As I might have already mentioned, I plucked an apple from the lowest-hanging branch and spared a few seconds admiring the magic leaking out of its skin before finally biting into it. The sweet, juicy taste of fresh apple danced inside my mouth, although there was a slight buzz to it too that you wouldn't find in a regular apple.
"Aaah, 'it's sho go'od…" I swallowed. "Seriously, you've got to try this."
I chomped on the apple until only the stem and seed were left, and then afterward, I laughed. I laughed and laughed until my stomach began to hurt, and even that feeling made me ecstatic. Liara had also eaten an apple, which meant she was in a state of giggles that lasted just as long as my mad cackle did.
Nope, we weren't having a moment. We were both experiencing the side effects of our meal, which, according to Divah's journal, was a normal reaction one got when eating a magical fruit that had been blessed by lunar energy.
"An apple that can give you temporary insanity as a side effect?" Liara confirmed, to which I replied, "These should come with a warning label."
[Dexterity increased by 1] said the notification on my status bar.
See, didn't I say taking a bite of this apple was transformative?
Anyway, Liara got a point in Intelligence, which I joked was something she needed desperately. This earned me a punch in the shoulder that sent a numbing cold into the muscles of my arm that remained long after she'd hit me.
Afterward, I caught the she-elf staring at the apple tree in disbelief. "How has no one ever figured out what these fruits can do?" she asked.
"Some novices might know this cheat too, but I doubt they'd share it with their rivals like I did," I reasoned. "Besides, moonlight apples only ripen three times a month. Anyone eating them at any other time will just spit them out because of their rotten taste."
"That's a clever way for the tree to keep fruit thieves away." Liara gave the tree an appreciative pat. "Are you sure we can only eat an apple once a month?"
"Same principle as the fairy well… Repeatedly overloading your body with foreign magical elements without giving it time to rest and cultivate can lead to sudden death," I answered knowingly.
Yes, I did know this for a fact as I'd died that exact way once or twice before.
There were a few more things we could have achieved tonight—like breaking into the Warriors Lodge to raid their secret storage room of martial arts manuals or hunting down the white rabbit that stalked the Seidr Hall every other Thursday of the month—but a howling had begun nearby that sent warning bells ringing in my head.
"Ah, the children of the night… what sweet music they make," I recited the lines from my favorite vampire novel. Not that I agreed with Dracula's choice of background music as I didn't believe there was anything sweet about the hair-raising cries of berserkers, who, from the sound of their windpipes, were already hopped up on the mushrooms that put them in the trance-like state that made them famous throughout the realmsverse. Still, I admit to being curious about how teenage berserkers handled their shit compared to the bloodthirsty adults Divah and I had encountered in the wilds, which led me to suggest, "Wanna go take a peek at their ritual?"
"You want to watch a berserker dance-off?" Liara eyed me like I was insane.
I nodded excitedly. "Lisha and Rosa had an interview on Yggdrasil+ where they discussed how the Elementals learned the steps of their newest hit 'Wild Things' by witnessing a berserkers' full moon dance live. And I hear there was a lot of breakdancing and choreographed insulting involved. Some flyting too."
"I know," Liara sighed.
"You do?" I asked.
"I brought Lisha to see one about twelve moons ago," Liara revealed. "Rosa wasn't with us though. She's not the stealthy type."
"Y-you know L-Lisha personally?" I managed to ask this question despite my jaw hanging from my mouth. "H-how do you know my goddess?!"
"We used to date," Liara replied nonchalantly as if she hadn't just shattered my world with that one sentence. "We didn't last long though. I wasn't into the spotlight that came with dating a popstar."
"You…" Have you ever experienced being at a loss for words after having a huge bomb dropped on your lap? If so, you have an inkling of how I felt. "You…"
Liara shrugged. "Get over it, Wisdom."
There were a plethora of questions racing around in my brain at the she-elf's big reveal, but, surprisingly, the one that escaped my lips was "You like girls?"
No, I didn't know why I'd asked this question either, but the caveboy inside me demanded an answer. Luckily, Liara obliged. Otherwise, my mind would have continued to be stuck in that loading state I sometimes got when I didn't understand the stuff Divah was teaching me.
"I like boys and girls," Liara replied.
Okay, so, the best analogy I could give for how I felt after that statement was the moment that one's head clears the surface after diving into a deep pool; you gulp down that first big breath, and life just comes surging back into your core.
"Groovy, good to know," I whispered.
"What was that?" Liara asked.
"So~~o, you wanna go see a berserkers' dance with me tonight?" I tactfully moved the conversation back to the original topic to keep Liara from noticing the flush on my cheeks. Yeah, yeah, I know. I was practically clueless when it came to dealing with teenage hormones. Sue me.
Liara shook her head. "There's a reason the masters keep the day and night classes separate on days of a full moon, and tempting death once today is enough for me."
"Too many dismemberments for the Academy's insurance to cover?" I guessed.
"Let's just say the healing tents were overworked the last time clueless novices tried to witness berserkers dancing under the pale moonlight." A second chorus of howling flooded the night, forcing Liara to glance left and then right. "Wisdom… we need to go."
Although the possibility of watching a berserker dance-off live excited me, Liara was insistent that I shouldn't push my luck so soon after I'd just begun my training at the Academy. Funnily enough, even though she had convinced me to return to the tower with her, the she-elf wasn't around when I came down for a late dinner after freshening up in the communal baths on the tower's second floor.
"Liara went out?" I asked as I accepted a mug of chili mead from one of the brothers Grimm. "I thought the day novices weren't allowed to stay out on nights of a full moon?"
"We're not allowed in areas where the night classes take place, but anyone familiar with the campus layout is free to take the risk," Zen corrected.
He was squished into the seat between the brothers Grimm who were drinking their mugs on the other side of my table.
"Besides, it's Thursday," the bright brother said.
"She'll be out until the wee hours like usual," the darker brother added.
"Over-training again," Zen chimed in. "Could you scootch to the sides a bit?"
The brothers began complaining about overweight yetis crowding their personal space while our Dryad barista, Holly, appeared at my side of the table carrying the food I'd ordered.
She'd heard our conversation, and after noticing the confusion on my face, explained, "Liara spends her self-reflection time soloing the first floor of Grendel's Grotto."
'Seriously, didn't she just warn me against pushing my luck…?' I could have gotten mad, but I knew the importance of having time for myself. "That's the dungeon at the lowest level of campus, right?"
"It is…" Holly eyed me curiously while she dropped a plate of sausages and omelets in front of me. "Apprentice novices aren't allowed in there without supervision from a master."
"Not that anyone follows that particular rule," Zen chuckled.
"Liara didn't when we were apprentices," the bright Grimm brother joined in. While his dark brother added, "Neither did we, come to think of it."
They clinked their mugs together, and I joined them in downing our chili mead.
"Don't go giving Will any ideas, you morons." Holly smacked the two brothers on the back of their heads before refilling my mug of chili mead. "Eat, drink, and don't go looking for any more trouble tonight. You've got your first day of classes tomorrow."
"Wasn't thinking about going... tonight." I went back to my plate of sausages and omelets—breakfast for dinner is the best kind of dinner in my opinion—with a grin growing on my face and a whisper of, "I don't plan on being an apprentice for very long though..."