After about 30 minutes, Mylo and his group returned. They had found another of those underwater paths, but this one was much deeper. It should be about half a meter deep, and it seemed to be going at an incline, getting deeper and deeper the farther they were from the island. It was hard to tell what that meant. Maybe the room had some sort of cycle where each bridge would move, allowing people to reach one of the islands at a time. Or maybe it was just a path leading to a different place.

Everyone also had a few ideas about how they could cross this passage safely. The main suggestion was to expand the paths by using some stone shape spells, but as Hera said, that would take a while. Another issue was that they were not sure if those spells would work in this type of rock. By all accounts, they should, but since the spell would move the earth to create an elevated passage, it was hard to tell if doing so in the path could cause it to break apart. That was the main reason why no one was using those spells to create a more comfortable place for them to discuss their options. It would be bad enough if they broke the bridge, but if they could somehow destroy the island itself, they would be in a lot of trouble.

Other options were thrown around, like using ice to freeze the passage and make a more solid bridge or a boat to cross to the other side. The problem with that idea was that if those monsters appeared, it was very likely that they could destroy the ship and make it sink. Bralac had a suggestion to work around that. He said he could create a boat out of the earth from the Wailing Valley and enchant it to float in the water. However, that came with its own set of issues. First, he had no idea if it would actually work. He had made some spells that could make things lighter, but floating in the water was more complicated than that. Second, it would require a lot of materials. Meaning that they would need to go back to the Wailing Valley, dig up a bunch of dirt, and bring it here. A couple more ideas came up, but they were quickly shot down. Flying over to the other island was almost impossible without some sort of mount, and swimming was a no-go since the monsters could still be around. Not everyone in the group was confident enough in their swimming abilities to reach the other islands.

"Blue, do you think you could make a cloud bridge to take us there?" Hera looked at the island in the distance.

"Not really. It's too far away. I'm even worried about using the Flying Storm to take me there. If the wind picks up, I might end up in the water."

"Yeah. It's the same issue I have with Nimbus. I'm not sure if anything will attack us, and then I'll be one blade short," Hera sighed.

"Why are we talking as if we don't have any options here?" Alex rolled her eyes, " We still have a cave on this island that we didn't check. It's very likely that there is something that would help us. Maybe we can do a dungeon and get a boat as a reward. I don't know."

Hera nodded. The idea of a dungeon right now could solve some of her issues. She had a map that she had no way of telling anyone where she got it from. Even telling Shane was a bit risky. But, if she went to the dungeon, she could say that she completed a hidden quest or got a random reward that gave her the map. She could even blame her bracelet or Daskka, saying that she got an extra reward because of them.

"That's a fair point. Where is the cave?" Hera turned to the rest of the group. She wasn't the one who found that place, and it was easier to ask where it was.

"I think it's this way," Alton pointed to the west.

The group moved again and, in a few minutes, arrived at the small natural staircase that led to a cave. However, that came with a problem. The path was narrow, too narrow. People would have to go down on a single-file line, and it was hard to tell if they could turn around to run if needed. Another issue was that the cave already had a couple of centimeters of water covering the ground. It was very similar to the bridge they found, but if this place had tides, people could end up in a very bad situation.

"Ok… Who wants to try to go to the cave?" Hera asked. Alex and Chiton were the only ones who raised their hands. Everyone else was scared that doing so could cause problems, "For those who are going to stay here, try to come up with more ideas so we can head to the other Islands. If you guys want to explore the ocean, be very careful, and if you feel like this is not a good place, just go back to the Wailing Valley. If we end up not Finding anything else that could help us go to the next islands, we should go back and call for backup."

The reason why Hera went straight away was that all this waiting around was starting to annoy her. It was one thing to be careful, another to just talk about doing things but never actually do them. Before heading down, she pulled up a small plastic bag and placed her tablet inside, as well as the map given by Percy. The last thing she wanted to do was to get them wet, even if she already had made a copy of it on her tablet and sent it to the cloud.

Before Peaches left her private room, she asked him a few questions about what she could do with the map. The answers were more or less what she expected. She could share the map with anyone she wanted, but she couldn't tell them where it came from. Even if the person in question knew about Percy, the decision whether or not sharing that knowledge was a strike would come to the guide that gave the map to her. Considering Mr. Bodwitch's personality, if she ever told anyone, that would be a strike. That being said, the contents of the map were fair game. It was something supposed to be shared anyways, so she could send pictures or copies to anyone.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Blue, you don't want to come?" Hera asked.

"Not really. We've spent way too much time underground already. I want to see the sky. And my legacy is weird underwater. Like it can work, but it's hard to control. Also, the last time I tried to go into a cave like that, I almost drowned. Sure, I was a kid at the time, and we managed to get out before it flooded, but I don't want to go through that again anytime soon," Blue replied getting a nod from Hera

"What about you, big guy?" Alex turned to Mylo.

"The place is too narrow. I won't have space to fight with my staff if I need to," Mylo explained.

"Oh… right. I didn't think about that," Alex scratched her cheek.

Hera, Alex, and Chiton moved towards the cave. They came down the hexagonal staircase and continued, realizing that the water level inside was lower than they had imagined. Small waves would make the water come in, but all in all, it never went above the soles of their shoes. Aside from that, the place wasn't bad. It was just narrow and wet. They continued walking and turned to the left once before seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.

"Do any of you remember if there was another entrance on the island?" Chiton, who was in the front, asked. Hera wanted to take the lead, but having the dwarf behind her would be worse since he couldn't see what would be in front of him.

"I don't think so. But maybe it's an entrance deeper in the island," Alex was taking the rear since she was able to use some spells to move to the front if needed.

As they continued walking, the trio arrived at an exit that looked exactly like the one they took to get here. Hera scratched her head, "Maybe the cave goes in a circle, and we didn't realize that," she took one more step towards the staircase and a notification appeared in front of her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Would you like to enter the [Island Builder] dungeon?

[Yes] [No]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After checking with Alex and Chiton and sending a text to the rest of the group, they pressed yes and went inside the dungeon. They moved up to the staircase and realized this was a different place. They were still on the same island, but it seemed to be a very old version of it. There weren't any patches of cyan grass, much less the trees. Instead, they could only see the hexagonal patterns covering a wide area. To the side, some fresh dirt was tossed in the area by some weird headless humanoid creatures. Suddenly, a whistling came from the side. Turning in that direction, they saw one of those creatures closer to them. It had two long brown arms, a pair of smooth legs, and a torso with a smiley face carved in the middle.

"Welcome. We appreciate your assistance. Please take one of the boxes on the ship and spread the soil around the island. When the task is complete, take the seed box from the ship and plant the seeds in the same locations where you spread the soil. A red string surrounds the area where you should be spreading the soil. Please refrain from performing your task outside the marked area," the golem spoke in a robotic voice, but its mouth wasn't moving.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You have found the dungeon quest inside the [Island Builder] dungeon

Building assistance:

The golems in the area are creating a more sustainable environment for the island. Assist their work by spreading the soil and planting the vegetation.

First time rewards:

30 000 Gold

Stylla Island Supplies

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Oh? This seems easy," Chiton said with a smile.

"It does… And that is a lot of gold," Alex frowned, feeling that maybe this was a bit too easy. Then again, a dungeon in this layer should be giving a lot more money, and that could be another sign that the difficulty here wouldn't be that high.

"Well. Let's just start. We can see if it's really that hard or not as we go about it," Hera looked to the left and saw a stone boat made out of the same hexagonal patterns as the island. Several crates were inside marked as soil with a few smaller ones for the seeds, "Be careful. Don't drop your guard. Just in case."

About two hours after Hera and the others sent the message that they had found a dungeon and were about to go inside, Blue and the rest of the Royal Explorers were just waiting around. They discussed many plans and possible ways of crossing the waters, but all options sounded bad. In the end, they should just head back and call for backup, but no one wanted to leave Hera's team here. Because of that, everyone was just hanging out, eating some of the fruit on the island, and talking.

Rayna got a large branch from one of the trees and used some string to fashion a rudimentary fishing rod before walking closer to the edge and casting it in the water. Her hope was to find some of the fish that lived in the ocean. It took less than a minute for her to feel a tug in the string and start to wrestle with her catch. However, after a few moments, the fish was strong enough to snatch her fishing rod from her hands and let it fall into the depths.

"Aw, man," the dwarf complained.

"Is it the first time you ever fished?" Mylo helped her make the fishing rod, and he had yet to ask that question.

"Yeah. I just saw it in movies, but I didn't expect the fish to be this strong."

Mylo nodded, "They are much stronger than it seems. Unlike us, who stop and rest, fish are always moving through the water."

Suddenly, the hook that Rayna was using came out of the water in the direction of the group. It was still attached to the string, but the fishing rod was nowhere to be seen. In a way, it was almost like something was trying to fish them.

"What is that?" Lorna squinted while looking at the water before screaming, "Watch out!"

At the same time, half a dozen Bugfish jumped out of the water, landing on the island and going after the new prey they had just found.