Where Was The Threat?

[Day 13: As you wake up, you feel slightly weaker due to the evil power consuming your vitality…]

Lem was broken out of his meditation by his simulated self opening his eyes. Lem was deep in thought. 

The past day and night, he had felt that the rate at which he experienced insights were slowing down.

He did not know if it was because of his limited comprehension abilities, or because his thinking was too abstract and he did not have any way of directly testing his ideas.

No matter what the reason, the past night had been less productive than that of the first night.

After Lem's simulated self woke up, he found that the martial elder was also awake. Neither of them was in a mood for talking, so they quickly prepared for the last stretch of the journey before setting out in stony silence.

[You continue traveling northwest, leading the martial elder in the direction of the harvest tree…]

Compared to the mood of the journey, Lem was in good spirits despite his slowing rate of improvement. He remembered that Master Brightflame had told his simulated self that if he did not use his intuition, he would not make it to the third day.

Whatever else happened, he had at least proven the martial elder wrong.

Less than two hours into the day, Lem's simulated self was interrupted from his thoughts by a slight feeling of spirituality.

He looked and found the fingernail-sized berry from the previous simulation.

He picked it off of the bush and was about to eat it when he remembered the presence of the martial elder.

Lem's simulated self looked up.

As expected, Master Brightflame was staring at him.

"Would you like…" Lem's simulated self trailed off when he saw the martial elder shaking his head in disgust.

"Eat it if you must but don't slow us down."

Lem's simulated self hurriedly nodded.

He stuffed it in his mouth as he continued walking.

[As you walk, you encounter a pleasant sensation, disrupting your thoughts. 

You look and find a faintly spiritual berry. You look at Master Brightflame, unsure of what to do. The martial elder does not want it…

You eat the berry, but the improvement to your vitality is negligible. You continue traveling…]

They were getting close to the harvest tree. Lem was counting down the minutes in anticipation. He was about to learn either the strength of the martial elder, the strength of the harvest tree, or the true nature of the evil flower.

No matter what, it would be extremely useful information for future simulations.

His simulated self was in a similar state of anticipation, albeit tempered by the fears of what would happen to him as a result of the conflict.

And then, he felt it. 

The comfortable feeling of spiritual energy was dispersed throughout the air and difficult to pin down. He now knew that this was because the source of energy was dozens of meters away.

He had made it.

Lem's simulated self cast a worried look at Master Brightflame, who was standing a couple of meters behind him.

The martial elder did not have a reaction on his face.

How strange.

If even Lem's simulated self could feel the spiritual energy, then surely Master Brightflame could as well. His perception was far better than that of Lem's simulated self. It had to be, otherwise his decades of cultivation would have all been a complete joke.

Was he unimpressed by it?

"What are you playing at?" Master Brightflame's voice was unexpectedly harsh.

Lem was surprised again, this time by the words.

What was he playing at?

Was the martial elder complaining about the spiritual energy? Was it still too mediocre for his tastes?

But Lem's simulated self knew that the diluted effect was only because of how far away it was. Shouldn't the martial elder also be able to sense this?

Or could Master Brightflame already detect that the spiritual lily was too weak?

Or had he sensed the harvest tree?

Neither Lem nor his simulated self could understand. 

His simulated self was about to answer, when the martial elder spoke up again.

"If you do not reveal yourself, then I can assure you that it will be your final regret."

Lem's simulated self looked around vigilantly. 

So there was a threatening presence hiding in the forest. Where was it?