Chapter 38: Step 38 to Greatness: Nothing Is For Free In Any World

Adrian and Sera walked together along the stream while Huginn flew over them. On their way, Sera had found a tree with massive leaves, so she plucked some to help carry the clay back.

The forest was peaceful, with only the sound of birds and running water around them. But they knew it was just an illusion.

That’s why Adrian was walking in front with a spear, checking the tall grass as they moved ahead.

He had been bitten by a snake once. Although he had anti-venom, he didn’t want to risk blacking out before he could even use it.

As for why he wasn’t using Sera as a shield... if something happened to her, who would make the pots then?

Sera was perhaps the most important resident of the tribe for the moment. However, Sera’s Stockholm Syndrome was acting up after seeing Adrian’s dependable back.

She had seen how he cared for the tribeswomen and wanted the same for herself. But then, she didn’t mind the ’special’ attention he gave to her either.

Perhaps she was bored with the silence, so she initiated the small talk.

"Master, did you see the messages about the Aid Alliance in the chat earlier?"

Adrian nodded in reply as his hands were too busy to type a message.

"Are you planning to join them?" she asked again.

Adrian thought for a moment, then shook his head.

"Why not? They said they help people and share food—"

He slammed the spear head-first into the loose soil before sending her a message.

"We don’t need them. Our tribe is already self-sufficient..." Sera read the message and nodded.

She knew Adrian must have his reasons for not joining them and didn’t want to bother asking any more. However, now that Adrian had put the spear down, he explained everything clearly to her.

"An alliance that claims to do welfare in this situation? It has to be a joke. Even if they seem nice now, big groups like that usually end up exploiting the weaker members. You are well aware of it, aren’t you?"

Adrian’s message reminded Sera of Juan’s group. They didn’t play nice and just straight up either killed people or forced them to work with them.

Although this alliance was using sweet words, there was no saying what they would do after joining.

"Hm... I think joining them isn’t a simple matter," Sera nervously replied. "If we join, they would likely ask for our location under the guise of organizing group hunts. If they saw the structures you have made, they would definitely want control over them."

Adrian nodded, glad that she understood his reasons. The crafting table, farmland, and salt quarry were perhaps his most precious buildings.

There wasn’t a single person in the world who wouldn’t want to get their hands on such resource buildings.

From what he had seen, quite a few people had joined the alliance. Although their skills might not be an issue, their sheer numbers could easily overwhelm them.

Besides, with Juan and the other tribe on our ass, I would rather not initiate another conflict.

Adrian thought and picked up his spear to go ahead towards the potato clearing. Then, on second thought, he handed one of the copied papers to Sera, pointing at the ground and then at the image of the potato plant.

Since he was too absorbed in scouting the ground for animals, he might miss the plants. Having another set of eyes would only improve his chances of finding them.

Besides, she was a gatherer. Thanks to her class, he had the advantage of better eyesight, something that Adrian did not have.

"You want me to look for them?" she asked, and he nodded. "Alright, master! Consider it done!"

A few minutes passed when Sera suddenly squatted to the ground, staring at something. Then she took out the page and looked carefully at the plant.

"Master, look!" she exclaimed. "The plant you were looking for!"

Adrian rushed back to her side, but instead of checking the leaves and stuff to confirm, he grabbed the stem and yanked it out of the soil.

Aside from clumps of mud, a few strange purplish tubers were attached to the roots of the plant.

Much like everything else on the Savage Earth, even these potatoes were much larger than normal potatoes, with the smallest one of the bunch being the size of a basketball. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Instead of being amazed by their size, Adrian placed them on the ground and began searching for something.

"Master, what are you looking for?" Sera asked, reaching for a potato and turning it over.

Adrian didn’t stop, just pointed at his eyes. After a brief confusion, she realized what he meant.

Back on Earth, potatoes often sprouted ’eyes’ at the end of dormancy. Depending on the time of harvest, some potatoes already had eyes at harvest.

Potatoes with these eyes could be replanted as seeds to make more potatoes. Just like that, one potato eye would essentially become a seed, and could grow into another plant.

A handful of sprouting potatoes could multiply into hundreds. For a settlement trying to establish a stable food supply, those tiny eyes were worth far more than the potatoes themselves.

However, Adrian did not forget about the other task and sent Sera a message, telling her to leave the potatoes to him and collect the clay.

"Yes, Master!" she replied, took the large leaves, and got to work.

As she left, Adrian finally found a potato with eleven eyes on it. Forgetting about the rest, he first put it in his inventory.

Despite waving off Rixxa’s warning, he hadn’t forgotten about it. That’s why he wanted to get as many ’eyes’ as he could in the inventory, just in case he had to run away.

"Alright, there aren’t any more eyes in this plant," he mumbled and looked around for another plant.

Soon, he began digging around the plants with his hands and spear tip. He pulled out several more purple potatoes, feeling pleased with the haul.

"Caw! Caw!"

He had just yanked out the fifth potato plant when a sudden rustling in the nearby bushes took him by surprise. Even Huginn warned him, but it was too late.

Before he knew it, eleven men and half a dozen women, all wearing torn modern clothes, stepped out into the clearing, pointing at him.

"Well, well... look what we have here," a tall man with a crude wooden spear smirked. "Looks like we found a thief stealing our potatoes."

How the hell?

He had brought Huginn with him to alert him just in case Rixxa’s divination came true. Trouble arrived as expected, but Huginn’s warning came too late.

Huginn almost never missed a movement. Either the group had hidden themselves exceptionally well... or someone among them had an ability interfering with the bird’s detection skills.

Just then, a stern voice cut off Adrian’s train of thought.

"You animal-skirt-wearing weirdo, drop the potatoes before things get out of hand," a woman scoffed, pointing a finger at him. "You dare to steal from the alliance? You got a death wish?"

Adrian froze for a second, genuinely taken aback.

The Aid Alliance? Already?

They had just sent a recruitment notice earlier, and they already had members roaming about the region?

From what he could gather, their expansion wasn’t recent. They had likely been operating long before sending recruitment messages.

"Fucking bad luck..." Adrian muttered under his breath.