Grace's lips repeatedly twitched as she stared at the welcoming committee that stood before her. Dan and Natalie wore weird looks and only Juliet remained indifferent. One of the men who saw the newly-arrived people walked forward. Clad in a pinkish robe which exposed his tight pecs. His stature looked domineering, yet he gave off a strange sensation which sent a chill down Dan's spine.
"Ermm, hello there..." Dan awkwardly greeted and the bulky man glanced at him for a moment before darting his gaze at Grace. "So you're the newbie? Welcome to the Mirthful Fairies Association, as for your companions, I'm gonna ask them to leave..." His expression turned cold and Grace suffused an apologetic expression towards Dan's direction.
"Since we're not welcome here, we can't just force ourselves inside, can we?" Dan shrugged and respected the man's decisions and after Natalie said her farewells and wishes for her sister, she went with Dan and Juliet in a quest to enjoy her remaining two days on vacation.
The bulky man's expression softened upon witnessing that Dan and Natalie's visage were nowhere to be seen. His gaze swept over at Grace's direction before saying, "I am sorry about that, newbie, but our current situation right now is so perilous that we cannot allow entrance for strangers..."
Grace waved her hand off and apologized in return. The bulky man who noticed her respectful and gentle manner couldn't help but become moved as he introduced himself.
His name was Kevin Alvarez, though he looked imposing earlier, his position inside the Mirthful Fairies Association was merely an employee.
The Mirthful Fairies Association mainly dealt with medicinal ingredients necessary for alchemy, so they looked for people that had a natural affinity with plants and preferably gentle looking ones. After instructing her with the basics, he left Grace alone by herself to tend with the plants.
However, Kevin didn't go away. Instead, he observed Grace from afar, most newbies that entered their vast garden of medicinal plants quickly surrendered after understanding the true situation of the garden. His eyes flashed in anticipation, anticipation towards Grace course of actions once she realized it.
"Hey, Kevin why did you hire a woman as a new recruit? Don't tell me that you forgot that most of our plants here are Yang Affiliated and aren't suitable to be tended by women?" A coarse voice chimed behind Kevin and when he turned around, he saw the figure of another bulky man whom he was familiar with.
The man's name was Conner Winston, a fellow veteran that stayed in the garden for the past ten years. It could be considered that he knew everything about the garden like the back of his hand, and witnessing Grace's amateur actions towards the plants, he shook his head in disapproval.
"I don't really care if you're going to hire women, but at least hire those that have any idea about what they are doing..."
Kevin didn't respond to his comment, he maintained a mysterious smile and continued staring at Grace's figure with interest.
Most of the plants inside this vast garden contained overwhelming properties of the Yang and as one would expect, Yang reigned as the king. However, this great elemental imbalance created a problem regarding the plant's spirituality.
Yang possessed aggressiveness while Yin possessed gentleness. Overwhelming Yang breeds violence while overwhelming Yin forms cowardice. Without proper equilibrium between these two elements, the plants quickly developed rebellious and aggressive spiritual intelligence which frequently injures the employees that took care of them.
This was the reason why most of the newly-hired employees swiftly stopped working, creating a massive loss in manpower and huge loss of profit for the Association.
"Ugly bitch! Get the hell out of here or I will murder your entire family!"
"Get out of here or we'll toss a lego inside you bedsheets so you will suffer unimaginable pain!"
"We do not need you here, back off or you'll regret it!"
A mixture of voices from women and men formed a chorus which directly imposed itself on Grace's soul. Kevin and Conner's expression turned solemn and they prepared to rescue Grace if something goes wrong. After all, Grace was a mere mortal that didn't possess any protection against the plants.
Grace's figure froze upon hearing the insults that the highly-intelligent plants directed on her. The sound waves generated struck Grace's soul, but at the same time, a faint milky-white light surged from a small orb inside her Spatial Ring and the attacks of the plants were nullified.
Regaining her calm, Grace's expression distorted into utmost anger and she violently cursed,
"Bastard, just what did you say? You're going to place a lego inside my bedsheets? Try and do that, and I'll roast you alive all the while watching your plant descendants burn before my eyes!" Grace's eyes flashed with ferocity and she lifted her finger before pointing at a swaying plant,
"You! You're the one that said that you do not need me, right? Okay, fine, starting today I will place you in a section where sunlight won't reach and instead of giving you spring water, I will give you stagnant water from the sewer pipes!"
"Also you! You're the one that said that I'm an ugly bitch? Look at yourself in the mirror, you twat! Just from the thorns on your body alone is enough to disgust the lowest of beasts and you're insulting me as an ugly bitch?! How brilliant! The pot calling the kettle black!"
Grace swept her gaze on the plants around her and the chorus of irritable voices, simmered down. With eyes flashing in a ferocious light, Grace exclaimed, "All of you shut the fuck up or else you will experience how it feels like wanting to die but cannot die!" Her curse was deemed effective as literally every Spiritual Plant prostrated themselves towards Grace's direction.
Witnessing the plants submission, Grace crossed her arms together and lifted her head in a prideful look.
Kevin and Conner stared at the scene with their jaws dangling from their chin.
"J-j-just what did happen?"