“Woah!” Rao Wu inadvertently yelled in delight and relief when he felt a hand firmly clasped around his. Splash! Unfortunately, the small youth’s lower body still fell into the river. It immediately felt the powerful currents threatening to snatch him from the saving hand.

“Nnggh!” The Dryad grunted as she struggled to pull Rao Wu out of the rapids against the rivers’ wishes. “Help me!”

The plant-monsters, heeding her cry, wrapped their vines around Rao Wu and then gently pulled him onto the shore.

Thud.

The exhausted Dryad fell on her butt while Rao Wu collapsed headfirst into the soil. “Hahaha, that was close.” The little boy chuckled as he propped his chin on the ground to look at the Dryad. “Thanks! You saved my life! I owe you one.”

“Mm-mm.” The Dryad shook her head as a weak smile played across her face. “You saved far more lives. We owe you more than we can repay in this life.”

“Nwaaa!”

Rao Wu lazily rolled over and then sat up to look at the angry, demonstrating Bugbear Lord across the pond. “Well, he looks pissed.” Chuckling, he groaned as he rose to his feet, and then helped the Dryad to hers. “We should leave here and find somewhere to talk. I don’t feel comfortable with that guy staring at us.”

“Mm.” The Dryad agreed with Rao Wu’s statement. After taking one angry look at the Bugbear Lord, she led Rao Wu and the plant-monsters deep into the forest.

Along the way, Rao Wu, no longer able to hold in his curiosity, asked, “What are these guys called? I’ve never seen anything like them?”

“Really!?” The Dryad questioned with a pair of eyes widened in shock and disbelief. However, a moment later, she sighed and then muttered, “I suppose it is possible. The Bugbears have killed most of the Forest Sprites since they first invaded.”

“Oh? They’re called Forest Sprites?” Rao Wu looked at the plant-monsters, er Forest Sprites with intrigue. “What do you mean invasion? The Bugbears are not indigenous to this region?”

The Dryad shook her head. “According to the old records, a great calamity fell on the forest many years ago, which caused all soul monsters to flee or perish. Afterward, only trees and the Sprites remained.” The Dryad’s green eyelids drooped with sorrow as she patted one of the Sprites. “The records state that the Forest Sprites are ancient spirits of the forest who missed the lifeforms so much that they morphed over time to take the forms of the extinct monsters.”

“Records?” Rao Wu’s brows rose as he sensed something wrong with the Dryad’s report. “If the Sprites turned into these monster forms, who kept these records?”

The Dryad let out a bitter smile as she pushed her way through the leaves into a large clearing. A giant, lone oak tree stood proudly tall at the center of the beautiful grassland. To Rao Wu’s surprise, many more Forest Sprites lazing around in the meadow looked up and then let out happy greetings as they walked to the Oaktree.

“This is my home.” The Dryad stated when they reached the Oak Tree. “And the last safe place for the Forest Sprites – at least until the Bugbears learn how to cross rivers.”

Rao Wu frowned. Bugbear Lords were not stupid. The fact that it did not know how to cross rivers was odd, except… “Is this the first time the Bugbear Lord has seen you guys cross the river?”

“Yes.” The Dryad nodded. “Today was especially close. The Bugbear Lord has been placing guards around the major watering holes. We can usually outrun a few guards. We never expected he would have planned such a large ambush.” The Dryad sighed as she sat down. She then rested her back against the oak tree and gazed at the rustling leaves. “The Sprites need to periodically soak in water, or they’ll wither up and die. The Bugbear Lord knows this and chose to block off the lakes and ponds.”

“It probably knows how to cross the river now.” Rao Wu, severely lacking in tact, dropped the massive bomb on the already despondent Dryad. “You showed the Bugbear Lord it can cross the rapids with a bridge. It’s probably thinking up ways to cross the bridge right now.” Oblivious to the Dryad, who had gone pale in fright, Rao Wu continued muttering, “But you should be fine for a few months, I think. They don’t seem strong enough to break the large trees, and it should take them a while to figure out that tying multiple branches together can provide strong support—”

“Stop!”

The Dryad’s frantic shout nearly made Rao Wu jump. He looked at the Dryad, and immediately felt regret when he saw her shaking shoulders and the tears pooling in her eyes. ‘Ah. I probably should have held onto that until she was calmer.’

Rao Wu, for the first time, experienced the complex emotions that accompanied a humanoid conversation. Perhaps he had to take other people’s emotional state into consideration before blurting out what was on his mind? Rao Wu took the lesson to heart, as he reached out and patted the Dryad’s back. “Sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”

“Mm-mm.” The Dryad futilely wiped her tears as she shook her head. “You were right to tell me the truth. At least, this way, I can prepare and try to make a last stand.”

“You can?” Rao Wu looked at the wandering Sprites. “Can’t they help? To be honest, with their abilities, defending their home shouldn’t be so hard.”

“The Sprites are incapable of inflicting harm on another lifeform.” The Dryad confessed with a wry smile. “I think it’s a trait passed on from when they were spirits.”

“What? That doesn’t make any sense!?” It wasn’t that Rao Wu did not believe the Sprites were incapable of attacking other lifeforms. The world was a massive place. There were bound to be all sorts of strange lifeforms with unique skills and restrictions. However, Sprites could never naturally exist in the same ecosystem as monsters who saw them as food.

The Food Chain.

Uncle Rao Wu had often mentioned this concept. It was simple but efficient. Aside from a select few apex predators, every being in an ecosystem had prey (either plant or animal) and predators. However, even with apex predators, their numbers were usually so few that they did not affect the delicate balance in their ecosystem.

This jungle, however, made no sense in that regard. First, from what the Dryad stated, there were only two monster species in the entire forest. This on its own wasn’t bad, but one of these monster species depended on eating the other for food because the rest of the forest did not produce fruits they could eat.

The Bugbears needed to hunt the Sprites for food, while the Sprites could not defend themselves or fight back. It did not take a genius to figure out that this would result in the Sprites’ eventual extinction. No ecosystem would naturally evolve to promote the complete destruction of one species as a result of the other.

Most times, the cause of extinction of a species was down to…

“You said the Bugbears invaded?” Rao Wu questioned with sharp eyes.

“Mm.” The Dryad turned and crawled into an opening in the oak tree. Moments later, she crawled out with a set of scrolls in her hands. She unfurled one of them and gave it to Rao Wu, who stared at it in shock.

“These are the common characters!” Rao Wu recognized the characters on the scroll. They were the same as the encyclopedias he had read cover-to-cover several times. “How? No, more importantly, who wrote these? Wait—"

Rao Wu’s eyes suddenly narrowed as he stumbled across a severe problem. He looked at the Dryad with suspicion in his eyes. “Where did you learn to speak the common language?” He had not considered it at first as it was extremely comfortable speaking to someone who spoke the same language.

However, aside from the Dryad, neither the plant-monsters nor the Bugbears could speak, let alone spoke the common tongue. If she was really as young as she looked, there was no way she could have learned the common language from any intelligent creature.

The Dryad hugged her knees to her chest and gazed at the horizon with a blank stare. “To answer your first question, I wrote the records, but I do not remember how. As for your second, I could speak since I gained consciousness.”

“Since you gained consciousness?” Rao Wu’s brow rose at the very peculiar phrasing. “Shouldn’t it be since you were born?”

The Dryad shook her head. “I am not created by a parent. Do you know how Dryads are ‘born’?”

“Uh… I should.” Rao Wu quickly wracked his brain, treating the Dryad’s question as a surprise quiz from Midnight. Those terrifying eyes jolted Rao Wu’s memory, and he exclaimed with a loud shout. “Reincarnation!” His heart beat with excitement when he looked at the Dryad. Still, then as the rest of the information bled through, his enthusiasm cooled down just a smidge as he muttered, “Well, the closest thing to it.”

Reincarnation was a trait shared by a few soul monsters. When monsters with this trait died, they would be reborn as long as they met certain conditions. One of the king paragons of this trait was the Phoenix soul monster species. When Phoenixes died, their flames condensed into a stone egg. With the right type of fire, it was possible to bring the Phoenix back to life.

Some Phoenixes even came back stronger than before they died!

Dryads were similar to Phoenixes in that they could be reborn after they died. However, unlike Phoenixes, Dryads had a lot more restrictions to their rebirth.

First and foremost, Dryads could not reincarnate if they died an unnatural death. That was because Dryads had to congeal their lifeforce into a seed that would be planted after their death. That seed would then grow into a new Dryad.

Unfortunately, unlike Phoenixes, who were reborn with their full memories, and either their previous strength or stronger, new Dryads only regained some instinctual memories. They also inherited a few random skills of the prior generation.

There was a famous saying that the numbers of Dryads were fixed from the days of creation. The only time the Dryads’ population increased was when mutated twin Dryads were born from a single seed.

However, as Dryads grew older, they slowly recovered their previous generations’ memories, which usually made them extreme powerhouses in the late stages. Imaging fighting a soul monster with several lifetimes worth of battling knowledge.

“That’s still amazing!” Rao Wu’s eyes were like stars as he praised the Dryad. “Do you have any idea how many times you’ve been reborn? No. Never mind that. No matter how many times it’s been, you’re a real gem! Aish. I really wanted you to become my soul pet, though.” Rao Wu released a frustrated groan. Even if he got her to be his soul pet now, she would most likely quit when her past memories returned. What ancient wise being would willingly serve a snotty-nosed brat?

“Soul Pet?” The Dryad looked at Rao Wu with pondering eyes. “I have a vague recollection of that word. What is that?”

Rao Wu grinned and then called out Xian Da.

“Rraff~” The little Dusklight Wolf Cub let out an excited cry after it emerged from the summoning circle, and then jumped onto Rao Wu’s shoulder.

Rao Wu lovingly scratched the Dusklight Wolf cub’s chin and then said, “Soul Pets are a Soul Trainer’s closest friends. They follow the Soul Trainer on epic adventurers to fight the strongest monsters, grow stronger and one day become the Emperors of their respective races.” Rao Wu shrugged and then added with a light chuckle, “Well, all of that Emperor part doesn’t really matter to me. I just want to challenge myself with my Soul Pets and strive to be the strongest Soul Trainer in the world.” Twilight’s graying fur flashed in Rao Wu’s mind, causing the youth to add in a sullen murmur, “It’s the only way to protect and save those I care about.”

“I’ve never heard of this Emperor,” murmured the Dryad. She looked at Rao Wu with bright child-like curiosity as she inquired, “Tell me more about where you come from.”

Rao Wu, seeing the curiosity in her eyes, channeled his inner Uncle Twilight, and then began regaling the Dryad with his Uncle’s stories. Of course, he added some of his personal anecdotes here and there. However, none of his experiences held a candle to his Uncle’s adventures, so he mostly focused on those.

By the time he was done, the Dryad’s mouth and eyes were wide open in wonder. “I really want to see your world,” she muttered in regret. “But I can’t leave the Sprites to the Bugbears.”

“Really!?” Rao Wu sat up with a start. Eyes shining, he fixed the Dryad with an intense stare. “So, if the Bugbears aren’t a problem anymore, you wouldn’t mind following me?”

“No, you cannot beat them.” The Dryad shook her head when she saw Rao Wu’s eyes. “I do not want you to die because of me. You said you only have to stay for thirty days, right? Just stay here. If what you said is true, you should be safe until you have to leave.”

“No way.” Rao Wu stubbornly shook his head. “Even if it wasn’t to help you, we were going to train on the Bugbears anyway.” Rao Wu looked into the Dryad’s eyes as he said, “But with you guys’ help, not only training, we’ll be able to wipe out the Bugbears.”

“I thought I told you. The Sprites cannot fight.”

“Just because they can’t fight, does not mean they don’t have other ways of helping.”

“What?”

Rao Wu chuckled as he casually wrapped his left around the Dryad’s neck, drew her close, and then whispered something into her ears. Shortly after, he pulled back and then said with a devilish glint in his eyes. “That’s my plan. What do you think?”

“You…” The Dryad stared at Rao Wu with shock in her eyes. “That is too dangerous!”

“Maybe. But it’s possible, right?”

The Dryad chewed her lips as she looked into the youth’s eyes. Rao Wu’s beautiful gray eyes shone with innocent excitement and an unhidden desire. She knew that Rao Wu was going this far because of his desire to have her as a ‘soul pet.’ Frankly, she did not fully understand what that entailed, but his earnest desire warmed her heart. “Yes… It’s possible.”

“Hehe. So? What do you think? With your help, it will be a lot faster.”

The Dryad hesitated for a brief moment, but then, infected by Rao Wu’s fervent gaze, caved in and muttered, “I’ll talk to the Sprites.”

“YES!”