Chương 20: 1.1.20 - The Weeping Grotto

The next morning I decided to head into town after a quick breakfast. The slight heat from the morning sun was a nice contrast against the cool morning breeze. Old Mill Road that leads to Hollow's Reach was already clear of snow, most of it already melting away to create pockets of mud that would have caused a careless merchant's wagon to get stuck.

Sacrificing a little bit of sleep to read most of the beast compendium was ultimately a good idea as I had come across several paragraphs in different beast entries about the use of beast repellant. It can be purchased from your local adventurer's shop or your local alchemist as it was rather easy to make. There were of course specialized repellants made for a specific type of beast, but a general all-purpose version was made of several herbs that were easily found and a type of mushroom called Tombcaps.

These mushrooms generally grew around areas with a heavy presence of rotting meat, and were also found commonly in tombs, hence the name. Mixed with the right herbs, it would smell of rotting flesh to a beast's more sensitive olfactory senses. Of course if the area had a rare natural treasure or elemental source that draws beasts of the same type to it, this general beast repellant would not be very useful.

However, for the purpose of my secret lab that should be void of anything that might attract beasts, it should work well enough. A brisk walk to town only took less than an hour now that I've grown out of those baby Yoda legs and I even jogged slightly at parts that were flatter. I arrived in town just as the shops were opening up. I decided to skip Branwen's blacksmithing shop as I had a lot more to do today and I did not want to get caught up with her grilling me.

I had seen her regularly over the last few months due to the frequent purchase of materials for my experiments. I had decided to visit Sylvia's shop instead of the adventurer's guild as she was someone Marta was familiar with at least. At least I know she would not try to cheat me of my hard earned coin. I could see Sylvia just opening her shop as I arrived, she had just placed the sign outside her shop when I walked up to her.

"Oh hello there! What can I help you with?" Sylvia greeted me when I arrived. She did not seem to recognize me immediately.

"Hello ma'am, Marta sent me here today. I was with her when she came last year to sell the Glimmerwasp Nectar" I lied about Marta sending me.

"Oh wow, you've grown much taller. You were already quite tall when I last saw you." I was close to 140 cm at this point. I could probably pass for a short adult if not for my boyish voice and face by the end of the year.

"So what can I do for you today?" Sylvia gestured for me to follow her into the store.

"Do you have any beast repellant made from Tombcaps? Or any of the generic type will do. Marta told me to get some." I asked. I had mentioned Marta's name hoping for a discount, also so she would not question what an eight year old boy was doing with beast repellant.

"Why would Marta need beast repellant? Have there been beasts wandering close to the Orphanage? It is better to let the Adventurer's Guild or the Baron know so they can actually send professionals to take care of the problem" Sylvia asked out of concern.

"Oh no, nothing that serious, it was just a couple of wild boars that wandered too close to the edge of the forest, Marta was just concerned it might be too close to where all of us play" I lied again, hoping that Sylvia would not bring this up next time she ran into Marta.

"Oh, the repellant might be a bit of an overkill but let me get some for you" Sylvia went to fetch some from a shelf nearby.

"There are three doses here. They usually last a long time if applied to equipment or carried on a bag but if Marta is putting them outdoors, they might wash off quickly with the rain since spring is round the corner" she handed me three small vials.

"Each dose should last a week outdoors but she'll need to reapply it after a heavy rain. Let me know if the beasts are still appearing after a few weeks. The boars could just be looking for food but we should alert the authorities if they are still spotted frequently after a few weeks" Sylvia clarified.

"Thank you so much ma'am, how much would they be?" I quickly nodded and got ready to pay as she had bought the lie and stopped her incessant questioning.

"Nonsense, how could I take coin from Marta especially if it's to keep you kids safe. It's on the house. Besides, where would Marta get the coin with things as tight as it is." Sylvia quickly declined. I felt bad at taking advantage of Sylvia and did not want the possibility of this becoming a potential cause for their relationship to worsen. Recalling the conversation that she and Marta had the last time, I quickly added "More of Marta's admirers came by again, things are better now.

At least let us pay for the material cost or Marta would give me a scolding when I got back""How would a boy like you even know about that? Alright then, it'll be 15 small silvers. The herbs and Tombcaps are relatively common" Sylvia said, half shocked and half amused that I had mentioned Marta's imaginary admirers. I quickly paid the required amount and left the shop.

"Thank you again! Good bye!"

"Tell Marta I said hi!" Sylvia said as she waved me out the door. I stopped by the orphanage for lunch, letting Marta know that I had mentioned her name when I stopped by Sylvia's shop to buy some supplies and that she had said hi.

"What sort of supplies?" Marta raised her eyebrow "Never mind, forget I asked" shaking her head. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"Just make sure you stay safe. What else did she say?"

"I mentioned that more of your admirers stopped by, that's how we got enough money to pay for what I bought" I replied as I finished the last of my stew and ducked out of the kitchen. Marta nearly spat out her stew, "WHAT DID YOU SAY?!? Get back here!" her hand tried to catch me as I ducked under her, my reflexes too quick for her with my core being Yellow now. She probably understood I had mentioned visiting Sylvia to her so she could cover for any lie I spewed, or at least I hoped she did.

It only took slightly more than an hour to find the cave I had come across yesterday, as I did not need to travel in a zigzag path and just trekked along the river bank till I arrived at the cave again. I had borrowed a small shovel from the tool shed in case I had to do any digging to clear out the cave.

The cave appeared the same as it did when I saw it yesterday, low opening in a rocky fold, no taller than a stooping adult, and half curtained by a mix of fern and fall of roots over the upper half of the entrance. I could feel the humid air by standing close to the entrance of the cave. I didn't see any water flowing from the river into the cave, so either the weepwrym had filled the cave using its pressure jet, or there was some other source from underground.

I had my Electro Perception running at maximum range as I scanned the perimeter, including the river this time to make sure there were no more surprise visitors. As I peered into the cave, I found it surprising that it was not in complete darkness. There was some light coming through, which indicated that there was another opening somewhere inside. I had to duck down a little as I pushed the hanging plants aside and walked into the cave.

There was a narrow opening, that seemed to have been widened or dug out either by the weepwrym or a former occupant. There were signs of some bones, probably from the weepwrym's unfortunate victims or other fools like me that had wandered too close but without the ability to defend themselves. As I reached the end of the narrow passage, the tunnel widened up to a much larger central chamber.

"Phewww" I couldn't help but let out a sharp whistle, impressed at the size of the place. The weepwrym certainly lived like a king. The central chamber was wide, but it was mostly flooded currently, with a raised platform towards the end of the cave. There was an opening towards the top of the chamber, probably some crevice or erosion from years of rain that resulted in a skylight when the sun hits at the right angle.

The water was probably a combination of the weepwrym's doing and some snow or rain falling through the top. I would need to find a way to dry up the water and create some sort of drainage channel to ensure the water did not pool again in the future. I could set up my workshop on the raised area to ensure water did not get to it but walking in and out through knee deep water would be inconvenient.

I had applied the beast repellant around the entrance, making sure that it was applied in areas that would not be exposed too much to the upcoming spring rain. I only had three doses for the time being and buying anymore from Sylvia might raise unnecessary alarm. Last thing I need was a flock of adventurers or the baron's men snooping around looking for imaginary beasts to cull. Over the next few days, I had crafted an additional water heater with the output intensity dialed way up.

I had thought about using several lightning bolts to flash boil the water but doing it in such an enclosed space was probably a bad idea. The sudden evaporation of water might trigger a steam explosion, or the water might separate into hydrogen and oxygen components, which was equally bad. In the end, I went with the safer option, which was to heat the water and let it evaporate slowly.

It was also good training for my Lightning Infusion as channeling it into the water heater repeatedly over several hours and several days had bumped it up by another level. [Lightning Infusion leveled up 5 -> 6] [You have increased your Mana Core Capacity by 600] I pulled my status up quickly to check how far away I was from the next level.

Status Core: Lightning Affinity (Perfect) Core Stage: Yellow Stage Level: 1 Mana Core Capacity (MCC) Progress to Next Level: 2064/2500 Core Mutations: - Lightning Brain - Lightning Adaptation Spells: - Electro Perception (Tier 1) - Level 10 - Lightning Bolt (Tier 2) - Level 4 - Lightning Infusion (Tier 1) - Level 6 Soul Mutations: - Adaptive Soul - Nature's Constitution Status Core: Lightning Affinity (Perfect) Core Stage: Yellow Stage Level: 1 Mana Core Capacity (MCC) Progress to Next Level: 2064/2500 Core Mutations: - Lightning Brain - Lightning Adaptation Spells: - Electro Perception (Tier 1) - Level 10 - Lightning Bolt (Tier 2) - Level 4 - Lightning Infusion (Tier 1) - Level 6 Soul Mutations: - Adaptive Soul - Nature's Constitution I dismissed it after a moment.

Another level from either Lightning Bolt or Lightning Infusion and I would hit level 2. I looked at my handiwork after several days of hard work. The cavern looked more like a steam room at this moment. It didn't help that the escaping steam initially had melted more snow near the roof opening which inconveniently added more water back to the cavern. At least now it was walkable with some puddles where the floor was uneven. I had already identified a spot where I could potentially create a drainage.

I would need to dig drainage channels and even out the spots where puddles were pooling but I made decent progress.

"Ah this feels great, I can finally get to the more interesting stuff now." I said to no one in particular. I had developed a bad habit of talking to myself while working alone the last couple of days.

"A name for this place will be nice. Sort of like Bat Cave for Batman. Hmmm... since a Weepwrym stayed here, let's call it the Weeping Grotto". I beamed as I gave myself a metaphorical pat on the back for having a better naming sense than the Weave. Author Note: This is the work of Josh Shoniix. This work of fiction will only be published on Royal Road and Space Battle for free. If you're reading this on another site or paid through Google Books, this work has been stolen.