"S-So what have you girls been doing?" I asked. I wanted to bring some sort of conversation. I knew that the food was nice and they were enjoying it, but it was good to also talk and interact with the family members at lunch. This was a special time where we shared with one another, it was important to socialize even if only a little bit.
"Nothing much." said my daughter nonchalantly, as she continued eating pasta.
She was very… I guess she didn't want to talk to me.
"We were playing around for the most part!" said Anna. "Oh right, there's this one girl in the game that uploaded a video one-shotting a boss monster at like level 7 or something, she had some pretty crazy spirit magic for her level! She's making a lot of people fall for her out of nowhere…"
Eh? Was she referring to my own video? No way! Did they watch it?! T-Thankfully it seems they didn't recognize me there, but I hope this didn't happen again… Ugh…
"Huh… I-I see!" I said.
"I guess you don't really understand that much… Hahaha." Anna laughed..
Ah, it's a good thing that they think that I actually don't know what they're talking about, it was way better that way so they don't have any suspicions… From now on, I'd try my best not to call attention from people anymore, I think it was very dangerous and it might end up getting me in unnecessary trouble. People could be really creepy sometimes. Perhaps I'd make a mask or something for whenever I go to a place with lots of players like the marketplace… or something.
"Thank you for the meal!"
"Hm."
After the two girls moved back to their rooms, I quickly washed the dishes and thought about what to do now. I felt a bit exhausted after everything that happened today… Also, the main quest seemed to be completed for now, although I was sure that the Tree of Beginnings would give me a new quest or something.
But for now, I had decided on taking a nap for a few hours to settle my mind. I really didn't want to check any sort of social media regarding the game because they would probably be talking about me or something. Thankfully the devs decided not to nerf me, at the very least.
I quickly moved back to my bed, the temperature was rather cold so I covered myself in a fluffy blanket and decided to sleep for two hours at least.
.
.
.
"Phew, that was a nice nap…"
When I woke up, I stretched for a bit, and then moved back to the bathroom to freshen myself up. After that I washed my hands and my face and dabbed a towel. Squeaky clean. I felt like it was time to play a bit more, it was around 5 PM by now, a pretty nice hour, I'd probably play until 8 PM and make some homemade dinner this time around, something that the girls could eat, Anna was probably going away late this day, so I wanted her to go with a stomach filled with the homemade food she likes. That girl had spent so much time here that sometimes it was like she's my second daughter, and knowing her, she would probably be happy about that.
I quickly put on the headset and decided to log-in, being greeted by the beautiful greenery and scenery of this game, I was in the middle of the forest down the squirrel-folk village, for some reason? I thought I was inside of Acorn's house, oh well, maybe character displacing sometimes happened. I moved back to his home and found Acorn sleeping over a pile of hay, completely exhausted, aw, poor thing.
I moved to check the cauldron and it had a purple liquid on it which was releasing a dark smoke, it had a very strong and citric scent, and seemed rather bad, I guess this was the antidote? Well, it was made with materials dropped from dark beasts, so it couldn't really be any good on flavor nor appearance… But good lord, this was awful.
I decided to wake up Acorn, who quickly got up the moment he saw me, he seemed to have taken a nap right after finishing doing the antidote. Perhaps he was way too tired to continue and distribute the antidote, so he dropped almost dead into the hay and hasn't woken up since then. I suppose he really needed some rest after all our adventuring.
"It's done, it has an awful taste and odor, but it is actually the real antidote designed by grandpa! W-We can finally save everyone… I… I wish grandma would have survived so we could have given her the antidote too…" Acorn sighed. He seemed to recall those that ended dying before we found a solution.
"I-I am sure that they're being embraced by Gaia… I remember her, she is a nice and gentle woman," I said.
"R-Right… Good-hearted souls will go to Goddess Gaia, I am sure that none of those that perished would go to Hel! I hope grandma is watching over us… We really did it, grandma!" said Acorn. He looked up at the ceiling, no doubt thinking that his grandmother was in heaven.
Are these people really NPC? They felt way too real to me… This little boy that has been working so hard with me to find an antidote… He doesn't seem to be an A.I. at all. He seemed like a real person. He even had religious beliefs. Maybe it was a very realistic A.I.? But even then, I couldn't help but find him way too real to treat him like a robot or something… I was sure that in this world, even if virtual, he's real.
"I am sure they are!" I said.
"Alright… Then let's get this done with!" said Acorn.
And like that, we decided to spend the rest of the hour putting the medicine inside small bottles and vials. There were a dozen of them and there was even more medicine left for many people. We first decided to start off with the chief, Acorn's grandfather.
"Ah… The antidote is ready? Truly?" He asked with amazement.
Acorn nodded as he offered the vial to his grandfather. The chief drank the antidote until no drop remained.
"How are you feeling?" I asked worriedly.
"Ugh… Aggh… Cough… Cough…!"
The Squirrel-folk chief coughed intensively, and in that moment, darkness started to emerge from his body, and jumped straight into the floor!
SPLASH!
"Gryyyaaaaaeeeehhh….!"
It was a mass of miasma! It was slowly dying, agonizing, and crying rather eerily, it didn't fight back nor did it escape, it instead turned into a black liquid of pool and seemed to have lost all life.
"T-That's the miasma, it jumped right out of grandpa! G-Grandpa, are you okay?!" asked Acorn.
"Yeah… Hahh… I-I am okay!" said the chief. He suddenly jumped out of bed and raised his squirrel arms. "I feel as healthy as ever! Thank you, Acorn! You make your grandpa so proud! And of course, thank you too, Lady Dryad, without your help we wouldn't had been able to make it!"
The chief began to thank me with everything he had. I felt a bit embarrassed so I couldn't help but smile nervously at him. I petted his head and smiled back at him.
"Don't worry, it was just my duty," I said.
"You're such a nice spirit!" he said.
"Well now, let's continue sharing the antidote with everybody so everyone can heal and get that miasma out of their system before it's too late!" I said.
"Alright!"
And like that, we spent roughly an hour sharing the antidote with everyone, from elderly to even little children and babies, all of them had to forcefully drink it and then expel the deadly miasma inside of them. And the best thing was that this antidote was like some sort of vaccine too. After drinking it once, it made the body create magical defenses against the infectious miasma so it wouldn't affect the body again.
When everybody had healed, I was able to count around 60 people in total, but there were way too many! The squirrel-folk was a numerous group despite being the last tribe of the descendants of Ratatoskr, apparently.
"Thank you, Lady Dryad!"
"We are very grateful, Acorn, Lady Dryad!"
"You're our saviors!"
"Heroes!"
The squirrel-folk were very dramatic, immediately calling us the heroes of their tribe and more, it made my cheeks flush. But I was happy that I could help these good and cute people of the forest. This was just the beginning, but I was sure that we'd continue working together from now on.
Ding!
[Due to your hard work, the Squirrel-folk admire you as their heroine!]
[You have gained the [Squirrel-folk Hero] Title]
[A side quest to acquire a [Subclass] is now possible]
[Squirrel-folk Hero]
Acquisition Conditions: Gain the love and admiration of the Squirrel-folk.
Equip Bonus: +200 LUK, Squirrel Folk Trust +1000 (Active even without equipping the Title)
A Title given to a hero that has done an incredible deed and has helped the squirrel-folk survive a deadly disease, your hard work has given you their total trust and now they see you as a hero, a person that they admire and love. This Title permanently enhances your Trust with the Squirrel-folk, and this bonus is active even without equipping the Title.
W-Wow! That's a lot of LUK! And it even comes with a trust bonus that was always active?! I didn't know there were titles that had such permanent bonuses that didn't even need me to have them equipped… Although the LUK bonus was only given to me if I had it equipped, this was still amazing, way more than I expected!
However… What's with the Subclass? I didn't know such a thing existed in the game. All the status I see never have a Subclass… So what's up with that? Maybe I should check the status of other players first, I was sure that I've not been paying enough attention, maybe. Also it said that a side quest could begin but there was nothing else, not even a clue… Geez.
As I was given so many praises of gratitude, I suddenly heard the voice of an ancient tree whispering to my ears.
"Well done, my daughter. You have succeeded in your mission in just three days from accepting it, you're an exceptional spirit, you deserve all this gratitude and also a gift of my own, please, whenever you have time, come see me."
It was the tree of beginnings! It seemed that it wanted to see me to give me something, so I quickly decided to leave the squirrel-folk for a bit and teleported there thanks to the special ability I have to teleport to my area of spawning, which was right at the side of the tree.
The enormous tree greeted me, with the face of an old and tired man. He opened his bright gold eyes, as he looked at me with a warm smile.
"Planta, my daughter, well done. You've helped them… The happiness of the forest is increasing, and the miasma is weakening… We are one step further from cleansing this forest," he said.
"Wait, there's more?!" I asked.
"Of course, there are many other things you must do! But surely, I won't just ask you to do everything right away, you can take your time. The squirrel-folk problem was the direst of them all, but now you can take things slowly for now, so don't feel pressured," he said.
"Phew, that's a relief…" I sighed.
"Now, come here, I shall reward you with my blessings," he said.
I slowly walked to his side and while I did the embracing presence of the tree's aura of light and nature encompassed my entire body. The light and nature filled me and made me grow… stronger!
FLASH!
Ding!
[You have completed the main quest first episode: [Squirrel-folk's Disaster]!]
[You gained 10000 EXP and 5000 Gold!]
[Your Race and Job Class Level has increased from Level 7 to Level 8!]
[Race EXP]: [5800/8000] [Job Class EXP]: [5800/8000]
[You gained Stat Points and Skill Points!]
"And here, let me give you this as well…"
Crack… CRASH!
Suddenly, an enormous branch fell from the tree himself!
"W-What?!"
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