Enter The Natural Barrier

When the dizziness faded, John looked around in awe at the odd trees that surrounded them. Stonelike bark, with patches of moss and lichen, twisted in on itself and reached up high above, much higher than the trees in Old Spring Forest. Red and orange leaves spread and extended out for the neighbouring trees, forming a canopy that allowed just enough light to filter through for the trio to see.

“So welcome to the Hunters’ barrier… I guess?” Robbin announced, opening his arms as if to gesture to the entire area.

John pushed Robin’s shoulder. “Oh shut it, you idiot.” He laughed. “You weren’t even sure where ‘here’ was, so don’t give us that shit. Anyway, why don’t we take a little look around before opening a new barrier?”

Ellie tightened her grip on John’s hand. “Sounds great! And while we walk, I can take a look at the plant life. Primrose did say you guys might come here to forage, so that has to mean there are some useful herbs or plants in here and I’m itching to use my Observe on things.”

John smiled. “Yeah, that sounds good to me. Plus, we can possibly use one of the things you find as a focus.”

With the beginnings of a plan, the three began walking through the underbrush, when John stopped abruptly. “Hey, I didn’t really think about it before, but since you’re taking a look at plants and stuff, it’d probably be a good idea to look at these trees, right?”

Moving over to the closest tree, he cast Observe.

Dwarf Twisted Drake Iblon

This tree is a dwarf variant of its larger cousin. They grow roughly 20-30m tall and have a trunk which can reach up to two metres. They are known to share resources with surrounding trees of the same species, while actively blocking others out.

Due to the shape and texture of this tree, many creatures find it hard to live within the trunk. However, the roots and canopy are prime spaces to call home.

Despite being infamous for being hard to work with, the twisted trunks of these trees are prized by carpenters for furniture-making.

Not only that, but chefs and home cooks often use tools and utensils crafted from the timber not only for the high heat resistance it holds but also because it is believed that the wood makes food tastier. Twisted Drake Iblon chopping boards are extremely popular and expensive for that reason alone.

Wood chips are also popular because the smoky flavour they produce adds a richness to food as well as a peculiar spice flavour.

Stone-like scaled bark, flowers which glisten and shine like jewels or precious gems, the hot fires from burning the wood, and seeds which have wings allowing them to glide for several kilometres are all contributing reasons Drake is included in the name of this tree.

John read the window finding it quite interesting but noting how yet again he came across something relating to dragons.

“I’m kinda getting a little suspicious of all this dragon stuff, you know? Like, it seems everywhere I turn I run into this stuff,” John muttered loud enough for the others to hear.

Robin walked over to him, looking at the Observe, thanks to being added to John’s party the night before.

“I don’t think it’s all that rare to find Abyssal creatures' names in plant life and stuff, especially dragons. It has reasoning for the name too, which I’ll be honest I don’t think most things have. Usually, it’s just for, like, the rule of cool. For now, I wouldn’t take too much stock in it… From what you told me, most of the dragon-related encounters you have had can be directly linked to your dragon powers. I was the first one in the barrier, so I’d say that it’s just a coincidence,” Robin explained.

John let out a pensive sigh. “Maybe, I guess. It just seems like everywhere I turn I bump into something related to dragons.”

“Oooh, this is quite interesting,” Ellie bubbled, causing both John and Robin to look at her Observe sheet.

Dwarf Twisted Drake Iblon

(Tree)

The wood can be used in several ways in relation to alchemy, mostly in the use of enhancing the flavour of some less desirable potions and concoctions, but it can also be used as a good fuel for some higher temperature distilling.

Dried leaves from this tree are often smoked, usually before bed. The reason for this is because users often experience lifelike lucid dreams while sleeping; it has also been documented that people have also hallucinated while awake. The **** is seen as quite safe and there has never been a case of overdose.

The bark of this tree has several uses. It can be crushed and used as a warm compress. It’s also used as a modifier in many potions where fire or heat is the main effect. Fire breathing potions use the bark of this tree as a key ingredient [You do not currently have a recipe you can use as a reference.].

The flowers that rarely grow on this tree are believed to bring fortune; this is only backed up with the use to boost potions which increase one's luck.

John nodded. “I don’t think you’ll be able to collect any of the leaves or the flowers from that thing; it’s pretty high up and I don’t see any of the flowers that it mentioned.”

Ellie smiled at him. “It doesn’t matter, it’s just nice to have some more ingredients in my compendium.”

“You wanna take some of the bark at least? It says you don’t have the recipe for it, but a fire breathing potion could be useful, and if you get the rest of the recipe, we wouldn’t need to come back here,” John reasoned.

“Do you have anything to cut the bark off with?” Ellie asked in reply.

John opened his mouth, then closed it as an idea came to mind. “I could try using my claws?”

Ellie shrugged. “As tempting as it would be to watch you swing wildly at a tree trying to get some bark from it, I think it’d probably be better to come back with the right tools if I need some. Why don’t we continue walking, we might find some flowers or something with interesting effects and things on the ground should be a little easier to harvest.”

The trio continued through the forest, all keeping their eyes out for odd plant life. It was both easy and hard. On one hand, John had never seen any of the plant life in the forest, but on the other, he couldn’t tell what he should or shouldn’t point out.

In the beginning, John happily Observed each plant with Ellie, but it quickly became apparent that Ellie’s version of the ability was much more useful in searching for alchemically useful plants.

While Ellie was looking at a window for a rather uninteresting herb, John spotted something quite beautiful. The flower looked like a pink water lily, the stem was quite thick and sported eight lily pad-like leaves which got smaller the higher up the flower you reached.

Smiling and thinking it’d be a pretty gift for Ellie, he reached over and cupped the flower between his fingers, like a wine glass. Immediately he yanked his hand back and yelped in pain. His palm felt as if something was clawing at his flesh; a searing and itching feeling washed over his hand. Ellie rushed over, hearing him and cast Observe on the plant.

Nipping Lily

(Plant)

The main feature of this plant is the flower itself. It sports hair-like follicles which sting any who come into contact with it, similar to nettles. Unlike nettles though these hairs contain a neurotoxin which affects the nerves in the areas that are in contact. The flower itself is also full of this toxin making it inedible and quite dangerous.

If this toxin isn’t treated, it can cause nerve damage, as well as excruciating muscle contractions. If the toxin reaches the heart, it can cause irregular beating. The toxin can also affect the lungs forcing them to constrict and making it almost impossible to breathe.

Luckily for those unlucky enough to come into contact with this flower, the plant also has its own antidote in the form of its leaves. Grinding the leaves into a pulp and applying it to the affected area helps reduce pain, while ingesting stops the toxin from spreading.
[WARNING: THE LEAVES HAVE A FOUL TASTE AND CAN BE HARD TO KEEP DOWN]

Quickly Ellie ripped off three of the largest leaves and pulled out a small wooden pestle and mortar from her knapsack. She ground the leaves and spread some of the pulp on John’s palm before taking the thick goop and pushing it into his mouth.

John shuddered at the unpleasant flavour and would have instinctually spat it out had Ellie not clamped her hand over his mouth. With no other option, he swallowed it as quickly as he could.

Once Ellie had let go, John wretched, feeling his mouth salivating as if he was about to throw up, and fell to his hands and knees.

“God damn,” Robin remarked. “Dude, you really need to be careful. That thing sounds nasty. It’s a good thing Ellie is here, I wouldn’t have known how to fix you.” Robin was currently staring at the open page of Ellie’s Observe window. “Maybe next time, don’t touch the random pretty flowers in the magical forest?”

“I’ll...” John paused to wretch, “remember that for next time.”

Slowly he stood back up, using Ellie and Robin to balance himself until his head stopped spinning.

The three had been walking for a while when Robin pointed out an odd cluster of flowers.

The most striking thing was the flowers, black and purple, sporting only three petals each and having tiny black tendrils coming from the centre. The stem at the base of the flower was black but turned green until halfway down where it faded to red. The flowers had between two to four leaves which stemmed from the bottom of the plant; they were green but transitioned to red at the tips and had a spiky shape to them without looking like they could prick you.

The trio cautiously moved closer to the flowers. John decided to use Observe this time before even thinking of getting within a couple metres of them, and upon reading the name, he was even more careful.

****’s Thornwort

Though these flowers don’t attract them like a moth to a flame, necromancers, undead and creatures like vampires have an affinity toward them. Even mindless reanimated corpses seem to pause when coming across them.

The flower has been seen as a ‘symbol’ of **** for many years and is often seen worn to funerals as a sign that someone has passed but the living will treasure the memories of the departed..

It is not uncommon to find these flowers growing around gravesites, battlefields or other locations which have seen much **** or house corpses. However, you can also often find them in forests with a denser canopy as they enjoy the shade.

Despite looking grim and menacing, these flowers are not dangerous at all, and in fact, in a pleasant irony they seem to prolong life and stave off decay. One of the most common uses, other than as funeral adornments, is for people to store the flower in pantries and refrigerators to preserve food.

“Huh…” John huffed curiously, before looking over to the open page of Ellie’s Observe.

****’s Thornwort

(Plant)

Alchemists and herbalists love these little flowers and often keep them in their workshops and storerooms to extend their perishable ingredients' lives. Doing this can extend the life of an ingredient between two to three times its usual life span or shelf life.

****’s Thornwart is not only great for its longevity effects but every part of the plant is useful in a different way.

The petals are used for shelf life retention; adding a dried and powdered petal to a perishable creation, whether it is consumable or not, will extend the shelf life up to ten times.

The stigmas of the flower have a peculiar effect in that they can repair an organism’s cells, essentially turning their biological clock back. This is used in several potions, cosmetics and ointments. Most notably in the Rejuvenating Draft potion.

The leaves have been given the nickname deathnip due to their effects on the undead. The leaves are used in several potions that can either attract, distract or repel the undead if used correctly.

The roots are used as modifiers for potions and such. The main attraction to this part of the plant is that it can triple the duration of a potion's effect, though it is quite sensitive and depending on the other ingredients used this duration modifier could be reduced in effectiveness.

“I know you got a bunch of alchemy information there, but it kinda sucks that you don’t get any other info. Like, the stuff I got is quite important too, especially the part where it tells you where you could find it,” John groused.

Ellie smiled and reached for the tome-like book in front of her, flicking over the page. Like the page before, one side of the book was an illustration of the plant, this time focusing on the flower itself and the leaves, and on the other page was more information almost identical to the information he’d gotten in his Observe.

“Oh come the fuck on, that’s cheating. How come you get both the information I get and all the alchemy stuff too?” John complained.

< I have included information useful to her skill set. If you want to bitch about the information you don’t get, I can take away her ability to use it. >

John huffed and waved the message away.

“What the heck?” Ellie grumbled. John’s stomach dropped as he looked over to see her Observe had vanished. Ellie tried to open it again and John was relieved to see the pages of her version of the ability appear again.

’Fine, I’m sorry. I won’t complain again,’ he thought.

He sighed and looked at Ellie. “So do you wanna collect some of these? We probably can’t uproot the plant right now, not having a shovel and all, but we can come back another time, or I could pick one up for you when I meet Prim.”

Ellie smiled before dipping her hand into her knapsack and pulling out a gardening trowel. “I came prepared. I’ll have you put it in your inventory to keep it safe, if you wouldn’t mind?” she asked.

She dropped to her knees before John answered and began digging out the flower, giving the roots a lot of room to avoid cutting it too short. Once it was removed from the forest floor, Ellie stood holding the flower and the earthy mound out in John’s direction.

John nodded and tapped the flower to store it in his inventory. “Yeah, sure, not a problem. What’s that?” John asked, pointing at a dim glow at the base of one of the trees just past Ellie.

There were seven flowers, all growing from leafless stems. Wide orange petals surrounded a brightly glowing ball while four thin blue petals reached out almost caging the glowing orb. Still cautious, John used Observe.

Dragon’s Beacon

This flower is often used around villages, towns and cities as an early warning signal. The orbs in the centre of the flowers glow brightly when a dragon is drawing near.

Without reading the rest of the window, he dismissed it and yanked both Ellie and Robin down to the ground, trying to use the underbrush as cover.

“What the fu-” Robin started, but was hissed at by John.

“Quiet,” John whispered. Straining his ears for any danger.

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