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John explained his idea of taking the scenic route to everyone, who agreed. Skye and Terra mentioned getting his input on the settlement.

After a small conversation with the group, John decided to wait until they returned, reasoning that Lani might have ideas for involving the faeries in the town but also because she has the most insight into the area, which would help decide what to focus on.

The drakelings let the group know that they’d speak with Merl, and have some options prepared for when they returned, before leading them to a road and wishing them good luck for their stroll in the forest.

The two-metre-across cobble road stretched from where they stood to the Cullis gate, and then roughly another ten-minute walk into the rolling hillscape before transitioning into moss and sparse flat stones, allowing the road to cut through the plains without being an eye-sore.

A thirty-minute walk later, John felt watched as they approached the edge of the forest, though the feeling wasn’t unpleasant, but rather familiar. ’Oh, Lani?’ he thought, and raised his hand and waved, laughing and explaining himself when questioned.

Getting closer to the forest, the road didn’t continue into it, rather it ended with a rest area, a couple of benches faced inwards towards a stone fountain.

Ellie quickened her pace, letting go of Alison’s arm, allowing the meek girl to hug more tightly against John, approaching the fountain. A book appeared in front of her as she cast Observe.

Enchanted Fountain

(Structure)
A very common feature. Fountains like this one are enchanted to draw in water from the nearest water spring underground.
This particular fountain is constructed using glacial rock from a nearby volcano, which affects the temperature of the water it draws in. Environmental temperatures will not affect the water and it will remain ice cold without ever freezing.
The water drawn in has been filtered through the mountains, allowing it to retain several helpful minerals. The water is also affected within the spring too, due to being right beneath the mystical forest.

The water itself doesn’t have any magical effects, but water and temperature-based magic used on the water has a slightly greater effect, making it useful in alchemy when temperature is important.

Alison pulled John along with her so that she could read what Ellie was looking at. While still holding onto him with one arm, she reached down to scoop some of the water from the fountain, letting out a satisfied hum after drinking it.

“I really should use Observe more often, I just keep forgetting about it or getting distracted,” John intoned.

Robin sighed and hummed as he sat on one of the benches. “Honestly, I should use my powers more often too. They’re mostly used for convenience, and after I decided that I was going to avoid the Abyss at large, I limited my use. But my idiot best bud has decided that he’s diving all in, so I can’t stand on the edge anymore, can I?” he asked.

John groaned. “Oh come on, don’t say it like that, you’re gonna make me feel guilty. How can I not want to learn more about a secret magic world?” he asked.

“Don’t forget the fact that since getting magic you’ve also lost your virginity and started building our harem,” Ellie noted, smiling and winking at him.

“Oh come on, that’s not fair, those are both your fault,” John faux complained.

Ellie quickly moved in front of John, giving him a sweet kiss. “All I’m saying is that your experience and Robin’s experience with the Abyss so far are probably vastly different and we both know that you haven’t tested your powers out as much as you probably would have or should have because you’ve been distracted with other things,” Ellie stated.

John gave her a kiss back. “Yeah…” he said with a sigh. “I wouldn’t go all min-max but I definitely should have tested my powers out a little more by now, so opening a barrier to do some power testing is probably a good idea, but probably something we’ll have to do another day, maybe tomorrow?”

“Sounds like a good idea to me. I think something kinda like the goblin barrier could be good, but it’d also be good to have other quests that allow us to use all of our powers and in different ways,” Robin replied.

The two were pulled from their conversation hearing the sound of bubbling. Turning to look, Agni had moved over to the fountain and had her face pushed beneath the surface and was blowing bubbles, resurfacing momentarily for a breath before repeating.

“I think we should probably move on before Agni gets too bored and thinks of a way to entertain herself,” Ellie suggested, patting the golem’s bottom.

Pulling herself up she giggled and looked back at Ellie with a smile. “Yes?” she asked.

“We’re gonna continue our walk now we’ve had a short rest. We might find another spot to relax further in,” Ellie said, moving next to Alison and taking her hand.

Agni’s face began to steam a little as the water evaporated, and then she skipped over to John, hugging his arm in a mirror of Alison.

As they walked, John, Robin, Ellie and Violet talked about video games, with Violet telling the others which of the games John played that she enjoyed watching the most, or playing when he wasn’t home.

In the meantime Alison tried talking to Agni, pointing at plants and telling the slime what they were, or at least what they looked like. Ellie was helpful enough to occasionally cast Observe to confirm or deny the type of plant, and surprisingly, despite being in a different world, Alison was correct a little over half the time.

Alison stopped abruptly, looking around scanning the autumnal forest and hummed. She untangled herself from John, and as she had done before coming through the gate, she stepped away from him, cupped her hands around her mouth and let out a howl. Agni giggled and joined Alison, quickly copying her.

Everyone laughed and then heard the sound of return howls from multiple directions. Unlike last time, Alison didn’t seem worried and instead smiled brightly. “T-those weren’t coyotes, r-right?” She asked.

“I don’t think so,” John replied, smiling at the two girls engrossed in the howlings.

“Not coyotes, or wolves. It sounds like a smaller kind of canine though,” Robin added, tapping his jaw in thought.

The group continued on, slowly at first but returning to their original pace. “D-do you th-think they’ll come cl-loser?” Alison asked.

Before anyone else could answer, Agni chimed in. “Howling is a way to communicate your location to your pack. An unfamiliar howl will signal other packs to stay away; they would only draw near if there were signs of another pack trying to claim part of their land, but they will see us as a pack who are just passing through.”

“Wow, that’s really interesting, how do you know all that?” Violet asked, moving over to Agni and hugging her from behind.

“Hmm? Oh, Lia just told Agni. Agni likes hearing about animals and nature, it’s interesting, but Agni does not want to study like Lia does,” Agni replied.

As they walked, Agni continued to convey facts and information, stopping occasionally to admire the things she was talking about. During one of the facts, John felt slightly uneasy.

John looked around, checking behind them, which Ellie noticed. “Hey, everything okay?” she asked in a hushed tone.

John smiled at her and shrugged a little. “Just kinda have a ‘being watched’ kind of feeling,” he replied quietly. “But not the same as earlier. It doesn’t have the warmth it did, but I don’t feel like it’s aggressive or anything either.”

The blonde hummed. “Well, Leilani could have sent someone to watch or follow us?”

She was probably right, and John did feel a little silly making more of a big deal than it probably was. After all, this was Lani’s forest, if there was something to be worried about, they’d have probably been warned.

Though calming down, John jumped out of his skin when a window appeared.

Quest Update: I Can Show You The World

Interest Discovered (2/5): Nature

“Do you mind?” John griped, looking up. His annoyance faded when the faint scent of rotting eggs was blown in from the breeze. They began discussing where the smell could be coming from, and without really realising continued walking in that direction. The smell was getting stronger though it slowly became less offensive, almost sweet.

The smell spread out, seemingly coming from a wider area in the direction they walked in. The sounds of the forest became more noticeable as they continued, seemingly getting more frequent and obviously purposeful. The sound of leaves rustling, or twigs snapping, then a knock on a tree trunk, which caused the entire group to stop.

The girls let go of John and everyone huddled in a circle to talk. “Someone’s definitely trying to get our attention, right?” Ellie broke the silence. “John said he felt like someone was watching us earlier; it seems odd they’re actively trying to get noticed now.”

“M-maybe it’s one o-of the f-faeries?” Alison proposed, looking into the forest as she spoke.

“What about Lani?” Robin asked.

John shook his head. “I don’t think she’d be able to resist joining us… Maybe it’s one of the faeries we haven’t spoken to yet? Faeries are supposed to be kinda shy creatures, right? At least that’s what folklore would lead me to believe.”

“I think it depends on the faerie in question, but they’re more likely to be reserved and keep to themselves,” Robin clarified.

“So what are we going to-” Violet’s voice was silenced as fog suddenly enveloped the group. John quickly reached over to where Alison had been but his hand passed through empty space.

“Alison? Ellie?” he called. “Violet? Robin? Agni?”

Feeling panic rise, John moved in the direction of the others, trying to reach for them, continuing to yell out for them.

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