28 Time To Catch Up

There are various types of crops grown by farmers. The most profitable however is the mana weed. The mana weed is a type of plant that only grows in areas with an abundance of mana like areas near dungeon entrances. This crop can be boiled down into a digestible compound which refuels MP.

Its exactly for this reason that they are highly profitable. But monsters absorb mana from the very beginnings of their life which means that less mana goes to these crops and as a result, the quality of the crops falls as does the amount they sell for. Because of that larger monsters of tier 2 are typically seen as the biggest danger to small farming villages because of the mana they absorb.

Excerpt from Botany for Idiots by Xenna freerider

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(Ellie POV)

"What do you mean the adventurers ran away!?" The angry shouts of an adult drew my attention away from my dolls to the source of the yelling. Upon turning around I saw the village elder glowering at one of the grownups who work with the vegetables in the field. Which made for a comedic sight with him being around as tall as most 8-year-old children.

"Elder we really should go inside to talk about this." The farmer warned the village elder while glancing around anxiously.

"Fine. Follow me, lad." The elder growled before speed walking to his hut for their talk. With my curiosity piqued by the secrecy and the grownup mentioning the adventurers I tiptoed my way over to the hut when they went inside, intent on listening in on them. But before I could hear anything, I felt a tap on my shoulder.

I spun around panicked that one of the grownups spotted me only to find the most horrific sight in the world in front of me! It was the annoying brat Rolan who always bothers me. He was around my age but was completely immature and a troublemaker to boot. His hair was carrot red, and he had freckles generously tossed onto his cheeks.

"Ugh, what do you want?" I asked with a healthy dose of annoyance dripping from my words.

"Nothin. Whatcha lookin at?" He replied unphased by my ire. Worse yet it seemed it went right over his based off the pure unfiltered curiosity in those big doe-eyed eyes of his.

"The grownups are talking about the adventurers! Now pipe down so I can listen in on them!" I quickly answered the little boy nodded with a serious look in his eyes. I strained my ears to hear the conversation the elder was having with the grownup farmer.

"So, what exactly did you mean by the adventurers ran away?" The wrinkled grownup questioned.

"I was out in the field when I saw a few of the adventurers running out of the forest with a lot of wounds. It looked like they were running from something."

"What? After they brought so many people they got beaten!? I hope the next group they send will be able to take care of those dryads…"

"But the crops! If we don't get rid of those dryads soon then their seedlings will take all the nutrients from our crops and we'll be forced to starve. And we just had the celebratory feast, so our reserves are low!"

"I know! The adventurers will complete the job soon. Besides if we didn't announce the adventurers coming to kill the monsters and have the feast, we would have had people taking up arms to attack the damn things. And we both know what would happen if they did that."

"Yeah, I know… I'm just anxious right now."

"We both are. Go back to the fields and do what you can for now."

With that, the younger adult started for the door to go back to work. I turned around and scrambled towards a nearby bush yanking Rolan by his collar behind me. We just barely managed to get ourselves hidden before the grownup exited the house and started walking towards the fields. Ellie didn't totally understand what the grownups were talking about, but she was sure that it wasn't anything good.

"Um. So when we gonna make some mud pies?" Roland asked while picking his nose. Looking back at him Ellie couldn't help but facepalm and sigh while shaking her head. There's always one of them…

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(Joe's POV)

I AM THE MIGHTIEST FLOWER!! I have done it! I am at level 9! My stats are higher than ever! I killed so many frogs, and deer but I have done it! It's a bloody path leveling up… 45 deer and 133 frogs to be specific! But all of it for a good reason. Getting stronger so I can avoid death! It took 3 or so days to kill that many and the cumulative amount of health I lost over the past few days from facing off against so many deers.

Actually ever since my genocidal campaign against the frogs, I've started to see fewer and fewer frogs… And I even got a title! A mean one but a title!

[Frog genocider: kill over 150 frogs. Tier 0 and tier 1 frog monsters will now flee from your very presence. Tier 2 frog monsters will now be wary of you.]

Wait. Doesn't that mean I'll have a tougher time grinding off frogs now? Are you serious!? No! My broken level grinding has come to an end! Why must you do this to me oh unbenevolent system! Well, the intelligence stat seemed like it was broken too but that ended up having a cap. This is probably just the system's way of punishing people who grind on one mob-like me.

But on the other hand, I have a few hundred points for skills and mutations! Now I understand that they are basically low tier trash right now and only useful because I have a human mind to strategize with, and only ever faced low tier trash even when against humans, but I can't help but be excited! I mean in discussions for useless magic you'll see the dumbest of magic get made into a deadly and oftentimes terrifying thing!

I've been doing the same thing and now I'll be able to push it even further! Not to mention I'll be getting to another perk after my next level up… But that will have to wait. Now I need to figure out an actual plan to deal with the adventurer's retaliation. The past few days have given me plenty of time to weigh my options.

First of all, I can just choose to run away and abandon the dryads to avoid the danger of facing off adventurers. Or I can risk my own stem to fight along with them to defeat the adventurers. The problem is that it would be a never-ending cycle. Every time we beat them back they'd just return with more people that are stronger. That's just how it works.

But I want to fight the adventurers. Not entirely because I feel indebted to the dryads. I feel a tad bit indebted to them but I paid for their protection in frogs. The reason why I want to fight is to get a bit more XP quicker. The humans give higher XP than a monster of an equal tier. So I could level up quicker if I kill them. And I have the dryads to draw their agro with them being the bigger threat. It won't draw away all the heat but most of it at the very least. No pain no gain.

But with that, it's time for the next big thing. Upgrading stats!

[Current skills:

Universal plant language level 2

Thorny defense level 3

Enhanced photosynthesis level 1

Enhanced mana sense level 1

Stealth level 4

Climbing level 2

numbing pollen level 1

Feather fall level 1

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Tunnel sense level 1

Czech translation skill level 3

MP to HP convertor level 3

Fireball level 3

Available skills: No available skills.

Available skill points: 246

Current mutations:

Petals level 3

Stem level 1

Iron thorn's level 1

Iron leaf level 1

Steel thorny teeth level 1

Enhanced root strength level 3

Toxic thorns level 1

Serrated thorns level 1

Thorn vines level 4

Chainsaw teeth level 1

Available mutations: No available mutations.

Available mutation points: 244]

Wow. Stockpiling really was the right choice! And the stats look rather clean to boot. I can only imagine what higher tier monsters would be getting for points… But I digress. Lately, I haven't been able to get a single new skill or mutation so I'll be using as many points as possible to hopefully unlock some requirements for new ones.

(A/N: Due to the number of skills being mass upgraded this chapter I will just list the upgrades one after another without any internal dialogue from Joe. This will only rarely happen if a lot is being upgraded.)

[Fireball lvl 3 -> 5.

Error. Tier requirement unmet. Please wait until the tier requirement is met.

MP to HP convertor lvl 3 -> 5. Error. Tier requirements are unmet for upgraded version.

Universal plant communication lvl 2 -> 5. Tier requirements unmet. Please wait for requirements to be met.

Thorny defense lvl 3 -> 5. No available upgrades developed. Please wait for the next update.

Enhanced photosynthesis lvl 1 -> lvl 5. Tier requirements are not met.

Enhanced mana sense lvl 1 -> lvl 5. Tier requirement unmet.

Stealth lvl 4 -> 5. Special upgrades are locked until tier requirement is met.

Climbing lvl 2 -> 5. No available upgrades.

Feather fall lvl 1 -> 5. No upgrades available.

Tunnel sense lvl 1 -> 5. Tunnel mapping available. Purchased.

Tunnel mapping lvl 1 -> 5. No available upgrades.

Numbing pollen lvl 1 -> 5. The tier requirement has not been met.

Czech translation skill lvl 3 -> lvl 5.

Minor heal purchased. Lvl 1 -> lvl 5. Tier requirements for upgrade have yet to be met.]

Yup this is good. Very good. By going the mind-numbing grinding route all of my skills are now maxed out. But tier requirements? I'm a tier 0! Well, an honorary tier 1 but that's only in name. Which doesn't really help.

Did whoever made the system just get lazy for the description of the achievement and threw something random in? Probably. Now with my Czech translation skill maxed out I should be able to understand their language without any problems! Not to mention healing is now a part of my skill set! But anyways on to my next task!

[Petals lvl 3 -> 5. Max expansion of the petals is now up to 10 inches.

Special unlock available. Error. Tier requirements are not met.

Iron stem lvl 1 -> 5. Tier requirements are not met.

Iron thorns lvl 1 -> 5 Tier requirements have not been met.

Iron leaf lvl 1 -> 5. Get to a higher tier.

Steel thorny teeth lvl 1 -> 5. You are too low of a tier for the next upgrade.

Enhanced roots lvl 3 -> 5

Toxic thorns lvl 1 -> 5. Tier requirements are unmet as of now.

Serrated thorns lvl 1 -> 5

Thorn vines lvl 1 -> 5. Iron thorn vines available. Increases vines durability to that of iron. Purchased

Iron thorn vines lvl 1 -> 5. Tier requirements have not been met yet.

Chainsaw teeth lvl 1 -> 5. Tier requirements are unmet.]

This grinding really is effective! At this rate, I'll be creme of the crop for tier 0 monsters! The prodigal monster! All because of gamer grinding. But I've already spent three days on this grinding and now I have no idea if the adventurers will be arriving soon. Even if they aren't preparing will be something I need to do. I obviously couldn't prepare much on my own but there is a certain group of humanoids with opposable thumbs who could potentially help me.

That's right I'm talking about the one and only depraved fairies! Sure they may be small but other than me they are the only mobile allied monsters who can manipulate the world around them. They won't be able to do too much with their size but what they can do will just be that much less I have to do.