"Pinky promise." Minos said, the two gripping pinky fingers and shaking.
"Well since the berries are safe, have at them." Minos said, eating another berry.
Finally getting the greenlight from Minos, Tinka excitedly ate her first berry. Just like Minos, she couldn't help but be shocked by its amazing flavor.
"Awesome, what kind of berry is this? It's so sweet!" She said in wonder, shooting down berries by the handful.
"We should take some seeds back with us, then we'll be able to grow them ourselves." Minos suggested.
"Good idea! I want my entire tribe to try these berries!" Tinka said, eyes glimmering.
After thoroughly filling their bellies with berries, the two laid down the sand contently, rubbing their bloated stomachs.
"Now that we're full, we should probably try and come up with a plan to get back home." Minos said.
"Hmm, I know! If we catch enough watergulls, we can tie them all up together, and have them fly us back home!" Tinka said.
"...Uhh, I don't think that would work." Minos responded.
"Why not?" Tinka questioned.
"Let's not get into it. Any other ideas?"
"Hey I already gave my genius watergull plan, it's your turn." Tinka said.
"We can boat around until we find a landmark I can remember, using it, I could reestablish our position and find a way back." Minos said.
"Good idea, but what if we can't find one?" Tinka asked.
"That's the problem, if we have good luck, we might find something right away, otherwise it could take days." Minos responded.
"Well, it's not like we have any other ideas, unless of course…"
"No watergulls." Minos cut her off before she could finish.
"Fine, you're no fun." Tinka complained.
"Well since we have a plan, let's not waste any time." Minos said, jumping up from the sand.
Pulling Tinka up, the two walked back towards the coast, their boat waiting for them. Just as Minos was about to board, Tinka stopped him.
"Wait a minute, I nearly forgot the sweet berry seeds!" She exclaimed.
"Alright let's get some then leave."
Like that, the two walked back to the sweet berry bush. Just before Minos was about to pick some seeds to store in his spatial ring, Tinka had an idea.
"Let's just dig up the entire bush, and replant it back at the tribe." She suggested.
"As you command my queen." Minos said, pulling a shovel out of his ring and getting to work.
"Woah, how'd you get that thing!" Tinka asked in wonder as Minos seemingly pulled a shovel out of thin air.
"Spatial ring, it's a ring with a massive space inside it to store stuff." Minos said honestly.
"Woah, I had no idea something like that existed! Let me give it a try." Tinka begged.
"I would, but only cultivator's can use this thing." Minos replied.
"Aww, what a shame. Will you let me use it if I become a cultivator?" Tinka asked.
"Of course, not only will I let you use it, I'll use all my power to get one just for you." Minos said.
"Good!" Tinka said, believing Minos completely.
Having satisfied Tinka's curiosity, Minos got back to work. With his tremendous strength, it was a quick job, quickly digging a large hole around the sweet berry bush.
With another jab, Minos dug his shovel even deeper into the soil, but this time rather than meeting more soft soil, his shovel stabbed into something hard, sending slight vibrations up his arm.
"Huh, weird, there's something hard underneath here." Minos said.
"Probably just a rock." Tinka said
"Maybe." Minos said, not feeling fully convinced.
Soon his suspicions were confirmed, every time he reached a certain depth, he would hit the same hard area, which either meant there was a massive rock underneath, or it was something else.
Deciding to give it a closer look, he lugged the sweet berry bush out of the soil, putting it to the side.
Using his shovel to quickly remove all the leftover dirt, he quickly reached the rocky place he had been hitting repeatedly.
"What are you doing?" Tinka asked as Minos dug himself lower and lower.
"I think there's something weird down here, just want to confirm." Minos said.
"Weird, like an ancient relic!" Tinka said, eyes glowing.
"Maybe." Minos said with a laugh.
He knew Tinka's dream to be an adventurer, so he hoped for her sake alone that what he found was of interest.
"Let me help!" Tinka said, getting excited at the idea of excavating a lost site.
Jumping down into the hole, the two started using their hands to brush away the dirt at the bottom, revealing the rocky structure. Soon enough, the rock became apparent, but rather than smooth stone, it had strange scripts scribbled into it.
"Look Minos, this rock has things written into it, like some sort of ancient language!" Tinka said in amazement, looking over the script as if she was trying to understand it.
"Seems like we really did stumble across an ancient relic. Your first adventure and you're already finding things, you have a talent for this." Minos said.
"No, we're finding things! We make a good group." Tinka corrected with a laugh.
"I wonder what's written on it?" She said, feeling the grooves of the scripts with her finger.
"It's not like the language we have on the Alephora Continent. Rather than letters, it feels like this language uses pictures."
"Like look at this symbol, doesn't it look like a snake?" Minos said, as he pointed towards a certain place on the stone.
"You're right! Look at this one, it's like a moon or something, there's also this one that's like a lion!" Tinka said in wonder, starting to see the connection herself.
"Let's keep digging, maybe we'll find something more." Minos said.
Even if Minos was a genius, it was impossible to know a language by looking alone. While he noticed a connection between certain words and reality, it still didn't help him really understand the words' meaning.
For example, the picture of a snake could mean multiple things. It might just be a reference to the 's' sound that snakes make when they hiss.
Or it could be a reference to a snake's nature, sneaky, cunning, or their poison, or any attribute one could link to a snake.
Ultimately the possibilities were massive, making it pointless to speculate, so unless he found more information, this language would remain unknowable.
"Good!" Tinka said in agreement, the two jumping back into work.
Since Minos only had one shovel, the two split up their work. Minos dug up the dirt, while Tinka rubbed away anything left over so as to fully reveal the stone underneath.
With tremendous efficiency, the two constantly expanded the small hole's size, quickly doubling it, then tripling it.
As the hole got larger, naturally so did the stone underneath, revealing more scripts and pictures.
Eventually, after digging a hole about five by five meters Minos stopped. It wasn't because he was tired, but rather because the large stone stopped at this point, making any more digging pointless.
Tossing the shovel out of the hole, Minos started helping Tinka brush away at the dirt still stuck, revealing a larger and larger picture.
Soon enough the area was completely cleaned out, showcasing a massive stone with scripts written from top to bottom.
It was impossible to appreciate the stone from so close, so Minos jumped back out of the hole, helping Tinka out.
Standing on the edge, the two looked down, utilizing the arial view to fully appreciate the strange stone.
"What do you think it is?" Minos said, turning towards Tinka.
"Maybe it's a message left behind by an ancient civilization for its descendants." Tinka speculated.
"It could also just be part of a bigger structure, like a temple." Minos added.
"You think there's more?" Tinka asked with wonder, naturally hoping the adventure didn't end here.
"Maybe, we won't know unless we see for ourselves." Minos said, picking his shovel back up and getting to work on making the hole even larger.
There was little Tinka could do to help at this point, so she just watched as Minos spent the next few hours making the hole larger and larger, occasionally wiping the sweat off his brow, and hand feeding him sweet berries. The sun reached the middle of the sky under this grueling work, but it all paid off.