appropriate." Luna added.

Wait.

There is a threat around here?

"A mob? There's enemies around here?" I called out to them concerned.

"Yeah." Elma answered. "It's just a gnome. They don't rarely spawn but they're unnaturally menacing. It'll be helpful if we could get it outside and turn it into a garden gnome though."

"Okay, I'm not gonna bother asking about that mob or whatever. Can we just loot this place already and get out of here." Jenny spoke out on a whim.

And we continued traversing this underground tree root tunnel.

We later found the different branching paths and a wooden chest, Jenny quickly checked its contents.

"Okay, so we got; a herb bag, 60 rope, 3 lesser potions, 3 recall potions, 5 silver coins, and a Deadly Wand of Sparking." Jenny announced in anticipation.

"Finally! Got a decent weapon for once!" Luna stated.

"Right. Who's keeping that thing then?" Elma asked out.

"Me first! Dibs on the item!" Jenny calls out as she was waving the wand.

While they were discussing about the loot, I just had a thought.

We are navigating this narrow tunnel well enough, but we are progressing the cave too slow. And so I took the initiative.

"Okay. Maybe it's time to also split up since we are efficiently prepared."

"Good call." Luna answered sharply and continued. "We should be able to clear out the place faster this way. So it will be me and Jenny together while Aimee and uh.. you."

"Did you even bother trying to say my name?! It's not that hard!"

"No! I just don't think it was necessary! Especially if you can already stand your ground!"

"Okay, so it's fine if you left out a part of your group then?!"

"..."

Luna was speechless when I was mentioned.

"Uhh, Aimee.. I uh.."

"It's alright." I consoled her right away. "I feel much safer with him around."

"Oh.. is that so..?"

"Yes. So you don't have to worry about me. I believe you have seen how capable he is from above."

"Okay. If you say so. Hey!"

Luna sharply turned to Elma with a stern look on her face.

"You better watch out for her. She might be the most delicate one out of all of us. You hear me?"

"Yeah, sure.." Elma's eyes twitched and turned away before replying.

They then moved off to the different branch of directions while Elma and I have yet to move up. Elma then talked to me while picking up the empty wooden chest.

"Hey Aimee, Did you meant what you said back there?"

"Yes. I thought pairing up with you would be for the best."

"Well yeah but.. ehh, whatever. So it'll just be you and me. Try and keep up."

And we departed on the spot. Elma was in the lead while I stick behind him.

We were walking slowly full on alert, listening on the eerie sounds of footsteps and ambient noise of the pitch darkness lurking all around.

We then spotted some pots and I was the one breaking them. Picking up the items are a bunch of arrows, coins, rope, potions, and so on.

There are more branching paths but we are able to mark our way with torches so that we don't get lost in this complex cave system.

We later found a hidden space that has a door in it. Elma and I checked it while conversing.

"Oh, it's just a hallway." Announced Elma in a low voice.

"Hmm.. you seem disappointed?"

"Oh. I was expecting to find an abandoned living area, although there can be more of those deep underground. And of course you will immediately find a common treasure chest. Well, this particular one was just an ordinary chest."

In the oblivion of a corridor, we quickly spotted a lying wooden chest, alongside the multiple breakable pots.

Elma then opened up the untouched chest.

"Right. We got; a can of worms, 1 archery potion, 5 lesser healing potions, 12 silver coins, and a Finch Staff."

"Mm, okay. So then how are we going to share those items?"

"Huh?! What are you saying?!"

"Well I thought it's going to be a 'first come first serve' basis so.."

"No, silly. We just store these stuff and share it with everybody. I mean, here. You can take this finch staff with you. Now you can protect yourself with it."

"Wait really? Since Jenny got to the chest first, I thought it was the first-one-to-get kind of order."

"Oh sorry. Maybe I should point that out too." Muttered Elma. "This game is also an RPG, a game congested in adventure, event and loot. This might become a 'first come first serve' procedure if the other people are going to be proactive in looting. So you might have to be careful of giving your share of credits and.. yeah."

"Hmm, this is deep. I may have taking this too lightly so I'll be careful."

I checked the item Elma passed me.

===

Finch Staff

8 summon damage

Weak knockback

Uses 10 mana

Summons a baby finch to fight for you

===

So it's a summoning item. And it summons a baby finch, a little birdie pet, I think.

"Thank you, Elma." I wholeheartedly thanked him.

"Oh. It's no problem. You should take care of it." Elma's eyes veered off my direction.

*pitter *patter *pitter *patter

All of a sudden, we heard a quick stepping sounds from the unmarked path ahead of us.

"What was that?! I hear footsteps!"

"Oh, you don't wanna stand still and find that out." Elma steps up with his sword and placed down a torch.

Elma points his sword at the pitch dark oblivion and was anticipating.

And it showed up. An actual gnome.

"There you are, you little shrimp." Elma let out a witty attitude.

It was short like they said, maybe about the height size of almost a meter.

*Zoom *zoom *zoom

The gnome immediately moved towards us in quick strides.

"Shit! It's fast!"

The gnome maneuvered around the tunnel before making its first attack, the gnome throws itself at Elma.

Elma was able to defend himself by putting his sword at the gnome's directional trajectory and shove it back.

And the gnome's health goes down for a bit.

The narrow spaces managed to limit the gnome's movement and he was able to defend himself.

"It was nimble.. like she said..." I casually spoke.

"Ah dammit! I was only able to block it by reflex."

But we have the trouble of tunnel vision.

The problem is the gnome's dexterous movement, it is fast on its feet, jumps around the floor, ceiling and wall fairly quick and Elma barely able to see the gnome's short figure on the dimly lit hallway.

*Pluck*

Our surroundings became pitch black all of a sudden.

"What the.. how the hell did that gnome took out my torch?!"

The gnome just removed the torch Elma placed and put out the fire, drowning out our light source. It might have meant illuminating the tunnel is out of the option.

"Ah damn it, they are tricky as they look!"

Elma holds out a reserved torch in his other hand while still wielding a sword and pushed forward.

"HAAAAA!!"

Elma goes on the offensive and the gnome jumps up and down, left and right.

When Elma was about to hit to gnome jumping in midair, the gnome just did a double jump.

"NNN!! Fucking--"

Elma barely dodged the attack and was stopped in his tracks by the gnome's different movement.

The gnome's maneuver was so convoluted, I shuddered in fear. Even Elma almost lost sight of it and stood still, trying to get the trace of the gnome and hold his ground.

I need to make a move too.

I hold out the staff I was given and try to summon the finch.

"Hmph.." I gripped my staff tightly as I winced.

Nothing happened.

It was an anticlimactic scenario in my case.

"What? I don't get it?!"

I swung it around and hit it on the wall, it didn't work.

"It's not working! How can I use this staff, Elma?!"

"Huh?! What are you-- NNN!!!" Elma was pounced by the gnome when he turned this way.

He continued, "Sorry, I can't help you out right now so can you figure that out on your own!!"

"Eehhh!!"

He was completely occupied by the gnome and can't give me any hints.

I watched Elma barely blocking the gnome's attacks helplessly.

Am I going to be a burden again?

"What am I supposed to do? Think, think Aimee..."

I was trying to recall the instructions when we were doing a drill with Andrew back then.

'Imagine you're holding it.'

Andrew's voice echoed in my head.

"If you just think of the tool like I showcased it to you earlier, the system will naturally reveal the item for you. That can also apply with weapon items like wands and staves. Simply illustrate your object usage using the power of imagination."

Imagine it. I have to visualize my summon.

I looked at the staff and closed my eyes. I then thought of a birds coming out of the tree. One of which looked like a white finch. I then enveloped my mind in that particular bird. A picture of a small finch bird appeared in my mind.

When I opened my eyes, my staff was channeling its power and a light ball appeared in front of my staff.

Before I knew it, it already shaped itself into a bird and so out comes a baby finch flying in front of me.

"AAHH!! IT WORKED!! Ugh..."

I felt immediate exhaustion and my legs feel lethargic after unleashing my summoned companion.

"My summoned companion.." I muttered softly.

I smiled at those words.

When my companion bird looked at me, I commanded it.

"Alright finch, attack that hostile gnome!"

*Chirp* *Stab*

The bird then immediately fly straight towards the attacking mob and tackled it.

"What the--" Elma staggers in place and separated them.

The gnome was knocked back and takes damage.

"Finish it, Finch!"

The bird was fluttering around the gnome and pecks at it when it circled round until the gnome has depleted all its health, the gnome faltered and drops coins.

"Hahh... Elma, are you okay?" I exhaled briefly to relief my exhausted body before asking Elma.

"Oh, yeah I'm alright. Thanks for helping me out, Aimee."

Elma steadies himself when no more adversaries are around.

After the attack, the baby finch flies atop of my head and laid down.

"... So this is my summon. It's cute."

"Hmm, is it? Well anyway, let's break all these pots and be on our way. I need to take a breather."

"Oh, yeah. Let's."

When we break up all the pots lying around and took all its loot, we went on our way back to reunite with Luna and Jenny.

While we were retracing our path, I spoke out to Elma.

"Umm, Elma.. can I ask you something?"

"Hmm? What is it?"

"When you are fighting that gnome from earlier, how were you able to devote yourself to something like this?"

"Umm, I don't get what you're saying, Aimee?"

"I watched you do your job with that starting copper sword. You were sticking with what you have right now while the others are getting the good stuff, and you're still able to outperform them. How did you become so adamant in this desperate situation?"

Elma widened his eyes looking vexed. He then answered.

"Well, rather than being passive and submissive, I think being stubborn is the best way to go in life, don't you think?"

"Huh?"

It wasn't the answer I was expecting.

He continued, "It's a lame world to be if it was all about assuming and comparing but it was fundamental to have a rigid mindset to last on this-- Ah!"

Elma stopped abruptly and his eyes shifted elsewhere.

"The two died."

"Huh? How do you know-- What..."

I noticed a notification from the bottom left of my peripheral vision noting;

[Luna was ganked by Gnome]

[Jenny's face was torn off by Gnome]

When we noticed the message, we immediately ran off towards their locations with Elma leading the way and me following right behind him.

While on the run, we were greeted with a gnome.

"Oh no, you're not getting me again this time."

This time, Elma didn't give the gnome any chances.

*Shoves* *Stabs*

When he shoves it back, he quickly stabbed it, making it immobile, and finishes it completely by slicing it more cleanly. The gnome was split in two and drops coins. Elma picks up the coins fast and we keep on moving.

"They should be around here somewhere-- whoa.."

When we made it to the empty wooden hallway, Luna and Jenny's bodies are lying at the ground lifelessly. We then hear some voices.

"How could we defend ourselves from that little bastard!!"

"Well I couldn't even use my wand under this wooden tunnel or we might get burned alive!"

Luna and Jenny are quarreling under their demised corpses.

I can't really see them because they are transparent but I can feel their presence from just above their corpses.

"Well, this here is an inevitability." Elma spoke out with his eyebrows lowered.

And so, we finished our little adventure with a stalemate.