“We also have monsters like the ones you were tested against,” the fairy continued, “The main reason this country stays so small is because it borders the wilds of the great forest. Well, that’s what we call it, but it is practically a country in its own right with several mountain ranges spanning its territory.”

  “And is that the forest not far outside of the town?” Lucy asked.

  “Correct, we are a big town mainly to maintain the border, it is also where a good number of strong adventurers are. The further in you go, the tougher they get. Although the start is that of what even a D-rank can handle. Which would be someone around high-low in terms of power. We have up to S-rank monsters cataloged, which is at the level of Threshold-Master, slightly stronger than the two of you. Though not many, only around four different types of monsters that every adventurer is warned to steer clear of.”

  “I assume that’s the highest cataloged because no one has made it deep enough to find stronger?” Ardonis asked with a quirked eyebrow, leaning against the counter.

  She nodded as a sad expression briefly crossed her face. “Yes, and even as deep as that is, it still isn’t even the center, or heart, of the forest. From all reports, it sounds like that’s only the halfway mark.”

  Ardonis and Lucy exchanged glances, they had certainly felt an ominous and powerful being coming from that forest. He was positive that it was at least at divinity and on par with them at full power. Which made the entity one of two things, a minor god, or something that spent a very long time achieving such power. Everything else that deep was most likely at the same level of those S-ranked monsters.

  “Thank you for all of the information, but now, the two of us are curious and might extend our stay here. Originally we planned to head back home, taking whatever assignment along the way. But this forest has intrigued us greatly, don’t worry, we’ll take your warning to heart. I just feel it would be a good idea to check it out for ourselves. Are there any assignments for going in? Collection of material, culling, hunting, whatever works as long as it takes us into the forest.”

  She nodded after sighing, “There’s always assignments to take up for the forest, so much so that you could take five every day and we still would have enough for centuries.”

  Ardonis nodded, “Then I suppose we will take a look at some of the A-rank ones to get a head start on those requirements for becoming S-rank.”

  “Truthfully you almost reached the legendary and mythical SS rank with your power. The problem with that is there is barely anyone on the planet with that kind of power. The rank exists, but only monsters have been able to reach it. With the minor deities being SSS rank,” the fairy said with a giggle.

  “So meeting the requirements for that is even harder than S-rank, good to know. We’ll keep that in mind then for later, but for now, let’s see those assignments,” Lucy said.

  The fairy nodded and indicated a large board by the left wall. “That board specifically is dedicated to every assignment to the forest, as you can see, it is pretty full. Even with several people taking them constantly. A great source of income as well as the reward pool isn’t small.”

  “Thank you,” Ardonis said with a nod and the two walked over to the board covered with layers of papers. There were those from D-rank all the up to A and even several S rank assignments. Unfortunately, the two couldn’t take any of the S-rank ones as only those of the same rank could be taken.

  They still found more than enough A-rank ones however, the board was still completely full of the things. There were some to head deep into the forest to gather extremely rare materials, those to slay monsters, and even rescue missions of those who recently went missing. Though the chance for survival was low for some, that didn’t mean they couldn’t survive if they had to.

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  Ardonis and Lucy debated on which ones to take and decided on three, one to gather a rare ingredient flower called a kiwoni, one that was a monster to slay, and a rescue mission. That should keep them busy for at least a little bit and test their restricted power. They went back up to the counter and quickly got them approved and set out to deal with them immediately.

  Once they were outside of the town, Lucy released a breath. “I thought for sure we were caught back there with the obelisk. I wonder why it showed up as Divinity first even though we are at half power.”

  Ardonis shrugged, “I can make a pretty good guess as to why, it’s because regardless of our current power, we are still gods. Or rather, still divine beings, therefore it briefly flashed that before what our power is currently at.

  “Yeah, I suppose that makes sense, do you think we’ll actually be able to find this person though?” She asked, holding up the sheet that had the portrait of a young man who appeared to be in his twenties. “I mean, from everything we’ve heard about this forest, it seems ridiculously dangerous to mortals. Especially with that presence, we can feel.”

  “If nothing else we’ll find his body, or at least the badge,” Ardonis answered. “From what this says each of these have tracking magic on them so they can be found.” He held up a pamphlet the fairy gave them right before leaving. “Whether in the belly of a monster, on the ground, on a corpse, or a living dude doesn’t matter. Nothing we can do at that point, it’s grab the badge and leave. As much as I would love for it to be a rescue mission, it’s a missing person mission, they technically aren’t considered missing if we discover their fate.”

  Lucy nodded, “A bit harsh but I understand. And we can rule out the monster having the badge while the dude is alive because it always returns to its master.”

  “Also very interesting magic that I would love to understand the inner workings of. But for now, let’s just go in and get these assignments done. We can decide if we want to go to that source or not later,” he said.

  She nodded and since neither wanted to fly in the area, they settled for a speed boost spell. Launching themselves into the forest and shooting by everything as it all became a blur around them. They stopped about an hour later to assess exactly where they were. They had still gone quite a good distance, the tracker they were given was still blinking red. Which means they still weren’t close to finding where the dude was.

  “Let’s try and look in the area for those flowers for a minute,” Lucy suggested. “I’m not sure exactly where they would be though, all things considered…”

  The image on the assignment was an intricate design of a small bloomed flower with two small buds on the surface, the stalk of it curved upward on either side and dipped downward, making contact with the two buds. The assignment said that they were harvested by carefully cutting as close to the base as possible to keep the whole thing intact. Not for those that weren’t very precise it seemed.

  “I suppose we could also try looking for this creature to hunt as well…” Ardonis trailed off. The beast looked like a large cat mixed with a bat. The assignment showed what their tracks looked like, the kinds of places they usually were found, and general overall habitat.

  They spent around half an hour searching the whole area they were in, teleporting and hovering above to try and get a better look at things. They were about to give up and continue forward when Lucy stumbled upon the flower, excitedly calling over Ardonis.

  The flower looked almost exactly like it was drawn, though not quite the colors they expected, instead of green, the stem was blue, the flower purple, and the two buds a mix between the two. Lucy had a large smile on her face, Ardonis smiled back at her and gave her a small peck. “Good job, now, let’s see about collecting it. From what I understand, magic should work just fine if we just transport it out.”

  Lucy grinned mischievously, “Or we can do this instead.” She put a hand over it and created an arcane sigil beneath it, a moment later a sparkly purplish cut happened directly at the base where the stem met the ground. Her other hand gently lifted it up, “One fully intact flower. Now we only need two more and the assignment will be completed.”

  Ardonis gently took it from her and put it in his ring, “Creative,” he said, giving her a loving peck. She giggled as she reciprocated. They continued to look for more for a bit longer but didn’t find any in the area. So they continued on into the forest.