《Cloud Dungeon》Chapter 10
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Misty eventually returned and with her return the small chat of the elves with Mir and Dia was broken with a sight that shocked all the elves.
Fluttering down were countless flower spirits and worker bee fairies, carefully bringing different fruits that looked like those on the surface. Apples, pears, peaches, some nuts and berries, some strange fruits and many other strange things were present, yet one thing was the same in all of them and that was the mana contained inside them. Each and every plant was mana rich like nothing else.
“This… this place is a paradise.” A noble said as he looked at the fruits.
Dia happily stretched her hands out and grabbed a few nuts and an apple. She took a bite and the apple piece vanished inside her mouth as she chewed and revealed a happy smile.
Felicia knew that this was a blunt show of the things that were spoken of during the meeting.
“How are these fruits grown?” She asked Misty.
“There are many that naturally appeared from common weeds evolving into trees. Some fruits come from peaceful treants, but some come from dark treants and you will need to either be me or Dia to get it from them without retaliation. Otherwise, it will require for you to beat them until they either die or collapse exhausted and then harvest while you can.” Misty said.
The face of the elves turned to shock upon hearing of dark treants since they are considered evil spirits.
“Do spices exist in this dungeon?” Felicia asked as she grabbed a pear and took a bite. At the flavor of the pear, Felicia revealed a surprised expression before it turned into one of bliss.
Seeing the queen herself eating safely, the nobles also took the offering warily and displayed happy expressions once they bit into the fruit.
“Currently there are only a few root spices that can be directly identified as one. As for others, we are unsure due to so many flowers and plants being born. Every island we plant common weeds which always leads to different plants and flowers, so there may be some. All the islands have plants, but be warned that only the final island can sprout vegetables while the cloud islands can only sustain life.” Mir explained.
They looked at the other islands and saw the life yet there wasn’t as much grass or weeds compared to flowers and trees.
Felicia looked at Mir who was looking upwards. She similarly looked up and saw the flower spirits bearing countless different flowers and slowly flew down.
“These are some of the flowers that exist on this floor. Also these are flower spirits, they are extremely peaceful and are responsible for planting and spreading the flowers and herbs. On the floor above there are greater flower spirits who are more neat in their flower arranging, so please take that into consideration.” Mir said.
They all ate and examined the flowers. Some of the flowers even brought a happy smile to the nobles with more herbal knowledge. A few flowers that can make spices were indeed in the mix but as mentioned, it was far and few between.
Until methods to cultivate a larger number were discovered, there wouldn’t be a way for the spice industry to expand.
As Felicia was watching the spirits, she felt a small body lean on her and even a small hand grab her dress on the side.
Looking down she saw Dia with a pained face and soon a tear fell down.
“Seems she fell asleep.” Mir commented.
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*Sob* “Ma...mama” Dia muttered causing everyone to fall into silence hearing her sobbing.
Mir scratched the back of her head.
“The reason she is a dungeon is a mis-summon on the part of the goddesses.” Mir reluctantly said causing them to be greatly shocked.
“Mis-summon?” Felicia frowned.
“Three goddesses were aiming for someone else, but the summoning picked her and her kitten up. Their souls came to this world, but she has a small problem where she needs the presence of people she knows. The kitten was turned into her.” Mir said and pointed at Misty.
“In our world I held a special place and kept her company when she was alone, but she couldn’t be far from me without weeping.” Misty said.
Felicia looked down and pats the girl’s head.
“Why would the goddesses make her a dungeon then?” she asked with a conflicted expression.
“They wanted to give her a kind of playground. A place she could make her own fairy world of her dreams.” Misty replied.
“Is that why everything's so bright?” A noble asked and received a nod.
“The beanstalk is probably from a fairytale, maybe even Jack as well.” Misty said.
At this time the noise began to wake Dia who blinked.
“Hey Dia, what kind of fairy tale story did you Jack from?” Mir suddenly asked.
“Story…” She muttered half asleep and rubbed her eyes a moment.
“Um… It’s called Jack and the Beanstalk… I read tons of stories with mama and this one was fun. A poor boy buys magic beans using his old cow to pay and it grows into a big beanstalk and at the top is a big world with a big mean giant and a kind wife giant. Because he is poor he did something naughty and stole Mr. Giant’s big chicken that lays golden eggs and then a… big… round thingy with lots of strings that plays beautiful music. I made the beanstalk and then made Jack after the big giant… AH I need to make the big chicken!” She suddenly said and flew into the air but was stopped by Misty.
“Not right now Dia, we can do that later, you don’t have enough mana either and you don’t know what the big thing is.” Misty said.
“Big, round and with lots of strings?” Felicia muttered.
“Maybe she means a harp, it has the most strings in any instrument.” Mir explained.
“Dia is this it?” Felicia asked and touched her necklace and a beautiful silver harp appeared.
Dia looked and her eyes go wide and sparkle.
“Yeah that's it! But the story says it plays by itself.” Dia said.
Felicia stores her harp and keeps touching the necklace for a moment before a much cheaper looking but much bigger one appeared next to her as she held it in place.
“Do you want this big one?” Felicia asked.
“Really?!” Dia asked.
Felicia nodded and Dia flew over and kissed her cheek making her smile more cheerfully.
Dia then grabbed it and lift it up a bit and soon placed it down and tried to make it stand and soon got it to stand still.
She looked around and called over five flower spirits. When they finally stopped in front of it she placed her hand on the harp and closed her eyes.
She didn’t notice, but the mana around everyone began to gather around her into the harp.
Everyone was shocked at what was happening, but it happened so quickly that before they noticed the five flower spirits landed on the harp and melted into the harp. It began to glow and formed a bright glossy shine over the wood. Slowly on the angled side a beautiful fairy woman appeared supporting the harp’s weight.The woman was half a body and came from the bottom of the harp and without her legs, she looked like she was sitting down ready to play.
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Everyone was in total shock that such a spirit being was born. Her body looked of flesh, but it glowed showing it was a spiritual body.
“Play some nice music!” Dia said.
“As you wish.” She said and a small smile appeared on her face as she leaned in and began to pluck the strings. The elves noticed that magic was at work, but the tone was so gentle that it seemed to remove their worries.
As the music comes to a stop, everyone comes out their trance and looks at the harp. The body simply stops and withdrew into the harp. Still in their shock, a message appears before everyone.
You have all witnessed the first ever ballad of a Spirit Harp.
Your hearts worries have been cleansed by the music and you will find that all stresses you have had will be calmed and you are more patient.
“Spirit Harp! Is that not a magical item?” A noble asked.
Felicia nodded slightly and looked at Dia who was sleeping on a bed of island clouds with her thumb in her mouth.
“Seems she tired herself out making that item.” Mir said and got up. She picked Dia up then looked at Jack.
“Lemme take dear missy, ah let er sleep further in.” He said. Mir nodded and placed her in his outstretched hand.
He stood gently, so not to rock her so much, and nodded to the elves before walking into the cloud ocean, unafraid to get wet to keep her asleep, and moved towards the island.
“Felicia, can you please keep the fact that Dia can make spirit items a secret?” Mir asked.
“Of course, if this was found out then it would cause trouble for us who are here under your dungeon.” She said.
“Your highness, may I ask her a question?” a female noble asked.
She nodded and the noble turned to Mir.
“I'm sure you're well aware but what kind of dungeon is Dia? Sword making? Skill book? … Spirit Item?” the noble asked.
The question meant which item was at the end of dungeon as the item that was born with Dia.
“She has no item at the end of her dungeon, something I actually forgot about.” Mir said and she looked at the spirit harp and used the magic Identify.
Spirit Harp
A Spirit Harp born in a unique dungeon due to the wish of the dungeon for a unique item for one of her dungeon bosses. This spirit Harp can play on its own and focuses on gentle music that calms the heart, mind and body relieving it of its stresses completely. Prolonged exposure to its music can slowly bring out the potential of what hears it.
Dungeon only info
When near ______ the creature will Lay Golden eggs after a period of time. When a Gentle Giant hears this melody it will have a peaceful sleep, but if the song stops midway due to the harp’s theft he will become extremely agitated for a period of time.
Seeing the item’s description, Mir snorted a laugh.
“Yeah, I think spirit item dungeon is most proper, but it would help if no one said that.” Mir said.
“What do we say then?” Felicia asked.
“It’s in front of you.” She said gesturing to the table.
“Mana rich fruits, magical flowers, magic wood, complete fairy land dungeon. This place is filled with it to an even greater degree, but I guess that isn’t the type of dungeon it is now is it. It doesn’t change the fact that Dia just created a spirit item without needing direct contact to her mana pool.” Mir said with a weary smile.
Everyone nodded and understood this is a top rank secret.
From that point on all the elves firstly put themselves under a contract of secrecy. Then Mir, as well as the elves, talked about the conditions, what they wanted and the payback for the dungeon.
Eventually they fixed all the fine points.
First off, all the villages formed in the dungeon will follow dungeon rules and will have the dungeon’s guards patrolling.
Second, the dungeon will remain two days and pick up any adventurers at designated dungeon town sites. Afterwards, the dungeon will move on taking with it the adventurers but must provide a place for them to stay on the first floor.
Third, under no situation will adventurers be permitted onto the top floor’s main island and anyone that enters will be attacked on sight.
Fourth, no one under a determined rank is allowed into the dungeon except for the village on the first floor as long as they are an escort to merchants or some servant or slave. However, these people will not be allowed farther in the dungeon even if the master is within the rank range.
Fifth, harvest of all flowers and crops is controlled and clear cutting is punishable by expulsion from the dungeon.
Sixth, other races that visit the elven nation may enter the dungeon but must follow the rules and regulations in the same manner, if they break the rules they will be detained, expelled or killed.
When all that was finished, a magical contract was brought out with all the rules and regulations perfectly detailed to have no loophole.
Eventually Mir confirmed everything and signed on behalf of Dia who everyone was sure didn’t even know how to write her own name.
With the contract signed it burned and a system window appeared for all of those who signed it to summon the contract.
As a present to the others, Mir called for a few floor two magical plants which the nobles took happily along with the fruits they liked most.
Soon after, they left with the boats. Mir returned up, saw the leaves close up and found Dia waiting with wide eyes.
“Now we can play! I want to make a really big goose!” Dia shouted.
“Wasn’t it a big chicken?” Mir asked.
Dia shook her head. “I remembered the name!”
“So are you going to make one of the birds into a Golden Goose that lay gold eggs?” Mir asked but Dia quickly shook her head.
“I asked Jack to gather gold, all the gold on both floors. I'm gonna do like the pretty harp and make a goose out of gold and it lays golden eggs.” Dia said happily causing Mir to be shocked.
“So it’s not my imagination after all, this little girl has an innate ability in making spirit items.” Mir thought and smiled at the little girl.
Mir turned and carefully picked up the spirit harp. To her surprise it shrank to the size that fit in her arms easily and the weight was reduced.
The two returned to the second floor and Mir carefully placed the harp on the ground, making it grow to its full size.
Dia on the other hand flew over to a big rock that was shimmering with golden specks.
“Dear missy, der ain much gol on de isle.” Jack said as he looked at the pile of gold ore that isn’t even half of Dia’s size.
“That’s okay~!” She cheerfully shouts and called a small dove, four flower spirits, one greater flower spirit and one fire spirit.
Dia touched the gold ore pile and begins to work. In her mind, all the spirits and the dove get sucked into the ore pile and slowly the excess rocks all melt off. The gold ore begins to gather together and forms a small hatchling which grows into a goose the size of a horse. When Dia finished she was about to release it when the image reverted to an egg and she opened her eyes.
Taking her hand off, the process happened and soon the rocks melted off the ore. Slowly all the specks of gold ore became liquid and began to gather into an egg the size of Dia’s head before slowly descending into her little hands.
To the touch it was very cold and lacked a shine. Dia felt that it lacked a lot of mana so she quickly skipped her way to the pond of mana and rolled the egg inside causing everyone to be shocked.
“DIA!” Mir shouted but it was too late as the egg had already touched the water and rolled to the center.
No reaction happened at first and Mir had in her mind to take the egg out, but slowly she noticed the water level dropping as if a drain had been opened and paled as the small egg slowly began to empty the pond.
Mirr sighed shaking her head. Soon the egg sucked up half the mana before it slowly began to self levitate and float back into Dia’s little hands very warm as if it had just been laid.
She looked at Jack, “Jack, grab some of those big leaves on those trees and make a little bed!” She ordered.
Jack looked at the palm trees on the cloud islands and nodded before jumping over the garden and to pluck several. When Jack returned, he built a small smooth platform before making the leaf nest which Dia then placed the golden egg inside.
The egg was giving off small pulses of heat like a heartbeat and Dia happily watched the egg.
Mir and Misty walk and fly over to watch in amazement as the egg seems to get hotter and hotter. Soon the shell gets soft before it starts to crack.
Pop!
With the crack appearing on the shell, in one fell swoop the shell pops and a small golden gosling appears where the once golden egg was.
To those present, they felt a strange feeling of contentment upon seeing the golden gosling.
You have witnessed the birth of the spirit item Golden Goose.
Golden Goose
The golden goose is a spirit item created by a young girl's fantasy dream. It is a living item made of pure gold and lays eggs of different metals depending on several conditions.
Dungeon only info
When near the spirit harp this creature will lay golden eggs after a period of time. The eggs laid by this goose are of different metals depending on the amount of time it listens to the music of the spirit harp and the density of mana in its surroundings. This goose will lay five eggs a day with four of these five being composed of pure magically infused metal. The final egg will only have a non-metal shell and will possess edible insides. It is impossible to breed a new golden goose from the goose's eggs due to it being an item.
Mir’s jaw dropped to the ground seeing how Dia created a second spirit item. In truth, Mir hadn’t believed Dia’s words and expected her to make a monster goose that would be incapable of combat, but would make unique eggs with some special effects on the giant and had a gold shell. Although the information says something similar to what she expected, she did not expect for the goose to lay pure magically infused metal eggs. Such a thing would be extremely durable and could make a lot of high quality armor.
“KYA~~! So cute!” Dia cried and bent over, gently petting the head of the golden goose. “Ah! That’s right! I need to give you a name.” Dia puts her little finger to her chin and looks up cutely.
She was going over all the fairy tales she knew, which were quite a number, until she reached the tale of the Goose that Laid Golden Eggs. She remembered the princess that never laughed who was named Princess Prize and since the goose laid golden eggs it could be like a prize.
“I'll call you Princess Prize!” She announced.
The spirit item golden goose has been named “Princess Prize”.
Spirit items with names are capable of growing stronger than their previous limit that was set upon birth. It is possible for them to gain spiritual intelligence.
Dia suddenly turned to the harp that had lost its luster and glow.
She quickly flew to it and picked it up, making it small and similar to the goose egg. She tossed it into the mana pond stunning everyone as they watched it suck up the remaining water and float out into Dia’s hands. She places it down three meters from the goose’s nest making it grow and the woman’s figure appeared once more.
“Your name will be… Lyra!” Dia said.
At this time the shut eyes of the woman opened and she smiled gently.
“As you wish and thank you!” She said.
Slowly her body rose and a human lower body grew out of the harp, making a full floating spiritual woman who sat on the air next to the harp and smiled gently.
The spirit item spirit harp has been named “Lyra”.
Spirit items with names are capable of growing stronger than their previous limit that was set upon birth.
Due to the nature of this spirit item, it has developed a basic spiritual intelligence and can now learn and train by itself.
“Please play some music!” Dia cried.
“Of course.” She said with her smooth creamy voice and closed her eyes. She began to pluck the harp and unlike before she opened her lips and gently began to sing along with her song.
Dia flew over to Mir’s arms and listened. Slowly her eyes closed and she leaned in falling asleep in Mir’s arms.
Mir looked conflicted at the girl, but smiled as she looked at the things the child could do.
She carefully sat down and let the girl sleep in her arms.
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