Chapter Ninety-Four — Dance Dance Beevolution
Chapter Ninety-Four — Dance Dance Beevolution “So,” I waggled as we climbed off the cart. It had taken a couple of hours to travel across the entire hive, crossing junctions and tunnels and all sorts of strange underground caverns along the way. It was surprising just how extensive the hive was. “You girls like flowers, huh?” “Ooo, girl, you have got no idea how much we love flowers.” Henrihock wiggled back. “Can’t farm them inside the hive, so we sniff them out. We make the best honey.”“So cool,” I said out loud. I shifted my hips and started to dance a reply back. “How do you find all your flowers? We have a mission to find all the best flowers in the region.”Henrihock made jazz-hands. “We have maps. Here, I’m sure Queen Bee wouldn’t mind.” The big bee reached into her little satchel and pulled out a small square-folded map that she gave to me.“Whaa,” I said as I looked over a detailed chart of the region, complete with marks for the entrances to the hive ways and little scribbles that showed where different sorts of flowers were. It was made of a strange, waxy sort of paper, like the mache that normal beehives were made of. “Thank you!” I jigged.I was still poring over the map, Amaryllis snooping over my shoulder, when we exited the hive ways and found ourselves in a little forest. There were plenty of trees around, though there was some room between each, and lots of bushes and fallen branches made the area look hard to travel. Henrihock spun around, wings beating so hard it made the air thrum. “Here we are, love. If you keep on moving that way for a little while you’ll find that human hive you’re looking for.” I grinned from ear to ear and jumped over to Henrihock to give her a big hug. She was just as fuzzy as she looked. “Thank you,” I twerked, tears in my eyes. “You were the best bees I’ve ever met.”The other bee girls thrummed their wings too. They looked a little jealous of the attention Henrihock had received, so I gave them hugs too. “Stay safe love, don’t let them nasty wood bears go after you, you hear?” Henrihock waggled. “I won’t,” I ballet’ed sadly. “Thank you again!” We were waved off, Amaryllis taking the lead to push through the underbrush in a mostly northwestern-ish heading. “Awa,” Awen said. “That was... interesting.”Amaryllis sighed and crossed her arms. “It was acceptable,” she said.I stared at the back of her head for a bit, then hummed. “Why are you in a bad mood? We got to make friends and have fun.”“I’m not in a bad mood,” Amaryllis said like someone who was in a bad mood. I think she might have sensed that I was staring because she grumbled something. “I just felt rather... useless back there.”“But nothing bad happened,” I said. “I guess your best skills didn’t come into play. There was nothing to zap, and no one to be condescending to, not unless you learned how to dance-talk a little.”“I refuse to learn how to speak such a primitive... language.”I felt a smile tugging at my lips, but suppressed it for the moment. “That’s fair. Don’t worry, I’m sure the next bit of our adventure will have plenty of things that you can zap into submission.”“Harrumph,” Amaryllis harrumphed. “What about you, Awen? Did you feel useless? I don’t want my friends to feel like third wheels, it’s not nice.”“Awa, no, no more than usual,” Awen said.I pulled Awen into a side hug for a bit before I had to let go on account of the terrain. “So! Do you have any clue where we are?” I asked.“Yes,” Amaryllis said. “More or less.” She pointed through the woods and to the southwest. “The desert is over there. The mountains behind us are a little bit further, and the ground is sloping up. If I had to guess, which I do, I think we’re nearing the cliffs that lead up to Rosenbell. We’re half a day’s walk from the city.”“Half a day? So we skipped two days of travel time with the bee girls?” “Just about,” Amaryllis said. “Two days that we could have used to sharpen any new skills.”“We could still do that a little,” I said. A look to the sky showed that the sun was well past its zenith and was on its way to rest by the horizon. “We can set up camp a little early, then get up early tomorrow before heading to Rosenbell.”“That... might not be a terrible idea,” Amaryllis admitted. “I need to see how my new skills function, Awen needs to start down the path of learning some glass magic and you... well, you’re still far behind the curve with your own skills, I suspect. A few hours of training wouldn’t go amiss.”“Ah,” I said. I was beginning to regret my own suggestion. “Well, okay.”We continued for just a little bit before Amaryllis stumbled and came to a stop. She brought her talons up and stared at them.“You okay?” I asked.“My ring just slipped out of range,” she said.“Uh. Range from what?”“The bank,” she said. “The ring’s beacon system can only reach so far. We’ve passed its maximum range. We’ll have to go back a bit. I’ll need to pull some equipment, and some gold.”I looked to the skies again, it was still bright and blue above, but there were hints that it was approaching night. “Right, let’s find a nice spot to make camp that’s in your ring’s range.”We started to search for an area, all the while aiming northwards a little bit. It was Awen who pointed out a cliff that poked out above the woods. It had a nice little rocky clearing at the top that, once we climbed to the top, afforded us a sweeping view of the region. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.Awen volunteered to pick up branches and such while Amaryllis plopped herself down on a rock and started writing notes to send through her ring. I dropped my pack and decided to help Awen find some wood and the like. Soon we had a big pile of branches all stacked up to one side and we moved some rocks around to clear room for the tent and a little fire pit. I pulled out some food and started cooking with a bit of magical help from Awen who knew a fire starting spell.My tummy had been quick to remind me that breakfast had been a long while ago and lunch had never been. Beans cooked in a little pot, some strips of salty meat, and some bread. Not the food of kings, or even anything that could be compared to the food at most of the inns I’d been in, but it was filling enough. “Right,” Amaryllis said as she set a backpack of her own off to the side. She had a few things packed away in there that seemed handy. “I need to see how my new Thunder Slap skill works compared to Thunder Clap.”“Awa, I, I think I can work on some, um, glass magic? It’s supposed to be part of my new class’s skills, I hope.”“What’s glass magic like?” I asked. “I mean, we kind of saw a bunch of it in the dungeon, but still.”“I’m not too sure, but, but I hope I can make things with it. Um. Small glass constructs would be very nice.” She lugged her crossbow over and onto her lap, then pulled a bolt out of it. “See?”I looked at the arrow, the tip was made of a piece of glass... so was the shaft and even the fletching. “Huh,” I said. “That’s nasty.”“I want to be able to make these out of magic.”“Can you make stuff out of magic? Permanent things, I mean?” I asked.Amaryllis hummed. “More or less. The cost is far, far greater, exorbitantly so. Turning something from one material to another is a lot cheaper mana-and-effort wise. Awen here could start with some sand.”“Awa, I thought of that!” Awen said. She reached into her backpack and pulled out a small purse that was filed with glassy sand. “I, ah, took some from the valley with the dungeon.”“Then start there,” Amaryllis said. “Imbue it with your mana while turning your mana into glass aspect. Then try to sculpt the sand into something simple. A ball, perhaps?” “I think I can do that,” Awen said. I tapped my chin, then dove into my backpack until I found my copy of A Guide to Manipulating the Essence that was tucked at the bottom of all my other stuff. The book had taken a bit of a beating at the bottom of my pack, but it was still fine. I skimmed ahead, looking for anything about mana sculpting and the like. There was an entire chapter about it towards the end of the book, but the instructions looked like they built off of a bunch of previous lessons and I couldn’t really get it. “Here,” I told Awen as I handed her the book opened to what I hoped was the right page. “That might help.”“Awa! Thank you!”Awen set the book on her lap and started reading it while a small glowing ball of magic formed in her hands and started to slowly shift colours. Awen might not have gotten all that many opportunities to work with her original class, but I couldn’t imagine her not receiving plenty of training in the use of basic magics. I was almost envious... okay, I was definitely envious.But that just meant that I had to practice more myself! “Amaryllis! I need to get even better at magic. Teach me!” Amaryllis sighed and made a back-up sort of gesture. “Go over there and start practicing your manakinesis. Try to figure out an aspect other than cleaning while you’re at it.”“Um. Like fire?” I asked.“That’s... a possibility. Perhaps water aspect. Hitting a foe with cleaning magic does very little. Water aspect can at least impart some physical force at higher concentrations.” She grinned. “Also, you’re less likely to light the forest aflame.”“Alright!” I said before bouncing down the hill a little. There was a particularly large rock with a nice flat top to one side, maybe a meter and a half across and nearly even. I hopped onto it, made sure it was stable, then paused as I realized that I wasn’t actually sure how to start. Pushing mana out of my body along with motions seemed to trigger physical manakinesis, at least a little, so I started with that. Smooth twirls that had cleaning magic flowing after my hands like streamers, kicks that fired off weak blasts, and finally little punches that sent balls of cleaning magic racing ahead. That was fairly easy, and it felt right. But switching from cleaning magic to something else would be tricky, an entire level of difficulty added atop of what I could already do.I grinned. I had never really been the sort of girl to chase after challenges like that, but it was a whole lot of fun to play with new magics. An hour or so passed with me focused on a pool of my own magic while I tried to think watery thoughts. When I would start to grow tired I’d try some new things. Kicking with bursts of magic felt right, so did firing a blast of cleaning magic on a jump. In the end, just as the sun finally set and the only light around was our little campfire, I was rewarded with not one, but two new prompts from Mister Menu.Congratulations! Through repeated actions your Physical Manakinesis skill has improved and is now eligible for rank up!Rank E is a Free Rank!Congratulations! Through repeated actions your Dancing skill has improved and is now eligible for rank up!Rank D is a Free Rank!“Oi, moron! Come back over here or I’m giving you middle watch!” Amaryllis called over. “Coming!” I said.
Chapter Ninety-Five — Dungeon Known As...
Chapter Ninety-Five — Dungeon Known As... “No,” Amaryllis said.I looked away from the city ahead of us and towards my birdy friend who was standing, wings crossed, right next to me. “No what?” I asked.“No, we can’t afford to have you run around the whole town acting like a country bumpkin,” she said. “There are a few things we need to do, then it’s straight to the dungeon with us.”“Boo!” I said. “You’re no fun.”“I’m responsible,” Amaryllis said.“And that makes you no fun. It’s a good thing you’re one of my best friends or I’d call you boring.”Amaryllis, being the mean and clever bird she was, waited until I was looking back towards Rosenbell before wapping me with a wing. “Idiot.”I laughed and ran ahead of her and towards the long line of people entering the city. I wasn’t actually sure if Rosenbell qualified as a city. It was a little on the small side, even compared to Port Royal and Greenshade, but it was way, way bigger than a place like Threewells. A town, maybe? The walls around the town were tall and bright, made of white-beige stones set one atop the other. Huge banners hung from the sides, with symbols of wolves and bears and tridents done up in bright colours. We arrived at the back of the line of people entering the city, and I couldn’t help but grin. The air smelled like a fair. Young men and women in bright clothes were making their way down the lines, selling popcorn and drinks that they cooled down with big bursts of icy magic that left lines of fog in the air high above them.A little group of musicians, just a couple of boys with some flutes, tambourines and one lute, were playing a little tune that carried all the way over to the end of the line. “Is this place always like this?” I asked.“Awa, no,” Awen said as she huffed and puffed and caught her breath from jogging after me. “No, there’s a big festival here every year. Um. Some people from Mattergrove, the Endless Swells, and Cinderrun all come over to participate. Ah, and there are some Ostri people.”She pointed to a man a few placed ahead of us in the line. He was one of those tall fellows that I had seen in Juliette’s inn. All lanky and long-limbed, covered in beige and pale-yellow cloth that made him... her-them-look a lot skinnier. They noticed Awen pointing and nodded to us in a way that looked friendly.“Cool,” I said. “What’s it a festival of?” “It’s the festival of, um, Rose’s Bell.” Awen gestured to the back of the town where I could just make out a church-like tower with an open roof on which a large bell sat. “I don’t really know all the history,” Awen said. She sounded a little apologetic about that.“That’s okay! More for us to learn!”“World save us,” Amaryllis muttered. “How are you so energetic this morning?” “I’m excited!” I cheered.A few people down the line ahead of us laughed and I saw more than one give me fond looks. I decided that maybe I could be a little less excited. I bounced on my feet as more and more people were let into the town and the line dwindled ahead. There were caravans and carts and such pulling up behind us, and hikers who were coming to town with big backpacks full of stuff too. I gawked without shame. The people, most of them human, wore all sorts of strange outfits. From things I would have expected in a medieval society, to costumes made entirely of thick scarves, to leather and plate armours. Finally our time at the front gate arrived and we were greeted by a nice older guardsman flanked by a much younger female guardswoman. “Welcome to Rosenbell, ladies,” he said. “I’ll be using an ability on all three of you in a moment, and then you may enter, is that alright?”“Perfectly,” Amaryllis said.The guardsman looked me up and down, then did the same to my two friends. He mumbled a few things to the woman next to him and she took some notes in a binder. “Alright. Members of the Exploration Guild huh? I can sense a few magical things in your bags. Would you mind if I have a look?” I didn’t have anything special in my backpack, and I didn’t think the girls had anything either. We set our things on a table and the guardsman started to look into each bag. “Terribly sorry about this. It’s a precaution we need to take, especially with all the people coming in for the tournament.”“What’s the tournament like?” I asked.“Oh, it’s quite a bit of fun,” the guard said as he shifted my bag to the side and started sifting through Amaryllis’. “Are you going to be here the day after tomorrow? That’s when it’s starting off.”“Ah, I don’t know. We’re here for the puppet dungeon,” I said.“Oh-hoh. Yes, I suppose you’re all around that level. You might want to see the puppet shows then. Very impressive.”Amaryllis sighed. “Broccoli, stop playing tourist.”“But I am a tourist,” I pointed out.She glared. “Mister guard, our equipment took some beating during our last mission, are there any local tailors available? And a smith?”“Sure thing,” he said as he pushed Amaryllis’ small pack to the side. “Check out Rusty by the main square. Decent smith. Fast work. And... ah, there’s old Yoland near the inn. She’s pricey but good. If you need something done cheap there’s a new shop at the far end of town.”“Thank you,” Amaryllis said. The guard smiled genially at us and opened Awen’s pack. He moved a few things aside and then his smile became very much fixed.Carefully, the guard pulled out Awen’s wand of cure hysteria and just sort of... stared at it. “Um,” he said.“Awa, that’s, that’s mine,” Awen said.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.Was that illegal here? I hoped not. “It used to be mine,” I said. “But I gave it to her a while back. It’s harmless, I swear.”The guardsman eyed me, then Awen. He looked at a loss for words. “Sir?” his partner asked.The wand was stuffed back into the bag and the guard pushed it towards Awen while wiping his hands on his gambeson. “Alright, you’re ah, good to go.” I waved to the nice guardsman and skipped into town.Within its walls, Rosenbell was a quaint, if busy, little town. There were homes all over, set into roads that didn’t travel straight for more than a house or two’s length, and the streets were cobbled with big flat stones that made every passing cart sound like a machine gun as they rolled past. We ended up passing crowds that were bumping along shoulder-to-shoulder until we stepped into an open square where a whole lot of people were setting up seating areas around a large stone stage. Merchants were putting up little tents and kiosks all around and workers hauling long bits of wood were making a mess of any cart traffic in the region.The entire town felt chaotic and, most of all, alive. I loved it.“That way!” Amaryllis said as she pointed off to the far end of the street. The moment we were on a less-travelled road Amaryllis and Awen sighed. “Right, that was unamusing. We need to find that tailor first. Then we need to hope that there’s room for us at one of the local inns.”“Why the tailor first?” I asked.“Because your armour has a hole in it,” Amaryllis said as she pointed to my chest. I poked at the hole. It was a little annoying. “We can have that repaired before hitting the dungeon. Then we can see about that spade of yours.”“You mean, I could fix it?” I asked.“You kept the head, didn’t you?” she asked. “We’ll see about it. Otherwise, you might have to resort to purchasing a proper weapon.”“Aww, yeah, that’s fair,” I said. “I’ll need better shoes too, mine are starting to fall apart.”Amaryllis nodded. “Armour, then shoes, then the blacksmiths to fix your spade or replace it. Then we find an inn.”“And if we can’t find a room?” I asked.“In that case...” Amaryllis paused. “I suppose we could visit the dungeon early.”“It’s a plan!” I said.Finding the shop the guard had mentioned was as easy as asking a few locals where to go, then getting lost a few times in the winding roads of the town. At least the bell tower gave us something to line ourselves up with no matter where we went. The shop itself was a little thing squished in between two homes with big windows at the front that showed off racks of cloth and bundles of clothes. There weren’t any clients in the shop when we stepped in, just an older woman carefully sliding a needle in and out of the base of a dress and leaving a pretty pattern of flowers wherever she moved. “Hello,” Amaryllis said. “Are you Miss Yoland?” “That’s me, dearie,” the woman, she said. She finished what she was doing, then set the dress down on a table while sticking her needle into a pincushion. “How may I help... three young ladies. My, I’m popular all of a sudden. Looking for something pretty for the festival? I’m sure I can make you something that’ll catch any beau’s eye.”I laughed and shook my head. “Nothing like that,” I said. “My gambeson got a little, ah, perforated. And cut. And... well, it needs some help,” I said.“Ah,” Yoland said. She adjusted a thick pair of glasses and squinted at my armour. “That seems like some nice work. Handmade too. Well, well.” She looked up and to Awen, then smiled kindly. “Dear, could you lock the door and lower the blinds? Wouldn’t want anyone snooping.”“Awa, yes miss,” Awen said as she jumped to it.“Now, young miss...”“I’m Bunch, Broccoli Bunch. This is Awen, and that’s Amaryllis, my two best friends.”Yoland tittered. “Very good. Now, are you wearing anything under that pretty bit of armour? I’m afraid fixing it while you’re in it might not be terribly comfortable. I’m a steady hand with the needle and thread, but we wouldn’t want to take any risks.”“Ah, sure, sure,” I said before I started to unbuckle the armoured bits of my pretty dress and then slipped out of it. “My blouse has a hole in it too,” I said as I took that off as well, leaving me in just my bra and shorts.“Awa,” Awen said.After placing all my things on the counter before Yoland, I pulled Awen in for a quick side-hug.“Hrm, this is a clean cut. Nothing too complex,” Yoland said as she prodded the hole in my gambeson. “And this... this...” she ran her hands over my blouse. Her breath caught. “This is incredible.”“Huh?” I asked.Yoland pulled up my blouse and held it before her. “Where did this drop from?” she wondered.“Um... Walmart?” “I’ve never heard of that dungeon. It must be an exceptionally rare drop. The quality... my my.”I blinked, then fired off an Insight at my blouse.A Simple white blouse of Masterwork quality, new.Huh. That was different. I stared down at my feet and fired off another Insight.A well-worn pair of sneakers of Masterwork quality, new.“Hey, Yoland, can you fix shoes too?” I asked. Then I had a brilliant idea. “Can you enchant them?”“You would want me to try enchanting Masterworks?” Yoland asked. She looked a whole lot younger than she did when we entered. “Oh dearie, I would love to try.”I grinned. “Neat! We’ll leave things with you then while we go check out a few other things!”Awen started to stutter. “Y-you can’t go out ju-just with that.” she said.“Ah, right,” I said. I turned to Yoland, “Do you have anything I can borrow? I’ll bring it back super clean, promise!”
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