There is No Epic Loot Here, Only Puns

53: Devine Bobbing

There was a sense of satisfaction Delta felt when she had seen Grim had frozen in shocked awe at the sight of her jungle. From the entrance, it was now impossible to see beyond the trees now.

It was so different from how it started. An empty box to a thriving land of green.

Grim neck craned as the trees, that now formed solid looking walls of nature, towered far above. He inhaled as the Wyin tree above softly sprinkled the green mana on him with a swish of its almost willowy branches.

"Minty..." he mumbled as he took a few hesitant steps forward before stopping.

"I'm going to have to get past that pig guy on the way out... Ugh, I should have bought a Geon-away or maybe actually asked Dad for an escape scroll... But then he would ask why and I can't exactly say I was going into the dungeon," Grim sighed aloud.

"Maybe you should just not come to a dungeon and cause trouble? Well, other ones might try to kill you, to be fair but I really, really, tried to make your life easy and let you walk away," Delta huffed which make the boy pause as if hearing something just out of hearing range.

"Creepy jungle," he said finally and Delta raised one brow at his back.

"Oh do explain how my cool jungle is creepy? It's pretty and green, has frog people and bees!" she listed with her fingers but stopped as Grim frowned at the trees.

"There are no birds... I never knew trees could be so bad without things living in them," he shivered and began to move down the thin path that cut through the blooming wild bushes and patches of grass that grew slightly on the path.

Delta stared at Grim then at her trees.

She listened but sure enough... silence greeted her other than the distant roaring of the water falling.

"Frig... I forgot to add ambience to my jungle," she cursed to herself as she stomped after Grim with a hint of shame hovering over her head. The damn kid had done nothing but point out weak spots and insult her dungeon and he had the gall to complain to her?

Delta glowered.

Until Grim lost that backpack, Delta would tolerate him.

Not that the kid had really anything else to offer than more stress at this point.

---

Great Mushy slithered his thorny tentacles around his enclosed space as a box flashed repeated in his face. The issue was twofold to the fungi-monster.

One, the box was ever so bright and to the creature that had lived naught but in the darkest parts of Mother's dungeon, this was beginning to hurt it's eyes. However, as the light blinked on and off, as if revealing Great to some unseen audience, the mushroom monster found himself sort of enjoying the light.

The second problem was the issue of the fact Great didn't know how to read.

He had pondered this for a moment before he closed his eyes. That was not strictly true...

Great could listen to music that flowed from Mother, note after note. What were these squiggles of words but notes of the voice? Great blinked his eyes opened and hissed with a cackle. He pulled on Mother's glowing being of sound and pulsating joy.

Music was the key. Letter by letter, he began to softly hiss out the message on the box.

Greater Mushy has reached the requirements to evolve into a unique evolution.
Practise musical arts.Pushed past violent nature to seek greater heights.Lured someone in with a soothing melody.Listened to over 100 songs.

Would you like to evolve into 'Mushroom Maestro'? You cannot turn back once you choose this so please consider carefully.

Yes/No?

Great flicked a vine with idle thought.

With so little guests... Great had nothing to do but listen to Mother's music to pass the time and try to imitate the sounds on his own.

Who knew it would pay off?

Evolution... yes... he had experienced that before. From the runt of a tiny spitter to his current self. Such growth...such potential. Mother had given him the tools to achieve this. Her open heart, filled to the brim with this joyous music, was something he carefully pulled at.

He was... scared that if he became greedy, he would damage her. The thought was unbearable, he clenched his vine and pierced his own flesh in agitation of the thought.

Great was one of her first. Something he had great pride in and while he may not... be as loved as his brother, Mr, he tried to impress Mother in his own way. She liked his music and that made Great love it more in return.

He had never loved before and the feeling itched at him like insects in his cap. Itchy but... not unwanted.

This was his chance to make Mother even happier and for Great to see how far music could take him.

If any fool got between him and the music he sent to Mother... he would show them why he was the more dangerous brother by far.

"....Y...es," he hissed with effort, drooling acid at the effort.