Blood & Chlorophyll Ch. 22

As the sun crept over the horizon, warmth flooded Alicia's branches, and she woke with a heavy sigh of relief. Although she was still merged with her Heart Tree, the memories of her many injuries from yesterday lingered, which created some unusual sensations; it was hard to translate the human sensation of lower back pain to something more befitting a tree, yet apparently she found a way.

She poked her head out from her trunk to check on Kat, who was sleeping peacefully in a pile of blankets on her bedroom floor. Tabitha was asleep as well, her back pushed against the door with a blanket draped over her shoulders.

Alicia was relieved to see everyone alive and well. Although she didn't harbor the same mistrust towards Roxy as everyone else seemed to, it was certainly nice to be validated. At this point, there was nothing left to do but soak up the sunlight and let her Regeneration do its thing. She desperately wished she could go cuddle up with Kat, but steeled her resolve and instead stepped out onto her front lawn.

Returning to her humanoid body stung. She grew another staff to lean on, then carefully walked towards Elias's pond for her morning soak. She found a few colorful bruises as she walked, and memories of their first delve returned in waves as she remembered where all her injuries had come from.

It could have been much worse. I'm alive--we're all alive--which is what matters. Plus, most of my missing HP is from my barriers. When they take damage instead of me, I'm completely sidestepping all the usual side effects of being hit.

Planting her staff in the ground, she slowly yawned while she sat down. Her legs dipped into the water, and she hummed happily to herself. The water was warmer than usual, and it felt incredible. Roots pushed out from her legs, holding her in place while starting the process of pulling water and nutrients from the earth underneath her.

I wonder when Elias wakes up. Does sunlight feel different underwater? Is it easier to ignore if you want to sleep in?

Alicia amused herself by thinking of all the different ways Elias might sleep. She pictured him nestled in a bed of mud, a fancy kelp mask draped across his face, and made herself giggle.

"What's so funny?" Elias asked.

Opening her eyes, Alicia saw the Mermaid floating lazily near the surface of the pond, the sunlight dancing off his scales.

"I just realized I have no idea how you sleep, and I was picturing you with a little kelp facemask. Did you just get up?" Alicia asked.

"Me? No, I've been awake for hours. I've been checking on you pretty frequently, but I thought you were asleep. I assumed the laughter meant you were awake."

"What? No, I've been awake the whole time!"

"Ooohh... now I feel stupid. Have we just been awkwardly sitting next to each other for hours and not saying anything?" Elias looked over at Alicia, then they both broke out into laughter.

"Now that you mention it, I don't think I ever mentioned how the Change affected my view of time. If there's nothing going on, and I'm just alone with my thoughts, hours and hours can pass in what feels like an instant. I normally live a pretty slow life, and it's not a huge issue. It's a little weird having people around, but thankfully we all have different schedules. Kat is nocturnal, obviously, but Tab does most of her camming in the early evening, so she sleeps in pretty late."

"Do you think Roxy's an early riser?" Elias asked.

"I'm not sure. If she is, then she's staying cooped up in that house. You don't think she's waiting for someone to go get her, do you? I'd hate to think she's keeping herself cooped up just to play it safe."

"You could go get her, if you wanted to. I won't mind."

Alicia turned her head to look towards the house Roxy was staying in. "Not yet. We're in no rush, and she's probably used to waiting around anyways. Plus, Tab and Kat would probably say it's better to let her sit."

"Well, they're not here, are they?" Elias said, raising an eyebrow. "How do you feel about her?"

"It's... I'm still working that out," Alicia muttered. "It feels pretty gross to think that we were followed home after our trip to the city, but I also understand where she's coming from. After everything Tab has told me about the Guilds, Roxy's story makes perfect sense. I see why she'd want to leaveAshes To Ashes, and why she would have resorted to stealing to do so."

"Is that it?" Elias asked, leaning against the edge of the pond. "I feel like you're leaving something out."

Alicia sighed before laying back. "I guess I don't entirely understand her hesitance about approaching us. If this were all a trap set byAshes To Ashes, what would be the point? If they knew where the Key Dungeon was, they would just knock it out in a day and go back to their usual routine. No offense to Roxy, but I can't imagine her attempted theft was enough to warrant some over-complicated scheme for revenge on their part."

"Huh, good point," Elias muttered. "I hadn't really thought about it like that."

"What about you?" Alicia asked. "Do you trust her?"

Elias planted his hands in the dirt and jumped out of the water, then spun and laid down next to Alicia. "I think I'm pretty torn. On my end, it's really frustrating that I can't help you all out in the Dungeon, so I'm happy you found another party member that can. I'm also willing to trust that the Guilds know something we don't; maybe they're playing 4D chess around each other, and we're just caught in the middle. I think I'm mostly concerned about the timing of her arrival. If she's been here the whole time, why not approach you guys before you start delving? You were training for days, but she waits until after Tab's announcement? When you're already deep inside the Dungeon?"

"Blegh. I hate Guild politics," Alicia grumbled. Instead of thinking about it more, she turned to look at Elias. "You're not gonna dry out, are you? Being out of the water?"

"Nah, not this quick. It takes a few hours before I start to get itchy. Besides, I've got my tail!" With a smirk, Elias quickly pulled up his tail and splashed water on himself and Alicia.

Alicia gasped and sat up quickly. "You're so lucky I don't wear clothes, mister!" She paused briefly, then remembered that getting splashed meant nothing to her. If anything, the water felt cool and refreshing.

"Oh, please, you're a plant," Elias said, sticking his tongue out. They both started laughing again, and once Alicia had laid back down, Elias spoke up again. "So, what are you gonna do once this is all over?"

"God, I have no idea," Alicia said. "The easiest thing would be to return to ORC like nothing happened, except now I won't be alone when I'm not working. Kat's really excited about this Dungeon, though, and I'm starting to see why. Yes, it's pretty scary, but with some practice and some extra Levels, I could see myself having a lot of fun just wandering the Dungeon, especially since it's going to be sticking around for a bit afterwards."

"Becoming an adrenaline junkie?"

"I don't know if I'd go that far. It's more like... using my Class is surprisingly fun, and I like working together with Tab and Kat. Being more active is nice, too. It's really easy for me to ignore physical activity since I'm a Dryad."

"I get where you're coming from about your Class. Actually using my abilities, feeling like I'm helping out here, it's nice. Even though I can't go in with you."

With nothing else to do, Alicia and Elias spent several hours talking. They talked about delving for a while, with Elias sharing some of his favorite Delving Influencers, and eventually they moved on to talking about their pre-Change lives. They talked about school, about what their plans had been for the future, and even how they'd fared the night of the Change.

Eventually, Tabitha wandered out of Alicia's house and joined them. She was pleased to see everyone in one piece, but refused to let them lounge around any further. Despite Alicia's protests, Tabitha started guiding them through a series of basic stretches and exercises to hopefully speed up Alicia's recovery. While they stretched, they debriefed from yesterday's delve, picking apart what worked and what didn't in an attempt to improve for next time. They were roughly half an hour into this debrief when a voice rang out from down the street.

"Hello?" the voice called out. "It's Roxy! I'm awake and announcing my presence!"

Tabitha immediately made a face, silently protesting Roxy's arrival. She stood up, turned to face Roxy, and silently watched until she walked close enough to start talking. "Morning, Roxy."

"Mornin' Tab!" Roxy said with a big smile. "Mornin' Alicia! How'd you sleep? Wait, do Dryads sleep? Is that insensitive to ask?"

Despite Tabitha's sour mood, Alicia found herself laughing. "Yes, we sleep just like most other Races. And no, it's a fair question. In general, ORC likes to remind people that no question is inherently bad, so long as it's asked in good faith. Though quite a few people forget that last part."

"Ooh, tell me about it," Roxy said, "I've been trying to read up on all the different legal cases around the country ever since I leftAshes To Ashes. There's so much happening, all the time, and it's hard to stay up to date. It's fun and easy to read the big wins, like sex work being legalized, but there are so many people trying to use the Change as an excuse to steal away more rights. Just the other day I read about some housing development company petitioning to remove minimum sizes on housing because they think certain races don't need the extra space. And, like, sure I guess that's true on paper, but it's so obvious they're just trying to cram everyone into cheaper, smaller houses to maximize their profits."

At this point, Roxy's face was bright red, and she was practically fuming with anger. The entire display seemed to catch Tabitha off guard. "That's, uh... I hadn't heard about that one," the Foxgirl muttered.

"Shoot, you probably don't want to hear me rant about that... I'll try to keep my ramblings to myself. Anyways, I'm eager to tackle the Dungeon! Do we have a game plan for today?"

"We wait, at least for now. There's nothing we can do until the sun sets," Alicia said.

Roxy walked past Alicia and kneeled by the edge of the pond. "That makes sense, since Kat's a Vampire and all. What do you normally do while you wait?" As she spoke, Roxy lazily traced a finger over the surface of the water, smirking as the ripples bounced into each other.

"Like you don't know," Tabitha said, her voice bitter again. "You've been watching us this whole time, haven't you?"

With a heavy sigh, Roxy drew her hand away from the water. "Look, I can't apologize enough for following you home, Alicia. But, if nothing else, I promise that I haven't just been spying on you since then. I wandered the neighborhood a bit, trying to find signs of other Guilds, and I did a lot of quietly panicking to myself. One reason I didn't approach you before you went into the Dungeon was because I didn't know you'd gone in. Once I put two and two together, I ran after you and thankfully found you before anyone got seriously hurt."

Alicia moved to sit next to Roxy, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, I can't thank you enough for what you did. Regardless of everything else that's going on, that was really heroic."

The two girls smiled at each other, but after a second Tabitha loudly cleared her throat. "If we need something to do, we could always get in a bit of sparring practice. If you're really committed to this, Roxy, that means you and I are the primary DPS of the team. We'll need to familiarize ourselves with each other's movements so we don't bump heads while we're delving."

"I can do that!" Roxy immediately jumped to her feet.

To give them space, Elias slid back into his pond, then looked over at Alicia. "Hey, since they're going to be busy, you should jump in here with me so I can heal you some more. I barely use my mana in my day-to-day life, so I've still got a decent amount."

"Ohh, spa service and a show? What did I do to deserve that?" Alicia smirked as she jumped into the water, humming with excitement. Within seconds, she'd settled against the edge of the pond and the water around her began to stir. It stung just as much as last night, but when combined with the heat from the sun, it felt more tolerable this time.

Tabitha and Roxy grabbed several sticks that had been scattered around the street, then took their positions opposite each other. Roxy was subtly bouncing as she prepared herself, the infectious positivity almost infecting Alicia, but Tabitha seemed unusually stiff. Having spent quite a bit of time training with her, Alicia was used to Tab making small jokes and trying to playfully keep her on edge, but that joviality was nowhere to be seen.

Without warning, Tab crouched down and sprang at Roxy. Alicia saw nothing but a furry blur as she closed the distance, her impromptu weapon ready to strike. By the time she slowed down, she was already in front of Roxy, who yelped as she unsuccessfully tried to parry the attack. Tabitha's stick struck Roxy's hip, and not even a second later the Foxgirl was pivoting to continue her assault.

The mock fight continued for several minutes. Roxy certainly wasn't a slouch, and managed to avoid a few of the later attacks, but she was clearly at a disadvantage. Alicia felt bad that Tabitha wasn't holding back, but knew there was nothing she could say to convince Tab to slow down.

Tabitha's last strike collided with the back of Roxy's legs, breaking her stick while knocking the raven-haired Human to her knees. She winced as she landed, and she threw her own stick on the ground as she threw up her hands.

"Okay, you win! I get it, you're a better fighter than me!" Roxy said.

"You're Level Six, Roxy. I expected better from you," Tabitha responded, spitting on the ground in front of her.

"I'm not a duelist! I'm built to catch opponents off guard while they're distracted by other fighters! All my abilities are meant for staying hidden, looking for weak spots, things like that."

Tabitha continued circling as she spoke. "If that's true, shouldn't you have an ability that allows you to read your opponent's movements? Why weren't you able to predict my attacks? I was purposely giving you opportunities to react, and you still barely held your own."

"I-I wasn't expecting such a steep difficulty curve!" Roxy protested. "I thought we'd, I dunno, warm up for a bit first!"

"Alicia can last longer against me than you can, and she's half your Level. She's not even built for speed, she's a Bulwark. If you're Level Six, you've had three separate occasions to boost your stats, so why aren't you faster?"

With a frustrated groan, Roxy jumped to her feet again. "Okay, fine! Now that I know what you're doing, let's go again!"

After grabbing another stick, Tabitha immediately resumed her attack. This time, however, Roxy seemed more determined. The smile had faded from her face, and she narrowed her eyes as she watched Tabitha dash around her. With each attack, Roxy seemed more capable of defending herself. After several more minutes had passed, she'd even managed to land an attack of her own against Tabitha.

When Tabitha called off the fight, tossing her stick to the ground, she still seemed unhappy. "Alright, maybe you're not completely a lost cause."

"I'm not used to fighting people, okay?" Roxy said, now kneeling as she panted. "I like delving, fighting monsters with a whole party on my side. You want me to pull my weight? Give me my swords back, and let's head into the Dungeon!"

"All in due time, Roxy," Tabitha said. "For now, I've seen all I want to see. Take a break, we'll reconvene in a bit."

With the combat over, Alicia decided to leave the water and check on Roxy. Although pretty tired, Tabitha had thankfully avoided doing any real damage. Alicia extended a hand, which Roxy grabbed eagerly, a smile returning to her face.

"Thanks, Alicia. I really appreciate it. I assume Tab wasn't this rough with you?"

"Not quite, no. For the record, I think she's being too tough on you. Since we've got some downtime, though, care to talk a walk with me? I need to water some plants and check on some personal projects, then maybe we can do some friendlier sparring of our own later!"

"That sounds pretty nice, actually." Roxy gestured for Alicia to lead the way, then began to follow. "I've never had much of a green thumb, myself. It'll be cool to see what a Dryad can do!"

Together, they spent a few hours wandering the neighborhood. Alicia was eager to offset Tabitha's negativity, and she did her best to get to know Roxy, who seemed just as curious about her. Roxy had tons of questions about Alicia's plants, her various terraforming projects, her Change, as well as her Race. After all of the chores were done, they returned home to engage in some friendly sparring of their own.

Alicia did her best to learn from Roxy, to hear what her specialties were and see what she could fit into her own fighting style. She didn't learn as much as she did from Tabitha, but she also wasn't trying as hard. Her own fatigue had yet to vanish entirely, and she wanted to save strength for the Dungeon.

Eventually, as the sun sank closer and closer to the horizon, Alicia started watching the front door of her house. As nice as it had been getting to know Roxy, she desperately missed Kat, especially since they hadn't gotten to cuddle last night.

The four of them, Roxy, Tab, Elias, and Alicia, were all gathered around the water when the door finally opened. Kat had barely taken a dozen steps before Alicia closed the distance and leapt into her arms. Laughter overtook them as they spun around, showering each other with kisses and affectionate nuzzles. Once they finally calmed down, they eagerly held each other's hands and returned to the group.

"--and after we checked on all my plants we did some sparring of our own! But don't worry, it was mostly just practicing forms, I didn't actually do any fighting. I'm more than ready to tackle the Dungeon again!" Alicia said, talking a mile a minute.

"What's your HP at?" Kat asked softly.

"I'm at... 74%. Not perfect, but considering the state I was in yesterday, I'd say that's pretty fantastic. What about you? How's your MP looking?"

"Not as spectacular, sadly. Only 43%, and that's after I spent a chunk of last night with Alouette." Kat looked over at Tab, who was kneeling next to Elias as he leaned against the edge of the pond. "What do you think? What should our plan be?"

Tabitha spoke up first. "Well, not only is your mana a little low, but we also have our unexpected fourth delver. Not only do we need to build trust with her, but we'll also need to spend some time learning how to fight as a group."

"I'm right here, you know," Roxy muttered, staring at the ground.

After a quick, cold glare, Tab continued. "I propose we take it easy tonight. We still head into the Dungeon, but we purposely stay close to the exit and try to find some monsters. The only real threat was the mini boss, but that's already been taken care of. If we get into a small scrape or two, we can pull together more loot, more experience, and start to figure out party strategies."

Kat nodded slowly. "I really like the sound of that. That still helps us in the long term, but it also gives me and Alicia more time to recover. I won't use any magic unless absolutely necessary."

With a sigh, Tab looked over at Roxy again. "How's that sound?"

Roxy nodded eagerly. "I know I made a bad first impression, but I want to show you all that I'm serious about this. Obviously, that means I'm just as committed to you all staying happy and healthy."

With everyone in agreement, they took the next half hour to gear up. They gave Roxy her equipment back, and Tabitha watched carefully as Roxy put everything on. Alicia didn't see anything strange as Roxy suited up, and Tab's lack of barbed comments seemed to indicate she was pleased with what she saw. After a quick goodbye to Elias, they began their march to the Key Dungeon.

"So, my Class is built to hide from monsters and such," Roxy started. "Once we spot some, it would be best for me to sneak away. Is that okay with everyone?"

"Alright, look," Tab said, stepping in front of Roxy. "I don't trust you. I'm poking and prodding because I think you're hiding something, but all that vanishes once we're in the Dungeon. Inside, we're a team, plain and simple. We've all seen firsthand how quickly a monster can overwhelm us, and it's stupid to handicap ourselves because of unproven suspicions. If you ask me to jump, I'm jumping. If you need an opening, I'm making one for you. That means I expect the same from you, okay?"

"Yes Ma'am!" Roxy said. Her infectious smile had returned, and she playfully saluted as she spoke.

Tab rolled her eyes, then turned back towards the Dungeon. After another few minutes of walking, Alicia took the lead and pulled down the protective barrier. The party filed inside, took formation, and started into the Dungeon.

Last time, the entry tunnel had felt massive and foreboding, but Alicia felt much more comfortable now that she'd been much deeper in the Dungeon. She knew the tunnel started as a sleek, stone hallway, and slowly gave way to artificial forest. As they drew closer to the first large chamber, she reinforced her staff, double checked her armor, and made another round to check that everyone still had vine bracelets to help her summon barriers for them. Content they were ready, Alicia braced herself for combat.

The first chamber was empty, which wasn't entirely surprising. She knew that the monsters were always moving around, and did her best to listen to the Dungeon plants for any possible warning signs.

One advantage of a clear chamber was a chance to explore. On their first excursion, they'd simply walked straight through this chamber, but now they took their time wandering around. They looked in branches and under roots for possible secrets, even finding small piles of coins on several occasions. They also found side entrances to other chambers, both slightly smaller than ones they'd encountered previously. Just like their previous trip, there were small clearings between all the chambers that held entrances to multiple different paths.

Alicia did her best to stay focused on the plants and the Dungeon, but she occasionally looked behind to check on the party. As far as she could tell, Roxy was taking this very seriously; every time Alicia checked, Roxy was furiously scanning the Dungeon for signs of trouble, her hands holding her swords tightly.

They were in the middle of their third chamber when trouble found them. Alicia had been so focused on looking for some kind of animal that she failed to notice the off-color patch of fungus. The moment she stepped close, wispy mycelium threads shot out and wrapped around her leg. They latched onto her armor, quickly attempting to burrow into it, and some of the smaller tendrils found her skin. Where they made contact, a stinging sensation appeared, causing Alicia to yelp in pain.

The party sprang into action immediately. Tab was by her side in less than a second, her blade slashing through the threads. Roxy crouched low to the ground and began circling around, looking for off angles, while Kat grabbed Alicia's shoulder to help pull her away.

Gritting her teeth, Alicia grew additional layers of bark from her skin, effectively removing all lingering traces of the strange, shocking tendrils.

Thank goodness I'm a Dryad. If I couldn't shed my skin so easily, this would have been a lot worse.

"There's four of them!" Roxy shouted. "The mushrooms are just what we can see, I think there are corpses underneath the ground!"

"The tendrils shock if they touch you, and it can linger! Don't let them get close!" Alicia shouted.

As soon as the words left her mouth, Tabitha put more space between herself and the strange fungal patches. The edges of her blades began to blur, and dozens of mushrooms covering the forest floor began shredding apart. Roxy joined in as well, jumping in when she found an opening in Tabitha's attacks.

It only took a few minutes for Roxy's prediction to come true; the fungal patches started rising off the ground. Underneath them were sallow, heavily rotted corpses that overflowed with thick mushroom plating. Reminded of the zombie that she'd fought with Kat, Alicia tried to limit their movement. Walls of Thorns sprang from the ground in dozens of places, but she kept them incredibly short, no more than a foot at their tallest.

Within seconds of the walls appearing, one of the corpses attempted to charge Kat. Thankfully, just as Alicia hoped, her thorns dug into its skin, exposing more fungal insides. The next step landed on an explosive piece of fruit, and she cheered in excitement as thick, barbed seeds launched into the zombie. Kat jumped forward, armed with her own sword, and slashed at the zombie's neck. With its feet snagged on the jagged thorns, it was unable to move as Kat did her best to destroy it. Her actions were nowhere near as fast or as deadly as Tabitha's, but every attack helped, especially since Alicia had prevented the zombies from moving closer.

Taking a step back, Alicia watched as Tab and Roxy each finished off a zombie of their own. What concerned Alicia, however, was that the corpses weren't vanishing with puffs of smoke the way all the other monsters had.

"The corpses aren't vanishing, something's up!" she shouted.

Just then, Kat drove her sword through her target's neck, completely decapitating it. The body fell to the ground, suspended in Alicia's Wall of Thorns, and they all turned to look at the last zombie. With the patch of thorns separating them, Tabitha was the only one able to keep attacking. Her sword continued to blur as she swung it, phantom cuts appearing on the zombie as it stepped forward. Rather than bumbling into her thorns, however, this monster stepped on the back of its fallen comrades.

As its foot landed, all the mushrooms and mycelium from the zombie underneath it began to move. It crawled higher, shifting in horribly unnatural patterns before burrowing into the skin of the last remaining zombie. It took a second step, this time towards Tabitha, and repeated its strange assimilation process with the second corpse.

The more fungus is absorbed, the bigger it grew. Despite Tabitha's furious attacks, it managed to cross the Wall of Thorns within seconds, and now stood at twice its original height. The corpse was suspended in a veritable suit of decaying fungus, its body groaning as it raised its hand. With another step, it angled towards Alicia and tried to strike her. Despite its size, it moved surprisingly fast, and Alicia barely managed to get out of the way.

Where the monster's fist struck the ground, a small wave of mushrooms and mycelium appeared, slowly creating a large ring. As the ring crept closer, Kat returned to Alicia's side to help her up, and both of them quickly ran back to make more space for Tabitha.

"Tab!" Roxy shouted. "Draw it to your right! Alicia, I need stepping stones to close the distance once its back is turned!"

"On it!" Tab pivoted quickly, running to her right while trying to draw the beast's attention. Her movement slowed as she approached the creeping ring of mushrooms, but she managed to avoid their shocking tendrils as she kept slashing at the zombie.

The monster took another step and looked towards Tabitha, the distraction clearly working. It raised its other hand, slamming it into the ground and creating another ring of expanding mushrooms. Tab's speed ensured she was nowhere near the attack, but she stayed just close enough to keep the monster's focus on her. After another few attacks, the zombie had completely turned its back on Roxy, and Alicia started summoning a series of thick barriers just over her thorns, as well as the mushroom tendrils covering the ground. Roxy leapt into the air, running across the barriers as she closed the distance, then jumped at the zombie. Alicia watched her movements carefully, and realized she was aiming for the zombie itself, and not the head of its strange mushroom carapace.

Roxy drove one of her blades into the zombie's back, and the second into its neck. Alicia quickly spawned one last barrier underneath Roxy, who used it as leverage to pull her first dagger back. She jammed it into the other side of the monster's neck, then repeated the maneuver she'd used against the bear, pulling her knives together as they left the body. This time, the monster was small enough that she was able to decapitate it entirely.

The zombie let out a pained groan as it fell over, and just before it landed in the thorn patch, its body vanished in a puff of smoke. The other bodies did the same, and soon the entire clearing was free of both the corpses and the overly aggressive fungus. With a heavy sigh, Alicia raised her hands and released the Wall of Thorns, letting all her magical foliage fade away to nothing.

With the thorns gone, Roxy jumped back to the ground with a cheer. "We did it! Oh, that was amazing!"

Alicia broke out into laughter as well, overjoyed at how well their fight had gone. "Using my barriers as stepping stones was a great idea! How's everyone else doing? Any injuries?"

Looking around, the group seemed to be in great shape. As far as Alicia could tell, the small shock she'd received at the start of the fight was the only injury they'd suffered. Kat had successfully avoided using any magic, and Tab had likely been close enough to need very little mana for her Dimensional Blades.

"Seems like we knocked this one out of the park, everyone," Kat said. "How about we gather up the loot and head back?"

"I'm more than okay with that," Tab said. "I actually hit Level Four just now. Thankfully, that's an easy choice, as it's just some stats. Two more points in Agility, and I'm done!"

After assigning her Agility, Tab ran in place for a few moments, then joined the group in gathering all the loot. Just as previously discussed, everything they found went to Kat, who kept a small journal to track everything they found. After a few minutes of searching, they confirmed that the only reward had been a small handful of coins.

Alicia, however, was mostly excited over how well the battle had gone. Tab had leveled up, they all seemed to fight well with Roxy in the party, and now they had another day of rest as they prepared to start the next floor of the Key Dungeon.

When they started back towards the entrance, as Alicia made sure to watch for both animals and suspicious plant life, she had a smile on her face. They'd survived their first truly harrowing encounter, they had an extra part member, and she felt good about their odds. There was no doubt in her mind that her Heart Tree would be safe.

---

"I would say that went really well! I wish Tab would lighten up on Roxy, though, she's got it hard enough without us being all mistrustful and stuff."

Well, you and I both know how much Tab hates the Guilds. Especially Ashes.

"Ugh, yeah, it's just frustrating. Anyways, this is unrelated, but I still can't believe I'm enjoying delving. Who would have thought, right?"

You're also doing it in a Key Dungeon, which is an uniquely easygoing experience.

"So? It's not like I'm planning on tackling the main Dungeon anytime soon. It's way too far, and I'm not in a Guild anyways. Although... nah, nevermind."

What is it?

"It's nothing, promise! Anyways, Kat's got another song for us! Today we'll be listening to Introduction and Rondo No. 2 Op. 2 by Dionisio Aguado. Kat says 'This song is a perfect blend of peaceful contemplation and excitement. Since this trip into the dungeon goes fairly well, I wanted to find a song that felt suitably jovial. It's got a fantastic blend of melodies, and I love the excited rhythm when things pick up in the faster sections.' I wonder if she... Hm..."

Alicia? What are you planning?

"It's nothing, promise! See ya next time!"

Nyx <3