The simple drawing became their only map. Yanaki no longer wandered aimlessly. Every step she took now had a purpose: to find a willow tree and a stream.
Easier said than done. The city of Erathos was vast, and its geography had been completely altered after the Great Cataclysm. Yanaki used all of her observational skills, searching for lower-lying areas where a stream might have once flowed. Meanwhile, Elara, with the instinct of a spirit, could sense where "memories" lingered more densely.
They became a perfect scouting duo. Yanaki used logic to narrow down the areas, while Elara used her intuition to point the way. Several times, Elara pointed in a direction, and after navigating through some rubble, Yanaki would find signs of an old current. Gradually, they pieced the clues together.
After nearly two hours of searching, they found it.
The stream was now just a dry creek bed, filled with pale white pebbles. And beside it stood a colossal willow tree. But it was dead. Its trunk was grey and cracked, and its gnarled branches reached out in all directions like skeletal arms screaming in silence. At the base of the tree, a wooden swing with a broken rope lay askew.
This was the place.
Elara floated towards the willow, her body trembling. Fragments of memories flooded her mind, and Yanaki felt them too through their covenant: the laughter of little Alia playing on the swing, the image of Elara weaving a flower crown under the tree, the deep, warm voice of her husband... Happiness and pain mingled together, bringing Elara both joy and anguish.
While Elara was lost in her memories, Yanaki felt a slight vibration from her inventory pouch. She took out the [Seed of Growth]. It was emitting a warm, green glow and vibrating gently.
Its effect had been triggered. There was a nature spirit nearby.
Yanaki looked up at the dead willow tree. Could it be...
As if to answer her question, on the gnarled tree trunk, the bark began to move, slowly forming the face of an old, suffering man. Two empty eye sockets opened, staring directly at the seed in Yanaki's hand.
[Withered Treant (Nature Spirit)]
Level: 15 (Status: Extremely Weakened)
Description: The spirit of the Willow of Memories, protector of the residential district's sacred stream. It is slowly dying because its water source was tainted by dark magic during the Great Cataclysm.
Status: Grieving, Withered, Hostile towards dark magic.
Level 15! Even in its weakened state, it was an incredibly powerful entity. Yanaki felt her [Covenant Summoner] skill vibrating intensely. This was a golden opportunity to obtain her second familiar.
The face on the tree spoke in a dry voice that sounded like the rustling of dead leaves: "Life energy... You... outsider... you carry a seed of life..."
The hostility in the Treant's voice seemed to soften slightly as it looked at the seed. The warm light from the seed was clearly alleviating its pain.
"Yes," Yanaki replied, her voice full of respect. "Is there anything I can do to help you?"
The Treant didn't answer immediately. Instead, it sent a series of images into Yanaki's mind. First, an image of the stream as it once was, its water clear and sparkling like crystal. Then the image changed: a torrent of ink-black magic flowed down from upstream, tainting the entire stream black. The trees on its banks withered, and the Willow itself began to dry up in agony. Finally, an image of a small cave upstream, from which the black magic was seeping out.
The message was crystal clear.
Immediately after, a System notification appeared.
[The Withered Treant, attracted by the [Seed of Growth], has offered a Covenant.]
Covenant Condition: Go to the source of the stream and destroy the [Source of Magical Corruption]. If you succeed and return purity to the water, the Treant will willingly abandon its dead roots to follow you, seeking a new beginning.
[Do you accept this Conditional Covenant?]
This was it! Not a covenant based on empathy like with Elara, but a bargain, a quest in exchange for service.
"I accept," Yanaki said without hesitation.
The face on the tree gave a slow nod before gradually sinking back into the bark, as if it had never been there.
Yanaki turned back to Elara, who had also just emerged from her stream of memories. She pointed upstream, towards the cave from the Treant's vision. Elara nodded; she understood that helping the Treant was also a way to restore her own home.
A new mission was set. No longer a vague search and exploration. This time, she had a concrete objective, a "dungeon" that needed to be conquered.
She looked towards the dark cave in the distance. What lay inside would surely not be harmless spirits. But to obtain her first true combat power, she had to venture into danger.