(17) Restoration

After he finished reading the item description he sat in awe. Essentially, he could be a God in this cave. He looked around at the vast space he was in, realizing just how good the Dungeon rewards were.

There was a natural spring and vegetation to the right, a large flat plateau that was perfect for building small structures to the left, and soft ground throughout the middle that could be easily cultivated. It was giving the homeless a safe place to stay.

Geth stood up and spun in place estimating the space. It was around 20 feet tall, the ceiling was completely flat with no stalactites, just the circular Rune formation that resonated with the crystal in his hand.

The walls of the cave had large stones jutting out, ringing the top near the ceiling. The stones emitted a dim light, which was what allowed him to see. They were spaced perfectly at 15 feet or so apart.

Without measuring, he guessed that the area had to be at least 5 acres. He could just about fit four football fields inside. A small community could easily survive in this place.

Next, he picked up the large core and the card that had fallen. Looking at the card, he became excited instantly.

:Restoration; 50 MP, casts a healing orb around target healing them over time. Duration affected by Wisdom, amount healed per tick affected by Intelligence and caster's HP:

He didn't hesitate as he placed the card on Albus' cover page and watched him absorb it silently. Two pages appeared in Albus' binding, placing themselves between State Change: Earth and Inspection.

He felt the heat of a new Rune appearing in his mind instantly. Closing his eyes, he could see that it looked like liquid fire. The Mana that constantly swirled around in the space flew towards it and cooled it down.

The Rune quickly hardened and became a permanent glowing existence inside of his mind. The Rune looked like clear blue glass. It sat snuggled beside his State Change Rune, which was colored a clear brown.

After the assimilation process finished, he thought that Zolis had to be worried. The battle had taken almost an hour on its own, and he felt he'd been standing here for almost another hour looking through his rewards and tending his wounds.

He rushed back towards the first path in the cave, ignoring the cores scattered on the ground. Once he got to the bend and ran around, he saw Zolis sitting against the wall flipping through her Grimoire, the kids were chasing each other around with the figures he'd made them.

She didn't look at him and just asked "You finally finish that hallway? I was starting to get bored." She teased him.

"I'm sorry I was gone so long." He huffed, thinking she was upset.

At that, she looked up and saw the hundreds of angry red scars that covered his body, along with the fact that he was naked. "What the fuck did you do? It hasn't even been an hour. Don't tell me those water Slimes have such a strong ability."

She looked extremely worried.

"Oh I was..... wait, what do you mean it hasn't been an hour? I've been gone for well over 2 hours." He looked at her strangely, then directed his voice to Albus. "How long has it been since we split up?"

:Approximately 53 minutes: A simple and direct response.

'What the hell?' He thought.

Albus responded again, realizing the problem. :Just like how Defense makes your body strong, Wisdom also makes your mind strong. Your thoughts run much faster than they did before you've arrived here, Approximately three times as fast. It's likely the reason you've felt so much time has passed:

'I'm not sure that I like that.' After realizing the reason he just shook his head and turned back to Zolis. "Follow me, the kids can pick up the cores along the way."

As they walked, he explained the situation and showed her the Lord Core and the Dungeon Crystal. They helped the kids put the cores in the Inventory pouch along the way, claiming the rest of the 20 cores that had been earned in the larger passage.

Once they entered the large cavern, her eyes lit up at the sight in front of her. Now that all the Slime goop had evaporated the place was really quite wondrous. It reminded her of the background pictures she would use of places that fairies would live, mysterious and beautiful.

The light from the walls was reflecting off of the 200 or so cores that littered the floor. The kids were already running around picking them up.

Geth brought her over to the middle where he handed her the boots from the chest. She was excited even though she couldn't see their description.

She wasn't used to walking around barefoot and the cave terrain had been killing her. It was different for the kids, she had struggled to keep shoes on their feet for years.

Geth was still standing around naked, he told her the stats and description of the boots and pants. After that he explained to her the function of the Dungeon Crystal, also letting her know that its controls only worked while they were under the formation on the ceiling.

After that, they washed up well in the pond and he finally put his new pair of pants on. His body instantly felt a bit lighter and stronger, his HP even shot up by another 100 points. He thought that they would look great on him if he lost his belly.

Right now he felt he looked like a shirtless biker wearing nothing but a pair of leather chaps. The tattoos on his right arm and his beard and belly certainly complimented that idea.

After the bath, he felt quite refreshed. He walked to the center of the formation and took the chest over to the small plateau. There was plenty of room to build a few small homes if they wanted, it was about an acre and a half on its own.