Terrarium Adventure - Chapter 55
We were in a dangerous situation for a while because of him, but during that time, I could confirm his potential. He had driven my dryads, who claimed to be superior to anyone within this territory, to a corner.
He was indeed the worst opponent to have, but that also meant there was no one better to have as an ally. He made me discover that there was a gap in our team’s perfect balance of defense, attack, and recovery. The only thing that made me hesitate was his timid personality.
Mesquite heard me and stared at me. She said to herself, “yes, no one chose to be born that way” and changed her expression. It meant she was telling me to do what I wanted to do.
However, Elder still looked dissatisfied with my decision. Looks like the team’s in a disagreement. Did I make the right decision?
“Master druid! I will continue to get stronger!”
Daisy seemed to be dissatisfied with my decision to bring someone who used to be an enemy into our team as well. It seemed like her pride was hurt since she was someone who had a great desire to become stronger than anyone else. Plus, the monkshood dryad looked like someone her age.
“Daisy, of course, you’re stronger! Look at him. He will start crying if you just go near him.”
The monkshood dryad began to tremble again at my words.
“So, what do I do with this unripe fruit to connect to him?”
“You must ripen it, Jay, with the power of your soul. You must fill it with your soul before giving it to him. Remember connecting your soul to us before we bloomed? That is the process of making a dryad become aware of their owner. It’s like deeply imprinting your soul to them.”
Mesquite stacked her hands in front of me. I followed her, wrapping the fruit with my hands.
“The fruit ripened by Jay’s soul will force the imprint of your soul on the wild dryad.”
How do I ripen it with my soul? When I thought about it, I realized that there was something different about the fruit. At first, I thought the ice-cold fruit was just getting warm with my body temperature, but now it felt hot.
I felt like that guy I saw on the Internet, Edison, who was sitting on eggs to hatch them. The delightful imagination touched deep in my heart and good energy leaked from there. It slowly permeated the fruit, and the fruit began to ripen gradually to a bright yellow and golden color.
I turned to the monkshood dryad and showed him the fruit. What do you want to do? I made up my mind to take you, but are you willing to come to me?
The monkshood dryad looked at the fruit with his mouth open as if he was fascinated by the dazzling golden fruit.
The golden color of the fruit was slowly captured in his blue-purple eyes resembling the night sea. His eyes looked as if there was sunrise on the horizon.
It’s just a warm fruit for me. Does it feel different to him?
His small body rose, and he walked towards me like a marionette hanging from strings. Whenever he moved, the staff piece resembling a white dandelion flower seed in his hood shook. He stretched out his hand as if he were longing for the fruit, so I stepped back.
Is this really your will and not just you being possessed by the fruit? For a moment, he looked like Elder when he saw diamonds.
“This is the first time to feel such warmth since I was born…”
He had a child’s voice like Daisy’s, but it sounded younger. His high voice with moisture shook my eardrums.
“That’s because it’s the power of the soul that will give you a haven.”
Mesquite said in a very different tone from a few moments ago. It wasn’t as warm as when she was talking to Daisy, but I felt a little more compassion and kindness compared to before. It was as if she were willing to give up her hostile feelings for me and treat him like a young seedling.
“I’ve been here ever since I was born. Everything was wet, cold, and dark.”
He started to tear up again.
“It wasn’t a good place for rooting, but I was so happy to see water after a long time that of searching for it. I eagerly drank the water that smelled dead, then my roots got stuck in this place. There are memories of meeting very hot things before coming here, and there are memories of being moved away with crazy shaking. I was looking forward to the day I would get to a new land with my brothers who were born together, but I was left alone. We all decided to be together, but no one made it.”
He looked around as if he were thinking of that day he was left alone. There were many things lying around in the swamp, but it seemed what the child was seeing empty surroundings. As he recalled dark memories, the fruit trembled lightly as if sympathizing with his grief.
This resonant movement was so small that only I could feel it.
“I was crying because I was so scared, but one day, a warm light just like this one came to me.”
The dryad said he could move around after that, but he didn’t have the courage to leave. He didn’t know where to go and was scared because a big fire was outside the swamp. As time passed, the blessings of the World Tree that warmed him had disappeared, and fear took place in him.
Being left alone and living in the dark, he must have had a terrible time with only his own cry echoing back. I felt pity towards him at the loneliness and fear he would have felt.
The blessings of the World Tree disappearing meant that the dryad was nearing death.
There was a big difference between the death faced by the dryads in the Dandelion colony and the death faced by this monkshood dryad. Some dryads humbly waited for their time and others struggled until their last day.
The monkshood dryad said this swamp turned into a land of death after he settled here, and no life came by ever since.
He said that originally, water would overflow from time to time when it rained, then get dried up by the fire. Dead plants would return to the soil and the sun would take away the energy of death.
He knew that his power had halted such a cycle, but he didn’t know what else to do and eventually made this terrain worse.
His moth-like lights filled the dead vines and branches, and his poison penetrated the swamp and prevented the land from receiving water.
The fire burned the entrance making it even narrower, making there be no room for sunlight.
I sighed as I saw the child who said he didn’t want to be alone anymore. He had tears around his eyes again. I suddenly thought that I could not be responsible for someone with such darkness in his heart.
However, my contemplation was cut short when he said, “this warmth makes me feel like I am born again.”
His fear is so great that it destroys his surroundings, and unlike Daisy, it seems that I need to teach him everything from the beginning, but what else can I do?
There is room in my soul for him and I found him, so there’s no reason to hesitate now.
I’m also learning everything from Mesquite and my other dryads, so he can just learn with me. Even if I can’t be a sunlight to him, I can at least be a candle to the darkness in his heart. If he starts to follow a small light, he will be able to meet a brighter, bigger one in the future.
The golden fruit that radiated intensely was eventually passed to the monkshood dryad. He tried to grab it with his little hand and accidentally dropped the staff he was holding.
As soon as the fruit touched the child’s hand, it melted down like sugar in water and was absorbed by him. Subsequently, a warm and sweet energy fell in my heart.
We looked at each other as if we were hit by lightning. Our eyes met deeply. The first soul connection with a dryad was always unusual and unfamiliar.
The monkshood dryad shone gold like the color of the fruit, and blue-purple petals, which were no longer threatening, fluttered over us like confetti. The delicate and clear scent of wild medicinal herbs surrounded us lightly like the mist of dawn.
The monkshood dryad’s little hand reflexively held on to my left hand filled with terrarium artifacts as I raised it. Artifacts vibrated lightly as if welcoming a dryad to take root. Unlike when I bloomed dryads in the orchard, my cell phone rang instead.
Receiving data from terrarium artifacts…
I clicked my tongue in amazement at my cell phone that was showing different features every day. It’s called a wallet, but it’s no different from a smartphone. Truly amazing.
Alpine Monkshood (similar)
Title: King of Poison
Flower Language: Opening of the Night
Birthplace: Near Swamp Field (★★★☆☆)
Field Occurrence Probability: None
Worth: Medicinal herbs, poisons, ornamentals (★★★★★)
Characteristics: Attack type (locked) / support type, recovery type
Final confirmation grade: Unknown (lack of information) – estimated to be unique or higher
This is an enhanced species of a helmet flower, which has characteristics close to a hornet flower.
There is a high probability of receiving a combat bonus in September.
A double-edged sword-like flower that can poison or heal depending on its use.
Therefore, these characteristics cannot coexist together (turnover form).
There are multiple aliases, such as aconite and wolfsbane. There are many legends as well.
[There is information that cannot be verified.]
My cell phone took over the role of the greenhouse slab. You can receive information like this even if you’re not at the greenhouse, huh.
I could see different information from previous dryads since this was my first artificial dryad. This ‘similar’ means that the mother flower of this dryad is close to alpine monkshood, but not exactly that, right?
It seems like they just listed characteristics of the alpine monkshood dryad in the explanations. Field occurrence probability will obviously be none because it’s manmade.
But that means he cannot make a forest… that’s something I’m not too happy about. I thought the peak of dryads’ growth was becoming the king of the forest. Also, there are some information that cannot be verified.
Mesquite stepped up and gave me a surprisingly clear solution to my worries.
“My master, Jay. If there are a lot of unknown information, why don’t we go to the Alchemy Tower where this little guy was born? They will have all the information about this seedling.”
“Now that I think about it, that’s a great idea. We have more places to go now. You said the Alchemy Tower was in the 16th terrarium, right? We can visit since we’re going to the 18th terrarium anyway.”
Seedling must be at the 16th terrarium. This is like some joke from the gods of fate… I never knew there would be a day where I would voluntarily go to a terrarium he’s at.
