บท 522: Paying the gardeners
When Hera, Alex, and Chiton finished planting their seeds and saplings, the Golem waved them to approach the boat once again. They did as asked, and the construct guided them inside the ship, stopping them when they were inside one of the covered spaces.
"We thank you for your assistance. Now we are able to swap one of the islands," the Golem spoke.
"Wait. Swap? What do you mean by that?" Hera asked.
"The islands in the room will be swapped. The island that is at the bottom of the list will once again join the ocean floor, while the one you just created will emerge taking the top spot in the list. Doing so will also stop the Bugfish from searching for food above the water for seven days. This is how long the food will survive in the ocean floor," the Golem explained.
"What do you mean the one we just created? Are you making a brand new island in the room?" Hera asked.
"No. All possible variations of islands already exist at the bottom of the ocean. Once a new one is chosen from this place, that island will emerge from the waters," the Golem continued and gestured to a button previously hidden by the crates, "Pressing this button will complete your island. And through the window, you can look at your finished work.
Hearing that, everyone looked outside and saw the entire island and all the plants fully grown. The cyan grass with strawberry shrubs and the tall coconut trees everywhere. In the end, Chiton lost the discussion when Alex argued that it would be good to have something to drink. He tried to defend, saying that oranges also had juice, but they did some math and came to the conclusion that a coconut tree should give more liquid than an orange one. They had no idea if they were right, but it wasn't like they had any way of confirming that.
"So, if we push this button, we will change one of the islands here?" Chiton asked.
"Correct. If you don't want to change the island, you don't have to press the button," the Golem replied.
"Which island will change?" Hera got worried that the island they arrived at would sink.
"I am unable to tell you. However, I can confirm that the island where the dungeon is located will be unaffected. That one is not among the islands that can change."
"Is there more than one island that can't change?" Nimbus asked. He and Daskka helped with the dungeon, but they didn't vote for the seeds they would get. The reason for that was that Hera felt it was cheating to have votes for her court members since they were part of her and would usually agree with her train of thought. Not to say that they didn't have their own ideas, such as this one. Hera herself overlooked that possibility, and knowing which were the 'safe' islands would be a major discovery for the room.
"I do not know," the Golem replied.
Following that train of thought, Hera continued, "Is there another dungeon in one of the islands that can move?"
"I do not know," the Golem replied.
"What about this mention of the Bugfish? Are they going to attack us if we go through the bridges that are kind of underwater?" Alex, who had been in deep thought ever since this Q&A session began, asked.
"It is unlikely but possible. The Bugfish will now have a food source in the form of the newly sunken island, so they shouldn't need to hunt outside. However, they are living creatures, and such are capable of taking unpredictable actions," the Golem explained.
The group continued with a barrage of questions, from what they could find at the bottom of the ocean to what other islands would look like, and even asking about the boat and how it worked. Unfortunately, the Golem only replied that it didn't know the answers. When they tau of ideas for more questions, Hera looked to the group, "Are we done?"
"I think so. Chiton?" Alex nodded.
"I don't have any other ideas. We can tell the others what we asked, and if anyone has another idea, they can come here and ask," Chiton looked around, "This is a nice change for a dungeon. Don't get me wrong, the Weeding Disaster wasn't that dangerous, but it was very hectic."
"Agreed," Hera nodded and turned back to the Golem, "Soo… Can I push the button?"
"I wanted to do it," Alex frowned.
"What about me? I'm new here," Chiton protested.
They played a round of rock paper scissors, and Hera ended up being the winner. With a smile, she stepped forward and pushed the button on the boat. At the same time, three notifications appeared in front of them.
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You have completed the Dungeon Quest
By helping the golems to create a sustainable environment for the island, you have completed one of the islands that are present in the room.
Rewards:
30 000 gold
Stylla Island Supplies B
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A new island was created. For the next 7 days, the various Bugfish in the room will not search for food above water.
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Every 24 hours a new island can be created.
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"B grade supplies. Meh, it could be worse. I just don't know how we could make this better," Hera shrugged.
"I guess. Can we just get out of here? I'm done with this place," Alex huffed.
"Sure… are you ok?" Hera looked at her friend, confused by her attitude.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. I just want to leave."
Hera glanced at Chiton, who also seemed confused by her reactions, "Alex. Did anything happen?"
"It's fine. Let's go," Alex turned to the Golem, "How do we leave this hellhole?"
"You may exit the dungeon through the tunnel you used to enter," the Golem replied in a monotone.
"Great, let's leave. This place stinks," Alex jumped out of the boat and started stomping her feet towards the tunnel.
"Alex, wait," Hera jumped after her and tried to grab her shoulder, but the second her hand touched the assassin, she swung her arm wildly, almost hitting Hera in the face.
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Alex yelled, but the realization of what she did instantly dawned on her.
"What is going on?!" Hera gasped as she took a step back. Chiton was by her side, unsure of what he could do in a situation like this.
"I… I'm just angry…" Alex looked at her hands, almost not recognizing what she was staring at.
"Why? It can't be just because you weren't the one who pushed the button," Hera was still keeping some distance.
Alex stared at her and opened her mouth before closing it without replying. A few seconds passed before the assassin finally spoke, "I... I think it is…was…is? I don't know. Am I still angry about it?"
"Why are you angry about that? If it was this big of an issue, we would've let you press the button," Chiton turned to Hera, "Right?"
"Of course. It was just a button," Hera nodded.
"I really don't know why I reacted like that. I'm sorry."
"If you're having this strong of a mood swing, we should get you to a doctor," Hera approached Alex carefully and triggered her [Observe].
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Alex Malińska - Assassin - Level 28 - Confused - (Wind Affinity)
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"You don't seem to be affected by any weird conditions. Not that I can tell, at least. Have you ever felt like this before?" Hera added.
"It's the first time it ever happened, at least to this level. I think. If it happens again, I'll go look for help," Alex looked up to Hera.
"Ok, If you don't want to go now, that's fine. But if it happens again, we are taking you to a doctor. And I mean a doctor, not a healer. As far as I'm aware, healers are not the best option when dealing with mental issues," Hera looked Alex over, trying to see if she was injured in some way.
"You think I'm crazy now?" Alex felt annoyed by that idea.
"What? No. Of course not. But if something is messing with your mood like that, it is very likely that it's something affecting your brain or hormones. Healers are more of the cure diseases and wounds kind of thing. Dealing whit personality is more complex than that," Hera explained.
"I still think we should ask Yerel and Hayath to take a look at you," Chiton got closer to Alex while still trying to be somewhat careful if she ended up snapping again.
"Ok... Yeah. I agree. They should give me a check-up. Just in case," Alex nodded and turned around, still confused by the whole situation.
Hera and Chiton followed her through the tunnel, and eventually, they reached the exit, or entrance, depending on how one would look at it. After climbing the natural staircase, they were met with a unique sight. The Royal Explorers were all on the ground, breathing heavily, surrounded by dozens of Bugfish corpses.
"What the hell happened here?" Alex gasped.
"The Bugfish kept coming," Blue replied as being one of the few who still had the energy to move around. She was dragging some of the corpses away from the ocean. There were way too many for them to bring back, but maybe, there was something of value in the bodies.
"Damn, this was an intense fight then. Sorry, we weren't here to help," Hera scratched the back of her head.
"The issue was more about the time it took. If those were all coming at once, it would make things easier for us," Mylo added. He was to the side and had set up a small campfire where he was trying to cook the Bugfish meat. As weird as that looked, the smell was just like grilled salmon.
"How was the dungeon?" Callena asked without getting up.
"It was fine. We were basically gardening," Chiton explained.
"Gardening?" Rayna stared daggers at Hera and the others, "We were here getting swarmed by monsters, and you were playing in the dirt?"
Alex nodded, "Pretty much."
"That feels very unfair. We stayed here to make sure you three wouldn't be swarmed when you left, and in the end, those things even went away because a new island appeared," Grom sighed.
"Sorry about that, but we managed to make the Bugfish leave us alone for a while," Hera tried to sound happy, but she was feeling awkward. No one expected that things would end up like that during the dungeon run, "If it helps. I got another weird reward for being a 'Naga.'"
"What?" Alex and Chiton asked.
"Yeah. When we got the rewards, there was another notification saying that a Naga left a message for me. Well… for the next Naga that came by," Hera pulled one of the copies of the map she got from Percy, "It looks like a map, but only a Naga can read it."
"So you can't read it?" Alex asked.
"I can. I need to use my Observe Red Sight to see the infrared part of their writing," Hera turned around and showed the paper with seven blank circles.
"Oh, good. Because if that was the map, it would be the worst map ever," Chiton scoffed, "What does it say?"
"Is not so much something it says, but what it shows. It looks like a map from the Wailing Valley to what I'm assuming is their main city or an important temple," Hera described the emblems that were on each map. She told them that she could make a new map later. They opened the rest of the rewards and got a few small sacks of fruits, coconuts, and strawberries. After a quick check, Hera confirmed that they were more than just food. Eating one of them would give someone a small buff for a while. It was a paltry +2 to a random attribute for a couple of hours, but it was still delicious. On the bright side, if they ate a lot of it, it could increase the effect up to a + 10. After that, the group decided to head back to the Wailing Valley. It was late, and they were all tired. They went back to their makeshift housing by the doorway to rest. Only on the following day would someone go to the dungeon again, and the group would explore the rest of the room.
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