"Alright, let’s take on an herb collection quest today."

Hunting monsters at the Skywolf Groves made it hard to carve out enough time to venture deeper into the forest afterward. On the other hand, collecting herbs—where no one cared exactly where you gathered them—was a much better choice.

The guild had marked herb collection as a standing quest, but I wasn’t sure what kinds of herbs were required. So, once again, we headed to the guild for details.

"Oh, so you’re back. Good. As long as you’re not wandering into the depths for wild mushrooms, that’s fine."

As we arrived, we passed Alyssa leaving the guild. She threw us that remark in parting, prompting me to smile wryly. Of course, we were heading into the forest depths for herbs—but the mushrooms were the real objective.

Once we clarified which herbs we were looking for and collected some intel on the monsters lurking deeper in the forest, we were ready to go.

"They said wild mushrooms smell stronger in the deeper parts, right?"

"Yeah, I remember hearing that."

Walking along the forest path, we speculated about how to find the prized mushrooms.

"Maybe the deeper we go, the stronger the scent gets?"

"I don’t know. I feel like the smell only really comes out when they’re cooked…"

"Why not try enhancing your sense of smell? Just like focusing magic in your eyes improves vision, maybe it could work for your nose too?"

What…? That had never occurred to me. I regularly enhanced my vision, and I’d tried enhancing my hearing before, but I’d never thought about doing the same for my sense of smell.

"That’s worth a shot. I mean, you can faintly smell the mushrooms as is…"

This could lead to a new skill! Identifying whether a mushroom was present might be tricky, but we’d figure it out as we went. Time to experiment.

Following the same method I used to enhance my sight, I focused magic on my nose. Taking a slow, deep breath, I caught the scent of leaves and grass.

Yep. Same as before.

If enhancing senses always worked this quickly, no one would struggle to pick up new skills. Still, my boosted potential—courtesy of the "More is Better" ability—meant I was probably picking things up faster than most.

"Guess it’s not something you can pick up right away…"

Rio was trying it too, but the disappointed tone in her voice suggested no luck yet. Since I was generally better at physical enhancements, it made sense I’d have the advantage.

"If we keep practicing, though, I bet it’ll click eventually."

"True. I’ll keep at it."

As we entered the forest, the aroma of the woods grew stronger. Though that was to be expected, it was tempting to misinterpret it as a sign of success. Passing by the groves, I thought I caught a faint whiff of Skywolf Mushrooms.

"Hey, did you smell that? Mushrooms?"

Rio closed her eyes, focusing.

"Not really, no…"

"Figured."

Disabling the enhancement reduced the forest's sensory impact significantly, and the subtle mushroom scent vanished.

"Huh. Maybe I just unlocked a skill."

"Seriously? I still don’t have it yet…"

Rio kept experimenting, alternating between concentrating and diffusing magic in her nose.

"You’ll get there eventually."

"Thanks. At least now I know it’s possible."

Once we were far enough into the forest to be out of sight from the main path, we stopped walking and began flying deeper. Since we’d started early, we hadn’t run into any other adventurers. A faint mist began to form, but it wasn’t thick enough to hinder us.

"There are so many scents out here…"

"Really?"

"Yeah. Mostly the greenery, but I can also smell mushrooms, animal musk… Oh, and blood."

"What?"

The sudden scent of blood prompted us to change direction.

"Think someone’s in trouble?"

"Could be, or maybe it’s just monsters fighting. Smell alone won’t tell us."

This ability was already proving useful. Since scents travel, it could detect things far outside the range of my perception skill. It might not pinpoint living creatures but could reveal signs of a struggle.

"Yeah, I smell it too now," Rio said.

Enhancing her sense of smell, she caught the faint scent of blood, though no living beings showed up on my perception skill.

"Something’s there."

Enhancing my vision, I spotted a bloodied figure lying on the ground. Faint mist swirled around the area.

"…Silver Wolves?"

Rio’s guess seemed accurate. A group of Silver Wolves lay dead, their bodies torn apart as though mauled.

"But what could attack a pack of Silver Wolves? The guild never mentioned anything stronger in this forest."

"Yeah, this is strange."

The guild had warned us about mushroom-shaped monsters and bear-like creatures, but not about anything that could wipe out Silver Wolves. Maybe a more powerful variant had appeared in the forest depths?

A quick scan revealed no other creatures nearby. The wolves’ corpses were cold, indicating the attack had happened some time ago.

"…Wait. Among the blood, I think I smell mushrooms."

Rio’s eyes lit up.

"Where?"

"Uh…"

I sniffed the air, trying to track the source. After some searching, we homed in on the direction of the scent.

"I found it!"

Eventually, Rio succeeded in enhancing her sense of smell, and we uncovered our first wild Skywolf Mushroom. The experiment had paid off!