Chapter 9: the glowing herb

****steve P.O.V.

I light up my phone's flashlight as I entered the forest, my target was a banyan tree that should be around 2 kilometers away from here. thankfully there was only one banyan tree in the forest according to the game so it should be pretty easy to find.

I walk slowly and carefully so I didn't fall or step on some dangerous being like a snake.

The GPS I received from the guard was unexpectedly helpful in telling me how far I reached from the entrance into the forest.

I spent an hour walking to reach 2 km inside the forest and took a little break. It was tough walking here as I had to deal with overgrown shrubs and I was pretty sure that there were at least 3 leeches on my body sucking my blood by now.

I would deal with them after I got out of here, first things first and that was finding the herb according to the plan. I started looking for a banyan tree around the area before I finally found it after 20 minutes.

It looked like it's hundreds of years old, my target is below one of its roots. I carefully search for a protruding root among the many roots of the tree, I found it in a minute.

I carefully got on my knees and leaned toward the ground while looking below the root, there was a purple-colored herb growing below it. I carefully scoped the heart-shaped flower growing on it which caused the plant to die but I didn't care one bit about that. I quickly put the flower inside the container that I brought with me. If I didn't bring this container, I would have to deal with a lot of animals and poisonous beings as this flower emitted a scent that attracted beings around it to itself after it was separated from the plant.

I walked slowly outside the forest by the same route I entered before returning to the guard post and depositing the device.

I was dead tired after all the walking so I quickly returned home and slept like a log until the alarm rang.

I forced my body to rise from the bed. Usually, I trained at this time of an hour but today I had to process that flower according to what my friend told me so I entered the kitchen with the container and put it on the side while I put another 500ml worth of water container to boil. while water was boiling, I pull out the flower and grounded it into a paste with the help of a mixer.

Just before water was about to boil, I put the paste inside it and set the flame at a minimum. Now I just had to wait for the water to evaporate until a dark paste remained before adding 500ml milk in it and then again boiling it until 50ml worth of paste remain.

While the water was boiling, I quickly took a shower, and after some time added the milk to it. I was prepared for work when the medicine finally finished. I put it on a thermal bottle and left for blueberries.

****

" Hey, Emily. Can you reserve a table for me, I invited my friends for a treat? " I asked Emily as we were preparing to open the business.

" When will they come?" she asked me as she operated the computer.

"honestly I don't know, only sure that it would be today. " I said embarrassingly as I suddenly found the wall a lot more interesting.

" It would not be possible then, the rush is too much these days. customers will complain about it," she said with an apologetic smile.

" it's fine, could you tell me if someone asks about me?" I asked her as I put the face part of my costume.

" Leave it to me," she said while casually saluting me which I returned as I walked out.

At noon, Ethan informed me that my friends came already and I could take a break first while he hold the fort for me. I thanked him before I removed my costume and went to the reception to meet them.

When I reached there, I noticed that only ruby and Liam came so I asked," where is James?"

Liam smiled embarrassingly as he replied," sorry about him but he got summoned by his club advisor so he had to leave at the last minute. "

" No worries," I said to him before looking at Emily who was chatting with ruby while Cora handled the reception.

" table number 8 just got free, you guys can sit on there," she told me without me asking her.

I smiled gratefully at her before I lead them to the said table. we enjoyed a nice lunch as we chatted about some basic things. My co-workers were exceptionally caring toward ruby so she get to eat extra ice cream while I and Liam just watched.

" So will you visit the park today too?" I asked Liam as we waited for ruby to finish her ice cream.

"sure, why not? we are free anyways " he happily agreed while looking peacefully happy.

"that's great then, so did you get any insider news about Academy?" I asked him as he should be more aware of it than me.

" Actually yes, it seems this term will be full of prodigy and genius. A lot of influential people will be joining the Academy this year," he told while making a thoughtful expression. ," It would be pretty interesting to see these people compete against each other. "

" Competition would be fierce for us too. when whales clash, seals have to suffer too for survival." I said dejectedly as I thought about my status which was not that different from a normal person.

" I would agree but those that survived such clashes would have high-speed growth compared to others" he pointed out a positive outlook which I must agree to as well.

We discussed some more local tidbits before we bid farewell to each other.

I returned to my duty as Ethan took a break.

" You have some interesting friends ", Cora remarked when I was passing near her. I stop and focused on her as she continued," The girl had a beautiful smile that I almost thought I'm looking at a morning sun, sadly she can't walk . fate really is cruel and unforgiving for all."

" Don't worry, she would be able to walk very soon if things go according to the plan," I said as I walked outside.

" what did he mean by according to the plan?" Cora muttered to herself quietly before focusing on her work again.

****

authors note: I wonder where is all the comments and reviews that hello kitty promised me?