Chapter 76:A Day of Disasters
The sun shone brightly over Eternity Academy, its golden rays filtering through the leaves of the Verdant Forest. After their intense sparring session, the group had decided to take a break and enjoy some downtime, a decision that would soon lead to hilarity.
"Let's have a picnic!" Yun-ho exclaimed, his eyes sparkling with enthusiasm. "I'll gather some snacks."
"Good luck finding anything edible in this world," Nova quipped, leaning on her staff with a smirk. "You'll probably end up with a handful of mushrooms that make you see colors."
"Pfft! I can handle it," he shot back, puffing out his chest.
Ethan chimed in, "I'll help! We can turn it into a scavenger hunt. Who can find the weirdest food first?"
Anya rolled her eyes, her tone dripping with sarcasm. "Because nothing says 'fun' like discovering if the purple fungus is edible or not."
As Yun-ho and Ethan darted off into the forest, the rest of the group settled on the grass, watching them disappear among the trees. After a few minutes, the duo returned, arms laden with a bizarre assortment of items: a sack of oddly-shaped fruits, a jar of something that looked suspiciously like jam, and a strange, pulsating mushroom that glowed in the sunlight.
"Look what we found!" Yun-ho shouted, holding the mushroom aloft like a trophy. "It's… um… well, it looks interesting!"
"What's that?" Nova asked, narrowing her eyes. "I hope you didn't plan to eat that."
Ethan shrugged. "I think it's called a Glowing Gloomcap. I read about it in a book. It's supposed to taste like—"
"—like a cross between rotten eggs and despair," Nova interrupted with a chuckle. "Perfect picnic fare!"
"Okay, okay," Yun-ho said, laughing. "Maybe we'll save that for later. How about this instead?" He held up a fruit that looked like a cross between an apple and a cactus.
"What's that?" Anya asked, her curiosity piqued.
"Cactapple!" Yun-ho declared triumphantly. "Supposedly a delicacy around here."
"More like a recipe for disaster," Nova replied, shaking her head. "Let's just stick with the jam."
"Yeah, let's see if it's actually edible," Kael added, looking skeptical.
As they spread out a blanket and began their picnic, Yun-ho decided to take a leap of faith and try the Cactapple. He bit into it, and his face contorted as the spines jabbed into his tongue. "Ouch! It's prickly!" he yelped, spitting out the pieces.
The group erupted into laughter as Yun-ho dramatically flailed about. "I'm fine! Just testing the… uh… texture!"
Nova, tears of laughter in her eyes, leaned forward. "Testing? More like self-sabotage!"
Meanwhile, Anya picked up the glowing mushroom. "Can we at least see if this does anything?"
"Are you trying to turn this picnic into a science experiment?" Kael teased.
"I'd rather not become a glowing human disco ball, thank you very much," Ethan chimed in, his laughter infectious.
"Who knows, it might give us superpowers!" Anya quipped, holding it up like a trophy.
"Or it might turn us into frogs," Nova joked, a mischievous grin on her face.
"Now that's a thought!" Yun-ho laughed, leaning back against the blanket. "At least we'd be cute little frogs!"
As their laughter echoed through the clearing, the group felt the stress of impending danger fade, if only for a moment. They knew the darkness was coming, but today was a day for fun, for friends, and for bizarre culinary adventures. And that was more than enough.