[NR] Chapter 99 - So Close (Patreon)

Bright and early Jason wakes up to a prickly situation. All around him the brambles have covered the clearing. The only areas free of the plants are the very corners and under him. He worries about his plants for a moment but the portable planter appears to have kept itself free of brambles. Jason can’t help but feel guilty. While he can’t prove it his cultivating here likely caused this mess. Worse yet, he can’t even fix it as he doesn’t own even a simple knife.

Jason can only sigh then pack up camp. Though worry strikes him when he packs up the alarms. All those brambles had grown up around the bells and only a vigorous tug caused them to jingle. “Yep, going to have to set aside some cash for a real alarm setup. Enchanted items work best for it but cost the most. Not that the items themselves necessarily cost too much but I can’t power them. Energy might be able to turn into Mana but mine has crystalized because of my core. The Mana crystals alone would bankrupt me. The other commercially available option would be formations. Despite being Qi powered they are able to syphon more power from the world. The downside is they are more passive. An interesting dichotomy, especially when my pasts formations could do anything. I guess that just comes from this being a game world.”

“Anyway, the two powers are a tradeoff between internal versus external when used on a personal level and active versus passive in items. Energy on the other hand is a strange middle ground now that I look at it. Both the other powers are pools that get depleted when used and then refill with time. For me at least Energy is more like a stream of power. A constant flow I can use on what I want. There are items that use Energy as well but because so few people use the stuff is all specialty work. That and expensive as all get out. Though I guess if all Energy works for everyone else like it does for me it is easy to explain. It is a lot easier to make an item to hold a pool of water then it is to make one to hold a stream. Wait, duh, that is why most of the cheap Energy based items are large and stationary. They must be built on top of some well of power. After all it is a lot easier to create a channel off a river, then try to move a stream wholesale. Though that means I can get something created that uses my power. Later, much later of course. You know, once I have more money than king Midas. For now formation flags everywhere.”

Lost in his thoughts Jason has gotten farther into the bramble controlled area. Soon it becomes as thick as the clearing he stayed at had been and he started to pay closer attention. The density increases the deeper into the forest he goes. While Jason wanted to cut across the corner of the forest to get to where Jarr had last spotted but that might not be possible anymore. “Then again, it would take me much longer to go around this mess. I am not on a hard timeline but goodness gracious do I want to keep to my schedule. Straight ahead it is!”

Jason continues deeper into bramble territory. The only relief is in the forested areas it was clear of undergrowth. The downside is that there are no animals around either. However the brambles soon start to thin out after a couple hours of travel. As Jason leaves them he takes a look back. “Those brambles could be a problem. Not for me but the forest. I should report it to the guild when I get back. They will have to set up quests to figure out the extent of it and what not. Still, not my monkeys, not my circus. I will be well out of here before they get around to sending some poor fool to find the source of this mess.”

With the brambles no longer holding him back Jason is able to make good time. While jogging was not good to hunt snarltails, he was more worried about his schedule. Plus he had gotten enough the last day. Then again, if they had been avoiding the brambles, he figured tomorrow might have another glut of cats to kill.

They proved this thought true the following day. Not an hour after dawn Jason had already found one and many more followed it. By noon, Jason had killed two more. Not quite the haul from the other day but good enough by any measure. After that though he didn’t find anymore. It frustrated Jason as he settled down for the night. A quick check of his level shows how close he is. At level 9 and 99.32% he is less than a percent away from the bottleneck. Sure one more snarltail will get him there but so would any regular monster at his own level. He can only sigh and be thankful that he will be capped by the time he finds Jarr.

To relieve his frustration, Jason takes a few extra minutes to check over his planter. The Energy herb has grown in fine. Not that he expected much trouble with it. It is some of the other plants that worried him. However it seems it all has sprouted by now, even the ginseng. Of particular note, the Gloom weed has grown in almost as exuberant as the Energy herb. Oddly, the slowest to grow is the Bloody lingzi. Though Jason has a guess on why this is. The other plants are in the soil. This puts them in direct contact with the Gloom weeds energy output. The lingzi on the other hand is on a log that is sitting on the soil. Not much he can do about this and they should all grow in their own time anyway. With a shrug Jason settles down for the night.