[Shrubley, the Monster Adventurer] (Book 2 Start) Chapter 81 – Oregano Gangsta

Author Note: Shrubley the OG happy little shrub is back!

Shrubley lounged by the open window in his suite, courtesy of the Adventurers Guild. The sunlight streaming through warmed his healthy green leaves, which were no longer withered and yellowed from the twisted mirror realm he had so recently escaped.

He flexed a twiggy hand, looking down at all the new whorls and patterns adorning his bark. Ever since Shrubley reached the height of Copper Rank, his plant body had grown to be more sophisticated than ever before.

It’s taking some getting used to! Shrubley nodded to himself. He was slightly over four feet tall now. That was quite tall for a shrub.

A strong breeze of crisp autumn air rustled his many leafy branches, reminding him that he was no longer far from home. Gone was the oppressive heat, and then later the unsettling chill of death, of that dark dimension.

Blinking his yellow lamplight eyes, Shrubley watched the red-gold sun rising over the horizon. It bathed the patchwork farms that surrounded the leaning, squat buildings and cobbled streets of Taamra village in a beautiful, golden glow.

It lifted his spirits immensely to see dawn again.

He couldn’t recall the last time he’d felt the warming glow of the life-giving sun on his leaves. It had seemed like an eternity in that mirror realm.

From his vantage point, Shrubley could see the signs of a battle well fought across the farms and into the village itself. Broken remnants of fortifications were scattered across ruined buildings and burnt fields. There was little left of the wall and gate that once protected the village.

Despite the destruction, people and even Awakened monsters were already hard at work making repairs. Many adventurers were among them, and some of them were monsters now, too.

It made Shrubley feel good that more of his kind were beginning to be accepted, at least in this one place.

It has to start somewhere, Shrubley thought.

Shrubley was finally and truly back on his home Worldshard of Almora.

He had many things to look over, and many more things yet to do.

One day, I will become the strongest adventurer! And when I do, I should like to visit Taamra once more. Wearing a very stately hat, Shrubley promised himself, and not for the first time.

He was very fond of hats, but said hats had to be earned.

The road there would be long indeed. Already, he was eager to take the next step.

Though he knew he needed plenty of rest and time to recover from the ordeal, Shrubley was impatient as a spring sapling.

There was one quest in particular that gave him an unusual suggestion. Without any delay, he eagerly agreed to the detailed version of the quest.

Quest Completed: The Lightless

What started as a simple quest to deliver a package to the Haalften Manor turned into an epic journey in another realm.

After training under the vampyr, Countess Haalften, and her familiar dark oppa, Sose, you survived being hunted by the serpentii in the crypts and fell to the undead chasm. There, you unlocked your third essence of Light and freed a trapped spirit, earning yourself the [Death’s Razor], the [Morph Shield], and your Elder Glowbug familiar.

You then traveled across that mirror realm’s dangerous forest, defeating many serpentii along the way. Ensnared by an old magic, you were lost in the woods until your friendly slime, Smudge, guided you to the witch hut of Mistress Ceasewane. Accompanied by the Witch, Mistress Ceasewane, you learned how to unlock the powers of the Guidance Stone bound there. In doing so, you unlocked your secret fused Class, the Sage Knight.

From there, you rescued the stranded populace of Taamra village and the Haalften region with the aid of Cluckley, your ambulatory witch hut, before finally taking the fight to the serpentii.

You managed to successfully escape the mirror realm after assaulting the serpentii’s base located in that distant reflection, though not without sacrifices along the way. With the aid of your allies, you thwarted the Snake Lord, Rykal, and his plans to one day overthrow the Empire.

Due to your noble deeds and accomplishments, the rewards for this quest have dramatically increased from the additional objectives completed.

Objectives Completed:

Reach Copper Rank within the mirror realm 1/1

Unlock a Class within the mirror realm 1/1

Free all those imprisoned in the paintings 1/1

Rescue the stranded populace from Taamra village and the Haalften region 1/1

Find a way back to Almora 1/1

Defeat the Snake Lord 1/1

His lamplight eyes misted with dew. There had been so much loss, and yet things turned out alright in the end. Mostly alright.

Exrin, the brave goblin that sacrificed his life to save Esmerelda’s, and Cluckley, his witch hut that protected them all, would be dearly missed. Fortunately, Shrubley had been able to spare at least one more life in the aftermath.

Carried by Count Haalften in the form of a literal cloud of bats, Shrubley arrived at the village in time to save Remal’s life.

The poor Bard was at death’s door.

Shrubley had used a rapid combination of his Light essence abilities, [Counteract], [Recovery], with his Life essence ability, [Transference], to cure Remal of the virulent serpentii poison and then pull him back from the brink.

Even with [Counteract], [Recovery], and [Transference] all elevated in efficacy by his Sage Knight ability [Enlightenment], it had been close. Shrubley barely had enough mana to do it all.

But Remal survived.

Stiffening his branches, Shrubley turned his attention towards the rewards of the quest, uncertain what awaited him. Considering the quest took into account the majority of his deeds and accomplishments within the mirror realm, it stood to reason that the rewards would be affected by that.

Rewards:

Class Experience (Epic)

Party Experience (Epic)

Adventurer Accolades (Rare)

Monster Accolades (Rare)

[Essence Gem Box]

[Guidance Stone Compass]

[Magical Map]

10 [Silver Coins]

Shrubley’s lamplight eyes went wide within the deep recess of his leaves. Astounded, he read the quest reward’s golden Shardscript again and again.

His whole round body quivered with excitement.

I’m actually rich this time! he thought, which just goes to show that his grasp on economics hadn’t gotten much better.

The rush of Experience and multiple level ups hit Shrubley full-force. Even without examining his [Status], he could feel his attributes rise considerably. The depths of his health, stamina, and mana reserves deepened.

The physical rewards began to materialize mid-air. Only then did Shrubley realize his mistake.

The [Essence Gem Box] appeared just slightly beyond the open window, followed by the [Guidance Stone Compass], [Magical Map], and the small pouch containing the silver coins.

Aw, nuts!

He reached forward, scrambling to catch any of them, but the only thing he managed to get a hold of was the small rolled-up map.

His glowbug familiar rubbed its back legs together, making a whomp-whomp sound, before flying over to Shrubley and landing on one of his inner branches and going to sleep.

The rest of the items fell to the street outside the Adventurers Guild. And since Shrubley was several stories up, they made quite the racket in the early morning. Nothing broke, thankfully. They were, for the most part, magical items that could take quite the beating.

Unfortunately, once they were dispensed by the Shard, they were no longer “his” in the traditional sense. And the robed figure that narrowly avoided being crushed by the loot was now inspecting the items with great interest.

Shrubley winced. He had nearly hurt a person by his carelessness. “Hello, good sir!” he shouted down. “Could you be so kind as to hold on to my items until I can–hey, where are you going? Those are not yours!”

Shrubley could only watch and stare as the cloaked man or woman darted out of view between two buildings that were leaning drunkenly against one another.

Committing the burgundy red color of that cloak to memory, as well as the direction the person ran in, Shrubley hurried out of his room and took the spiraling stairs two at a time.

I need those items for my friends! What if that [Essence Gem Box] contains powerful new essences? Or that [Guidance Stone Compass] leads to an actual Guidance Stone? That could unlock a Class and a Prime essence for Cal, Slyrox, or even Smudge!

If all of those theories held true, then the items combined would be completely life changing.

If it wasn’t for the potential collateral damage he might cause, Shrubley would have tucked his arms and legs into his body and rolled down the stairs at maximum speed.

Judging by the parade of adventurers that he had to sidle past along the way, giving them a few words of greeting, the shrub was glad he didn’t.

From what he could tell, the Guild was growing at a breakneck pace. More than replacing those poor souls who were lost in the attack on Taamra.

Even now, a memorial stone was being planned to sit at the center of the town square with all the names of the brave souls who gave up their lives so that Taamra might survive.

And since this was at the very edge of civilization, the people joining were often Mundane Rank, which put them below Shrubley’s Copper Rank.

The fact that he was stronger than the newcomers still boggled his little mind. He would need to be careful not to harm anybody. They were his little brothers and sisters now, a family all his own.

One that accepted him–perhaps not as wholeheartedly as he would have liked–and he would do anything for them.

Still filling out applications, Sel tried to say something to Shrubley as he burst out of the guildhall. The line for new Guild applicants had shrunk, but it still snaked out of the door and into the brightly lit street.

Turning and tucking, Shrubley rolled down the middle of the cobbled street and around to the side where he had dropped his items.

He picked up speed as the ground began to slope away from the Guild’s impressive structure at the center of town.

The twisting streets were no match for Shrubley’s bouncy branches and supple leaves which easily rounded the corners using the crumbling plaster of their exterior walls to bank on without losing too much speed.

Had Shrubley grown up in Sormwynn, the capital of the Empire, and one of the Great Cities of the Inner Ring, he would have been much warier coming into a narrow and rapidly shrinking alley.

Deep between the warren of buildings away from the main streets, Shrubley was suddenly plunged into gray twilight. Something unpleasant and foul trickled through the middle of the alley. Shrubley tried his best to keep to the side.

Somewhere within these twisting alleyways was the thief, and Shrubley meant to give him–or her–a strong talking-to indeed!

Taking his hard-earned goods, the nerve!

It wasn’t until a deeper shadow fell upon him that he began to wonder if he had made a mistake.

“This him?” said a gravelly voice as Shrubley bounced harmlessly off the much taller man’s armored shins.

Shrubley uncoiled his legs and arms, standing up to his full four-foot-tall height and stared up at the man. His eyes went wide at what he saw.