picnic

Tonight is the first night that each and every one of them had a different room to rest in. 

Claire laid in her bed, and as was her habit during her past life, started playing with the diamond marble she received from the diamond mouse. 

How is she supposed to use it ? 

She tried putting in her mana. 

There was no reaction. The mana dissipated. 

She tried each and every element, till it came to magic. As soon as magic touched the orb, the bead was like a spunge. 

It sucked up any and all magic that Claire had let out. The orb's magic sucking speed is far greater than her magic juice production. 

She immediately settled into a meditation pose, trying to absorb mana from the waterfall, then trying to push mana into a magic orb, so that it would not run out of juice for the diamond eye to suck. 

After what felt like eternity, it stopped. 

A gigantic picture opened in front of her, with her own self in the picture, sitting with her eyes closed. 

Claire opened her eyes, and there it was ! 

The diamond eye was floating in the air, focussing on her. 

It's the spying device she wanted so desperately. How well does it work ? Does it transmit sound as well as image? 

At first, she felt a little disoriented because the view from the diamond eye was three sixty degrees at the same time. That means she was seeing herself, she could see the fine cracks in the ceiling, and she could see the window slightly trembling with the wind, and she could see the door tightly closed. 

It's disconcerting. 

So, how widely can I use this ? she wondered. 

'First, let's confirm the range.' she thought. 

The door opened automatically, she sent the eye out. The beach is very active. There are crabs crawling all around the beach. Turtles digging pits for their eggs. Then there are sharks prowling the waters, there were even tuna fish which came to shallower waters to hunt. 

The birds flew all over the sky. 

She kept the third eye closer to the ground fearing a bird would swallow the camera. She has no interest in seeing the insides of a bird. 

Time for the second part of the test. 

She directed the third eye to the cliff, then, down the cliff towards the slime dungeon. Caspian returned, stretching inside the dungeon. 

She watched, wondering if she should go pick him up. However, he finished all his stretches, then vanished once more. 

It seems he was going to keep the watch till the end. 

Never mind then. 

Now, the time for the third test. 

She tried imagining the third eye vanishing from the slime dungeon, then appearing at her home. 

When her bedroom appeared in front of her, Claire was shocked ! 

Wow.. that's some range. 

Fourth test… 

Teleport from her home to paradise dungeon ?..

Hmm.. it's a failure. 

Teleport from her home to the slime dungeon ? ..

A success. 

Teleport from slime dungeon to paradise beach ? 

A success.. 

Teleport from paradise beach to mouse field ? … 

Again a success. 

Oh, so the eye can travel anywhere I myself could go to. Claire surmised. 

In that case, can she send it to Dolce and keep a watch on him ? This way, when Dolce comes out of the awakening watch, she would pick him up immediately. 

For tonight, she sent it to Dolce, and slept peacefully. 

She could check on Credence and prudence every two hours, and Dolce was still in a trance, even when credence and prudence came out. Perhaps, the youngest might be the strongest of us all, she mused, as she watched the little guy still holding the purple crystal. 

Dolce woke up, just as they finished breakfast. Claire immediately vanished to the Slime dungeon, from there on, to the sky dragon altar. 

" Hello, little bear ! " she smiled sweetly at Dolce. 

" Sister ! Dolce is Ultra-man now ! Watch ! " he said eagerly, putting both his hands together, and throwing a lightning bolt out. 

The bolt went straight into the sky, then the sky rumbled once … 

" hehe ! " Dolce clutched her skirt, afraid of the sound. It is still of his own making. 

Claire sighed at the sight. 

They can not live in peace any longer it seems… 

However, even if she goes back, she would make the same decision again. She had an ominous feeling. If something bad happens, she would rather the children have some sort of power to protect themselves, than not. 

" It's a secret, little bear ! You are not to be an ultra-man unless I or your brother is with you. Understand ? " Claire asked gently, but firmly. 

" hmm..hmm.. Yes. Dolce is a good boy who listens to sister. " Dolce bounced up and down, still keeping hold on her skirt. 

Claire smiled, and picked him up. 

They appeared in the slime dungeon. 

" Close your eyes now. You are not to open them till I say it's okay. " Claire said, before flying out of the slime dungeon. 

In no time at all, they are landing on the beach once more, this time, ostensibly to hunt. 

" Sister, watch. " Credence and Prudence both put their hands on the ground at the same time. 

A gigantic stone spike grew in the distance, halfway across the beach. It grew to the height of ten meters before it stopped. It's truly a magnificent structure. 

" You did it ? " Claire asked with awe. 

" Yes " the children gleamed with pride. 

" Good job. Let's take you to practice in the afternoon. " Claire told them. 

The spy cam vanished from the sky dragon altar, and went to the paradise beach. Even inside the dungeon, she has full control over how the third eye moves. It's only that as long as she moves the third eye, mana will be spent from the gravity, telekinesis and even wind at times. However, this happens randomly, and it seems the magic core seems to be taking as it needs from other elements she possesses. 

As she continued onwards she realized the sea area of the paradise beach is far bigger than expected. 

Paradise beach is shaped half a crescent. If one must draw a shape, it is like a quadrant, whose outer edge is the beach. It's widest end is half of the radius. It is assumed the dungeon's shape is a quadrant. 

Ideally, this must mean when one travels ' radius ' of distance in a straight line from any part of the beach towards the sea, they should reach the center , Or at least, they should encounter some sort of barrier, limiting the movement. 

However, that was not the case. 

As the third eye kept flying, she noticed the entire sea was polka dotted with submerged sandy beaches. The shape of the dungeon is not a quadrant at all, but it's a full circle. There are more species than armor dropping turtles. There were swordfish, which very much looked like they were going to drop the best swords in the world. 

Then there were Marlins, whose needle nose seemed like it was made of mythril. 

If only she could dive into the sea, she would probably catch a lot more than just getting cutlery. At this moment, she can't do much, but when she comes here next time, she will definitely clear this entire section leaving nothing behind. 

As she moved the eye further out on the sea, she came across something utterly, and totally unexpected. 

There was another place connected to this dungeon. 

From her knowledge, there was only one kind of place that could be connected like this.

 There was an altar attached to this dungeon. 

The altar of the sea ! 

Oh, why.. Oh, why were they unable to think of this ? When the sea beast invasion came through they did not understand where and why it's coming for their base. Now that she thinks back, those sea beasts did not look like they were controlled by a person at all. It's just that Caspian Orca came with them, or probably, it's even that he was in a fight with some of those beings ! 

If an altar is left alone to collect energy for a long time, it will explode in magical energy. Before that, almost all the animals who could absorb that sort of energy would feel a call. No wonder the animals are so much in a frenzy ! 

She entered the portal, took a look at the altar, which looked like a gigantic water drop floating in nothing, ebbing and swirling slowly. 

As soon as Caspian returns, she might have to take him here. Ofcourse, that's not without conditions. 

Now that she did her perimeter check of the day, she teleported the eye to a rooster's dungeon. Seems the eggs are piled up once more. 

Tomorrow, she could pick them up in the morning, before the children wake up. 

Next up, she checked the 'A' dungeon. A month has passed since the time she first entered. The entire dungeon has reset, along with the crops. But most importantly, this time, she found out the cows were just left alone in pens. 

Finally ! I have milk ! she thought happily, unaware what sort of trouble was coming for her.