B4 - Chapter 24 - Island Rush

Despite everything going on, Lily soon found herself adapting to another routine. Classes were pretty much the same, although, as promised, Alice briefly mentioned the third floor's inhabitants. However, it seemed their class excursion to the floor was still a bit away, so others could try to earn it themselves.

Spellcasting Fundamentals had apparently gone through quite a thorough change, although Lily only received secondhand information since she had still been writing it off. Several basic spells were offered from a variety of common elements to help while submerged in water, but more importantly, a new batch of magic items was demonstrated.

Even Lily had to admit she regretted not seeing that, as there had been quite an impressive display and even something that sounded similar to her bubble inscription. However, what was seen as the ultimate prize was a tube you could bite onto and breathe through, which somehow turned water into air.

Unfortunately, the professor hadn't explained where to find such an item, which made people suspect it was somewhere in the dungeon. As for the more common items, they could be readily procured from either the shop in Kaeling or from fellow students. Not only were the fourth-year students making such items, but some who had bought them previously were willing to offload their secondhand goods.

Regarth was a bit weird regarding money, as they often tried to recommend some kind of bartering rather than selling things outright. Maybe this was an attempt to stop rich kids from throwing their wallets at their problems, or to encourage their own mini-economy contained within the school. Of course tests and exams outright forbid outside items, but Lily wasn't sure if that applied to something you bartered for.

I wouldn't be surprised if Stremweth let you buy a passing grade on your tests.

As for Lily's nighttime activities, that had still remained rather frustrating for her. She felt like she was closer to the stars, but still had nothing to show for it, and unless Arkail guided her to look closer at her core, she couldn't even see the astral-infused Mana. It seemed like enchanting her cloak was still some time away.

Her next venture into the dungeon with Lotte and Hana eventually came, and she got to see what her two adventuring companions had been working on. It looked like Hana had indeed been working on manifesting her spells, although she also showed off a variety of other ways to go about casting her spells. One was to expel some of the air she was storing, which Lily thought was incredibly risky, but Hana promised it was only for life-or-death situations.

Hana also revealed that she had learned to form an air bubble of her own, which was one of the spells offered in Spellcasting Fundamentals, but came with a warning that it was not cheap on Mana. Still, it gave them a way to explore the waters without needing a potion or item, and it was a good way to start building up valuable resources.

As for Lotte, she also revealed the fruits of her labor, as she had been studying the scroll Arakil had provided. When Lotte first cast the spell, both Lily and Hana had thought she had made a mistake, as her forearm was covered in blackish scales like when she protected herself, only for the scales to abruptly shoot out like darts.

"It's not as good as my usual attack spells, not yet anyway, but at least I don't have to worry about poisoning everyone around me," Lotte said proudly.

Not to be outdone, Lily revealed her own progress in inscriptions and showed her friends the water-air bubble. Both were impressed, but equally concerned about it popping until Lily explained it allowed outward spells to pass through.

Under Arakil's instruction, Lily kept the storage glyph tightly under wraps, as even though she trusted her friends, she trusted him infinitely more. He'd even advised her not to show it to Rose, just in case it accidentally came out during boasting. Besides, with her friends and their bags, she wouldn't need to use the glyph, as that was more to help her solo exploration.

Their goal this time was to reach the second island, maybe even the third if time allowed for it, and Lily had already explained the frog-sharks she had encountered. Also, since they were together, they could finally try out the Mermaid Lotion, which was easier to apply than they had imagined.

Rather than needing to thoroughly coat yourself, you only needed to wet your palms and vaguely run it over your body. From there, it seemed to seep in and apply itself, meaning that in this circumstance, less was more and a little bit of lotion went a long way. As for its effects, the first thing they noticed was that it helped keep you dry, even your hair, which was a delight for Lily after she had suffered removing all the seawater from her hair the first time.

The next benefit was the main draw, though, as it let you glide through the water unrestricted. Any sense of water-resistance was gone, and it almost felt like some weird mix between swimming and flying. Combined with the Bubblebelly Tonic, you could duke it out underwater extremely well if you chose to, which both Hana and Lotte found very appealing.

Maybe Lily was being a little biased towards what Arakil taught her, but she preferred the water-air bubble, which also had the benefit of keeping your feet on the ground. The Mermaid Lotion seemed to help a bit in that regard, allowing you to control your buoyancy in some way, but not to the level of being able to literally walk across the sea floor.

With their testing done, the group made way to the second island, and when they spotted the frog-sharks, Hana revealed their name: Zammy. This was another benefit of Lily's bubble, as it let them talk without returning to the surface; although unless they shared a big bubble, they would need to shout to be heard.

"Please tell me that's not their real name," Lotte pleaded. "I don't know how I feel about killing a monster with such a weirdly cute name."

"Sorry, but that's what they are called," Hana giggled.

Despite her earlier statement, Lotte showed no sign of being troubled about fighting them. It probably helped that no name could fix their rather gross appearance. As a group, defeating them and making progress was much simpler, and this time Lily made sure to intentionally collide her stars to avoid any dodging mishaps.

Her two companions didn't have the same troubles, as Lotte's scales seemed to lose very little speed in the water, and the same was obvious for Hana and her beams of light. Together they eventually cleared a safe path and finally emerged from the water to the coast of the second island.

The very first thing they did upon arriving was send Hana into the sky to get a lay of the land, as there appeared to be more than one island within range. They had hoped that one of the islands might look vaguely like their treasure map, but it seemed they would have to go deeper until they could claim their prize.

"Also, I did manage to sneak a peek at the boy's map, and it's definitely not the same as ours," Hana revealed. "So there's no need to worry about competing, since it looks like each group has their own assigned treasure. I even heard a rumor that not everyone finds their treasure, and some choose to sell or trade their maps."

"I'm not sure about that last bit. What if they found the treasure and are trying to sell their map anyway? Sounds like a scam to me," Lotte replied.

"Also, if there are that many maps, then shouldn't we be digging up every island?" Lily asked. "Although I suppose the dungeon might be doing something to stop that. I bet Rose tried something like that."

After their brief break, they continued exploring their new island and found that, unlike where they started on this floor, this one had resources. Not everything was a valuable reagent or material, as Lotte found a small group of fruit trees and, after volunteering to be a poison tester, confidently declared them safe and delicious.

They spent the rest of their time cautiously trying to gather what they could surrounding the second island, but the presence of the zammies made it somewhat difficult. It wasn't like the forest, where you could keep a safe perimeter, since you needed to worry about threats from above or below too. Despite this, they still left with an impressive haul, and the future of their Bubblebelly Tonic empire looked stronger than ever.

The next day, they tried to make a beeline for the next island and ran into a strange problem. Rather than outright hostile monsters, the island was surrounded by a swarm of some kind of jellyfish. The group would have preferred to have left them alone, but the only way to reach the island safely was to carve a path through them.

Lily had thought their bubbles would have protected them, but Lotte had tested that theory and had hers popped when it brushed up against some of the dangerously dangling tendrils. So they were forced to push through and spent most of the day trudging slowly through the area.

Initially, they had been reluctant to fight them, but after the seemingly never-ending creatures kept encroaching on them, they quickly changed their tune. Many Starbursts were cast that day, and when they reached the safety of the island, they all felt utterly spent.

"Maybe we should investigate flying or sailing over problems like this," Lotte suggested.

Normally Lily would groan at another suggestion of flying, but this time she was too tired to fight it. "Maybe you're right…"

After resting up, they finally explored the island, only to find that there wasn't even that much here. It left a bitter taste in their mouths, as they had been expecting some kind of prize after having to deal with so many jellyfish. Now, it looked like they had wasted their time and effort with nothing to show for it other than revealing another island on the horizon.

They were about to leave the island and call it a day until Lotte pointed out that they likely wouldn't be able to come here on their own while on this island. Then, when they saw that the jellyfish had somehow surrounded them again, they realized how bad that was.

"Okay, I give up. We should just fly to the next island. But after that, I'm calling it a day…" Lily sighed.

It was long and uneventful, but eventually Lily completed the inscription and then used the wand to copy it. The good thing was that she didn't need to almost drain her Mana entirely doing so, as this time their destination was actually visible and she performed her longest sigil marking to date after being told to by Arakil.

That had certainly been the highlight of this ordeal for her, as now she got to see firsthand how much of a difference having a limit made compared to none for an inscription, and it was astonishing. Yes, for their flight across the forest she had gone above and beyond in terms of Mana cost, but now all three couldn't even add up to one of those she had done that day.

The group gathered together and flew across the surface of the sea, earning a minor objection from Hana, who wanted to go higher. Lily had decided that there was no need to fly so high, only high enough to avoid any lurking sea monsters or big waves.

They arrived without issue, and after that they spent a little time checking the island, and to their surprise, they found a small chest half-buried in the sand. They quickly pulled it out and opened it to reveal a strange pair of footwear that mixed boots and flippers.

Since using it would obviously involve swimming, Lily showed no interest and let her two friends try it out before they left. Swimming in the flipperboots was apparently a breeze and easily doubled, if not tripled, their speed in the water, which made Hana especially excited.

They also reported that the island seemed safe, as they saw no signs of any zammies and, thankfully, no jellyfish. Deciding it was a great spot, they finally left, since it would let any of them do some solo exploring if they wanted. As for what was off in the distance, they appeared to have two new islands offered for exploration.

I guess we just keep island hopping until we find what we're looking for. It's amazing how different it is compared to the previous two floors…

And thus, another week came to a close for Lily. It was raining that evening, so she went to bed early, feeling particularly exhausted after today and all those abominable jellyfish.