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As I logged back, I was greeted by the adorable Acorn who actually waited for me. It seemed that real time also happened here when I was logged out! This really made me internally worried… What if something bad happened when I was not even here? I sighed.
He decided to guide me where the mushrooms were located, so I decided to follow his lead while we decided to talk about anything that came up on our heads with the guide spirit.
As we walked down the tree, the Squirrel-folk were like squirrels themselves, so they were able to climb and go down trees with incredible ease.
And I did as well! It wasn't so hard after I got used to it, so I easily moved down and got into the forest floor once more. I had not realized it, but this avatar was barefoot, but the forest floor didn't hurt my feet, and it felt nice to touch the fresh soil beneath me.
"Hmm, it is getting late already, let's go pick the mushrooms and then let's return to rest until tomorrow, lady Planta," said Acorn. "If we wander too much at night, we might get attacked by stronger monsters that show up…"
"I see, then let's hurry so we can come back here, I will cook something for you if you got some ingredients as well… Do you people eat meat?" I wondered. "Rabbit meat?"
"Oh yeah, we mostly eat seeds, but meat is also alright," said Acorn. "Did you catch a horned rabbit?"
"Yeah, I plan to make a nice stew with it," I said. "It will be nutritious for you when you're still growing up."
"Ah, it's been a while since someone cooked for me… I can barely cook on my own…" he sighed.
"You're a pretty good alchemist but you don't know how to cook?" I wondered. "Isn't alchemy like cooking?"
"K-Kind of… but not the same!" said Acorn.
As Acorn guided me, I began to talk with the guide spirit. It seems that when I spoke to him, the NPC didn't notice me, and they also were completely unaware of his existence, as if he were invisible to them.
"I wonder what I will do if something happens here while I am out… I am working part time through the week after all, in two different places, so I cannot really have enough time for playing, probably only before bed…" I sighed. "I will have to manage my time well… Or quit my job? But is making money out of this game even that sustainable?"
"Hm, well, you'll have to deal with it. One of the features of this game is that the world keeps moving forward even without you being there, if something happens, we'll deal with it together," said the guide spirit. "But you shouldn't prioritize the game over your real life… And about money? The company itself does incentivize real money commerce, as they ask for a small tax fee, so they earn from any transaction."
"Oooh! So we can earn money! C-Can you help me make some big money so I can quit my jobs?" I asked. "Pretty please?"
"Erm… Well, I cannot do that, I don't have any idea about that stuff." sighed the guide spirit. "I can help you with the most basic stuff like finding places or researching the prices of things. But you'll have to figure out stuff yourself. I think there might be ways to join a guild that sells stuff and work for them depending on your job… As a farmer you could technically do a lot of production-based things…"
"Eeehh… I-I see… That seems a bit boring… Well, I will just do what I can. I don't have to get too involved in the story then, if things go awry, I have to deal with it… I-It is just a game after all… I guess…" I sighed. "Yeah…"
"Hm… Well, maybe you could find some special items around here and sell them off, although I don't know what's valuable or not, but this is certainly a rare spawn area and people cannot teleport from one way to another so traveling to different places is difficult, item is valued depending in their scarcity and if they're needed." said the guide Spirit. "This forest seems like a place that has been barely visited by many players, there could be a lot of secret events, items, and resources you could find and sell for real money eventually, as long as they're required by people."
"Ooh! That sounds like fun! Perhaps I could even build a big farm with endemic plants and cattle animals from here and sell daily products that everyone needs." I said. "How about that?!"
"Well… everyone sells food in the game; it is one of the things that everyone needs to keep their satiation meter high," said the guide spirit. "It is nothing too crazy unless… well, unless the products you make are of extremely high quality- Actually, you're a Dryad… maybe it is possible…"
"Oh? You're giving me such hopes… Well, we'll see what happens when it happens, for now, I prefer to go one step at a time," I said. "Acorn, are we close?"
"Yes, right there…"
Acorn pointed me to a place inside the forest. It seemed like small clearings that were decorated with giant mushrooms, so huge that looked like one could even step over them.
The beautiful and tall mushrooms were colorful, there were orange, red, purple, and even green-colored, and were as tall as five meters—no, even more.
What a fantastical sight… It left me a bit speechless.
"Uwah, what is this place? Oh… Mushroom Field?" I wondered. Atop my head appeared a holographic sign that said: "Mushroom Field (Lv3 ~ 10)".
Did this mean this place had monsters of Level 3 and above?! But I was only level 1! How could I survive a high-level monster like that—Ah, I killed that one high level monster, the Dark Beast…
But that was out of luck… And I… Ugh, am I forced to kill more monsters? Poor little things…
However, if I were to kill them and it granted me the opportunity to save these squirrel people… I have to do it.
"Here, this place is called the mushroom fields… This place has a special monster named Walking Spiky Purple Mushroom. It's a Level 2 or 3 monster that has a poisonous spore attack… This is why it is hard to handle unless we kill it with long-ranged blows," said Acorn. "Let's go, this place of the forest is pretty big and it has a whole different ecosystem atop the mushroom caps."
"Atop them?" I asked. "Can it really support our weight?"
"Yeah, you're very light, Lady Plata, you should be able to get up here," said Acorn.
He began to easily climb the mushroom around, reaching the cap of it. I didn't know if I could do it as dexterously as he did, so I decided to climb the little mushrooms instead, going one at a time all the way up.
They were indeed very strong and capable of supporting my weight. When I reached the biggest mushroom caps atop the sky, we reached a whole new level named "Mushroom Fields Canopy",
Immediately after, we saw several little mushrooms walking?!
Yes, they were of all sorts of colors, and had tiny legs they used to walk. They were adorable and I wanted to pet them!
"Guide, can I tame them and make them my friends?" I asked.
"Eh? Not currently, you need a Tame Skill to tame monsters… You can learn it with Skill Points through the Farmer Job." said the guide spirit. "The farmer job really has a lot of useful stuff, but it doesn't truly specialize in anything other than boosting plant growth and taking care of cattle…"
"I see…"
"T-Those are a lot of mushrooms…" said Acorn, as he hid behind me.
"Eh? Aren't you going to fight? I checked your status and you were pretty strong!" I said. "Can't you shoot acorns?"
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