After everyone has been healed and clearly isn’t dropping anytime soon, we began corralling them deeper into The Cave system.

It appears many of them are still worried about the giant spiders that seem very prevalent around the area.

Unlike my time on the street, it is probably not be a good idea to do patty-cake with one of the spiders, to make them all feel at ease with the situation.

I can’t help but to chuckle at the thought. As I’m pondering on this conundrum, Gong seems to have already come up with an answer.

When we get a quarter of the way there, we can see in the distance that there is a small group of spiders waiting for us ahead. Gong pauses the group, raising her hand as a gesture for everyone to stop.

“You all will notice it a bit later, but the spiders that work with us, are not the normal ones that you would see along the street or normally. Each individual spider has their own emotions, and it is best to think of them as their own person.”

She turns to face the group, a smile on her face.

“Case in point, these spiders have actually decided to give a welcoming gift for you guys, since you are joining them down here in this area.”

The spiders themselves are about the size of a hamster at most. In each of their hands, are tiny round cake like object.

My scan reveals that this is actually made of a sweet mushroom that grows deep underground, which is called a Niyato’s Heart in other areas of the world. A somewhat expensive delicacy in some above ground areas and a cheap, poor-man’s treat in others.

The way this mushroom cake put together is by first washing and then pressing these mushrooms together until they are formed into a circular brownie shape. Then sticking it into the hottest part of a fire, caramelizing it into a savory sweet, buttery cream flavor.

The resulting dish is called Nip Cake.

It’s surprisingly just that simple. After cooking it in a normal fire for a small period of time, to get the caramelized outer coating, it quickly becomes ready for eating.

The mushroom itself seems to over collect sugars from its surroundings and use them for energy over time. An interesting development for a fungus in this world.

The ones to carry this nip cake over to the people are the cutest of the spiders, holding them on tiny rock plates. Some of the spiders appear to struggle slightly to carry it, wobbling slightly as they move forward.

Even for those who obviously don’t like spiders that much, this makes for somewhat of a cute sight. Many of the people cautiously reached over to grab the cake in their hands before taking a small bite out of it.

Every single person who did so, shows an extremely surprised face and then seems to treasure it deeply. Some kids and adults close their eyes in bliss, before wrapping the cake and placing it away for safekeeping.

After seeing so many people like the food, the cautious stragglers then take a bite, also seeming to enjoy the dish.

Of course, since I already knew what the dish was, I was one of the first people to eat it. It has a tougher texture on the outside, leading into thick brownie feeling. It has that described flavor of buttery creaminess from the caramelization, with a slightly sweet, but savory taste from the natural mushroom inside.

Honestly, it’s crazy delicious compared to the other food here.

Not comparable to chocolate ice-cream or the prepared desserts from my world, but truly the best thing I’ve had since I’ve come here.

… I wonder if those foods exist here?

Scan.

Excellent, they do. Thank God. I would have gone on some kind of cooking journey, otherwise.

Still might…

As this is happening, it just seems to be a moment for people enjoying the situation. Many taking pleasure at having finally eaten a good meal earlier and now eating something luxurious for the first time.

Some of the kids and adults are even looking at the spiders favorably, for bringing them such a dish.

Everyone has stopped moving entirely, as the only sounds are of eating or the subtle shuffling that comes from storing the food away.

Gong waits a full moment before motioning everyone to continue. A look at the entire group shows that most of them appear to be quite satisfied. Blissful even. Another, somewhat smaller, portion of the group seems determined, with a fire in their eyes.

It appears we’ve definitely motivated some people in the group, some of whom were initially unsure about joining.

Food really has a way of either bringing people together.

Or tearing them apart.

With that mini problem solved, the group continues on through the tunnels. Some of the demi humans are a little more uncomfortable than others, clearly because they are more used to living above ground.

The group that seems to be most affected by this is the bird demi humans.

From what I’ve been able to tell, every single flying demi human, has their wings clipped at an early age, to prevent them from flying into the sky. It’s simultaneously a cruel, yet protective practice.

It appears in the past; they would occasionally be used to spy on other areas. Since flying is typically the Providence of higher-level cultivators, they were especially hunted by flying cultivators, for not knowing their place.

Cultivators would rip their wings and arms off, showing it off to the community of Demi humans, as a lesson. Over time, communities of demi humans preemptively clipped newborns’ wings, to avoid strife with the cultivators. This became something that you just did for your kids, if they had that ability.

For their and your protection.

Despite that, the feelings of wanting to fly and being above ground haven’t seemed to leave them. It’s clear that living underground is going to be especially stressful for them. From what I can tell, many seem already resigned to that sort of fate, anyway.

Some seem to look at their newly healed wings, with a sort of sick irony. Given that they can’t use them underground. And, even if they went above ground, they wouldn’t be able to use it there either.

I hope that one day, now that their wings are healed and we’re on the path to taking away the curse for demi humans. That one day they’ll actually be able to fly in the air, without harassment.

Unfortunately, even if we do succeed, they’ll be able to fly like cultivators, before they can do it using their wings.

With these morose thoughts, we finally arrive in the main area that Jenn was frequenting before. Jenn heads to the room that she had already claimed, while the spiders that were handing out the cakes, lead people to their individual rooms.

Families of people are taken to larger rooms and given a choice on how they want to stay. Most families choose to stay in the same room. Some people who brought kids that weren’t ‘theirs’ stay with them in the same room. They are clearly like foster families, in those cases.

A quick check with Gong shows she had already screened out anyone who tended to abusive tendencies or situations.

There shouldn’t be anything that happens here, with this group, but the spiders and Gong will keep an eye out.

It is with this that things quiet down and people settle into their new living situation. A little anxious, but somewhat hopeful.

Gong will stay in this section of the caverns for easy accessibility for the group. Having created another bedroom here for herself, as well.

It looks like things have settled down a bit, so I begin the trek back to the normal area. Quite pleased with how things have turned out.

A vastly better situation than I had thought this would turn out to be.