Pandora Unchained B1C35: Jasmine Bone Fruit

Sorin immediately recognized the squat demonic tree, a Jasmine Bone Tree. The emerald fruits it produced were called Jasmine Bone Fruit, and these fruits were the main ingredient in bone forging pills, which were used by blood-thickening cultivators to break through to the bone forging realm. Such things always traded for a sky-high price and were easily worth at least 500 gold apiece.

Despite the high value of the fruits, Sorin eyed the tree with dread. The ape demon guarding the tree was an unknown quantity to Sorin, and collecting the fruits would definitely awaken it.

"So here's the plan," Sorin said to Lorimer. "You're going to run up to that thing and provoke it just like Lawrence did." To his surprise, Lorimer refused. "I'm your master, Lorimer. You're supposed to listen to me unconditionally." Once again, Lorimer replied, and Sorin realized that there were limits to the slave mark binding it. "Fine. I'll think of something. But we need to hurry and do this before Lawrence runs out of energy." A smashing sound echoed through the wilderness, confirming that the silverback ape was still very much distracted and very much upset at the clever rogue.

Sorin looked around and identified a few more two-star ingredients. Unfortunately, they weren't like the Jasmine Bone Fruits and required special storage methods he didn't have access to.

But I don't necessarily need to keep them, thought Sorin. Maybe I could mix up a simple poison? He didn't have a cauldron or liquified mana essence. Still, even a simple medicinal powder or paste could work wonders if used correctly.

Time was of the essence, so Sorin quickly settled on a main ingredient: Mind Draft Daffodil. He picked a cluster of said two-star flowers and took out a simple mortar and pestle, then ground the petals and the roots into a paste.

Sorin then broke open four boxes of medicinal ingredients he'd collected and added them in. Lavender Dream Root, Cinnabar Rain Flower, Star Skin Mint, and Red Devil Ivy should all promote contact infusion, thought Sorin. That way, I won't need to pierce the demon's thick skin.

"Lorimer, you're up," said Sorin. "Use low heat, and we'll gradually increase." Lorimer squeaked in an aggrieved fashion, and Sorin petted him on the head. "Yes, I know you did good work back in the laboratory. It was hard on you, sitting in that circle for days."

Relieved that Sorin knew what he was talking about, Lorimer adopted his earth flame form and transferred a bit of his energy into the mortar and pestle. "Easy. Easy!" said Sorin. He mashed the paste in the mortar and pestle as it dried up, making sure not to inhale any of the silver-violet smoke that was produced.

Once most of the liquid had evaporated, Sorin had Lorimer increase the intensity of his earth flames. They performed seven more rounds of evaporation and mashing until, finally, the resulting powder began to glow.

"One last burst of energy," Sorin instructed. "Double your output and hold." The heat rose sharply, causing the mortar to crack. The silver-violet powder glittered violently before finally adopting a stable form. The refinement was a success.

The tricky part will be applying the medicine, thought Sorin. There aren't any high points, and I can't precisely manipulate the wind. Wait a minute – there's that crossbow Lawrence passed to me on our way here! According to Lawrence, a crossbow was a necessary tool for any heist. It could be used to distract, kill, and pull attention. In this case, Sorin fastened a pouch full of medicinal powder to one of the three bolts he'd been given. He then aimed the foolproof device at the giant green ape and let loose.

There was a chance that his attack would provoke the creature, so Sorin and Lorimer bolted in separate directions. A tense minute passed as a cloud of silver-violet powder drizzled over the creature's fur and worked its way into its flesh. As for the bolt, it was insignificant and had lodged itself into a large tuft of fur on the creature's chest.

"He should be out cold, but we need to be careful," said Sorin. "I'll go take the fruits. As for the other stuff, go wild."

He then used adder rush and dashed over to the tree. The Jasmine Bone Fruits were over 20 feet up in the air, and climbing the tree would take too much time. Fortunately, Sorin had his trusty mithril string, which he used to coil around the fruits and pull them down.

They're heavy, thought Sorin as he placed some fruit in his backpack. A single fruit weighed 3 pounds. That wasn't much on its own, but combined with the rest of Sorin's pack, the 23 fruits in the tree would make it challenging to run.

Even so, Sorin didn't hesitate to pick all the fruits on the tree. If he was going to offend this creature, he would offend it thoroughly. Lorimer seemed to be of the same opinion as Sorin because he didn't hesitate to gobble up even two-star ingredients, causing his blood to surge and his body to transform.

Lorimer immediately broke through to the eighth level of blood thickening and quickly broke through the ninth level after that. Sorin felt a tugging on the golden chains binding Lorimer, warning him that the rat would go out of control if it became much stronger than this.

You can have a bit more, but if you try to break through, I'll end you, Sorin transmitted to Lorimer. The rat squealed an affirmative and devoured a two-star herb called Life Soaring Sage Grass. He instantly reached the peak of the 9th level of blood thickening, causing an even greater tugging on his binding chains.

"Enough!" Sorin snapped as Lorimer defied him and tried to eat another precious plant. "Don't think you can sneak out of your bindings on my watch." The golden chains tightened, and the aggrieved rat could only give up on the tasty treat.

Sorin's pack was now cumbersome from all the boxes in it and the fruit he'd gathered. He'd even been forced to throw away less valuable boxes of medicinal ingredients. He was about to leave when suddenly, a shiver ran across his entire body. His bones shook, and his blood ran cold as the giant ape presiding over the tree shifted in its sleep.

Both Sorin and Lorimer stood dead still, praying, hoping that the creature was just having a bad dream. Seconds later, the pressure lifted, and Sorin and Lorimer bolted away from the tree with their ill-gotten gains.

The man and his rat ran through the water, isolating the secondary island from the primary island and entered the domain of the red-eyed silverback ape. Judging by the clashing sounds occasionally heard in the distance, the ape was still busy with Lawrence.

Yet the moment this thought ran through Sorin's head, he saw the barest flicker of a flare through the dense canopy. The raging and thrashing of the ape stopped, and a dreadful roar sounded out from the direction of the jasmine bone tree.

"Run!" Sorin shouted to Lorimer. They threw caution to the wind and dashed through the wilderness, shocking sleeping demons awake and provoking the region's guardians. Sorin used adder rush to avoid some of these threats. In contrast, Lorimer directly took a bite out of the stronger ones, frightening off any lesser demons.

The earth trembled as a giant creature entered the outer forest from the valley, frightening off demons and tearing down hundred-year-old trees. "Holy hell, what did you do?" said Lawrence, appearing beside Sorin.

"I robbed over 10,000 gold worth of fruit from a very angry, very green ape," answered Sorin.

"A green-furred ape?" exclaimed Lawrence. "You mean a star-eyed green-furred demon ape?"

"I didn't take a look at its eyes," snapped Sorin. "All I know is that it's huge."

"This is bad, bad, bad," said Lawrence. "Quick, this way. We can't draw a straight line back to the boat, or it'll kill us all." He pulled Sorin past a herd of bristle-furred demon boars and led him over a trip wire. The boars were infuriated by the trap and immediately attacked the nearest target – an ape with green fur that was hot on their tail.

Lorimer hopped onto Sorin's shoulder and squeaked anxiously. "How far are we from the boat?" asked Sorin.

"I don't know, about three minutes?" said Lawrence. "Quick, poison my dagger. Make it very painful."

"I don't have painful, but I can do flesh-melting," said Sorin, cutting his arm and coating Lawrence's mithril dagger with his blood.

"You go to the boat and get them to set off," said Lawrence. "I'll distract them."

"Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!" shouted Lorimer. He dashed off with Lawrence and headed into the forest. Sorin could only grit his teeth and run full tilt.

It was 2 minutes later when he heard two dreadful roars that shook the forest. What exactly did they do to piss them off so badly? thought Sorin.

"We need to go!" he said as he exited the woods and onto the beach. "Now!"

Stephan and the others had been enjoying a short break, but at Sorin's urging, they tossed their belongings into the boat and prepared to set off. "In how much danger are we exactly?" asked Stephan. "And is it just me, or is the earth shaking?"

"What in Hope's name did you two troublemakers provoke?" asked Gareth, hopping into the boat. "Should I even bother taking out my weapon? And where are Lawrence and Lorimer?" He tossed an oar out to Stephan and prepared to set off.

"Arrows won't do us much good, and neither will Stephan's bear form," said Sorin. "Unless you're confident in being able to hurt a red-eyed silverback ape and a star-eyed, green-furred demon ape."

"You two provoked not one but two two-star demons?" said Daphne, hopping into the boat. "Let me activate the flight runes in advance. If those things catch up, we're dead."

"What are you guys waiting for!" came a shout from the woods. Lawrence burst out with Lorimer at his side. Moments later, the two giant apes appeared behind them, looking murderous.

Lawrence hopped into the boat, but to Sorin's surprise, Lorimer squeaked and remained behind. They pushed out onto the water as the apes, clearly furious at the rat, pounded the beach with massive fists and giant feet.

"What exactly did Lorimer do to them?" asked Sorin curiously.

"That… well, we both did awful things to them," said Lawrence. "For starters, I poked one in the toe just beneath its toenail. It hurt it quite a bit. But then Lorimer didn't seem satisfied with biting toes and went for what I can only describe as a critical weakness common in both males and females. He turned orange-red and then flew straight into their unmentionables."

Sorin's expression darkened. "So they won't let him leave no matter what, is what you're saying. That's too bad. He was a good rat if disobedient."

"I think he might have a plan," said Lawrence. "It's tough communicating with a rat. I don't know how you do it."

They were a hundred feet out from the island when Lorimer, having had enough fun with the apes, ran off in their direction. He hopped into the water and, to everyone's surprise, moved through it with the grace and agility of a crocodile.

"I'm going to have to teach that rat a lesson," muttered Sorin. "It dares keep secrets from me?" It had clearly gained the demon crocodiles' abilities after devouring so many cores yet hadn't mentioned such an essential thing to Sorin.

Turtle's jaws snapped at Lorimer as he made his way to the boat. But these creatures were slow, and Lorimer was their natural predator. He snapped off ten of their heads before they backed off and cleared a path for him.

Yet before their team could rejoice, the green-furred ape with scorch marks between its legs launched itself into the air and landed in the water. The impact sent a twenty-foot wave their way that threatened to capsize their salvaged rune boat.

"Shield!" shouted Daphne, activating one of the boat's functions. The wave sent them flying but didn't otherwise harm the boat. "Lorimer, get on here, or I'm leaving you behind!"

Lorimer was currently swimming for his life. He was less than 30 feet away from the boat, but the ape was gaining ground on him.

"Sorry, Sorin," said Stephan. "Your rat saved us all, but we're going to have to take off."

"Just wait a second longer," said Sorin. "Lorimer has a plan. He's a smart rat and wouldn't do anything stupid. How long can we delay, Daphne?"

"Five more seconds," said Daphne. "Four. Three. Two." She was about to activate the rune when suddenly, a pressure that exceeded that of both apes filled their surroundings. The mists around the island parted, and the murky waters suddenly grew bright yellow.

"That's not water," muttered Stephan. "It's…"

"An eye!" shouted Daphne. What remained of her mana could no longer circulate.

"It looks like whatever it is, the ape's afraid of it," said Gareth. The green-furred creature was already doubling back, giving Lorimer precious time to hop onto the boat and squeak for them to take off.

The yellow eye beneath the depths closed when the ape demon left the swamp, releasing its dreadful pressure from their surroundings. They were about to set off when Lorimer suddenly squeaked in a panic. "What's that Lorimer?" asked Sorin. "You're saying that the eye was the turtle boss and turtle minions are on their way?"

"There's a swarm of demon turtles up ahead!" shouted Gareth. "Activate the flight rune!"

"We only get one shot at this," Daphne warned.

"If we don't activate it now, we're dead!" snapped Gareth.

Shots were called by either the party leader or the party archer, so Daphne pressed her hand on the rune and poured her remaining mana into it. The entire boat jolted and shot them through the air as they ricocheted off a demon turtle's shell.

"I can barely steer this thing," said Daphne through gritted teeth. "Also, the shield is failing. Prepare to abandon ship." They hit an open-mouthed crocodile demon as the shield faded. The boat's wood splintered, sending them flying into the marsh.

"This way!" said Stephan, shifting into a bear form and grabbing Daphne by the collar. Sorin's dagger struck out on reflex, stabbing a turtle demon through the head as another bit him on the leg.

"Protect Daphne!" shouted Stephan. Sorin ignored his wounds and plunged beneath the water, spotting no less than three turtle demons heading her way. He shot out a poisoned mana needle in one's eye and smacked the other with a poison palm. As for the third, Stephan blocked it with his arm, suffering a deep bite but protecting the fragile Daphne.

Finally, solid ground. Air. Sorin pulled himself and Daphne onto a rocky beach swarming with turtle demons. Yet before they could even think of attacking their group, three arrows shot out from the trees, directly blowing off their heads. A burning rat bit off two more heads, frightening the turtles into submission.

A bear-shifted Stephan, pulling himself onto shore was the straw that broke the camel's back. The turtles retreated, much to Lorimer's chagrin, leaving behind only the corpses of their dead comrades for their group to harvest.

"So," said Lawrence, grinning from ear to ear. "How was the haul?"

"Pretty good," said Sorin. "Definitely worth it." He kicked a turtle shell and looked at Gareth and Stephan. "Is this thing edible?"

"If Lorimer's up to making turtle soup, I don't see why not," said Stephan. "In fact, such a thing would be considered a delicacy in the cities."

"I'm game for anything that's not fasting potions," said Lawrence.

"Same," said Daphne weakly. "I requested stale bread flavor since I really like stale bread, but it's getting old." They all looked at her strangely. "What? I'm a woman of simple taste. Extremely low maintenance."

Having confirmed that the turtles were, in fact, edible when cooked with an earth flame, Sorin and Lawrence got busy cutting them apart and turning their shells into bowls.