Chapter 359: Continue the Mission

A few days later. Theo sat down next to the campfire to warm him up while waiting for someone to return.

When he was about to reach the hot water he just boiled, he sensed another presence coming his way.

It was none other than the small rabbit, Ava.

She just arrived after going around the area.

"Do you have something for me, Ava?" Theo asked, noticing that Ava was unnaturally quiet.

Normally, she would have started talking to tell him everything she experienced, but Ava looked a bit serious this time.

"Ava?" Theo frowned, wondering whether this was Ava or not.

He checked her with his Awareness, noticing that she wasn't an illusion. After taking another look at her appearance, Theo approached her while extending his hand.

To his expectation, Ava instinctively leaped on top of Theo's hand as if this was the natural thing to do.

"Kyu!" Ava's expression melted as she finally let out a sound.

"Why were you quiet earlier?" Theo asked to confirm the situation, wanting to see whether Ava was alright or not.

"Kyu!" Ava pointed behind her while raising her hands as if she wanted to express the happiness in her heart. "Kyu, Kyu!"

"Huh?" Theo tilted his head in confusion. "You found something interesting?"

Ava nodded furiously.

"What is that?"

Ava jumped around, trying to explain it to Theo, but in the end, she waved her hand as if telling him he could see it tomorrow.

"…" Theo's eyebrows twitched.

After killing the zombies, Theo and Ava had been hunting separately because Theo wanted to train his new skill while increasing his leveling speed.

The Big Sin Valley wasn't that different from the Mystic Valley other than a small but steep hill that separated the valley into two.

Due to that reason, Theo asked Ava to explore the other way while he hunted the monsters on the original path.

Of course, Theo still took care of Ava in the first two days by sending his clone with her. The monsters around this area were slightly higher than those on the previous valley after all. They all were around Level 240 to Level 255 monsters.

However, Ava showed incredible prowess, telling Theo that she had leveled up a bit and no monsters under Hero Rank possessed a threat to her. She could even handle a Hero Rank monster easily as long as it was alone.

In the end, Theo agreed to let Ava explore alone in the pretense of giving her a chance to experience the world herself.

Ava then began her adventure and discovered many things she never saw before while fighting against monsters as usual.

Theo also did the same and searched for the Purple Haze Grass.

Unfortunately, these few days were of no luck.

Theo and Ava didn't find a single clue about the Purple Haze Grass despite almost searching every corner of the valley.

Then, when she returned today, Ava seemed happy and pointed at Theo's Skylink, asking him to take it out.

"What do you want?" Theo asked and took out his Skylink, opening it for Ava to see.

Ava pointed at the grass. "Kyu, Kyu!"

"Do you want to know about this grass?"

Ava shook her head and tapped Theo a few times.

"Ah, you mean the mission grass? Purple Haze Grass?"

Ava nodded without hesitation.

"Don't tell me you have found the grass?" Theo asked carefully, observing her expression.

"Kyu!" Ava puffed her chest proudly as if telling him to praise her.

"Really?"

Ava pouted when she saw Theo didn't believe her. She looked away as if telling him that he would regret not believing her.

"Haha, I believe, I believe…" Theo chuckled. "We should rest for the time being. Our plan is for me to reach level 240 first before challenging the monster in Lambert Lake. According to our pace, we still need three to four days, so yeah, it's going to take a while."

Ava nodded in understanding.

Theo chuckled and stroked her head and back. Her fur was smooth and felt good to touch anyway.

…

The next day.

Ava guided Theo to where she last saw the grass.

The valley had a similar appearance as the other side, but Ava soon saw a small crack on the cliff. It was hard for her to even see what was inside.

However, Ava quickly jumped to that crack while tapping it a few times. "Kyu."

"The grass is inside there?" Theo was bewildered because he never thought Ava wanted him to destroy the cliff just to get what they needed. "But…"

Before Theo said another word, he looked down, finding a strand of purple-colored grass standing out among the green grasses.

"This… Isn't this the Purple Haze Grass?" Theo asked Ava.

Ava nodded and pointed at the crack, saying that the source was inside the cliff.

"So, is this because of the constant search of the grass that the natural resource has begun to disappear? I mean, Purple Haze Grasses shouldn't be that hard to find in this valley, according to the information, so it must mean that there are so many people gathering the Purple Haze Grass to the point the population is almost extinct in this area." Theo furrowed his eyebrows.

Ava shook her head before opening her two feet wide.

"There are so many grasses inside?"

Ava confirmed it with a nod.

"But you don't expect me to destroy this cliff, right? Wait…" Theo suddenly came to a realization and walked to the crack and tried to look inside from every angle. Even then, he failed to see anything.

He soon asked himself how Ava knew there was a space inside…

That answer came with a shock as Theo stared at her dumbfoundedly, "How did you find it?"

Ava smiled from ear to ear while moving a bit farther away, showing Theo a small hole, a bit bigger than her actual size.

"Kyu!" Ava made a smug smile as if her time had come. With a hole of that size, only Ava or something smaller could enter. Meanwhile, the reason for the grass to bloom in this area was probably through the crack.

In other words, the grass lived peacefully inside the cliff and those that lived outside became the prey of humans.

"…" Theo sighed. "Ten strands are considered one Purple Haze Grass, so we need thirty strands."

Ava opened her feet wide, telling him that the number was much bigger than that and she wanted to take everything out.

"Alright, alright. We can sell the excess grasses easily, but just take half of them. Don't take everything. With half of them remain, it will gradually recover its population again. I am not a good guy, but it doesn't mean I don't respect nature, okay?"

Ava smiled and raised her foot. "Kyu."

*****

Alea Character Art is in the comment section below.