Chapter 183: The Living Treasury

They moved deeper into the forest, their footsteps soft against the glowing moss, their eyes wide with wonder.

The trees grew stranger the further they went. Their pale trunks twisted in spiraling patterns, and their leaves shimmered with iridescent light that shifted colors as they passed. Strange plants grew in clusters along the path, their shapes unfamiliar, their colors vivid and unnatural.

And then they saw the fruits.

They hung from the branches in clusters, each one glowing with a faint, internal light. Some were crimson, pulsing like tiny hearts. Others were pale blue, shimmering like frozen moonlight. Others still were deep violet, their surfaces covered in delicate veins that throbbed with slow, rhythmic light.

Cindy’s frills lifted with sudden, sharp excitement.

"Gray... I think we’ve stumbled into a treasure field."

Gray glanced at her, his golden eyes narrowing.

"Why do you say that?"

Cindy didn’t answer immediately. She was too busy staring at the plants, her silver eyes darting from one to the next, her small body trembling with barely contained excitement.

Then Lily darted forward.

The star creature had spotted a cluster of pale blue fruits hanging from a low branch, and she was already chewing on one, her dark core pulsing with satisfaction. She swallowed, then immediately went for another.

"Lily!" Gray snapped. "Don’t eat random things! We don’t know what they are!"

Lily paused mid-bite, her five points tilting with confusion. She swallowed the fruit anyway.

Cindy, meanwhile, had drifted closer to a cluster of crimson fruits, her silver eyes wide with recognition.

"I know these," she breathed. "I’ve seen them before. In books." She pointed with one tiny hand. "This one. I don’t remember its name, but I remember its appearance. It’s a bloodberry fruit. It permanently increases your stamina and physical resilience."

Gray raised an eyebrow.

"Permanently?"

"Yes. And that one." She pointed toward the pale blue fruits Lily was devouring. "That’s a moonberry fruit. It expands your mana pool. And that one." She pointed toward the violet ones. "That’s a expio fruit. It purifies your body, removes impurities, toxins, even some curses."

Gray’s golden eyes widened slightly.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously," Cindy said. "These fruits are incredibly rare. They only grow in places saturated with natural mana. Places untouched by civilization, uncorrupted by war or pollution." She paused, her frills swaying with awe. "The Great Tartarus is a living mana generator. Its shell must be the perfect environment for them."

Gray activated his analysis, the system flickering to life in his vision.

[BLOODBERRY FRUIT — RARE]

Permanently increases HP by +50.

[MOONBERRY FRUIT — RARE]

Permanently increases MP by +50.

[EXPIO FRUIT — RARE]

Removes all negative status effects and purifies the body.

[WINDLEAF — RARE]

Permanently increases SPD by +5.

[STONESCALE HERB — RARE]

Permanently increases DEF by +5.

[MYSTICBLOOM — RARE]

Permanently increases INT by +5.

Gray stared at the notifications, then at the field of glowing plants stretching out before them.

"...This is a jackpot."

Cindy nodded vigorously, her frills quivering with excitement.

"We need to bring all of this back with us. Every single one."

Gray glanced at her, his expression blank.

"And how exactly are we supposed to do that? We don’t have an inventory."

Cindy blinked. Then her frills lowered, her excitement dimming.

"...Right. We don’t have an inventory."

They stood there in silence for a moment, surrounded by more wealth than most mages would see in a lifetime, unable to carry any of it.

Lily, meanwhile, had finished the cluster of Bloodberry fruits and was now eyeing the Moonberry fruits with hungry curiosity.

Gray sighed.

"Lily. Don’t eat everything."

Lily paused, her five points tilting innocently, then took a bite anyway.

Gray turned back toward the field of rare plants, his golden eyes scanning the endless rows of glowing fruits and shimmering herbs.

"We need to figure out how to carry all of this," he said. "And we need to do it before Lily eats everything."

Cindy nodded, her silver eyes already searching for a solution.

"Maybe Lily can make containers? Like she did for me?"

Lily perked up at the mention of her name, her dark core pulsing with pride. Then Cindy asked if she could make containers, and Lily’s five points spun rapidly, her body turning left and right as if searching for something she couldn’t find. She pulsed weakly, a small, embarrassed rhythm, and drooped.

Cindy let out a small sigh.

"Yah... it won’t be that easy, huh."

Gray watched Lily’s deflated spinning for a moment, then turned back toward the endless field of glowing fruits and shimmering herbs.

"If that’s the case," he said, "why don’t we just eat them here? It’s easier than carrying them."

Cindy’s frills snapped rigid.

"Absolutely not."

Gray glanced at her.

"Why not?"

"Because if we eat all of this at once, our bodies will become unstable and explode," Cindy said flatly. "These fruits are concentrated mana. They’re not like ordinary food. Your body has to process them slowly, adapt to the changes one at a time. If you overload your system with too much at once, the mana will tear you apart from the inside."

Gray blinked.

"...Explode?"

"Yes, explode," Cindy said. "And it’s worse because these are high-quality specimens. The ones sold in human markets are cultivated, diluted, grown in controlled environments. These are wild-grown, saturated with natural mana, ripened on the back of a living legendary creature." She gestured at the field around them. "The effects are probably twice as potent as anything you’d find in a shop."

Gray looked down at the glowing fruits in his hands, then back at the endless rows stretching out before them.

"So we can’t eat them all. And we can’t carry them all."

"Correct," Cindy said.

Gray was quiet for a moment. Then he glanced toward Lily, who was busy stuffing another mana fruit into her star-shaped maw, her dark core pulsing with oblivious joy.

"What about Lily?" he asked. "She’s eaten at least a dozen already."

Cindy followed his gaze. She watched Lily swallow another fruit whole, then another, her small body swelling slightly with each bite.

"Lily is an anomaly," Cindy said. "She was born from the Seed of Destruction. Her body is made of void energy and absorbed mana. She can process things that would kill anyone else." She paused. "She’ll be fine. Probably."

Gray stared at Lily for a long moment. The star creature burped softly, her dark core flickering with satisfaction, then reached for another fruit.

"...Probably," he repeated.

"Probably," Cindy confirmed.

Gray let out a slow breath, then turned back toward the field.

"Alright. Then we eat what we can, carefully. We take what we can carry. And we leave the rest."

Cindy nodded, her frills settling.

"That’s the best plan we have."

Gray picked up one of the vitality fruits and studied it. The crimson skin pulsed faintly in his palm, warm and alive. He brought it to his mouth and took a bite.

The flavor hit him immediately. Rich, sweet, with a faint undertone of something almost metallic. The warmth spread through his body, settling into his muscles, his bones, his carapace.

[BLOODBERRY FRUIT — CONSUMED]

[HP MAX +50]

He felt the change settle into him, a subtle but permanent shift. His body felt denser, more solid.

Cindy watched him, her silver eyes bright.

"How does it feel?"

"Strange," Gray admitted. "But good."

He reached for another fruit, a pale blue one this time, and took a bite. The moonberry fruit was cooler, crisper, like biting into frozen moonlight. The energy spread through his channels, expanding his mana pool.

[MOONBERRY FRUIT — CONSUMED]

[MP MAX +50]

Lily, meanwhile, had finished another cluster of fruits and was now spinning in lazy circles, her dark core pulsing with contented satisfaction. She was noticeably larger than before, her five points sharper, her body denser.

Gray watched her for a moment, then glanced at Cindy.

"She’s going to be huge by the time we leave this place."

Cindy nodded, her frills swaying.

"Probably."

Gray handed a bloodberry fruit to Cindy. She took it with both hands, studying its pulsing crimson surface for a moment before bringing it to her mouth. The bite was small, cautious, but the effect was immediate. Her silver glow flickered brighter, steadier, and her small body seemed to firm up, her frills straightening with renewed strength.

Cindy let out a slow, satisfied breath.

"That’s... warm."

Gray watched her for a moment, then took another bite of his own fruit.

"By the way," he said, his voice thoughtful, "do you think this is the reward Noir mentioned?"

Cindy paused mid-chew. Her silver eyes drifted across the endless field of glowing fruits and shimmering herbs, and her frills swayed slowly with consideration.

"...Maybe," she said. "It could be. This many rare plants, all in one place, growing on the back of a legendary creature? That’s not a coincidence. Noir said the reward was on top of the Great Tartarus. She might have known this field was here."

She looked down at the vitality fruit in her hands.

"And these fruits... they might be exactly what I need. With enough mana fruits, I could finally break through to Fifth Circle."

Gray nodded slowly.

"Then we’re in the right place."

He reached toward a cluster of arcane blooms growing near the base of a pale tree, his fingers closing around the stem. He pulled gently, carefully, trying not to damage the delicate petals.

And then he felt it.

A vibration beneath his feet. Something was moving beneath the moss.

Gray reacted on instinct. He dropped the bloom and pulsed backward, his body dissolving into the current and reforming several meters away.

The ground erupted.

A maw of jagged teeth burst from the moss, snapping shut on the space where Gray had been standing a heartbeat before. The creature’s body was plant-like, its limbs a tangle of vines and thorns, its skin the same pale, translucent texture as the trees around them. Its head was a massive, tooth-lined bloom, its petals shifting and twitching with hungry awareness.

Gray raised one hand and fired Cavitation Pulse directly into the creature’s open mouth.

The superheated jet of water and crystal shrapnel tore through the bloom and punched out the back of its head. The creature shrieked, its vines lashing wildly, and collapsed into the moss.

The system flickered.

[CARNIVOROUS BLOOM — Level 40]