Like that, Erika planted a seed right where we left her father's ashes. The seed sprouted immediately, as a small little sapling emerged just minutes after the seed was left below the soil and given some water. However, it slowly grew from there, not instantly, but Erika said the "baby" was going to grow big in the next days.
"Baby, grow big okay?"
She talked to the little sapling as it seemed to respond to her by moving its leaves up and down.
"Wow, it responds?!" Asked Elizabeth.
"Erika's powers are amazing!" Eric was surprised, quickly beginning to write everything he documented inside a small notebook.
This was something he named "Dryad's Abilities Journal". Because Dryads were so little known, he wanted to register everything Erika was capable of now as "Dryad's Natural Abilities" for his own knowledge. He didn't really planned to info, even less that Erika is half-dryad.
"Now that we are done here, let's leave your father's gravestone here." I said.
Everyone helped at placing the gravestone, which had her father's full name on it.
"I hope this is enough for now, papa. I'll make the tree grow big so your ashes are not wasted. They will become one with the tree and you will live forever in that tree!" Erika said with a smile.
"Alright, let's go then."
We didn't had much to do, so we set off into planting the other four seeds Erika made.
"Why are we going so deep into the forest?" Wondered Elizabeth.
"Wait, isn't this the path towards the Swamps?!" Asked Eric while feeling afraid of encountering monsters.
"Yes." I said with a smile. "Erika's seeds are not just trees, they exude powerful spiritual essence, of life and nature. That means that they can purify miasma. If we plant these trees near the swamp which is still filled with Miasma, the miasma will slowly get absorbed by the trees and then purified. Or that's what I have planned."
"Wow, yeah, maybe if we do that it'll really work…" Erika said with a smile. "Alright!"
And like that, we planted the four trees around the swamps, which were still bubbling with black miasmic liquid. Ultimately we encountered packs of monsters as we did our jobs, but we were so strong now that we managed to get them done without issues. I earned 20k EXP out of it all, it wasn't really that much but it'll suffice.
"And done… Make sure to grow big in here!" She said to the trees, as her dolls had been assisting us around. They gained new Jobs now, such as Gardener, Farmer, and even Druid, which aid at boosting the strength of plants when growing, which was crucial to allow these seedlings to resist the miasma and grow big enough to be able to slowly cleanse it.
The next day, we checked on Erika's home backyard once more, finding the tree, which had grown up to a meter tall in just a single day.
"It grew so quickly!"
"Maybe after this week it'll be even bigger…"
As the group was admiring the tree, I approached Erika who seemed rather prideful of her little creation.
"Erika are you okay living alone?" I wondered.
"Well… Yeah, I mean the dolls are there for me…" She said.
"Are you sure? Well, my mother said that it was okay if I could invite you to live with us." I told her.
Erika's eyes opened wide.
"Yeah, my room was too big anyways, we'll build a wall in the middle of it and separate it into two small rooms. Do you think that's alright for you?" I asked.
"Yes, it is! I am glad about it. I would be happier if there wasn't any wall though… but I guess it makes sense." She said happily.
"Alright then, good." I said with a nod. "You can also just come back to your house whenever you feel like. Or move things to our own, your choice, really."
"I might leave my house as some sort of Atelier, what do you think? So we can use it for alchemy, crafting, and everything else. Our little hideout for our group!" She said.
"Sounds like a good plan I guess." I said.
"It sounds good." Eleanora added. "We could also bring other things here, such as materials we have collected."
"Oh yeah, though not all of them, we don't want to turn it into a storehouse."
"Materials?" Asked Erika.
"Well, we've got an underground base where we store a lot of things, materials, meat, food, everything…" I said.
There are even the corpses of bandits frozen in there, which I use as experiments.
I guess I am better not telling them that though.
"Cool! Can I go to that hideout!?" She wondered.
"…No, it is small cramped and not enjoyable. We only leave stuff there. Don't worry." I said while shrugging.
"O-Oh, okay then…" Erika nodded. "Well! I already made some more seeds, this time only three so I can rest a bit more… I don't think I could make five a day."
"Hm, don't push yourself too hard. Try making some weekly instead than daily if you're tired tomorrow." I said. "There might be some sort of limit, or perhaps you're exhausting something that might be too precious to use. But I believe that you've become something like… Half Spirit."
"Half Spirit?" Erika wondered, the rest of our friends also walked towards us, overhearing what I said.
"Half Spirit because you're already a Half-Dryad, and Dryads are a special type of Spirits that are also a Tribe of People." I said. "Due to that, you can do things even more incredible than humans, you've got spiritual abilities innate to you, not directly connected to the spirits you possess."
"A-Amazing… So that's why I can hear and talk to trees, make seeds, and even help them grow bigger!" Erika seemed excited.
"Yeah, I believe that's why. You probably have your own Spiritual Essence Pool aside from Mana, which you're spending making these seeds. Maybe wait until that pool is refilled naturally to make more." Erika's abilities might be amazing, but everything has a limit.