Chapter 23: Exotic flower
Will was currently sitting in front of a console playing some more Mincecraft skyblock on hypixel. Beside him was another man in his cell phone scrolling through a light novel story.
The man was average in height, had dark, short hair. He wore a long dark, sleeved shirt. His eyes were brown. This was Alexander Anderson, Will's best friend who died.
Alex was currently reading a light novel called 'Dragon King's son-in-law' on qidian.
Will shut down the computer and sighed.
"No matter how much I grind in this game, I am always too poor to afford good stuff." Will sighed.
He found something weird about this. Didn't he get reincarnated to another world? But his memory was fuzzy.
"Well if you can't grind it then make some real life trades with someone." Alex recommended.
"That would get me banned, and all that hard work that I put into the game would have gone to waste."
"You won't get banned if you don't get caught."
"Wait, Alex, didn't you die?" Will said as he remembered something important.
"What?" Alex looked at Will confused.
"The store… you got shot during a robbery gone wrong."
"Um… I'm still here. Are you on drugs? Because you know how I feel about that."
"No… maybe it was all a dream." Will tried to remember but he couldn't access certain parts of his memory.
"You better get your head straight before Sandra comes back." Alex put his phone in his pocket and stretched his arms out.
"Sandra… summoned to another world… Heroes." Will felt like he could remember, but was facing difficulties.
"I'll go pick up the food from the store you send me to collect. I'll be back. Later we can finish that castle of ours in Minecraft." Alex walked up some stairs, but Will's eyes shot up that instant?
"Store? Castle? ALEX! STOP!" Will remembered that this is the day that Alex dies.
When he ran up the stairs Alex was already in a body bag, and the room he was in wasn't his house, but a store. Police were there. Lots of people were taking photos of the crime scene.
"No, not again." Will fell to his knees as he cried.
"NOOOOO!!!"
Soon after Will woke up completely covered in sweat and breathing heavily.
"Alex…" Will cried a little. It's the first time he's thought about him since he arrived in this deserted land.
It took him a while to get over it.
He splashed some water on his face.
"I'm sorry, so sorry, Alex."
It was still dark outside, the sun was almost rising.
He went out to observe the stars. It's something he did every time he dreamt of his friend. Somehow he believed that his friend is in heaven, and that he's up there. Will is not a religious person, but he believed that right now Alex is in a better place, and that he was at peace. The thought of this also put him in peace.
Adaline noticed he got up so she did too.
"Adaline…" He gently patted her head.
After a while of gazing at the stars, he collected all the stone he could find and continued to build.
After the sun had risen, he remembered something, the camels.
There used to be 2 camels, but now there were 3. Two of them were fully grown, and the other was merely a calf.
The camels were gently resting on the grass, the calf was with his mother.
"Aw, how cute. But I still want to eat them." Will's hunger will not be satisfied. Try eating nothing but grass for a month, it would make anyone else crave for anything else, even as something as gross as Arby's.
Like right now, thousands of thousands of animals are being slaughtered so people can buy and eat them. They don't care about how the animals feel, except vegetarians, but they're weird. How can those guys live without eating meat or dairy? Will will never understand.
Will didn't care as well. When the time comes he'll be able to feast.
The reason why it didn't surprise him that a calf was born in such a short amount of time is because of his system. If trees could take less than a day to fully grow, then the same logic would apply to animals and even crops. It's the same in Minecraft.
Another page was filled in his book once he saw the baby calf.
{Calf}
{A calf is a baby camel}
{Feed them a 'treat' to speed up their growth}
"I've got some more treats." Will immediately said.
He took some treats and fed the two adult camels, and fed the rest to the calf. The faster it grew the more camels he could breed, and the faster he could eat.
Once again he left the scene and continued building.
Not too far away, someone stepped on Adaline's grass.
Adaline noticed someone was getting closer. She immediately called out to Will and Arbor.
"What's wrong?" They both asked.
Adaline pointed to a specific location.
"Are they already here?" Will quickly grabbed his rifle, ran up some stairs and made it all the way up to the wall. He aimed his rifle but saw nothing. It meant that they were still too far away for him to see.
Arbor also kept a lookout.
"How many are there?" Will asked.
Adaline stepped on the ground once.
"One? Only one? Did Jim come alone?" Will couldn't believe it. Would Jim really come alone when he had men to spare? Not only that but it would take Jim longer to arrive here even if he walked all night.
Somehow he doubted that Jim would be that stupid to come here alone.
Arbor squinted his eyes, he could faintly see a silhouette, like a woman's figure.
"I see someone." Will pointed his gun at the silhouette, but Arbor grabbed the rifle and pushed it away.
"Arbor?" Will asked.
Arbor shook his head. It wouldn't be wise to kill someone before they got a good look at them.
Will moved away from Arbor but didn't point the gun at the figure.
The figure got closer and closer, and Arbor finally recognized her, it's his daughter.
"Grace?!" Arbor jumped the 10ft wall and landed safely and ran up to her at full speed.
Will was confused but continued to watch.
Grace was basically dragging her body with her feet. She was about to give in at any moment. It was the worst experience she had ever gone through.
"Grace!"
She looked up when someone called to her in elven tongue.
Grace couldn't believe it, it was her dad.
"Dad?" She fell limp and her feet gave up, but Arbor got a hold of her before she fell.
"Are you okay?" Arbor immediately checked her condition, she was fine, but was dehydrated and dead tired.
"I'm good, now that you're here. Is the Adalis…?"
"She's fine." He picked her up princess style and carried her back to base.
"Please, let us through, Will." Arbor shouted to Will who was all the way up in the walls, he forgot that Will couldn't understand him.
Will scanned the area one more time in case this was a trap. He soon made a hole using his pickaxe to let Arbor and Grace inside, he blocked that hole once more and no signs of damage could be seen.
Arbor gently laid her on a bed. Adaline got some water for her. It was basically how Arbor was feeling when he first arrived in this base, all she needed was some water, rest, food, and she would be all set.
Will got a little cautious of her and Arbor. She was an elf in disguise and so was Arbor. It's clear that Arbor came here looking for Adaline, he found her in this deserted land all through luck.
But, it would be a strange coincidence if another elf were to arrive in this base as well. The odds of that happening are astronomical.
Not only that but Will was watching her, and it didn't seem like she was that surprised to find them, almost as if she knew they would be here.
It took Grace a few hours to recover, all she needed was water. She had recovered but her feet were still aching. Walking through the deserted lands where the sun was hot and the ground was just as hot, anyone's feet would ache and hurt.
Grace was immediately cautious of Will, who was watching her while holding a gun.
Will took Grace's bow and arrows before she woke up.
Arbor stood by Grace's side, he could feel the tension in the room coming from them. Adaline was outside also watching.
Grace hates humans in general. Will was very cautious of her. There was a small chance that Jim could've send her.
"Grace, this is Will. He's the one who took Adaline." Arbor said.
Grace was a little angry at Will. The reason her father and her went to this place is because he took Adaline and ran off with it.
"So your name is Will." She said.
Will raised his eyebrow. The elf could speak english? This would make things easier for him.
"How did you find this place? And how did both of you know that Adaline and I would be here?" Will asked.
He also found it strange that Arbor somehow knew that they would be here, but they could never communicate with one another.
Grace was observing the area and him but still paid attention.
"We didn't know which part of these lands you were, but we merely guessed you would be here." Grace answered.
"Still, how did you know how we were here, in this specific spot? The deserted land spans for millions of kilometers."
"I don't know how my dad found you. But I found out that you attacked a certain village about a month ago, with Adaline, and ran away. They also told me that there was a nearby water source here, so I thought that you all would be here."
"So, Arbor's your dad… wait, you think that I attacked the village? So what are you gonna avenge them or something?"
"No, I don't care about them. We only came here to take back the Adalis."
Will frowned but already knew about their main goal.
"If Adaline wants to go back with you, she can. I will not force her to stay." Will said.
Grace leaned to her father.
"Dad, he said we can take back the Adalis if she wants to leave with us."
Arbor shook her head.
"That's not possible. Adaline is too fond of him." Arbor started calling Adalis 'Adaline' on purpose since that's now her name. He didn't hate the name, it actually suited her.
"How? Isn't the Adalis a creature of nature? Shouldn't they be more fond of elves?"
"Not this one, no."
Grace looked at Will.
"How is the Adalis fond of you, when you put her in danger?"
"I put her… I guess in a way I did in danger. But I won't ever put Adaline in danger on purpose. It just happened. We went to 'that' village only to trade, but we were almost killed. They planned to kidnap Adaline to sell her. I didn't and won't ever let that happen. It's thanks to her that we manage to get out of there. She's still afraid of them, which is why we are still here."
Adaline coiled her roots around Will's hand.
Grace almost didn't believe him, but looking at Adaline seeking comfort from him, then it must be true. She thought that the human who tamed her used something to make her heed his every command against her Will.
Grace sighed in relief. She was glad that she didn't tell anyone else in the village about the possibility that Adaline is here.
Will walked outside to continue building. He suddenly got a good idea.
"Dad, I'm sorry for not listening, but I just couldn't let you-" Grace looked at her father. Arbor hugged her tightly.
"I am glad to see you safe. That's all that matters."
They both shared a tight hug. Grace was afraid that they wouldn't be here, and that she wouldn't see her father again.
Will went outside the stone walls and dug a hole around his base that was 3 meters deep. He crafted a lot of stone spears as well, and placed them underground. It took him a while to build, but he had some practice when he built those goblin traps on Jack's village.
"What are you doing?" Asked Grace.
While Will built the traps, Arbor told Grace everything he knew about Will.
She now knew that he's a Hero with many abilities, the ability to grow trees in a day, the ability to make weapons instantly, the ability to build, and others.
Grace also told her father what had happened to Adaline that made her fear humans. He was angry at the thought of that, but it wasn't anything new. Many elves have also suffered the same tragedy that Adaline almost suffered,
"Making a trap." Will responded.
"For what?"
"Remember those guys from the village that I told you about, the one who tried to kidnap Adaline?"
"You told me a few hours ago, how could I forget already?"
"I think that they're planning to raid this base. They want the water source that's here. And if they see me or Adaline, they would probably want to kill us like they almost did a month ago."
"You think or you know?" Asked Grace.
"I'm not sure. But it's better to be prepared. Believe me, I know. If I had been a little more prepared before coming here, then we wouldn't have suffered as much."
Will grabbed a bunch of grass, and crafted something using a crafting table.
{Patch of grass: place this on the ground}
The patch of grass is crafted using a bit of grass. It was the perfect tool to be used for hiding ground traps. He placed all that grass on top of the holes he created to cover them up. If someone aimlessly walked in there they would fall to their deaths.
The reason he never bothered building this until now is because it would also kill any animals that would come across his base. There was no way he is gonna kill animals like that, it was better to capture them and breed them,
Grace kept observing him. Like her father said the human before her was unnatural, then again he's a hero so it's not weird.
Her hate for humans will never change, even now she hates Billy and Tucker who had helped her. She knew that Billy kept looking at her and got a little too close to her. His intentions were obvious to anyone watching them, another reason as to why she didn't tell him anything when she left.
"If you think that there's a raid coming here, then give us our weapons back." Grace said.
"I will. If I am right and if there's a raid coming, then I am going to need all the help I can get."
There is no way that Arbor nor Grace would ever help him defend his base, but they are, because Adaline is here. If those men were to know that Adaline is here they will stop at nothing to get their hands on her.
And also Arbor would more than gladly hurt the ones who hurt Adaline if given the chance.
"I need to ask you something, are you a hero?"
Will stopped in his tracks. It seemed that Arbor knew and told her.
"I'm not too sure about that. It is said that all Heroes are blessed with strength, speed, reflexes, and powerful gifts. I have a gift, but none of the other traits a Hero possesses. Also I wasn't teleported to the kingdom like the other Heroes were. So yeah, it's unclear if I am a Hero or not."
Will had doubts if he was actually a Hero, or something else entirely. If he died before but was still reincarnated is he still a Hero? If not then what is he?
He believes that some might call him a Hero. He didn't care as it didn't matter. All that he knows is that he's here.
Will put down a chest and took out a bow, arrows, and 2 enchanted swords.
"Tell your father that he needs to be prepared for a possible raid, or else Adaline won't survive this time if they catch her. Tell him to do it for her."
Grace took the weapons a bit surprised to see that they came out of a chest.
"When do you think they will come?" She asked.
"How long did it take you to arrive here from that village?"
"Not long." If she arrived here on foot, then the other men from Jim's village could too.
"Do you have any more arrows? A few dozen doesn't seem enough."
"I don't." Grace shook her head.
"I'll make you some."
Will got some steel bars, wood, and crafted over 100 steel tipped arrows with relative ease. It's like Terraria, he could make wooden, stone, and even iron arrows if he wants to. It's convenient that he doesn't need feathers to craft them like in Minecraft. But adding feathers on arrows would improve the accuracy and performance on the arrows when shot with a bow.
The same applies to bullets, he could make different types of bullets as well.
"Here, this should be enough arrows." Will tossed her a bunch of arrows.
Grace almost lost her balance from carrying too much.
"You're not like any Hero I've met before."
"How many Heroes have you met before me?"
"Well… none."
"Then you couldn't possibly compare me to other Heroes if you haven't met them yet."
Grace didn't say anything else and ran back inside to her father.
Will finished setting up the trap. While there was still daylight, he crafted some wooden dummies and planted them all far away from his base.
Will went up on one of the guard towers and shot the dummies. He needed to practice his aim.
It was thanks to his years of playing gun games like call of duty that he had decent aim. But video games and real life are not the same.
Will did not mind wasting a bunch of bullets, he had so much more that he could spare over 1000 bullets.
After two hours of shooting, Will finally sighed. His aim was a little off especially on the dummies further away, but over time he got better and better.
Arbor started using his blades to cut the dummies in half. Grace also shot the dummies using her bow and arrows.
Will was more fascinated about Arbor's sword skills. He was too fast. Was it because he was an elf? It would make sense since he had 15k HP.
Unlike Grace who had merely 300 HP.
This hit him hard since his HP was still at 50, even lower than Grace's. He's been trying to raise his HP but he has no clue how to.
Will was sorting out his chests, most of them were now empty because of all the stone he used to build the walls, and the ores he used to craft more ammo and weapons. All the empty chests he put inside another chest.
He kept sorting until he saw something that he had completely forgotten.
"Hey!" He called out to Grace.
"What?"
"Do you know what these are and what they do?" Will showed him an exotic flower and an exotic flower seed.
These two he got after Adaline ate some goblin parts and 'pooped' them. He's been trying to figure out exactly what these do exactly. And if it was possible to grow more of these flowers if they proved useful to him.
As soon as they saw the exotic flower, they gasped.
"Where in the world did you get this?" Grace asked. Even Arbor ran up to the flower but didn't dare to touch it.
"From Adaline. She 'produced' these two things and I have no idea what they are used for."
The book also doesn't provide specific details on the exotic flower, only that it is used to make potions with it.
"May I hold it?" Grace said.
"Sure." Will flicked them the exotic flower, the two elves immediately grabbed it gently without damaging it.
Will did this on purpose, it looks like the flower must be important.
Both of the elves started talking to one another in their elven language. Will could not understand them one bit.
"This is an exotic flower. It's an incredibly rare flower that rarely appears within the elf kingdom." Grace said.
"That's nice, but what does it do?"
"The one who eats it gains a huge boost in vitality permanently. My grandfather, father, and other elves, upon reaching a certain age, have consumed it."
"Vitality? You mean down there?" Will was a bit confused.
"Nothing sexual you perverted human. It means that it gives you life."
Will understood now. The reason why Arbor has so much HP is because of the flower?
"So I need to eat it?" Will took another exotic flower from the chest and ate it. He's desperate to increase his measly 50 HP.
"Stop!" Arbor and Grace were not prepared when Will took out another flower and ate it without hesitating.
Will munched on the flower and swallowed it quickly.
"Never knew flowers were crunchy like a dorito. So is that it?" Will felt nothing, his HP remained the same.
"You… aren't you feeling any pain?" Grace asked unsure of what she just saw.
"Should I?"
"Yes! Only elves can eat this flower, not humans! Are you insane?! This flower is the reason why elves have such a long life."
"Well, that's a waste. Might be because I'm a Hero and… Guh!" Will got on his knees as a sudden pain went through his body. It felt like his entire body was burning from the inside.
Will looked at the status and it read {poisoned: 23:59:59}
He had gotten poisoned from eating the flower. The effects would last for an entire day.
Grace and Arbor helped him and took him to his house. Adaline also noticed and ran to help.
"It burns!" Will cried in pain. His HP started to plummet by the second.
{HP: 49/50}
{HP: 48/50}
{HP: 47/50}
{HP: 46/50}
{HP: 45/50}
"What can we do?" Asked Grace.
"Give me some space." Arbor touched Will's chest and a green energy flowed between them.
"The poison is too potent. There isn't any cure for this." Arbor started to worry for Will's life.
Will couldn't even go to bed to cure this effect, he needs to sleep on the bed for it to take effect. But the excruciating pain that he's feeling right now made it impossible for him to sleep.
Adaline moved around frantically, coiling her roots around him, but it was no use, she had no idea what to do to expel the poison either.
"Kill me!" Will screamed.
"No! It's still too early to give up!" Grace said.
But Will wanted to die right now because the pain is too much for anyone to bear, and he will die anyway. If he dies he'll respawn and the poison will be gone.
The three of them tried to help Will in any way possible, but there wasn't anything they could do. As elves they knew how to expel poisons but now wasn't possible.
The flower Will ate is too rare, and the poison of the flower doesn't affect elves. Elves have tested the flower on animals and humans too many years ago, which is how they knew that it is extremely poisonous to them.
The problem is that they've never bothered creating a cure for the flower because why would they? Animals always die as it's the circle of life, it's part of nature. And the elves hate humans in general, so there was no way they were going to create a cure for them.
{HP: 3/50}
{HP: 2/50}
{HP: 1/50}
{HP: 0/50}
Will stopped moving, his eyes turned white. He had died on the spot.
"Is he… dead?" Asked Grace.
Arbor touched him, and as she said, he had died.
Arbor started shaking his head. He wouldn't call themselves best friends, but to see someone like Will die like that, it felt unreal.
True Will's the reason why Adaline was taken from them, and why they are currently in the deserted lands, if anything they should be happy that Will died.
But, Arbor knew how close he and Adaline were, if he died then Adaline would never be the same.
Adaline stopped moving and started walking around when Will died, it's like she didn't care at all about Will's death.
"I'm gonna go check on Adaline."
"Um, dad?" Grace pointed at Will's body.
Will's corpse faded away until there was nothing of his corpse. All that was left was the items he had on his person.
"What was that?" Arbor didn't believe it. He touched the same spot where Will had died, but it was really gone.
"Is… what's going on?"
"I don't know."
"Ugh, that was the second worse death I have ever experienced. The dragon is still number one." A voice was heard behind them. It was obviously Will.
He set his bed underground where it was more protected, and cool to sleep in. He teleported there as soon as he died.
"What, but, you, was, died, what?" Grace was so surprised that she couldn't make out her words. Arbor looked at Will as if he was looking at a ghost.
"Guess the cat's out of the bag. I can die, but then I will revive." Will said without giving out too many details like his bed. If his bed is destroyed then he will respawn somewhere else.
Will was wearing the same clothes when he first reincarnated here, which is blue jeans, and a thin, cyan-light, blue color, with short sleeves.
"That isn't possible, even for a Hero… no, it's possible." Arbor sat down and went into a deep thought.
Adaline already knew about Will's ability to revive. A few weeks ago he accidentally blew up the mine he was in and the rocks crushed him, luckily the bed was near the entrance of the cave so it didn't get destroyed. Adaline acted more dramatic when Will first died. But now she didn't need to worry.
"Just how many abilities do you have?" Asked Grace.
"Beats me." Will shrugged his shoulders. He recollected the items he dropped when he died.
The brown book glowed again. Somehow he unlocked something new.
He saw what it was he unlocked, and it surprised him.
{Exotic flower}
{A rare flower used for potions}
{Very poisonous upon consuming it, except for elves}
{It can permanently increase the users HP by 25 each potion he consumes}
Will clenched his fists tightly in anger. Couldn't the book include those extra details in the beginning?
"I hate this." The way to increase his HP was in his grasp the whole time. Had he known, he would've paid more attention to potion-making.
"This is what I get for being unprepared." Will repressed his anger and continued building. The two elves were left standing there.
"Grace, do you remember the story of the Witch?" Arbor suddenly said.
"Uh. yeah... I've heard about it many times when I secretly ventured on the human world. And also you and grandfather told me the story many times when I was a kid. She was killed when she fought the Great Sage, right?"
Grace is a young elf, but she wasn't born yet when the first three heroes were summoned.
"But we didn't tell you everything. This is something that many don't know, even the king of the humans probably doesn't know about this. I remember your grandfather telling me that he fought the Witch one time. But she was too powerful. Do you know why that is?"
"Because she's a Hero?"
"Yes and no. It's because she's the only Hero, the only one who had control over death. She could never die, she was a true immortal. Her powers alone were terrifying. Imagine being immortal and possessing the power to shake the world. We're lucky that the Great Sage defeated her."
"Immortal? Like him?" Grace was referring to Will.
"No, this is different. Will clearly died and was revived by his own power. But with the Witch, nothing could kill her, she could only be sealed by the Great Sage."
Some people call elves 'immortals' because of their long live spans, but they were wrong. They only had longer life spans than humans and that was it, they would still die upon reaching a certain age.
It's like how most insects have shorter lifespans compared to humans, some of them live up to a week at most. To them, humans were like immortals because they can live up to 80+ years.
But a true immortal is someone who can never die, even if they were shot, stabbed, burned. Those are the real immortals.
The reason many didn't know that the Witch is an immortal is because those who have fought her have all died. Silvas was probably the second one who fought her and survived, the other being the Great Sage.
"Are you comparing him to the Witch? He doesn't look evil or that powerful to me." Grace said.
"You're right, but I see great potential in him. I just got a little worried. I am still pondering over the fact that the zombie appeared after 250 years."
There was a saying; "in order to fear something, you must be scared of its potential."
They continued chatting a bit and slowly got used to Will's weird abilities.
Will opened up a chest filled with exotic flowers, over 20 of them. Adaline can easily reproduce these as soon as she eats monster parts.
He was glad he kept the exotic flowers instead of throwing them away. Each one can increase his HP by 25.
Adaline produced more flowers when they were hiding on a bunker when the black sun appeared, and when he fed her all the remaining goblin parts he stored for her.
"20 flowers multiplied that by 25 equals… a lot, yes a lot. Now I wonder what I should do with you." Will looked at the exotic flower seed. He wondered if he could grow more exotic flowers without using Adaline.
"I'll ask that elf girl next time. I should probably learn her name." It would be a waste to start growing flowers when there was a possibility that his base would get raided, and also he doesn't have the method to craft potions. After that he'll.focus on increasing his HP. it was safer to keep the seed inside the chest safe for now.
Not far away from his base were over 50 men walking towards the base.
Jim had a serious look on his eye as he led all those men.
'We will no longer suffer because we lack water. Never again will my village suffer slowly from diseases, or thirst. I need to get this water from whoever is getting in our way.'
Weekly Power Status
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