It is a little bit past nine when they arrived at a vast clearing, aside from the Baphomet that they encountered earlier there are still no monsters in sight. The party decided to take a bit of respite. They said that they need to take a break and rest their feet but it's mostly just for Zeke, since he said his feet are a little sore from all the walking.
Since Magnus has a slightly bigger build than the rest of you, he's the one who brought most of the necessary rations that the party needs if they ever needed to do a 'Deep Dungeon Dive' or DDD for short which basically means that they need to do a full day of dungeon exploring. But because it is Zeke's first time exploring it is only logical not to try one for today.
"We really are lucky we only encountered a single monster so far, but I get the feeling that lady luck won't be on our side from here on out," Dirk said as he seats down beside Zeke
"But, we will be ready, I can assure that to you boss," he smiled, Zeke nodded because he knows that whatever happens his team got his back.
"I'm counting on you guys," he replied back, thankful for the added assurance.
"Alright everyone, let's get going," Wulfric commanded.
Still figuring out how to actually procure some needed seeds, Zeke's retinue came across a path that splits into two.
Wulfric glanced back addressing everyone while Dirk maintains a watchful eye.
"We need to decide which path to take, and no, splitting up is out of the question," he said, "boss, which one should we take?"
The suddenness of being given the authority to make decisions scared Zeke a bit, but he regained composure.
But before he had the chance to decide, the mark on his hand suddenly started to glow with soft, warm light, he felt it resonating with something in the near vicinity, somehow the feeling felt distinctively familiar even though he hasn't really felt anything like it his whole life.
The boys are looking at him intently, staying patient, but from the looks on their faces they instinctively knew that the treasure they were was looking for is at hand.
"Boss, are you detecting it?" Wulfric finally asked breaking the silence, "the seeds, it's around here right?"
"Yes, I just— just need to focus, so keep silent please." Zeke closed his eyes, trying to feel where resonance is coming from. He clenched his fist as he grasped the immediate surrounding with his mind, the mark is influencing his senses. "Where is it?"
"Bo—"
"There! Below the ground!" Zeke exclaimed as he pointed towards a certain part of the earth underneath the tree placed in the middle of the forked path. His right hand visibly blinking with radiant and blinding light.
They all looked to where he's pointing at and as soon as they start to move towards it a white magical lily suddenly blooms from under the ground. The surrounding area were suffused with a mellow light that makes the whole process magically enchanting.
The four boys were all dumbstruck by the magical event that just happened, although Dirk is the only one with his mouth fully agape.
"That was… that was amazing boss," Dirk said shattering the ethereal silence.
Zeke breathed shallowly, feeling a little spent. He doesn't actually know how he managed to do all of what he just did. It just came so naturally, so effortlessly like a muscle memory. His whole body started to move on its own and towards the white lily, a feeling of great happiness envelops him as he gently touched it.
The moment he does however, the flower produced several amounts of glowing seeds, like a pile of gold being flushed out of it's golden nectar. This phenomenon seems to mesmerize the boys even more. Zeke immediately told the boys to bring out pouches for the seeds to be put on, and they do so with efficient, unhurried haste.
After deciding they're done, they put the pouches brimming with seeds in their own individual rucksacks, as well as Zeke's. He acquired a hefty amount of seeds, but evidently not enough for the long run.
"If this is how we can find seeds, then it'll be easy because of your mark acts like a detector boss," Dirk said, adjusting the equipment from his back, "but I think actually locating a place where hoards of them accumulates is the hard part."
"Good job everyone," Wulfric said addressing his team, with a hint of pride from his ton, "especially you boss."
Zeke slightly blushed by the genuine praise coming from his capable and dashing leader, and from the looks of it he is blushing as well, probably realizing what he just told him.
"Oho! Hitting on him already huh, aren't we a little too fast huh Wulf?" Dirk teased the wolf guy, "we might not have a chance at him if you're this smooth at flirting, Magnus, Hawke what do you guys think? Our boss is being swayed by our dependable leader, we wouldn't want that would we?"
If a blush could get any more redder then that is what's probably happening to Zeke and Wulfric. He's trying so hard to hide his face, shaking and closing his eyes in the process.
"Enough with that Dirk," Magnus says sounding a bit miffed, breaking the awkward atmosphere, "and I don't think hope is lost to us isn't that right boss?" He looked at Zeke with a glint of playfulness on his dark hued eyes.
"I really could care less about any of this rubbish, but a competition is a challenge I always welcome, so I'll join," Hawke says nonchalantly, looking at everyone but Zeke and seemingly pumped up because of his self-proclaimed 'challenge'.
Zeke and Wulfric both sighed of the headache that is going to be this three. Thinking about it now Zeke really didn't expect to get along with these four but with how things turned out so far, he's quite content at the moment.
"Alright, enough with the foolishness, let's continue," Wulfric said, interrupting his thoughts.
🥔 Obtained x5 Bags of Potato Seeds
"So, we now know that we can get seeds from from flowers scattered throughout this dungeon, or at the very least this floor," Hawke said as Zeke and his party stood near the forked path.
"I'm also going to theoretically assume from what evidence we have seen so far, that there are different types of flowers for different kind of seeds, although white lilies producing potato seed is quite perplexing, still we must catalog white lilies as the base flower for getting those vital crop in your handbook boss."
So far, throughout the adventuring and even back home at the farm, Hawke has really been quite an expert at giving informative opinions and views about things inside the dungeon, he's like a walking codex or something. Zeke kept this in mind to fully utilize his skill set later.
"Apologies for the momentarily disruption, we must continue as Wulfric said, boss whichever path to take?" Hawke continued, "we can go back in here in this exact spot later to fully map out the entire area of the floor. We can familiarize ourselves efficiently since we'll be in this floor alone for quite a while."
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🌟 Checkpoint — This upcoming portion of the story will have two paths that will eventually end up with almost the same outcome but with different events. It is up to the reader which one to go with. This might be the only time this will happen but what the future holds, I cannot simply say. Nevertheless, let us proceed.
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There are two separating paths in front of Zeke. "Hm. Which path is the right way to go? The path on the right or the one on the left?"
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➡️ Right (Chapter 13: Thicket)
⬅️ Left (Chapter 14: Falls)