Meryl's nerves were tense as she watched Alvin cross over, and when he wasn't harmed, she sighed in relief.
Alvin knelt beside Elena, gently lifted her upper body, and rested her head against his chest. He brushed her messy strands of hair from her face… she was okay!
He immediately carried her and stepped out of the circle. He waited for a moment until the house descended, then jumped toward the garden.
He laid her down on the green grass before calling out to Meryl anxiously, "Heal her!"
"Calm down, she's fine!" Meryl spoke calmly. "Elena is just exhausted and needs some rest."
"What do you mean by that? Can't you see how bad her condition is?" Alvin snapped in frustration.
"She's fine, just understand that!"
"I can't understand while I see—" Elena interrupted him by lightly slapping his face, then said irritably, "Shut your mouth for a while, my head hurts!" Alvin moved her hand away to look at her; her eyes were closed, but she was breathing steadily.
He leaned his head closer to her face to examine her more closely, but Elena suddenly decided to sit up. Since she hadn't opened her eyes yet, she hit her head against his nose.
"Ahh!" she cried out in pain, holding her head. "What on earth are you doing?!"
Alvin stared at her for a brief moment, then left her behind, picked up the sleeping Tulip, and walked toward the house. Meryl hesitated to speak because of the way Elena was looking at Alvin's back. "Let's go inside," Elena said calmly.
Each of them leaned on the other as they walked together toward the house. When they entered, they noticed the angry expression on Alvin's face.
"Why is Tulip naked?" he asked in an angry tone.
"Don't worry, Tulip told me nothing bad happened to him. When he wakes up, he'll tell us why he's naked," Meryl replied as she walked toward the couch to rest on it.
"Wasn't he with you from the beginning?"
"No. Each of us was in a different part of the forest," Meryl answered again. She closed her eyes wearily, seeking a bit of rest.
As for Elena, who was sitting near Tulip's head, examining him to make sure he was okay, she picked up the glass of water floating near her.
"Miss cloud, could you prepare us some quick food? I'm really hungry!" Elena spoke tiredly after drinking the water.
She turned her head toward the kitchen to see the food moving on its own along with the kitchen utensils—plates and spoons.
"Should we leave the forest? Or wait until morning and search again?" Meryl asked after adjusting her position slightly to see the others.
"I don't think the crystal is here," Elena replied, lying down on the rug with her eyes fixed on the lights on the ceiling.
Earlier, when she was fighting Reverie, she had used an elixir that forces whoever drinks it to speak only the truth.
She had made Reverie drink the elixir after defeating her. According to what Reverie said, the crystal isn't here. But her words were just a possible assumption.
Maybe those four sisters don't even know the crystal is here.
"It's not here," Alvin spoke quietly after sitting on the second couch. He was confident in what he said, as Mr. Pie had told him he couldn't sense anything of value in this forest. And Alvin trusted his planet's words.
"Then where do we go now?" Meryl asked after sipping a bit of water. Her expression twisted in pain—it felt like her body was torn from the inside. She rested her head against the back of the couch and began to heal herself.
"Let's rest for now, then decide later. We haven't slept since yesterday."
Alvin nodded in agreement to Elena's suggestion. While waiting for the food, he turned on the TV.
He flipped through the satellite channels with boredom—half were reruns, and the other half were channels about… monsters.
Alvin wasn't a fan of television, but he liked having noise around him. Silence made him angry and lose control of his nerves. It could even lead him to lose his mind and destroy everything around him.
"Alvin, could you lower the volume, please? My head hurts," Meryl spoke in a low voice, and Alvin immediately did as she asked.
"Are you okay?" he asked, confused. Meryl looked extremely tired, with deep lines marking her features.
Elena straightened up in concern and looked at Meryl. She also asked, "Meryl, is everything alright?"
"Don't worry, guys, I'm fine. I'm just tired after all that fighting," she answered with a small smile.
But Meryl knew it wasn't just that. She had taken two pills for temporary powers—fire and wind—both of which had devastating effects on her body.
I'll be fine, she repeated in her mind as she tried to heal some of the damage in her vital organs.
Some time passed, and the food was ready. Plates and cups floated from the kitchen into the living room, settling on the table. Meryl waited until everything was set, then got down to eat.
She sat near Elena, poured herself some mushroom soup, and took a piece of toast with butter and garlic. Beside her, Elena did the same.
She dipped her spoon into the soup and smiled softly, enjoying the delicious aroma. She lifted the spoon full of soup to her mouth—but suddenly, blood burst from Meryl's body, splattering everything around them, including the soup dishes.
Alvin grasped the situation faster than Elena and extended his arms to catch Meryl's head before it fell into the hot soup bowl. Elena gasped as she watched blood pouring from every part of Meryl's body.
"What's happening?" she screamed in panic at Alvin.
"I don't know!" he replied while searching through his inventory for elixir bottles.
"Do something! Meryl is dying!" she shouted again, seeing a pool of blood forming beneath Meryl's body. She started slapping Alvin's face, trying to snap him into action.
"I'm trying!" Alvin yelled, his voice tense. He pulled out dozens of large bottles and placed them into Elena's arms, then said quickly, "Pour these over her body." As for himself, he returned to the system, this time heading straight to the shop.
It was clear that Meryl's injuries were extremely severe. He needed to buy 'Excellent' grade potions. Common grade bottles were useless, offering barely any help.
Each bottle cost over 20,000 coins, but Alvin didn't care—he bought more than 20 and poured all of them quickly onto Meryl.
Elena noticed that the bleeding was slowing down, which meant they were doing the right thing.
"Buy more! These aren't enough!" she said anxiously, looking at the empty bottles around them.
Alvin handed her a few more bottles, then went back to searching—this time for 'Rare' grade elixirs. Among the thousands of listed items, he finally found a seller offering exactly what he needed.
The problem was both the quantity and the price! There were only five bottles available, and each one cost 100,000 coins! Alvin's current balance was 307,835 coins.
He quickly glanced at his chat with Mr. Pie, considering asking him for more coins, but the planet wasn't online. In the end, Alvin had no choice but to buy only three bottles.
He poured two of them onto Meryl's body and made her drink the third. Yet despite all their efforts, the blood kept flowing from Meryl, and her face grew even paler. Alvin cursed the seller in his mind.
Did that seller scam me? he wondered angrily.
"Meryl is dying!" Elena screamed in panic, her whole body now trembling violently.