NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1923 A Day of Little Consequence
--- Kat ---
Just because Kat wasn't cold didn't mean the winter area was a great place to be for her. Even ignoring the fact that her companions weren't having a good time, finding anything here was a massive pain in the ass. Kat was mostly flying the two of them around, but they put that on hold for a moment, when, after Kat suggested a water break, she landed in a pile of snow that contained an orb. It was nearly crushed under her foot when she landed. Total coincidence she found it at all, buried under nearly a metre of snow. "Shit…" grumbled Kat.
Hedera was about to ask what Kat was concerned about when she saw Kat's tail scoop up the offending orb. "Ah… that was just… around in the snow wasn't it?" Kat gave a sad nod. "Urgh… does that mean we're walking?"
"I'm not sure…" admitted Kat. "We got lucky just now… but how lucky? Say we stick to the ground, that means we're either going around or walking down all of the deep holes scattered around the place, adding potentially hours, or maybe even an extra day or two to our journey. It's going to slow us down massively… what are the chances we're rewarded for it? Because one orb an hour isn't going to be good enough,"
Hedera nodded. "Yeah… it's a bit different than the orbs hidden in the trees or the swamps. At least you have a chance of spotting those. This… this is something else. I… I don't think it's going to be worth it. Or not most of the time anyway. We should keep it in mind, but not change our route too much otherwise."
With that confirmed, things went back to being fairly boring for the rest of the day. They found another deep hole, much larger than the previous one, but this time they didn't even have the decency to put anything at the bottom. They could see all the way down, or Kat was pretty sure they could… and there was just nothing there. Sure you had to make sure that there was some variety… but the lack of anything at all meant they just… kept flying. Kat flew for hours without stopping for anything else. Their stockpile of orbs was coming in handy even if they wish it wasn't.
After around four hours, when they'd left the hole behind, Kat started to spot some scattered challenges around. None of them were too hard or too rewarding. A slick, enchanted pillar that forced you to climb it to claim an orb. It even stopped other enchanted items working… but not flight so that was a breeze. Then there was the strength test. Kat wasn't sure what the point of that one was, as there wasn't anything else too it. Even the slippery tower had a few traps. Ones Kat had ignored, but they were there. Couldn't be too mad she supposed. It was basically free orbs.
Little things like that would pop up occasionally as the girls travelled after those hours of nothing but it didn't take any serious effort to clear them. The few holes they did see were complete disappointments. It was usually at the bottom of one that they found those simple challenges, and compared to the giant stone statue they fought in the morning, nothing was anywhere near as rewarding or as dangerous. Some would say, that's a good thing.
--- Gareth ---
Gareth didn't know how long he'd been down here but he was starting to get a bit sick of it. After escaping the monster horde, Gardor and Fluffes had been keen to explore around. A bit higher and cooler sure, but explore around the underground. Gareth hadn't been entirely keen at the time, but he wasn't concerned enough to fight the decision, especially not when Fluffes was a guaranteed way to escape the place.
That had been quite a while ago at this point. Gareth had slept a few times, though never for a full and proper rest. Just because the monster horde was gone didn't meant they were entirely safe and his rest had been interrupted more than once. The only time it wasn't, he was on second watch and it he'd barely sat down when some worm thing burst through the walls. They'd moved camps after that.
What this meant, was that Gareth was starting to be irritated at the situation. For all that staying underground was keeping them flush with orbs and materials… they didn't have much use for the materials right now and the orbs could… probably, be found anywhere. That was the kicker though wasn't it? Between the two of them, they were making about two orbs profit each for every hour of work. Was that good? Gareth just didn't know. He didn't really have a proper way to compare it to what they may or may not have been earning on the surface.
You'd think with his earth affinity that he'd be happier underground… but in many ways it just meant he was more aware of the sort of danger the rocks surrounding them represented. Sure he couldn't really die from a cave in. If he was awake, Gareth had plenty of ways to keep himself alive if the ceiling collapsed or something… but that was just if he was awake. It also didn't mean he wasn't trapped. They might not be quite as deep as they'd gone to escape the bugs… but they didn't mean they were close to the surface. At all. Gareth had no faith that he had the mana to get out any time quickly. If he thought he could manage such a thing, he'd have already made the attempt.
Of course, any time Gareth, politely, suggested taking a break to see what was going on up at the surface Gardor would end up shutting him down. Oh, Gardor wasn't rude about it either but it was a lot of 'We've got a good thing going here with the orbs' and 'We'd risk running into others up there' or 'what about the monsters up on the surface?'.
Of course, the issue with all of that was Gardor had a few extra minutes up on the surface compared to Gareth. He'd quickly decided to dig down and found a few things… before running into that endless bug stampede. Now, to Gareth that sounded like the much bigger risk… but he supposed he shouldn't be surprised that a dwarf preferred to be underground. Gareth just really wished that he wasn't being dragged along for the ride.
--- Clive ---
Clive was beyond thankful he decided to accept some equipment before heading out on the job. A proper mask specifically built for pollen and some medicine that helped reduce the effects should it get through the mask for whatever reason. It had cleared him out, orbs wise… and he'd needed to do a few extra jobs to make up for the difference but it really, truly was worth it.
Sure trying to make his way through the pollen wasn't as awful as it had been originally, but just because it wasn't trying to choke you to death didn't mean it was a fine time either. The mask helped sure, but it was also a trying thing to wear. It was heavy, your breath really needed to DRAG the air through the mask, forcing you to expend extra effort with every breath.
Not too much, especially once you got used to it, but it made you constantly aware of your breathing in a way that you couldn't quite let slide into the background lest you stop getting quite as much oxygen as you needed. It made anything but manual breathing surprisingly hard. Perhaps he'd get used to it in time…
What was more annoying were the glasses attached to the mask. Instead of just enchanting them to remain clear, or continually repel pollen, instead they were 'wiped' clean after a few seconds. The material was somewhat resistant to the pollen, with it often just sliding off and collecting around the edges so it never completely blocked your vision… but the regular shift from 'a bit dirty' to 'completely clean' drew attention. Attention he didn't want to be giving his equipment.
The final downside, and the reason for the medicine… was that he'd been warned the helmet was somewhat fragile. It wasn't going to completely fall apart if he accidentally knocked into a branch or something, but he'd heard multiple times that it WAS NOT armour. Which… yeah that sounds reasonable when you just want it to keep you from inhaling pollen but realistically it meant any combat risked destroying a nice piece of kit that wasn't cheap.
Clive sighed as he examined his surroundings carefully before continuing on his way. Still no sign of that monster he was meant to hunt. Arguably a good thing… but he was getting close to it's alleged hunting grounds. What did it mean that the monster hadn't left any notable marks recently? Had it moved on? Was it further in? It did range somewhat so not having anything here on the edge was possible… but the worry, especially after the stories he'd heard… was that it might have learnt to hide its tracks. *Should've considered waiting for people to show up to help me with this…*