Friya used her communication amulet to perform a conference call with the army, the Association, and Javvok's authorities. She was the guild master of the Crystal Shield, after all, and it was her guild that had taken the job and performed such an important discovery.
Friya wanted to make sure that she would receive proper recognition since in her line of work reputation was everything.
"I bet that the army's upper echelons now regret having suspended you." Lith said, trying to cheer Phloria up.
"I wish. It's still a small matter for someone of my rank." She replied. "I'm more worried about them thinking that if you're feeling fine enough to do free-lance work, then you're also good enough to resume duty. They could revoke your leave."
Lith cussed. He hadn't thought about the possibility, otherwise he would have asked Friya to leave him out of her report.
"It's almost lunchtime. It's better we go back to the Golden Dragon. This is a vacation and we are here to spend some quality time together, not to work." Friya said once the call was over.
She wasn't happy at all about the recent developments. Sure, the mission had been a total success, but it also risked to kick a hornet nest. She was afraid that being the one who had reported the issue, she would also be tasked to investigate the matter.
It was the first time in four years that she managed to spend more than a few hours together with her sisters and her best friend. Friya just wanted to sit back and relax.
They Warped back to the city and enjoyed a slow, pleasant meal like it hadn't happened in ages. Away from their parents, their commanding officers, and nothing to worry about, they could finally catch up with each other properly.
The only sour note for Lith was that Kamila was working hard and she couldn't join them. She didn't even know if she could make it for dinner since the more successful her investigation was, the busier she would get.
"What are our plans for the afternoon?" Lith asked.
"I don't know you, but I'll take a long bath first, then a short nap. We can meet in a couple of hours to go back to the Rothar caves and search for Phloria's ingredients." Friya said while drinking way more wine than she would usually do.
"Yeah, there's no rush." Phloria sighed. "Natural treasures are very hard to find. We're likely to just have a long stroll in the woods and find nothing to bring back home. I always use ingredients as an excuse when I want to stay alone for a while."
"Well, that's because very few people know where to look." Quylla giggled.
"What do you mean? I've excellent senses, yet even at the academy I never found anything." Lith said.
"Well, of course you didn't. The academy's forest is rich in natural resources, but you aren't the only one who searched for them. There were the other students, the academy staff, the magical beasts, and even outsiders.
"Even if you stumbled into a good spot, since it was likely to be close to the academy, it had been already cleaned out of everything useful. The same stands for the forest outside Javvok.
"If we go where everyone goes, we're bound to find nothing."
"What makes you so confident about your skills?" Phloria asked. In all of her strolls, she had found a couple of semi-precious herbs, but nothing more. If not for the fact that natural treasures were available on the market, she would think they were just a myth.
"As I told you earlier, I'm friends with some of the plant folk who live in the academy's forest. They taught me everything I know." Quylla put down the silverware inside her plate for the waiter to collect it.
She would have liked to eat more, but now that her growth spurt was over, she had to watch her weight. Eating recklessly would now make her grow larger instead of taller.
"Natural treasures only grow in places abundant with world energy, similar to what happens with mana crystals. If you find a flower still blooming past its season, it's likely to be evolving into a natural treasure.
"World energy seeps out from the ground, so the most magically talented plants can absorb it along with their nourishment. If they are talented and lucky enough, they can even gain consciousness."
"Wait! So every time someone picks a natural treasure they are potentially killing a plant folk?" Friya was flabbergasted, looking at the salad in her side dishes with an almost guilty look.
"Yes. Just like every time one eats a chicken, it might have become a powerful magical beast." Quylla shrugged. "Don't sweat it. Plants themselves don't care about it. Who do you think supplies the academy of the most precious ingredients?"
They all remembered how the Dryad had given Lith plenty of natural treasures to save her sister, so Quylla's words actually made sense.
'Too bad that she gave me top grade ingredients when I was still an apprentice. I still have to find something worth using them. I can't waste the opportunity of a lifetime for a crappy item.
'Luckily for me, as long as they are inside my pocket dimension, they can't rot.' Lith thought.
"The fight for survival is gruesome even for plants, it's just that it happens so slowly that us humans don't notice it." Quylla said. "They have to fight among themselves for sunlight, water, and nutrients. Not to mention parasites, fungi, and insects.
"Some plants even feed upon each other, which even once they evolve makes them psychopaths, at least according to human standards. They are really interesting fellows."
"Have they ever told you about crystal folks? After all, they follow the same principle. I've always wondered if mana crystals can gain sentience too." Lith asked.
"No, they didn't, but I never asked. I don't think it's possible. Plants are alive to start with, whereas crystals are just solidified energy masses. If it was possible, I think miners would have met crystal folks and we would have studied them at the academy, like all the other races." Quylla replied.
Even though it was a logical conclusion, her answer didn't convince Lith. Quylla was unaware of the existence of mana cores, nor she knew that powerful crystals acted exactly like one.
There were too many secrets the Griffon Kingdom covered and the academy's teachings were incomplete. Undead were considered just monsters, while Faluel had told him that they were full members of the Council.
'I guess that if sentient crystals were Awakened, they would be part of the Council. So either crystals can't Awaken or they are simply objects.' Lith thought.
Everyone followed Friya's lead, washing away their fatigue from the morning before taking some well-deserved rest.
'This is so boring!' Lith thought once he was finished bathing. Solus was mind glaring at him just because he was using Accumulation and had already prevented him from taking his notes out of their pocket dimension.
'Rest, not work.' She ordered.
Kamila's rune was offline, so she wasn't available to talk, leaving him with very few options.
Lith spent the rest of the time using Accumulation and playing with Solus at the most disparate games while talking about trivial things like their favorite books.
He ended up enjoying it, especially once he realized that even though they knew each other so well, because of their mind link they rarely talked about anything but work.
