“Ha… I’ve finally managed to somewhat isolate the lake.” The dryad sighed while appearing next to Shiro.
“Mn, what about the liquified essence? What will you do with that?” Shiro asked.
“Since the town is still somewhat polluted, even if I was to return the essence back to the town, it’d only get eaten away by the corruption. Plus, with the lake nearby, it’ll be dangerous to return the essence back to the land especially since we don’t know what it does.” The dryad frowned.
“Well we know one thing and that is that it’s highly toxic to spirits. If we so much as approach it, we’ll die.” Shiro sighed.
“Indeed. Thankfully, it doesn’t seem to be spreading but we can’t be sure about what it’s use is. The best course of action is probably to give up on this area and evacuate the people in the town first then monitor this after.” The dryad suggested.
“Mn, it’s probably best to look for people with the talents of Dimos so that they can accurately determine what is wrong with the lake.” Shiro narrowed her eyes before turning towards the city.
“In the meantime, I need to make my way to the Section of Sky so that I can get my first divinity.” She muttered as she was rather idle during the last fight. If she had a divinity, she could have increased their chances of victory and potentially killed the dread sapling before it escaped.
Shaking her head, Shiro made her way to the town. She was going to ask Dimos about going to the Section of Sky right now. If he can’t then she’ll have to go on her own. Now that her body is entirely healed and she had Artemis’ Bow, travelling across the world to the Section of Sky shouldn’t be too hard.
Dashing through the forest, Shiro saw Dimos talking with Lena.
“Yo, what are you two talking about?” Shiro asked curiously.
“Oh, it’s nothing much. Just talking about having some people stationed around here to monitor the lake for any suspicious activities. Since Lena has quite a few connections around the world, she’ll be able to ask for help.” Dimos replied with a smile.
“I see… the dryad said that we should probably evacuate the townsfolk to another place while we can since there is a slim possibility that the lake could expand.”
Hearing this, Dimos furrowed his brows.
“That is indeed a possibility… But it’s rather difficult to move this many people to another place. Plus, there is a severe lack of food so the journey is going to be difficult. Plus, the closer we get to the centre, the more dangerous it is for us to hunt for food. The only choice left is for them to go to the Section of Night but unless they find a big town, they’re still going to struggle for food. It’ll tough but if we try our best, I think we can pull through with everyone surviving through this ordeal.” Dimos smiled.
“That’s good but I need to talk to you about something else. Remember at the start when I said I’ll become your assistant in return for you to help me get to the Section of Sky? I think I might need to part ways with you here. With how I am currently, it shouldn’t be too hard for me to travel to the Section of Sky.” Shiro said while looking down at her hands.
“Ah right… if we go back to the Section of Night, it’ll take much longer for you to reach the Section of Sky. You still need to find the tower and complete it too.” Dimos paused for a moment before nodding.
“Ok, I’ll go get a few maps for you so that it’ll be easier for you. It’ll tell you how to get to the Section of Sky along with where the Tower of Nike is located. If you make your way to the next town, I can have them deliver it to you through a messenger.”
“How will they know it’s me though?” Shiro raised her eyebrows.
“You’ll get a token of sorts since this service is created through divinity. All you need to do is keep that token on you since the messenger tracks you using that token. Once the service is complete, the token disappears.” Dimos chuckled.
“Oh? How do you do that? Can you show me?” Shiro asked as this would be handy to use in the future.
“It’s not hard but we’ll need to go into town and I doubt you want that.” Dimos glanced at the town awkwardly.
“Don’t worry though, you’ll find out how to do it in the next town easily. When you collect the maps from the messenger, just ask him to teach you and he’ll do it for free since it means more business for him.”
“How would I pay?” Shiro asked.
“You’ll need pay by sending the money when you make the request so that they know you are not pulling wool over their eyes. They’re trustworthy so it’s ok.”
After talking to Dimos for a little longer, Shiro was told to wait here for a moment while Dimos ordered the two maps for her.
Waiting for around 20 minutes or so, she saw Dimos in the distance.
“I’ve done it for you. Keep this token on you and when you’re in the next town, the messenger will give you the two maps. I’ll give you this map for now so that you don’t lose your way to the next town as you’re not familiar.” Dimos smiled, handing her a map and a bronze token that had two wings carved on both the front and back.
“Thank you. How much did you have to pay for the maps?” Shiro asked.
“No need to pay me for them. Think of it as a farewell gift.” Dimos chuckled.
“Are you sure?” Shiro raised her eyebrow.
“Yes I’m sure. When are you going to leave for the next town?”
“Probably now. I need to get to the Section of Sky as soon as possible.” Shiro shrugged.
“I see… Well in that case then I wish you luck. It’s only been a short while but I’ve enjoyed having you help me with my lessons.” Dimos smiled.
“Mn, it’s been fun for me too. Stay safe out there ok?” Shiro nodded her head and gave him a small wave. Looking at the map, Shiro memorised everything and started to walk towards the direction of the next town. Since there weren’t too many obstacles on the way there, Shiro figured that she could probably walk in a straight line and arrive within a week or so.
Normally, if one was to follow the road, they would need to take a winding path which would extend the time it took but it would be a safe path. On the other hand, if she was to take the path through the forest, she could hunt and get some food.
However, the moment she thought of this point, Shiro paused in her footsteps. Due to the fact that they were in the Section of Life, she could not kill the monsters as most of them were harmless. If she did, the forest would try to kill her.
“Dryad.” Shiro called out.
“Hello?”
Seeing the Dryad appear next to the tree, Shiro turned towards her.
“Do you happen to know what I can eat on the way to the next town? I can’t exactly hunt the monsters in this place so is there something that I can eat in the forest?” Shiro asked with a forced smile.
“There is. But it’s mostly plants and I doubt it’ll be enough for you. Thankfully for you, since we’re on the outskirts of the Section of Life, the influence of the tower isn’t that strong so I can bless you with a pardon. It allows you to hunt one monster every two days so you’ll need to be careful of which monster you hunt. This pardon will lose effectiveness the closer you are to the centre so you’ll need to be careful.” The dryad smiled.
Since Shiro tried her best in resolving the problem about the dread sapling even though it didn’t go as planned, the dryad wasn’t against giving her some help.
Closing her eyes, the dryad raised her hand and drew a Sigil in the air.
Shattering into dust, Shiro watched as this dust wrapped around her before flickering away.
“This gives you the same benefits as the monsters in the forest so you can hunt without worry. But remember, one monster per two days or else you will be attacked by the forest.” The dryad cautioned as Shiro nodded her head.
“Thank you for your help.”
“No problem young spirit. I wish you luck on your journey.” The dryad chuckled.
With the final problem out of the way, Shiro made her way towards the next town.
There were some small problems on her journey such as not being able to kill a monster due to the fact that she had already killed something else but she was able to push through and travel through the different forests that she passed on her way there.
After a week of travel, she could finally see the town in the distance.
