Chapter 24: Secret Stash!

Waking up from a good sleep, I exited the bed and did a few stretches before leaving the room; entering the kitchen, I saw Master preparing breakfast as usual, and though we had that talk yesterday, I was still a little awkward around her.

"Good morning, Alexander." Said Lavender as she glanced at Alexander.

"G-Good morning, Master." Replied Alexander with a light blush as he sat at the table and waited for Lavender to finish cooking.

Once Master finished cooking breakfast, which just consisted of eggs, waffles, and a few slices of bacon, I thanked her for the meal like usual, while the two of us ate in relative silence; I was still a little awkward from yesterday, and Master seemed to be enjoying the peace.

Only when the two of us finished eating did I gather enough courage to ask Master, resulting in the tranquility that silence brought to be broken.

"I've concluded that I wish to be a warrior, and I would like it if you could offer your thoughts on the matter, Master." Stated Alexander seriously while looking at Lavender, who raised a brow and frowned at his statement, slightly catching him off guard.

"Do you not like it, Master? Should I not be a warrior?" Implored Alexander.

"No, that's not it, Alexander; if you wish to be a warrior, I will not stop you; however, I personally think deciding to be a warrior instead of a magic warrior is wasting your massive talent in magic." Said Lavender solemnly while sighing.

"Magic warrior? Isn't that the same thing as a warrior? Don't they both use mana?" Questioned Alexander in confusion.

"Ah, I must've not informed you about a magic warrior; I could've sworn I had thought I did. Anyways, a magic warrior and a warrior are two different things; a warrior is someone who relies only on their physical attributes, making them a formidable opponent in close-quarters combat, yet as long as you keep a distance from them, they are hardly a problem. On the other hand, Magic warriors rely both on their body and mana, causing them to be a scarce sight, yet they're a terrifying opponent to face whether it's close-quarters or long-distance combat." Explained Lavender with a frown before sighing and shaking her head.

"I didn't know there was a difference; I had thought all warriors used mana, or at least neutral mana, to enhance their physique." Remarked Alexander with a nod of his head.

"Not at all; neutral mana, while relatively common, isn't awakened inside everyone; most warriors you'll meet in the future won't have any affinities toward mana, and those that do will either have very low affinities or will be completely clueless about their affines." Said Lavender lightly while taking a sip from her glass cup.

"Well, anyways, I don't have any desire to give up using mana, so it looks like I'll be a magic warrior; however, I still don't have any idea what kind of weapon I shall use." Muttered Alexander with a frown.

"As your Master, I can solve that for you; follow me; I'm about to show you my hidden stash." Declared Lavender with a slight smile as she stood up and headed toward the house's entrance.

Although confused, I followed Master as I was also interested in what she was about to show me; since we exited the house, I figured we would have to enter the forest to arrive at the desired location, but I was wrong.

'Behind the tree? It can't be an illusion; I would've noticed it by now.' Thought Alexander as he tilted his head in confusion while standing beside Lavender.

"Hold my hand, Alexander." Said Lavender as she reached her arm toward Alexander while her other hand was partially sinking into the tree.

"Umm, Master, you're not about to do what I think you're about to do, are you? Will this even work? I'm not a Dryad!" Declared Alexander anxiously as he hesitantly held Lavender's hand, which slightly eased his nerves.

"Fufu, don't worry, this isn't the first time I've done this; just whatever you do, don't let go of my hand; I'm sure you don't wish to become one with a tree." Said Lavender with a slight smile as she began to enter the tree while Alexander reluctantly followed.

Quickly taking a big gulp of air in case, for some reason, I got stuck in the middle of the tree; while holding Master's hand, I felt her suddenly yank my arm into the tree, which caused me to lose my balance and fall into the tree.

I was about to yell at her, but I managed to stop myself just in time before I wasted my precious oxygen; looking around, I noted everything was pitch black, though that didn't surprise me, considering I was currently in the middle of a tree. As I used the skill [Heroes Gaze], all of a sudden, the darkness disappeared, and what welcomed my eyes was like an ethereal network of infinitely expanding lines; It was an incredible sight to see.

'This must be how Master navigates through trees; those colorful dots must be trees, and the ethereal lines must be pathways to various other trees.' Thought Alexander while eyeing the ethereal network.

'It's quite a sight, Isn't it?' Questioned Lavender with a light smile.

'Yeah, it is, though; how are we even communicating? Neither of us are speaking?' Replied Alexander curiously.

'We're speaking through our souls or mind; whenever someone traverses through the network of Eywa, their body is put into suspended animation, and only their soul remains active.' Said Lavender as she began to float downwards while pulling Alexander with her.

With Master pulling us down, she suddenly stopped before I noticed parts of my body began disappearing, causing me to believe we'd reached our destination. Once Master's body entirely disappeared, I prepared myself in case she wanted to suddenly yank my arm again, yet she only pulled me normally, causing me to look blankly at her once I fully separated from the tree.

"We're here; this is everything I've collected throughout my life." Announced Lavender with her hands on her hips while displaying a prideful smile.

Seeing how Master was blatantly ignoring me, I also ignored her and observed the massive room we were in, and I was pretty shocked by the sheer amount of objects I could see. There were many items such as rings, bracelets, body armor, clothes, magic wands or staffs, floating objects that I had no idea what they were, weird objects that I could tell were dangerous with one look, and many other things I didn't even know how to describe.

"That's a lot of stuff, though I hope this is already organized." Remarked Alexander as he whistled in amazement while walking down the stairs from his elevated position.

"Ugh, don't even remind me about it; organizing all this stuff was a pain in the ass." Muttered Lavender as she huffed in annoyance while following Alexander.

"Anyways, where are we? Seeing how we seemed to have exited from some roots, I assume we're underground?" Asked Alexander curiously.

"Yes, and quite deep underground, I believe nearly a full kilometer deep. I can't have anyone accidentally discovering this place." Replied Lavender with a nod.

"So, since this is all stuff you own, and considering you don't seem to have any family members, will this all be mine in the future?" Asked Alexander, though it seemed Lavender didn't like his question as she smacked the back of his head.

"Ow, what was that for, Master!? It was just a question." Exclaimed Alexander with an annoyed expression as he eyed Lavender.

"For the record, I do have a family; a younger sister, three nieces, one nephew, a few grand-nieces and nephews, and last time I've checked, they haven't had any kids yet. Then again, it's been about 100 years since I've last seen them." Stated Lavender as she glared at Alexander.

"But yes, since you're my disciple, all of this stuff will be yours; my family isn't really in need of any of this, though, just so you know, you'll only be acquiring this after I die." Added Lavender.

I was decently surprised to hear Master had a family, considering I've never once heard her speak about them, and from how she spoke, it didn't seem like she had a bad relationship with them either.

"I didn't know you had a family, Master; how come you've never mentioned them? I've heard you mention your little adventurer group more than your own family." Asked Alexander curiously, though from how he worded it, she almost smacked him again.

"Little?" Muttered Lavender as her face twitched in annoyance.

"There is no reason I've never mentioned my family; I just never have; also, I've spent much more of my life with my 'little' adventurer group, so if anything, they're more of a family to me than my blood family. Well, they should've been, at least." Said Lavender with a shake of her head as she mumbled the last part to herself.

"I suppose that makes sense." Said Alexander while nodding.

Once we arrived at the bottom of the stairs, which were quite long, I had Master take the lead as I had no idea where I was going; while following behind her, I would glance at the various objects we passed by before we finally reached our destination.

"Why do you need this many weapons? Were you trying to supply an army or something, Master?" Asked Alexander rhetorically as he eyed the tens of barrels filled with weapons.

"No, I had already done that; this is merely the leftover weapons I decided to keep." Replied Lavender lightly, her words shocking Alexander.

'I can't tell if she's joking or not.' Thought Alexander as he found it hard to believe her, even though he knew she was telling the truth.

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Created a discord server, so if anyone wishes to join, it also works this time; I've reset it again, https://discord.gg/FTH6ms5n

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Elven Legacy (Chapter 149: Elif & Comet) || Hero of Harmony (Chapter 29: What Is a Hero?) || One Piece: Chaos Kong (Chapter 43: Freyja & Sebas) at [patreon.com/Ozonelayer691]