This dungeon has mushrooms growing on it.

Chapter 238, Section 237: Druid

The makeshift campfire crackled, its flickering light illuminating four satisfied faces as they shared the fattest and juiciest parts of the wild boar, oil dripping and aroma filling the air.

As Vera chewed, her gaze kept drifting towards Cirien beside her.

After being completely honest with each other, Vera had no choice but to acknowledge that the other person was male.

He pondered to himself: How could he have assumed she was a woman when her chest was so obviously flat?

Was it that voice, as clear as a flowing spring?
Is it still that face so exquisite that it blurs the lines between genders?
Vera thought helplessly, even if she could do it all over again, she would probably still admit her mistake...

Although few elves stay in the United Kingdom for long, as there are too many things in human territory that elves find objectionable, the half-elf Vera and her companions have seen several such places.

Although they were all handsome, none of them were as good-looking as Ciri.

"Sirius!" Felix, her mouth greasy from eating, suddenly remembered something and asked curiously, "I've heard that elves can make wheat grow on barren land and fruit ripen on withered trees, so they'll never lack food. Is that true?"

Sirian was focused on the roasted meat in his hand. Upon hearing this, he quickly chewed a few more times and swallowed, almost choking: "Cough cough... What kind of legend is that? It's too exaggerated!"

“But you do have a lot of food!” Felyn insisted.

The elf pondered for a moment, then glanced at a fruit tree with leaves that were already turning slightly yellow beside the camp.

"Seeing is believing." He stood up and walked to the tree.

Sirion clasped his hands together in front of his chest in a devout prayer posture and closed his eyes.

A deep, ancient Elvish language flowed from his lips, like a whisper in the forest.

As he chanted, specks of emerald green magical light emerged from his palm, initially like fireflies, then gathering into a soft jade-colored glow, wrapping around his slender fingers like living things, and then drifting wisps toward the fruit trees.

Fourth-tier natural magic – Harvest Melody.

Vera couldn't understand the lyrics, but she felt that the singing was ethereal and pure, like the morning sun or the evening drizzle, washing away the soul and bringing a strange peace.

Meanwhile, Fei Yin stared wide-eyed at Xilian, who was channeling magic through incantation instead of constructing spells using magic nodes, a method of casting spells that she found quite novel.

As the singing faded, a magical aura seeped into the tree trunk, and a miracle occurred!
The fruit trees were now laden with heavy, ripe fruit, weighing down the branches and causing them to droop slightly.

"It's amazing!" Fei Ling exclaimed. Like a nimble squirrel, she leaped up the tree trunk in a few steps, picked the biggest and reddest fruit, and took a big bite with a "crunch".

The sweet juice overflowed instantly.

"So sweet! Perfectly ripe!" she mumbled, then picked a few more and tossed them to her friends under the tree.

Vera took the fruit, took a bite, and couldn't help but ask, "Isn't this just making a dead tree bear fruit? Why do you say it's an exaggeration?"

“Take a closer look at the tree itself,” Sirius calmly advised.

Upon hearing this, the group shifted their gaze from the tempting fruit to the branches and leaves supporting them.

The leaves, which had just been turning yellow at the edges, were now completely withered and falling one after another. The entire tree seemed to have been drained of its life force in an instant; apart from the fruits produced by magic, it had prematurely entered its decline. Sirian's voice carried a hint of solemnity: "Nature magic does not create things out of thin air. This 'Symphony of Abundance' simply forcibly catalyzed the vitality, nutrients, and magic power hidden deep within this tree itself, by mortgaging its future, into the fruits before our eyes."

“Even so, it’s still amazing!” Felix slid down from the tree. “Elves live in the forest, and with this kind of environment, it’s no wonder there’s so much food.”

Sirian slowly shook his head, his gaze passing over the prematurely withered tree and looking eastward: "No, in the elven forests, we ourselves almost never use this kind of magic lightly. Not only does it damage the plant's foundation, making it difficult for it to bear fruit the following year, but more importantly..."

He paused, then showed the others the inside of the fruit in his hand; there were no seeds inside.

"These artificially produced fruits are sweet and delicious, but they lose the ability to nurture new life. They cannot continue the cycle of life. If they are abused recklessly, they may seem to bring short-term harvests, but in reality, they are mortgaging the future and will eventually lead to the weeping of the forest and ecological imbalance."

The twin listened intently; it was the first time he had ever truly understood a druid's reverence for nature.

Vera exclaimed with delight, "I see! Although we can't use much, everyone in the camp will be very happy to have these fresh fruits!"

As he spoke, he called to Fei Ling, "Come on, pick all the fruit and pack them up!"

After packing the fruit and the remaining pork together, the group headed down the mountain.

……

As dusk settled, the wooden gate of the campsite came into view, and the sounds of people and the smoke from the campfire emanating from within created a somber atmosphere.

The two guards on duty at the gate, who had been leaning on their spears and looking exhausted, huddled behind the makeshift windbreak. But when they saw the light from the illumination spell in the distance, they perked up.

“Vera?” One of the guards recognized the leader, his voice tinged with surprise, then his gaze fell on the wild boar on Vera’s back. “You actually went into the mountains? And you even hunted a wild boar! We thought you went to Norvid too!”

He didn't say much, but gestured to Fei Ling, who immediately took out two plump fruits from her bulging cloth bag and tossed them accurately to the guard.

"And then! There's more fruit!" Fei Ling's voice carried a hint of smugness.

"Has the camp run into any trouble?" Vera asked.

The guard who had recognized Vera earlier took a big bite of the fruit in his hand, and the sweet juice instantly filled his mouth.

He almost greedily swallowed the porridge before leaning closer to Vera and saying with a hint of worry, "There's no real trouble yet, but... dozens more refugees have poured in today, saying they're from the same village to the south. To accommodate them, a lot of grain has been allocated... Now many people are starting to complain that the porridge is thinner than it was a few days ago, and I don't know if the higher-ups have any ideas?"

"Ugh……"

After bidding farewell to the guards, Vera and her group carried their harvest toward the camp's kitchen.

Along the way, countless eyes peered through the gaps in the makeshift tents and from the shadows beside the campfire, fixated on the wild boar that Vera was carrying.

Those eyes held a naked desire, yet they managed to restrain themselves.

Fei Ling couldn't help but mutter under her breath, a hint of resentment in her voice: "Isn't there anything that can be ripened with that magic without worrying about the consequences?"

Her words stirred Vera's thoughts. He didn't stop walking, but his gaze fell on the elf Sirian beside him. After a few seconds of contemplation, he spoke with a hint of uncertainty: "Siriian... can your 'Symphony of Abundance' be used on mushrooms?"

(End of this chapter)