บท 31: Deep Marsh
Emery exited the large hall and made his way west of the Elder's Respite. He took another look at the map through his palm before proceeding further. On the way, several acolytes had already passed him but he had a smile on his face. His battle power sat on the eleven mark, so he could run and travel twice the distance unlike before.
The forest was becoming more and more dense as the orange ray of the setting sun passed through the small gaps between the leaves of the towering trees. Soon, he breathed in the damp air, jumped over large mossy roots and the ground beneath his feet were starting to become muddy. Emery arrived at the swamp with many others but started his search alone with the golden moon as his light.
It was dark and Emery rubbed his arm, trying to warm himself. In the distance, he noticed a ball of light hovering below a large glowing plant. He moved closer, readied his hand on the sword's sheath on his waist, and a buzzing sound came from the ball of light. It apparently was a large flying insect the size of a bird. The symbol on Emery's palm glowed as new information entered his mind.
[Firefly]
[Level 1 beast]
[Battle Power 10]
[Not aggressive unless provoked]
Emery furrowed his brows, a little conflicted. This insect had a battle power almost the same as him. He was about to draw his sword but considering how fireflies usually gather around a light source in groups, he let go of his sword and took a different path. If he could avoid fighting for now, he would.
"Time to start looking for that plant," he said to himself.
Emery began searching for the four-leaf moon clover at the foot of trees, bushes, near vines, sometimes near glowing plants where there were no fireflies gathering. Two hours of walking around had already passed but not a single moon clover he had found were four leaves, they were all three leaves. He kept on looking though under the light of the golden moon. Just one would be enough to complete his quest and possibly break through the spirit power requirement.
His nose was turning red and the cold air was slowly seeping to his bones. If ever he couldn't find one, he would try training at the institute of darkness' origin stone institute tomorrow. But based on what he had heard from Chumo regarding how difficult it was to cultivate the darkness element, Emery kept on brushing plants aside in hopes of finding a four-leaf moon clover.
Soon, Emery saw a bunch of yellow dotted plants across the distance from where he stood. He wasn't sure whether they were four leaves but when he stepped closer, his forward feet sank in the mud, ankles high. Emery pulled back his heavy feet and focused his eyes. It was faint but he could see he was about to walk into murky waters, making him unsure whether to proceed. However, risk came with rewards, he steeled himself after considering his situation and placed the same foot again.
A man's voice from behind suddenly, making Emery startled.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Emery turned around and a young chubby acolyte was standing not far from him.
"What do you—"
The swamp beneath his feet bubbled.
"Hurry, get out now!" shouted the boy.
Emery's heart did a somersault while yanking his feet hard, making him unbalanced as he fell to his bottom. He clumsily pulled out his sword, on guard, as the bubble popped and out came a frog the size of a dog.
"..."
"Hahaha! You're a bit jumpy, aren't you?" The chubby acolyte had a big grin while holding his stomach laughing out hard.
Emery tightened his grip on the sword. He had been made fun of by another stranger on the same day! He tried to get back to his feet, not saying a word, while staring at the brown frog that was several times bigger than the frog in Briton, which simply gazed back at him like a fool.
Just when Emery felt his ear pounding from anger, the muddy water of the swamp rippled before a large splash erupted and a beast as big as a crocodile jumped out devouring the frog.
[Drake]
[Level 2 beast]
[Battle Power 20]
[Aggressive beast but doesn't attack human unless provoked]
The drake gave them a glance before diving back into the swamp. Emery's face no longer had a trace of anger rather it was replaced with shock.
"Here let me help you," the acolyte said, offering a hand to help Emery up his feet. "Are you a first year like me? Call me Fatty. What about you? What's your name?"
Now that Emery had a good look at the guy, the acolyte's short hair stuck to his big round head, his eyes were small and slanted, looking a bit like a fat Chumo.
"Emery," he answered, sheathing back his sword.
"Nice to meet you, Emery," Fatty said while nodding. He added, "I advise not wandering alone in this swamp. It's dangerous for us first years."
Emery narrowed his eyes and said, "Aren't you a first year yourself?"
Fatty showed his pearly white teeth. "Well I didn't say I was alone, did I?"
Behind Fatty, silhouettes of people moved closer to where they were standing.
Emery noticed they were wearing a slightly different uniform from the one he and Fatty were wearing. They must be second or third year acolytes that Fatty tagged along with.
One of the senior acolytes walked past them and kneeled, touching the ground. A green glow lit up from the senior acolyte's palm then the surrounding roots creeped toward the direction Emery had been wanting to go to. The roots formed a bridge and the senior acolyte walked on top of it.
Emery, Fatty and the rest followed suit and crossed the bridge. As soon as they arrived at the area where the pile of spotted plants was, the first senior acolyte said, "Found one!"
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