He was absolutely positive his decision from a few days before had been correct. If he’d done anything to harm the plant, he would have regretted it for the rest of his life.
Things like Kira Vera and divine flowers only appeared in fairy tales. Such a rare organism had been within his reach. But if he’d stubbornly tried to capture it himself, he could have caused an irreversible tragedy.
That thought scared him for multiple reasons. He couldn’t blame himself for being ignorant about the plant. Even so, ignorance wouldn’t have absolved his guilt.
“I’m guessing it’s on the verge of death, though,” Clavis mused.
““Huh?”” Lulomet and Kunon said together.
The conversation had been between Clavis and Lulomet, but Kunon couldn’t keep himself from butting in. In fact, Keevan and Soff were surprised, too.
“On the verge of death?” asked Kunon. “The divine flower?”
“Yeah. It’s still a newborn, so it hasn’t yet mastered its power. It likely overexerted itself and collapsed…or rather, started wilting, I suppose. It could have recovered above ground, but not down here.”
The plant had probably used a lot of energy opening a hole in the ground and making new life sprout in its wake. Perhaps even shining had been detrimental.
“You’re really knowledgeable, Professor Clavis,” said Lulomet.
He’d never seen any literature about divine flowers. Neither had Kunon. And yet Clavis was clearly well-informed on the subject.
“You tend to pick up a lot of knowledge when you’ve been around as long as I have. That’s all it is.”
Clavis looked and sounded young, but perhaps he was much, much older.
The group descended to the third floor of the underground dungeon. Finally freed from the shame of being escorted by a man, Kunon decided to lodge a few final complaints.
“If you think I’m starting to find you surprisingly capable, strong, and dependable,” said Kunon, “then think again, Professor Soff. You’re most certainly mistaken.”
“Sure, sure,” the teacher replied.
“I’m at least as much of a gentleman as you are.”
“Sure, sure.”
Once this exchange was done, it was time to officially begin the search. Clavis and Lulomet were finished speaking as well, so the group focused solely on covering ground.
The rest of the facility was an endless stone labyrinth. There were no objects cluttering the corridors, nor were there any flora or fauna.
Despite the dark and unsettling nature of the place, there was hardly any danger. Inconspicuous marks all over the walls indicated the locations of ascending and descending staircases. At the end of the day, this structure was an artificial dungeon. It may have been a maze, but it wasn’t meant to trap people or make them lose their way. The layout ensured anyone who carelessly wandered in would be able to find their way back out on their own. There were no traps, either. There were some vacant rooms, but the place mostly consisted of winding corridors.
“Are there any more obstacles?” Kunon asked.
“No,” replied Soff. “The path is clear.”
The disorderly state of the floor above made that hard to believe, but Soff was telling the truth—there was nothing ahead of them but empty corridors and an impenetrable darkness ready to overwhelm the weak lamp light.
“Good. Please wait a moment.”
It was finally time for Kunon to strut his stuff. The teachers had let him join the group because he’d convinced them he would be useful in the dungeon. He’d made his case with great enthusiasm, and now he would prove his claim.
“There,” he said, extending his left hand toward the darkness.
Countless tiny A-ori shot forth and fell to the ground. They bounced along the floor and walls, traveling down the corridor. For a while, Kunon continued to spawn more A-ori and send them into the darkness.
Then he said, “Ah, that seems good enough.”
He’d sensed the A-ori begin to descend. They had found the staircase leading down.
Kunon lifted the staff in his right hand and struck the tip against the floor once.
“Freeze.”
There was a creaking sound in the corridor as the A-ori joined together into one body of water and froze. A little extra moisture finished his creation.
“Shall we be off?” he asked.
Kunon made little sleds on the bottom of his feet, then used more A-ori to form a cart. Lulomet and the teachers climbed in, and they all slid quickly down the newly created road of ice.
After that, Kunon repeated the same process multiple times.
“We’re moving much faster than I expected,” noted Keevan. “It’s probably not even noon yet.”
To Keevan’s surprise, the team had already reached the ninth floor of the dungeon.
Kunon had convinced the teachers to bring him along specifically so that he could help out by creating roads of ice, and the technique had turned out to be even more effective than they’d expected.
The walls had symbols indicating the way forward, but walking for hours in the dark would have been physically and mentally taxing. And no matter how quickly they walked, they couldn’t have reached this far this quickly.
“I can only use this technique in very specific places, though,” Kunon admitted. “Thankfully, this dungeon checks all the boxes.”
The facility was narrow, but relatively airtight, and there were no living creatures or pitfalls. As long as those conditions were met, Kunon was free to make his roads of ice.
“I’ve heard of using water to check terrain,” said Lulomet, “but this is something else entirely.”
Kunon nodded. “I could probably use water, too. This way preserves magic power, though.”
Sending A-ori down the hallways was less wasteful than simply using water. Manipulating each individual drop of a body of water was challenging. If you condensed it into little balls, however, it became much easier to manage. That also prevented the water from seeping into the walls or floor or slipping into cracks. Besides, there was no need to search every inch of this dungeon.
All Kunon had to do was find a descending staircase on each floor, gather his A-ori along the fastest route, and collapse them into one body of water that he then froze. That was all it took to get them down another level.
If they were lucky, the way back would be quick, too. It was still hot outside, but because they were underground, it was quite cool. If they started back up before the roads of ice melted, they could slide along them in the opposite direction.
“Okay, on to the next floor.”
Kunon completed his road of ice leading to the next floor, and the group resumed their progress.