Chapter 146 - 108: Treasure Fruit Garden 2
"Don’t worry, we have our own ways of protecting ourselves..."
Ultimately, the mayor agreed to send someone to guide Lin Kong’s team to the Treasure Fruit Garden.
The group left City Hall and took a vehicle toward the Treasure Fruit Garden.
After passing through several hidden passages and a few vertical vehicle elevators, they arrived at a cavern.
Merely approaching the cavern, Lin Kong and the others sensed a rich concentration of Spiritual Energy.
They exchanged glances, certain they had come to the right place.
The guide from City Hall didn’t dare enter, staying just outside the cavern, so Lin Kong’s team went in by themselves.
Under the cover of Mirus’s Invisibility Magic, they walked right into the cavern.
Compared to the dark passages outside, the cavern was much brighter. Many Spirit Plants flickered, emitting a soft glow.
Inside the cavern, many bizarre creatures were fighting one another, snatching fruits from the plants. They paid no mind to the aftermath of their battles, which was destroying some of the Spirit Plants.
Lin Yan frowned. "These mutated creatures are infuriating. Snatching fruit is one thing, but why do they have to destroy the Spirit Plants too?"
The more she watched the creatures, utterly unrestrained and heedless of the surrounding Spirit Plants, the angrier she became.
’I can’t take it anymore. These mindless mutated creatures have no idea how precious these Spirit Plants are.’
"Let me drive them away!"
As she said the last part, she looked to Yuan Xiaobo.
Yuan Xiaobo nodded in agreement.
Lin Yan immediately began her casting.
A vast web of vines sprouted from the cavern walls. The technique, Summoning Vines, was something nearly every Druid had mastered—it was their most basic area-of-effect Magic.
The vines snaked through the cavern, carefully weaving around the various Spirit Plants to drive away the mutated creatures.
The mutated creatures were startled at first, dodging frantically.
But when they realized the vines were trying to drive them from the cavern, they weren’t having it.
They pounced, clawing and biting at the vines. Some of the more hot-tempered ones even unleashed their abilities, and in their attacks on the vines, they ended up destroying the surrounding Spirit Plants as well.
Seeing the mutated creatures persist in their attacks, Lin Yan grew even angrier. She decided to stop holding back.
The vines stopped their passive defense.
Any mutated creature that dared to attack was immediately ensnared. The vines coiled around them, squeezing until they couldn’t breathe and snapping a few of their bones.
In the end, however, the kind-hearted Lin Yan released them, stopping short of killing the mutated creatures.
"Hey! This place is under my protection today. You all should leave now."
To convince the mutated creatures to back down, Lin Yan revealed herself. Using her Druidic ability to communicate with beasts, she tried to persuade them to retreat.
"ROAR~~"
Perhaps because their intelligence was too low, or perhaps because they were simply inexperienced, the mutated creatures had no intention of leaving.
On the contrary, upon seeing Lin Yan, they seemed to think that getting rid of her would dispel the vines. They all launched their awakened abilities at her.
Fireballs, ice shards, rocks, psychic blasts... a chaotic barrage of attacks flew toward Lin Yan.
Lin Yan was about to explode with rage. These mutated creatures had completely failed to understand her benevolence.
She didn’t even use defensive Magic, letting the attacks strike her. These creatures were merely of the ’Excellent’ grade, only level five or six. Their attacks couldn’t even penetrate Lin Yan’s innate defenses.
The fact that Lin Yan stood there, not dodging, yet remained completely unharmed, made the guide at the cavern entrance’s jaw drop. He clamped a hand over his mouth to keep from crying out, all while aiming a device at Lin Yan, recording her every move.
"It seems you won’t retreat until I add a little fertilizer to these Spirit Plants, is that right?" Lin Yan’s voice grew icy.
When the mutated creatures realized their attacks couldn’t harm her and felt her aura turn frigid, they retreated a few steps in a daze.
One of the creatures, apparently their leader, seemed to act—either to rally the others or perhaps out of humiliated rage.
In any case, it let out a furious roar and leaped through the air, trying to bite Lin Yan.
Lin Yan watched its approach with disgust. A foul stench wafted from its gaping maw, noticeable even from a distance.
She flicked her wrist, tossing a seed to the ground. Then, with a bit of Magic to catalyze its growth, a Big-Mouthed Flower sprouted before her.
The Big-Mouthed Flower swallowed the mutated creature in a single gulp. Within seconds, it had completely digested the beast, converting it into Nutrient Liquid that was absorbed into its roots.
This finally terrified the mutated creatures. They turned tail and bolted from the cavern.
Lin Yan waved her hand, and the vines receded, leaving only the Big-Mouthed Flower behind.
"Lin Yan, let’s go! Let’s follow them and see where they’re headed!" Lin Kong called out. He was quite interested in the creatures’ destination, and with his encouragement, the other team members agreed to track them.
"Guests!!" A voice suddenly called out from the cavern entrance. It was the guide. Seeing the Big-Mouthed Flower swaying in the middle of the cavern, he couldn’t help but step forward to ask. (’If that Big-Mouthed Flower attacks people, the Treasure Fruit Garden is done for, and I’ll be in for a world of hurt when I get back.’)
"It..."
The guide merely pointed at the Big-Mouthed Flower, but Lin Yan understood his meaning.
"Don’t worry, it’s quite gentle. As long as you don’t provoke it or harm these Spirit Plants, it won’t attack people. It will only drive away and attack the mutated creatures."
Hearing Lin Yan’s answer, the guide relaxed and said no more.
(A Big-Mouthed Flower grown outside of a territory is considered a wild monster. The Druid relies on their personal abilities to communicate with and command it. As a wild monster, the Big-Mouthed Flower is not affected by the "Plant Person" or "Giant Plant" territory buffs.)
After she spoke, Lin Yan transformed into a bird and flew off, following the team’s trail.
-----------------
The mutated creatures fled quickly, but the exploration team easily tailed them. They followed the creatures through one underground passage after another until they passed through a concealed tunnel and arrived in a massive grotto.
"Wow~~"
"Beautiful!!"
...
Exclamations of wonder escaped from the team members.
The grotto was filled with countless plants. Water flowed across the ground, and at its highest point, an opening in the ceiling was sealed shut with ice. Sunlight filtered through the ice, illuminating the entire space.
However, while the vegetation was lush, the air lacked the rich Spiritual Energy of the Treasure Fruit Garden. It didn’t capture the team’s interest for long, though they did pause to marvel at the wonders of nature.
The team members continued tracking the mutated creatures, admiring the scenery as they went.
The mutated creatures continued to flee, their destination unknown.
As they ventured deeper, the team noticed the Spiritual Energy growing denser, and they encountered more and more mutated creatures along the way.
They had formed a food chain in this subterranean jungle. The creatures that had raided the Treasure Fruit Garden were mere low-level herbivores in this ecosystem.
At this point, the team stopped tracking the creatures and instead began following the trail of Spiritual Energy, heading toward where it was most concentrated.
"Niu Armor, this experience has to be worth the two days you spent digging holes, right?" Lin Yan teased as they walked.
"It is. I never expected the subterranean ecosystem to be so rich. I always thought it was just mud and rocks down here."
"Why isn’t there a place like this under our territory?" Niu Armor wondered aloud.
Rose: "We have one! Our Vein of Life is underground, and it’s huge. You should come visit sometime!"
"No, thanks! I’ve heard we all go to the Vein of Life when we die. I’m not ready to go just yet!"
"It’s fine. As long as you carefully avoid the areas where Death Energy pools, there’s no other danger."
...
The team’s pace slowed. Without the mutated creatures to lead them, they had to navigate on their own, and they took several wrong turns.
They were no longer invisible, but since they were all Druids, the jungle itself offered them shelter. Like people wearing camouflage, they were incredibly difficult to spot.
The few mutated creatures that spotted them usually fled warily.
The team had expected the journey to last much longer, but unexpectedly, their underground exploration came to an end before the day was over.
They had arrived at the largest grotto in the subterranean forest, the one with the highest concentration of Spiritual Energy.