Alice Angel of Mercy

I ate breakfast and packed up my supplies that I had bought yesterday before heading out. The area I was going to was a wilderness that was close to multiple human settlements. Since it was an E-rank quest, there wasn't much in the way of danger. It was more of a test of my skills. The deadly animals and monsters that were once there had either been hunted or driven out. Leaving only low level monsters that were either left for starting adventurers to practice on or ones that bred too quickly to ever truly be exterminated. The only reason I took the quest was simply to test out my druid skills. The fact that it was close to the city was a bonus. If anything bad happened or if my cover was blown, I may be able to make it back there before anything horrible befell me.

Like before, I left the school with the shift change and didn't have any problems. Before the sun had fully risen, I had already made my way through the city and was heading down a road that took me in the direction I needed to go. There are many roads that left the capital, so finding one that went in the direction I wanted was pretty easy. It basically followed the river and went to the East, away from the sea so I even got to see some long, flat riverboats filled with goods drifting toward the capital.

I was currently following a slow-moving Caravan that had left slightly before me. I thought about mixing in with the Caravan and offering my services, like I had read about in fantasy books, but one look from the guards had kept me a little more distance. Even so, I was enjoying the trip. This is the first time I traveled by myself in this world and it was a different experience. I got to set my own pace, didn't have to rush about or have to split my attention between conversations and if something caught my interest I either went to check it out or cast ‘Animalistic’ to enhance my vision to see it more clearly.

I needed to get use to some of the animal traits that the spell offered. It was extremely versatile but without practice it was useless in combat. Take increasing my eyesight for example. I could see like an eagle and things almost two miles away became clear. But in doing so, I found that I was having trouble focusing on what I was doing, like walking. I stumbled a few times in the process of learning. I probably looked like a drunkard stumbling behind the Caravan and I saw a few of the guards chuckling at my misfortune.

It was a very pleasant trip. Nothing horrible happened, probably because of all the guards with the caravan, and it was nice not having to worry about being attacked. I followed them for as long as I could, until our paths deviated from one another.

My route was a small side trail. Because it was less traveled, there was overgrowth and weeds along and on the pathway. I kept my eye out for any herbs that I could find. It was unlikely however, because it was still a traveled path. The one I was specifically looking for was called the ‘ever-changing chameleon fruit’. As the name implies, it's hard to find because it could blend into its surroundings and change shape. The only way to really tell it apart was its smell. For all their stealth, their smell was the one thing they couldn’t change. It smelt of freshly dug earth. Since it was a smell in the wild, most travelers tended to overlook it.

As I began to move through the more wild area, I noticed it was alive with noise. I could hear discussions from different trees that had probably been going on for centuries. Animals chittering about nonsensical things. It was actually quite interesting. And I could see how druids could be great scouts or the worst, as they got lost in all the noise. I felt totally comfortable in the forest. Which was odd because I grew up in the city and the closest thing I've ever come to a wilderness was the park. But having animals run around me having full on discussions while the trees watched over them like protective parents was oddly soothing.

While on the path, I decided to test out ‘animalistic’ for speed. I selected the jackrabbit’s speed and felt my legs elongate a little. I found that I could run in a straight line fairly easily. My new jog speed was actually close to a full speed run in my human form. And, I could sprint close to sixty miles an hour for short bursts. It was turning that was the issue. I know rabbits are known for their agility but I fell a few times as I tried changing directions. Simply trying to shift my weight and make a turn at that speed was going to take more practice. I traveled for another hour before I decided to start my hunt.

Although I only needed the one fruit, there were other herbs that grew around here like the ‘Dragon Tails’ which were flowers that required a lot of sunlight so they tended to grow in open fields or the ‘Weeping Lilies’ that grew along the banks of streams. There's probably a half dozen common herbs in this area but they tended to be obvious so finding any was unlikely. Still, maybe I could get lucky. I thought of using my Luck stat but the four was still grayed out and I just didn't know the repercussions of over using it. What happens if it goes down to zero? Will something cataclysmic happen?

Instead, I came up with a plan. I used my spell ‘Call Animals’ and soon found myself surrounded by small furry animals and hand-sized birds. Out of all the animals I've met so far, birds seem to be the happiest but a little flighty, pun intended. The little guys running around my feet were a close second. I also cast ‘Whispering from the Trees and Mountains’. It gave the locations of monsters within an area. I let my new friends know to avoid those areas and with some bribes of seeds, nuts and cheap berries, I had an army of small animals scurrying through the forest looking for a fruit that smelled like dirt.

I spent the rest of my day searching through the woods with them. Using the different animals as helpers and giving them nuts or berries to keep them motivated helped me find two of the chameleon fruits and one Death Cap. The Death Caps were a mushroom that were highly poisonous. I didn’t really have a use for it but figured I could sell it or discard it later. The squirrel that found it looked so happy that I simply rewarded it and stuffed the mushroom in my bag.

I decided to stay the night and enjoy the clear sky. I set up camp, practiced my cooking and then headed to bed. I cast ‘Den of the Lone Wolf’ and the ground near me formed more of a burrow than a cave but it was dry and with a spectral wolf guarding me I was fairly safe.

In the morning, I ate my breakfast before heading back. The ground burrow was reforming as I walked away. I felt more energized from this excursion. I ran using ‘Animalistic’ to increase my speed. I was going to practice doing everyday things until it became more natural. Plus, I didn’t want to eat my cooking for lunch. The six hour journey turned into a three hour one. It would have been quicker but I stopped to help a couple fix their wagon. I didn’t actually have any skill at it, but after casting two spells, I had enough strength to lift their wagon. Once done, it made it much easier for them to repair.

I just needed to drop off one of these fruits at Barton’s Merchant Guild and then get my reward from mine. I was in such a good mood by the time I got back. I headed straight to the merchant building. I didn’t notice the strangeness inside the building until I walked half-way through it. It was then that I got a glimpse of their workers. At first it was just one but then more showed up around me. All of them had black worms crawling on, through and in their skin, just like the lady I saw on the street before.