Chương 76: Chapter 73-Chosen Splunking

Another chilly day on Floor 8 of this Gods forsaken Dungeon. Penelope stands next to me with what amounts to a store's worth of clothing. Hopper crouches across from us as he clears the snow away from the ice.

"I'm surprised you were able to find the herb so quickly. What did you do, steal it?" Penelope asks.

"No, not at all. I used money to buy it off a botanist I know who sells me yeast. He has great deals," I say, making a mental note to buy more yeast for my bread experiments.

"So, you didn't steal it… Did you steal the money to buy it?" Penelope asks.

"Of course not. What do you take me for?" I [Lie].

"A Charlatan," she says without missing a beat.

"Believe what you want, Penelope, but how about we focus on getting off this floor first." Hopper's bunny ears perk up.

"Yeah, this is the one. I just know it."

"How sure are you?" I ask as I take the Lazgrass cookies out of my bag.

"I'm sure he is positive that this is the spot. Right, Hopper?" Penelope asks.

"Uh… yeah. Fifty-fifty shot this… is the spot," Hopper says with a smile.

"Oh, that sounds reliable," I say sarcastically. Penelope stabs her greatsword into the ice and carves out a large chunk of ice. Big enough for us to get through, and if needed, hopefully back.

"With the ice and water, it's hard to get a bead on anything down there unless it's really loud or close to the surface. I'm guessing this is the opening to the next floor, and that's mostly because it sounds weird around here," he explains. Penelope slams down the foot-thick ice chunk.

"Weird how?" she asks.

"Emptyish. Don't get me wrong. There's a lot of weird noises, and I can definitely hear something big down there, but… there's something off about this area. Almost like there's an empty space in this area where there's no noise. Not the sound of rushing water or even those Ice Serpents. Just silence," Hopper says, sending chills down my spine. Carefully, I slip the Lazgrass cookies back into my pocket.

"You know what? I'm an idiot. I forgot the Lazgrass back in my room. Welp, guess we're going to have to do this tomorrow instead of today," I [Lie]. Penelope cocks her head and walks over to me.

"Are you really expecting me to believe that you left something that important in your room?" she asks with a knowing look.

"Yes," I [Lie].

"Hmm. Ok. I guess we'll just have to… Oh, I don't know. Maybe we'll just have to hold our breaths," she says as she goes over to the edge of the hole.

"You're not expecting me to believe you'll actually do that, right?" I ask as I roll my eyes. She looks over at me with a sweet smile.

"Yes." We stare at each other for a long time. So long that I can see how gem-like her eyes are. Which almost distracts me from the fact that she'll most definitely try to do this while holding her breath. No doubt about it. After all, she's the most stubborn person I've ever met. Letting out a sigh, I grab the Lazgrass cookies.

"Would you look at that? Guess I checked the wrong pocket," I say as I hand out the cookies.

"Guess so," Penelope says with a knowing smile. Hopper looks at us.

"Stare any harder, and you guys might end up boring through each other's heads."

"We weren't staring," we say in unison. Hopper nods.

"Okay. So, how long do these last again?"

"About an hour. I was only able to buy enough for one dose each, so let's try to find the entrance today. Also, in case you find yourself on land before the time's up, I also made a reversal cookie, which I have dubbed the Zalgrass cookie. Eating it will immediately reverse the effects of the Lazgrass cookie. Don't mix them up. I only had enough for one cookie each," I warn. Penelope looks down at the frigid cold waters.

"Don't get split up. Considering how thick the snow is up here, I don't expect there to be much light down there," she says as she draws her greatsword across her arm. Hopper gets ready next to the hole as he switches his bow for a knife.

"What do we do if we meet one of those Ice Serpents?" Plopping down next to them, I sigh.

"Pray," I joke. Penelope shakes her head.

"What the Charlatan meant to say was stay completely still. These creatures react based on movement. Most of everything down there will. If you see one, don't move," she explains.

"Thank you, Princess."

"Alright. Let's do this," I say as I quickly eat the Lazgrass cookie. Penelope and Hopper look at me, waiting for something to happen.

"Why aren't you guys eating yours?" I ask as I swallow.

"We wanted to check if it was painful," Hopper says.

"I wanted to see if you would explode first," Penelope corrects. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

"You-" A sudden pain rips through me as the skin around my neck suddenly contorts and forms gills. Taking a deep breath, I suddenly feel a sense of suffocation. Oh, right. I can't breathe air now. Shit. Crashing into the hole, I'm suddenly assaulted by thousands of pricks and needles along my skin. The frigid cold of the water around me numbs the pain. Then I suddenly take a deep breath. Well, that's odd. Gills are weird. So is floating in a seemingly endless void of darkness. Penelope was right.

The only source of light down here is the hole we cut open. Other than that, the entire place is pitch black. The sound of water crashing reverberates behind me as Penelope and Hopper join me, also sporting the same gills around the neck. Well, that's honestly unsettling. Penelope's greatsword alights.

"It's cold," she says, now muffled by the water.

"That's an understatement," I say as I float next to them.

"It's not that bad," Hopper, the arctic bunny, says.

"How nice for you? Which way, Hopper?" I ask as I watch the ice start to reform around the hole we made.

"This way," he says as we swim into the hopefully empty darkness. I float upside down. At the very least, I think it's upside down. The only source of light is from Penelope's greatsword, so it's hard to tell up from down. Well, actually- I grab one of my rocks and watch it begin to sink. Okay, I am upside down. My eyes drift over to the upside-down Penelope and Hopper as they continue to argue.

"I lost it," he says for the fourth time.

"Find it," she says for the third.

"I've already told you I lost the silence. All I hear is clicking," he reminds.

"Then try to find it again," she reminds.

"I've tried. I lost it."

"Find it." Letting out- Hmm. Can I let out a sigh underwater? Actually, can I sigh with gills? Does a sigh require air? I try to sigh, but am unable to. Well, actually, I kind of can. I'm sort of sighing with my gills, but not the way I intended. Anyway, back on top. These two.

"Alright enough. You guys have been arguing in a loop for the last couple of minutes. What's wrong?" I ask from my upside-down position.

"I've lost track of the empty silence we were going towards, and it has everything to do with this loud clicking that I'm hearing," he says as his bunny ears float limply in the water.

"Clicking?" I ask as I struggle to hear a thing.

"Yeah. It's this loud drone that's making it hard to hear a single thing down here," he says as he covers his ears.

"Push through it and find it. It's not that bad," Penelope says.

"It's not that easy. You try finding a needle in a haystack," Hopper bites back. That's odd. Penelope's usually hard-headed, but not to his level, and Hopper's usually too respectful to bite back like that. Clicking?

"Not to interrupt you guys, but Penelope, can you hear that clicking?" I ask.

"Only barely, but yes." Why can't I hear it? My eyes pass over to Penelope's and Hopper's ears. Specifically, their lengths. Penelopes are pointy and long. They stick out about three or four inches from her head. Hoppers are obviously bunny ears and about a foot long. My on the other hand are pointy, but they stay flat against my head.

"Hey, quick question. A bit of a dumb one, but uhm do Half-Elfs have better hearing?" I ask as I trace my pointy ears.

"Yeah. Nowhere as good as a Beastkin, but they're better than humans. Why?" she asks with more than a hint of annoyance.

"You'd think you would listen better then," Hopper says, surprising me.

"What did you say, Bunny Boy?" Penelope threatens.

"You heard me, Brute Girl."

"Okay. As much as I would love to see the two of you duke it out. I should tell you that the two of you are acting weird. I think it has something-""Can it, Charlatan. Brute? I'll show you Brute," Penelope says as she swings her greatsword. Hopper dodges out of the way and sends a kick her way. Well, this is sad to see. They send attack after attack at each other, dealing basically no damage. Turns out it's hard to throw a kick underwater, and it's easy to dodge a greatsword underwater.

That should keep them busy while I try to figure out where that clicking sound they're hearing is coming from. Whatever it is, it's making Penelope and Hopper just a tad bit more aggressive than usual. Now, how am I going to do that without being able to hear it? Looking around the pitch darkness, I spot a glimmer of something above me on the floor of this lake. Swimming towards it, I find a seemingly random mana crystal. What did Professor Stargazer say?

Something about mana crystals and how they are used to power magic devices and sometimes magic circles. Kind of like my portable magic oven. Although its magic crystal is broken. This must be powering something, but what? Well, I actually don't have to worry about that. I just need to break it. Taking my sword, I swing and find myself slowly inching towards the mana crystal. Ok. That's not going to work. Hmm. Force. Strength. Something, or rather someones. I turn my gaze up towards the fighting fools.

"Hey, you idiots. How is it the two of you have been fighting for so long, but you both haven't even been able to lay a scratch on one another. Talk about pathetic. I could do so much better than that," I taunt. They stop fighting and almost immediately charge at me. In seconds, they're on me, or rather, the mana crystal. I pull the mana crystal up and watch as Penelope's greatsword and Hopper's foot shatter the mana crystal. With a release of magic, they look around, confused.

"What just happened?" Hopper asks.

"I would also like to know?" Penelope asks, equally confused.

"Well, it's simple really, I saved your asses from this mana crystal," I say, pointing towards the remains.

"Did you call me pathetic?" Penelope asks. Hopper looks behind me.

"Is that the entrance to the next floor?" he asks, saving my ass. Turning around, I find an entrance that wasn't there before. Odd. Maybe the Gods are on my side. Swimming towards it, I suddenly fall headfirst into a space without water. Struggling to breathe, I take out a Zalgrass cookie and eat it. The gills on my neck suddenly close, restoring my ability to breathe air. Penelope and Hopper join me and just in time. A white light fills my vision, signalling the end of class.

"Did somebody call me Bunny Boy?" Hopper asks right before we disappear.