Rita entered the dungeon without even waiting for me to get ready, she rushed inside without even answering nor listening to me. I know this was a game but we had to be careful, this dungeon will not let us in again if we die in there! We cannot just waste the opportunity by being reckless… Sigh, but if I let her die inside it will be even more problematic! So I decided to rush to her side and help her out at the end, I was way too worried about it, if she died inside I didn't know even know where she would spawn, and I would be forced to do the entire dungeon myself, but her quest would had failed anyways because it is a quest SHE must complete, not me!
"Belle!"
"Meee!"
Belle quickly let me mount her, and soon we traveled into the depths of the damp and dark caves. The dungeon interior truly adhered to its name, a cave that went down into the underground, the walls were made out of gray rock with green moss stuck to it, and there was a damp air. I quickly began to see large mushrooms growing out of the walls, floor, and ceiling, they were glowing brightly.
Out of curiosity, I checked a few to see what they were.[Glowing Mushroom]
Item Type: Mushroom, Consumable, Cooking Material, Alchemy Material.
Item Quality: E-Rank Quality.
Item Level Requirement: No requirement.
Item Description:
A special mushroom that only grows in the damp and dark caves, it can glow in dark places and illuminate a wide area around itself. It is also delicious and can be eaten raw to regain some HP, MP, and Satiation. However, consuming too much of it will cause Stomachache Status Effect that could last up to 30 Minutes. If cooked, this effect can be nullified. Can be used in alchemy to make healing potions and glowing potions.
"Ooh? Isn't this a nice ingredient? Although if we eat too much raw, it will cause stomachache, well, makes sense, even edible mushrooms have some toxins that can cause pain in the belly if you eat too much raw. But mushrooms are meant to be eaten cooked! Roasted, fried with some butter, or even made into a stew or other preparations… And it says it is delicious… Belle, let's pick some more while we are at it! Loki, you help too!"And while we moved underground, we began to pick up Glowing Mushrooms. I didn't pick the biggest ones that were illuminating the most so I wouldn't leave the entire place completely dark, but they were so easy to pick up that I couldn't help but take them all as loot. Delicious mushrooms were always a staple for the cooking in this game after all.
Although they were blue-colored when glowing, the Glowing Mushrooms became brown-colored after picking them up, they had a slight resemblance with shiitake mushrooms, but they were several times bigger, the smaller Glowing Mushroom was around 10 centimeters big.
However, there wasn't just mushrooms, there was also this green moss, which I scraped off the walls using my nails, something I achieved by shaping them into sharp wooden claws to collect them more effectively. What I got was this…
[Bioluminescent Cave Moss]
Item Type: Moss, Consumable, Cooking Material, Alchemy Material.
Item Quality: F-Rank Quality.
Item Level Requirement: No requirement.
Item Description:
A slightly glowing moss that naturally grows inside of caves, it has a bitter and dry taste, but it can be consumed to calm down stomach ache, however, if made into a tea, the effects increase. It also can increase MP recovery speed and Satiation. Can be used in Alchemy products to create Antidotes to cure Stomachache and other aching status effects.
This item could be used to make a tea that cures stomach ache and makes MP regenerate faster. However, since it was only moss, it also refills only a tiny bit of Satiation, plus it is bitter too Luckily, it could just be used in alchemy to make potions! There was a pretty great chance that maybe I could add honey to taste? So maybe I should pick up a lot of them anyway… Oh wait, aren't these really complementary with the Glowing Mushrooms? Eating too many mushrooms causes stomach ache, but this cures it! Amazing, was this intended?
I guess superficial players that don't even pick up "trash items" will not even realize this. With these two items, we can refill our HP, MP, and Satiating slowly over the dungeon, without the need for too many potions, we can self-sustain ourselves!
"Oooh, another interesting product! I'll save a lot, heheh~"
And while I did that, I suddenly remembered why I came inside of the cave.
"D-Damn, I got too distracted… Rita! Where are you?!"
I quickly jumped over Belle and we continued moving down, the cave was very deep, perhaps around fifteen meters underground? And it continued going down and down until I finally found something, Rita! She was… in the ground?!
"RITAAAAA!"
I found Rita in the ground filled with wounds, and there was… a monster biting her! I checked her status and she was below 10 HP, and she had the "Paralysis" Status effect! The monster right at her side about to attack her was… not one, but three yellow-colored walking mushrooms, they had the size of half a meter, but were named [Paralyzing Walking Mushrooms] and unleashed spores that could paralyze a target, so they had been beating her up with simple attacks after paralyzing her? Bastards!
"Uuuggh… Ah! Elayne…" Muttered Rita weakly.
"Loki, Belle!" I roared, as the two Familiars quickly ran straight through the cave. Loki stretched her vine tentacles and wrapped them around one of the Paralyzing Walking Mushrooms, moving it down into the ground and splattering the entire creature with a strong blow.
SPLAAAT!
"Gryyeehh…"
Belle quickly jumped over a second one, crushing it with her hoofs and splattering the creature over the floor rather easily. They were all between Level 4 and 5, so they were easy for us to beat down.
And I pointed out my hand at the last one, shaping it as a sharp wooden spear, I crushed its head and then gave a spin around, slicing the entire mushroom in halves!
SLAAASH!
"Gryyyaaahh…!"
Giving an oddly adorable pitiful groan of pain, the last mushroom died. They were very slow and couldn't even react to our speed, but when they get to paralyze you, they suddenly become a big threat.
"Rita! Dummy, I told you not to run by yourself!" I sighed.
"Ugh, they caught me off guard, I can't do a thing while paralyzed! My muscles feel sore and painful…" Cried Rita.
"Verdant Recovery Light!" I rapidly conjured my only healing Spell on Rita. She slowly began to regain some HP, which had gone way too low. This Spell had no cooldown and its MP requirements were very low as well, so I continued activating it constantly until her entire HP was refilled.
"Aahh, phew, I feel much better… Sorry Elayne, I should have listened to you… I got a bit too excited…" Sighed Rita.
"You're always a reckless dummy…" I sighed, hugging her with my arms. "But you're still paralyzed… How long will the status effect last?"
I looked into her status again, the Paralysis lasted… ten minutes?! These mushrooms were really deadly! How could I cure this?
"G-Guide! Do you have an idea?"
The Guide spirit emerged behind me and looked at Rita.
"Hm, use your Alchemy Skill and craft a small remedy that can heal paralysis, the mushrooms, moss, and some other ingredients you got in your item box should do the trick. You actually got the recipes inside the System, look at them here."
The Guide showed me something within the system status, a small button called "Recipes" from within, an enormous book suddenly opened in front of me, showing me basic recipes of things I had never made before, it seemed that you gain new recipes as you mix and match stuff, but the Alchemy Skill brings recipes with each Level as well.
Apparently, the potion he said was named "Lesser Cure Potion" and it could be made with several different ingredients, so there was not a fixed recipe, and could be made with a variety of things, the Moss and the Mushrooms I just collected seem to be enough, I just needed some water and somewhere to boil everything up.
A cauldron was usually the best item for alchemists, it helped them prepare all sorts of concoctions, and it add bonuses to them, but it seemed that I could do it in other ways, thankfully I had saved in my item box the utensils that Acorn lend me, as he said that whenever we needed to eat something on the go, I could use these things to cook right away, so he ended gifting to me off-camera.
But isn't Alchemy like Cooking? It said that I must make the mushrooms and moss into a paste, mix water, boil, and then add some mana for it to get ready through the use of the Alchemy Skill! Isn't that just making a pap? I remembered making some for my little Elena when she was a baby girl, making her mashed vegetables so she could eat them because she didn't have teeth yet.
Aw, remembering my little Elena when she was a baby brings me so much joy, my heart suddenly feels soothed.
"Alright! Let's make you a potion, Rita!"
"P-Potion?" Asked Rita confusedly.
Ding!
[Calculating EXP gained…]
[You defeated [Paralyzing Walking Mushroom: Lv4~5] x3!]
[You gained 900 EXP!]
[You gained 300 Gold]
[You acquired the [Paralyzing Mushroom Cap] x3, [Paralyzing Spores] x3]
Ooh, I got some interesting dropped items, I also got a bit of EXP out of it… Let's see what's this… Oh, these caps seem poisonous, they came with the paralyzing toxin, and the spores are an even more purified form of this paralyzing toxin.
"You could mix the mushroom cap, make it into a mushed paste and add it to the potion so it can heal paralysis faster," said the Guide.
"What?!"
"Usually you can make medicine out of the origin of the poison, this rule applies here as well, but the spores are too toxic, I don't know what you could do with them, maybe just throw them at an enemy, they could paralyze them," said the Guide.
"Huh, I'll think about it then… Alright, time to cook! …And how do I set a fire in this damn place?" I sighed.
As I thought about it, I quickly remembered my Spirit Magic. Rita looked at me tiredly as I summoned a Sunlight Spirit out of a small red vein near us. The Dragon Veins down here were rare, but they were not completely off my grasp, but they were smaller as well, so my spirit magic was naturally weaker too.
Only a small little Star emerged, but it was very warm, way too hot in fact, touching it burned my finger and caused some damage… So even my own spirits could damage me if I was not careful. In that sort of thing, this game is quite realistic, huh?
"Alright, stay there, dear," I said, putting the spirit right over the floor, it generated a small flame for me, as it remained still.
"A-Amazing, you can control this little thing?" asked Rita.
"It's a sunlight spirit, it is already a miracle I found one down here, they're rare in underground areas…" I said. "Now I need something else… Ah, this! Please, Land Spirits, can you come for a bit?"
I connected to two small dragon veins of Earth, as two Little Rockies emerged, no bigger than half a meter, these were moving rocks with small feet and arms. They obeyed me and quickly sandwiched the sunlight spirit, using their small arms to connect into a small stone table over the fire. The rock quickly warmed up, turning slightly red as the steam from the dampness that got over them began to come out of the warm stone.
I took out a pan and put a glowing mushroom inside, alongside a lot of moss, and a small sharp kitchen knife that the squirrel-folk gave to me, and I began cutting down the materials. Perhaps thanks to the Cooking Skill, I was able to do it quite swiftly.
