Monster Breeder

"We start by chopping down that Elderberry tree. We know where he is and that his forces are weakened. Defeating him will fuel our allies' evolutions, open a path to my hometown, and net us a forest full of pardoned plant monsters."

Not to mention a good old dash of revenge for Brenda and a little redemption for my recent defeat.

"I'm not sure how far you can dilute a third-tier encounter before it doesn't fully count, but this will yield a treasure-trove of data points!" Gabby says. I suppose she's right. An entire army versus a single third-tier shouldn't reap the same benefits as a one-on-one, that's common sense. Still, it's equally obvious I should bring along everyone who's willing to come and might benefit. "Win or lose, it won't take long. Where will you head next?"

A few hours is still a chunk of the morning gone and the trip will take us south, not to mention we'll need to heal any wounds my harem suffers in battle. That takes Early Kraken and confronting the Spider Bitch out of the running. Who knows how long it'll take for me to navigate underwater, find Ariella, find the Kraken, defeat it, return home, and resolve whatever miscellaneous bullshit crops up in the process. The same goes for fighting our way through hordes of servitors and hostile Weblings to reach she-who-would-be-queen under the mountain—in the worst case, we could run out of time and be forced to retreat emptyhanded. Those risks are too severe to take in stride.

However, returning to my hometown is still on the table! Defeating the Elderberry Tree happens to take me in the right direction to go home, and clearing Charlatan Forest of enemies opens a path for the town guard to come join us in the battle tomorrow. That's assuming I can convince the Major I'm a horse worth backing, but I have the tools to accomplish that in spades. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Fishing for the Sandworm is possible as well. It helps I'm almost guaranteed to get attacked eventually if I just wander into the middle of the desert. If I get lucky, I won't have to wait for long.

There's no way to say how long dealing with the Cactus Turret will take, but I won't rule out making the attempt. I may finish early or it could eat up the rest of my day. Regardless, I'd do everything I can to resolve things peacefully and recruit their minions to my cause.

Lastly, I think finding the Library tomorrow has kind of become a pipe-dream at this point. We could end up stumbling around the Misty Grove for hours looking for the dungeon; forget delving its depths and facing its challenges to reach our goal. Now, that's not to say it'd be a wasted trip. Reframe it as obtaining evolution resources for the Slime Solidarity team, and now you're talking realistic! After fighting the Elder, Flou and Olindia would be on the cusp of reaching third-tier while only lacking the cores to cross the finish line. Brenda isn't far behind either. I could think of worse ways to spend our last day before the war!