Aeres Academy - Chapter 26 preview

I’m not sure she truly expected her pronouncement to go over well, but it did manage to make a few of the more bored looking students pay a bit more attention as Professor Wynn turned to the next table. Sometimes, spelling out the stakes helped some of the denser members in a crowd.

And sometimes, it just made them angry and annoyed. Brand, sitting beside me, showcased that reaction with the sneer and crossed arms. He probably was missing the rest of her lecture, busy debating with her inside of his own head about how he was not going to fail, all the while missing everything else she had to say. I considered nudging him, chose not to get involved.

Children.

Gods, I could not wait to be out of this academy on my own again.

“Now, this next table contains a variety of dungeon materials. Like the previous table, I’ve displayed the variety available to give you an idea of what you might find. We will go into more detail of each type, but most material can be broken into crystals, metals, earth and minerals and plants.” The last was said while pointing at a few potted plants sitting near the end of the table. One of which was a set of glowing moss in a tiny terrarium, growing up a stone wall and releasing lurid colors into the surroundings. “In the Aeres fault, you’ll mostly run into plant and mineral dungeon materials as any crystal or metal of value has long been removed.”

There were a few low mutterings at that commentary, but no one chose to gainsay her practical advice. Even so, she went over the various items before us, the kinds of things we would see – from mana-infused metal that would be easier to work with, to crystals infused with mana that could be utilized as jewelry, enchanting items or even wall sconces to, finally, the various mineral items – mana-infused salt being the major one. Finally, she came to the plants, tapping the table.

“Now, plants. These are, by nature of the dungeon and core itself, the most common resource and the most easily replicable. Because of that, the majority of plants in the dungeon are almost worthless to acquire.” Professor Wynn sniffed. “Nearly every plant that could be harvested at the top level, barring an unexpected mutation, is already being done so by dedicated professionals. As such, I will not spend any time on this.

“You’ll receive more training on useful plants from your survival teacher, as some of these will be useful in aiding your survival. For our purposes today, there are two major kinds – native dungeon plants and transplants. Of course, the vast, vast majority of plants brought into the dungeon are – by definition – transplants. However, after hundreds – if not tens of thousands – of years, many such transplant plants have become native to dungeons. At that point, the definitions of transplant and native become more an academic matter.”

“I don’t understand!” Again, Kira interjected immediately. This time though, it looked like a number of others were grateful for her overenthusiasm. 

Professor Wynn hesitated, looking conflicted. Eventually, she let out a huff of air. “I’ll be brief. If you wish to know more, visit a library. But basically, technically, only certain types of moss and fungi and a few plants are ‘native’ to the dungeon, that is, formed from the depths of the core and grown afterwards. There might be more, of course, in the deepest level that we have not found, but that is what we know.

“The vast majority of what we consider dungeon plants – what we consider ‘normal’ dungeon plants – are just surface species that were brought into the core during a previous major cycle.”

She reached out, tapping one of the blocks before her, one that held about six different kinds of grass. They were all – visibly – from the same species, with much the same shape of their leaves, the way they bunched together – but had significant differences. None of them were the same color, with some just different shades of green, but then there was the blue, purple and pink grass variations. One had flowers, the barbed metallic edge glinting against the green of the grass, another split at the ends occasionally to look like mushrooms. Even the one that was most “normal” I recognized as the commonly grown “spirit grass” that could be found in certain popular parks. I’d just never realized that they were, technically, dungeon plants.

Or, a dungeon mutation? Dungeon variation? 

My heart hurt and I could see how, as the professor quickly explained the grasses, this kind of classification and description could get complex. For that matter…

“Can we get to something actually useful before Protos turns?” Yorrick called out.

His words, rude as they were, stopped the professor short. She frowned at the unrepentant boy but eventually she nodded.

“As the impatient young noviate has pointed out, concerns about specific definitions are unimportant for your daily delving. It might, depending on your eventual occupation and failure as an adventurer, matter, but that is for another time. The only real concern, for you, as new delvers, is that native plants are more likely to exhibit known behaviors.” She tapped the grasses and then the moss again. “Because they are known, we have details of them. They are most likely to take up large portions of the ecosystem and, when you traverse the fault and the dungeon itself, you can expect certain effects or dangers.” A slight pause, a wry smile. “You can, in effect, prepare for them by studying.

“Transplants, however, are new to the dungeon. They are in the process of mana warping, and as such are unknown quantities. They thus exhibit the most danger.”

“Can monsters not mutate too?” Brand said, leaning forwards. “Surely that’s how bosses are made?”

“Of course. But monsters – and individuals – change at a slower rate. More so, it is rare that any surface monster manages to survive long enough, even in a new fault, for them to mutate to the extent that they pose a danger. Those that do often descend, and either thrive in the new environment or, more likely, die.” A hand reached out and tapped the table. “Some, a few, become valuable enough that they are worth teaching in this class.”

She waited a beat, looking around to see if anyone had anything else to say. She then began to go over the differences between the plants, the moss and fungi, the common properties that we could expect to see and what to watch out for. It was very much a broad overview, and it came at us like a firehose of information that made me think it was time to make friends with Kira.

At least until I had enough funds to purchase a book for myself to take notes too. Until then, I would have to rely on my memory and general understanding. Which, thankfully, was not too bad.

Don’t eat anything.

Don’t touch anything you don’t recognize.

Memorize the plants they told us about at lower levels beyond floor three, because there were a few native plants that were dangerous or mildly poisonous.

Don’t eat anything.

Fungi could explode, so could closed flower bulbs and anything sphere-like. That included ovaloids. Don’t argue about the details. Just try avoiding fights next to them, or throw your enemies that way. Though that could make collecting shards or cores later difficult.

Moss was generally safe, often providing illumination in tunnels. At worst, they were mild irritants, especially in the early levels of the dungeon. There were, however, a few well-known mosses like the Red Tide, whose presence had to be reported. 

Yes, we’d learn that about them later but if it was red, drank blood and glowed: run. 

In fact, anything that liked blood we should be extra wary of.

Most especially, don’t eat anything we were not a hundred and twenty percent certain of.