“My overflowing gratitude, dear youngling, for bringing my only remaining family closer to me.” Healer Gula bowed, her trinkets tinkling. “The path may be long, but eventually, we can be together again, letting go of the pains of the past.”

“My pleasure to be of help.” I forced a grin, an ant of guilt nibbling at my heart of gold even though I was interacting with a mere virtual character. Maybe I should change the element of my heart to something else.

“This is so touching,” Megan whispered. She sniffed a couple of times.

“Back up a bit, Megan,” said Nitana. “You might ruin something.”

“No way. I just wanted to listen to the dialogue.”

Gula took the [Frigid Yew Salve] from my hand, fondly looking at it. “My sister was my inspiration for becoming a Healer. When the Arcane Brewers Lodge stood strong, they’d provide many specialized potions to the Healers. Working hand-in-hand… I hope my sister and I come to that.”

“That might be possible through me,” I said in a firmer voice, recalling my idea to be a student of these two sisters. “Brewing potions and other medicines—I feel like it’s my calling. I’d be honored to also learn from you, Healer Gula.”

“I see your knack for the craft. You have gifted hands.”

“Learning from you and your sister, I’ll progress fast. I can apply brewing techniques from one discipline to the other.” Come on, give me an Ocadule before the Hunter-Warriors fulfilled their job description with Bawu as the target. Plenty would change after this storyline concluded—Gula might even be arrested. I’d like to cash in on my progress now, please.

“I believe that as well, youngling. But the time for teaching isn’t now, for I’m occupied with the new potion I’m trying to make… failing to make.”

Dammit. “Is that the one that needed the Vinereaver prickles?” She had mentioned it was some mega-potion supposed to cure all manners of illnesses. It could be akin to the potion Bawu used to cleanse away all my poison statuses after our little challenge. “Do you need help? Some other ingredients lacking?”

“Too complicated for a youngling like you to comprehend,” Healer Gula said. “Though, with the pleasant news of my sister redirecting her focus to more constructive things, my inspiration is renewed to work harder.”

“Can’t you take a break?”

“Visit me on the morrow when work matters do not burden my mind, and we will focus on choosing the best path for you.”

“On the morrow?” But that’s…

“That means tomorrow,” Megan whispered.

“I think Herald knows that,” Nitana drawled.

Kezo said, “Guys, let’s just watch.”

“Plenty of tests to do before deciding what’s best for you,” Healer Gula said, giving me the small jar of ointment. “I believe the same happened when my sister gave you an Ocadule.”

“Uh, yes.” I sighed. “On the morrow then.”

“That’s tomorrow,” Megan chimed in.

“He knows!” Nitana said.

As we walked to headed to the tunnels, I recounted the quest that my party was going to help me for a start—collecting [Toxic Goop], and maybe the [Concentrated Fulguris Extract] too if we’d be lucky to find a Blighted quest boss. Bawu would have more gathering tasks to ask of me. I’d gauge how much I’d do before tackling the source of the Blight once and for all.

Then would come the hard part of convincing Bawu to move as far as possible from Kurghal Village. The villagers would be safe from her clutches—I doubted she’d stop her experiments with the six village guards—and, more importantly, Bawu would be safe to help me in the future. But I didn’t tell my party mates the latter; I had an inkling that might sound too selfish.

“Bawu could be the key to finding and killing the Mountain Guardian,” I said, giving that as the reason for our actions.

“I’ve heard of that NPC hidden in the tunnel from others,” Kezo said, “but never about this Blight quest. You may be on to something here. Who knows, it might lead to a world quest that’d move the main story. I can’t recall the last progress made on finding a way off this mountain.”

“What about Rabisu Peak?” Nitana offered. “It’s a newly discovered area. Discovered by Chimi’s gang?”

Kezo shook his head. “I don’t think there’s anything there that contributes to the main story. Rabisu’s Peak is a high-level area—small chance it’s the way off the mountain. And unlocking it wasn’t a world quest where everyone could participate.”

“The devs won’t put the exit somewhere inaccessible for most Mardukryon players,” I said.

It’d be a crappy game design if only the strong players could leave the mountain. The Mardukryons were supposed to be a difficult race, but it didn’t mean we’d be stuck here until a certain level. It was just a misfortune that the exit hadn’t been figured out yet. That’s what I’m here for.

“By the way, Megan,” I said. “Thanks for the Hoarfrost Yew materials. There aren’t many available in the auction house, especially the seeds.” With her help, I didn’t have any problem gathering the ingredients. The [Amberite], which [Morabodry] also required, was always available from the Miners, while the [Small Jar] and [Golden Mildew] were available at Arakmad’s shop.

Megan said, “Don’t mention it. I think the Healers need the Hoarfrost Yew Seeds for an important potion. That’s why it’s always sold out.”

“The Tri-Sustain Exilir needs it,” Kezo said. “Replenishes Health, Energy, and Ancestral Constitution. Always sells like hot cakes.”

“And not many people farm those weird ice trees,” Nitana said. “Trees with faces, ugh.”

“I’ve got a ton of Hoarfrost whatevers from hunting for a Relic wand dropped by the mini-boss of that area,” explained Megan. “An ice wand with a pretty design, like a bouquet of icicles, and plenty of bonuses to Water Element magic and ice spells. Turns out those aren’t very good on this mountain.”

“What gave you a clue?” Nitana said, pointedly crunching the snow in our path.

The two bickered as I led our party off the main path to the tunnels, up a narrow and rocky climb to a small opening hidden by vines. This was the entrance I used when I first looked for Bawu. Right now, the usual entrance was watched by village guards. My previous party, full of NPCs intent on excavating the tunnel blockage, passed unchallenged because we were with the Hunter-Warriors—the village guards might not ignore our party if it was just the four of us.

“We’re going to start seeing monsters with the Blight,” I said.

“This’ll be interesting,” Kezo said. “I’ve hopped in plenty of quests helping other players, and this will be the first time I’ll experience this one.”

Nitana raised her staff, conjuring a fireball at its tip for light. “From monkeys to zombies.”

“Ooh, spooky, spooky, spooky…” Megan said, waving her glowing wands as she made her voice sound like an echo.

“This is a quest that adjusts the monsters’ level in relation to the party,” I explained, checking our party list. “Megan, Nitana, you leveled up? I thought you were on vacation.” They were both at level forty-seven. Nitana must’ve worked hard to catch up to Megan. Previously, she was two levels below her friend.

“This is supposed to be our last hurrah as Mardukryons,” Megan said. “So, we snuck in some playtime when resting at our hotel. It was Nitana who insisted we bring our AU-VR Helms with us.”

“Just so we’ll have something to do on the flight,” Nitana mumbled as she turned away from us, embarrassed by the revelations.

“Nuh-uh, you were playing every chance you got. You even wore the AU-VR Helm while we were stuck in traffic. I had to keep watch—”

“Herald!” Nitana loudly interrupted, “What were you saying about levels?”

“Averaging our levels,” I said, “expect monsters in the mid-forties to appear.” That’d be higher than any mobs I had encountered so far. Knowing that the Blighted had incredibly powerful attacks for their levels, it’d be unwise to tank them. I also couldn’t kite in these cramped pathways. I’d keep back and try to herd them with my Totems, focusing on debuffs and heals.

“Sorry for pulling the average up,” Kezo said. “Think of this challenge as practice. I know we can do this through teamwork.”

“There’s going to be a lot of them.” The [Large Fragile Bundle] was still in my inventory. I didn’t give it to Bawu to attract more monsters to us—which would be Blighted—and speed things up.

“Glowing green up ahead,” Nitana said.

[Lvl 46 Blighted Hoplite Saurian]—a humanoid lizard wearing crude and rusty pieces of armor—rounded the bend of the path ahead. A round shield, with jagged spikes protruding all over its surface, covered the Saurian's upper body. Its right hand carried a long spear that ended in a menacing curved blade. As with other Blighted, this monster was decaying, its scales peeling in places, revealing its purple muscles, sometimes even its bones. Green goo poured from its empty eye sockets, tracing the inner curvature of its helmet before dripping onto its shield.

“I haven’t seen that one before,” Kezo said.

“A Saurian?” I asked.

“Yes. Never heard of it either. Is this a mutant made by that Bawu character?”

“The Blighted are actual monsters captured by Bawu that are then zombified. She also makes chimeras, but that’s a different thing. There should be actual Saurians somewhere on this mountain that Bawu could access.”

“Curious,” Kezo said. “You’d think lizard people would be quite famous if someone has found their area.”

“Look!” Megan exclaimed. “More are coming!”

Three more [Lvl 46 Blighted Saurian Hoplite] marched into view and joined the first. They formed a line of shields, pointing their spears down the tunnel at us. They marched with clumsy steps, trailing slime behind them. Four [Lvl 43 Blighted Saurian Archer] joined the fun, taking positions behind their sickly brethren, aiming their arrows in between the gaps of the formation.

Kezo scratched his tusks, staring at the ground in thought. “If these guys are actual monsters, then Bawu might lead us to undiscovered areas.”

The Saurian Archers let loose a volley. Their projectiles hit Kezo’s chest, but he was so engrossed with the implication of the Saurian’s appearance that he didn’t care. As the rest of us buffed up for battle, Kezo said, “We have to talk to Bawu. We need to know where she got them.”

The value of Bawu just shot up. “You’ll get to meet her when I turn in my quests,” I said.

“Let’s do this quickly then,” Kezo said, unsheathing his twin swords that burst with black flames.

Too bad my [Cleansing Flames] didn’t affect my teammates. Luds had mentioned its breakthrough levels—past ten—could help the party. “Wait!” I said. “Can we all charge at the same time? I have this new skill I want to try…”