Chapter 24

In the low-level area, where leveling up is relatively fast, Daisy's growth rate was terrifying.

She had progressed from splitting a small flame into four and dealing with each one individually to being able to split it into two and handle them.

Around this time, Mesquite began teaching Daisy about coordinated combat.

Until then, the goal had been to quickly improve Daisy's combat skills, so she had been left to fight on her own. However, Mesquite explained that for future battles, it was important to understand each team member's abilities and work together harmoniously.

Of course, I agreed with this, so I listened intently when Daisy was being trained. You never know when or how the knowledge you pick up might come in handy.

Mesquite, who served as the team's shield, had a strong resistance to fire, unlike Daisy, who would suffer burns from even a slight touch. Mesquite explained that he wouldn't be injured by ordinary flames.

However, Mesquite's speed was slower than Daisy's, so while he could stand like an old tree and draw the flames' attention, he would be vulnerable if the number of flames increased and he received continuous attacks.

Mesquite's attack power was far superior to Daisy's, but his speed in transitioning to the next attack was slower compared to Daisy, who could fly around and wield two daggers with ease. If Daisy's attack power significantly increased, they would form an excellent sword and shield team.

Watching Daisy deliberately split the flames into four for training, I glanced at Elder, who seemed a bit left out.

Meanwhile, Elder's level had also risen, as evidenced by the increased amount of golden embroidery on his white robe. It looked even more splendid than when I first saw him, almost as if it was self-illuminating. I had to resist the urge to touch the patterns.

“Why aren't you training?”

“Mesquite and I have good synergy.”

“No! Daisy is here too.”

“It won't be necessary to sync up once that kid gets stronger. Then I'll only need to focus on Mesquite.”

What did he mean by that? I thought they had gotten along better, but was there still some lingering resentment? From his expression, it didn't seem so.

I soon understood the reason. Fire attracts more fire. Before Daisy could finish off the four split flames, new ones appeared.

Somehow, Mesquite stopped Daisy from attacking and told her to split the remaining flames into four. Daisy looked confused but followed Mesquite's firm instructions.

The small flames split and split until there were twelve, all emitting flames like a fireworks display.

When Mesquite raised his lance high into the sky, a yellow sandstorm began to fall. While Daisy circled around, avoiding attacks, all the flames surrounded Mesquite.

Elder's staff was fixed on Mesquite. Mesquite's black armor, which didn't even show signs of scorching, was clearly resistant to the flames.

In contrast to Daisy, who flew around, Elder supported Mesquite with ease. Unlike the previous battle, where small lights exploded continuously, large lights occasionally hit Mesquite.

Once the tank draws all the aggro, the healer only needs to focus on the tank. That's what it meant.

With no attacks coming her way, Daisy calmly extinguished the flames one by one. Her face looked much more relaxed compared to the previous, more challenging battles.

“While it would be nice if we always faced a small number of enemies, that's not always the case. In severe situations, we might be surrounded by many flames. Flames covered in sand will target me, but once the sand is gone, they will attack Daisy or take unpredictable actions. You need to prioritize your attacks and learn how to deal with the flames surrounding me.”

The last small flame, covered in sand, was spewing fire at Mesquite. Thanks to Elder's timely healing, Mesquite barely took any damage. The flame might have been cursing inwardly.

Daisy calmly waited for the sand to fall off. Once the sand was gone, the flame moved away from Mesquite and was quickly impaled by a dagger.

Watching the well-coordinated team, I felt a sense of pride.

People of the world! Look at my perfect deck! Although I'm the team's wallet.

Thinking about it, I had been lucky with my draws and had a balanced team, but what if I had three offensive Dryads or no healing Dryad?

I could afford to bring three Dryads on this journey because of my diamonds, but how would a Druid with only one Dryad fight?

Unfortunately, I hadn't seen any other Druids since leaving the village. I wanted to see how other Druids fought and if I could team up with them.

We had spent too much time in one area, and there were no more flames left. We had cleared the hunting ground like a bulldozer.

While it was good for the terrarium, it was disappointing for me, who was aiming to level up.

We walked further to find new prey, but Daisy could now one-shot the flames without splitting them, and as a result, leveling up had slowed down. This meant that this place was no longer a suitable hunting ground.

When I asked Elder how far we had come, he said we still had a long way to go. We hadn't even reached a quarter of the distance, which made me feel exhausted. Mesquite opposed going further because the further we moved from the village, the less influence the World Tree's branch would have, and stronger and more numerous flames would appear. It was too early to go that far.

Honestly, I wanted to find a higher-level hunting ground and level up quickly, but there was a risk of encountering a boss-level enemy.

Should we stay here longer despite the slow progress? But the thought of grinding made me feel a bit lazy.

While thinking about this and fiddling with the diamonds in my pocket, I noticed a blurry figure of a flame in the distance. Mesquite had also noticed it and was considering whether to go after it or let it disappear.

“Flames can lure people, Jay. We're still within the influence of the World Tree's branch, so we can relax, but the flames outside are very cunning. They lure people closer, but by then it's too late. You end up walking into a trap surrounded by many flames. In short, those flames are bait.”

Do flames have brains too? That's creepy. It seemed Mesquite wanted to ignore the flame, but I felt a bit disappointed. To me, the flame was just a lump of experience points. If I could lure it over, what would happen?

I took out a diamond I had been rolling in my pocket. I thought it was the right size and weight to throw far. It felt like throwing a rock.

Since our team didn't have a Dryad with ranged skills, I thought about throwing something to draw aggro.

I subtly dropped the diamond, stretching my shoulder a bit. I used to be called the king of dodgeball in school, so I was still confident.

I threw the diamond. Elder's eyes followed the sparkling diamond with terrifying speed.

“Are you crazy? Why did you throw that?”

As expected, Elder scolded me. If I had been as reluctant to part with a diamond as Elder, I might have been called crazy. But since I had no immediate use for the diamonds, I could afford to spend them freely.

The diamond, following a parabolic trajectory, fell short of the flame. I felt a bit disappointed. Should I throw it again? My unused shoulder felt a bit stiff after the throw.

Surprisingly, the flame reacted. It moved toward the diamond with a creepy, slug-like body at full speed.

It was more frantic than when it had noticed Daisy or Mesquite. Its obsession with the diamond was so strong that my jaw dropped. What could a flame do with a diamond?

The wriggling flame swallowed the diamond. Then... I couldn't believe my eyes. Just like a small flame that had inflicted significant damage on Daisy and then grew to the size of a backpack, this flame suddenly grew much larger.

“What the hell is that? Why is it growing? Did I just feed the flame with a diamond? This isn't some game where you feed an egg to raise it, so why is it growing?”

Mesquite looked awkward at my actions. It was like the expression of a lab assistant when I deviated from the experiment manual out of curiosity and the results were off by 3000%.