Chapter Five: The Lakeside Sequoia Dryad
Chapter Five: The Lakeside Sequoia Dryad
I’d successfully completed my quests and placed the incubator in the barn. With all of my chores out of the way, I could finally concentrate on solving the mystery of the key.
“Hmm... Wish there was some kind of clue...” I muttered, examining the mysterious key I’d obtained from my litter-picking quest. “Can’t use it if I don’t know what it’s for.”
I bet there were hundreds of keyholes in the Town of Beginnings alone, never mind the game as a whole. I didn’t have time to try out every single one of them. Think: have I come across any questionable places...?
“Wait a minute...”
There was one place that seemed suspect: the locked iron door that I discovered under the stone bridge in the East District. Could this be the key to that door? It seemed plausible; after all, I had come across both through labor quests.
“Sounds a bit too good to be true, but wouldn’t hurt to try.”
I decided to put my theory to the test immediately. It was already late at night, which actually worked in my favor; I’d attract less attention this way. The streets in town were lit, so as long as I had a map, I shouldn’t have any problems finding my way to the door.
I hurried to the bridge, struggling to contain my excitement. Even with the streetlamps, it was still much harder to see than during the daytime. Every now and then, I would bump into someone in the dark, surprising us both.
“Phew, made it... The coast is clear, I think?”
I checked my surroundings just in case, but as far as I could see, I was the only person there—though I couldn’t be entirely certain without Night Vision. I crept stealthily into the canal and ducked under the bridge, careful not to make a splash. Not wanting to attract unnecessary attention, I had left Olto behind.
“Can’t see a thing at night. Should be somewhere around here, though.”
It was completely dark under the bridge. I groped in the darkness for the keyhole and inserted the key, but it didn’t seem to fit, as it rattled and refused to turn.
“Wrong hole?”
I kept on trying; after several tries, the key unexpectedly fit into the lock. There was a click, and it turned smoothly all the way through.
“N-No way. It’s actually open.”
I stood gaping at the door as it creaked open slowly.
“C-Can I go in?” I wondered aloud, despite there being no one to answer me.
The door revealed a descending stairway, dimly lit by torch-like objects hanging on the wall.
“Hmm. Maybe I shouldn’t have come at night.”
Through the wavering torchlight, I could make out the faint outline of the stone staircase. A musty smell tickled my nostrils, the iron door emitting a high-pitched squeal at the touch of my hand.
“...This is hella creepy.”
It looked like bats or rats would jump out at any moment.
“St-Stop being a scaredy-cat. This is just a game. It’s all fake, same as a haunted house.”
Just in case, I set all of the medicine I had to Quick Access. If I ran into any monsters, you could bet I’d be out of there in a flash, unless they were strong enough to kill me with one blow.
“Off I go,” I said, gingerly taking my first step. The only sounds in the narrow stairway were those of my shoes clacking against the stone. After thirty steps or so, I came upon a small room, leading to another passage.
“There’s more...?”
I couldn’t help feeling discouraged, and regretted not bringing Olto with me.
Don’t be scared, don’t be scared, I told myself, treading even more carefully than before.
Several minutes later, I arrived at a fork in the road.
“Which way should I go...?”
I decided to go left. I didn’t have any particular reason other than that I’d somehow remembered Fleming’s left-hand rule for motors, so going left seemed like a good idea.
To my surprise, the path on the left led down to another stairway. There were no torches this time, and I was unable to see anything.
“There’s got to be a monster down here... Better turn back.”
Rather than head down the stairs and risk a potential threat, I figured I should check out the other side first.
I returned to the point where the paths diverged and went right this time. After walking down a hallway that gave me a vibe of ancient ruins, I found myself in front of a large stone doorway.
Unlike the austere iron door at the entrance, this stone surface of these doors had elaborate and magnificent engravings of plants. A gigantic tree with branches outstretched to the sky with various plants surrounding it was carved across the double doors. Despite the colorless, cold hard stone they were made of, the carvings felt almost alive. Clearly, this door held some importance.
“It looks heavy, though. Will it open?” I wondered. After all, you’d be hard-pressed to find a player as weak as me.
I needn’t have worried, however, as the doors swung easily open with a push.
“Well, that was easy...”
Before entering, I took a peek inside.
“Seriously, this better not be a boss room.”
The door revealed a peculiar room. The first thing I noticed was something large and brown covering the walls.
“What are those?”
At first, I couldn’t tell what the material was, but upon closer inspection, I discovered they were giant tree roots. Each root was about as thick as a barrel and entwined with others, covering about half of the room and surrounding a raised altar-like stone platform. I could almost taste the event I was about to trigger.
What should I do? Should I go back? I wondered. But I had come all the way here...
“Okay, here goes nothing!”
I gingerly stepped inside the room and crept towards the altar.
“...Nothing’s happening,” I said, taken aback. Was there really nothing to the altar? It seemed too conspicuous for there not to be.
“...These giant roots gotta be from the Lakeside Sequoia above,” I muttered. Just then, I heard a woman’s voice drift through the air.
“That’s right.”
“Whoa! Wh-Where’d that come from?!”
I jumped back a few steps and glanced around the room in surprise.
“Right here, adventurer.”
The voice belonged to a beautiful emerald-haired woman who had emerged from the altar, bathed in light, an air of mystery hanging all around her...
I stared in amazement at the strange woman who had suddenly materialized before my eyes. Her smile bore no malice—the very sight of it made me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“I am the Sequoia Dryad,” the spirit replied.
Now that she mentioned it, I recalled that the Lakeside Sequoia was supposedly sacred. That would mean that this person (?) had to be the spirit that lived in this tree.
The dryad wore a loose, pale green outfit with a peculiar sheen to it. The sheer look of the fabric was rather suggestive, but her kind and gentle aura prevented it from becoming obscene. I couldn’t hold back my excitement; I had to take a screenshot. I mean, come on—we’re talking about a dryad here. This was every fantasy lover’s dream. Couldn’t forget to take a video either; I needed to immortalize this wondrous moment on film. From what I’d heard, NPCs couldn’t tell if you were filming them or not. My sources appeared to be correct, as the dryad showed no signs of having noticed.
“Uh, sorry for trespassing.”
“No need to apologize,” said the dryad. “In the past, people used to come here and make offerings all the time.”
“Really? Cool.”
“In exchange, I bestowed blessings and comfort upon my worshippers. We had a long, mutually dependent relationship,” the dryad reminisced fondly. However, her expression soon turned to one of sadness. “Unfortunately, some impudent fools attempted to harm me, so I asked the Adventurers’ Guild Master to seal the entrance, henceforth restricting who could enter.”
“Huh? Then how come I could get in?”
“Only those who obtain the key and find their way here through their own efforts are allowed entry. The key prevents those with evil intentions from so much as touching it.”
“Wow. Didn’t know it was that impressive...”
Who knew this dirty antique key was such a powerful magical item?
“This key was created with magic, as was the door.”
“Erm, so if I understand correctly, you’ll bless me if I make an offering, right?”
“Yes. Though the type of blessing you’ll get will depend on what you offer me.”
Damn, what I wouldn’t give for a blessing! However, I didn’t have any noteworthy items—at least, nothing that seemed fit for a dryad’s altar.
“By the way, can I make offerings any day of the week?” I inquired.
“I am only able to descend once a week on ‘Tree Day,’” the dryad answered.
I see. Made sense since she was a tree spirit.
Incidentally, there were seven days a week in this world, just as in real life. As in Japan, some days of the week were named after the Chinese zodiac elements, namely fire, water, wood, metal, and earth. As January 1st had been ‘Sun Day,’ today’s date—January 5th—was Thursday, named in Japanese for wood, which meant it was ‘Tree Day.’
Wow, talk about a stroke of luck. Just in time too. The day would be rolling over in less than an hour.
“Also, bear in mind that once I give you your blessing, you will not be able to receive another for at least eight weeks.”
“Gotcha.”
It looked like I’d have to scrap the idea of experimenting with a random joke item. If I missed this chance, however, I’d have to wait a whole week until the spirit descended again. I didn’t have time to go back and find something more appropriate.
“C’mon, there’s gotta be something...”
What were the criteria of a good offering, anyway? Price? Rarity? Rank? What sort of gift would make a tree nymph happy in the first place? After pondering the question for a while, it suddenly hit me: What about the premium fertilizer I bought earlier? It might not be worth much in the game as a whole, but perhaps a dryad would appreciate it. I decided to take my chances, and offered a bag.
“Er, how about this...?”
How dare you give me such garbage? I imagined her yelling at me. My heart was in my mouth as I awaited her response. After all, I was as good as handing a deity a filthy sack of dirt.
As I gingerly placed the item on the altar, the dryad smiled at me again.
“This is a wonderful gift. I appreciate your thoughtfulness. Allow me to bestow a blessing upon you as a token of gratitude. Since you’re the first visitor I’ve had in a long time, I shall be sure to reward you handsomely. Take this,” the spirit instructed as she placed her palms above me and began concentrating. “Here,” she urged.
“Huh? What?”
“Hold out your hands.”
“G-Got it.”
I put my palms together and obediently held them out before her.
“May the gods bless you.”
“Whoa!”
A blinding light shot out from the tree nymph’s palms. I closed my eyes, shielding them against the light, when all of a sudden, something touched my palms. I warily opened my eyes to find myself holding a fruit the color of cherry blossoms. I hadn’t been expecting this sort of boon. I’d been hoping to get a new skill, boost in stats, or even a title if I was lucky. Though crestfallen, I held up the fruit that the spirit had bestowed upon me and assessed it.
Name: Lakeside Sequoia Fruit
Rarity: 8 / Quality: 10★
Effect: Fully recovers hunger status when ingested. Also boosts user’s resistance to status ailments for one hour. (5-minute cooldown)
“Wh-Wh-What the hell?!”
A rarity of eight?! That was insane! The items you could currently find only had a rarity of four at the most. How the heck was this an eight?!
“M-Miss Drya—”
“I wish you the best of luck.”
“Hey, wait...!”
Before I could ask anything, the Sequoia Dryad vanished, a look of satisfaction on her face.
“The Lakeside Sequoia Dryad’s Altar has been unlocked under special circumstances. The first player to achieve this feat will be awarded the title, ‘The Dryad’s Blessing.’”
The server-wide announcement was immediately followed by an individual one.
“As a bonus, you will also be receiving some fire, water, earth, and wind crystals.”
Nice. I had managed to get another title, and a unique one at that. I even got some probably rare items! Thanks, O mighty spirit! I could only assume that this was a pretty big deal too, considering the server-wide announcement.
Title: The Dryad’s Blessing
Effect: You have gained 5,000 G and four bonus points. Increases damage towards and lessens damage received from tree-type and spirit-type monsters during battle.
Was it just me, or was this title pretty powerful? While it only worked on certain opponents, I might actually have a shot at fighting with this.
“Think I’ll give this to Olto.”
Man, if I could grow the Lakeside Sequoia fruit on our farm I might end up filthy rich... My head spun at the possibility. I figured I better ask Alyssa for more information before I gave it to Olto, though.
“Wonder how much it’ll fetch. Its rarity is eight, so it can’t be worth less than a sack of 2,000 G premium fertilizer, can it?”
I checked my friends list, hoping Alyssa was still around, but unfortunately, she seemed to be offline at the moment. Ah well, c’est la vie. I’d have to visit her shop tomorrow.
“Speaking of, it’s about time I log out too...”
I decided to return to the farm for the time being. I crawled quietly out from under the bridge, hurrying back.
“I’m home!”
“Mm-mm,” Olto greeted me upon my return. I patted him on the head as I pulled out the fruit I’d just obtained.
“Ta-da! Check this out, Olto!”
“Mm? Mm-mm!”
Wow, he must have jumped about five feet in the air. Either this item was incredibly rare, or Olto was trying to humor me.
“Mm! Mmm!”
Olto waved his arms and jumped up and down. It seemed like he wanted a closer look.
“Here you go,” I said, handing him the Lakeside Sequoia fruit.
“Mm!” Olto stared at it intently, eyes sparkling with excitement.
After ten seconds or so, he tugged on my robe, seemingly confused.
“Mm?”
“What’s up, buddy?”
Olto pointed at our farm, then back again at the fruit.
“Are you asking me why I’m not propagating it?”
“Mm!”
“What do you think? Should I plant it?”
“Mm!” Olto nodded vigorously. Apparently, he wanted to plant it on our farm.
I felt torn. I mean, how often did you come across such a rare and valuable item?
“This is really rare, you know. Think you can grow it?”
“Mm,” Olto answered in the affirmative, thumping his chest confidently. Sensing my hesitation, he let out a whine. “Mm...”
“Don’t look at me like that...”
“Mm, mm.”
This time, he clung to my leg and stared up at me imploringly. Dang it, how could I possibly resist that face?
“Mm!”
“...Okay okay, you win,” I sighed.
He really knew how to wrap me around his little finger. Anyway, it would be huge if we could grow and harvest the fruit on our farm.
“All right, Olto! I’ll leave it to you!”
“Mmm!”
He then proceeded to propagate the Lakeside Sequoia fruit. Despite the high rarity, the process wasn’t any different from propagating the peach. Even the sapling, which he planted next to the young green peach tree, looked almost identical.
“Hope it grows nice and tall!” I exclaimed hopefully, clapping my hands in prayer.
“Mm-mm!” Olto said, mimicking my movements.
“Right, guess I’ll log out now. Still, would be nice if Alyssa... Oh hey, she’s back on.”
Since I had information both to sell and buy, I figured I would head out, although I wasn’t sure if her shop would be open at this hour. I needn’t have worried, though, as Alyssa’s store was up and running, even at night. She truly was a shining example of a merchant. I seemed to have caught her at a busy moment, however, as she was in the middle of concocting something greenish when I arrived.
“Good evening,” I called out.
“Welcome. Gimme a sec, will you?” she replied, not taking her eyes off her concoction. I didn’t fault her for this, as any mistakes would result in a downgrade in quality. “Mind if I keep working?”
“Sure, as long as you’re okay to talk.”
“All right then. So, what brings you here? Do you come bearing some more exciting news?”
“Well, sort of... Anyway, check this out,” I said, showing Alyssa the screenshot of the Lakeside Sequoia fruit I had taken earlier.
“Oho.”
Although she had merely glanced at it, she seemed to know what it was.
“How’d you get that? It’s not supposed to be in season right now.”
“Not in season? So is it easy to get when it is in season?”
“The Lakeside Sequoia bears fruit every April. Apparently, NPCs harvest them, and for a short time during that month, you can buy an item called ‘Ripe Lakeside Tree Fruit’ from their shops. I’ve seen them before, since it was around March or April in-game when we had the beta test. I think they sold for 3,000 G apiece.”
“That means you can buy this fruit when it’s in season for a fairly reasonable price, right?”
“I’d say so, yeah.”
“Then I guess this ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.”
What a letdown. I’ll take premium fertilizer over some stupid fruit anytime, I grumbled inwardly. I had totally expected it to be something amazing, but it turned out it only had a high rating since it was a limited item.
“I expected way more from something with a rarity of eight...”
“Huh? What did you just say?”
“I said, it had a rarity of eight, so—”
“H-Hold up!”
Alyssa paused in the middle of mixing and gaped at me. I glanced at her mortar with concern, which was emitting a cloud of strange smoke. Ignoring it completely, she sprang to her feet and was by my side in no time.
“Sorry! I was wrong! C-Can I take another look at it?”
“S-Sure.”
I showed her a screenshot of the fruit’s appraisal results, and she stared at it, wide-eyed. As always, her eyes reminded me of a cat’s.
“Holy shit... This isn’t a lakeside tree fruit, but a Lakeside Sequoia fruit? And a rarity of eight at that... Wh-Where on earth did you get it?!”
“Well, I got it from the dryad enshrined in the underground altar.”
“Tell me more!”
It seemed like Alyssa didn’t know about the altar. Like the announcement hinted at earlier, I appeared to be the only one who’d managed to find it so far. It wasn’t as if it were impossible to find, though. The door was visible as long as you went under the bridge, and you could easily obtain the key, too, as long as you accepted the litter-picking quest.
Alyssa looked genuinely flabbergasted as I recounted my journey and showed her the conversation log between me and the dryad.
“That altar can only be entered on the first Thursday of April via the Adventurers’ Guild basement. On top of that, we don’t exactly know who’s allowed entry. Those who meet all the requirements will be granted a skill called ‘The Dryad’s Invitation’ for that day. Apparently, only players who possess that skill can enter the altar.”
That sounded extremely vague. I now knew, however, that being able to visit the place any time was a pretty big deal.
“Am I the first person to find the door?”
“I think so. First your Thou Shalt Not Kill title, and now this. I’m impressed. You must be blessed by the gaming gods.”
“I doubt it.”
If I really were blessed by the gods of this game, I’d be on the frontlines fighting S-ranked monsters about now.
“What are you going to do with that fruit?”
“Huh? Well actually, I’ve already propagated it and planted it on my farm.”
“Propagated it? Oh right, your gnome. Did you like, use up all your bonus points on him?”
Come to think of it, although I’d mentioned my tamed monster was a gnome, I hadn’t shown her Olto’s data yet.
“Here. These are his stats.”
“Let’s see. What the hell?! You’re joking! Not just Arboriculture, but an EX skill too?! Already?”
A look of astonishment spread across her face. She looked as shocked as she had when she first saw the data on the Lakeside Sequoia fruit.
“I did use all of my initial bonus points on him.”
“No wonder your potions are so high quality. Looks like you hit the jackpot with your gnome. Wasn’t expecting him to have an EX skill from the get-go.”
Olto’s abilities were apparently way more impressive than I thought. Hearing her praise him made me happier than actually receiving a compliment myself.
Having gotten over her shock, Alyssa now turned to me with a serious expression.
“Probably best if you keep his EX skill a secret, though,” she said.
“Oh? You think so?”
“Mhm. Some players might get jealous, and you don’t want to make waves unnecessarily, do you?”
The incident of being chased by dozens of players was still fresh in my mind. I didn’t want to attract any more unwanted attention, so I decided to heed Alyssa’s advice.
“Got it. My lips are sealed.”
“I have to say though, it’s just like you to propagate such a valuable item without a second thought.”
Oops. Should I have sold it instead?
“How much would it have fetched, by the way?”
“Good question... To be honest, I can’t really put a price tag on that at the moment. It’s too rare.”
“Really? That rare?”
“You kidding me? Of course. I could try to come up with a price for it, but... It would most likely be way beyond anything I could afford. If I’m being honest, I don’t think anyone can afford it at this stage in the game.”
So there was such a thing as being too rare. It was likely similar to one of those inestimable, national treasure-worthy vases you see on TV sometimes. You probably couldn’t even calculate a standard price for it.
I might have really jumped the gun this time. How could I possibly resist Olto’s puppy-eyes, though? I was more determined than ever now to take good care of the sapling.
“Seriously, though, all this excitement is bad for my heart. If this wasn’t a game, I might’ve had a real heart attack.”
“You’re being overdramatic.”
“Easy for you to say... Don’t give me that vapid look.”
Dang, and here I thought my avatar was supposed to be pretty handsome. Was I that obvious?
“You’re selling me this info, right?” she asked.
“Well, duh, I already told you everything.”
I didn’t see her point in asking after she had already heard all the details. However, I seemed to have misunderstood her.
“As part of our policy, we don’t sell information that we haven’t paid a fair price for. If you’re not keen on selling, I’ll keep this news to myself for a while,” Alyssa explained.
I guessed information dealers had their own set of morals. While that was good to know, it wasn’t something I was concerned about at this point.
“I’ll sell. That’s what I came here for anyway.”
“There are a few things I’d like to confirm. Mind taking me to the altar with you next Tree Day?”
“No problem.”
“In that case, how about I pay you 1,000 G up-front? Minimum 4,000 G if you take me to the altar.”
“What do you mean by minimum?”
Did that mean she was willing to pay more, depending on the circumstances?
“From what I could tell from your and the dryad’s convo log, I’m guessing the Lakeside Sequoia fruit was a special exclusive item you got for being the first player to make an offering.”
“Hmm, you do have a point.”
The dryad did say she was going to reward me handsomely.
“It really depends on what sort of items you can get from the altar,” Alyssa continued. “If other players like myself can also obtain a Lakeside Sequoia fruit with a rarity of eight, then I daresay this information’s worth at least a hundred thousand, perhaps even more. It all comes down to what I can confirm.”
So that’s what she meant.
“Gotcha. That’s fine by me,” I replied.
“Guess we have ourselves a deal then. This might not have anything to do with clearing the game, but it sounds like an interesting event. If it turns out that other people can visit the altar too, there’ll probably be an uproar.”
That was certainly a possibility. If I was in their shoes, I’d probably want to go too, even if it meant forking out a small fortune. I mean, a mysterious altar where a beautiful tree nymph resides? Who wouldn’t want to see that?
“I also have this,” I said, showing her the video I took to back up my claims.
“That a video of the dryad?”
“Yeah. I filmed her just in case.”
“Wow...” Alyssa sighed. “Are you going to post it online?”
“Dunno. To be honest, I’m more of a lurker than a poster...”
I’d heard countless stories of people not uploading these types of videos or posting things they discovered online, only to get bashed for withholding information. All things considered, it was probably in my best interest to make the video public, but...I’d never posted anything in an online forum before. Even posting in the in-game forum used exclusively by LJO players seemed like a huge step. Like I said, I was a dyed-in-the-wool lurker.
“In that case, why don’t you give it to me? I can post it for you on the Quick-Eared Cats’ website.”
“You will?”
“Yep. After all, one of our objectives is to gather any info that’s been kept secret and share it with the general public. Not all players withhold information for selfish reasons; some, like you, simply can’t be bothered or aren’t used to posting in forums.”
Basically, the process went something like this:
Step 1: Bring whatever news you want to sell to the Quick-Eared Cats.
Step 2: The Quick-Eared Cats buy your information.
Step 3: The Quick-Eared Cats publicize the information you sold them.
Step 4: Sit back and relax now that you’re freed from the hassle of having to share it yourself.
I had to admit, that was pretty convenient.
“I’ll leave it to you then.”
“Good. I’ll pay you 1,000 G for the video.”
“What? But you already paid me a thousand for the altar info.”
“It wouldn’t sit right with me to accept such a spectacular video for free. Besides, it’ll be great PR for our website.”
I supposed people who wanted to watch this video were likely to check out the Quick-Eared Cats’ website as well, so perhaps she had a point there. What a stroke of luck; I hadn’t been expecting to get any money for this information.
“Okay, if you insist.”
“That’s settled then. I’d like to know more about your title too. What was it called again? ‘The Dryad’s Blessing?’ Gimme the skinny.”
“Sure, I don’t mind.”
“Thank you! I’ll throw in another thousand.”
“Thanks. That’s not all, though... Why’re you looking at me like that?”
For some reason, Alyssa was giving me a reproachful stare.
“Just thinking about how nothing can possibly faze me anymore. What is it?”
“Do you know what these are?” I asked, showing her the elemental crystals I had obtained as a reward for my title. “Depending on what you can tell me about them, I’d like to buy that info.”
At the sight of them, Alyssa’s eyes widened in surprise. Wait, didn’t she just say nothing was going to shock her anymore?
“Those are attribute crystals! H-How did you get them?!”
“I got them as a reward for uncovering the altar.”
“Th-This is a huge deal, you know? They’re incredibly rare, even in Zone Three, and hardly anyone found them during the beta phase. I knew that you could get earth crystals from gnomes’ rare drops, but I’ve never seen the others.”
So these are the ultra-rare, one-in-a-million chance items!
“Do you intend on selling these? I’ll pay you 30,000 G per crystal.”
“Huh? You’re kidding, right?”
“Dead serious.”
“What?!”
That would mean a whopping 120,000 G if I sold them all. If I had that kind of money, I could do anything.
Not so fast, Yuto, calm down. If these items were that rare, there had to be other ways I could use them. Selling was easy enough: I could do that anytime. Better hold on to them for now rather than make rash decisions.
“Nah, I think I’ll hold on to them for the time being.”
“Too bad. If you do change your mind, though, you know where to come.”
Alyssa didn’t look that disappointed, however; she’d probably expected me to turn down her offer. Still, it was just like her to leave the door open.
“Of course, will do. How much do I owe you for the info on crystals?”
“Nothing. I’ve made quite a bit of money with your Thou Shalt Not Kill title, anyway.”
“Huh? You’re already selling info on that title? I thought you weren’t done verifying all the details yet.”
“That’s true, but it’ll take four days until I have all the results. That’s far too late. Most people will have made too much progress to redo their character build by then.”
That made sense. I’d obtained the zero-kills title on my fourth day in the game, so naturally, it’d take another four days to verify the facts. Eight days was more than enough time to make a fair amount of progress, which meant fewer players would opt to rebuild their character.
“Don’t worry, I make sure to add a little disclaimer when I sell it. I request 1,000 G up front, plus another 3,000 G if the player successfully obtains the title.”
“But how can you tell who’s who if they redo their character and create a new avatar?”
“Their ID remains the same even if their avatar changes. No one gets away without paying me... Mwa ha ha,” Alyssa chuckled. I silently vowed to never get on her bad side.
The day after my chance encounter with the Sequoia Dryad, I logged in to the game as usual and hurried to our farm.
In-game, the weather changed daily; it hadn’t been this sunny since the first day. Walking at a brisk pace, I looked up at the cloudless blue sky. Just then, I caught a glimpse of the Lakeside Sequoia in the east.
“...Hope my lakeside tree grows nice and tall too.”
Wait a second. It wasn’t going to grow that big, was it? I wouldn’t have enough space if it did, even if I bought all of the land in this area.
“Wh-Whatever, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”
I arrived at our farm slightly nervous and extremely hopeful about the future of our Lakeside Sequoia sapling.
“Morning, Olto.”
“Mm-mm!”
The first thing I noticed was a red, poisonous-looking mushroom sprouting from the mushroom log I set up the day before.
“Cool, looks like the red panther cap’s ready for harvest. There’s only one of them, though. Hey, Olto. Do we have to propagate this mushroom again in order to grow more?”
That would be a huge hassle if that were the case. However, Olto shook his head. It looked like the spores could be harvested a few times once you sprinkled them on the log. I guessed I’d just have to be patient.
I immediately got cracking on the tasks that had now become part of my daily routine: sowing seeds and crafting items. We also managed to harvest all-new crops—blue carrots, amber pumpkins, and the wild strawberries that I was asked to grow. Since each strawberry plant yielded one to three strawberries, I could technically complete my quest today if I wanted to. However, I decided not to deliver them yet, and grow some more to keep for myself.
From past experience, spinach had been a total letdown, but what about the blue carrots and amber pumpkins we harvested today? At the moment, my options were to either mix them into food rations or toss them together to make a salad. I supposed I could also deliver them to the guild. Hang on, I could probably complete a few Farming Guild quests now.
“Guess I’ll go to the Farming Guild today.”
As I was planning on selling Alyssa some of the things I made, I decided to stop by the guild as well. Might as well check out the other stalls too.
To tell the truth, I had been considering raising my Alchemy level. In the beginning, you could only perform Fuse with your Alchemy skill. This basically allowed you to take two items and turn them into one, which was a lot more complicated than it sounded.
First of all, Fuse only worked with specific combinations. Wrong combinations resulted in failure, and the ingredients you used would disappear. While you could improve an item’s quality by fusing two of the same thing, you’d need an awful lot of items to raise the quality significantly. The forums said that in order to raise your Alchemy level, it was best to buy a shit ton of poison hemlock and paralyzing plants and fuse as many as possible. Bring it on!
As always, the Farming Guild receptionist was an old man NPC. I felt sorry for all the Farmers out there.
“Here’s your reward, sonny.”
“Thanks.”
I had managed to complete a few quests at the Farming Guild. Although it wasn’t enough to level up, it was still important to increase my contribution points bit by bit and raise my guild rank, so that I’d be able to buy more seeds and seedlings. As the saying goes, success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.
I also asked the old man about weeds, but apparently,they weren’t considered real crops. Even encyclopedias listed them in the miscellaneous category.
“Right, let’s go shopping for ingredients next. First stop, Alyssa’s place.”
While she was well-known as an information broker, her shop wasn’t called an Everything Store for nothing. My plans changed abruptly when I stumbled upon an interesting stall on the way. Intrigued, I came to a halt in front of it.
“Is this a recipe?” I asked the shop owner, indicating a scroll. An array of unusual items were on display.
“Welcome to Sawyer’s Alchemy Shop!” he greeted. “You have good taste, mister. The ones down there are recipe scrolls for medicine.”
The shopkeeper was a young, blue-haired boy elf, roughly junior high school age in appearance. Considering how elves weren’t a race that drastically altered your real world appearance on selection, he had to be quite young in real life. That, or he was some kind of weirdo who’d opted for a childish look for other reasons.
Well, it was the summer holidays. It wouldn’t be surprising if students were playing too. His long elf ears were incredibly fitting for an RPG; just looking at them got me pumped.
“Crusher? Instant Killer? Sounds intimidating.”
Setting those aside, was there any point in creating recipe scrolls for things like potions, medicine, food rations, hunter potions, poison, and paralyzing potions? These were beginner recipes you could automatically obtain by learning skills.
“What’s the point of writing those recipes down? I doubt many people will buy them.”
“You’re right, they don’t. I only made them so I could level up my Alchemy and Writing skills. I’d be lucky if I can sell even one.”
“Writing skill?”
Never heard that one before. Obviously, I didn’t know every single skill in the game, but a writing skill? What did that do? From the looks of it, it seemed like you could make recipe scrolls, but I had assumed he’d made them with some kind of Alchemy art that I hadn’t learned yet.
“It’s a skill that allows you to write all sorts of things. At the moment, I can only create scrolls using paper I made with my Alchemy skill, but I figure I’ll be able to create spell books and grimoires eventually. My dream is to make a grimoire in this game...the kind I saw in a cartoon I watched when I was little,” he added sheepishly.
“I see.”
There really were all kinds of people in LJO. I didn’t know what spellbooks or grimoires did, but they sure sounded fascinating. Hope your dream comes true, buddy.
“That’s why I selected skills that I thought might come in handy—Writing, Alchemy, Concoct, Magic Circles, and Leather.”
“The first four make sense, but why Leather?”
“In the olden days, books used to be bound in leather, right?”
“Ah, right.”
His level of dedication was impressive. I sincerely hoped he’d reach his goals one day.
“Do let me know if you come across any useful tips.”
The hopeful look on Sawyer’s face reminded me so much of Olto; I supposed the innocent, boyish air they both had contributed to it too.
“Will do.”
“Thank you. Are you an Alchemist or Apothecary? Since you know about beginners’ recipes and stuff.”
“Nope. Just obtained Concoct and Alchemy skills, that’s all. You wouldn’t happen to have any poison hemlock or paralyzing plants, would you...? I need them for leveling up.”
“Sorry. I tend to use up my ingredients, so I don’t have enough left over to sell.”
A pity, but that was to be expected; he was an Alchemist, after all.
I then purchased the recipes for crushers and instant killers, and Sawyer gave me one of the extra crusher plants he had, despite it not being for sale. I was extremely grateful.
In order to create an instant killer, you needed four types of ingredients—poisonous, paralyzing, bleeding, and crushing. Thanks to Sawyer, I now had all four of them. Instant killers were a lethal potion that, when sprinkled on weapons, had a slight probability of killing your enemy with one blow for a certain duration. This was a great recipe to have, as it might actually give me a chance in a fight.
Crushers required three crusher plants to make. “Crushing”—i.e., dealing a heavy blow—was a special kind of status ailment that increased the amount of damage you dealt on your next attack. Although similar to Bleeding, the amount of damage the target took in one turn—while healable—was greater. Depending on how I used it, this could be highly effective in battle too. I made a mental note to grow and increase my supply of crusher plants soon.
“Hmm, what else...? Oh yeah, you don’t have any incubators, do you?” I asked hopefully. I had heard you could create them with Alchemy, but...
“Incubators? Sorry, I don’t.”
“Aw, too bad.”
“I’ll let you know once I’m able to make them, though!”
“Thanks, that’d be great. I’ll buy the recipe if you have one.”
“I know, why don’t we exchange friend codes then? We can swap info too. I don’t have many crafter-type friends yet...”
“I’m not actually a crafter, you know?” I said, despite having a higher Concoct skill than anything. Not very convincing.
“But you’re passionate enough about making things to buy recipes. Come ooon, please?”
The sly devil! A shiver ran down my spine as Sawyer’s innocent puppy-dog eyes locked on mine, and I found myself nodding.
“Sure, I’d love to.”
I could use a crafter-type friend or two. I didn’t sense any malice from Sawyer, and his grimoire project intrigued me. If I found anything useful, I’d be sure to let him know.
“All right, I’ll be going now,” I said.
“Okay. See you soon,” he replied, flashing me a brilliant smile as he waved me goodbye. Jeez, better keep away from anyone who seems a little too interested in little boys, buddy...
Unable to obtain the ingredients I wanted for leveling up at Sawyer’s shop, I decided to try my luck at Alyssa’s stall next.
“Hi, Alyssa,” I greeted her.
“Why, hello,” she replied.
First, I sold her the medicine and potions I’d made earlier that morning. I then used my earnings to purchase some water pumice, which turned out to be a lot cheaper than I’d thought. Thinking about it, it was an item you could find alongside the Western Forest’s riverbank, which was a place that most players could visit easily even if it was a suicide mission for me. I supposed it couldn’t really be all that rare of an item. That said, I was still floored at the discount she was giving me.
“People are obsessed with that video. The phone’s been ringing off the hook!” she crowed.
“That something to gloat about?”
“As an information broker, it can’t get any better than this.”
Apparently, that was the reason for the extra generous discount.
“Anyway, things should start calming down soon. I’ve been letting everyone know that we’re currently investigating the situation.”
“Hope so.”
After that, I bought some honey for Olto, along with thirty poison hemlock and paralyzing plants each, before leaving Alyssa’s store. Time to get crafting, baby! Upon returning to our farm, I handed Olto the plants I got from Sawyer’s shop. While he handled the farming, it was time for me to get cracking on some crafting!
“What should I start with...? Maybe I’ll try making some food. I’ve never made a salad before.”
Making a salad was ridiculously easy. All I had to do was chop the vegetables and infuse the cutting board with magic, and I was done. The next instant, the vegetables that had been strewn across the board were arranged neatly inside a wooden bowl. It didn’t get any easier than this.
“Can you really call this cooking? This is like playing house...” I muttered dubiously.
Proper cooking or not, the salad turned out to be highly useful; it was effective for recovering your MP, which was a godsend, since mana potions weren’t available in the Town of Beginnings yet.
After making a few more vegetable dishes, it was finally time for the process I’d been looking forward to the most, alchemy. I took out a brewing stand and placed it atop the table in the barn. It appeared as little more than a large, round serving tray, but it was a necessary item for conducting alchemical experiments.
“Okay, place two poison hemlock on the tray...”
Using the brewing stand was easy enough. I simply had to put the ingredients I wanted to synthesize on the tray, place my hand on the jewel-like object in the corner, and infuse it with magic.
I uttered the command “Fuse!” and used up one MP. The brewing stand glowed, and the two plants were fused together. While the result didn’t look any different from regular poison hemlock, the difference was apparent once I assessed it.
“Yep, now it has a two-star rating.”
I proceeded to fuse another pair of one-star poison hemlock into a two-star, and then continued fusing the rest of the plants in the same fashion. By the time I was done, the thirty plants had transformed into fifteen two-star poison hemlock, and my Alchemy level had increased to level 3. My base level and job level had also increased by one each, to level 5. So it was true that crafting items gained you XP.
“All right, so far, so good.”
Now to repeat the process with the two-stars. As with the first batch, I placed the plants on the brewing stand and infused them with magic. The tray glowed again, signaling that the process was complete. However, the quality of the poison hemlock on the stand remained the same. According to the forums, when fusing items of the same variety, it was necessary to add an item quantity equivalent to the square of that item’s current rating to the base item, in order to raise its quality. That meant that in order to improve this two-star item to three stars, I needed to add three more two-star poison hemlock. While my Appraisal skill couldn’t confirm the results, I was sure that the backend records would show the item being a fusion of two-star poison hemlock.
Fusing items with different ratings got even more complicated, so reading the forums didn’t do me much good there. Beats me why the Analysts’ Clan was so hell-bent on decoding that sort of stuff by themselves.
I continued fusing more items, and true to my calculations, I had produced a three-star poison hemlock by the time I’d fused in the fourth plant. Halfway through, I ate a salad in order to recover my almost depleted MP, finally turning fifteen two-star poison hemlock into three three-star specimens. Thank goodness I’d made that salad.
“Nice, all the way up to Alchemy level 7. Time to move on to the paralyzing plants.”
I single-mindedly fused item after item, briefly logging out at certain intervals. It was a lot of effort, but by the end of it, my Alchemy level had crossed the double-digit mark. I had never expected my Alchemy level to reach level 10 before my Monster Taming skill did. While I was making small daily improvements to them, my Monster Taming skill and Command ability were still at levels 6 and 4, respectively.
“What kind of Tamer am I...?”
I checked the new Alchemy skill that I had just obtained, starting to doubt my job class selection.
“I got a new art, just like the forums said. Drying, eh?”
I hadn’t imagined that you would need an Alchemy art just to dehydrate items. Turned out it wasn’t as simple as leaving things out to dry. I was still shocked that my little experiment with drying had ended in failure.
No, that wasn’t entirely right. It was important to come up with my own ideas and pursue various avenues. A true gamer should first experiment before consulting other sources. After all, it would be boring if you researched everything in advance, wouldn’t it?
Then why even bother with forums? Why not do everything yourself, you say? Come on, give me a break. Knowing everything might take the fun out of things, but not knowing anything at all was equally tough.
“Mm-mm?” Olto murmured curiously.
“My bad. No need to worry, Olto. Just having a little internal conflict, that’s all,” I reassured him.
Perhaps I could put my new Alchemy skill to use. Since I had planned on making some honey dumplings for Olto anyway, I tried drying the edible grass that was to be the base for them.
“Here goes... Dry!”
The effect was incredibly lackluster: the grass emitted a faint glow, and that was it. Regardless, my assessment told me that the clump had indeed transformed into dried edible grass.
“That means, if I mix this with honey...”
I ended up with a fairly high-quality, six-star honey dumpling. The experiment was a success. I wasn’t sure if the quality really mattered, though. After all, this was for Olto, and hunger status wasn’t an issue for him. Still, it wasn’t a bad idea to aim for higher-quality items, as it meant more XP and leveling up my skills faster.
Now that I had increased my skill level and unlocked several recipes, I had accomplished what I’d set out to do and then some.
“Hmm, what next?” I wondered. My Alchemy, Cooking, and Concoct skills had all reached level 10. The next thing I wanted to level up was my Farming skill, as that would unlock an art known as Selective Breeding at level 10. Selective breeding made it possible to create new types of crops by combining different crops and materials. Although the success rate was said to be quite low, I figured it was worth experimenting with.
“Might as well go find another weeding quest.”
That would allow me to level up my Farming skill and grant me a reward.
Online Forum [What’s New?] A Discussion Thread for Stuff That’s Been Newly Added to the Official Version
Don’t try to pass off unverified information as facts.
State the source of your information as clearly as possible.
Be courteous to one another.
116: Sakkyun
Is it true that there’s a mysterious spring in the Humming Forest at the end of the Eastern Plains? I used to go there a lot when I was a beta player, but I don’t remember there being one.
117: Shiro
Seems like it. Haven’t heard of any events or the like happening, though.
118: Sukegawa
There was a rumor that you could catch rare fish, so a player with Fishing skills apparently camped out at the spring for a whole day. The results were pitiful, though.
According to them, the fish weren’t that different from the ones you can find in the lake in the Town of Beginnings. If anything, they reeled in loads of trash fish.
I’d say you’re better off just fishing here.
119: Sakkyun
But there’s gotta be something, right...? Guess we’ll just have to wait ’til someone triggers an event.
120: Cerulean
I haven’t even gotten past the Eastern Plains yet since I’m a solo craftsloser.
121: Shiro
Struggling much? lol
122: Sakkyun
A solo crafter-type attempting the Eastern Plains, huh...? No kidding. You’ll probably need a base level of 7 at the very least, not to mention thorough prep.
123: Cerulean
Dammit, it’s all because I got tied up and was one day late to the party!
My race level is still at five. I can make my own potions, but trying to get all the right equipment is pretty expensive. When I said I’m a crafter, I actually meant I’m an Apothecary.
At this point, I’m seriously debating whether I should redo my character and get that new title everyone’s been talking about.
124: Shiro
By the way, I found a new section in the encyclopedia that wasn’t part of the beta. It’s labeled ‘Miscellaneous’ on the page about plants and fish. I can’t complete that section at all.
What the heck is it for? Have you filled out the ingredients page, considering you’re an Apothecary?
125: Cerulean
Not at all. Only medicinal herbs and poison hemlock so far.
126: Shiro
Figured as much.
127: Sakkyun
Guess we’ll just have to leave it to the verification team.
Besides, we still have a ways to go ‘til we fill out every single page in our encyclopedias.
128: Soldato
Hey, did y’all see the photo that was uploaded to the Quick-Eared Cats’ notice board?
129: Shiro
>123
You could try forming a temporary party with other solo crafter-types.
What photo? This isn’t about the Thou Shalt Not Kill title, is it?
130: Soldato
It’s an image of a super-hot, scantily clad dryad in a weird shrine somewhere.
Wonder where it was taken?
131: Sakkyun
Did someone say ‘super hot?’ brb
132: Shiro
‘Dryad?’ BRB
133: Sukegawa
‘Scantily clad?’ Be right back
134: Soldato
LMAO all y’all turned on by something different
135: Cerulean
I saw it. It was really pretty, wasn’t it?
Can’t tell where it’s taken, although I reckon it’s the dryad’s altar that was announced in-game the other day.
136: Soldato
Ditto. While I’d love to pay my respects to the dryad, I’ve no idea how to get there.
The Quick-Eared Cats simply mentioned that an investigation is currently underway. Maybe beta testers know something about it?
137: Sukegawa
I do.
138: Sakkyun
Me too. I’m still playing the clip, but this is the altar in the Town of Beginnings, isn’t it?
139: Shiro
Huh? The Town of Beginnings? Well, what’re we waiting for?!
140: Sukegawa
No can do. During the beta phase, the altar was only unlocked on the first Thursday of April. It wasn’t like anyone could enter either, and those that were allowed entry were chosen at random.
An additional skill called The Dryad’s Invitation was made available on the day the altar was unlocked. Only players who possessed that skill were granted entry from the Adventurers’ Guild’s basement.
I, for one, have never entered the altar. Loads of people have been looking for it since that announcement, but no one’s been successful so far.
141: Sakkyun
I visited the place during beta. You can receive a blessing if you make an offering to the dryad there—either an item or a skill if I remember correctly.
I got a recovery item called a ‘Sequoia Drop.’ Recovers 300 HP and MP, nullifies all status ailments, and restores hunger status to one hundred percent.
Hope they have it in the official version too!
142: Cerulean
Is that photo from the beta test, then?
143: Shiro
Don’t think so. The date said January 5th.
The person who found it must have given it to the Quick-Eared Cats.
144: Soldato
No shit. You’re saying someone somehow managed to find their way to that underground altar?
145: Sukegawa
Most likely.
146: Shiro
As a dryad fan, I’d give anything to go! But I’m not sure what to do.
147: Cerulean
If you can access the altar from the Adventurers’ Guild’s basement, then maybe there’s gonna be an event at the guild?
148: Sakkyun
That, or there’s some hidden entry point in the Lakeside Sequoia. It is a ginormous tree, after all. Wouldn’t be surprised if there was a cave or something at its roots.
149: Sukegawa
You know how there are a few restricted areas around the Lakeside Sequoia? Think they have anything to do with it?
I heard that you run into a keep-out zone if you try to climb the sequoia.
150: Soldato
I tried it myself and got blocked by an invisible wall after climbing for a while.
151: Sakkyun
Who knows? It’s like the symbol of this game, so it wouldn’t be weird if it eventually triggered some sort of event.
The Verification Clan made a list of quests that appear to be related to the Lakeside Sequoia, but they haven’t found one that seems to be the main trigger.
152: Sukegawa
As a matter of fact, we’ve got more errand-type quests now, although I doubt they have anything to do with the sequoia. They’re way too lousy.
153: Soldato
I still think the Lakeside Sequoia holds some kind of key, though.
154: Shiro
Thanks. I’ll go check out the tree.
155: Cerulean
Me too! I want the dryad to bless me!
What should I offer, though?
156: Sakkyun
Think I’ll do a little exploring myself.
***
The day after I planted the Lakeside Sequoia sapling, I logged in as usual and headed to our farm, only to be welcomed by a distressed Olto. He appeared flustered as he repeatedly tugged on my robes.
“Wh-What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Mm-mmm!” Olto moaned agitatedly. He was acting pretty weird, so I decided to follow him, and he led me to the Lakeside Sequoia we had planted the day before. He jumped up and down in front of the sapling, pointing at its leaves.
“Whoa, it’s already grown a little... The color’s kinda off, though.”
“Mm!”
The plant’s green leaves were dotted with purple spots. I glanced up at the Lakeside Sequoia in the east—obviously, no spots marred its leaves. Besides, Olto was frantic. Clearly, this couldn’t be a good sign. I assessed the sapling to see if I could find out what was wrong with it. Immediately, the words “Lakeside Sequoia Sapling (Phytoplasma Disease)” popped up.
“N-No way! It’s infected!”
“Mm!”
No wonder Olto was panicking! We’d propagated an ultra-rare item, only to find it on the verge of dying already!
“Wh-What should we do, Olto?!”
“Mmm...” He hung his head miserably in response. It seemed like there was nothing he could do about it.
“You don’t know either, eh?”
“Mm.”
“No need to look so glum.”
Having said that, we needed to do something about this situation, pronto.
“...Better head to Alyssa’s—no, the Farming Guild’s closer.”
First stop, the Farming Guild. If I couldn’t get any information there, then I’d try Alyssa’s place.
“See you in a bit!”
“Mm!” Olto waved me off as I dashed out of the farm, raced through town, and burst into the Farming Guild. “E-Excuse me!” I gasped, panting.
“Why, hullo. What’s up?” the old man at the Farming Guild greeted me. I thought I’d gotten the short end of the stick after meeting the beauties at the Magical Beasts Guild, but I had to say, there was something extremely reassuring about old geezers! I’ll never complain about you again, Gramps!
“Thing is, one of my plants on my farm seems to be sick... Here, take a look at this!” I said, showing the old man the sapling’s data.
“Hmm, let’s see. That a Lakeside Sequoia sapling ya’ve got? That’s a rare one!”
“Looks like it got infected, though.”
“Uh-huh. Judging from the color of the leaves, it’s got phytoplasma disease...”
The old man’s expression quickly changed from one of surprise to concern. It seemed like it wasn’t an easily curable disease.
“There any way I can heal it?”
“Hmm... Well, I’ve heard good things about ya from the other townsfolk, so I s’pose it wouldn’t hurt to tell ya.”
All right! All was not lost!
“The Lakeside Sequoia, the symbol of this town, grants us three benefits,” the old man began. Oh boy, I thought. It was probably best to pay attention, however, as there was bound to be something important somewhere in this lecture.
“The first benefit is its fruit. The tree’s fruit provides divine protection to those who eat it.”
It did say it boosted your resistance to status ailments. Made sense.
“The second benefit is its leaves. The leaves closest to the canopy possess great potential for growth.”
I supposed that meant the leaves at the top had special powers.
“Lastly, the water that has been purified by the Lakeside Sequoia over a long period of time gives life to this town and possesses healing properties. This water is said to cure living beings’ wounds and maladies instantly.”
“You’re talking about the water that runs in the lake and canals, right?”
Would that water help cure my sapling’s disease?
“Actually, no. Although that water has indeed been filtered through the Lakeside Sequoia, it’s just regular water. What ya need is special water that’s stored inside the tree.”
Oh well, I figured that’d be the case.
“How can I get it?”
“You’ll need a special tool.”
“Tool?”
“Yep. It’s a long-lost ceremonial implement called ‘The Chalice of Hope.’ In the past, the Sequoia Dryad used to share the healing water with the townsfolk who prayed to it.”
Long-lost? Used to? So where was it now? Also, he mentioned the townsfolk—would I be able to use it too?
I pressed the old man for further details, but it seemed like he didn’t know its current whereabouts either. Apparently, there used to be a shrine at the foot of the Lakeside Sequoia, where the ceremonial tool was kept.
“The chalice lost its powers after the dryad disappeared, and people eventually forgot about the shrine too. It should have regained its powers now that the dryad has awakened and begun appearing again, though.”
“What shrine...? I feel like I would’ve noticed something like that...”
People would probably be buzzing if there was something as conspicuous as a shrine at the foot of the Lakeside Sequoia, but I’d never heard any rumors of the sort.
“The shrine fell into ruin and vanished ages ago. No idea where the chalice went either... I can tell ya one thing, though: I bet it’s still somewhere near the sequoia. It ain’t something you can carry around.”
“So it’s pretty big, then?”
“Yep. It’s carved outta a large rock and taller than the average person.”
That definitely sounded like a hassle to carry. Still, even with the shrine gone, a large stone goblet ought to stick out like a sore thumb. Perhaps I could find something about it in one of the forums.
“One more thing. You said the townsfolk can get this healing water if they pray to the chalice. I’m not from here, though.”
“Doesn’t matter. We see what ya do for this town on the daily. You’re as good as one of us now.”
I wasn’t quite sure if that added up, but I didn’t see any reason to argue with him.
“Okay, I’ll look for the chalice,” I told the old man.
“Better hurry. You’ll be lucky if your plant lasts another day.”
“G-Got it.”
That meant I had until the end of today to find this tool...!
I raced back to our farm as frantically as I had run to the guild.
“Olto! I found out how to save our sapling!” I panted.
“Mm!”
“I need your help, bud!”
“Mm-mm!” Olto exclaimed, flexing his arm muscles in a reassuring manner.
“Let’s go!”
“Mmm!”
I gave Olto a brief summary of the situation as we sped towards the foot of the Lakeside Sequoia.
“...Like I said, there’s supposed to be a huge stone goblet lying around somewhere near the tree. That’s what we’re looking for,” I explained.
“Mm!” He nodded.
On the way, I searched the forums for information regarding the chalice. There was no shortage of rumors about the Lakeside Sequoia since it stood out so much. Many people were also hard at work trying to prove various hypotheses.
“Mm.”
“Mmm.”
“Mm-mm.”
Olto took me by the hand and expertly weaved our way in and out of people. Man, he really was one talented gnome. This allowed me to focus more of my attention on checking the forums.
“Hmm, don’t see anything particularly standout.”
I scoured the various threads, but found nothing regarding the shrine or chalice. How could that be? This was proving to be more challenging than I thought...
“I got nothing...”
“Mmm...”
Although we had begun our search in earnest after arriving at the foot of the Lakeside Sequoia, three hours later we were yet unable to find any trace of the shrine. Obviously, the same went for the large stone chalice.
We walked around the area in search of the shrine, peering between roots thicker than barrels and occasionally brushing aside thickets of grass. The shrine ought to have been a considerable size, given that it had once stored such a large goblet. Even if the structure had rotted away, there had to be some kind of debris left.
Unfortunately, not a single nail turned up, let alone scraps of wood. We were probably working with too wide of a search area. The tree was only about forty to fifty meters wide in diameter, but the thick, immovable tree roots were spread out over an even wider space, intricately entwined with one another. The area they covered was about as wide as the grounds of my former junior high school—roughly three hundred meters. In terms of their shape, it was easiest to picture an enormous mangrove. It took a considerable amount of time just to walk along the outer edge of the tree.
“All that’s left now is the lake...”
Diving into the lake was out of the question. Besides, this lake had existed since the olden days; I doubted people would build a shrine underwater.
“Hold on, let’s think harder about this.”
Use your imagination, I told myself. Once upon a time, there used to be a shrine at the foot of the Lakeside Sequoia. However, over time, the shrine had vanished, and the stone chalice inside along with it. Now, where could it have gone to? Perhaps it was underground now. Or—I thought, having a realization—the tree roots might have swallowed it up when they grew bigger. While I sincerely doubted I could do anything if the chalice was inside the ground or lake, finding it didn’t seem impossible if it were trapped between the roots.
“All right, let’s focus on the roots this time!”
“Mm!”
Olto and I resumed our quest, carefully looking over the areas we’d already searched. We eavesdropped on countless other players who were exploring the areas surrounding the Lakeside Sequoia, but none of their information seemed useful to us.
“Hmm...”
“Mmm.”
“If only we can find some kind of trace...”
“Mmm.”
I paused and bent backwards, extending my spine. It wasn’t as if my back actually hurt since this was a game, but still. Old habits die hard.
“Hm? What about above...?” I thought, looking upwards. “Could it be up the tree?”
Who knew? The chalice might have been swept up by the growing sequoia. In my hometown, there had been a strange spot where you could see a scrapped car that had gotten stuck between the growing branches of a tree, suspended in midair. A tree of this size would have no problems lifting up a large rock.
“Well, better than searching the lake, I guess... Olto, we’ve gotta find a way up this tree!”
“Mm-mm!”
I looked up at the tree and made several discoveries.
“If we can reach those vines...”
“Mmm.”
“We can climb along the roots and hoist ourselves up.”
“Mm?”
“You’re right. The question is, how’re we gonna get from there to the vines higher up?”
“Mmm.”
“Whatever, let’s get climbing.”
“Mm-mm!”
I could see some fairly long and sturdy-looking vines dangling halfway up the tree trunk. It looked like we could climb pretty high if we used them, but they were quite a distance from where we currently were.
Struggling with the tangled obstacle course of giant roots, the two of us slowly made our way upwards. Though tiring, it was also kind of fun. It was exactly like one of those RPG routes where you traveled up the base of some kind of massive world tree—any fantasy lover would be ecstatic. I mostly had Olto to thank, though, since he was stronger and more agile than me, petite enough to squeeze through the smaller gaps.
“Mm-mm!”
“Th-Thanks, Olto.”
Olto gave me a hand, hoisting me up now and then, and with great difficulty we managed to clamber up the Lakeside Sequoia.
“Whoa, check out the view.”
“Mm!”
We had climbed a considerable height now, perhaps around halfway up the roots. Although we couldn’t see the whole city yet, we had a pretty decent view of the Town of Beginnings.
“Shall we take a short break?” I suggested.
“Mm,” Olto replied.
Exhausted from the climb, Olto and I decided to stop for a short rest. We sat down on a tree root, and I sipped on some water as Olto munched on a honey dumpling. Climbing up humongous tree roots and sitting side by side with my gnome, marveling at the surreal townscape below, was something I could never experience in real life.
“Feels great, doesn’t it?” I sighed, drinking in the view. I closed my eyes every now and then as a pleasant breeze blew our way.
“Mmm,” Olto murmured in agreement.
As the two of us sat sunbathing, a voice suddenly came from behind.
“Excuse me.”
“Yes?”
It appeared that we were blocking the path and preventing others from going through. As it turned out, we weren’t the only ones climbing the roots. Judging from the number of players we passed by on our way here, it seemed we weren’t the only ones who’d had this idea.
“S-Sorry,” I apologized.
“Not at all, sorry for interrupting your break.”
Thank goodness this person was nice—I couldn’t help but assume that every person I met was secretly making fun of me. Some of the players I had passed by earlier had taken one look at me and started whispering amongst themselves.
“Are you planning on climbing to the top?” he asked.
“Yeah?”
“You know it’s a no-entry zone, right? It’s a dead end up there.”
“Huh? It is?”
According to this guy, there was an invisible wall a little ways up that prevented you from going any further. That itself seemed to be a well-known fact; he had simply come up to see if he could trigger an event. Unfortunately, I appeared to have missed the memo in my forum searches, since I’d mainly been focused on the shrine and chalice.
“Didn’t know that... I’ve made it this far, though, so I might as well keep going.”
“Well, the view is pretty nice up there. Cheers, I’m rooting for you!”
“Say what?”
“Like I said. Best get going now. Seriously, good luck!” the man turned around and hollered before climbing down the roots. What did he mean, he was rooting for me? We’d only just met.
“I guess he was just encouraging me.”
“Mm?”
“He said it was a dead end, but should we at least see how far we can go?”
“Mm!”
Besides, an aerial view might give me a better hint, I thought as we resumed climbing. Unfortunately, however, it was getting more and more difficult to climb. There were fewer footholds at this height, and the occasional breeze, which had been so gratifying not too long ago, now made the roots underfoot quiver threateningly. Worst of all were the narrow passages that we had to cross as though walking on a tightrope.
“D’aaaah! This is scary as hell!”
“Mm!”
“D-Don’t let go of me, Olto!”
“Mm.”
Couldn’t have asked for a more reliable companion than Olto, I thought for what must be the hundredth time since we began climbing. He crossed a passage first, held out his hand towards me, then pulled, and I managed to get to the other side safely.
“W-We did it!”
“Mm-mm.”
As I toppled to the ground in relief, Olto caught me up in his arms. What a man!
“Phew... Would’ve been a goner if I fell.”
We were pretty high up by now. Although it wouldn’t be painful, it would still be terrifying to fall from this height, not to mention that with my next death I’d start incurring penalties. It would be nice to avoid plummeting to my doom, if possible.
After an hour or so of climbing, we finally reached the top of the roots. However, there was no way to go further up.
“I wanna keep going, though...”
“Mmm...”
The vines, which I’d thought we could use to clamber up when we were at the bottom, in fact appeared to be another ten-odd meters above. So near, and yet so far...
“There are a few other creepers here, but they’re really thin... Think they’ll hold us?”
Unlike the super-thick, rope-like vines above us, the creepers nearby were as thin as strings. It didn’t look like they would support our weight at all.
“But maybe we can hold on to them while we use the grooves to climb... Whoa!”
I had reached out to grab one of the vines, thinking we could try wood climbing (not rock climbing), only to have my hand, and eventually, my whole arm, get stuck in the Lakeside Sequoia trunk. Olto quickly grabbed me as the tree threatened to swallow me up whole.
“Mm!” Olto yelped as he frantically pulled at me.
“I-It’s okay, buddy.”
“Mm?”
“Look, not a scratch. This thing is pretty deep, though.”
Upon pushing aside the creepers, I discovered a hula-hoop-sized hole that had been hidden behind them. I stuck my head inside—the hole appeared to contain a passageway.
“Mm-mm?”
Olto stuck his head in as well and peered inside the cave.
“Well this probably goes somewhere, right?”
“Mm!”
We hadn’t yet reached the no-entry zone the guy had told us about, so this shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise. It was careless of me to assume there wouldn’t be something like this.
“All right, let’s go, Olto!”
“Mmm!”
Although it was quite dark inside the cave, that didn’t seem to bother Olto, who possessed Night Vision.
“Mm-mm-mm-mm,” Olto hummed, leading the way confidently. Despite the darkness, it wasn’t creepy like the tunnel underground, perhaps owing to the fact that the inside of the tree radiated natural warmth. It was a winding, sloping path, but a singular one, not forking in any direction. We continued to walk along it.
“Look, there’s light!” I exclaimed.
“Mm!”
We emerged to an expanse of green. I looked down and saw the entrance of the cave below us.
“Looks like we’re right next to those thick vines!”
“Mm!”
The green wall that greeted us was actually the outside of the Lakeside Sequoia trunk, covered in thick vines. The path had been a circuitous one, but it seemed like we’d gone around in a loop within.
“Cool, we can start climbing again.”
“Mmm!”
However, climbing the vines proved to be quite difficult. Even though the creepers and leaves were thick and sturdy, providing plenty of footholds, they were still fairly unstable. Every time there was a breeze, the vines swayed dangerously, causing me to pause.
“Y-You sure make it look easy, Olto.”
“Mm?” Olto, who was climbing the vine next to mine, looked at me curiously. He had been right above me until a moment ago, but had now slid down, so we were lined up beside each other. He jumped from vine to vine like some sort of monkey, climbing up and down them. After a while, he seemed to tire of playing and slowly made his way up the vine next to me.
“Mm-mm!”
I supposed he was trying to cheer me on, but I wished he wouldn’t move around so much. I could feel the vines shaking all the way over here.
Finally, Olto helped me up, having reached the top first. I grabbed his outstretched hand, and he grasped it firmly and hoisted me the rest of the way.
“Mm-mmm...!” Olto cried.
“...the powerrr!” I yelled almost reflexively. Wait, since when did Olto know about those kinds of memes?
I somehow managed to climb up the vine, helped (and occasionally hindered) by Olto along the way. He did pull me up in the end, but I was still doing most of the climbing myself.
“Phew... Finally...” I gasped. I hadn’t been this active since I played on the obstacle course at an adventure park as a kid.
“This may be a game, but it sure feels nice to get in a bit of exercise,” I sighed contentedly. Too bad it had zero effect on my body in real life, though. This could be a serious problem for humankind in the future; i.e., being tricked into thinking you’d actually been moving your body after exercising in virtual reality and gaining weight as a result...
“Mm?”
“Nothing, sorry. Anyway, where are we...?”
At the top of the vines was a peculiar plaza, no larger than a small bedroom. There appeared to be a slight dent in the trunk of the Lakeside Sequoia trunk, in which a large object was buried—it probably got caught in the branches or something during the tree’s growth process and got swept up all the way here. The object was completely buried in the ground of the square, and had now become a part of the tree.
“Looks like it’s made out of stone.”
“Mmm.”
“Hm? Stone?”
Could it be...? I wondered, quickly rounding the object. It was shaped like a trophy, albeit a slightly crooked one, with a shallow, wide-rimmed cup. It even had a large handle on each side, and there was a white event marker clearly visible above it.
“This is it...! We found it, Olto!”
“Mm-mm!”
“What now, though...?” I pondered, touching the chalice. The next instant, it emitted a brief but powerful glow, followed by a Ding! and an announcement.
“Huh?”
“Mmm?”
“You have met the necessary requirements for using the Chalice of Hope. Would you like to use it?”
I had no idea there were conditions for using this thing, but apparently I’d fulfilled them. Why wasn’t this chalice more widely known, though? Since there hadn’t been any no-entry zones on the way here, other players should have come across this place too. Or could it be that the marker only popped up if you triggered an event like I did? Although that did seem likely, it still didn’t explain why I hadn’t heard even the vaguest rumor anywhere...
“Eh, who knows.”
There was no point thinking about it, seeing as I was just a casual player. My top priority at the moment was obtaining this so-called healing water.
I opened my status window and selected Yes; the next instant, the Chalice of Hope glowed once more.
“Are you the one who offered a prayer to the chalice in hopes of being healed?” asked a familiar figure with emerald-green hair and a gentle smile, rising gently from the cup. “Wait, I know you... We met at the altar, did we not?” she asked.
“We did,” I replied. The figure was none other than the Sequoia Dryad from the underground altar.
“You seem to have earned a great deal of trust from the townspeople, which makes you more than worthy of seeking my assistance. Now then, my child, what brings you here, pray tell?”
Huh? Did I really have to explain why? I feared she would get mad if she knew that I had not only propagated her gift, but let it get infected on top of that. However, I definitely wouldn’t be getting any healing water if I lied and she found out about it. Being honest with her was probably for the best.
“To tell you the truth, I propagated the fruit you gave me and planted it on my farm, but it got infected.”
“I see. I appreciate you seeking help for my progeny. Yes, the Healing Drop is a miraculous substance capable of curing all diseases. You could very well use it to cure any injury or affliction instantly. Are you sure you would like to use such a powerful item on a mere plant? Think carefully: you can only use this chalice once in your lifetime.”
Cures all diseases? What was it, some kind of elixir? In that case, it was bound to be incredibly rare. Not to mention I only had one shot...
“...I’m sure. I’ll use it to heal my sick plant.”
A noob like me had no use for elixirs, given that Medicine was enough to almost fully restore my HP. Besides, I usually completed games without ever touching any rare potions or tinctures—I couldn’t remember ever using an Eggdrasil Leaf or Jumbolixir—mostly because I tended to hoard them and miss any opportunity to use them. I doubted it’d be any different in LJO. Better to use items while I can, I figured.
“Very well. I shall bestow this item upon you.”
The dryad’s hands glowed, and a new item was added to my inventory.
Name: Sequoia Healing Drop
Rarity: 8 / Quality: 10★
Effect: Fully restores user’s HP and MP and cures all status ailments and illnesses. Can’t be sold or given away.
Talk about a super-rare item! I couldn’t sell or give it away, however, which meant I had to keep my promise.
“Th-Thanks so much!”
“May you always be kind and helpful to others.”
“I will.”
“I wish you all the best on your journey.” The dryad smiled at me before vanishing into thin air. There was the recovery item in my inventory, though, clear as day.
“Man, we really hit the jackpot!”
“Mm!”
Olto was jumping up and down in joy. Thinking about it now, he had been unusually quiet around the dryad. Had he been nervous?
“Mm?” He looked at me inquiringly. He was always such a little rascal when he was with me, did that mean he didn’t respect me? ...Nah, it had to be a sign of trust.
“Let’s go back to our farm, shall we?”
“Mmm!”
Ah. I should’ve taken a screenshot.
Getting back to the farm was a rough ordeal, and I thought I was a goner several times on the way home. Sure, I had no one to blame but myself for not grabbing the vines properly and nearly losing my footing, but climbing down turned out to be way harder than going up. Lesson learned.
“Made it back in one piece...”
At least I could heal my plant now. Olto and I headed to where the sapling was planted, ready to put the dryad’s Sequoia Healing Drop to use right away.
“Let’s go!”
“Mm-mm!”
I pressed a few buttons and applied the item to the Lakeside Sequoia sapling. The plant immediately began glowing, and...
“Huh?”
“Mm?”
That was it? I’d been hoping for some sort of dramatic sparkly effect, but all I got was a faint glow.
“...It did work, right?”
Thankfully, the purple spots on the sapling’s leaves had disappeared without a trace, and the words “Phytoplasma Disease” no longer appeared. It looked like the Healing Drop had indeed cured the plant.
All that work for this? Come on, devs, you could’ve come up with something more exciting!
“Mm-mm! Mmm!” Olto did a cute little jig around the sapling, evidently pleased that it was free from disease.
“Well, so long as Olto’s happy.”
My precious Lakeside Sequoia plant was cured. It was time to rejoice.