It was cold.

It's as cold here as the night in the desert.

- Maybe colder than that?

Well.

We walked and walked, Birch shivered, the midday sun did not bring us warmth, although we were closer to it than ever.

We are in a very high place.

-[Sunflower]-

You are bathed in the sun

+ 1 exp

XP: 256/1250 EXP (Birch): 397/650 +[Personal Journey]

If I look behind us, I can see far away.

I could see the top of the swamp all the way to the first grains of sand in the desert.

It's strange that the desert, such a warm place, is right in front of my eyes. But here, where we are, it's cold.

The world is indeed a confusing place.

Birch stopped, leaned against a rock, stared ahead, and noticed something.

-Animal.

We stared at the grazing for a moment. It has four legs and strong muscles, and its body is covered with stubble and fur. Two curved horns adorn its head. It feeds on the thin grass at the foot of the mountain.

It is a ram.

I don't have any particular opinion about rams.

They eat grass and survive.

They didn't do me any good, but they didn't hurt either.

A ram is just another entity that exists around me, in our most magnificent world. I'm okay with that. The world is big enough for all of us.

As Birch moved, a branch cracked.

The ram looked up and looked at us, and the three of us stared at the other for a while, and the ram continued to chew on the grass in his mouth.

Hello

am。

I suspect my friend is trying to get you arrested.

She flinched, you know?

The ram lowered its head and rushed towards us. Birch screamed and climbed down the hill and hid behind rocks.

(Bu

ch) Activated: [Stuff in the woods]

She blends into the background, and her skin takes on the color of stone.

The ram's hooves slammed out and hit the big rock we were leaning on. It stood right above us, looking around to see if it scared us away.

- Something climbed to our left.

A lone goblin climbs the mountain and tries to find a new way, as the main path has been destroyed.

The ram bleated and rushed at it, smashing the confused youkai with its thick skull. Their heads collided together, and the goblin flew up, lost control, and fell into the abyss.

The ram stared for a moment, then continued to graze in place as if nothing had happened.

Birch slid around the big rock and we continued our journey.

Apparently she decided not to hunt it anymore.

That's fair.

After all, it keeps us safe.

If we're lucky, it'll last a while.

As we strolled, I noticed that Birch did not choose to take a higher path, but a lower one, which was always in the sun. She had stopped climbing.

This terrain was too cold for her feet.

We stopped, and she wrapped them in her own cloth to warm them up while we walked on the rocks in the mountains.

But even though we were on a lower path, I noticed that I was taller than usual.

-[Sunflower]-

You are bathed in the sun

+ 1 exp

Experience Points: 258/1250 EXP (Birch): 399/650 + [Personal Journey]

I looked down at my friend and I realized that she had grown up.

I looked down at myself and I realized that I had grown up.

The scrawny, misshapen creature who found me, called Birch, had begun to mature, as had I myself. In life's grand plans, the journey we go through is short, but profound.

We've seen meadows and fields, we've smelled flowers, we've run past bees, we've walked on the coast, we've fought for life, we've fought for life, we've received many gifts from life, but not all of them are pleasant.

However, the two of us are lucky because we have experienced these things here.

- The scariest thing, and the most awesome thing.

Sadly the quiet dead who will never know what it's like to take the time to grow and be beautiful in their natural state.

I'm not talking about subjective beauty, not the beauty that a judgmental person like me has.

No, on the contrary, as a sunflower, I would say that the beauty of a thing has become what nature wants it to be. The eggs grow into birds. One seed grows into a sunflower. The birch became friends.

Not all of us are lucky enough to reach this state of full development.

A small bird flew by and landed in my face.

It pecked me on the head, took some of my seeds, and flew away before Birch could react anything.

-[Sunflower]-

HP: 17/19

- This time, I didn't feel scared. It's not like when I was born. I'm just a thing ready to embark on the journey I've already embarked on. I think, ironically, if I had been ready, I wouldn't have started starring in this movie with Birch.

My seeds are ready to spread and grow in the meadows and valleys far from where I am now. They will also have the opportunity to grow, prosper, and become strong, life-loving people. But they will never know the joy of having Birch.

This is the unique gift that life has given me, only to myself.

I want to know.

What unique gift does life give to birds? For the ram? For the sake of that big fish? What can they experience that no other member of their kind can experience? Even for those of us who are the same, the situation is very, very different. In this different state, in the midst of the unique challenges we all face, this is where opportunities for growth are found.

It is this growth that leads us to the true beauty of nature.

- Or not.

After all, I'm just a sunflower.

You'd better not listen to me.

-[Sunflower]-

You are bathed in the sun

+ 1 exp

+ 1 Health-Poi

t

XP: 259/1250 EXP (Birch): 401/650 + Personal Journey

Yes.

Birch grew up quickly.

Worm burrows.

Birds fly.

Frog jump.

Birch wanders.

That's the way it is.

But sometimes, earthworms crawl out of the soil and dance in the rain.

Sometimes, the bird will land on a tree branch and sit in the sun.

Often, a frog may just stay there and hoarse and sing the song of the swamp for a while.

And Birch, regardless of the danger behind us, will sit and stare at the world around us. She went through the most horrific circumstances and became a part of this world.

We sat together gazing at the sun and found a very warm rock to sit on. Such moments provide us with a sense of mental peace that we cannot find on our journeys.

-These moments allow us to think clearly about our actions.

Birch stared at the sun. It flew towards the west. The West is the direction we will always pursue. After all, isn't that where heaven is?

Birch turned away from the sun, away from the west, and instead turned his head to the side.

She looked south.

-[Sunflower]-

You are bathed in the sun

+ 1 exp

XP: 260/1250 EXP (Birch): 403/650 + [Personal Journey]

Then she looked to the east, from where our journey began. There, below us, the youkai horde is still lingering in our direction. Their silhouettes cover the ground like a swarm of ants.

Then she looked to the north, because of the high mountains, we could not see the north, and we were not close to climbing.

Birch stood up, then turned south.

- Incredible.

We wandered down that road, out of our usual path. We stopped walking towards heaven and instead walked at the foot of the mountain, in a direction we had never been before.

Two days passed.

Level up!

Congratulations Birch! You're now level {08}!

- [Bu

ch] -

Health-Poi

ts: 34/34↗ Soul-Poi

ts: 28/28↗

Level: 08 years ↗ Experience: 0/850

Class: Druid Subclass: Not one

Race: Human Opel: 000

-[Statistics]-

STR: 09 Agility: 14

Wisconsin: '07 INT: '07

Lu: 10 value list: 09 ↗↗

new

-[Growth]{Activity}-

Cost: {08} soul

Allows you to nourish any seeds and plants and help them grow.

Druids align with the life cycle of plants and fungi, able to channel the magic around the world into their network of roots and hyphae to promote and encourage healthy growth.

After turning south, we reached the foot of the hill and sat in the distance on a meadow overgrown with trees bearing juicy, thick fruits. The scenery here is a bit like a peninsula, with high cliffs perched high. The ocean is below us.

Birch stuffed himself with sweet fruit, and we, as we had done the other day, just stared at the mountain we had left behind, day after day.

We observed, studied, and thousands of rays of light rose from the first face, passed along the lower sections, and then descended westward, disappearing from our sight.

The third day passed, and there was no light left on the mountain.

I began to realize a truth that Birch himself had managed to understand before me.

The monsters never specifically targeted Birch and us. Why?

They, for their own personal reasons, are the same as us, and just want to go to the West.

So they've been stalking us, not intentionally, but because we're too stubborn, too stupid to change our ways.

My best friend Birch is very smart.

Life may push a situation at you, and you may think it's a deep, unfair cruelty, or that the universe is there to get you.

But perhaps, you just need to go in the other direction for a while? Perhaps, you just need to stop where you want to go and make a turn?

- Sometimes, it's as simple as that.

I spread out the petals, they are darker than before, I spread the leaves, they are not as dense and green as before, I am bathed in the love of the sun.

It's as good as ever.

It turns out that no matter where you are, West or East; The sun is still the sun.

- Warm or warm.

I'm a sunflower.

Birch is Birch.

This simple fact is in itself the beauty of the natural world.

Just work hard to be who you want to be.

- Beautiful.

That's all. Nothing less