It was hard to miss them, given the crisp shades of blue amongst the backdrop of browns and greens. The leaves on top of the fruit-bearing trees sparkled a sliver of sky in the treetops allowing a sunbeam to split the clearing in two. August frowned at the trees, it had been less than a week since he’d last been here, but there were already new Sadapples adorning the tree.

When he was really little, there had been a large apple tree on the corner of their neighbour’s property, overhanging enough that the fruit had routinely fallen into their yard when they were in season. It had been one of his chores to run around and pick up all the healthy ones and dispose of the husks that would accumulate.

He had a clear memory of asking his dad about why they only showed up during part of the year and the accompanying lecture he’d gotten about it. Namely that they had a seasonal fruiting cycle—but there had been another question in that conversation about how long it took an apple to actually grow.

Time had stripped most of the details on his dad’s explanation, but he distinctly recalled that it took an apple somewhere in the ballpark of five weeks to mature. Bluepome trees weren’t the same as Apple trees, he knew, and the fruit themselves weren’t apples, but still. August had just about picked the low-hanging fruit clean on these two trees less than a week ago, and they had somehow already been replaced by full, mature fruit—that was an absurd rate of growth.

“I’ll stand guard,” Kalter said, moving to stand between the two trees.

August scanned the area one final time before following Rittan towards the closest tree. August started snatching the ones within reach down and vanishing them into his inventory. Rittan’s height resulted in a far easier time reaching the fruits, and his six arms left only sped that process up several-fold.

Forager Unlocked

Locate Plant Learned

August spent a moment checking through [Menu] for the skill description.

Locate Plant – Level 1

Highlights plant life within the world for ease of discovery.

Proficiency – 0/1000

Cast Type – Toggle

Cost – Reserves 50 MP

Range – 1 meter.

*

More or less identical to the [Locate Object] skill, only targeting plant life rather than miscellaneous objects. He toggled it on, watching as the second half of his mana bar turned grey, leaving the entire thing locked in reserve. The Sadapples directly above him flashed white, and when he turned his gaze downwards, he found that it picked up on grass as well as tiny specks of white that might have been seeds lost amongst the green.

“Well, there certainly is a lot of them, isn’t there?” Rittan said, breaking the silence.

“There is,” August said, distracted. “I already picked all of these a few days ago—they seem to be growing ridiculously fast.”

August glanced over, seeing that the Voithos was starting to run out of room—he held out his hand towards him, and Rittan ferried his own load of fruit onto August’s outstretched palm, each one vanishing as they connected.

“That is not exactly uncommon,” Rittan said, smiling. “While I’ve never seen this species of tree before, most of them—at least within Hekaton—have been genetically engineered to produce fruit far quicker.”

“I should have expected that,” August said, “Given how many people you guys had to feed, I bet they bear fruit year-round?”

“I believe so,” Rittan nodded.

Between messing with the plants enough that they weren’t limited to bearing fruit during specific seasons and if their rate of growth had been supercharged to this extent, it went a long way towards explaining the insanity of feeding all those Gaians for free. Maybe his previous thought about a Sadapple tree in every yard wasn’t too far off. If they’d done this to all the other useful plants, then perhaps Hekaton really was as scalable as they had described it to be.

“I’m afraid I’m running out of arms,” Haiko said as she approached their tree.

“An unusual situation,” Rittan said, amused.

“Yes—it’s not something I’m used to,” Haiko smiled.

Haiko’s arms were curled in front of her, a tower of apples resting against her chest and tummy, precariously balanced on top of one another. August stepped around the tree, placing his hand on the top of the pile—the Sadapples began to rapidly vanish as he pressed down.

“I’m considering grafting a few more onto myself if I ever get the chance,” August admitted, only partially in jest. “The three of you seem to get a lot of use out of them—I’m kind of jealous.”

“You are not the first person to echo that sentiment,” Haiko said, amused. “To be overcome with hand-envy—such a shame.”

“Uhuh,” August said dryly as the last of the Sadapples vanished. “Rittan—I just unlocked a new role. I think you might have it as well.”

“Truly?” Rittan said, surprised. “I imagine it must have something to do with our current situation?”

August used [Assign Role], bringing up the list of roles once more.

Striker

Defender

Evader

Gatherer

Hunter

Marksman

Labourer

Forager

“It’s called Forager,” August said, nodding. “It’s pretty much Gatherer, but for plants—I’ll unlock it for you.”

Rittan has unlocked Forager.

Rittan has learned Locate Plant.

“Thank you—Ah, I see,” Rittan said, nodding. “[Locate Plant]—yes, it’s practically identical, isn’t it?”

Rittan turned his gaze upwards, searching the tree above him, much like August had done a moment earlier.

“I feel as if I am missing out on something,” Haiko said wryly. “What exactly are you seeing?”

“My apologies, Haiko,” Rittan said, dropping his gaze back to her. “It appears to highlight fruit and plant life in a small radius—they are wreathed in white light.”

“Interesting,” Haiko said, raising an eyebrow.

“I think we have enough to last us a while,” August said, catching Kalter’s eye. “We don’t want to stay in here for too much longer.”

“Very well,” Rittan agreed, pulling down a final fruit and taking a bite out of it.

August winced, the phantom taste of the fruit haunting his mind before he managed to shake it off. They met with Kalter and left the clearing again, taking a straighter route back to the camp. The white lines from [Locate Object] continued to move with him, the outer limit of the area of effect crawling across the ground.

A thicker white line stood out, curving upwards and then back down again—August stopped where he was as the familiar outline of massive jaws drew themselves into existence directly behind a thick tree to his right. Haiko walked straight into his back as she realised too late that he’d stopped moving, sending him rocking forward before she caught him by the shoulders, steadying him.

“August?” Haiko said.

Kalter and Rittan stopped, turning to look back at the two of them. August opened his mouth, the coursing adrenaline rending him unable to speak. It was pressed close to the ground like it was trying to hide—the context pierced through the fear gripping him, and he realised that the skill didn’t work that way. It didn’t show creatures like Ladybug, Neptune, or even the Voithos. It only worked on inanimate objects.

“There’s a dead monster on the other side of that tree,” August said, taking a careful step around the tree. “It’s an Otrogon.”

Massive bones, partially concealed beneath the detritus of the surrounding trees. It was only a little bit bigger than the one he’d seen up close in the bamboo forest, but each of its teeth was terrifyingly large.