Objective II: Help The VIPs Recover

Agent Eleven pondered on his situation, "(Priority should be getting these VIPs to good enough condition to reach civilization. Then I can get more information about -)"

When his train of thought was suddenly interrupted.

"Umm… Sir, you never gave me your name. What should I call you?" Miri asked.

Without thinking, the agent replied, "Eleven."

The stress made him lose focus and made him sloppy. He realized he should have given her an alias, but before he could correct himself, he saw the expression on the woman's face.

"The savior!" Miri exclaimed.

"Uhh.. I think you're confused. Perhaps something was lost in translation." The agent suggested.

"I assure you on my father's na-!" Miri stops herself, "You are mistaken. You are a great warrior who can defeat a Mokshanath without magic. You are without doubt, Eleven, the All-Savior!"

Miri's look is stern enough to make the agent ponder, "(Her demeanor changed. This is a serious subject. I should investigate this later.)"

"We'll talk more about that later. Let's focus on getting you all back to fighting condition. I noticed you had some herbs, are any of those good for remedies like fever or exhaustion?"

Miri answers, "I have quite a few herbs and even some of the flower nectars have medicinal uses. Lixia."

Eleven is completely taken by surprise as he observes magic for the first time.

After a second, light gathers into a ball at the woman's fingertip. She waves her finger toward the roof of the burrow. The ball of light follows her command and sticks to the ceiling, shedding light onto her belongings.

Miri gathers the nearby glow sticks and moves them to the other side of the burrow.

"The blue light makes it hard to see the colors of the plants. It's important in identifying them."

The agent segmented and ziplocked the mana fruit while watching Miri work. He was impressed that she could look so serious and focused on her task. After a moment, she got Eleven's attention, "I'm finished."

Agent Eleven could see a pattern but waited for Miri to explain herself, "Here are the medicinal herbs, these are flowers that can help, these herbs aren't useful, these flowers are pretty, and these are rare herbs I found. I'm unsure how to use those."

The agent looked at some of the trinkets she had and noticed a small mortar and pestle, "Do you know how to make medicine yourself, or did that belong to someone in the group?"

She responds, "These are mine. I'm actually an herbalist by occupation and a part time apothecary."

Agent Eleven pondered, "(She definitely isn't as dumb as I thought... Unless she makes terrible medicine…)"

He asked her, "That's a useful skill to have. Are there any medicines you can make for them from what you have?"

She answered him, "I'm not sure, let's find out."

Miri went into a small satchel nearby and retrieved a book and began flipping through the pages.

Agent Eleven, curious about the language of this new world, went to look at the book with her. He moved over to look over her shoulder.

Miri began to read the words to herself quickly and flipped through pages looking for illustrations.

She cross examined some of the herbs she had with the information in the book but looked defeated.

"It seems I can't help much. I only have partial ingredients. To make these two medicines I had in mind, I need 3 herbs that aren't available in the Forbidden Forest."

The agent looked puzzled, "Are you sure? I feel like I've seen almost all the plants in the illustrations you've flipped by."

Miri says confidently, "I'm quite sure. These leaves are found near my village, these vines are native to a forest in the southern continent, and these flowers would have been out of season by now. It is growing too cold for them to survive."

The agent, unconvinced, taps his invisible spectacles and powers up his gloves. He made a camera frame with his fingers and hovered over the images of the illustrated plants.

With a flick of his pinky, an image of each illustration materialized in his augmented reality. He moved the three images to the side of his view and began to adjust his watch settings.

With the press of a button, Agent Eleven was now running a search of everything he had seen earlier in the day.

An image was pulled out of the feed while it was rewinding, "One found… Two found… Three found. I know where your plants are."

Miri was irritated by the blatantly false information, "There's no way you found the plants! The Forbidden Forest has had nothing but strange herbs! This place definitely doesn't have ANY herbs native to my village!"

Agent Eleven readies himself for departure, "Will you be alright if I leave you alone for a little while? I'll go get those herbs, a few of those flowers and I'll be back."

Miri, confused by his confidence but still admiring it, said to him, "I'm not sure where you think you'll find these plants, but please, come back unharmed."

The agent nodded, "And here, hold onto this. Feel free to eat them or share them with those two if they wake up while I'm away. I'll restock on my way back."

Agent Eleven tossed Miri the bag of segmented fruit and prepared to leave.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THE MAHKALOYÉ?!"

The agent disregarded the elf woman's screaming and scanned the surroundings outside the burrow. He pulled himself up and began his trek.

He briskly jogged back to the leaf-etched door mounted onto the grand tree stump. It was conveniently not far from the burrow.

Agent Eleven arrived after a short while and saw the brown door. He opened it and there was only wood on the other side. He tried a couple more times wondering if it was triggered by repetition.

He stood agitated, "(I really needed this door to work. Now she's gonna think I wasted our time.)"

He stood there for a moment, thinking about what he should do now that they can't make their own medicine. His medicine was far too valuable to share and was considering letting them fend for themselves.

During his contemplation, he was startled by a loud hum behind him as the door glowed with a blinding prismatic light. When it faded, the door was green as he remembered it from the inside.

"(Was that random or is this thing on a timer?)", the agent pondered as he opened the door to the mysterious realm once more.

Upon entry, he immediately realized there was a moon out instead of a sun, "(It was just daytime. Nowhere near sunset. And that green hue over the moon… it's unnatural.)"

He activated his night vision and began looking at the flowers around the door. He immediately found one of the flowers he needed.

"Out of season, huh?" Agent Eleven scoffed to himself as he placed the flowers into a toolbelt pouch.

He advanced through the lightly wooded area and the path. He knew the next two resources were in the field area from before.

Upon reaching the field, Agent Eleven saw the place was just as beautiful, possibly even more so, in the dark.

"(No one must know about this place since they're too afraid to come into the forest. That's the only reason I can see for people not wanting to take this place in.)"

There were bioluminescent insects and flowers that caught the agent's eye, appearing as blinding, radiant sprites and miniature structures that were entrancing like staring into the heart of an open flame.

The agent plucks a few of the bioluminescent flowers, "Miri might like these. She has a fondness for brightly colored flowers."

To keep from crushing them, he pressed a button on his suitcase that opened the bottom for a special containment space. He places the flowers gently in the container and closes it.

He is able to locate the two remaining herbs rather easily as they stood out and had distinctive buds and flower colors.

"(Task complete. Returning to VIPs.)"

He begins to head for the path until he remembers the trees bearing mana fruit, "Right. I should get some more of these to last us a while."

The agent packs the fruit into his briefcase, "(Six of these should last us a few days. About half of one should be enough to sustain an adult as a meal. Not much space in the briefcase for much else anyways.)"

On his way past the mana fruit trees, he saw another fruit he was familiar with, except they were smaller and glowed a brilliant yellow in the dark. He put a few of the crescent shaped commodities into his toolbelt pouches. Their skins were surprisingly durable so the agent wasn't afraid of them being bruised.

"(Task actually complete. Heading back to the VIPs for real this time.)"

The agent made his way to the door. He looked at the many trees in the field before leaving and took mental notes of the many varieties of glowing fruit he passed by. He realized many of them weren't there the first time he looked over the place.

Agent Eleven knew there was something completely unnatural about this place.

He went back to the leaf-etched door and left the place again without mishap.

The agent jogged his way back to the burrow and found it sealed off, "(Where did this rock come from?)" He tapped it with his pistol.

"(Definitely hard. Diorite?)" The agent tapped his spectacles and performed a scan of the mysterious material. He continued tapping and listening to get a better understanding of its properties.

"(Not quite diorite, but it's not anything else the database can identify either.)", the agent thought to himself as he heard a muffled voice.

"Eleven?" The muffled voice asks.

"Yeah. It's me." He replies.

"Tarriza."

"What?" The agent asks as the rock before him turned into dust. "Oh… Magic."

As he descended into the burrow, he immediately saw one of the men had moved from their position. He saw him leaned against a wall sitting next to the ziplock bag of fruit.

"(Good to see he's awake.)"

The older, stoic man began speaking to the agent in a foreign language when Miri tapped his shoulder and said something to him in their tongue.

She handed him the gemstone in her possession and he took it. He closed his eyes for a brief second and with a faint glow of the stone, the man opened his eyes and spoke, "So you are the legendary savior. It's an honor to meet you."

"You shouldn't get too excited about me being this savior you're talking about." the agent began, "I went on a short expedition and recovered more supplies. Most importantly, the medicine you all need to get back in good health."

Agent Eleven began retrieving the herbs and flowers from his pouch and handed them to Miri.

Her eyes widened and slapped the recovering man on the shoulder gesturing for the stone back, "WHERE DID YOU FIND THESE?!"

Agent Eleven responded, "I told you, the ingredients you were looking for could be easily located. I even got us more food."

The agent said haughtily as he opened his briefcase to reveal six mana fruits.

Miri responded half surprised, "There really is a Mahkaloyé tree out there, isn't there? We thought they couldn't grow in the wild without elfavi cultivating them."

"You might like this. Get rid of that light for a second." the agent says eagerly with his hand in his toolbelt.

"It's not wise to have me dispelling the light for trivial matters. It takes mana to create it and I don't -" she was interrupted.

"Just trust me on this. I think you'll find it… Fruitful." The agent says with a knowing sneer.

Miri sighs and waves her hand, "Lixia."

Now, faint glows could be seen emanating from the agent's toolbelt pouches.

The glow intensified as he removed the small fruit completely from the pouch, followed by both of the bystanders gasping.

"Nabana fruit!" Miri exclaimed "Where did you get that?!"

"(At least that name isn't far off.)" The agent thought to himself.

The older man crawled closer excitedly, ranting in gibberish, his face illuminated and hovering over the fruit.

"I got this from the same place I got everything else. I'll show you if we have the time. You all can have these. I figured you would want something to eat to not disrespect your sacred fruit."

Miri, touched by his sentiment, responded, "You're thoughtful… But this fruit is valuable. Its effects are so potent, that people typically water it down in potions. We surely don't need a whole one. You should partake as well."

The agent, almost frustrated, asks, "Are you saying I got something else not suitable for food?"

Miri bashfully responds, "It would seem so. Eating too much of a single nabana fruit can cause nausea."

The elfavi woman gives one of the fruits to the older man who responds confusedly. Miri reassures him in their language and peels her own fruit.

He grabs the agent's hands and begins shaking them vigorously, uttering foreign phrases of gratefulness.

Miri splits her fruit in half and gives it to the agent as he's released by the older man, "Here. You should try it as well. You'll find its effects useful."

The agent reluctantly says, "I doubt this magic stuff will work on me, but I'll try it."

He began chewing the fruit, snuffing out a small source of light in the process. There was only a faint glow visible behind the agent's cheeks as Miri watched him, waiting.

He swallowed the fruit and instantly felt something strange in his bowels.

He wasn't sure if it was rejection or a demand for more but as the commotion within himself ceased, he felt a sudden sense of fatigue leaving his body and a sudden surge of energy.

"What the? Is this a drug? Why is the effect instant?!" The agent yelled, becoming more aware of his own heartbeat and growing anxious.

"I'm sorry, I should have given you a smaller piece. I thought that since you were an adult, you would be able to handle our same portions." She said rather nonchalantly as she began to eat her portion.

The agent squints his eyes at the woman, trying to decipher her (possibly) insulting phrasing.

"I think the sudden intensity just caught me off guard. I'm fine." the agent says, licking his wounded ego. "And don't you have some medicine to make?"

Miri looks down at the ingredients and says, "Actually, no. Not anymore."

The agent looked at her confused, "Did these fruits actually replace the medicine you were going to make?"

She nods, "I was going to make an improvised stamina potion, considering the nabana fruit is native to the other side of the continent."

"(Able to craft an imitation of a more effective medicine? She might be actually skilled.)" The agent analyzed.

"I almost forgot. I noticed you liked flowers. I thought you would like this one." The agent says, brightening up the cave, dimly lit by nabana peels.

Miri looks at the bright light coming from the item box and is completely shocked into silence. Almost afraid.

The older man gasped.

"Did I do something wrong? Should I not have plucked this flower?"

"The dahlmagia…" the woman says with tears welling up in her eyes.

The agent begins to put the flower away when Miri gently grabs his hands, "This flower was very important to my people. Men used to go to the far corners of the world in search of this flower to pronounce their undying love and initiate marriage. After the flower was thought to be extinct, people did away with the tradition and took up the dwarga tradition of finding a valuable gem."

"Glad I was able to find something so important. I have a few more here as well." The agent says as all the excitement instantly drains from Miri's face.

He opens the compartment again and shows Miri the other flowers, "I thought you would be more excited. You can have all these."

"I can't take more than one, Eleven… Lixia." the woman sighs, brightening the burrow once more and gently placing the flower on the ground next to her.

"Okay… Feel free to ask me for more if that one withers. There were plenty. I really think you should have a look at this place and identify some of these plants. Some look special, and some look normal, but from what you're telling me, even the most common plants in that place aren't supposed to be there." The agent explains.

Miri's disappointment was replaced with intrigue, "You did mention a specific place before. Can you describe it to me? I want to be prepared for when I'm able to go see it for myself."

"Well, to get there in the first place, you have to go through a magic door." The agent starts.

"You got these plants from a dungeon?!" the woman exclaimed.

"Well, no, the dungeon was past all the fruit trees." The agent responded.

"Are you saying you went to a dungeon… within a dungeon?!" The woman asked excitedly, "That's impossible! Tell me more!"

"Well, past the field full of fruit trees is a dense forest. There's a few twists and turns and an unnatural fog in the treeline. I didn't bother walking into it."

Miri cuts in, "That sounds like a traditional dungeon. They're typically mazes that mirror the landscape they were found in. If you can solve the maze, you'll be led to a powerful monster guarding treasure."

The agent continued, " I didn't explore the other paths, but I'm not sure if that was the actual dungeon. Because through the forest is a large facility full of corpses and cells. There were even talking skeletons that spoke in a language different from yours."

Miri's puzzled look makes the agent stop his recounting. So she interjects, "So you went to a literal dungeon within a dungeon? Never heard of one of those."

The agent continues, "That's what it appeared to be. There were five floors. I'm unsure what's on the others considering I jumped past them. But, on the bottom floor was a giant, gold beetle th-"

"A gold beetle?! The Vekaloku! You defeated it?!" The woman yelled and demanded.

This got the older man's attention who curiously repeated the strange word to Miri, now intrigued by their conversation and wanting to know more. This triggered a full on discussion in their foreign tongue. The man grew more and more excited and irritated as he heard Miri's retelling of Agent Eleven's story.

The older man turned to the agent and looked at him in disbelief and then turned to Miri, snapping at her.

"He claims it's impossible for somebody like you with no magic to defeat such a creature. A large one, like the one you claim to have beaten, can match a Legendary Hero in terms of sheer power." Miri explains.

The agent suddenly thinks of the gemstone he acquired.

He retrieves it from his pouch and shows it to them. Their eyes light up. The older man's jaw drops.

The two begin to chatter at each other excitedly.

The agent, feeling left out, thinks about the next phase of his new objective when he hears Miri say, "Activate it, Eleven!"

"I told you, we don't do magic where I come from." the agent said, slightly irritated.

Miri reassures him, "That's precisely why I think you should try it! Beast Stones don't use the mana of the wielder. They're independent effects! Anyone capable of reciting and visualizing the effects can activate them. Even children with virtually no mana."

Deciding to ignore the possible insult and challenge Miri just issued, the agent thought to himself, "(Can anyone really activate these? Will I actually be able to use magic?)"