Ami's lab

I held on for dear life as Ami blasted through the air. "Where are we going!?" I cried.

"The lab. Flying's the fastest way," Ami replied as she increased the speed.

"HOW DO YOU CONTROL THIS!?"

"'How'? By being the best there is!" Ami proudly smirked.

I continued to scream the whole way over until we gently landed on solid ground.

"Hmm, that took about 5 minutes. Now if I could just harness that power into a broom or something," Ami mumbled.

"I don't wanna do that again," I groaned as I slumped down to the ground.

"Huh? It was just a short flight with wind magic. Nothing too intense," Ami scoffed.

I attempted to respond, but my body had other plans as I felt a horrible gurgle in my stomach. "BLEEEHHHHHH!"

"Ah, perhaps first I should work on tackling the motion sickness before the ride," Ami growled.

After catching my breath, I stood up and stared at Ami's lab before us. "So are we going to go inside?"

"Yes, but first, start picking grass," Ami grinned as her eyes began to light up.

"Huh? Um, sure, but will the landscaping be fine?" I frowned as I walked over and began picking some grass.

"Mmm... I guess try not to pick too much. We still need to test if it's suitable anyway."

"Test it?"

"Yeah. We're gonna use it to make a new perfume."

"Huh?"

"Oh? You didn't know? Grass is actually a good ingredient to use in perfume."

"IT IS!?"

"Yes, but I never thought about it until you brought it up. That means the grass growing here has been completely untested, and if it's good, I can make new perfumes!"

Maybe my head was still spinning from the flight over, but the more I hear about grass and perfume, the more it begins to spin.

Once we had enough grass for Ami's liking, she began walking towards the main door to the lab. She then pulled out her wand and created a spell circle, before the door slowly opened. I guess she disarmed the trap, but that still raises some questions.

"So, if someone's visiting, how do they let you know they're here?" I asked.

"I got alert systems inside that let me know and see when someone's here. If they're friendly, I let them in. Unfriendly, stay silent and let the traps I installed seal their fate if they decide to attack," Ami replied.

Entering the door, I was greeted with a large enclosed courtyard filled with various creations, workbenches, and even large mineral deposits like in the dungeon.

"Welcome to my lab. The visitor section, to be precise. Here is the only place in the lab anyone other than me can set foot. Now bring that grass over to the bench with the vials," Ami smiled as she pointed at one of the benches.

I nodded and brought the grass over.

"Hmm, I'll probably be a while. Wouldn't want to keep you here, but also wouldn't want you doing nothing. Ah! Come take a look at the gauntlets we found," Ami giggled as she led me over to another work bench.

There were the gauntlets we found in the dungeon, but what caught my eye more was the fact that there were three small treasure chests lined up on the table.

"Ah, can't help but look at the treasure chests. You have good eyes. Thanks to you, I finally have the full set of min-chests, meaning I can try spawning my own treasures here in the lab," Ami gloated.

"You can what?"

"You can grow your own treasures, yes, but only if you have all three chests. Ah, and naturally, I also have the book of oddities, so I can make endless amounts of these things with enough coin."

"A book? Like what Mr. Foxx has?"

"Correct. These chests are classified as "oddities", so they're catalogued in a different book. Dungeon chests are able to spawn 3 varieties of items; treasures, weapons, and oddities. The books themselves are classified as oddities, though if you're thinking you can try storing a completed treasure book in the book of oddities, apparently each book of oddities comes preset with both a book of oddities and a book of treasures in its pages."

"But no book of weapons?"

"That's one of the great mysteries of the dungeon. There's evidence to suggest it exists, but none have been able to find it."

"So then, what about the weapons?"

"Whelp, depending on what they are, and how much of them we get, we either use, sell, or store em."

"So then the gauntlets..."

"Never seen anything like them before, but that's exactly why we gotta test them out. Until we find the official catalogue, we do all the chronicling ourselves. That means testing the weapons to find out if they're good or trash."

"What have you found about them?"

"They're not cursed, most important point. Second, they look like they can be modified with gems, but I wanna do base testing. And so, I'm gonna have you do some field testing. If you continue on the path leading away from town, you'll eventually come across a dungeon in the forest. Bash up some monsters on the first few floors, then meet me back in town," Ami nodded as she tossed something to me.

"What's this?" I asked as I caught it.

"A badge. It'll let me track your progress from here. Just slap it on your armor, and it'll set up on its own.

I did just that, but nothing seemed to happen.

"Why the odd stare. There's no lights or sparkles once it activates. Though if you want to see what it's like, take a look," Ami smiled as she gestured towards a crystal ball.

I walked up to the ball, but the view in it seemed odd. It was like it was being reflected in itself.

"Turn your body away from it, but keep your eyes on it."

As I did that, the view in the crystal ball suddenly changed.

"Take a glance to where your body's facing. Looks just like it does in the crystal ball, right?"

"It really does!" I gasped as I confirmed the fact.

"And that's how it works, now get running, unless you want to test out something I'm trying to imbue some wind magic-"

"I'm off!" I cried as I put on the gauntlets and scurried out the door.