[Luna POV]
The next morning, we were picking up camp when I felt the domain around the floating island start to disappear. I told the others what was going on and then teleported over there to pick up Mio. I found her sitting on the front step of the mansion with an extremely please look on her face.
“Seems you enjoyed yourselves.” (Luna)
“Sure did nya. I nyever knew doing that with someone else was so much better than doing it by myself nya.” (Mio)
“I didn’t need to know that much, but I’m happy you had a good time. Are you ready to continue traveling?” (Luna)
“Yep nya. How far did you guys get nya?” (Mio)
“Not really sure. Ophidia and I had a race yesterday and we made a lot of ground, but I have no clue how close we got to the crystal city in that time.” (Luna)
“You don’t have a map nya?” (Mio)
“We do, but I haven’t checked it since we set out yesterday. We were picking up camp when I felt the domain disappear.” (Luna)
“I see nya. Anyway nya, let’s get going nya.” (Mio)
I grabbed Mio’s shoulder and teleported us back to the others.
“I’m back nya.” (Mio)
“Hey Mio.” (Ophidia)
“You know, I missed the nyas.” (Soleil)
“Same. It’s something hard to get used to not hearing after so long of hearing it.” (Velvet)
“Aww nya. I’m so happy you guys missed me nya. Wait nya, that’s nyot right nya.” (Mio)
“Hahaha. Don’t worry, Mio, we understood what you were trying to say.” (Skadi)
“Nyahahaha.” (Mio)
“Well then, since we’re all ready, let’s head out once more.” (Luna)
“Master, are we going to continue like we did yesterday, or are we going back to just walking?” (Ophidia)
“Let’s start off walking and if nothing interesting happens for a bit, we can speed up like we did yesterday, though we won’t be racing.” (Luna)
“Alright.” (Ophidia)
With everyone ready to move, we left the side of the chasm and walked in the direction of the crystal city. Not much special had happened during this trip except the occasional worm attack. After about a week of this, we finally started seeing changes in the so far never-ending grey stone walls. Every so often we would find sparkling crystals jutting out from the walls, ceiling, and floor.
“How pretty nya.” (Mio)
“And shiny. Mesmerizingly so.” (Luna)
{You do live shiny things, don’t you Luna.}
“I do, Tamamo, I do.” (Luna)
“Are you sure you’re not part dragon?” (Skadi)
“Not that I know of.” (Luna)
{She is 100% kitsune demigoddess. No dragon lineage whatsoever.}
“…Should I ask why you are so certain about that, Tamamo? Or why you could answer that so quickly?” (Skadi)
{It’s only natural that I know the entire family history of my wife. So what if I had to ask a favor of Gear to do so?}
“When did you do that, Tamamo?” (Luna)
{In the years where all I could do is watch you but not speak to you. No offense, but even I got bored watching you lay in a crib staring off into space.}
“None taken. Those were truly boring times. Just laying there staring at the ceiling and watching lesser spirits float around…for days upon days upon days. Honestly, I’m surprised I made it out of that time with my sanity mostly intact.” (Luna)
“Why do you say mostly, big sis? You seem pretty sane to me.” (Soleil)
“Guess I’m doing something wrong then.” (Luna)
“But Soleil said something good.” (Velvet)
“Yes, she did, but sanity is also overrated. Aren’t people like us supposed to be at least a little crazy?” (Luna)
“I’m with Lunya on this one nya. As S-rank adventurers, we’re supposed to be somewhat crazy, or at the very least eccentric nya. It’s the way of the world nya.” (Mio)
“Yep. Though if I had to say, we’re probably the sanest S-ranks out there. All the others are a special kind of crazy.” (Skadi)
“Speaking of them, how have we not met any of them? I mean sure, we met Mio who was S-rank before we were, but what of the others?” (Ophidia)
“Well, from what Velvet told me when we first started out, most S-ranks went to the fiendlands to hunt dungeons or something like that.” (Luna)
“Yeah, that’s what my people had gathered back then. As for now, I have no idea what’s up with them.” (Velvet)
“How stupid. The fiendlands don’t have any special dungeons. If anything, the dungeons there would be weaker than the ones in any of the other countries.” (Skadi)
“Huh. I wonder if we’ll meet any more of them before I ascend? I hope so, but it’s not like I really care if we don’t.” (Luna)
When I finished that sentence, a weird feeling washed over me. I tilted my head in confusion before shrugging it off.
{Luna? Are you feeling alright?}
‘Yeah, for a second I felt…something, but I don’t know what it was, so it’s probably not anything to worry about.’
{I see. If you ever get that feeling again, tell me.}
‘Naturally.’
As we continued this line of conversation, we entered a cavern that was smaller than the one with the pillars of rock and the chasm, but it was made almost completely of crystals. There were all shapes and sizes of them jutting out everywhere. Some of them produced light which reflected off of others making the entire place like the inside of a kaleidoscope.
“Woooooooow. This is beautiful.” (Soleil)
“Amazing nya.” (Mio)
“So many colors.” (Luna)
“Hehehe. It’s nice to see this place hasn’t changed since back then. And it’s still as beautiful.” (Skadi)
I looked over to Velvet and Ophidia and saw that they had awed expressions on their faces. I was about to say something to them when Velvet spoke up.
“Wait, are these what I think they are?” (Velvet)
Velvet moved over to a small space that was somewhat separated from the path. It was a circular, almost domelike formation made of foggy white crystals.
“Oh, how rare.” (Skadi)
“What is it?” (Luna)
“Crystals that naturally repel magic. It bounces right off.” (Velvet)
Hearing those words, a smile spread across my face.
“Fufufu. Is that so?” (Luna)
“Luna, I have a feeling I know what you are about to do and since I can’t stop you, please don’t go overboard and use magic that will instantly obliterate the crystals.” (Velvet)
“I know, I wasn’t going to go that far anyway.” (Luna)
I stepped into the center of the formation and pointed a finger at a wall. I shot a small, weak bolt of lightning from that finger and when it made contact with the wall, it bounced off in a random direction. It hit another spot and ricocheted in my direction. I dodged it and the bolt kept ricocheting over and over again while I dodged it every time it flew toward me.
“Fufufufufufu. This is fun.” (Luna)
I fired off more small lightning bolts to add to the fun and soon I was constantly moving around dodging magic. At some point during this, I could tell my dance skill kicked in so I could only imagine what this was like from the other’s point of view.
[Velvet POV]
“Is it wrong of me to want to try that out as well?” (Velvet)
“No, since I do as well. It seems like so much fun as well as a good way to train. Not that any of us really need any training.” (Skadi)
“Is it just me, or is she just dancing now?” (Soleil)
“Well, the dance skill also activates when you dodge something enough, so technically, she is.” (Ophidia)
Paying closer attention to Luna’s movements while she dodged magic after magic over and over again, I could see where Soleil and Ophidia were coming from. Her movements were fluid and there was not a single step was wasted. Every bolt of lightning missed her by centimeters and the silver light reflecting off the crystals gave this performance the perfect stage. It was captivating to watch.
“Nya!” (Mio)
“What happened, Mio?” (Velvet)
“Her necklace got hit nya.” (Mio)
I looked over to Luna’s neck and sure enough the necklace snapped off. The illusion magic on Luna lifted revealing her six other tails. This, however, made the performance in front of us even more mesmerizing. Her tails danced along with her body in a show that would captivate anyone that passed by.
Luna also noticed her necklace snapped, so she decided to wrap up this little sideshow. She continued to dodge magic while catching a bolt of lightning every time it passed near her hands. Soon enough, she had caught every bolt before crushing them in her hand causing the silver glow to immediately disappear. She stepped out of the formation and sat down on a crystal nearby.
“Whew. That was fun. And Velvet, sorry about breaking the necklace you gave me.” (Luna)
“You don’t need to apologize. It wasn’t that big of a thing.” (Velvet)
“Nonsense, it was something you gifted to me when we were still at the beginning of our journey. It might not have been important to you, but it was to me, and I don’t mean just because it was what hid my other tails.” (Luna)
“Oh…I…I don’t know what to say about that.” (Velvet)
“Guess I’ll have to get it repaired next time I find a jeweler. But what to do? What do I temporarily enchant for the time being?” (Luna)
“Big sis, I refuse to believe that you don’t have some unenchanted jewelry in your inventory.” (Soleil)
“It’s not that I don’t, I just don’t know what to enchant.” (Luna)
“Why nyot a ring nya? You’re already wearing three, so why nyot add one more nya?” (Mio)
Luna sat there in thought for a minute before a smile spread across her face. It was the same smile she always got when she thought of something she thought was funny.
“Mio, you genius, you absolute genius. Also, Skadi, are there any volcanoes in this country?” (Luna)
“One or two. Why?” (Skadi)
“Fufufufufufufufufu. We’re going to have to visit one before we leave this country.” (Luna)
Luna then pulled out a simple gold ring from her inventory, enchanted it, and slipped it on the index finger of her right hand. Her six other tails disappeared and she stood up.
“Now, is anyone else going to try that out, or are we moving on already?” (Luna)
Soleil, Ophidia, and Skadi said they wanted to try out what Luna was just doing, so we decided that we would stay in this spot for the night as well. While those three took turns playing around in the crystal formation, the rest of us set up camp.
Chaos Realm:
Fenrir: Ok, so why is he freaking out and why is Order looking exasperated but not stopping him?
Atmos: Just wait and you'll see.
Fenrir: Seriously, I leave for one week mortal world time and I miss out on so much. And who is that?
Atmos: Oh, that's Crisis, Goddess of Insanity and Void. The one sleeping over there is Tonya, Goddess of Sleep.
Order, is this good enough, or should I reinforce the place even more?
Order: This is the sixth time you've reinforced the place, sit down and relax.
I can't. My excitement is overflowing and I need something to do or I feel like I'll explode.
Order: I understand, but still, you need to calm down.
Atmos: He's going to be one of THEM, huh.
Crisis: Yep.
Fenrir: Oi! Why are you grabbing my tail?
Tonya: Nya. Nyot fluffy like Luna's nya, but still fluffy enough nya. Good pillow nya.
Fenrir: Atmos, help.
Atmos: Just accept it. Tonya has a way of always getting what she wants when it comes to using people as pillows.
Fenrir: *Sigh*
[Luna POV]
The next morning, we were picking up camp when I felt the domain around the floating island start to disappear. I told the others what was going on and then teleported over there to pick up Mio. I found her sitting on the front step of the mansion with an extremely please look on her face.
“Seems you enjoyed yourselves.” (Luna)
“Sure did nya. I nyever knew doing that with someone else was so much better than doing it by myself nya.” (Mio)
“I didn’t need to know that much, but I’m happy you had a good time. Are you ready to continue traveling?” (Luna)
“Yep nya. How far did you guys get nya?” (Mio)
“Not really sure. Ophidia and I had a race yesterday and we made a lot of ground, but I have no clue how close we got to the crystal city in that time.” (Luna)
“You don’t have a map nya?” (Mio)
“We do, but I haven’t checked it since we set out yesterday. We were picking up camp when I felt the domain disappear.” (Luna)
“I see nya. Anyway nya, let’s get going nya.” (Mio)
I grabbed Mio’s shoulder and teleported us back to the others.
“I’m back nya.” (Mio)
“Hey Mio.” (Ophidia)
“You know, I missed the nyas.” (Soleil)
“Same. It’s something hard to get used to not hearing after so long of hearing it.” (Velvet)
“Aww nya. I’m so happy you guys missed me nya. Wait nya, that’s nyot right nya.” (Mio)
“Hahaha. Don’t worry, Mio, we understood what you were trying to say.” (Skadi)
“Nyahahaha.” (Mio)
“Well then, since we’re all ready, let’s head out once more.” (Luna)
“Master, are we going to continue like we did yesterday, or are we going back to just walking?” (Ophidia)
“Let’s start off walking and if nothing interesting happens for a bit, we can speed up like we did yesterday, though we won’t be racing.” (Luna)
“Alright.” (Ophidia)
With everyone ready to move, we left the side of the chasm and walked in the direction of the crystal city. Not much special had happened during this trip except the occasional worm attack. After about a week of this, we finally started seeing changes in the so far never-ending grey stone walls. Every so often we would find sparkling crystals jutting out from the walls, ceiling, and floor.
“How pretty nya.” (Mio)
“And shiny. Mesmerizingly so.” (Luna)
{You do live shiny things, don’t you Luna.}
“I do, Tamamo, I do.” (Luna)
“Are you sure you’re not part dragon?” (Skadi)
“Not that I know of.” (Luna)
{She is 100% kitsune demigoddess. No dragon lineage whatsoever.}
“…Should I ask why you are so certain about that, Tamamo? Or why you could answer that so quickly?” (Skadi)
{It’s only natural that I know the entire family history of my wife. So what if I had to ask a favor of Gear to do so?}
“When did you do that, Tamamo?” (Luna)
{In the years where all I could do is watch you but not speak to you. No offense, but even I got bored watching you lay in a crib staring off into space.}
“None taken. Those were truly boring times. Just laying there staring at the ceiling and watching lesser spirits float around…for days upon days upon days. Honestly, I’m surprised I made it out of that time with my sanity mostly intact.” (Luna)
“Why do you say mostly, big sis? You seem pretty sane to me.” (Soleil)
“Guess I’m doing something wrong then.” (Luna)
“But Soleil said something good.” (Velvet)
“Yes, she did, but sanity is also overrated. Aren’t people like us supposed to be at least a little crazy?” (Luna)
“I’m with Lunya on this one nya. As S-rank adventurers, we’re supposed to be somewhat crazy, or at the very least eccentric nya. It’s the way of the world nya.” (Mio)
“Yep. Though if I had to say, we’re probably the sanest S-ranks out there. All the others are a special kind of crazy.” (Skadi)
“Speaking of them, how have we not met any of them? I mean sure, we met Mio who was S-rank before we were, but what of the others?” (Ophidia)
“Well, from what Velvet told me when we first started out, most S-ranks went to the fiendlands to hunt dungeons or something like that.” (Luna)
“Yeah, that’s what my people had gathered back then. As for now, I have no idea what’s up with them.” (Velvet)
“How stupid. The fiendlands don’t have any special dungeons. If anything, the dungeons there would be weaker than the ones in any of the other countries.” (Skadi)
“Huh. I wonder if we’ll meet any more of them before I ascend? I hope so, but it’s not like I really care if we don’t.” (Luna)
When I finished that sentence, a weird feeling washed over me. I tilted my head in confusion before shrugging it off.
{Luna? Are you feeling alright?}
‘Yeah, for a second I felt…something, but I don’t know what it was, so it’s probably not anything to worry about.’
{I see. If you ever get that feeling again, tell me.}
‘Naturally.’
As we continued this line of conversation, we entered a cavern that was smaller than the one with the pillars of rock and the chasm, but it was made almost completely of crystals. There were all shapes and sizes of them jutting out everywhere. Some of them produced light which reflected off of others making the entire place like the inside of a kaleidoscope.
“Woooooooow. This is beautiful.” (Soleil)
“Amazing nya.” (Mio)
“So many colors.” (Luna)
“Hehehe. It’s nice to see this place hasn’t changed since back then. And it’s still as beautiful.” (Skadi)
I looked over to Velvet and Ophidia and saw that they had awed expressions on their faces. I was about to say something to them when Velvet spoke up.
“Wait, are these what I think they are?” (Velvet)
Velvet moved over to a small space that was somewhat separated from the path. It was a circular, almost domelike formation made of foggy white crystals.
“Oh, how rare.” (Skadi)
“What is it?” (Luna)
“Crystals that naturally repel magic. It bounces right off.” (Velvet)
Hearing those words, a smile spread across my face.
“Fufufu. Is that so?” (Luna)
“Luna, I have a feeling I know what you are about to do and since I can’t stop you, please don’t go overboard and use magic that will instantly obliterate the crystals.” (Velvet)
“I know, I wasn’t going to go that far anyway.” (Luna)
I stepped into the center of the formation and pointed a finger at a wall. I shot a small, weak bolt of lightning from that finger and when it made contact with the wall, it bounced off in a random direction. It hit another spot and ricocheted in my direction. I dodged it and the bolt kept ricocheting over and over again while I dodged it every time it flew toward me.
“Fufufufufufu. This is fun.” (Luna)
I fired off more small lightning bolts to add to the fun and soon I was constantly moving around dodging magic. At some point during this, I could tell my dance skill kicked in so I could only imagine what this was like from the other’s point of view.
[Velvet POV]
“Is it wrong of me to want to try that out as well?” (Velvet)
“No, since I do as well. It seems like so much fun as well as a good way to train. Not that any of us really need any training.” (Skadi)
“Is it just me, or is she just dancing now?” (Soleil)
“Well, the dance skill also activates when you dodge something enough, so technically, she is.” (Ophidia)
Paying closer attention to Luna’s movements while she dodged magic after magic over and over again, I could see where Soleil and Ophidia were coming from. Her movements were fluid and there was not a single step was wasted. Every bolt of lightning missed her by centimeters and the silver light reflecting off the crystals gave this performance the perfect stage. It was captivating to watch.
“Nya!” (Mio)
“What happened, Mio?” (Velvet)
“Her necklace got hit nya.” (Mio)
I looked over to Luna’s neck and sure enough the necklace snapped off. The illusion magic on Luna lifted revealing her six other tails. This, however, made the performance in front of us even more mesmerizing. Her tails danced along with her body in a show that would captivate anyone that passed by.
Luna also noticed her necklace snapped, so she decided to wrap up this little sideshow. She continued to dodge magic while catching a bolt of lightning every time it passed near her hands. Soon enough, she had caught every bolt before crushing them in her hand causing the silver glow to immediately disappear. She stepped out of the formation and sat down on a crystal nearby.
“Whew. That was fun. And Velvet, sorry about breaking the necklace you gave me.” (Luna)
“You don’t need to apologize. It wasn’t that big of a thing.” (Velvet)
“Nonsense, it was something you gifted to me when we were still at the beginning of our journey. It might not have been important to you, but it was to me, and I don’t mean just because it was what hid my other tails.” (Luna)
“Oh…I…I don’t know what to say about that.” (Velvet)
“Guess I’ll have to get it repaired next time I find a jeweler. But what to do? What do I temporarily enchant for the time being?” (Luna)
“Big sis, I refuse to believe that you don’t have some unenchanted jewelry in your inventory.” (Soleil)
“It’s not that I don’t, I just don’t know what to enchant.” (Luna)
“Why nyot a ring nya? You’re already wearing three, so why nyot add one more nya?” (Mio)
Luna sat there in thought for a minute before a smile spread across her face. It was the same smile she always got when she thought of something she thought was funny.
“Mio, you genius, you absolute genius. Also, Skadi, are there any volcanoes in this country?” (Luna)
“One or two. Why?” (Skadi)
“Fufufufufufufufufu. We’re going to have to visit one before we leave this country.” (Luna)
Luna then pulled out a simple gold ring from her inventory, enchanted it, and slipped it on the index finger of her right hand. Her six other tails disappeared and she stood up.
“Now, is anyone else going to try that out, or are we moving on already?” (Luna)
Soleil, Ophidia, and Skadi said they wanted to try out what Luna was just doing, so we decided that we would stay in this spot for the night as well. While those three took turns playing around in the crystal formation, the rest of us set up camp.
Chaos Realm:
Fenrir: Ok, so why is he freaking out and why is Order looking exasperated but not stopping him?
Atmos: Just wait and you'll see.
Fenrir: Seriously, I leave for one week mortal world time and I miss out on so much. And who is that?
Atmos: Oh, that's Crisis, Goddess of Insanity and Void. The one sleeping over there is Tonya, Goddess of Sleep.
Order, is this good enough, or should I reinforce the place even more?
Order: This is the sixth time you've reinforced the place, sit down and relax.
I can't. My excitement is overflowing and I need something to do or I feel like I'll explode.
Order: I understand, but still, you need to calm down.
Atmos: He's going to be one of THEM, huh.
Crisis: Yep.
Fenrir: Oi! Why are you grabbing my tail?
Tonya: Nya. Nyot fluffy like Luna's nya, but still fluffy enough nya. Good pillow nya.
Fenrir: Atmos, help.
Atmos: Just accept it. Tonya has a way of always getting what she wants when it comes to using people as pillows.
Fenrir: *Sigh*
