A Soldier's Life

Chapter 154:

Maveith was excited when I removed the collector and brain from my inventory, stating that it would be useful for tanning the hide. I helped him prepare the bear after harvesting its essence. It was a major essence for fire affinity, a downgrade from the apex fire essence I had gotten from the first fire bear. He was meticulous in his harvest, not wanting to waste anything, and I learned a lot from him about processing a kill. He must have asked me every five minutes if my dimensional space could hold everything. After stripping the pelt, he did his best to stretch it on an apple tree. As soon as the steaks were cut, I sent them to my dimensional space to preserve them.

“We should only spend half a day harvesting the bear before leaving the room,” I suggested after a few hours.

Maveith considered this and nodded. “If the shapeshifters do not reappear after half a day, then I think that is wise. Where are we going from here?”

“To the vine room, I think. It seems the safest option to explore,” I revealed my thoughts, and Maveith nodded.

As we processed the bear, we were getting three weeks’ worth of meat from this one kill for the two of us. I decided Maveith could have the organs when we cooked. I never got used to the chewiness of heart muscle, the chalky richness of liver, or the off taste of kidneys. Maybe if I were still starving, I would try it, but with all the steaks, it was a hard pass for me.

We collected apples as well, maybe two hundred, before leaving. We munched on apples as we walked out of the room. Between bites, I told Maveith, “There was a healing potion in the reward chest. But I am not planning to use it on the griffin rider just yet. If you are injured again, I would rather have it for you.”

Maveith finished his apple, core, and all. “I will try not to get injured again, then.” I just chuckled at his logic.

“Maybe there will be another healing potion next time we harvest the fire bear. The loot chest was exactly the same as the first time,” I said as we approached the vine room.

The room looked the same. Three alcoves were covered in thick vines with bright red flowers and yellow veins. There were no signs of an exit. “I will go in and retreat if needed. Stay here.”

I stepped into the room and was slightly upset when nothing happened. With a second step, I noticed a fragrant scent filling the air, probably coming from the flowers. I took another step into the room, eying the vines, and prepared an air shield.

My breathing became slightly strained after a minute, so I sent healing aether to my lungs, planning to run. I did not detect any damage to them. Then my eyelids started to feel heavy. I stumbled backward, slightly unsteady on my feet. All I wanted to do was lie down and fall asleep. I stumbled into Maveith in the corridor, and he supported me, worry on his face. “What is wrong, Eryk?” He shook me a little, my armor rattling from the force. “Where is the healing potion?” He was getting panicky, but my mind was foggy, and I closed my eyes to sleep.

Water splashed on my face, and I woke up sputtering. A relieved Maveith stood over me. “I was praying to Pluto for you, Eryk. You were unconscious for almost an hour.”

I shook my head, my thoughts quickly clearing. “I think the pollen from the red flowers puts you to sleep.” I checked my body. “I am not injured, and I am breathing fine.”

I sat up and noticed Maveith had dragged me about fifty feet from the entrance. My eyes had to do a double take at what I saw. The vines from the vine room were twenty feet down the corridor, covering every wall.

Maveith answered, “They do not move fast, but after you left, the vines stirred and followed you out of the room. I thought creatures could not leave the rooms?”

I hypothesized, “I think the dungeon lets the creatures pursue us once we enter a room. It is the only thing that makes sense.” I reconsidered. “Maybe plants can just leave rooms. I don’t know.” I remembered that when I released the goblin, the bear did not pursue it down the corridor it fled into. I was frustrated with not knowing the dungeon rules. Then again, maybe each dungeon had different rules. It would make sense since the entry criteria for this dungeon was different from the entry criteria of the other dungeon I had encountered when I received the Dreamscape Amulet.

“The vines are slowly retreating,” Maveith noted, and I focused on them. It was hard to discern movement with the flowing, hypnotic lights on the floor and ceiling, but I think he was correct. Perhaps the vines could pursue me because I was unconscious and vulnerable?

I told Maveith what I learned from the room. “The room had a sickly-sweet scent. I think it is from the flower pollen. My lungs burned for a moment, and then I got really sleepy and could not help but fall asleep.”

Maveith’s deep voice intoned, “A really vile trap. The vines probably pull you into an alcove to digest your corpse. I heard of such plants in the jungles on the southern part of the continent.”

I nodded, standing, and thought I had a bestiary in my book collection in my dreamscape. Most were in elven script that would take me days to translate. Tsinga had some jungles, and I remembered paging through the local threats in case someone questioned me. I had skimmed over the flora and did not recall these particular vines. Next time I was in the dreamscape, I would try to find out what the vines were.

I gave Maveith the unwelcome news. “It looks like our only option is the room with the cockatrices.”

Maveith’s large body recoiled when I said it. We had not explored only three rooms: the gold statue room with the black oozes, the dark room that the shapeshifters said we needed a mining pick for, and the massive cockatrice room with the waterfall.

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“Eryk, I do not know,” Maveith hedged, still fearful of the oversized chickens.

“I will come up with a plan. For now, let us sit outside the bear room and watch it until the fire bear respawns. I want to see it with my own eyes,” I informed Maveith. He nodded happily, delaying our trip to the cockatrice chamber.

We started to prepare a big meal, cooking in the corridor with one of us watching the den entrance. While Maveith was on watch, Islipped into the dreamscape and quickly located an entry for the vines in the Tsinga book.

The sleeper vine is easily spotted from a distance by its bright flowers with veins of white or yellow. The flowers give off a sickly-sweet scent that lulls the unsuspecting creature to sleep for up to three hours. Once the creature falls asleep, the vines drag it into their maw and restrain it with layers of vines. Thick thorns pierce the flesh and inject digestive acid.

When the prey wakes, they have awareness but feel no pain as their body is metabolized over the course of two days.

Repeated exposure to the pollen of the sleeper vine allows one to build up immunity. The beast tribes of Kwainongkwa expose their children to the flowers early so they can resist the effects.

There are numerous alchemical uses for the flower and the plant's small amount of nectar and pollen. See Gundry’s Alchemical Plants of the Kingdom of Keisinia for more information.

I did not have that reference book, but at least I had good news for Maveith when I exited the dreamscape. He was still watching the earthen mound’s entrance. “Maveith, good news. We can build up immunity to the effects of the red vine flowers with repeated exposure.”

Maveith was chewing on a bear kidney he had just fried, his eyes focused on the entrance. “We should do that instead of trying to kill the cockatrices.”

“But one mistake and I will be plant food,” I noted.

“Do you not trust me to pull you to safety?” Maveith’s deep voice sounded hurt.

“Are you really trying to guilt-trip me right now?” I countered.

“Guilt? Trip?” Maveith went into contemplation mode to puzzle out my colloquialism. “I am sorry, Eryk. I do not understand,” he finally said, giving up.

“It does not matter. I will be the bait as I am accustomed to it. But right now, the fire bear is back,” I noted, pointing, and standing.

Maveith’s eyes flashed to the den. “A day, give or take an hour,” the goliath stated confidently.

“Hopefully, every room is the same, so we can prepare,” I said, watching the bear exit and shake its coat. The fur rippled, looking like flames, and I judged the bear to be the same size as the one we had killed a day ago. “Well, big guy, it looks like we are going to be eating a lot of bear meat.” I stated as I pulled the collector from my dimensional space and handing it to Maveith to hold onto while I dealt with the bear.

I stepped into the room, and the bear locked its focus on me. I casually walked up to it, and it seemed more curious about me than ready to fight. Its eyes started to glow a fiery red, but those eyes were suddenly in my dimensional space. A giddy Maveith rushed into the room. “I could eat this bear meat every day. I still do not understand your aversion to the kidneys. These are the tastiest I have ever eaten.” He explained excitedly, handing the collector back to me while reaching for his skinning knife.

Maveith attacked the bear with his skinning knife while I shattered the stone reward box. I had focused on the earthen mound, and this box just appeared in the blink of an eye. Maybe it was teleported by the dungeon with displacement magic. Maveith was not concerned with the chest, as his prize was the bear.

Sifting through the debris, I gathered up the silver coins and the two potions: one healing and one aether recovery. I was pleased the loot had remained the same. I turned the aether recovery potion in my hand. It was valuable, but I now had three of them. I broke the seal and drained it—not. because I needed to, but so I would know what to expect when I used one in combat.

The feeling was akin to drinking a hot beverage rapidly. The heat branched out from my stomach through my limbs and kept going. I realized the potion contained more aether than my core could contain and bled away from my body into the environment once my core was full. It was wasted on someone with a small core like mine. On the bright side, it could quickly recharge my dimensional ability. I spent some time making one of the potions easily accessible under my armor.

I then harvested another major fire essence from the bear. Maveith watched in fascination as the collector worked, and I snatched the essence before it rolled to the ground. However, when I offered it to Maveith, he was only interested in the essence of quickness.

The apples were back as well, and I decided to pick them and let Maveith have all the fun processing the bear. I still had dried blood under my fingernails and in every crevice of my armor. I felt very unsanitary and smelled worse. The waterfall pond in the cockatrice chamber looked very appealing to me at the moment. With our luck, there was probably a fifty-foot gator hiding in the water that fed on the cockatrices.

“I think there are fewer apples this time around,” I noted to Maveith after I finished. I laid them all out on my tent tarp, and the pile seemed smaller. “I am going to count and compare.” Partly, I was curious, and also, I would not have to help with the fire bear.

Maveith was engrossed in his work and waved me to do the task. I found that I was :right, 214 last time, and now I had just 178. Were the apples growing back slower? Or maybe the dungeon was not happy with me and how I was killing its creatures?. We spent half a day in the room before returning to the vine room.

The vines had completely retreated back inside, and the corridor was clear. “Do you have any rope?” Maveith asked.

“No. Why would I have rope?” I said, confused.

“You seem to have many things hidden in your space. Rope would have been a smart thing to have,” Maveith said matter-of-factly. “We could have used it to tie around your waist, and I could pull you to safety.”

“Well, I do not have any rope,” I said tersely, as rope would have been a good idea. Then again, almost everything in my space had been liberated from Legion Halls in various cities.

I summoned some courage and entered the vine room again. I inhaled the sweet scent and backed out of the room. I made it about ten feet before blacking out. When I woke. , Maveith was standing over me. “Eryk, you were only sleeping for half an hour this time!” I gave him a thumbs-up, but as I sat up, my head spun, and I vomited.

I was having the worst hangover of my life. I washed out my mouth with water from a canteen. “I think I need more time between being exposed to the flowers, Maveith.” It was a good half an hour before I felt right again, and the vines took another hour to retreat back into the room from the corridor. I still could have fought, but it would have been unpleasant.

My next foray into the room had me taking about eight minutes to recover under Maveith’s watch, and the hangover was still prevalent but not any worse. On every trip after going into the room, the time decreased for how long I was forced to sleep.

I lost track of how many times I was exposed to the flowers, but finally, I was able to inhale the sickly-sweet scent and only feel slightly drowsy. It was time to try to clear the vines.