Chapter 993 Don't Be Too Greedy!
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After that embarrassing scene, Aquarina calmed down and we quickly got out of the tent. Having rested well, we now had two options, which my mother gave to us.
"We can either proceed further and investigate the ruins a bit or go back home and do it tomorrow." She said. "Depends how everyone is feeling."
"I think we should explore a bit more; I am feeling like there might be some unseen treasure hiding somewhere." I commented. "Also, if Pyuku can read the murals, we might find something new, and he can read it for us easily."
"I agree!" Aquarina nodded.
"Me too! I want Pyuku to find some new clues, if anything…" Mist said.
"Yeah, let's go for a bit more of exploration." Zack agreed.
"I suppose there's no helping it." Celeste only shrugged.
"Yeah, let's explore some more! I want to find some new things!" Lara said happily.
"What she said." Luck nodded, crossing his arms.
"Everyone…" Pyuku's eyes shone brightly with their rainbow light, feeling moved by our words. "Thank you…" He smiled sweetly.
"Don't worry about its buddy." I winked at him. "Now, mom?"
"Sure, sure, let's go for another round then! This place is not that big I think, so let's do this quickly." She commanded. "Let's go."
With her permission, we decided to advance across these mysterious caves, and the ruins within. As we walked deeper into them, we found several paths and crossroads that led to different areas of the caves.
We didn't want to divide, but that seemed to be best case… We separate into smaller groups, exploring the three paths ahead of us.
Our group was made of Aquarina, Pyuku, Nepheline and my mother. We moved to the path to the front, while the rest divided to the other paths.
"Well this case sure looks ancient." Nepheline touched the walls.
"Can you sense it somehow?" Wondered Aquarina.
"I can." Her mother nodded. "I possess the ability to know how old the land is, what it has gone through, and even listen to their voice itself. These caves are incredibly old and have harbored all kind of life before."
"I see…" Aquarina said, feeling rather inspired. "It must be nice to be able to speak with the land like that… I sometimes hear voices too."
"You too?" I wondered.
"Yes, when I… touch the sea, or a river, or a lake." Said Aquarina. "It feels like there are countless tiny voices, innocent, like those of children. Whispering to me… Sometimes I get visions of these water bodies, of their past, or of what they had gone through."
"Amazing, Aquarina!" My mother said. "That means your ability mirrors your mother, but it is related with bodies of water instead of land."
"Looks like it." I nodded. "I guess I can do something similar with Plants… But well, I guess it's not as cool as Aquarina or her mom."
"I-It's cool too!" Aquarina tried to praise me as well. "Don't say that you're awesome, Sylphy!" She suddenly gave me a big kiss in my cheek.
"Hehe, were you just thinking about an excuse to give me a kiss?" I giggled.
"T-That's not it! I-I was genuinely praising you!" Aquarina said.
"Haha, youth." Nepheline giggled.
"They're so cute." My mother whispered to Nepheline as the two giggled.
Ugh, that only made me feel more embarrassed…
"Hm? I can sense something in the distance!" Pyuku said, leading us forward.
We moved behind him, chasing him as he ran very quickly, until we finally reached the end of the road. Ther was a huge crystal cave, filled with colorful spirit crystals.
And at the end of the crystal, there was yet another enormous mural. This one showed different images from before. There was a large landscape, resembling Cloudia.
There were mountains, forests, tundra, and a desert, and across all these lands, it showed small, formless little guys… Slimes.
"Slimes…" I said. "These are… Are they really slimes?"
"It must be!" Said Pyuku, running towards the mural and immediately beginning to read what was being written in there.
We silently walked behind him, as he started reading… This was a different mural than before, it seemed much smaller, rougher, and not that old.
It was decorated with colorful crystals too, it was a rather amusing and beautiful mural, if I had to be honest…
"It says… That… I can't believe it…" Pyuku muttered. "This was built by my ancestors. There was a large group of them that lived in here!"
"Really?" Asked Aquarina in surprise. "T-Then where are they?!"
"It doesn't say completely…" Sighed Pyuku. "But I think… Some might be alive in here. It says that this was the Land of "Paradise" as they called it, where they were not hunted, and could prosper… But over time, their population reduced a lot and… Well, due to the golems invading this temple, they had to escape somewhere else."
"To where?" My mother asked curiously.
"It doesn't say, sadly." Said Pyuku. "But I think to Cloudia itself… I really hope so! I never thought… that an answer to the dilemma that affected me so much would be right around the corner. It is almost ironic…"
Pyuku's rainbow eyes seemed filled with emotions, tears flowing from his eyes.
"T-This is enough for me… Even if this was made thousands of years ago… It's something, something to hold on some hope, right?"
"Yep." I nodded, smiling back at him.
"Let's go back then, I don't think there's anything other than this in here." Nepheline nodded.
"C-Can't I mine some of the stones?" I wondered, asking innocently.
"Sylphy, you've already mined a lot of things on your way here! And let's not mention how you greedily plunged every single medicinal plant you found in the forest!" My mother reprimanded me. "We have to leave some so nature can continue growing! If we plunder everything greedily, there will be nothing left to grow back. This is a philosophy of us elves, I've taught this to you many times!"
"I-I know, sorry mom…" I apologized.
Dammit, I wanted more items to craft cool equipment!
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