Alistair had feared that the night might still be present in the Monster Realm. However, as he exited the misty space between the realms, he exhaled in relief. It was daytime. The weird seaweed shrubs swayed peacefully while the whistlewisps flitted from one rocky tree to the next one, occasionally glancing at them curiously.

"Wow… it's so… different…"

"It's kind of pretty. I like it."

"I expected something more… dark."

The adventurers were looking around curiously, admiring the sights. Alistair couldn't blame them. Although he's already seen the place before, he was still amazed by how otherworldly it felt.

"Don't let down your guard, and always stay in formation!" Alistair warned, and saw one of the adventurers gaze at one of the nearby whistlewisps. "And don't touch the birds. Their feathers are poisonous."

His warning instantly put everyone in place as they gripped their swords. Alistair took the front of the formation along with Sienna and headed in the opposite direction of the rocky forest this time. He made sure to avoid the dense growth of swaying seaweed—there was no need to see that nightstalker den again.

Instead, they proceeded to a more open area. The terrain was rocky with rare bits of purple grass and oddly shaped flowers. There were some larger rock formations where water flowed down, creating a semi-sparkling mist.

Does it contain mana? I remember Melina cooking off mana from the feyfruits, and then it shimmered just like this.

"Do not drink that water," Alistair said.

"Why not?" Barrett asked curiously. "The birds are drinking it."

"This water contains mana. Unless you're a mage and know how to process it into your body, you will get mana poisoning," Elowen explained.

"That means I can drink without issue!" Leon said proudly and was about to reach for the water.

"Do you actually know how to process mana?" Illitran asked coldly.

"I… Well, I haven't had the time to practice with all the missions I'm constantly being sent to," he grumbled.

"When was the last time you learned a new spell?" Remi asked suspiciously.

"It's not that simple, you know! I don't have a System or a magic teacher. Everything I know is self-taught from books in the library," Leon said.

Alistair felt a strange sense of irony. Melina knew more about magic than anybody else in Alemahria, yet she couldn't share this knowledge. She was already risking a lot by selling her magical pastries. Yet it still made Alistair wonder what they could accomplish if she set out to teach young mages like Leon.

As useless as the man seemed at times, the fact that he had learned magic all on his own was an amazing feat. With a proper teacher, he could surely go far.

Maybe it can be done in the future. Once Melina feels more secure.

As they continued through the craggy fields, they noticed something glimmering in the distance. The group was cautious at first, wondering whether it could be a monster.

"At ease, everyone. That's just a glittering grove," Elowen said, and Illitran nodded in agreement.

"Those are some of the weirdest trees I've ever seen," Remi noted, peering into the distance.

Alistair didn't quite understand what she meant until they got closer to the groove. Glittershale trees had a thick black bark that shimmered with various colors. If he had to compare it to something, then he'd say that the tree's bark was made from black opal.

"Their bark is a very good and valuable crafting material," Elowen noted when they were close.

"Really? I wonder if it would be worth the effort to cut a few of them down," Barrett said.

"You cannot cut glittershale trees. They take thousands of years to grow to this size," Illitran reprimanded.

"Aww, shucks. I guess we can't use this then…" Barrett said dejectedly.

"We can," Elowen said and walked up to one of the trees. He took out his dagger and drove it into the bark. With a soft crack, a piece of it came free. "As long as we take only the top layer of the bark, the tree will be completely unharmed."

"You heard the man! Let's collect some of the bark and bring it back to the cart," Alistair commanded. "Be careful to listen to Elowen and Illitran as to how deep you should cut with your knife."

"Yes, Captain!"

Alistair was happy to see that their expedition was already turning out to be a success. Any new material found will be a big boon to Sunglow.

Now, if only I could find something for Melina as well.

After they had collected a good chunk of glittershale bark and brought it back to the carts, the expedition continued past the grove. Glittershales were replaced with the rockpines again, and for a good while, it seemed like they wouldn't find anything useful without venturing too deep.

But then Sienna curiously sniffed at the ground. Alistair had never seen the wyrm behave this way—she never showed such strong interest in anything besides food.

"What are you smelling?" he asked the wyrm.

She gently dug at the ground near some small blueish-green shrubs. They didn't appear special. In fact, they looked rather boring when compared to everything else in the Monster Realm. But Sienna pawed at the shrub incessantly.

It was then that Alistair noticed something unusual about the wyrm. Her eyes weren't the same deep amber that he was used to seeing. Rather, they were blue just like…

"Melina?" He muttered in shock.

The wyrm lowered its head guiltily, confirming his suspicions. Melina was somehow involved in this. Was she possessing her familiar and controlling it from afar somehow? No, that seemed like a stretch. Even if their bond was close, letting your tamer possess a familiar's body seemed like too much. But the clear blue eyes on the wyrm showed that Melina was there with them.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Elowen seemed to have heard Alistair and looked at the wyrm, too. A realization seemed to dawn on his face as he noticed the necklace.

"What is that?" Alistair asked the elf in a hushed tone.

"Mana communicator. I have no idea how Melina got her hands on one, but it appears that she is observing us through her familiar," Elowen explained.

"We'll have a long chat about this when we get back," Alistair said to Sienna, or rather to Melina, who was listening on the other side of the link.

"What's wrong, Captain?" Barrett asked, noticing that Alistair, Elowen, and Sienna had stopped.

"I believe there might be something useful here," Alistair replied.

"Looks like a zephyr plant," Elowen observed. "Their roots can be used for cooking."

"Sounds like something Melina would love to have," Remi chimed. "We're taking them."

"Just be careful when extracting them. If you damage the root, it shrivels up and becomes inedible."

They got straight to work, being careful to extract the roots. They vaguely resembled ginger root in shape, except that their skin was a light blue color and they had an unusual, sweet smell. The whole time Alistair dug the roots was staring at Sienna, whose eye color remained blue through the whole process.

How did she even manage to do this? It couldn't be easy, could it? I'm going to have to question and ask why exactly she felt the need to strain herself just to see what we were doing. Does she feel like we need a babysitter?

Alistair felt a bit irritated, but kept his emotions tempered, continuing the search for usable materials. Within the next several hours, they made two more discoveries.

First was a giant willow-like tree that had long, thread-like leaves hanging down its branches. It honestly looked kind of silly, as if the tree had grown beautiful silver hair. But the elves explained that it was called silkgrass tree—an excellent magical fibre that could be used to weave high-quality cloth.

They harvested as much as the elves directed was safe to do, and circled back to the passageway, making a bit of detour beyond the rocky plains. Their efforts were rewarded with a small patch filled with peppers growing on vines that hung from the rockpines.

Sienna ate ten of them before anyone could stop her. The moment the wyrm plucked the peppers, the vines burst into violent flames, forcing everyone to back off. Of course, it didn't hurt her in the slightest—she looked very pleased by the result.

Illitran explained that those were scorchvine peppers—some of the hottest peppers available in the Monster Realm. Getting them off the vines without injuries, however, was troublesome. You either had to detonate the vine beforehand to disarm it or pluck it gingerly enough to avoid the explosion.

In the end, they agreed to just detonate the whole patch from afar and collect the peppers afterwards. One would have expected the fruit to have been turned into a mush, but aside from a few overripe ones, the peppers remained intact.

"Look at the stuff we got! The Guildmaster will be so pleased!" Barrett bragged, carrying two huge bags with scorchpeppers.

"Don't relax yet. We still need to return to the passageway safely," Alistair warned.

Things felt… too good. They got so many useful materials, yet hadn't encountered a single aggressive monster. There were a few poisonous plants along the way, but with Elowen and Illitran guiding their way, it was quite easy to avoid them.

He looked over at Sienna and saw how her eyes were blue again. The wyrm's eyes had gone back to amber after they retrieved the roots. Alistair suspected Melina couldn't keep the link open indefinitely. But she was watching everything again. Alistair walked up closer to the wyrm.

"Shouldn't you be resting?" He asked quietly. The wyrm pretended not to have heard him. Or perhaps, it didn't intend to convey her tamer's answer. But the blue eyes remained, watching the surroundings vigilantly.

Suddenly, the wyrm stopped.

"Stop, everyone!" Alistair commanded, setting down the bag and unsheathing his sword. <Danger Sense> hadn't warned him of anything yet, but something didn't feel right. It was nothing more than a feeling in his gut.

The others stopped as well, setting down their bags. Elves listened carefully, but judging from their expression, they couldn't hear or see anything. But Sienna definitely heard something as she rushed forward, distancing herself from the group, and let a roar directed… at the ground?

A moment later, Alistair understood what the wyrm was warning them about. His <Danger Sense> activated, blaring warnings in his mind, and the ground began to tremble. The shaking quickly grew in intensity, and he saw the ground shift some distance away from Sienna.

A large drake with a huge jaw filled with teeth that looked strong enough to crush boulders and scales similar to rock plates leapt at the wyrm. Alistair was horrified to see that Sienna looked small in comparison. Luckily, the wyrm was much more agile and avoided the drake's attack.

"This is bad! That's a crackjaw drake!" Illitran said, looking genuinely worried. The elf didn't often lose his cool, not even in a fight. The fact that he reacted this way meant that they were in deep trouble.

"Out of all things… No wonder other monsters hadn't attacked us. We were wandering around its territory the whole time," Elowen noted, clutching at his sword.

Alistair grabbed his shield, but looking at the massive beast, it felt no better than a toy. If this drake were to ram itself into Alistair, he'd be as good as dead.

"Sienna can handle it, right?" Leon asked shakily. "Look, she'll burn him to a crisp!"

Sienna released a massive fireball straight at the drake, momentarily covering it in flames.

"If Sienna were a river wyrm or an earth wyrm, then she might have stood a chance," Elowen said.

The drake emerged from the flames completely unfazed and chased after Sienna.

"But as an ember wyrm, her only advantage is her speed."

"Weapons ready!" Alistair commanded.

"Captain, you can't expect us to fight that?!" One of the adventurers screeched.

"Y-Yes! It's insane! We should let the wyrm handle it!"

"If that drake defeats Sienna, who do you think it'll come after next?" Alistair retorted, barely controlling his frustration. "We need to work together with Sienna if we want to survive."

There was a moment of stunned silence, but then everyone reached for their weapons, albeit with shaky hands.

Alistair honestly had no clue how he could even help Sienna in this situation. The drake chased after her while she stayed some distance ahead and helplessly flung flames at it. The worst of it was that Melina saw it all. Knowing her, if the situation got too bad, she'd rush over to the Monster Realm herself.

He gripped his sword tightly. "Archers, take high positions! Aim at its eyes! Try to blind it."

Archers rushed to obey, spreading out on the field and climbing up on the rocky formations.

"If you have some elven wisdom on how to defeat it, I'd be happy to hear it now," Alistair said.

"There is a way, but…" Illitran said and looked at Elowen, who was staring firmly at the drake.

"We have to kill it from the inside out," the silver elf finished. "Unless you happen to be an incredible water or ice mage."

"Of course…" Alistair said with a resigned sigh. He could tell that drake's hide might as well have been solid steel. His flimsy sword could never hope to pierce it.

"M-Maybe, I can help," Leon suddenly spoke up, his voice trembling.

Alistair looked at him skeptically. It was honestly a miracle that the man hadn't run away screaming yet.

"There's lots of water around here… M-Maybe we can use it to our advantage. I can redirect it and freeze it."

Elowen scratched his chin in thought. "How much water can you move at once?"

"N-Not much… About a barrel's worth…"

What are we supposed to do with merely a barrel of water? Give it a gentle splash?

Sienna roared as the drake suddenly dug its massive tusks into the ground and flung a giant rock in her direction. The wyrm barely managed to dodge, jumping to the side. However, as she did, Sienna lost balance and fell to the ground.

Alistair activated <Lightning Dash>, zipping to the scene in three swift flashes of lightning. He didn't hesitate and activated <Impenetrable Aegis>, manifesting a giant protective shield around the wyrm.

Crackjaw drake crashed into it, but wasn't able to break through. Unfortunately, this wasn't a skill Alistair could use as he wished. He had unlocked it only recently, and the cost was great—he could only use it once per day. In return, it blocked all incoming damage.

Thankfully, that moment had been enough for Sienna to regain her bearing. She jumped to her feet and threw a blazing fireball at the drake, taunting it to follow her.

Before Alistair could give chase, Elowen ran up to him and grabbed his hand. "You can use lightning magic?"

"Not quite. I have skills that produce lightning damage."

"Not ideal, but I think it should be enough. I have a plan."

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