The fresh scent of the forest. Was absolutely revolting honestly. It smelt like fresh dung paste, and death (occasionally). For a country of flowers it strange he didn’t find too many on his way into the deeper parts of the forest. If you wonder why the earth-bound cloud mage is wandering around the forest, well, obvious answer: He’s on a mission. It was about time that he got to working, although he could live off noodles and a cardboard box forever didn’t mean his clothes could. Already his cloak was gathering holes, most of them from this trip but that makes it even more important.

Swinging a small plastic box around his hummed to a song he heard on his way here. The actual details of his mission were to find three specific plants for Khalash, the owner of the Mag Drug Magic Shop. He had watched over Mr. Khalash’s shop while he was away and when he came back he brought some new produces with it. However of course he needs more ingredients for it. Enter, cheap labor: Sael.

The cloud mage pulls out a small sheet of paper, listing the names, why(?), as well as some small descriptions and pictures alongside of what they look like. Sael had already picked up a couple samples of curly fern and had carefully stacked them away in their own small box hidden in his cloak. Now he was on the search for Blue- Whatchama call it? Producing the slip of paper he affirmed it to be Blue Lichen. Never knew lichen could be blue. Huh. Slipping the list back into his sleeves he set out for his next target. “I should invest in some speed buffing spells.” He groaned. Handy, but wouldn’t do much in finding plants in itself but it would make this trip more interesting.

(If the interesting-ness of a mission can be measured by difficulty, over the number of people multiplied by total power of the individuals, then surely the interest value of this mission has reached the minimum value to keep the equation functioning? Though related, the interest values don’t constitute the whole of entertainment value of an event. (That would be amount of people divided by total chemistry, adding the sum of familiarity and interesting-ness after the first and second had already been combined.)

In any case according to the Khalash’s note Blue lichen can be found on top rotting logs. Hm. Maybe deeper into the woods then? He didn’t see anything like that yet, so naturally there will be some ahead. He tried to stray from the trees and into the more open areas so his view wouldn’t be so obstructed. After a while he was starting to lose hope. He started this search around brunch time, and without having found sight of a single log, old or new, the lunch time sun passed overhead. He furrowed his brow and doubled his efforts, but perhaps all he needed was a a better vantage point. With a quick snap of his fingers a small cloud appeared next to him, with it he ran toward the nearest tree and by using the cloud as a foot hold, climbed around the sides of the tree in a spiral. Keeping watch as he did so, and quickly spotted a couple of logs. Sael gulped hard before bending down and pushing himself from the bark as hard as he could. He fell silently like a pebble, jerking his arm tightly he brought the cloud under him before making contact with the ground. His toes just barely making contact with the dirt below him. “Man that was close.” Heaving himself off his cloud couch he started to investigate the scene and eventually finding a few samples of blue lichen. Pulling out another glass jar he stuffed the samples in before tightening the cork. “Two down one to go.”

Slipping the Blue lichen sample into his sample bag he pulls out the next target. “So I’m looking for a red leafed vine, and they only grow on the biggest trees?” Wait a minute… He climbed back up with the help of some clever tactics and another cloud platform he made his way back toward the tree he had jumped off of. When he had slumped down tiredly when he found the vine from the picture. “Next time read all of the notes before jumping off a tree.” He said to himself. Lazily he brought out another casing, this one larger than the others to compensate for the size of the vines. After fitting them snugly with other other items he willed his ride back down to the ground. Since he had collected all of the ingredients there really was no reason to stay here, so following his tracks Sael returned to Khalash’s shop.

Although he got lost a few times he eventual found the familiar shape of buildings in his sight before long. A little sore and tired from his expedition the cloud mage trudged into the Mag Drug Magic Shop, the sound of bells marking his entrance. Khalash peeked from around the corner and when he saw it was Sael walked up to join him and directed the two of them to the back room. He was saying something but Sael couldn’t quite hear him over the ringing in his ears. He shook and head and that seemed to do the trick. “Mind handing me the ingredients?” The shopkeep’s voice echoing. He obliged, digging into his bag and bringing out three cases of varying size. Handing the samples when Khalash called for them. Admittedly Sael knew little to nothing where potions were concerned, so when the old wizard finished sturring it still looked a little underbaked. Though Khalash seemed fairly confident when he poured it into a vial and handed it to test. “Well go on then, it ain’t dangerous.” He assured. Sael wasn’t as confident as this wizard but maybe he could sue him for poisoning if he went to the hospital. With a sinking feeling in his gut he down it all in one go. Instead of choking on it as he expected, a strangely warm glow emanated from his stomach. “I think it worked.” He said. Khalash seemed pretty happy from this, as did Sael, and he was handed his payment for the ingredients as he was walked out of the shop.


[Exit]
1085/1000 words
Mission Complete