While Acorn was sleeping, he suddenly heard a strange sound. His eyes opened wide while resting over his bed, as he saw a System Notification popping out of nowhere! Ever since he was granted the Title of [Player] that he had been seeing the "System" as Elayne calls it. It was a mystical power that every Player had, and that even other people had as well. But they simply couldn't see through its secrets unlike Players could. Now that the little Acorn was able to see through this, he had been learning a variety of new things about his powers. However, he never expected that something would pop up right in the middle of his sleep.
Ding!
[Player: Planta] has requested your assistance in an important [Special Quest]!]
[By aiding her in completing this quest, you will acquire special items, EXP, Gold, and Unique Evolution and Class Change Options, alongside the Rare Subclasses!]
"Huh? What's this all about? Planta? Lady Planta is in trouble? O-Okay, I accept! I'll go help- But where is she?!" Acorn cried, quickly jumping out of bed. The system quickly answered his question as it showed a mini map, showing a red dot far away from Acorn.
"Okay, she's there, right? I'll go…! Oof, is she in trouble? Maybe monsters? I gotta pack tons of potions! Good thing I've been mass producing them through the last weeks thanks to my new Skills… I've got a few new ones as well!" Acorn quickly began to put many of his experiments inside of his Inventory, a power he had acquired after becoming a pseudo-Player despite being an NPC. He gained special privileges that only Players could have, such as the power of owning an Inventory with a gigantic amount of space to save items inside.
"I might as well put my cauldron inside too, who knows when I'll need it?! An Alchemist must always be prepared for anything!" Acorn said while nodding.
He quickly began pushing the Cauldron inside of his Inventory with all his might, and then looking at a beautiful, blue-colored book laying over a small table, it showed three elements, a small flame, lightning, and an ice cube. This was the special reward he acquired alongside becoming a pseudo-NPC when he helped Planta complete the Mushroom Dungeon, it was a Grimoire of Spells.
Grimoires were incredibly rare and super valuable items in the world of Brand New Life Online. They were equipment that could be equipped in the second hand, often favored by magicians, but also by any class. Grimoires didn't had any restrictions of Classes, and could be used by anybody, allowing even Classes that lacked magic completely to use a varied set of spells. However, these spells couldn't grow stronger nor level up like normal Skills, nonetheless, they were an amazing addition to anybody incapable of learning magic skills.
Acorn has been using this Grimoire ever since he acquired it, knowing that it was a very precious item. It allowed him to actually be able to fight, to conjure a set of spells and unleash their might. Because he was an Alchemist, Acorn's INT stat was very high, but he could never make it shine outside of Alchemy due to the lack of Magic Skills. With this Grimoire, his talent for magic could shine like never before. Of course, as a passionate Alchemist, he didn't slacked off in that either, and had begun to create a variety of new items through it with all the free time he had, which he used to gather all sorts of materials, and also plant them over Elayne's farm to make them grow very quickly.
"Lady Elayne, please wait for me…! I owe you so much that there's no way I am going to sleep knowing you're in danger…!" Acorn valiantly jumped out of his treehouse, jumping over the tree's branches one after the other, looking across the night sky. As a Squirrel-kin, he had natural Night Vision added into his Racial Skill, he could easily see through the night as clear as the day.
FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!
Additionally, Squirrel-kin had amazing ability over Tree-Climbing, being another effect of their Racial Skill, they were innate masters of climbing over all sorts of trees and jump at high speeds and distances. They received great bonuses to their AGI while maneuvering through the treetops.
As Acorn moved while flashing through the night like a tiny ninja, he noticed the map showing in front of him the direction where Planta was, as he suddenly noticed several other purple-colored dots moving towards her… They were hundreds! And in fact, there was a gigantic purple dot as well right over her.
"T-Those are monsters?! What's happening? And where is she? I didn't saw through the entire Quest's Info…" Acorn said while feeling worried, as a sudden System Window emerged right after, showing him the information about Planta being in the Fairy Kingdom being apprehended because they thought she was suspicious, and then being caught in the middle of an invasion from the Ravenous Snake Queen's army. All these monsters were actually terrifying snakes!
As a rodent himself, Acorn had an inherent fear against snakes, their natural predators. There had been many tales of the past where these evil Venomous Snakes captured and ate the Squirrel-kin, this is why the once widespread tribe of the descendants of Ratatoskr had been reduced to a small village. However, the little Acorn was no longer a mere Squirrel-kin, he was considered a Hero by the System, Planta's Hero!
"I-I am not afraid…! I can do this; I can do this! Ugya, snakes!" Acorn tried to give himself courage but suddenly got scared as he finally was able to see the army of snakes at the distance, they were truly hundreds, and enormous ones at that! Any of them could easily swallow him whole.
However, aside from the snakes, at the distance, he noticed a group of fighters struggling to push through and reach the Fairy Kingdom as well, and in such a group there was an enormous Ent and several Walking Mushrooms!
Acorn ran towards them, quickly deciding to assist them.
Titan was the first to notice the nimble and small squirrel-kin, as he quickly jumped over his head.
"Acorn?!"
"I'm here too, Titan! Let me assist you!"