Chapter 400: We Meet Again, Astronaut Clay Figurine
Black Mountain-chan and Uncle Boulder gave me a jet-black pine as a souvenir after chatting with them. Ah, thanks, but what I need is ebony.
I 【Teleport】 back to the lake where Dogu lives and had a late lunch first. If I successfully got some ebony, I planned to turn them into lumber this afternoon, but it seems it would be impossible for today.
I opened the basket-shaped bento box and three onigiri with fillings of salmon, chili leaves, and grilled cod roe and some side dishes came to view. There’s also egg omelets, sausages, karaage, and shibazuke — veggies that have been soaked in shiso leaves.
I also prepared salted salmon roe and shrimp tempura fillings, but I ended up picking ingredients that seemed to be traditionally used for onigiri that’s meant to be eaten outside.
I feel a bit chilly, so let’s have some miso soup. Hmm, tonjiru or kasujiru*? I have pre-made bowls of them in the 【Storage】, ready to eat anytime! So convenient, although all this pre-made stuff is making me suffer from chronic shortage of plates and bowls.
I ended up choosing the kasujiru and gulped it down. Carrots, radish, konjac… Actually, the base isn’t that different from tonjiru, I just used salmon instead of pork as main ingredients. Perch also works, but this time I used it as the base dashi stock and coupled with the chunks of salmon, the soup turned out delicious.
Ah, the soup and the onigiri filling ended up overlapping with both of them made with salmon. Oh well, I guess the mouthfeel of grilled fish is different from the soft chunks in the soup so it’s still fine.
My chest, hands and feet warmed up, and I took a bite of the rice balls. The crispy nori gave off a nice scent, and the rice tasted great.
It’d be nice to have some wiener — the red kind — at times like this. Unfortunately, I chose the more expensive type so there’s no red ones in the 『Pantry』. Oh well, I guess dyeing them can work.
I finished my lunch and dived straight into the dark gray lake to do my original errand. The scenery changed from the bleak and dreary northern landscape, then the cold and murky waters, before transforming into a shockingly bright seascape.
I dived further until I reached a certain depth, and when I looked up, the water had turned into a deep azure shade overhead. Dainty leaves with hues of vivid verdure, pea-green and scarlet swayed in my wake because of the currents made by movements, releasing air bubbles as they do so into the water. These sea grasses looked more delicate than the vegetation on land. They seem to have photosynthesis working for them — this place is so deep, so where does the light come from?
It also seems like the water and the plants themselves glow. It’s a very mysterious place. The schools of tiny fishes moved as one, as if they’re dancing as a group. Upon a closer look, I spot a few spirits mingling among them.
While naming the water spirits, I reached the place overgrown by trees. I scanned the place, searching for Dogu’s figure.
Ah, found it.
「Erm, please pardon my intrusion once again. 」
Dogu had been hiding half of her body in the shadow of the trees, but she immediately scurried to completely hide when I called to her. As a result, the other half of her body peeked out from the other side. Indeed, Dogu is huge.
「I came here today because I have a favor to ask. I would be truly grateful if you agree to exchange this soil with the ebony growing here.」
I pulled 5 sacks containing soil infused with Pal’s power from【Storage】.
The current became stronger, and it pushed the sacks away from me, and they were sucked into Dogu’s eyes one after the other. Dogu’s body was probably digesting it now, but it also made me curious about how she did it.
And just like before, the emptied sacks floated back to me, and all of a sudden, five or six trees were uprooted from different places ー she must’ve considered the arrangement of the trees.
「Ah, no, you’d lose a lot if you pull too much, just the ebony is fine ー huh, you already pulled them out so it’s fine? Oh, alright then, thanks a lot. 」
ーWait, I chatted with Dogu for the first time ever!!
Just as that thought crossed my mind, Dogu abruptly shot off, leaving bubbles in her wake and reminding me of a balloon that suddenly lost its air. I was dumbfounded.
「Thanks. 」
I faced the direction where she vanished and expressed my thanks again.
Ack, she’s back in a blink of an eye, right in the shadow of the ginormous tree where she had been hiding earlier! I totally didn’t see her; she’s so fast despite her size. It’s too strange.
「Thanks, next time I’ll bring you some soil again without asking for trees. Ah, I received some Black Mountain pines, do you want one? 」
I turned again to where Dogu was and faced her. She was behaving suspiciously.
「It’s like this, though. 」
I took out one of the jet-black gigantic pine trees that Black Mountain-chan gave me and showed it to her. It’s puny compared to the colossal trees in this place, but what it lacks in size, it makes up with its ramrod straight body.
Another current rose again. It transported the black pine tree and planted it in one of the spots left empty after the trees had been uprooted earlier.
Right at that instant, I felt an enormous amount of mana being taken away from me. Ugh, Dogu, warn me first, will you! I already spent a lot of mana earlier since I needed the help of the spirits to move around!
Black Mountain-chan sneakily took some, and I also made a contract with Uncle Boulder, the pine tree spirits, and tons of tiny ones… Wait, you’re on par with Black Mountain-chan!?
I have a bunch of things that I wanted to ask, but Dogu already propelled herself to who knows where, plus the atmosphere spirits wrapping me were all worried so they pulled upwards.
We broke through the water with a splash; they continued carrying me until we reached the shore.
「Thanks. 」
They helped me a lot, but I didn’t have any more mana to spare. In return, I took the manastone in my breast pocket and divided it among them.
The atmosphere spirits absorbed the mana that wafted out of the stone. This mana came from the black spirits that possessed the monster from where this stone came from. Apparently, if the mana stone is repeatedly used in a place without being purified first in the temple, the power of the black spirits would influence the area.
I tried to recover a bit of mana while sprawled on the ground.
NEXT CHAPTER
RELEASE RATE
I Got Transferred in the Middle of a Mountain
Speed up schedule by 10 hours
Current schedule: Every 80 hours
Thanks for the treat.