Erika materialized in Murph Village and reunited with Vivi. Before heading out, she dropped by Jeff’s farm to check for new quests.

As the RPG veteran’s intuition suggested, Jeff’s request to hunt Windfloras was renewed on daily basis; it was a “Daily Quest”. Such quests gave the player something to do when they couldn’t find a better way to spend their time, but the quests had little purpose otherwise.

Erika accepted the quest, but she had no intention to start working on it right away. It didn’t seem likely that the quest was going to chain into another quest later on, hence there was no urgency to complete it.

“Time to leave the village, Vivi.”

“Hmph. Like, we spent so much time here that it’s a miracle we didn’t turn into fossils by now.”

They made their way toward the southern exit of the village, which led toward Zelin City. The southern road resembled the previous path Erika traveled, as it was also sandwiched between a forest and a lake. Though, this time, the forest had a different name: Anukis Forest.

Bloodthirsty Windfloras quietly awaited their preys along the forest’s entrance. Jeff asked Erika to hunt these monsters, but she had nothing of worth to earn from doing so at the moment.

Instead, Erika’s interest was stolen by a new type of mob.

【Waterflora】

It was a big, blue sunflower, with a striking resemblance to a Windflora. In fact, they were so similar that the Waterflora looked like a cheap recolor of the Windflora. The biggest difference was the Waterflora’s semi-transparent body, which created the illusion of being made from water.

Silveria’s second quest demanded Erika to collect Waterflora Seeds, in exchange for another opportunity to feed adorable baby chicks. It was an extremely important quest, on par with saving the universe; Erika had to finish it ASAP.

She drew out her Silver Knife and creeped toward the new foe. If the Waterflora was truly nothing more than a reskin of the Windflora, then it was fated to be felled by Erika’s trusty knife. Still, she played it safe and avoided rushing at the opponent head on.

So it begins. Let’s see how it shoots.

The Waterflora twitched in response to Erika’s approach. The Windflora turned its head toward Erika and took aim. So far, the foe’s mannerism were in line with the average, run-of-the-mill Windflora.

Is it going to throw bags of Water at me?

The Waterflora’s big head was like an aquarium with small stones in it. Hence, Erika could only imagine the flower attacking by shooting water in one way or another.

In the next instant, her assumption was proven wrong.

“E-eh!?”

A rock slammed her arm. It was so fast that she didn’t even see it coming. Instead of using water, the Waterflora fired rocks from within its liquid head.

“W-wait!”

Erika arms quickly reacted and braced for an attack, but the bullet was too small to block. It struck Erika’s abdomen and made her crouch in pain..

C-curses!

Erika tried to deflect another shot, but it struck her leg. The attacks weren’t nearly as powerful as the Windflora’s blasts, but they were much faster, harder to block and delivered more focused damage.

Curses, I can’t do anything until I get closer! But how to do it safely...? Maybe I should just rush at it?

Her legs began to move while she was still pondering. Somewhere deep in her mind, she already accepted that she wanted to charge forward and to see what followed. The Combat Aid simply give her the necessary push.

“Ugh!”

Her neck was whammed, but Erika continued to charge straight at the enemy. Surprisingly, the Waterflora didn’t dish out any additional blows. Instead, it began pecking the ground to absorb rocks into its head.

Four shots and then reload. I see.

It was a golden opportunity. Erika reached her foe and slashed right through its stem.

“Eh...?”

The knife smoothly went through the watery stem... too smoothly. It felt like cutting through air.

The stem should have been cut in half, but instead its watery structure rapidly reformed itself. The slashed area had a red cut across it, but it was dull and dim; it didn’t look like a severe injury at all.

Erika swung the knife and sliced through the stem again, but it wasn’t very effective. While she was busy doing that, the Waterflora finished refilling its ammunition and shot into her face.

“AGH!”

A rock struck Erika’s eye from point blank. She retreated with a stagger, almost tripping back.

Luckily, this wasn’t the real world and she wasn’t blinded by the assault. There wasn’t any blood either, only the general sensation of daze and disorientation.

“Agh...! Ack! Gah...!”

The barrage continued. Rather than taking down its prey with a few powerful blows, the Waterflora was a merciless sadist who slowly tortured his helpless prey by flinging rocks.

Erika’s body hurt in random spots and her concentration wavered. Fortunately, the enemy exhausted its ammunition and now was a perfect time to counterattack... or she thought.

With no bullets to spare, the Waterflora stretched forward and banged its head against Erika’s.

“W-wha!? Blrgh!?”

Erika’s face was covered by a water tank. Her whole head was caged inside the Waterflora’s.

“Blergh!? Bguah!”

She blubbered incomprehensibly as she tried to pull herself out. She happazadely swung her arms in attempt to smack the man-eating flower.

“Blgh... ugh...”

It was all futile. She couldn't breathe and her body lost its vigor. Her arms dropped and she had no choice but to accept this fate. This fate... of drowning to death inside a flower.

WOOSH

Erika’s head was blasted out of the water cage. She lost balance and crashed into the ground.

“Gah...”

She spat a cough while staggering to get up. She nearly drowned to death, but her body wasn’t overrun with unrelenting coughs or lung ache. She had to thank the merciful virtual world for not being overly realistic.

“Gah, what is...?”

A gust of wind slammed against the Waterflora and rent it asunder. Water splattered across the ground and the Waterflora trembled pitifully.

“Ahahaha! Die, you idiot!”

The attacker was none other than the mischievous pixie. Vivi stretched her tiny arm and shot the crippled Waterflora again.

The flower was blown to pieces and its watery insides spilled onto the grass. All that remained from the big flower was the lower half of the stem, which could no longer support itself and collapsed, getting absorbed into the ground.

【Vivi defeated a Waterflora. Obtained 1 Waterflora Seed.】

“Vivi is so amazing~”

Erika was very moved by this development. Until now, Vivi only laughed at Erika’s misfortunes and used her powers to bully baby blobs. It was the first time Vivi showed a hint of goodwill.

“Like, that was too easy! Idiots like that are no much for the great Vivi, hmph!”

Vivi pressed both hands against her waist and grinned in arrogance. She said it was “easy”, but she obviously enjoyed the praise regardless.

Maybe I can abuse this.

Erika tilted her head while examining the Waterflora Seed in her DiVe. She hardly gave the Waterflora a fight, yet she was still rewarded with loot after the flower perished.

If the game allowed to share loot with escorted NPCs in the way she suspected, then Erika could send Vivi as a terminator to wipe out Waterfloras from the face of earth. Of course, she couldn’t just politely ask for a “favor” from the bratty pixie.

“I wonder if Vivi is strong enough to defeat ten more of these flowers~? I have this chocolate here that may slip from my hand...”

“Hmph! Like, of course the great Vivi can trash them!”

VIvi sneered and channeled wind into her miniature arms. She nuked one Waterflora after another, tearing the flowers into shreds. The Waterfloras could quickly recover from knife slashes, but not so was the case when their whole bodies exploded into bits.

“Vivi, be careful.”

“Hmph! Like, these idiots can’t even lay a finger on the great Vivi!”

Contrary to the expected, Vivi’s confident words rang true this time. She was continuously targeted by speeding rocks, but her tiny frame and nimble movements kept her safe.

【Vivi defeated a Waterflora. Obtained 1 Waterflora Seed.】

【Vivi defeated a Waterflora. Obtained 3 Waterflora Seeds.】

【Vivi defeated a Waterflora. Obtained 1 Waterflora Seed.】

Huhu, I can infinitely loot Waterflora Seeds this way.

The only catch in this arrangement was the pixie’s greedy nature. Aside from seeds, Waterfloras also dropped [Water] pieces. However, Vivi hogged all these pieces to herself and only gave Erika the “useless seeds”.

If Erika could also get [Water] pieces to pay for Lakya’s pool, then it would have truly been a godsend opportunity. She consoled herself by reminiscing about how she ripped off 2,000 pieces from Zack the other day. Aside from lacking the sought after [Water] pieces, she otherwise held a lot of money for a newbie.

Without lifting a finger, Erika collected 16 Waterflora Seeds thanks to Vivi’s diligent efforts.