The Apple Grotto Nymph (Dungeon Core Fairy Tale)

Theanore had indeed found something to dry herself off. A towel, as the system supplied. She put on her dress and noticed that it was getting dirty. There were slight flecks on the green dress. The material was getting rougher.

The system had told her she would have to wash it in freshwater. Maybe her father could bring her new dresses? He did say he would come back, and that was three days ago.

The nymph had little freshwater. A small bowl-like hole in the ground near the entrance fed from an underwater spring. It would replenish once she took it all, she knew, but it did so slowly.

Maybe she could make it bigger? She called some of her builder ants and had them line up before her.

"Ok, builders! You know where the little watering hole is. Go and enlarge it. Tell the whole colony to get to work."

The ants all began to move and to touch their antennas, which confused Theanore.

"Make the little water hole bigger," she clarified, and the ants moved back towards their anthill to relay the orders.

Theanore went into her mushroom tunnel and picked the only fully grown mushroom. It was as big as her head and white as a cloud. A lot of soup could be made from it, she knew.

Then, with a sour expression, she went and took a nettle plant from the nettle tunnel. She shook the plant over the soil, so its seeds could fall off. The nettle was a weed, the system told her so, and so it could plant itself. Soon she would have so much nettle planted that she would need to dump it into the fish pool regularly.

With these two items, she went back to the fire pit. But there was a problem. The fire had gone out already. Her father had left her a fire starter and some oil, but she needed to make the fire itself.

First, she took a shovel, and she cleaned the pit from the ash from the previous fire. The system had told her that it was good fertilizer for before the winter months.

But only if the soil she used it on didn't have any plants already planted. She needed to save the ash for her remaining two tunnels. Not to mention that there were more tunnels and caverns beyond the five tunnels she found already and the pool cavern.

Then she went and gathered little branches from the base of the trees. She didn't want to hurt a tree by breaking its branches. The smaller ones would have to do.

Her efforts left much to be desired. Branches were sticking out of the fire pit. Theanore tried to make them as orderly as she could, but they kept spilling out. Finally, she made a small hole at the base of the branches, and she placed some dried-up grass there.

It took her some time to produce sparks, but she managed, and then she placed the pot to hang on a stick over the fire. She put some of the oil in and then her two ingredients, already cut up. She needed to fry them first before she added the saltwater from the water skin.

As she worked, she hummed a tune she had made up herself. When the soup was done, Theanore took the towel with which she had dried herself off and took the soup off the fire.

She looked around and decided to check on her quick shot raspberry. It had a couple more ripened raspberries, and she picked them all, placing them in her dress's pockets. Then she checked on the vine sticks and was happy to see that they seem to have taken root.

Going back into the grotto she went to her mint. The nymph found she quite liked the plant's aroma. She went to the second sack her father had left her and found something made of glass that had a snout.

"System, what is this?" She asked as she looked at her reflection in the object.

This is a kettle. You put the herbs inside and then water and after that, you place it over the fire, and you get tea. The small bowls are actually called cups, and they are for the tea.

"Ok, thanks," she said, and she went to the watering hole with the kettle in her hands, only to find the hole much bigger. It was now as big as a medium-sized puddle, and Theanore could see a big circle on its walls from where water bubbled out.

How big did she want to make it? The ants worked too quickly. What if they flooded her grotto?

"Ants, line up," Theanore commanded, and a big ant came before her.

"Stop the construction of the well. It is big enough."

The ants jumped as if they were angry that their project was being interrupted. But one by one, the ants began to go back to their anthill.

Theanore filled her kettle with fresh water and then placed it over the fire. She took out the mint leaves she had placed in her pocket and placed them inside. Then, on a whim, she placed all the raspberries in there as well.

Level unlocked: Apprentice brewer.

Theanore is making fruit tea with minty undertones. As such, she will get a new plant free of charge. Choose one:

Sugar grass;

Peach;

Lemon;

Strawberry;

Honey lamps.

"System, of these plants, which are weeds?" Theanore asked, already planning to pick the fastest growing thing on the list.

Honey lamps are weeds with bells filled with honey-like syrup. Honey is sweet and goes well with tea.

"Can I get mature plants, please?" Theanore asked.

No, but since a honey lamp is both a herb and a weed, you would only need to spend one mana to upgrade the entire batch of plants. You have 0/25 mana.

"Well, I still think that a honey lamp is the best investment. I choose it."

A beautiful small plant with white closed bells appeared next to the fire. Its roots still had soil on them. Theanore quickly planted it near the watering hole, as its big leaves hinted at its need for more water than most plants needed.

Theanore then checked the soup and found that it had cooled. Taking the kettle off the fire, she placed it where the pot used to lay, and she took the pot and went to the pool cavern.

Marinus wasn't there, but there was something very strange on the edge of the pool. In a gray shell, there were three white things. The nymph was bewitched by the sight of them.

Wealth acquired.

Theanore the nymph had received the gift of pearls from Marinus the merman. Choose what to do with them:

Add them to your mana reservoirs regen. One mana per pearl.

Use them as a one-time boost to your apple three.

"Put them forward to my regen," Theanore said. She didn't want to grow her apple tree too quickly. Her father had told her that this would steal away years of her life.

The pearls disappeared and only the shell remained. Theanore picked it up and placed it in her hair. She then looked at her reflection. No, it wasn't right, she didn't have enough hair to hold it in.

As if reading her thoughts, the shell fell in the water. Before it could sink, the nymph snatched it back up.

"System, how do I wear this shell?"

Have the builder ants make a hole in it and place one of the vines from your dress's fringes through it. Then you can wear it around your neck.

"Is there any way that I can do so without ruining my dress?" she asked. She liked her dress very much and didn't want to take away from it.

You can also use the thread of one of the used-up cloth bags which contained your seeds. I suggest the yellow one.

"Ants, line up," the nymph said, and an ant came to her.

"Find me my yellow seed bag and make a thread from it. Then come back here and place it through this shell," she placed the shell down and the ant made a circle around it. Touching it every so often as if it were taking measurements. Theanore found it very adorable, and she giggled as the ant jumped a couple of times around the shell to signal that it was going to take on the task.

With this done, Theanore went back outside and took the kettle with the tea. She stole a whiff of its scent and found she quite liked it. When she returned to the pool, a simple necklace of a shell and yellow thread waited for her. The thread was shaped in the shape of a heart.

To reward the ants for their kind gesture, Theanore used a spoon to get one of the boiled raspberries out of the tea. She placed it next to the anthill. As she watched the ants throwing a celebration over the treat, she couldn't help but think that they liked her.

 And she liked them back.