Victor sat in his office with his loyal subordinate Fred Barkley sitting directly opposite him. Fred's eyes darted around trying to process the information his boss had just given him.

  All this time, the older man was being bckmailed and no ohin the pany knew, until now. The tired, blond man looked up at Mr. Sincir with a question on his lips.

  "How long has this been going on?"

  "Two years now, an anonymous drop off, I've tried tailing them but somehow they always make the switch just in time for me to lose them," The man said with a gre. "Until now they had been the only ones who knew my niece's location but now, that isn't so, is it?"

  Fred nodded, still thinking.

  "I couldn't have dohis without your help Fred, and I thank you deeply from the bottom of my heart," Victor said.

  Fred rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, what would he say to the man who already got him out of the terrible situation he reviously in?

  "No need for that sir. I'm just gd you've found her. You tact her through the game. She's in Bloom Haven right now dealing with the Miasma,"

  "As her mother intended,"

  "You mean Mrs. Anastasia," Fred said, l his gaze. He remembered her, a writer w for the pany, Moon Valley had been partly her brainchild.

  He had met her during his work, a cheerful woman with a kind demeanor before she was subsequently taken by a rare terminal illness. Fred had worked closely with her to create parts of Moon Valley's story but the rest of her involvement remained a mystery to him.

  "Yes,"

  "No wonder," Fred said.

  ----------

  Mars left to make some calls leaving Aya time to py Moon Valley, she no longer worried about the apartment downstairs as it was now clear of all her belongings.

  Even if Lydia and Fido got through her locks, there would be nothing to find.

  Aya lifted her hand over her head in a deep stretd went back to her room, it was time to see what the sed task would entail.

  ----------

  "Are you ready for the sed task?" The S Witch asked the moment Yvleurned.

  Yvlena nodded, ready for anything the woman would throw at her, another fetch quest perhaps? Or would the witch ask her to fight something else this time?

  Bavga coughed again, deep from her diaphragm. She rubbed her chest, groaning and wing in pain.

  "I've fallen ill as you see, an illness caused by the Miasma,"

  "What Viseli had," Yvlena asked.

  "Oh, so you know of the Titan of the Eastern path, I had a feeling she would be taken by it though we had never met. Yes, it seems it is much the same," Bavga said. "Fortunately I've developed a recipe, a balm that will help relieve my pain until a cure be made or until I turn,"

  Bavga's face appeared downcast as she coughed once again.

  "With Rael's disappearance, I'm doubtful a cure will even be found,".

  Yvlena bristled, stung that Bavga didn't believe she could tinue Rael's work as the Harvest Guardian.

  "I'll need you to gather the ingredients and make the balm for me,"

  [Quest: Sed Task

  Bavga's illness grows more severe with each passing moment, luckily a way to soothe her pais.

  Collect the S Balm's recipe and craft this healing balm for her.

  ***

  Rewards

  ????

  ***

  Moon Points x1000

  EXP: 700]

  [Yvlena Acquired

  ***

  S Balm (Recipe)]

  "You will find the ingredients in the deeper parts of the s," Bavga said.

  Yvlena held back a groan, she hadn't wao head into the deeper parts of the Avaresh S just yet, but it seemed she would have to.

  "Right," she sighed, already beginning her ast up the hut's stairs and back to the main area of the Avaresh S.

  Yvlena and her party stood once again on the rickety, hole ridden docks fag the path to the deeper s.

  Moist air blew through the area, bringing with it the st of stale air and rot. Yvlena looked into the dark water swarming with S Fish sensing their prey.

  She examihe docks, finding they didn't tiowards the path she o go, meaning she would need some way to stay above the water that enpassed the s.

  "Let's take a look at this recipe,"

  [S Balm (Epic)

  ***

  Type: Recipe

  Created by the Boch of Avaresh S to stave off and soothe the pain of her Miasma induced illness.

  ***

  S Jelly (Herb) x1

  Fox Glove (Herb) x2

  Avaresh Lotus Petals (Herb) x5

  Spider Venom x2

  ***

  Small Jar

  Cauldron]

  She exhaled, fag her summons to rey her pns.

  "First we o return to Bloom Haven and harvest the crops I've phen figure out a way to get the S jelly from the deeper part of the s. I should have a Water Resistant Elixir,"

  She reread the recipe food measure, fog on the final ingredient.

  "Spider Venom!" Yvlena paled. The spiders were creatures she had put out of her mie needing them for their silk. Already she imagiheir mandibles g and ung around her head. She whimpered.

  "Ohing at a time okay, Yvlena,"

  ----------

  Yvleuro the Rose Manor exhausted. Traversing the s didn't seem to get easier, even with the right shoes.

  "It's such a relief to be back here," she said, walking into the manrounds. As she did, she heard the fp of wings and the faint 'caw caw' of a certai. Her eyes fell on her crop bed ready to be watered and some, harvested.

  She ran towards it, log her eyes on the dark cloud cirg her crops.

  The bck birds had returned with a vengeance, diving toward her crop bed, ready to gobble up her seeds.

  Yvlena upped her pace, pushing her legs as fast as her Agility stat could take her. She uhed her sword and swung.

  "Back away!"

  [Sprite Cast Sting (01MP)]

  [Rabbit Knight Cast Ssh (05MP)]

  Following their summoner's lead, Sprite and Rabbit Knight jumped at the birds, cutting eae they could find, down until they disappeared.

  While her summo with the pests, Yvlena watered the Ever Blooms ahe st of her Shadow Essence orbs to them.

  "Now I really o get more,"

  [Yvlena Acquired

  ***

  Ever Bloom (Herb) x7]

  "Oh that's iing, the game just calls it a herb now, I guess it's not really the a Ever Bloom anymore since I've been cultivating it," Yvlena noted. She teo the rest of the pnts, cutting down some trees to make room for more sunlight.

  [Yvlena Acquired

  ***

  Luna Orchid (Herb) x2

  Fox Tail (Herb) x5

  Fox Glove (Herb) x3

  Star Root (Herb) x2]

  "That's almost everything I've pnted so far," Yvlena said. She went through her iory and phe rest of the wild seeds, then paid special attention to the crops that hadn't matured.

  She watered their green buds and checked for anything that might have been damaged by the birds.

  "Doesn't look like anything's wrong, I guess they just need some time. I hope I get some more Star Root from the batch or I might have to go to Bloom Meadow again,"

  She chopped down some more trees, totaling her wood t to a hundred pieces of wood.

  [Subcss Skill: Herblore Leveled Up]

  "Yes!" She cheered. "My Herblore and Alchemy are gettier, they're so reliant on herbs I'm pretty sure all the farming is doing something for them passively,"

  She tried pnting the s seeds she'd gotten into some space cleared for it, but was stopped by a notification from the game.

  [Must be pnted near water]

  "ht," Yvlena said, nearly smag her forehead. "S seeds would need some kind of watery soil like a ke bed or a...s," she chuckled at her silliness.

  Even logic had to apply sometimes.

  "I'd have to create some sort of pond or something," she said. Her eyes gazed at the Manor's structure, at the dome that topped the Rose Manor's roof.

  "That has to be a greenhouse right? But it's on the highest floor that'll take forever to renovate,"

  Yvlena sat under a tree, watg her summons sleep after a long and exhausting advehey didn't have to go back for a bit so why not use the time to catch their breath?

  Annouhank you so much for reading I'm having so much fun writing this particur arc! if you're enjoying the story you tip me here or support me on Patreon for more advanced chapters