Versatile System Online

"Don't tell me," the head nurse muttered as she rushed forward. Appearing with hurried yet cautious steps, she sensed the presence of a Celestial and halted right away. Unfortunately, it was too late as the regional lord of the forest spoke, "Come on, we aren't the bad guys here,"

Hearing his words and seeing her students out there with him, she decided to give the man a chance and stepped out of cover.

"So now i ask, who are you?" Asked the head nurse while keeping several attacks ready.

"I am the regional lord and I am in your team, you can ask them," he pointed at the two students who sat near the opening with wounds open and their bodies bleeding, the potions they had taken were taking effect albeit slowly.

Looking at the two, the Head Nurse immediately recognized them. After all, these two were the ones she had sent to assist the other two important members and seeing them like this, she got a bad premonition, "Where are Aella and Kashish?" Her question shocked the two as they both turned to look at each other. They knew that the head nurse was going to get angry and if they lied, she would find out sooner or later.

Hence, mustering up her courage, Noelle stood forward albeit with difficulty; she walked to the head nurse and slowly recounted the whole state of events that had occurred after their group separated from the main group.

"So I was right all along. Hopefully Ray finds a way out," the head nurse calmly said as she patted Noelle on her shoulder and started healing her wounds. After both the kids were healed and rested, the head nurse looked at the regional lord and signaled him for a chat. After all, she wasn't aware of the whole situation and only the tidbits shared to her.

Therefore, she had decided to bring the regional lord in to the equation to get a better picture of the whole matter.

"So what's up with the forest and the thing you told the kids about?" The head nurse asked, a bit shocked and confused by the information she had gotten told about.

"Whatever you heard from them is true. Let me elaborate," the regional lord said and started explaining the whole story from the start and that too in complete details. After all, the head nurse was on his level and a notch stronger than he was. Therefore, he held respect for her even though he didn't know that the head nurse had more mana and energy but she wasn't that great of a fighter but still, in a matter between celestials; mutual respect was always important.

After hearing the whole story, it would have been an understatement to say that the head nurse was shocked. Her expression had changed more through the story than it had during the course of the expedition. After all, to have such a strong and malevolent being residing and growing in the forest behind them, the head nurse felt fear after a long time.

"What do we do then?" She asked, "Other than waiting for help. We don't know how long it will take for help to come and if that damned tree sends more reinforcements the next time it attacks, we will be in a pinch,"

"Well i don't have much ideas. My pack is half of its original strength while a few have been planted with seeds. We are trying find a way to get them out from the tree's control or else we will have to proceed with some callings," The regional lord replied and then put his hand forward as the head nurse shook his head, an action that signified their partnership.

"I'm Alden by the way," the regional lord smiled while the head nurse nodded and replied the greeting, "I'm the head nurse, or that is what I'm called by everyone,"

"Sure," Alden nodded as he turned back to his pack. The plans could wait for later as right now the first priority was to get rid of the seeds planted by that damned tree.

"By the way," the head nurse said as she stopped Alden, "How are we not affected by the seeds?" The head nurse asked.

"Well, I don't know for sure but what I do know is that you humans aren't natives of this forest nor have you guys consumed the fruits and water from the forest to the extent that it would be able to affect you," Alden replied.

"I don't understand, what does that have to do with the tree and the seeds it plants in minds of its victims," the head nurse asked, confused by the explanation given by Alden.

"See, the tree controls the flora of the forest and with it the fruits and the water that the forest provides. So it contaminates the whole food and water supply of the forest with the seeds and this leads to the animals in the forest consuming it and getting under control while the lower level beast with little to no intelligence go mad as you must have seen,"

This explanation got into the head nurse's mind and she understood it. Nodding, she decided to refrain from eating anything inside the forest and went back to remind Noelle and the other kid about it too.

On the other hand, Alden coordinated with his pack and his advisors amongst the pack too. He had two advisers, both of whom were in the Calamity Realm and were strong enough to take down stronger opponents when fighting in pairs. All in all, it was clear that Alden's pack was strong and could rampage the other regions easily but it was just not Alden's quality to do so. He liked partnerships and had the ideology of making friends over enemies and that is why, his pack never unleashed their powers freely. Also it was the same reason that they got short of the hand in the previous battle, they had been cautious not to destroy their part of the forest and this acted as a handicap.

This was why Alden was here. He was telling his pack that next time they got attacked, their would be no holding back or else there wont be a forest or any free will to live for anyways.

After an hour, Alden had walked back to the head nurse as he shared with her his decision to make the region of the forest he commanded over their foothold and lure the enemy in. After all, it was better to fight on their own terms rather than the enemy's terms.

"What about Aella?" Asked the head nurse, knowing that if something happened to her, the forest might be in danger as she already been warned by the dean about the fact that Ray was not to be angered, especially when his family was included in the equation.

"Don't worry about that kid. Nothing would happen to her because form what i have seen, that damned tree has some use for her," Alden replied as the head nurse nodded, "I hope it is like that,"

"I guess we prepare for the coming battle then," Alden spoke as he started telling them about his region, "We have a large stream coming down from the region of another lord whose area is in the boundaries of the forest and with us being in far east of the forest, we will have to worry about the attacks from three sides only but even that would land us in trouble,"

"What's further east of the forest?" The head nurse asked.

"An open grassland that leads to another civilization but from our estimates, it is very far away from here and only a few unintelligent monsters reside in the grassland,"

"So we can run away too if we want to," the head nurse muttered but Alden countered, "if the tree lets us. Remember that the trees are our biggest cover yet an even greater enemy,"

"So what do we do of the trees and rest of the flora?" Asked the head nurse,

"Well, i say we blow the larger and stronger trees up and let the rest of them be. It will leave us with some cover but wont turn into a disadvantage for us in case the trees come to life and attack us out of the blue," Alden said, a bit saddened by the plan he had put forward but for him, it was the only way for the forest and the animals in it to thrive.

"Let's move forward with this plan and don't worry, we will help you grow the trees back. Once this is over, I promise from the human's that we will cooperate with forest as best as possible. These are tough times and in such times, being together is the only way to survive and come on top," the head nurse said with a smile as both of them got to work.