CHAPTER 1374: NO CARE FOR UNCOMMON

"We will have to extract that one ourselves,” Evee said after checking the plant the undead had found. In general, all herbs above the common rating needed a certain level in , otherwise there was a drop in quality leading to a worse potion effect, or even the brewing process to fail.

The reason they left most sample gathering to the undead was that they didn't really care for uncommon and many rare herbs. Unless it was a high-quality herb like the , they were okay with small, slightly lower quality samples, since it was not their main objective.

Although they wanted to get potion ingredients, this part of their mission was more explorative than exploitative. Depending on their findings, they may set up a Tree Station in this place in the future, but that was way further down the line. Collecting the ingredients was more of a side quest, while they were looking for a Hangingtree, even when it was the part that the alchemist and the witch were most excited for.

“Alright, everyone, get on the chopper. We are going out to harvest,” Alison instructed after Evee explained what the undead had found. Although it was a side mission, it was one of the only two reasons for the team to step inside the green hell.

“Finally!” the elven blood spoke out of Lyxiss. She was probably as excited to get into the woods as the two tonic enthusiasts.

“Where are Jess and James?” Evee asked, although they all knew where they were and what they were doing. She only asked first, so it would be her who had to get them.

“Edward, could you call the two?” Alison asked the brother of the necromancer without mercy. The faer's expression made it quite clear that he disliked it as much as everyone else, but he took the task with a grim nod. But when he was about to knock on the door, it already opened on its own.

“No need, no need. We are here,” James came out, followed by Jess. Both were already wearing their full loadout. Only the disheveled hair bore witness to what they did inside. It wasn't like the others didn't understand, but did they have to do it all the time while they were out in No Man's Land?

“Since everyone is here, let's go,” Alison ended that topic and asked everyone to get in the shuttle. According to Evee, the was a little more than 60 km northeast of their camp. Since the undead were bringing back a rare herb it found, it was much closer than expected.

Using their flying bus, it was barely a distance that needed to be mentioned. Setting off from the foothills of the Central Mountain Range, the party rose in the sky. Below them was the vast sea of trees. Although they had spent the past two days looking at it from their camp, it was still a sight to behold when flying over it.

“Oh wow, what is that?” They had a peaceful 15 minutes in the air, when James' eyes locked on what looked like a tree crown that came alive. A mass of swirling leaves, reminding them of Seth's description of the wolf-shaped meat grinders, was rising from the green ocean.

“I have never seen a beast like that,” Lyxiss said, fascinated, watching a creature emerge from the tree and trying to follow the shuttle.

A bird-shaped cloud of whirling leaves was emerging from the trees like a tidal wave, aiming for the shuttle, only to be shot down by a quickly cast fireball. It's a high-pitched flutter, the bird made of leaves turned into a tragic phoenix, as the flames greedily swallowed its body.

“It looks exotic, but it doesn't stand much,” Jess, who wanted to test the beast with a simple fireball, said, a little disappointed. Well, what was she supposed to expect from a lv.45 beast(?).

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“Aww, I wanted to observe it a little longer...” the part-elf said, also a little disappointed. The burning cloud of leaves had quickly turned to ashes and fell back below the tree cover.

“Sorry, I didn't expect it to just poof...” Jess apologized to the sad Lyxiss.

“It looked like a mix of plants and wind. What did you expect would happen to it if you ignited it?” James commented jokingly.

“I mean.. Obviously, not that it would just poof,” Jess defended herself.

“Enough with the bickering, we are arriving soon,” Evee said from the driver's seat. She didn't even get to see the new monster, so she didn't feel like listening to their regrets about killing it too quickly.

Overall, they needed roughly 40 minutes to reach the small mountains, which looked like a boulder dropped in the middle of the forest. It had a distinctive crack going roughly through the middle, creating the gorge Evee had seen through her subordinate.

Despite expecting the forest to be filled with monsters, they had only met one on the way, and there were no signs of anything in the vicinity of the rock. Normally, that meant this was the territory of a monster that kept others away, but Evee's undead was still alive, staring at the .

The shuttle lowered onto the bald top of the split rock, which had so far resisted being covered in lush green vegetation. Next, Evee opened a portal to her personal Hades below the shuttle, dropping a horde of her experimental undead monsters on the rock to secure the vicinity.

The obscure creatures Evee had gained from their battle with the Maestro of the Adventurer Guild's Holy Land were still her favorite force. Not only were they highly varied and adaptive, but they had also grown neatly since she took possession of them.

“Always makes me feel useless when I see her open that gate,” Edward mumbled, getting a sympathetic nod from James. The two were here as the tanks and physical damage dealers of the party, but most of their roles were substituted by Evee's undead army.

Moving with impeccable coordination, the undead combed through the nearby forest, and a mage zombie set up a protective barrier surrounding the field of flowers and the . While they were waiting for Evee's okay, there was a huge explosion in the nearby forest, as it was swallowed by violet flames and heavy black smoke.

“Looks like something tried to ambush the Lurker,” the necromancer commented. The Lurker was her name for one of the undead experiments, which looked like a buff, upright walking newt. It was armored like a crocodile, and the Maestro had somehow given it the ability to not just breathe, but explode in cursed flames.

Not only was their team smartly chosen based on the forest's weakness to fire, but Evee had also made sure to send out the most effective undead to secure the place. A few minutes and some smaller incidents later, the Chosen of Persephone gave her okay. The undead had secured the complete perimeter of the rocky mountain.

Their shuttle came to a halt above the crack, and the team lowered down into the barrier set up by the zombie sorcerer. While Alison quickly harvested the , Evee began working on the .

itself was already a good ingredient, but there was an even better use for it, to let it bloom artificially. By supplying the root with various potions and tonics, a skilled alchemist or witch could actually tame the creature it would turn into upon blooming.

The Forest Sage was a powerful monster in its own right, making it a good option for a pet. But it reached its full potential as the pet of an alchemist or herbalist. As a plant-based caster, the Forest Sage was a renewable source of alchemy materials, especially strong Mana Recovery and Mana Reinforcement Potions.

This was why it was of utmost importance to harvest the alive to replant it in Minas Mar's herb gardens. As for who would get the new pet, they had already decided that Alison would take the Forest Sage, since Evee already had her undead and was not fully committed to the alchemist profession.

There were no difficulties in the harvesting process, and they were able to quickly load the herbs on the shuttle. Even the human-sized bulb was quickly loaded, and they were ready to leave. As Evee collected her troop of monsters back, she also released another horde of zombies, which would continue to scout the forest further, starting from this place. With that, they were ready to return.

“Couldn't we make a little detour to see what happened to your zombie that vanished? Since we are already in the air, I mean,” Lyxiss suggested once the shuttle was back in the air. it seemed like the quarter-elf still had not had enough of flying around the forest.

“I am a little curious,” Evee agreed with her.

“Well, fine, then let's go take a look,” Alison said after some hesitation.