[Author’s Note] I’m feeling great because the early subscriptions are slowly increasing, and I’m getting a lot of recommendations. I read all the comments, so please leave plenty of them!
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Chapter 9: Elixir027 – Elixir #3
The little brother of one of the two masters of the Southern Forest.
Yan-Mite, the scaly tracker, lived in a massive cave carved into a cliff.
That dark, ominous hole looked like Hell had decided to open its maw and swallow everything up. Giant stalactites hung down like the fangs of a monstrous beast, ready to chomp on unsuspecting prey.
With my eyes accustomed to the darkness, I could clearly see countless bones, teeth, and claw remnants littering the floor.
Those were probably the signs of prey that had entered but never left this cave.
Among them was a skull that could have easily been three or four times the size of my head. I couldn’t tell for sure just from the bones, but it looked like it could have belonged to a massive bear or tiger.
‘Truly a house worthy of the apex predator. And what a vast place! I wonder where this cave ends?’
“Oh man, there are just SO. MANY. BONES!” Leaf squeaked out in a tiny voice. I worried that getting on the house owner’s bad side might make us the next meal.
Red eyes glinted from various corners of the cave. I spotted enormous lizards extending their tongues with a loud slurp.
“They’re not food. At least, today they’re my guests. You can eat them after you leave the cave tomorrow,” Yan-Mite remarked, and the lizards retreated, clearly disappointed.
“They’re greedy creatures, you see. But while you’re here, just relax. You shouldn’t have to worry about being attacked.”
He might have said that to comfort us small critters, but Leaf and I silently agreed that we would bolt out of the cave the minute we stepped outside tomorrow.
“So this is the fabled elixir?”
Yan-Mite reached over and grabbed the glass bottle from me with his thick fingers. He rattled it around, checking it out, then skillfully popped the lid off.
“Whoa, that smells absolutely horrendous! And it’s so dark! Drinking this will definitely give me a tummy ache for several days. What on Earth is it made of? Do you know?”
I broke out in a cold sweat at the thought of revealing that my bodily fluids had gone into its creation. Animals’ senses can be tricky, and I imagined they’d get mad if they found out the ingredient was me.
As I fidgeted nervously, the dinosaur let out a dismissive hmph.
“Well, it’s not like it’s made from ordinary weird ingredients. It’s a potion made by the witch Eve. So maybe it’s good not knowing. Finding out can sometimes ruin the usefulness of things. Best to down it quickly like medicine by holding your breath.”
He casually tossed the bottle into his mouth, making crunching sounds as he chewed it up.
“Ooh! Surprisingly tasty! I feel an incredible rush of energy. I can literally feel new flesh growing inside me! It’s been ages since I felt like this, except for my childhood. How about you? Are your wounds regenerating?”
Yan-Mite turned his back to show me his long scar, which ran across his scales on his back and neck. I hadn’t had a chance to inspect him when we first met, but it was a massive claw mark.
Oh, how lovely! Pink flesh squirmed up from that wound, which looked kind of gross but also fascinating.
As I grimaced, Yan-Mite started to babble about how he got it.
“This wound happened not too long ago. Thanks to that Kublai’s talent, my healing was delayed. What a bothersome creature! But in turn, he must be suffering with a serious injury, too. I don’t know who did it, but he was bleeding heavily between his legs.”
I realized that the wound on Kublai’s body was one I had inflicted. Knowing he was in pain gave me a boost of confidence and a hint of schadenfreude.
“Fantastic! It seems your wound is healing nicely. You look revitalized!”
Yan-Mite slammed his thick tail against the ground, and the sound echoed through the cave like thunder.
That simple act felt like it ruptured the air, and I thought my ears might pop.
Leaf even covered his ears with his tiny front paws.
Feeling this unstoppable power, Yan-Mite kept swinging his tail back and forth, smashing bones and skulls as the stalagmites crumbled like crumbs.
“Hmm…”
At that moment, something crimson quickly darted between the piles of bones. Yan-Mite paused and let out a disgruntled growl.
“Ant critters? Are they still lurking in this cave?”
“Ants?”
At my question, Yan-Mite lifted a skull from the bone pile, revealing an ant the size of my forearm, lifting its front legs menacingly.
“Zzzt!”
Its mandibles clicked together, making a sound as menacing as a prison gate slamming shut.
“Get lost!”
Yan-Mite casually pressed his paw down on the ant, which burst like a balloon, splattering everywhere.
“This cave was originally an ant nest. They’re still hiding all over the place. I need to k*ll their queen, but she’s hiding in the underground. I’ve blocked her from coming up with all these bones.”
He swept bones aside with his tail, revealing a massive, tunnel-like opening, just like Leaf’s treehouse entrance.
A gust of wind whooshed through, and I could hear a shuffling sound echoing faintly.
“I wish I could just go in there and k*ll her myself, but my friends and I aren’t big enough to fit in there. If you were my size, I’d have you handle it.”
“Yeah, it’d definitely be impossible for your size to fit in that hole. No other entrances?”
“None. I’ve searched every nook of the cave, and this is the only tunnel leading underground. So I’m asking you, how about you go into the ant nest and take out the queen? You look strong enough to handle a few ants.”
“Um, well…”
I didn’t want to say no outright, but I felt the strong urge to keep my mouth shut. Refusing a dinosaur’s request could get me eaten out of spite.
While I contemplated in my head, the dinosaur gestured with his jaw. Lizard-like figures crawled out from the corner.
On his back was a long, mushroom-like growth. Upon closer inspection, it was a massive fungus that had released spores on the ant.
“I don’t eat plants, so I don’t need it, but you or the raccoon might. What do you say? I’ll reward you with this.”
“No, that….”
“It’s a Cordyceps mushroom! And it’s HUGE!”
Just as I was hesitating to refuse, Leaf the raccoon interrupted me.
His eyes sparkled with excitement as if he had spotted a divine artifact.
“I never thought I’d see this in person. Absolutely fantastic! It’s so amazing…”
“What’s that?” I asked, and Leaf turned his head to look at me.
“Don’t you know what Cordyceps are? They are a very rare mushroom. It can instantly evolve the creature that eats it!”
“You sure know your stuff, Leaf. I’ve never seen a fungus this big, either. But sadly, my friends and I don’t really mesh well with these mushrooms.”
Yan-Mite grinned, revealing his sharp teeth. It looked menacing, but I thought it might be a smile.
“Instantly evolving is indeed quite an impressive feat, huh…?”
Hearing that made the fungus atop the insect seem both gross and valuable at the same time.
Considering Leaf’s reaction and the confident way Yan-Mite was offering it as a reward, it seemed to be worth way more than any ginseng I’d ever seen when I was human.
“Evolve, instantly evolve…”
I reminisced about the moment I grew incredibly strong through evolution.
Sure, my experience points had dropped, and leveling up had slowed since then, but if I ate that, I might just level up and evolve again!
“So I just need to k*ll the queen ant?”
“Yes, just doing that will force them to abandon their burrow and relocate. They’ll probably head to the Northern Forest since that place is full of creatures with long legs.”
I pondered, resting my chin in my paw.
I had a gem that chased away insects.
I didn’t know what the ant nest was like, but with that gem, driving off the bugs would be a piece of cake.
—
“Why are you following me too? This narrow tunnel seems even narrower with you around.”
As I crawled through the tunnel with the sodden floor, Leaf popped up behind me.
“Well, I can’t just stay alone with those giant lizards until morning, can I? Going into the ant nest seems better.”
“That’s true.”
Continuing to crawl, I went deeper into the tunnel, occasionally encountering huge ants blocking my path. But when I shone the crystal at them, they squealed and scurried away.
“Piece of cake! Just gotta keep moving like this.”
According to Yan-Mite, the queen ant was hiding deep underground in a wide chamber, laying her eggs.
We encountered several forks in the road, but Leaf guided me, directing which way to go.
“You’ll see spots where sticky, gooey stuff is spread about. That’s usually the pathway to the queen’s room.”
“Are you sure about that?”
He seemed pretty knowledgeable, but his nervous demeanor made me hesitant to trust him entirely.
“I’m right four out of five times. The queen ant nurtures wildlings in her chamber, apparently. She extracts their fluids to aid in her egg-laying. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship.”
“Looks like quite the symbiotic relationship.”
I recalled how ants huddle with aphids, benefiting each other. It seemed wildlings had taken the place of aphids in this world.
“I’ll have to eat all the wildlings too! Hehe! If there are many, I could always take one back with me.”
As I chuckled to myself, I heard Leaf’s voice from behind.
“Symbiosis! What a grand term. So can we say you and I are in a symbiotic relationship? Helping one another like this?”
“Helping? You have me tangled up in all this troublesome nonsense. If you keep being a hassle, I might just eat you up!”
“Wait, what…?”
I heard the sound of Leaf’s spirit deflating.
Honestly, I preferred him like this — quieter and subdued — rather than his usual chattering self.
“If you stay a bit more quiet and well-behaved, I might consider keeping you as a pet.”
Of course, that was a wild thought. Trying to take care of someone else when surviving in this jungle was reckless.
Leaving behind the mopey raccoon, I continued down the ant nest. After crawling a while, I finally stumbled upon a wide, spacious path where I could stand up.
“Oh, finally some fresh air!”
The cramped surroundings had me feeling like I’d suddenly been diagnosed with claustrophobia. It was still narrow, but seeing a spot where I could stand felt like a breath of fresh air.
“Eeeek, eeeek!”
“Eeeek!”
As cute sounds reached my ears, I couldn’t help but curl my mouth into a grin. They were definitely calling out to me!
I boldly made my way towards the source of the noise.
As I continued, the ants in my path shrieked in panic at the blue crystal light and hurriedly scurried away.
Finally, I entered a room filled to the brim with white droplets.
“What in the world is all this?”
Leaf gawped in amazement. I too was stunned, nodding profusely at the sight of all the wildlings filling the narrow chamber.
“Awesome! So good!”
There were about nine of them. Upon my entry, the ants that had been tending to the wildlings scuttled back, retreating into the tunnel.
“Eeeek! Eeeek!”
The white wildlings clung to my and Leaf’s paws.
“How cute! I hear white wildlings are extremely rare! They only eat fruits and juices. They feel so soft! Cool to the touch!”
Leaf picked one up and squished it, stretching and bouncing it like a rubber ball, causing it to let out an adorable eeek!
I couldn’t resist grabbing one myself.
“They only eat fruits and juices?”
That sure sounded delicious!
The black ones were tasty, and the blue-skinned ones from the witch had a delightful sweetness, but I was super curious about what this white one might taste like.
I gripped the wildling tightly, preparing to take a big bite. The wildling squirmed around in my grasp.
“What do you think you’re doing!?”
