The Chair and the First Situation

The vines quickly absorbed the mana, expanding to twenty times their original size. They weaved together into a sturdy floor, slowly working their way up to create walls, windows, doors, and a roof. The acid harmlessly rolled off the vines – a thin layer of mana repelled them. Then, partitions fell down from the roof, separating the structure into rooms. Finally, a barrier of dense mana surrounded the place, keeping the beasts from getting too close. The vines had essentially turned into a makeshift fortress.

Ai collapsed to the ground. She was still conscious, but just barely. Emma rushed over with a mana potion in hand. Ai wasn’t able to swallow, so she had to force-feed her, mouth-to-mouth. Ai’s eyes sharpened once again; however, the rest of her body remained worn and stagnant. The side effects of the mana potion were on full display, but Ai stomached her complaints, wiping the drool off her mouth.

Ai spoke in a heavy voice, trying not to vomit. “This should last us until morning. I can recover the rest of my mana once I dispel this place. Still, I don’t think I’ll be able to stay awake more than a day or two.” Ai talked so normally that I wondered why she didn’t act this way normally. Her lack of energy probably reflected her more serious tone.

Rufus nodded before directing his attention at Emma. “How are our resources?”

Emma shuffled through the remaining supplies. “W-we only have three fire crystals left, one healing potion, and one mana potion. The rain covers the proctor and I were using are almost broken, but we still have two more of those. Other than that, we have food supplies which should last us about a week if we ration.”

“With everything we just fought through, I doubt we’ll be able to make it back safely. Maybe if we had a few extra healing potions, we could. Can we make our own potions?”

“Emma’s the only one with enough knowledge for that. I can only use Plant Magic.”

“U-um, I’m not an alchemist, so I have no idea how to make one. Plus, I think they need specialized tools.”

The rainstorm continued to pour as everyone sat in awkward silence.

“Skipping that for now, you said the food could last for a week. What if we cooked off all the raw beast meat?” Rufus said, trying to dispel the somber mood.

“W-well, if we did that, we might have enough to last us two weeks. The meals would be cold though; otherwise we’ll run out of fire crystals.”

“Right… then I guess we’ll just need to get by with our own skills.”

Silence surrounded the group once again.

“O-okay then,” Emma clapped. “I’ll get started on dinner. I can make a salad to save on fire crystals. The meat can be cooked once we get to the cave.”

“That’s fine. A hot meal would be nice, but it’s better not to use fire in a vine house.”

Emma nodded, pulling out a myriad of vegetables. Since they were all pre-cut or diced, all she did was throw them together in a large bowl and mix. She didn’t have any dressing on hand, so the meal was more akin to mixed vegetables. Once she passed out our portions, I took a bite.

I didn’t know what I expected: the meal was exactly as advertised. Unlike the beast stew, there were no additional flavors or seasonings added to the vegetables. Each individual taste occasionally meshed with another, but sometimes it didn’t at all. The meal wasn’t bad per se, but it wasn’t good either. Looking at the other’s faces, I could tell they had the same opinion.

Once everyone finished eating, we all retreated into one of the rooms Ai put up. Mine was rather simple. The room had a single bed in one of the corners. The others, meanwhile, had their beds placed in weird or awkward positions. Rufus’s bed was directly in the center of the room, where you would normally find a table. Emma’s bed was a mattress on the floor. I said mattress, but it was made of vines, so a vinestress. Aster’s bed was attached sideways to one of the walls, making it impossible to sleep on. However, Aster simply jumped up and laid on the side of the bed, so she was probably fine. Ai’s room didn’t have a bed, but it wasn’t like she could sleep anyway.

I settled in pretty easily – the vines were surprisingly comfortable to lay down on. I honestly wanted to pass out right now, but I was proctoring an exam, so I needed to keep an eye on the others. There was mana flowing in the other rooms, so something was happening.

With a bit of light magic, I reflected the surrounding light, making me invisible. Then, my mana was masked further to avoid Aster’s mana sense. As an extra precaution in case someone entered, I removed my rag and placed it on the bed, using a bit of Wind Magic to puff it up. It should hopefully look like I was sleeping in the room. With all that preparation, I muted my footsteps and snuck into the others’ rooms.