B4 - Chapter 15 - Forest Flight

Lily had expected Hana to be perfectly relaxed about flying, but oddly Lotte was just as calm about the situation. It really had her wondering if she was the weird one being so nervous about flying, but it was too late for regrets as they had to travel quite a distance to their destination.

"Okay, let's activate them together on three," Lily said as they all positioned themselves in front of their respective inscriptions. "One… Two… Three!"

The trio each touched their inscription and sent a pulse of Mana into it, triggering each of them and wrapping them in the magical light. For Lily, this was almost starting to feel routine at this point, but for the other two, this was quite a unique experience. Together they rose into the air and were soon above the treetops, soaring toward their destination.

"Amazing! I've heard about techniques similar to this, I never thought it could be drawn!" Hana excitedly exclaimed.

Their close proximity and the spell controlling the winds around them allowed them to thankfully communicate, although they had to raise their voices to ensure the others could hear them.

"I know this is my first time flying, but I thought it would be… Windier?" Lotte asked, looking around curiously.

"That's considered poor form in terms of flying magic," Hana answered. "If you can't keep yourself presentable, then you lose a lot of respect. Plus nobody wants their clothes ruined, or to accidentally lose one of your belongings."

"I had no idea people took flying magic so seriously," Lily replied.

"It's not just flying magic. The upper class tends to take all magic seriously. You could think of it as its own form of non-combat dueling."

"Sounds rough. I'm glad I'm just a merchant's daughter," Lotte said.

"You're at Regarth; I think you'll get involved in one way or another," Hana pointed out.

Lotte smirked. "Unless there's a melting competition, I think I'm safe."

"I'm pretty sure alchemy counts," Lily reminded her.

"Definitely!" Hana confirmed. "You could even argue alchemy is way more competitive. But look on the bright side, at least you aren't in Enchanting like Lily, which is probably the worst when it comes to snootiness."

"Oh no…" Lily groaned.

"Sorry, I thought you knew that considering how interested my mom was."

Lily sighed, but there was no use worrying about it right now. At the end of the day, even if there were some downsides, she was sure the rewards that came from the prestige were worth it. If it helped her and Arakil even slightly, then it was tolerable.

They continued flying above the treetops toward the deep forest, a considerable distance away, especially considering the tricky terrain you had to navigate and monsters that often blocked the paths. Of course, by flying they had circumvented all of that, so they were making considerable time over everyone else.

Lily was especially glad she had taken Arakil's advice to enlarge them, as there was no way they would have traveled such a distance with the regular configuration. After flying so calmly for a relatively long time, even she was growing used to it. Lotte was treating this like a scenic tour, admiring the view from above, while Hana was treating it as training. Even though she had plenty of experience flying with her dad, this was still valuable, especially since it gave her a unique perspective on flying solo, as the inscription was a personal spell, not a group one.

In practically no time at all, they reached the outskirts of the deep forest, easily identifiable by the much larger trees with much darker foliage than the pretty bright forest they had come from. Almost immediately, Lily called for them to stop, and after seeing her two friends successfully activate the override gesture, she proceeded with her own.

Since the timing wasn't together, they landed a bit apart from one another, but after a brisk jog they reunited with visible excitement at the new territory to explore.

"That landing was amazingly smooth; I was bracing myself the entire time, and then it just never happened," Lotte said with a smile.

"I was also surprised; heck, I think even my dad would be shocked by that landing. Lily, you really should use this more often; it's a wonderful technique even if it takes you a long time to draw!" Hana said, almost proudly.

"Maybe… I think I still prefer keeping my feet on the ground."

Hana seemed to want to keep pushing Lily to fly more, but decided to drop it. It was quite a contrast to her earlier mood this morning, with the girl now practically begging Lily to join her and presumably Arthur in the sky.

{Remind me to ask you later if Astral magic has any of its own spells for getting around…}

[It does, but I'm afraid you won't be happy with what they involve. Honestly, you might prefer flying.]

Lily had to suppress a groan at hearing that while her imagination started to go wild at what could be worse than flying? The first image she had was of herself somehow turning into a shooting star and rocketing across the horizon before landing in a crater. With such an explosive landing, she couldn't help but shudder a bit and prayed that that wasn't what Astral magic had in store for her.

"So this is the deep forest… The trees look like they are from another world," Lotte said, gazing up.

"Definitely no flying here," Hana commented, looking up. "It's so densely packed that you'd risk crashing into something. I'm hoping I can still be launched upwards for some scouting, but I can't guarantee I'll see anything."

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"It's still worth a shot," Lotte said, turning to Lily.

Lily shrugged. "I'm not complaining; it's Hana going up, not me."

Hana giggled at the joke and waited while Lily quickly produced a stack of lift runes as they had done before. Once it was ready, Hana jumped onto them, triggering them and sending herself up high into the air with her own wind magic supplementing her. Lily still found herself shaking her head, not understanding the appeal in the slightest.

When Hana landed safely on the ground, she informed them that she hadn't spotted anything particularly noticeable from their current position. She suggested they head deeper so she could get a more comprehensive view. Lily and Lotte agreed to the suggestion, and the trio took a protective formation as they began their trek.

Owing to its much more remote location, it was more abundant in both resources and monsters. Lily had expected the monsters to be tougher than the regular forest, but the first groups they ran into were of the same quality, just in larger quantities.

The trio had no issue dispatching the threats they periodically encountered as they continued pushing deeper into the forest. Between the acid, beams of light, and exploding stars, the monsters were in for a rude awakening. In terms of resources, Lily and Lotte were delighted, as they found several fungi that were usually in short supply, since the darker forest had seemingly become their breeding ground.

They continued trudging through the forest, and after reaching a relatively deep section, they took a short break and let Hana make another attempt at aerial scouting. When she landed, she unfortunately hadn't spotted anything notable owing to the density of the trees, but she had a suggestion.

"I couldn't see anything specific; it's just too dense, but I did try to use my Magesight," Hana replied, winking at Lily. "While I didn't spot anything outright, I did notice a higher Mana concentration, so I think we should head that way."

Lily smiled and nodded. "I agree, as even if it's not our destination, it might be a treasure or rare resource."

"Or maybe a big monster to fight," Lotte said with a grin.

Lily nodded again. "Something is causing the Mana to accumulate, so we should check it out."

"Great, let me quickly grab a bite, and we can head that way," Hana said, reaching into her pouch.

After their short rest, they headed in the direction Hana had identified, and while they hadn't found anything, there were clear signs that something was ensuing. Compared to the rest of the deep forest, this was even thicker in foliage, and the tree canopies were so dense that it almost felt like nighttime.

Thankfully, with both Lily and Hana present, the group had very little to worry about in the dark, and soon their surroundings were illuminated by either subtle stars or bright, radiant light. Their exploration continued, with all three of them now using Magesight to follow the slowly increasing trail of Mana. After roughly an hour of marching, they stopped and launched Hana upward again, hoping she would find something.

"Still too many trees to see anything in detail, but I caught a much larger concentration of Mana up ahead."

"Sounds like we might have finally found our target. I hope it's a monster!" Lotte said, excitedly rubbing her hands.

"I'd rather find treasure," Lily replied.

"I could go either way. A big monster usually means treasure too, or why else would it be here?"

Again, the group hadn't really encountered anything too threatening despite their current location, but this was only the second floor of the dungeon, and it had to keep things in check. A few stealthy monsters had tried to ambush them using the darkness of the area, but Hana had ruined their element of surprise by being such a beacon of light. A large bear monster was the worst thing they had encountered so far, but unlike the bear they ran into during the camping trip, Lotte's magic was far more devastating now, and it didn't last long against the trio.

I just hope it's not another dryad… Although, as long as the dungeon doesn't possess it, there's a good chance we could beat it if we set up enough traps beforehand.

They continued their careful journey, occasionally gathering a rare herb or mushroom along the way, and, in that regard, it was going exceptionally well. Every time they found another batch of mushrooms, Lotte would giggle with delight and fill her pouch while speculating if Sylwel would be surprised with their latest haul.

However, the area they were heading through soon became almost impossible to traverse, as it was extremely overgrown, with roots and branches blocking the path. Thankfully, they had Hana with them, and with some blades of wind, she cut a path for them to continue into the mysterious area.

Because of the abrupt change in the environment and the very dense Mana, the group was extremely cautious and on high alert for any threats. It was a nerve-wracking experience, with them accidentally freaking each other out several times by a broken branch or a snapped twig. Yet after the arduous crawl, they eventually reached what this tangled mess of plants was hiding.

"Is that a building?" Lotte whispered.

Hana adjusted her glasses and squinted. "It looks like mossy brickwork to me."

"Do you think we found it?" Lotte hissed, evidently very excited.

"Only one way to find out. Let's get closer," Lily urged.

The trio nodded, and after Hana cleared out a more navigable path for them, they found the entrance to this strange stone structure. A massive set of ancient doors stood before them, and despite looking very different, it gave the same presence as the set that led to their final battle on the first floor.

"We did it!" Lotte exclaimed.

"I can't believe it… Were we just extremely lucky?" Hana asked.

Lotte let out a snort. "Lucky? We flew here, spent hours and hours exploring through everything, following faint Mana trails, and ended up here. How could you call that lucky?"

"Yeah, we definitely earned it," Lily agreed, as she genuinely felt that way. Yes, they might have succeeded on their first real try, but it was without assistance. Several times Lily had been tempted to ask Arakil to use his superior Magesight to point them in the right direction, but she had held back, and now they had done it.

"Do you think we have to fight a monster?" Lotte asked, gesturing at the door.

Hana shook her head. "That's not what the info said, and considering how hard it was to just get here, that would be pretty unfair."

"Well… Shall we see?" Lotte said, already moving toward the door.

Lily and Hana followed, and as soon as Lotte touched the door, it trembled. The roots and vines covering it began to recede like living serpents, allowing the door to be released and open. The group collectively held their breaths, as it revealed a staircase down and what was presumably the next floor.

Neither of them spoke; instead, they proceeded together, the doors closing automatically behind them. As it did, they weren't plunged into darkness, as the brickwork began to illuminate, allowing them safe passage down.

Whether it was excitement or nerves, nobody spoke up, and all that could be heard was their footsteps echoing on the stone steps. Lily wasn't sure how long they had been descending for, but they finally came to another set of doors, which opened as soon as Lotte touched the door.

The group flinched as a bright light erupted from the door crack. They shielded their eyes and walked forward, their vision slowly recovering as they stepped forward.

"Huh… I think I suddenly understand why Sylwel gave us those potion recipes," Lotte said.

"I think you're going to be very busy in the lab," Hana chuckled.

"It's… Beautiful," Lily finally replied, her eyes wide at the sight, as she'd never seen anything like it.

Gone were the dense, dark forest and the cold stone passageway they had descended through, and before them was a shimmering beach of sand and waves. The trio was standing on what looked like a relatively small island, and just looking around, you could see several more small islands on the horizon.

Hana smiled. "I never thought the third floor would be an archipelago, not even in my wildest imagination. I'm honestly glad I never tried pushing for the answer; it would've ruined the surprise."

Lily and Lotte both found themselves nodding in full agreement. They had known the Regarth dungeon was magical, but they hadn't expected it to be this magical!