Chapter 177 - Forest origins (Patreon)

Hera was so enthralled by the carvings inside the mushroom that she didn't notice the notification. They looked ancient. The drawings reminded her of those found inside a pyramid, although there was no way to tell if it had the same age. The mural had a spiral pattern starting about half a meter from the ground and then moving upwards until above Hera's head. The first picture depicted what looked like the light spirit they had faced as the room's boss. In the first few carvings, it was flying alone, surrounded by darkness, then talking to a second larger creature seemingly made up of vines and flowers. The next image was of the two creating something with both their energies. As she kept looking through the pictures, a story started to be narrated inside her mind.

'The Light of the Forest is a being that travels between rooms, always making sure that the trees and grass receive enough of its light to grow. One day, it reached a room completely devoid of any vegetation and light. The Light knew that some places were part of other spirits' domains, but this one didn't have any blessing placed upon it. The room was barren, wasted, forgotten. Heartbroken by the situation, the Light decided to put a plan in motion. It called to the Tree Mother, asking for help to create a lush forest inside that dark cavern. They discussed possibilities and attempted many different paths, but sadly, no vegetation could survive such a dark place. The Tree Mother understood that this place was meant for someone else and left the room with a heavy heart.

The Light refused to give up such a place and kept working by itself. After many eons, it finally discovered a way to maintain a forest inside the caverns. Using a unique type of fungus and giving them the blessing of his light, they could act as a sun and bathe the forest in light. Excited, the Light of the Forest went back to the Tree Mother once more, asking for its help. The Mother knew well how its children acted and warned the Light about the greed that came with the specific fungi species needed for this plan. They would devour all the nutrients and keep wanting more even when they were full. The Light was adamant and believed that its light would satiate the mushrooms. Feeling the sincerity inside the Light, the Tree Mother agreed to help once more.

The experiment was a success, and in this small cave on top of a cliff, the two spirits created a verdant and beautiful forest. Filled with not just trees and light, but mushrooms and flowers. The Tree Mother warned the Light not to leave the room unattended for too long. The mushrooms had helped, but they required constant supervision not to damage the forest. Worried about such a result, the Light called upon its spirits, small globules of light called Sprites, to become the gardeners of the woods. The Light of the Forest left the room, alongside the Tree Mother going back to their respective jobs, leaving the forest and the sprites behind.

As dedicated as they were, the sprites didn't notice when the mushrooms started to grow bigger. With time the fungi even learned how to lure the light globules inside them to absorb their eternal light. Millennia passed as the once verdant forest shifted into a place overrun by fungi until it was discovered by Humans. The invaders were met with resistance from the sprites, even creating a bigger version of themselves by joining their bodies in sacrifice. However, that wasn't enough, and the humans managed to defeat the amalgamation. That warned The Light of the Forest and the Tree Mother, who visited this place once more and saw the results of their desertion.

The Light of the Forest, mad with anger and regret, pulled all its spirits back towards its realm, vowing never to meddle with the affair of rooms not given to it by the MAZE. The Tree Mother stayed behind to take care of its children since even the greedy ones were worthy of her love. She asked the humans to remove those who had become distorted and allow the fungi forest to grow following the natural order of their kind. As a result of these events, the Underground Forest dungeon was created.'

"Hera?" Blue called, snapping Hera out of her daze.

"I'm here. Everything is fine," Hera replied. Looking at the carvings gave her a weird feeling. It was as if the drawings were moving while the tale they depicted came to her. For some reason, there wasn't a doubt in her mind that she was right and that this story she came up with was what really happened. As she looked around, Hera finally saw the notifications in front of her.

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You have found the hidden history of the Underground Forest.
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You have completed the quest: Legends of Brinefront
Reward: Explorer's map
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Quest acquired
Common mysteries
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Common Mysteries
Explorer exclusive quest

Discoveries are not just hidden treasures or forgotten lands. At times, someone might need help finding a lost pet or discovering a reason for their constant tiredness.

Solve a mystery
The rewards will be calculated after considering the difficulty of the mystery you solve.

Rewards: ????????
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Skill acquired
Explorer's map

Allows you to use your map in any situation. By activating the skill, a window will appear with the map of the current area. This map has the same function as your mapping skill.
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"Holy crap, that's a lot," Hera started to wave the notifications off. She wanted to check the skill, but the group was still waiting for her, and she had no idea how long she spent inside there. The rest of the group was waiting inside the room. Bonnie was looking at the mushrooms while the others were sitting on the floor talking about something.

"Hey, are you all done?" Alex asked.

"Yeah. How long was I in there?" Hera nodded, looking around.

"About 10 minutes or so. I went inside, but you were in a weird trance looking at those carvings. It didn't feel dangerous, so I just left," Blue said.

"Thanks for giving me some space. But that was weird. I figured out how the dungeon was created."

Bonnie turned around, "Really? Tell me all about it!"

Hera explained what she found out, doing her best to remember the story that the carvings told her.

"How can you be sure that's what those things meant?" Blue asked.

"I don't know. There was just something telling what everything meant. It was weird like the information was coming straight to my head as if a thought that was mine and wasn't. I also got something called Explorer's Map," Hera said.

"You got an actual map? Wasn't the reward a skill upgrade?" Alex asked.

"No, not really. It's a skill that allows me to pull up a map of any place where we are in."

"Don't you already have the map skill? What's the point?" Runir asked.

"It's a map that doesn't require our tablet. I can pull it up just by calling the skill. I think most of the time, it will just be something practical, but if we are in a tight spot, it might help a lot. Actually, let me test it first."

Hera tried to activate the skill a couple of times, but it was only when she said its name out loud that it worked, making a window with the dungeon's map appear. There were several marks inside it, one on the boss room, another in front of each of the three tunnels at the dungeon's start. The first drawing of the carvings showed the location of the hollow mushroom. It was more in-depth than the map she already had.

"Oh, that's cool. Can you guys see something in front of me?" she asked.

"Nope," Alex said.

"Shame, I can see the entire dungeon. The paths, where each path leads to, where the boss room is and what is here," she tapped on the carvings on the map, and it opened a secondary window with the story she just learned, "Oh, I can even see the story."

Hera shared everything her new map function could do, although she wasn't entirely aware if it would be the same in a new dungeon or if it would show something that she had yet to discover. Aside from the information on the area, Hera could check the info on each enemy and even the bosses through her map. Although, only the things she had seen or known about appeared.

Alex explained the new quest and skill she got as well. The skill was called [First Strike]. It was a passive increase to the damage she dealt against a creature that wasn't hurt. The increase stacked with her [Sneak Attack] and her charged attack spell. There was a lot of potential to it, which led Hera to get curious about learning those skills since she had the assassin role. That wasn't something she could find out right now, but it was a good idea to keep that in mind.

After leaving the room with the party sprite, they walked over to the boss, taking one hour to reach it. They were facing the amalgamation one more time. Since the monster wouldn't do much before it was attacked, Alex took the opportunity to test her new skill. Using her charged attack by standing close to the giant sprite for over a minute until she ran out of mana. Her dagger cut the monster in two, but it was quickly reassembled in a smaller form. They knew that the more damage the creature took, the smaller it would get, and with that one attack, it seemed like the sprite lost 20% of its size. It was a massive increase in damage, even if it was a charged attack. It would take the entire group several strikes to do the same.

However, this was still a fight. They didn't have time to be impressed as the sprite amalgamation started to attack. During the last few days, Bonnie had talked to Helena and got a version of her bomb spell made out of shadows. The new spell was much more effective against the boss. It was able to deal a considerable amount of damage and daze the sprite for about ten seconds, leaving the rest of the group with enough time to hit the monster with several attacks. By the time its daze ended, the boss wasn't bigger than a watermelon. Moments later, when the boss was defeated, a blue glow covered Hera's body.

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Level up
Current Level: 6
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"Congratulations!" Blue said as they took a look at the boss drops. Instead of gold or equipment, this time, they got a glowing sphere. It was about the size of a baseball but much lighter.

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Minor Light Core

A source of light from a spirit. It can be used during the crafting of various items to imbue them with Light proprieties.
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"Any idea how much this goes for?" Bonnie asked.

"I'm not sure, but we can check when we return to the city," Runir was making sure no one had any wounds he needed to take care of.

"Well, it's not like we need money right now. Just today, we got what? 1 200 gold?" Alex waved off the notification of the quest complete.

"1 750 if we count the items the sprites dropped," Bonnie said.

"I have a proposition for all of you," Tom looked at the group, waving a notification off. At the same time, a blue glow covered his body, "Oh, that is unexpected."

"Well done, man. Level 9 now?" Runir patted him on the back.

"Indeed, it is. I shall increase my attributes after our discussion. As I was saying, my proposition is for us to attempt the labyrinth dungeon since now we have a map that might aid us in our endeavor," he gestured towards Hera.

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea. I mean, we don't know how Hera's map will act in a different dungeon. We don't even know how it will act outside this one, and you said that no map works inside the labyrinth, right? People tend to make hand draw versions to navigate," Bonnie said.

"Yeah, I still haven't been able to change the map to someplace else. I think it only works for the area I'm in. I get why you think it's a good idea, but there are way too many questions to assume that this would work. What if the dungeon doesn't let me keep the map or resets just like the rest of it? Maybe it saves the points of interest, but only after we find it."

"I agree, by what you said, that one is very dangerous even for experienced explorers. Isn't there like, traps that can kill us in one go?" Blue asked.

"There are, but I'm confident that we can overcome it with no issue," Tom scratched his neck.

"Any reason why you want to go there?" Runir asked.

"I can never lie to you, my friend. In that dungeon, one of its most dangerous denizens is a mighty minotaur. In a previous attempt, the creature bested me, and I wish to challenge it once more."

"I can kind of get that. But can we hold off that discussion at least until we find the last of the three bosses? I want to see what the compendium will do to my map," Hera said.

"Very well. Shall we complete this dungeon one more time for the day?" Tom replied with a sigh.

"I think we have one more run in us," Alex nodded, walking towards the exit.