"A second Elder Beast…" Leor muttered, thoughts racing. "If there is another Elder Beast in this world other than the fallen dragon lord, maybe together we would actually stand a chance at defeating Viridrak!"
Alina slowly nodded her head.
"That was my first reaction as well, but an Elder Roc is hardly a match for a dragon lord, even if the dragon lord has fallen to defilement. We would need to grow much, much stronger in order to help him win that fight. Plus there is another problem."
"What's the other problem?"
Alina continued tapping her fingers against the table as she flipped through the paperwork.
"We have no idea where the Elder Roc's tribe is located," she explained.
Just as Leor was about to ask another question, Eldra stepped over to the table with a thick seared steak drizzled in roasted vegetables. The whole plate was covered in a healthy portion of spices that rose in a savory steam. Leor could hardly speak for a moment as a wave of intense hunger crawled up from inside him and seized his mind.
"There you go! Enjoy," the older elf said with a beaming smile as she placed the plate on the table.
Leor forgot about his conversation with Alina for a moment as he tore into the food. The meat was perfectly seared, exploding with scaldingly hot juice and flavor as he sank his teeth into it, but he didn't care. His Beastly defenses were more than enough to handle a little burning. It wasn't until the plate was half cleared that he remembered his companion beside him.
"Ahem." He cleared his throat, a hint of pink in his cheeks. "So you were explaining the Roc tribe. How is it that we don't know their location? Didn't you say that Drelk met with them before?"
Alina pressed her lips together, her eyes lingering on the beautiful steak for a moment before she began to answer.
"Drelk met with the great Roc, but he never met any of the other tribe members, nor did he learn the location of the tribe."
When Leor's eyes narrowed in disbelief, Alina continued the explanation.
"The Roc's tribe had always lived in seclusion. They never interfered with the dragon lord's business or even interacted with the inhabitants of Draemyr. That's how they were allowed to remain on Viridrak's land without being wiped out by the jealous dragon. When the defilement began to spread across the realm, the Roc traveled to Draemyr to figure out what was happening. Only then did he discover that the dragon lord had fallen. Drelk happened to meet the powerful Beast tribe leader during that time." Alina held her hands out to her sides. "So you see, he never thought to ask the tribe's location. All we know is that the roc flew northwest when he left to return home."
Leor scratched his chin as he stuffed a big piece of boiled root slathered in steak drippings into his mouth. It tasted similar to potato, just a bit wilder in flavor.
"So the Beast tribe is somewhere to the northwest, but we have no way of knowing how far. With the Roc's powerful flight, it could be a hundred miles for all we know," Leor said with a frown.
Alina slowly shook her head.
"Maybe. But my instincts are telling me that tracking down this Beast tribe is a worthwhile undertaking. We can at least try. If we don't find it after a few days of travel, we can always turn back."
"Okay. I'm itching to stretch my legs and break in this new body anyway. When do you plan on heading out?"
Alina let her eyes drift toward the ground as she considered the question.
"Hmm. Not for a few weeks at least. I still have a lot of information I want to search through to discover anything else useful Drelk may have forgotten, plus I'm about to start an herbal treatment to increase the growth speed of my Beastly body." She glanced up at him as spoke, "Speaking of growth, did you find any cultivation manuals in Drelk's library?"
Leor showed an intrigued expression at the mention of the herbal treatment, then pulled his two new manuals out and handed them to Alina.
"I found two that might work, unfortunately none that can take advantage of light-natured Will."
Alina accepted the manuals and quickly looked them over before handing them back.
"Well, it's better than nothing. I'll have to borrow that Unarmed Combat manual once I reach Adept myself. Maybe we can try to make a trip to the Library of Draemyr at some point. There are bound to be much better manuals there."
Leor nodded, a hint of unease passing over his expression at the mention of Draemyr. The fallen city was a scary place. Even being close to it for a short time had almost gotten him killed.
"I'll make do with these for now. What is this herbal treatment you spoke of?"
"Oh right, you've taken the world tree potion now too. I'll have to bug Drelk to prepare more of the treatment," she said with a hint of realization, before continuing "Do you remember that bag of herbs Drelk handed to Bone when you first arrived at the fortress?"
Leor thought for a minute before slowly nodding his head. Drelk had indeed paid Bone for the job of collecting him from Draemyr with a bag of potent herbs.
"Right, those were an herbal treatment for empowering the bodies of Beasts," she began. "There are three ways for Beastly bodies to grow stronger. Slow natural growth over time. Consuming items that are high in spiritual power, like Beast meat or spiritual herbs. And lastly, undergoing treatments that hasten the process. Think of it like cultivation for Beasts," she explained.
Leor slowly nodded along to her explanation, listening intently to every word.
"Drelk has access to some very powerful treatments because of Viridrak's research and the high-quality herbs that still remain in this fortress. But before you get too excited, you should know that the treatment can be quite unpleasant. There are different strengths depending on the tier and relative power of the Beast, but they all involve creating a large bath of water heated as close to boiling as you can withstand, dumping the prepared herbs into the water, and soaking your body in the scalding concoction for as long as you can handle. That's how Bone was able to become a Highblood Beast, and it's how we are going to empower our Beastly bodies quickly," she explained.
Leor's brows rose at the idea of dunking himself in what was basically a boiling tea, but he quickly decided that he would happily do so to grow his strength and increase their shot at survival.
"I see. Sounds painful. Please ask Drelk to prepare some for me as well," he said without hesitation.
Alina nodded, lips lightly pressed together.
"I will tell Drelk, but there is an issue we need to solve here too."
Leor wanted to sigh, but instead he waited quietly for her to continue.
"Drelk's running low on the ingredients needed for the treatment because it's difficult to grow new high-quality herbs. If not for that, there would already be many more Highblood Beasts roaming this fortress. If we want continued access to these treatments, we need to figure out how to grow high-class herbs without allowing them to be corrupted or devoured. For that, I have a plan that requires your Willpower, but we will need to discuss it with Drelk."
After her explanation, Alina waited for Leor to finish his last few bites of food. Then both of them went to find Drelk. When they found the old elf, Alina explained their visit.
"It's time to start growing high-grade spiritual herbs once again, Drelk. We need the power of those plants."
Drelk narrowed his eyes as he glanced between Alina and Leor.
"I'd love nothing more, but we have no way to keep them safe from defilement once they're planted outdoors," he responded.
"I've got an idea how we solve that problem!" she shot back with a wide grin.
Over the next few minutes, Alina described her plan in detail. She sketched on a blank sheet of parchment to explain every element of the idea.
Drelk remained unconvinced for most of the explanation, but toward the end he slowly came around to the possibility.
"It's not a perfect solution by any means, and the number of high-quality herbs we will be able to plant will be quite limited, but it's a start," the old elf admitted, lightly rubbing his wrinkled chin.
Alina clapped her hands together, wearing a bright smile.
"Good, let's get started right away then. The more quickly we get this up and running, the faster we can restore our stockpile of high-quality herbs." Alina's smile dimmed as she stared down at the paper containing her plans. "Now we just need someone to help build it. Are there any carpenters among the fortress' new residents?"