Chapter 15
Veteran Elven Ranger
Date : Unknown (36th day of the Journey)
The trees and undergrowth still gave them natural obstacle. But Elise moved through it all without slowing. Hyoren followed in her footsteps.
The encounters came frequently. But as their coordination got better, the encounters became culling.
They continued walking. Not long after, she stopped.
"Another patrol."
She drew an arrow.
"Similar composition as before. Eight goblins."
Hyoren didn't wait for a signal. He was already charging.
"Piercing Thrust."
He closed the distance. His spear found a Fighter's heart. An arrow flew past him, striking a normal goblin in the chest.
The patrol was killed in seconds and then they moved on.
The pattern repeated itself as they traveled. Elise would spot the enemy first. She would signal. They would strike together—her arrows from a distance, his spear up close.
No words were needed. Hyoren learned to check her position before committing to a charge. He learned to watch her bow, to see where she was aiming, to attack the opposite flank.
It wasn't perfect. There were close calls—an arrow that passed too close to his shoulder, a goblin that nearly flanked him while he was focused on another. But he adapted.
And as they walked, Hyoren noticed something else.
Elise's shoulders were less tense.
The rigid wariness that had defined her posture was slowly easing. She still scanned the forest ahead. She still kept her bow close. But she glanced back less often.
In the beginning, she had checked on him constantly. Making sure he was following. Making sure he wasn't a burden. Now, she trusted him to keep up.
The silence between them stretched on. But it wasn't uncomfortable.
Hyoren found himself relaxing as well.
For the first time in thirty-six days, he wasn't alone. He had someone watching his back. Someone fighting beside him. Someone who knew this world, knew its dangers, knew how to survive.
Even if she barely spoke. Even if she kept her distance. Even if she still regarded him with guarded eyes.
It was enough.
He gripped his spear and followed her deeper into the forest.
***
At midday, they found a small spring lake.
The water shimmered blue, fed by an underground source that bubbled up from somewhere deep beneath the earth. It flowed outward, joining the river Hyoren had been following for days. The air around the lake was full of energy. Magic.
His eyes scanned the clearing. Near the water's edge, two flowers grew. Large blooms, a meter tall, with blue petals that seemed to glow faintly. Their cores pulsed with a slow rhythm, releasing pollen into the air.
And around them—dragonfly-like creatures, about half a meter long—hovered. Their signature sharp and transparent wings, and needle-like bodies with metallic sheen.
He knew this combination. He'd encountered it before, south of his cave. The flower that released sleeping and hallucinogenic pollen. The insects that guarded it. The symbiotic trap.
The goblins seemed to avoid this area. Just the flowers. And the insects.
Elise stopped at the edge of the clearing. She leaned her body against an ironwood tree, her eyes scanning the clearing, small smile appeared on her lips.
Hyoren quickly followed her, and peeked through the undergrowth.
“Oh… This kind of lake. And the flower which release pollen.”
He recalled his earlier encounter—month of preparation. An enemy had become his benchmark. Ready or not for him to start his journey
“It’s dangerous. It almost take my all to kill one.”
He looked at Elise.
"We should avoid it, right?"
Elise turned to face him.
Her expression was disbelief. Her eyebrows rose. Her lips pressed together.
Then she sighed.
"Avoiding this?" She gestured at the clearing. "Avoiding a treasure trove?"
It was Hyoren's turn to be surprised.
"Treasure trove?"
Elise's wariness seemed to melt away for a moments.
"Dreambloom is a rare monster plant."
She pointed at the blue flowers.
"Sure, they're troublesome if you don't know how to deal with them. But the pollen is easy to avoid if you can read the wind."
She demonstrated, raising a finger to the air.
"The wind is blowing away from us right now. So the pollen won't reach us. And even if it did, you can simply throw your spear at its core from a distance. The core is really weak."
She turned her attention to the hovering insects.
"And the Mistdarts around it. They're also not dangerous if you deal with the flower first. Without the Dreambloom to protect them, they're just pushover"
He looked at the monsters in a new light.
"Dreambloom… Mistdart… So that's what they're called. And it's that easy to deal with them?"
Elise nodded.
"Dreambloom nectar is a material for making stamina enhancement potions, even on its raw state, it’s already potent enough. Very valuable. And the pollen sacs can be used to lace weapons, giving them a debuff effect on enemies.”
She touched her quiver.
“Mistdart parts are also useful for crafting arrows. Their wings and needles are prized by rangers."
She smiled slightly—just split seconds smile which gone as fast as it appear—the first real expression he'd seen on her face.
“Just watch me.”
She nocked an arrow to her bowstring. She drew back and aimed at the nearest Dreambloom, calculating the distance.
The Mistdarts around it continued their hovering, unaware of the threat.
“Charge Arrow.”
She activated another skill. Her arrow tip glowing. And when she released, it shot forward like a laser—far faster than her normal shots, faster even than her Double Shot skill. It was similar speed to his Piercing Thrust Skill.
The arrow struck the Dreambloom's core dead center.
The flower wilted instantly. Its petals collapsed. The pulsing rhythm stopped. The pollen mist disappeared.
The Mistdarts reacted immediately. They abandoned their hovering and buzzed toward the source of the attack.
But Elise was ready.
She nocked two arrows.
“Double Shot.”
The arrows flew at exact same time and met their marks. Two Mistdarts dropped from the air. She released another arrow. The last Mistdart fell. Four creatures dead in seconds.
She turned her attention to the second Dreambloom across the clearing.
"Charge Arrow."
The glowing arrow shot forward. The flower withered. The Mistdarts around it rose in alarm.
"Double Shot."
Two fell. A third arrow. The last one dropped.
The clearing fell silent. Elise lowered her bow.
"See?"
She glanced at him.
"This is how you dealing with these…”
One corner of her lips rose slightly.
“Dangerous monster."
Hyoren stared at the fallen creatures. Her smug smile didn’t bother him in the slightness. It just made him realize he still don’t know anything about this new world even if he already discover some thing.
He'd nearly died to a single Dreambloom and its Mistdart guardians. He needed to make sure he reached level 5. Preparing primitive mask. Strategizing. Using all his power. And she'd just cleared two of them in under a minute.
***
Elise reached the corpse of the nearest flower.
Hyoren followed close behind, watching her every movement.
She knelt beside the withered Dreambloom and pulled an empty potion bottle from her bag—the same one she'd given him earlier and then picked up. She scooped the nectar from the hollow area around the core, careful not to spill a drop.
One flower filled one bottle completely. Only a small amount remained in the hollow.
"This nectar is valuable."
She held up the bottle, examining the yellow liquid.
"You can use it as is to boost your capabilities slightly. Enhances strength, speed, stamina."
She set the bottle aside and moved to the flower's core. Her fingers found the magic stone embedded within and extracted it with practiced ease. Then she turned her attention to the pollen sacs—small structure near the base of the petals.
She harvested them carefully, wrapping each one in the wide petal to prevent accidental release.
She checked the yellow liquid in the bottle one more time. Satisfied, she tucked it into her bag.
"But the real value is when you sell this to an alchemist in town."
She stood, brushing dirt from her green leather stockings.
"They can make potent buffing potions from this. Ones that last longer and have stronger effects than the raw nectar."
Hyoren reached for his waterskin and held it out to her. He showed her the contents.
"Yes. This is the trump card I spoke of before. The thing that helped me deal with those goblins."
Elise looked at the waterskin. The golden liquid inside caught the light. She understood now why he'd been able to fight the warband.
She nodded slowly.
"I see. You've been resourceful."
There was a hint of respect in her voice. Grudging, perhaps, but genuine.
She moved toward the fallen Mistdarts. Their metallic bodies lay scattered across the grass.
She knelt beside the nearest one and began to work. She stood, then examined the harvested parts—the sharp and transparent wing, and the needle-like proboscis.
"Good. Now I can refill my stock of arrows. Won't need to worry about running out."
She smiled slightly—a small, but satisfied expression.
"I was trying to keep retrieving my arrows, but some are bound to break from use. These parts will let me craft new ones."
She gathered the materials and sorted them into her bag.
"The only material left I need is ironwood branches… Those are plentiful. And material to secure everything together."
She scanned the clearing. Her eyes moved across the grass, the undergrowth, the edge of the trees.
Then they locked on something.
"Tangler resin and vines fiber."
She turned to Hyoren and pointed in the direction she'd been looking.
"Hey. You."
Her voice was sharper now.
"Can you defeat that Tangler for me? While I harvest the rest of these materials?"
Hyoren tilted his head.
"Tanglers? What are those?"
Elise's expression shifted. Disbelief. Exasperation. She shook her head slowly. Then she sharply pointed at the undergrowth on tree edges.
"That plant monster. The one with the shrub and seed cores. The one with three vines. The one that grabs things and strangles them!"
She sighed. Then she pointed at his bag. At his makeshift spear.
"I saw you use rope made from their vine fiber."
She paused. Her gaze moved to his waterskin.
"And that. It's definitely secured and laced with their resin."
Her shoulders slumped. The small smile vanished.
"Did you seriously not know what they were called?"
Hyoren blinked. He looked at his makeshift spear. The binding that held the steel dagger to the shaft. The creeping vines rope he'd used to secure it.
He looked at his waterskin. The resin he'd used to waterproof it. All of it had come from the plant monsters he'd been killing for materials.
"I just... called them plant monsters in my head. I didn't know they had a name."
Elise crouched back down beside the remaining Mistdarts.
"Now go," her voice was flat.
"Before I lose my patience."
Hyoren didn't need to be told twice. He headed in the direction she'd pointed. The undergrowth grew thicker as he walked.
But then he saw it. Hidden within the normal vegetation, an unnaturally frozen shrub. Its leaves were more vibrant than the surrounding plants—a deeper green. And from the shrub core, thick vines resting, hiding on leaves and grass
A Tangler.
"So this is called a Tangler."
He studied the creature from a safe distance.
"Makes sense. It defeats enemies by tangling them, then eating them after they're strangled. So the native of this world just named them... Tanglers. Simple. But effective naming."
A small smile tugged at his lips. He was learning. Learning the names of things. Learning from someone who actually knew. It made him happy.
He approached the Tangler carefully. He knew the pattern now. The ambush. The strike. The weak point. He dispatched it quickly. His spear pierced the core before it could react.
He harvested the materials with practiced hands. The core seed, which contained the resin. The long vines, useful for binding. He wrapped the seed core in waxy leaves to keep the resin contained. Then he returned to Elise.
She was already finished. The Dreambloom materials were stored in her bag. The Mistdart parts were sorted and secured. She stood by the edge of the clearing, waiting.
He held out his harvest.
"Here, Elise. Tangler resin and vines."
She examined the materials. Noted how he'd wrapped the seed core. How he'd bundled the vines. How he'd handled everything with care. She nodded.
Her smile hadn't returned yet. But at least her eyebrows weren't furrowed anymore. She then took the materials from him.
"Good…. At least you know how to handle the materials properly."
She packed everything into her bag. Her movements were efficient and practiced. A ranger who knew exactly what material she needed and how to store it.
When she finished, she adjusted her quiver and looked at him.
"Let's go. We're not out of goblin territory yet."
She started walking. Hyoren followed.
The spring lake faded behind them. The Dreambloom corpses lay still in the grass. The Mistdarts would become slimes food.
The goblin territory on the forest was vast. But they were escaping from it.
***
Hyoren and Elise walked for a while. The dual suns on the sky had already started to descent from their zenith.
Then they reached it. A clearing. The trees thinned slightly. The ground was covered with vegetation—grass, flowers, small plants growing in patches.
Elise stopped and a smile crossed her face—the second one he'd seen from her. She stepped into the clearing.
“Good. Patch of whisper-grass and moon-flower.”
Hyoren watched as she knelt among the plants. And he recognized the healing grass immediately. The faintly glowing stems and leaves. He'd been using it for days now, grinding it into paste, applying it to wounds.
So it's called whisper-grass.
But his attention shifted to the other plant she was harvesting. Blue flowers with small petals, growing in clusters among the whisper-grass. They seemed to shine slightly under gold and silver light of the suns.
He wanted to ask about them. But he held his tongue. He'd already annoyed her once by not knowing what things were called. He'd wait until she was done.
Elise worked fast. Her fingers moved—plucking the whisper-grass stems and moon-flower petals—bundling them separately. She handled each plant with care.
When she finished, she tied the bundles to her bag and stood. He stepped closer.
"You harvested the healing grass?"
He gestured to the whisper-grass bundle.
"The whisper-grass? I already know it's used to heal wounds. But what about the blue flower… The moon-flower?"
Elise didn't answer immediately. She adjusted her bag. Checked her bow. Started walking.
"I'll answer your question while we move…." her voice was low, alert.
"Don't be careless. We're still deep in goblin territory."
Hyoren followed her. He was still curious about those plants, but he understood the priority. Escaping dangerous territory first.
They walked in silence for a few minutes. Elise's pointed ears twitched occasionally—checking the surrounding sounds, checking for danger. The forest remained quiet. No snarling goblins. No snapping branches. Just the wind rustling through the leaves.
After she was sure the immediate vicinity was safe, she slowed her pace. Without turning her head, she began to speak.
"I saw you apply whisper-grass paste to your wound before. Sure, it's good enough. But it was primitive."
She ducked under a low-hanging vine. Hyoren followed closely, careful not to lose her explanation.
"The moon-flower by itself is useless. No medicinal properties on its own… But it enhances the properties of other medicines."
She gestured vaguely to her potion bag.
"Even potions made by alchemists used moon-flower as a base. It acts as a catalyst. A medicinal paste created from whisper-grass and moon-flower might not be as potent as a potion, but if you grind them together… It will increase the potency by at least tenfold."
Hyoren nodded slowly. He remembered his university lectures. Basic pharmacology. The way drugs needed binding agents and reagents to work effectively. The way some compounds enhanced others.
"I see..."
The pieces clicked in his mind.
"I understand. It's like a reagent. To amplify the potency of drugs."
Elise's ears twitched. A note of surprise entered her next voice.
"That's right. You know your way around medicine huh..."
She still didn't face him. Her focus remained on the path ahead. But something in her tone had shifted. The guarded wariness was slowly changing to something else. Respect—not yet—but at least some acknowledgment.
"Well..."
He shrugged, even though she couldn't see it.
"Some or others. I learned a bit before coming here."
It wasn't exactly a lie. As someone aspiring to become doctor, he had learned about medicine in university. Just not in the way she was probably imagining.
Her tone relaxed a bit more. Her shoulders dropped another level—the tension easing further.
"Good to know."
She vaulted over dead log. He followed her lead.
"I still have a few potions on me. But just in case, we need to be prepared for the worst. We need to ration them well."
She paused, organizing her thoughts while still walking.
"With healing paste made from these, we can use it on less dangerous wounds. Grazes. Cuts. Minor injuries."
She touched her bag.
"And keep the potions for the worst ones. Like that sword wound you had earlier."
Hyoren nodded again, even though she couldn't see him.
It made sense. Potions were valuable. Even if they are not rare in town, they didn’t have a way to restock in the middle of dangerous forest. Using them for every scratch would be wasteful. The paste was a good alternative—a middle ground between munching whisper grass and potion.
"Understood. Whisper-grass for healing. Moon-flower to enhance. Grind them together for a more potent paste."
Hyoren saw Elise nodded in front of him. And somehow—even if she still facing forward, on the path in front of them—he could see her mouth curl upward slightly.
"Exactly."
After explaining her logistics, Elise fell silent. She seemed to sense that he had no more questions. Her pace quickened again, her focus returning to the forest ahead. Hyoren followed her closely.
***
Hyoren and Elise arrived at a small clearing near a pond fed by the river they'd been following.
The dual suns had begun their descent, painting the sky in shades of orange and red. The forest around them grew darker, shadows stretching between the trees. They'd just cleared a crude goblin camp—nine in total—and the fatigue was beginning to settle in.
Elise looked up at the darkening sky and slowed her stride.
"We need to rest soon. We're still in goblin territory, but rushing through the forest at night is asking to be killed."
She stopped near the edge of the clearing and turned to face him.
"Let's rest and camp here."
She checked her surroundings first. Her eyes scanned the treeline, the underbrush, the shadows between the trunks. Her pointed ears twitched, listening for any sound out of place.
Satisfied, she reached for her bag. Like trying to grab something. But her hand paused inside, hesitating. Then she withdrew her hand and turned to him fully.
"Hey. You..."
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"How do you actually sleep and rest in this forest?"
The question was pointed with suspicion.
"You don't just sleep on the ground and hope no goblin attacks you in your sleep, do you?"
Her gaze swept over him again—his crude clothing, his wild hair, the lean frame that spoke of weeks surviving alone.
"Of course not, Elise."
He shifted his weight, adjusting his bag on his shoulder.
"I used to live in a cave for a few weeks. With defensive options. But when I started my journey..."
He paused and looked up at the towering ironwoods above them. Their branches spread wide, forming a roof of leaves high overhead. Wide boughs jutted from the trunks, thick and sturdy.
"I sleep on the wide boughs on top of the trees. The monsters around here can't climb, it seems. And the only monsters that can climb won't bother me unless I carry red berries."
Elise nodded slowly. A hint of approval entered her voice.
"Smart and practical. And you're right. Mossback Squirrels won't bother anyone as long as their moss-berries aren't touched."
Hyoren filed the name away.
Ohh. So those critter is indeed called Mossback Squirrel. I name them correctly. But the berries. Moss-berry? Naming it as the food of squirrel huh. The native naming sense is truly practical sometimes.
Elise was also scanning the forest roof, her eyes tracing the branches above.
"We elves like to sleep on top of trees too in our home forest."
She dropped her luggage near the base of a large ironwood.
"I rarely do it anymore, for... reasons. But your way is good."
She looked back at him.
"Let's sleep on top of the trees tonight."
She dropped her bag near the tree and turned toward the river. She called over her shoulder without turning.
"You. Do you have food?"
"Yes, Elise. I still have some smoked rabbit meat. And melopple. It can last for three to four days."
Elise stopped. She turned slowly, her expression shifting. One word had clearly caught her off guard.
"The heck is melopple?"
Her stoic face cracked slightly. Exasperation flickered in her green eyes. Her pointed ears twitched.
Hyoren reached into his bag and pulled out one of the fruits he'd been gathering for weeks. The round blue fruits. With shape of apple, and taste of watermelon.
"Here." He held it out to her. "This fruit."
Elise stared at it. Then she rolled her eyes and tilted her head back, as if asking the gods for patience.
"That is Dew-heart."
She spelled each word carefully.
"Dew-heart."
She faced him again, her expression caught somewhere between disbelief and amusement.
"You... What kind of weird naming sense do you have?"
For the first time since they'd met, her wariness toward him seemed to fade. The absurdity of his made-up names had cracked through her guarded exterior.
"Melopple, pfft… Where did that even come from?"
Hyoren shrugged.
"It looked like an apple. And taste like water melon. So... melopple."
Elise stared at him. Then, for the briefest moment, the corner of her lip twitched. Not quite a smile. But close.
"That is… Dew-heart. It's called Dew-heart because of the taste of fruit is refreshing like morning dew, and the heart-like shape of the fruit if seen from the side."
She let out a breath.
"Melopple. Pfft…"
She almost laughing at the absurdity of his naming sense. But her guard returned after a moment. The walls rebuilt themselves. But something had changed. The wariness wasn't as sharp as before. Her view of him had shifted—not trust, not yet, but something softer.
His thinking, at least, seemed to amuse her.