As Raven 12345 was unreliable as always, Hao Ren took the initiative to read up his job manual. He knew that solving issues inter-dimensional travelers was part of his job scope. If Hilda really came from another world, he would then need to find out why, and to then figure out how to send her home. Or to deposit her at the Space Administration's designated settlements, or any other places that would be suitable. But first, he would need to get her out of the Dream Plane into the real world.
The MDT then rang in his head. "No problem, we'll just use your current position in the real world as the triangulation point. I'll do the necessary computation and calculation. 100% safety guaranteed."
"Wow, we can really bring a living breathing being back to the real world?" Hao Ren was surprised. "How do we do that? For us, we at least have a body there, and when we return it's more like our spirits returning to it's shell. How do we go about Hilda then?"
"If you know deeper about Data Unification, you'll know that 'transference' is nothing more that copy pasting a set of data, and this happens to be the most vaunted expertise of Xiling technology. It's true that Hilda does not have a corporeal form on Earth, but we can use her data from the Dream Plane to replicate it in the real world. Remember, the Dream Plane is a proper world by itself, but for some reason it's 'Actualisation Priority Grade' was lower than the Surface World. So, to bring something out from the Dream Plane simply just requires some complex data conversion. How did you think you'd manage to bring that tuft of fur out in the first place?"
Hao Ren pondered what the MDT said for a moment and asked, "So by that, does it mean we can enter the Dream Plane without using the sleeping pods? Can't we just perform the transference for this?" He really did not want to revisit the coffins that is now in the basement of his house.
"Regrettably, it's not possible at the moment." The MDT shattered whatever hopes that Hao Ren had harboured. "A transference is one-way only. As of now, both the Dream Plane and the Surface World exists under a very delicate balance. You could say that the Dream Plane is an old system while the Surface World is infinitely more robust and complex. You can read data from an old system using the new one without much issues, but the old system usually have no way to properly read data from the new system, resulting in errors. As such, entry into the Dream Plane would still require the sleeping pod as a guiding beacon. That said, you can always bring lot loads of stuff, even a spaceship if needed before coming into the Dream Plane. Also, if Hilda were to leave the Dream Plane, she would need to use the pod if she ever wishes to return there."
The Hao Ren today could understand such complex theories and was immediately left disappointed.
The mental conversation only took a few seconds, and that the same time, Hilda was starting to perform her magical ritual. She had reached the side of the burnt treant protector and pulled out an odd powder from one of her satchel and spread it all over the charred husk. As she did that, she started her incantation. The weird powder started shimmering in a greenish light as they slowly covered the remains of the treant. The dead husk, as if through a mircale, returned to it's former verdant green, as a pod and leaves started sprouting from the outer shell, as if the protector was coming back to life.
But it did not. The verdant spell on the protector's body was only about a meter wide, after the pod had sprouted to a certain level, it bloomed and a bud popped out from it. Hilda gently took the bud and revealed it's content: A seed.
"It had followed me all the way from home, the very least I could do is to bring it's seed back." Hilda said as she bid a solemn farewell to the protector. Turning towards Hao Ren, "Let us get on our way." she said.
On the way towards the lakeside, Hao Ren walked with Hilda out of curiosity. He knew that Hilda that a two day head start but was still wandering around the forest before running into them. Hilda did not hide anything as she explained. "All of the known roads are guarded by sentries, and you need a pass to get through. I did not want to face any unnecessary trouble so was looking around for any other routes. But any places that is not patrolled or guarded is infested by monsters. I simply could not find a way through easily. I summoned the treant protector for protection, but I never thought it'll go berserk. Basically I was chasing it around for the past two days."
"Why did it suddenly go berserk?" Hao Ren raised an eyebrow.
From what he saw of the treant protector, Hilda is definitely capable. While he had no idea what level of a spellcaster she was at home, clearly being able to summon a treant by herself was no mean feat. This was probably the reason she was able to roam around alone, and the confidence to work with strangers. That still doesn't explain the fact that a treant protector had gone berserk."
"I'm not sure, but I'm pretty certain it has to do with the soil and water here." Hilda shook her head. "This area had a very...unusual life force. It allows everything to grow strongly but at the same time, slowly twisting the very nature of it. I thought I had found an incredible seedling, but I did not notice the side effects of this life force.
Before Hao Ren could even open his mouth, the MDT sounded by itself. "I don't have the data module for this. Don't understand a word she said."
By the time the group had reached the lakeside, it was almost evening. Even using the roads, it took them a good part of the day to navigate through the forest. And they were not even moving slowly. Such was the scale of the Gnarled Grove.
As sense of overwhelming awe overcame the group as they approached the crimson lake. From the moment they got out of the Gnarled Grove Lily was hoping and leaping about at the front of the party. Her excitement however ended when she saw the lake proper. Perhaps the husky even wanted to take a bath there, but the blood-like water put a stop t whatever she was planning. She carefully paced along the lakeside, and after a while only decided to dip her tail into the water. As it hit the water, she exclaimed, "WOAH COOOLDDD!!"
Hao Ren went up and smacked her in the head. "Stop fooling around, what if your fur can't take it and started shedding again... Wait! Stop shaking your tail like that! I'm all wet!"
Y'zaks too came by the lakeside, and trusting his veritable constitution he paid no mind towards the strange looking water (it's definitely safer than lava) and scooped up a handful of water and drank it. "...Hmm... tastes normal, a little salty... seems like your usual salt lake."
"That's definitely not blood. In fact, there's nothing to do with blood at all." Vivian had also sent one of her small bats to take a sip of the water. "Aside from the odd colour, there's nothing special about it."
Becky was shocked by Y'zaks guts that he simply just drank the water from the lake like that. "Don't drink that! There's something strange in the water, most people who drink it falls ill!"
Y'zaks wasn't concerned at all, as a demon, his blood itself was poison. Vivian quickly dispersed her little bat. "You mean to say the water is poisoned?"
"Poison isn't the right word for it, but it's definitely not normal." Becky turned towards the Gnarled Grove behind her. "Well, both the forest and the Virulent Flatlands are both affected by the lake water. You tell me if that water is potable."
Lily suddenly started crying and pulled Hao Ren's sleeves, showing her tail to him. "Mr Landlord... The fur really did shed... sobs... I think i'm poisoned. I want to eat something good to recover...."
"That's you shedding, not me!" Hao Ren said as he grabbed the tail. "Besides, this is you shedding for the cold weather. You think me that daft to not be able to tell the difference between an allergic reaction and normal shedding?"
Lily simply just wagged her tail. "Then... I want to eat something good."
… So she was just hungry after all and was looking for an excuse to gorge on food.
Becky simply laughed and pointed towards a small hill in front of them. From a distance, they could see a few simple structures. "Lets get to the knight's outpost to report ourselves. There's place to rest and to get some more information about the search."
Vivian eyed the mercenary lass, "You still want to go about that? Seems like most of the search for the Orb had stopped."
"It's because of that that the greatest chance is now! My luck with money is pretty good, chances are we might find the thing. If not, that's fine too. There's a lot of rare and valuable herbs around here, if we were to get some we might even make a pretty profit. Hahaha, trust me on that."
Vivian had just mentioned about the search in jest but what she got return was a direct stab to her pride. A defeated look was clearly etched on her face as she went back to Hao Ren. "Curses be to anyone who talks about wealth, curses... just bloody die already you rich fags..."
Hao Ren could only looked on in silence.