The next morning did not start out as lovely as the previous night. Yuki was staring directly into Nyquella’s soul with his emerald eyes, contemplating what he should do with her.

"...," Yuki sighed. "Nyquella, how the hell did you manage to burn down the entire laboratory? What were you even doing?"

"I was making some potions, and umm... things got out of hand," she said softly, nervously fiddling with her fingers. "So I threw some water on it, but it made it worse. Things kept spiraling, and eventually... everything was gone."

"Did the book survive?"

"....No."

"Do you remember anything from it, at least?"

"No..."

"..., you are not allowed to touch anything in the house without permission," Yuki scolded her. "I mean, how can a former scientist be so clumsy?"

"I’m sorry," she whimpered, her eyes filling with tears.

"Are you hurt anywhere?"

"No, I’m fine."

"Great. Come on," Yuki said, walking away with his hands on his hips.

"okay," Nyquella mumbled, scurrying right behind him.

Yuki grabbed his travel bag and threw on his combat gear—which looked less like protective tactical equipment and more like a high-fashion streetwear piece.

"Vee, we are heading out," Yuki called out, pulling Nyquella through the front door.

"K," Vee responded, half-asleep on the sofa.

Yuki and Nyquella made their way through the desolate city streets, staying on high alert for any signs of the metropolis security force. But just like before, the surrounding area was entirely empty.

"So, what’s the plan?" Nyquella asked nervously, trailing behind a cheerful Yuki.

"To gather a lot of food and cooking ingredients, then make it back to base to plant and grow them."

"Not that," she pressed. "How do you plan to actually get the ingredients in the first place?"

"...Wing it."

"The hell do you mean, wing it?!" she shrieked. "Have you just been doing that the whole time?!"

"..."

"Yuki... please tell me you have an actual plan."

Yuki’s eyes slowly shifted to meet hers before giving her a knowing wink.

"I’m going to die," Nyquella stammered, clutching her head in despair.

After leading them to the internal garden and forest sector, Nyquella immediately summoned her Holy Knight alongside her golden bow, staying on maximum alert. Yuki, however, did not share her paranoia.

He walked around casually, scanning the ground for any edible plants and spices he could harvest.

"And that’s another one," he said cheerfully, skipping through the lush fields. "This place is absolutely ridiculous and cool. These plants are thriving even without natural sunlight—magic really is something."

"Could you please hurry up and finish so we can leave?" Nyquella asked, her eyes darting around frantically to see if anything was creeping up on them.

"Just a few more and I’ll be done."

"Dude, you have picked practically every plant and fruit tree in this place! What more could you possibly need?!"

"..."

Yuki stopped, turned around, and walked directly up to her. Leaning in close, he looked into her wide eyes. "Are you scared?"

"Yes, I am! Why aren’t you?!"

"There isn’t anything here that can hurt me," Yuki shrugged. "It’s the most secure place we could ask for. Plus, you’re an incredibly powerful marksman with a giant knight bodyguard—why are you afraid?"

"I can’t sense anything! Those stupid life stones are blocking my perception," she huffed, crossing her arms. "Long range is my specialty, but right now I can only sense a few meters in front of me. It is very not good."

"Right, I forgot about that. Well, time to get the monster meat and head back to base," Yuki said, nodding to himself.

"Why do we need monster meat, exactly?"

"It’s how I make my delicious meals! There isn’t a supermarket around here or a local farm, so I had to find substitutes."

"..., what kind of substitutes?"

"Flour, eggs, milk, sugar, fat, oils... you know, the basics. Anyway, come with me. I found a nest of monsters earlier that will do just fine."

"..., you did? How? When?! Did you get your senses back?"

"No, I’m still pretty much blind. I just went and explored during lunch."

"What? You were only gone for eight minutes! How did you even explore anything in that small window of time?!"

"I walked," he responded innocently.

"..."

"..."

"I really hate you sometimes," Nyquella sighed, shaking her head.

"Rude." Yuki turned toward the cavern entrance ahead. "Just stay here if you’re too afraid. I’ll be back before you know it."

Yuki gave her a warm smile and handed her enough supplies to survive in the wild for several days. This, naturally, made her panic even more. "Why are you giving me so much stuff?! You’ll be back in a few minutes, right...?"

Nyquella looked up from the pile of rations only to see that Yuki was already completely gone.

"How does he keep doing that?!"

"This is the place," the System said, casually floating around Yuki’s head.

"What are you looking for anyway?"

"Fruit Slimes," Yuki replied happily, stepping into the dark cavern.

"Be careful. This place is a self-contained ecosystem," the System warned. "The slimes have no natural predators down here. Plus, the plant life is incredibly nutrient-rich, which in turn will make them significantly stronger than normal."

"I won’t do anything stupid," Yuki promised.

He then immediately walked over to a secluded corner, stripped down completely naked, pulled out a stone dagger, and marched straight into the slime nest to start hunting.

"Why are you naked?" the System asked deadpan.

"I’m not going to get my clothes melted if I mess up the harvesting process," Yuki said casually.

Like a seasoned hunter harvesting game, Yuki walked up to a dark, caramel-colored slime. He grabbed it firmly to hold it in place before whacking it hard with the blunt pommel of his dagger. The moment impact was made, the slime turned a milky color internally and hardened. He dug his blade inside, cutting it open like a ripe melon, pulled out its extract core, and tossed it to the side.

He moved systematically from one slime to the next, extracting their cores and piling them up off to the side.

"Master, how did you find out about this technique?" the System asked, genuinely impressed. "You’re extracting their nutrient cores without killing them. Did Vee teach you that?"

"Yep, kind of! She explained the theory behind it, and I just winged it until it worked."

"It really is remarkable. These cores can mimic the taste and texture of any fruit they absorb in mass quantities. This place is a goldmine for you."

"Absolutely," Yuki grinned, his eyes gleaming with glee. "I can literally farm them for resources to make endless food! You know what would make this even better, though?"

"A God Tree, right?"

"YES! How did you know?!"

"It makes logical sense. One of them is almost certainly rooted near here."

Yuki froze and turned to stare directly at the floating interface screen. "Really?"

"Yes. How else do you think this underground cavern supports so many different flourishing plant species?"

"...Can you lead me to it?"

"...Why?"

"Why not?!"

"It’s extremely dangerous, Yuki. Plus, Nyquella is waiting for you outside."

"Listen, System—my guy—an immortal plant that can replicate any species? I am not passing that up!"

"Do you really think it’s just going to be sitting in a giant open cave, completely unprotected? Let’s be real here."

"..."

"..."

Deep inside the heart of the cavern, the majestic God Tree sat glowing in the center of a massive chamber. It was surrounded by large reservoirs of pristine water, its massive roots spreading wide and climbing high up the cave walls.

"So—"

"Not another word, femboy," the System cut him off. "This is ridiculous. Why would it just be out here in the open with zero protection?!"

"The core of the city probably thought no one in their right mind would come all the way down here to find it, since the upper metropolis is swarming with guards," Yuki reasoned. "And since this sector doesn’t have any construct buildings, the living city core doesn’t even know what’s happening down here."

"True."

Tap, tap, tap, tap.

"..., Yuki, where are you going? You know you can’t just uproot it, right?"

Reaching the glowing plant, Yuki pulled a bright red, spiky fruit—resembling a dragon fruit—from his inventory and laid it gently against the trunk of the God Tree.

"Come on... come on, eat it," he pleaded softly, his face lighting up with absolute joy.

The exact moment the tree absorbed the fruit into its bark, Yuki spun on his heel and ran like hell, sprinting out of the cavern as fast as his legs could carry him.

"Why are we running?! What did you do?!-- wait.. why would you do that!?" the system scream flashed angrily.

"YUKIIIIIIII!"

Nyquella screamed, sprinting straight toward him from the entrance with pure panic written across her face. "There are slimes EVERYWHERE! And they are furious! Why are they so mad?! Is it because I killed a few of them?! I didn’t mean to, I was just—"

Snatch.

Without breaking stride, Yuki scooped Nyquella up into his arms, carrying her princess-style as he kept sprinting forward with a brilliant, beaming smile on his face.

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