Chapter 209: Pink Forest

Tera was in the lake, washing herself along with the other females.

Cubs splashed and shrieked around them, their small bodies launching off rocks and colliding with each other in the shallows with reckless joy.

The wolf females had been so excited at the concept of washing in this much water, but the other females had to help them due to their heavy bellies.

Faelynn was further down the bank, her swollen belly half-submerged as she let the cool water soothe her aching back. Luth paddled in circles around her mother with the enthusiastic incompetence of a cub who hadn’t quite worked out how legs functioned underwater.

Calis’ sister was going to give birth anytime now.

But aside from that, things were a bit peaceful.

The wolves had been concerned about the farm, but Tera had assured them it would be fine due to the moisture content, so they wouldn’t have to worry about watering the plants.

Though she intended to go there with Calis and a few other wolves to check on them at least. The plants, especially the tubers growing, would mark her task as completed.

[So!]

[(ᕼ✧ᴗ✧ᕼ)]

[When does Host plan to tell the clan and the wolves about the expedition?]

[The corrupted beast is an obstacle to Host’s primary construction goals!]

[Its removal would grant access to a transformative resource!]

[This system has been running preliminary calculations on how to—]

’Hold on.’

[—coordinate the Dow clan and Glimmer Pack for a joint expedition! If Host positions the wolves as the primary offensive unit while the Dow clan males flank from—]

’I said hold on.’

[—and the portal could serve as an instant extraction point for any injured beasts, minimising casualties to—]

’SYSTEM!’

The screen froze mid-calculation.

[(꒪ᗜ꒪;)]

Tera cupped water and poured it over her shoulders, not looking at the screen.

’I am not telling them.’

[...]

[(⊙_⊙)]

[What?]

’I am not organising an expedition. Not yet.’

[But Host—]

’I want to see it first.’

[See it?]

’Yes. Before we do anything, I need to know what we are dealing with. I want to go there and observe it. What it looks like, how it moves, how big it actually is.’

The silence that followed was longer than Tera expected.

[Host wants to go to a corrupted beast’s nesting ground]

[To look at it?]

[(·•᷄_•᷅ )]

’Did you not hear me clearly? I am not going to fight it. I just want to study it from afar.’

[This system would like to remind Host of the last time she encountered a corrupted beast]

[Host nearly died]

’I know.’

[Host’s back was ripped open]

’I KNOW.’

[Host spent days unconscious]

Tera frowned.

’I remember every second of it. That is exactly why I will not go in blind, or lead anyone in like that this time. I don’t even know what sort of beast it is.’

The system was quiet for a moment.

[This system strongly advises against a solo reconnaissance]

[(◞‸◟)]

[If Host insists on observing, this system recommends bringing—]

’No. I am not putting anyone in danger just so I can look at something. I go alone, I observe from a safe distance, and I leave. The portal means I can be back here in under a second if anything goes wrong.’

[This system does not like this]

’I will be fine. Just help me if you truly want nothing to happen.’

[If something happens to Host, this system—]

’Nothing will happen. I am going to observe from a safe distance, and I am going to leave. That is all.’

Another long pause.

A cub cannonballed into the water near Tera, sending a spray across her face.

[This system... relents]

[(ᵕ ó ᴗ ò)]

[But I will be monitoring every biological signal, every environmental variable, and every movement within scan range]

Tera looked unimpressed. ’Is that not what you’re meant to be doing usually?’

[(* °ヮ° *)]

[...]

[No?]

’OMG—’

[Regardless, if ANYTHING triggers an alert, this system will act]

[Host does NOT get to argue with this system in the field]

[Is that understood?]

Tera rolled her eyes. ’I hear you.’

Tera dunked her head under the water, held it there for a moment, and came up gasping.

Now she just needed to find a moment to slip away.

The opportunity for that came later in the afternoon.

Strangely, her clan members told her Xavi and Ermin had pulled Calis aside to talk to him. Tera’s heart had skipped a beat at that. She had not expected her mates to move that quickly, but she found it lovely at least.

Deep down, she wished she would be there to watch them talk to each other, but there were more pressing matters she needed to tend to.

Tera slipped away into her shelter and opened the portal to that last checkpoint where Calis had stopped.

The air was immediately different. Heavier, thicker, carrying a damp warmth that pressed against her skin like a wet cloth.

The forest was sparse, and the ground beneath her feet was soft.

Tera moved carefully, and several minutes later, the solid ground gave way to spongy, wetter soil, and then the mud ended at a boundary where the dark water started.

In front of her, a small distance away, the swamp opened up. The water was black and still, reflecting nothing, and the surface had an oily sheen that caught what little light filtered through.

And beyond the water, she saw what she had come here for.

The bamboo stalks towered and grew in thick, dense clusters that rose from the swamp like a forest within a forest.

But they were not green.

They were pink.

The surface texture was different too. It looked slightly coarser than the bamboo she remembered from her old world.

However, the scale of what she saw was staggering. These weren’t isolated clusters. This was an entire ecosystem of the stuff, growing so densely that the stalks pressed against each other, forming walls of pink vegetation that extended in every direction.

But something nagged at her. Aside from the strange colour, bamboo stalks never grew in swamps. The constant water and humidity would be terrible for—

Tera caught herself, remembering that this was a different world.

It looked like bamboo, and it was very close to what she had noticed earlier thanks to the system.

She needed to properly see what she could do with it.

’System. I need data on this.’

[Displaying!]

Tera’s eyes widened at what she was seeing.

The cellular density was nearly two times that of standard bamboo. The fibres were interlocked in a lattice pattern that distributed force evenly across the entire stalk, making it slightly less flexible than regular bamboo.

Tera found this strange because the density being higher meant it still wasn’t supposed to be flexible at all.

But this was amazing.

The density being this way meant it was better than normal bamboo at water and fire resistance.

No wonder it was growing in water like this. It wouldn’t be able to penetrate even when submerged.

This was far superior to bamboo.

Tera’s heart was racing.

Waterproof bamboo. Naturally waterproof. She could build with this in the wolf pack’s wet territory without worrying about moisture damage. She wouldn’t need to treat the bamboo either. She could create shelters that wouldn’t swell or warp or crack in the rain.

It was perfect for scaffolding too, and would be perfect for so many other things she had in mind.

This find turned out to be far better than she expected. Most importantly, just like the bamboo she was familiar with, this grew rapidly too.

Water bottles could be made out of this. Containers, pipes, and so on...

Tera was so absorbed in the data and the sheer volume of the resource in front of her that for a dangerous moment, she forgot her main reason for coming here.

[HOST!]

[(⊙_⊙)!!!]

[MOVE BACK! NOW!]

Tera’s blood went cold.

[The corrupted beast is ACTIVE!]

[It is moving toward the surface!]

[MOVE BACK IMMEDIATELY!]