Rare Fruits

After leaving the ruined residential district.

Kurumi followed the other adventurers to the central hall of Falas Port.

The central hall was a towering palace of white stone. Compared to the other buildings, it was somewhat more magnificent, and it was also the center of power in the port.

Unfortunately, it too was nothing but ruins.

Quite a few adventurers were moving things in and out of the rubble.

Kurumi had no interest in those large items that could not fit into an inventory, so she turned and headed for the palace's rear garden.

The scenery here was relatively intact.

Kurumi walked up to the largest tree in the garden.

She activated the active skill of Heart of the Forest, Forest Secret.

An old man's face made of bark immediately appeared on the great tree before her.

"Recognized by the forest, what is it you wish to ask?"

"Are there any valuable treasures left here?" Kurumi immediately asked.

The great tree rustled, emitting a ring of green light. "Beneath this garden's fountain lies a spatial pearl. Its owner placed it there long ago. You may take it."

"A spatial pearl?" Kurumi found the name unfamiliar. It was the first time she had heard of such an item.

"Thank you."

After Kurumi thanked it, Forest Secret's remaining uses dropped to 0. She would have to wait until the next day to activate it again.

The other adventurers were still carrying large items out of the palace, and even the ordinary NPCs from the ships had disembarked to help move cargo.

The fountain in the center of the garden had long since stopped working. The decoration in the middle of the structure had been blown apart and collapsed by some unknown spell. Kurumi stepped forward and cleared away the debris, revealing the soil beneath the stones.

She grabbed a nearby tool and dug two meters down. A faint flash of golden light appeared, and a fist-sized pearl emerged from the earth.

"Ding! Congratulations, you have discovered the treasure left behind by the Elven Archmage Sveden: Nurturing Small World."

The golden pearl instantly entered her inventory.

Nurturing Small World

Quality: Legendary

Creator: Sveden

Description: Nurturing Small World is a small space created by the Elven Archmage Sveden to create an environment suitable for the growth of rare fruits. The space within this pearl is suitable for planting the rare fruits Wind Whisper Pear and Vigorous Strawberry.

Kurumi was astonished.

So a spatial pearl was a small world. It possessed a complete, self-regulating environment that could allow life to grow within it, making it far more impressive than ordinary spatial treasures.

No wonder it had reached Legendary quality.

And judging from the description, this Elven Archmage had probably created more than one spatial pearl.

Kurumi opened the small world, revealing an interface resembling a penguin farm. There was also a small package beside it, containing seeds of Wind Whisper Pear and Vigorous Strawberry, but it lacked anyone to plant them.

This thing required hiring wind fairies and wood fairies to cultivate the plants. Otherwise, even if they grew, they would not bear fruit.

Damn it.

Without fairies, this item was completely unusable!

It looked like tomorrow, she would have to ask the trees here how to hire fairies to work for her.

Putting away the spatial pearl, Kurumi walked toward several fruit trees in the garden.

As she walked, she used the system to identify the fruits and see whether they were rare fruits.

"Ding! Congratulations, you have discovered an ordinary fruit: pomegranate."

"Ding! Congratulations, you have discovered an ordinary fruit: apple."

"Ding! Congratulations, you have discovered a rare fruit: Dewdrop Grape."

Kurumi's eyes instantly lit up. She quickly picked every grape. Their attributes increased water-element damage by 5% and life recovery speed by 5%.

Heh, heh. The treasures in this place were no fewer than those inside the palace.

If she found and sold these rare fruits, she could make quite a bit of money!

By the time she finished picking, her inventory held more than a thousand additional rare fruits.

Kurumi had also reached the deepest part of the garden. The plants here grew in complete disorder, as though no one had ever pruned them. Yet compared to the neatly layered branches and leaves elsewhere in the garden, the vegetation here resembled a natural wall.

On one side of the wall was a small dog hole.

Although elves revered nature, they had never kept animals, so the appearance of such a hole here was extremely strange.

Kurumi was wearing her Spirit Dress, which was clearly unsuitable for squeezing through the hole.

So she reverted to her original form.

However, her original form was that of a tall, thin man standing 1.85 meters, with a relatively large frame. As soon as she crawled inside, she discovered that the passage was very deep, making it difficult to get through.

This was an opening suited only for the build of a small child.

Su Jiang thought for a moment, then transformed into Theresa Apocalypse's avatar.

This avatar's abilities were average, and it was Su Jiang's first time using it. Though it was only to squeeze through this doghole, every form had its strengths. Theresa's petite body could finally come in handy!

After transforming into Theresa, her field of vision became much lower, and everything around her seemed a size bigger.

Theresa did not think too much about it and crawled straight into the hole.

Ten minutes later.

Theresa crawled out of the overgrown doghole.

Before her was a small space so densely covered by plants that not a ray of light could enter. The ground was covered in dry grass, with many fruits placed in the middle.

The system appraisal identified them all as rare fruits.

There were only a few dozen, but every little bit counted!

Theresa happily stuffed them all into her backpack.

At that moment, rustling came from another doghole, drawing her attention.

The next moment, a small green-haired head with pointed ears poked out from the grass. Their eyes met.

The green-haired elf was startled and swiftly withdrew back into the doghole.

Theresa: "..."

What was that?

Perhaps because Theresa was small and did not seem threatening, or perhaps because all her fruit had been stolen, the little elf angrily crawled out of the doghole again, raised a dagger, and threatened, "Bad person, give my fruit back!"

"I'm an adventurer. Do you need any help?" Theresa asked in the tone she always used when helping NPCs.

The green-haired elf shot her a fierce glare. "Who needs your help? Give all my food back, you thief!"

"Uh..."

Theresa was indeed in the wrong here. She had stolen something right in front of its owner, which was not a good look.

Theresa took out the rare fruits she had just put into her backpack and returned them to their original spot. "I didn't know these fruits belonged to someone. I'm sorry," she said innocently.

The green-haired elf still looked unconvinced, but her expression softened considerably.

Looking at the fruits on the ground, her throat bobbed. The fragrance of the fruit carried traces of some elemental aura. The green-haired elf asked in shock, "Why do you have the aura of the Holy Tree Leaf and the Heart of the Forest on you?"

"Is it strange for me to have that aura?"

"Of course it is! Who exactly are you?!" The green-haired elf's eyes widened in utter disbelief.

They dropped from monsters I killed. Was that so strange?

Theresa did not quite understand. You could sense that I had the aura of those two items, so why was it strange for me to have them?

"I'm an ordinary adventurer. If there's anything you need help with, you can tell me."

"You? An adventurer?" The green-haired elf sneered mockingly. "Are you even an adult? Have you graduated from the academy yet?"

Theresa frowned. Even with the favorability bonus from the Heart of the Forest, this elf's attitude toward her was still terrible.

Forget it.

She was just an NPC. Theresa could not be bothered to argue with her.

Theresa took a deep breath and asked, "I'm an adventurer from Forest City. After arriving here, I found that Falas Port had become a ruin. May I ask what happened?"

The green-haired elf's face was filled with disgust. She waved her hand as if shooing away flies. "Hmph, what's it got to do with you? Get out of here. You're not welcome!"