The pavilion cleared out in a massive uproar; more than forty kids answered Mel's call.
Mel didn't say a word to the crowd trailing behind him; passing through the gates leading out of the settlement, he kept up his steady march. Finally, one of the kids who had stayed dead silent up to that point couldn't take it anymore and spoke.
"Mel, where are we going?"
Like he was waiting for the question, the robust boy raised an eyebrow and turned to him. First, he swept his eyes over his followers in a slow look, then spoke in his usual, calm voice.
"As you can see, we're going to the outer forest. All the plants we need to prepare the herbal mixtures for tomorrow's trial should be out there!"
Mel went back to his steady strides, but a heavy silence fell behind him; not a single footstep or word could be heard. The young boy stopped, looking back at the crowd again, but he couldn't find the eager looks he had seen just a minute ago.
"Don't mess with us, Mel!"
"How are we supposed to go into the outer forest without martial cultivators backing us up?"
The kids hoping to get into the Botanical Division started talking all at once.
Only Nalt stepped up to Mel's side without saying a word; his rock-solid resolve was obvious in how he stood. Not getting an answer from Mel, the kids turned their questions to Nalt.
"Nalt, do you have a death wish?"
That was the first question; the deepest fear of the hesitant group had clawed its way to the surface. The comeback hit right away.
"If your lives are so precious, why did you feed those plants with your own blood?"
Nalt shot back, but the crowd's minds didn't look changed at all.
"Giving up a piece of our lifespan is one thing; knowing you could die any second is something else. I'm not going in that forest!"
When the girl grabbing the edges of her clothes finished talking, most of the group agreed with her.
"Friends, I'm not forcing anybody to do anything. Those who want to can go read those books about herbal mixtures. I'm leaving; anyone who wants to join me has to be by my side before I step into the forest!"
Without wasting a second, Mel put his words into action; with Nalt right beside him, they marched toward the trees.
At first, nobody left behind moved, but before ten breaths passed, one guy broke off and started trailing them.
"Ruthl, have you lost your mind? Where are you going?"
Tears welled up in the eyes of the girl shouting after the boy, who looked a bit older than the rest. Her voice shook with sadness on every word.
"I haven't lost my mind; honestly, my head is clearer than ever. This is my last year, and I don't have a family or a good life waiting for me. I can't let this chance slip through my fingers!"
It was obvious the girl had deep feelings for him, but the boy, ignoring them, followed Mel, seeing him as his last hope. After that, one, then two more kids joined the group; by the time they reached the edge of the forest, exactly ten kids stood ready, not counting Mel.
"So this is all that's left of us!"
Mel looked at the ten kids one by one.
"I heard what you guys were talking about. I know desperation pushed you here, but don't worry, your guts are going to be rewarded!"
After his short speech, the group dove into the thick trees. Even though the sun barely reached the dirt, the inside of the forest was burning hot.
This outer edge was fairly safe for normal people, but the second they reached the spot where he had killed the Boss-class snake, Mel told the group to stop and started talking.
"Dwellers of the forest; plants and wild beasts. We come in peace, and we won't hurt anyone. Please, accept us being here!"
The young boy called out in a calm voice; even though the others didn't notice, the wild beasts circling them froze in their tracks. A quiet watch started; while some beasts backed off like they lost interest, the snakes stayed locked in their spots.
"My old friend, keep the trees from getting in the way!"
Reading the room, Mel asked the tree living inside him for help, and a second later, the snakes did the same thing as the others and backed off.
The area was safe, but because the ten kids were totally glued to Mel's weird behavior, they missed the whole thing. Rooted to their spots, they waited for Mel's next move.
"Friends, you all have the plant list, right? We can start gathering our materials right here!"
When the time came, they showed a little fear, but the group slowly spread out. Speeding up as the minutes passed, they got used to the work of gathering plants.
"If a plant has two leaves, don't pick them; if it has three, take only one. Treat the flowers the exact same way; our goal isn't to destroy things, but to gather what we need to study and use it to heal people!"
He repeated his rules every half hour; when early evening set in, they had gathered enough plants for all ten kids to work with.
"Mel, we looked all day for the Purmush Seed, the Moonlight Umbrella, and the Lion's Mouth, but we couldn't find them. How did you get these?"
Mel let out a sly laugh, waving off the questions with his hand like it was nothing.
"Let's just call it luck; it doesn't matter. Now, we're going to move to another spot and start working on the herbal mixtures!"
Taking the lead again, Mel guided the group across the pitch-black dirt and brought them to the waterfall he found the day before. Sitting in a circle, they started crushing the leaves and flowers.
While the kids were busy working, a voice echoed in Mel's head, and it sounded really pissed off.
"Human, what do you think you are doing? Why have you brought ten of your own kind into this land?"
The Spirit of the Forest was furious; in total contrast, Mel walked up to the waterfall with a calm smile on his face.
"We are Botanical Masters; we're just here to do our work. We haven't broken the promise we made at the edge of the forest; we're working without hurting the balance of nature!"
Going back to the circle, Mel helped his friends, sorting the crushed and ground plants into their bowls. This work kept going until midnight; judging by how the kids looked, they were about to pass out from exhaustion.
"We have until dawn to learn the thirty recipes, but first, we need to do something else!"
The second he finished talking, Mel broke into a run and threw himself into the small lake at the bottom of the waterfall. Since they had used it to drink a few times, they knew exactly how freezing it was; at first, the kids didn't follow Mel, but jumping in right after Nalt, they all dove into the water.
Eleven kids laughed and messed around in the freezing water of the lake hidden in the outer forest. If they told this story to anyone in the settlement, they would have either caught a brutal beating or been called crazy. They climbed out of the water shivering like leaves; the sharp night air and the freezing shock of the lake seemed to have completely wiped out their need to sleep.
"I'll explain our first recipe! Everyone, put the Marshmallow flower, Black Seed, and Ginger in front of you. First, we'll crush the Mint and Lemon Peel into a paste!"
The ten kids followed the first recipe perfectly.
"If people with a cold drop this mixture into boiling water and breathe in the steam, it cures them!"
After he finished, Nalt couldn't hold back anymore and spoke up.
"I think after tonight, every single one of us is going to need it!"
Working without caring at all about the soaking wet clothes sticking to their skin, the kids laughed together, their smiles stretching from ear to ear; but only one being's eyebrows were tied in a knot of pure anger.
"Human, listen to me! I have something to tell you!"