Tika decided to head further down the Dungeon since they manage to defeat the boss much more easily than expected.
Since the strongest monster on this floor was just the mob version of the String Caterpillar with less than half its stats, there wasn’t really much danger for this party so I agreed to continue.
But since the danger level decreased so much, there wasn’t really much for Odeta and myself to do aside from watching over them.
Even when they meet a group of those String Caterpillars, they are still able to handle themselves quite well without needing our help.
The most I would do would be to cast a simple [Close Wounds] spell on them after the fight is over in the event that one of them got hit by a monster’s attack.
Tika seemed to be quite good at spotting traps too so we didn’t need to worry about those either.
I could tell that Odeta was starting to get bored so I decided to strike up a conversation with her as we were moving through the corridors of the Dungeon.
“So… How’s training with the princess?”
“Hmm? Oh! She’s a great student! Wahahaha! She takes her training seriously too so I think she might be a really strong fighter in the future! I can’t wait to spar with her when she does!”
“Oh~ That good? If Odeta approves of her, it really means she has a chance huh?”
“Wahaha! Of course she won’t be as good as sister Aster or even big sister Ardi, but she does have talent!”
I tilted my head, “A talent for getting stronger?”
“That’s right! She has the motivation and she’s also physically gifted too despite being a Mahun! If I had to guess, one of her ancestors might even have been an Amrap!”
Well… Last I remembered, she collapsed on the ground after running for a short distance so are you sure about that? But I suppose I should remember that she never tried any physical exercises before this and she’s still young as well.
“Mmm… Do be careful not to push her too hard, ok?” I reminded her.
“Wahaha! No need to worry, sister Aster! I have experienced training others too!”
“Yes, but I assume your experience comes from training other Amraps, right? Remember to drop your standards a little because the princess is a Mahun.”
“Ah.”
That one word response from her told me all that I needed to know.
“You forgot about that didn’t you?” I asked, making a face at her. “Even though you felt that she had talent despite being a Mahun?”
Odeta scratched her cheek in embarrassment, “Ehehehe… Maybe?”
“Please be careful, it wouldn’t be good if she pushes herself too hard and then hurt herself in the process…”
Or worse… Even die… I remember how in my old World, it’s not really uncommon to see news about some person who exercised too hard and then lost their life because of it.
Odeta tilted her head at me, “Hmm? If she hurts herself, then sister Aster could just heal her up right?”
…
I forgot healing magic exists in this World…
Wait, so doesn’t this mean that I could have just healed away my muscle soreness whenever I worked out?! Have I been suffering through all that unnecessarily?!
Oh wait… If I’m not wrong, healing magic would restore the body back to its normal condition in the event of an injury, so if I was having muscle pains, it might undo all the training to revert it back to the state before the workout.
Yeah… I think I remember that being taught in our Iatromancy class so there’s still no cheating if you want some gains.
Well, having that undone is still better than losing your life from working out too much anyway.
Hmmm… I wonder if there’s a magic that helps stop or at least numb the pain? That would at least still make it easier for–
[Low Anaesthesia]
…
Just like that, a spell came into my mind…
Goddamn it, there actually is a spell for numbing the pain… But looking at the spell name, it kind of sounds like you’ll lose feeling in that area so it might not be a good thing either.
Though I guess it might be used in case of an emergency or something.
Just as I was wondering about the practical applications of such a spell, a shout of warning came from the front.
“Two String Caterpillars! I’ll take one, you two focus on the other one!” Tika ordered, already rushing forward.
The two boys yelled out an affirmative and charged their target as well, engaging the monster in close combat.
I directed my focus towards the fight just in case something happened, but my worries went unfounded as the three of them managed to beat the monsters quite easily.
Both monsters were cut to shreds within moments and the battle was already over.
I only needed to cast a healing spell on Henri when he mistimed his sword swing and got body slammed by the monster.
It wasn’t anything much, there wasn’t even a bruise but I just used the spell on him since it did leave a small mark on his chest.
“Hey, what’s this?” Jules asked while I was healing his brother.
He picked up something from the floor and I realised it was a black, featureless stone.
Woah… No way…
“Oh!! Oh by the Gods!! You’re really lucky!! That’s a Blessing Stone!!” Tika exclaimed excitedly. “You can use it to get a blessing from the Gods if you were to bring it to a temple!!”
“Eh? Where did this come from though?”
“It must have dropped from the String Caterpillar the two of you defeated! On rare occasions, items might appear after you kill monsters! To think you actually got a Blessing Stone in a Dungeon like this, you’re really lucky!”
Jules looked at the stone in his hand, “Ehhh… But… What does it do?”
“Like I said, you can get a blessing from the Gods! Like an actual blessing from the Gods themselves! Some people who got it found that they got stronger, others had their appearance beautified and there’s even cases where one or two people received a large sum of Creas!”
Henri came to his brother’s side and looked over his shoulder at it, “That’s cool. How have we not heard about this before?”
“Because it’s really, really rare! That’s why you’re really lucky to have one!”
“Didn’t sister Aster get one of this back then too?” Odeta asked innocently.𝗈𝓋𝓵𝐞xt.𝑐𝑜𝚖
That made all three of them turn to me.
Tika’s eyes widened, “Aster received one too?! By the Gods, I’m surrounded by lucky people!!”
I scratched my cheek, “It’s… Well… I got it as a Dungeon clear reward back when we were fixing this Dungeon’s anomaly… I think Jules is luckier to have received it as a monster drop instead.”
The boy in question pointed at the stone in his hands, “So is this really a Blessing Stone or whatever it’s called?”
I nodded, “It certainly looks like the one I had before. And yes, you can get a blessing from the gods if you were to bring it to a temple.”
“So what blessing did Aster get? You did bring yours to a temple, right?” Henri asked excitedly.
“Err… I got a blessing that helps me learn things faster I guess?” I lied, figuring it would help explain some things when my new boons appear later on.
Tika clasped her hands together, “Ohhh! That explains how Aster is so talented!”
Odeta scoffed, “Ha! Sister Aster was already talented to begin with! She doesn’t need any blessing to become talented!”
Ugh… That stings Odeta… I can’t even tell you that I cheated by being an Off-Worlder and getting benefits from the gods before coming here…
Jules nodded, “That’s true, Aster only got her Blessing Stone after she cleared this Dungeon right? She was already this skilled even before that.”
Tika gasped, “That means everything up till now has just been purely your own skill and efforts? Ugh… Geniuses really are something else.”
Stop, stop… Please… You’re hurting me… I got all this from cheats…
Henri turned back to his brother, “So what are you going to do, bro? You want to go and get that blessing?”
Jules raised an eyebrow at Tika, “Shouldn’t the party leader receive this instead?”
She waved her hand, “Oh no, no. Please don’t say that. The two of you defeated that monster by yourselves so that drop is all yours.”
He nodded before pushing the Blessing Stone to his brother, “I don’t need it brother. You’re the one who would be aiming to attend Aerialla Academy so you’re going to need all the help you can get. I’m just going to stay behind to take care of the family business so this is wasted on me.”
Henri gaped at the stone, “Are you sure bro? You could get a blessing that can help you with your business.”
“I’m sure. Especially when Aster here is also going to the Academy right? Then without this, I doubt you can even keep up with her. That’s why take it, brother.”
I was already feeling really embarrassed by now so I just went ahead to distract myself by groping Odeta’s abs instead, the Amrap just chuckling along with my actions while not minding me in the slightest.
Ehehehe~ Squish~
I have to say it really is lucky for them to find one though… I even remember thinking about how I would collect these and sell them to Off-Worlders.
Oh well, maybe next time.