Aya looked around the space inside the… vehicle that she found herself, and her ward, in. As she listened to Ren Wentian explaining the various features of Soyokaze, she couldn’t help but be impressed… and extra paranoid.

Normally when inside a flying artifact, there were at least a couple of easy ways to exit it should it fail in some way. Ways to easily escape should the worst occur.

But in Mr Aneath’s flying artifact, there were no such convenient escape routes. She’d taken note of just how well the odd door had sealed itself once they’d all entered. But what really threw her off was that she felt very little Qi from the artifact, making her wonder if it had been created with Mental Strength instead of Qi.

She poked one of the chairs and was impressed by its firm plushness. She wasn’t familiar with the materials, but found that they were amazingly high quality.

As Ren Wentian continued his explanation, favouring Miss Megumi’s questions she noted, Aya explored. The “kitchen” was… odd. She found the stored food under the counters in cooling spaces. But no dinnerware anywhere.

She wandered to the back, past the partition for the kitchen. There she found a dormitory with eight bunks, the mattresses also unfamiliar to her. But, once again, impressive. Not only were the materials unfamiliar to her, but were obviously of very high quality, on par with what royalty had if she was being honest.

She pressed a hand down on the mattress and found that it was firmer than she was expecting. Well, she wasn’t sure what to expect, but down-filled mattresses were the height of luxury where she’d grown up, not to mention the palace Jae-Eun had grown up in.

Aya quickly looked around and found that she was alone. Thus confirmed, she turned and sat on the edge of the bunk and almost sighed in relief as the mattress gave way just enough, but also managed to support her bottom just right.

She quickly glanced at the doorway before laying down on the mattress, a bit tense at the thought of someone seeing her laying down on the job.

The Divine Artifact gave way as she laid down, then started to resist in just the right spots. It felt like a glove made specifically for her body, hugging her just enough to comfort, but not enough to restrict her. She rolled over onto her side and found that the mattress once again responded to her, shifting to accommodate her new position.

In her haste, she’d missed the pillow. But now she reached over to it and pulled it close. It was heavier than she’d expected, but felt very similar to the mattress. Shifting onto her back again, she slid the pillow under her head and relaxed.

She didn’t know what sorcery was involved, or if the bed and pillow were indeed Divine Artifacts. What she did know, though, was that she needed to acquire a set from Mr Aneath. The sensation of the mattress and pillow was so perfect that she rated them on par with the viridian silk that he’d made.

And that was a legendary accomplishment, in her humble opinion.

* * * * *

Jae-Eun was speechless.

She’d seen many things growing up in the imperial palace, surrounded by the best-of-the-best. The newest artifacts were showcased and bragged about almost every week. Alchemists, Artificers, and various craftspeople were constantly called in to work on one project or another, usually a custom order.

Being surrounded by talents from across the Empire had dulled her sense of wonder over the years. It had gotten to the point where she’d even been bored at the Academy. It wasn’t until she’d visited Starfall Café that she’d come across something new.

Something new, new. Not just a slightly altered version of something that someone else had in turn modified and called “new”.

The concept of a flying artifact with such a design… well, she hadn’t seen one before, nor had she ever heard of such a thing.

Every feature that Wentian went over astonished her to one degree or another. Not that things were so different from what she was already familiar with, but their implementation wasn’t what she’d expected. Having the lighting be controlled by voice was a bit bizarre.

Then Wentian explained just how fast they were going, drawing everyone to the front where Joram and Alicia sat, engrossed in… controlling their flight?

She looked at what Joram was doing, but didn’t recognize anything about what he was doing, nor did she understand what Alicia was doing when she looked over to her… workspace.

Then she looked out the front window and saw just how fast the ground was passing under them. It caused such a weird sensation in her head when she looked down at the blurring terrain without feeling herself move. It was so bad, in fact, that she had to close her eyes and cover her mouth for fear of shaming herself in front of her peers.

“Right, I almost forgot!” Joram suddenly exclaimed, silencing the conversations around her. “Here’re the items I promised,” he said, then pressed a long and wide, but flat, box into her hands.

Well, she saw that it was him when she opened her eyes.

“Could you hand those out for me?” He asked, motioning to the box then back at the… controls.

“Yes, gladly,” she said with a grateful smile, realizing what he was doing for her and appreciating in greatly.

She carefully avoided looking out the window again, which helped her to regain her composure, and headed to the kitchen-like area and placed the box on the table.

The rest of the study group followed closely, even Joram’s “servants”. She waited until everyone was crowded around, then opened the lid. Gasps echoed out in the relatively small space when they all saw what was inside.

Row after row of rings of varying size, design, and colour greeted their eyes. The only themes that stayed the same were the metal that the rings were made of, and the shape of the gems set into the rings.

“Wow,” Gabrielle breathed, neatly summing up all their thoughts with that one word.

Jae-Eun reached out and picked up the ring closest to her. Upon closer inspection, she realized that the gemstone’s colour had an unusual pattern to it.

It was Kassandra leaning over her shoulder to peer at the ring that spoke up first.

“Doesn’t that look like… an iris?” She asked, sounding unsure of her observation.

Everyone gathered closer to the case of rings, each ring standing upright in a sort of cushion-holder.

After a minute of examination, Renna spoke up.

“That one looks like my eye,” she said, pointing at a ring with a silver gem in it with subtle lines radiating out from the centre of the gem.

Just like the colours in an eye.

“That one matches your eye colour, Kassandra,” Gabrielle said, pointing at a rich, violet/purple gem.

Soon, everyone had found a gem that matched their eyes. Jae-Eun looked at the one in her hand, turning it over and spied something on the inside surface of the band.

“Ah, this would be Daleira’s ring,” she said, handing it over to the green-eyed woman.

Daleira seemed non-plussed by the observation until Jae-Eun pointed out her engraved name on the ring. After that, everyone quickly picked out their ring and stood admiring them until Joram spoke up.

“I’m glad that you were able to match them up before finding the names on them,” he said, obviously pleased with them, causing no few of them to smile in response to the praise.

“So, put them on already,” he said with mock sternness. “Because we’re almost there.”

Jae-Eun’s attention slid back to the window before she could stop herself. Fortunately, the view didn’t invoke the same response she’d had earlier.

She then looked around but couldn’t find Aya anywhere. So, she picked up Aya’s ring and headed to the back area of the… vessel. She rounded the corner to find Aya inspecting a wall very studiously, her face a little red.

“Aya? Is something the matter with the wall?” She asked, a bit concerned for her guardian.

“I was just appreciating the craftsmanship,” Aya said, turning to her as she ran her fingers through her hair to sweep it out of her face.

Jae-Eun gave her an odd look, but let her unusual behaviour go.

“Come,” she said, motioning for her to follow. “Joram gave us the artifacts he told us about.”

Once back at the table, Jae-Eun presented Aya her ring with a flourish. Aya’s eyes went wide at the sight of the ring. The metal band’s design was similar to Jae-Eun’s, but the “gem” matched Aya’s own golden-brown eyes perfectly.

“How can someone find a tiger’s eye so… perfect?” Aya asked in awe as she took the ring to inspect it closer.

“Artificer,” Jae-Eun said flatly as she pointed at Joram over her shoulder with a thumb.

Aya gave her a Look, one she recognized as telling her “don’t be so naïve”. She flushed slightly, but didn’t take back what she’d said. If Joram would make viridian silk, and had at least probably helped make the flying artifact they were in, along with everything else he’d made, then she would continue believing that something as simple as modifying a gem wasn’t beyond his capabilities.

“All right,” Joram piped up from the front. “We’ll be landing soon, so anyone not comfortable with flying, please take a seat or at least hold onto something.”

Jae-Eun sat down.

It didn’t take long for them to touch down, though. She only noticed the landing because she was so focussed on not looking out the window that she noticed the very slight vibration that went through the floor when they touched down.

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She quickly got up again and made her way to the door that led outside and waited for Joram and Alicia to get there. She was anxious to set foot on solid ground again after the weird feeling she’d gotten.

It only took a minute for the pair to reach her then open the “hatch”, as they called it. Soon enough, everyone was outside and taking in the scenery.

They’d landed in a small glade about two hundred feet across in the middle of the forest. She looked up at the ridiculously huge trees that surrounded them, each one several hundred feet tall and tens of feet wide, some almost a hundred feet across. And from what she could see, these weren’t the largest ones around.

Due to the height of the trees, there wasn’t much direct sunlight that reached them, especially so early in the morning. If her estimates weren’t off, they’d only taken about half an hour to reach their destination.

“All right, gather ‘round,” Joram said, waving to them as a table appeared in front of him at the same time that the flying artifact vanished. “Let’s go over a few things,” he said as a large map appeared on the table.

It was made in a style that she didn’t recognize, its detail astounding. The colours used were exquisite, having such sharp definition that she was sure that a master cartographer and a master illustrator had jointly created the masterpiece.

“So, we’re about here,” Joram said, pointing to a spot on the map that was about two thirds’ the way to the eastern end of their island, getting not a few looks of surprise. That they’d travelled so far in such a short period of time, and so comfortably, was a revelation.

“I don’t sense anything around here, so I think this’ll be a good spot for our base camp. Any questions or concerns?” He asked looking around at them.

“Wouldn’t an open space like this be a popular area for magical beasts to pass through or rest in?” Daleira asked curiously.

“Good point,” Joram acknowledged. “But from what we were able to see, there are no signs of large tracks going through here,” he said, motioning to Alicia as he spoke. “It could be that, due to the open space, most animals and magical beasts don’t like the area,” he posited with a shrug.

When there were no other questions, he continued.

“Now, the next question that I’d like to ask is this. Would everyone prefer to set up a more traditional camp, or use a dimensional treasure that I brought along?”

“What sort of dimensional treasure?” Kassandra asked, her eyes growing keen.

“Ah, might be easier to just show you,” he replied, then retrieved a small cube from his picket that looked like a gambler’s die made of white marble, but with odd runes or symbols on each face.

He turned to the side, motioned for Emily and Mo Yu to step to the side, then placed his thumb on one face of the marble die. A shimmering portal appeared in the space the two women had just vacated, large enough for someone to easily pass through, even someone of Joram’s or Wentian’s height and stature.

“I can make the entrance invisible, so there shouldn’t be any worry of anything wandering in while we’re inside. Well, I can also bar the way, so there’s that,” he said with a slight grin tugging at his lips. “Come,” he said, then stepped through the portal just after the map and table vanished.

Jae-Eun’s eyes were still wide at the sight of a portal appearing, and she could see that she wasn’t the only shocked person present. Truthfully, only Alicia didn’t appear as shocked as the rest of them, including Joram’s staff and Megami. Was this new even to them as well?

Emily seemed to recover first. With a slight shake of her head, she stepped through the portal, soon followed by Joram’s staff, then Kassandra. Watching so many people go through, the rest of them shook off their hesitation and followed, with Aya being the last of them through.

Once inside, Jae-Eun stepped out of the way of the portal and just stared at everything around them.

She really hadn’t known what to expect, truly. She’d heard about dimensional treasures in the past. The descriptions of their interiors varying from one to the next, but all having a common theme. They were all relatively small, enclosed, spaces that could accommodate at most thirty people.

This one… well. It didn’t fit that mental image she’d had.

Not only did she not find herself in a large room but was instead in an open space. The “sky” was as blue as the one in the outside world. The ground as firm and grass covered as Joram’s back yard. In fact, the entire space felt like a leisure garden.

There was a small stream that went from one end of the… plateau they were on to the other. She paused as she looked at the edges of the grassy area. The plateau was a few hundred feet across, giving them ample space. There was even what looked like a manor in the style of Aya’s homeland off to one side.

“So, this should be a nice enough space to relax in after questing for the day,” Joram said, waving a hand to indicate their surroundings. “Lots of space to relax outside, as well as for physical training,” he said, motioning to a pavilion that could easily seat them all as well as a paved area that she assumed was intended for sparring.

“The house,” he said, waving that way, “is large enough for everyone to have their own room,” he explained, then led the way to the “house”.

Jae-Eun was impressed. She could see that Aya was also trying to hide how impressed she was, but could also see the growing suspicion in her eyes as Joram gave them a tour.

From the main floor that primarily consisted of a communal space for them to socialize in, to the kitchens, it was an open concept space that was oddly… relaxing. She’d never been in such a living space. Being able to see into the kitchen wasn’t something she’d ever experienced.

There were also a few rooms on the main floor that Joram explained could be used as offices. The second floor had hallways that branched off from the main one that ran the length of the front of the house. There were six rooms on each side of each of the two hallways, giving them a total of twenty-four rooms.

Joram quickly showed them a room, saying that each one was the same so they wouldn’t need to worry about anyone getting a nicer room than someone else. Which got him a few looks, especially from Aya and Kassandra’s friend, Jezira. She understood Aya’s reaction, but then suspected that Jezira might be Kassandra’s attendant since she’d long suspected that she, at the least, came from a powerful and influential clan.

The tour didn’t end there. When Joram took them back downstairs and to the back door, everyone was curious. Jae-Eun saw a growing light in Aya’s eyes as they approached the back door, making her think that her guardian was growing excited.

When they exited the house, they found themselves on a stone paved path that led to another low building that had the same design elements as the house. She glanced at Aya and saw that her excitement was still growing.

“So, I think that this last part might be the most popular feature,” Joram said with a knowing smile that confused her a bit. “These are the baths,” he said, then led them inside.

“There’s a side for men and a side for women, as this isn’t a mixed sex facility,” he said, motioning to the signs on the walls that told them where to go. “Since there are only two men here and the layout is just mirrored, I’ll show the women’s side first.”

He then brought them through the curtained doorway into a changeroom. There were spacious cubbies built into the walls for them to place their clothing into, as well as eight mirrors with small stands in front of them. From there, he led them to the next room with wooden stools and buckets placed around the room in stalls. Each stall seemed to have a tap for water with two handles above it, one coloured red and one blue, presumably to control the water.

Aside from that, there were several areas where one could grab fresh towels and wash cloths, as well as two [Cleanse] stations where the used ones could be refreshed. It was a simple set up, likely due to there being no staff to attend to such things. Even then, she thought it novel to have the bathers clean up after themselves.

Jae-Eun again noticed Aya’s growing excitement. Her guardian was so agitated that she was looking flushed, her eyes starting to sparkle.

“And this is the last area,” Joram said, bringing them through one last curtained doorway, “is the hot spring.”

At this point, Jae-Eun could see that Aya was nearly overcome with emotion. Her eyes were wide and quite literally sparkling as she looked at the huge bathing area. Aside from a small stretch where she assumed people were meant to enter the bath, the entire thing was lined with rough-hewn stone.

The hot spring bath was so large that whoever had built the place had included a large, decorative, boulder in the centre of the bath. In fact, upon closer inspection, she could see that low seating ringed the boulder under the water. She then went up to the edge with the other study group members and peered into the water.

Sure enough, there were a series of shallow steps that led deeper into the water. Off to the sides, she saw a ridge going around the circumference of the bath, likely also for someone to sit on while soaking in the steaming waters. She looked up and saw that there was no ceiling, leaving them open to the sky above.

She imagined that bathing under the open sky, breathing in the fresh air as she bathed, would be very relaxing.

However, the whole thing was overshadowed by a subtle smell that caused her nose to wrinkle. It vaguely smelled of brimstone, but had other elements to it that she couldn’t quite place. Glancing around, it was evident that she wasn’t the only one to notice the smell.

That said, Aya didn’t seem to care about the smell. On the contrary, she was breathing deeply with a look of such nostalgia and longing on her face that Jae-Eun was shocked into silence. Then others started noticing Aya’s… condition, and started murmuring to each other.

“This is fed by a natural hot spring,” Joram said, drawing their attention away from Aya and back to him. “I am told that the minerals and energy found in such things are wonderful for the skin, not to mention how relaxing a hot bath is after a long day’s work.”

Jae-Eun nodded at the last part, but didn’t know anything about hot springs, let alone bathing in them. Aya, however was nodding along fervently at his explanation, making the others take a greater interest in the hot spring. Well, seeing Aya’s reactions also stoked her curiosity, if she was being honest with herself.

Joram then led them back out into the “lobby” of the bathhouse and showed them another one of the curious devices she’d seen in the kitchen area of his flying treasure.

“This works a bit like the tablets you’ve all seen before,” he said, pointing at a tablet inset into the surface of the device. “Just select an option here, then choose the beverage that you’d like to try, then tap the confirmation there, and you’re done!” He finished as a crystal-clear glass appeared, then filled with what looked like pink-tinted… milk.

As soon as the tall glass of milk appeared, she saw condensation form on the glass. Here eyes widened at the sight, for it surely meant that it was pre-chilled. Yes, it was common for drinks to be served at temperatures far above or below room temperature, especially at home or in restaurants. But having such a luxury inside of a dimensional space was, well, luxurious.

She turned to say something to Aya, but found the woman’s eyes fixated on the cold glass of milk, her hand unconsciously reaching towards it. Joram also noticed, so he picked up the glass and presented it to her.

“Give it a try,” he said with a smile that had her guardian, her normally stone-faced guardian, flushing in embarrassment.

That didn’t, however, stop her from taking the glass in slightly trembling hands. It took her a moment to calm herself as the others watched with rapt attention. The glass slowly came up to her lips, paused a moment, then she drank.

Jae-Eun panicked for a moment when she saw the tears appear in Aya’s eyes before she realized that the woman was overcome with happiness. Her interest and curiosity shot through the roof then as she wondered what could cause her guardian to react thusly.

She quickly turned to use the drink-dispensing device, but found that Alicia had beaten her to it. But then six drinks appeared in the small space, all exactly like the first, and she understood. The glasses of pink-hued milk were handed out, then more ordered and handed out again and again.

Once everyone had a glass in hand, Alicia raised hers up with a smile and spoke.

“Cheers!” She said, then proceeded to take a long draw from the glass, which opened the floodgates, as it were.

Everyone proceeded to take a sip from their glass. Jae-Eun’s eyes widened at the wonderful sweetness that flooded her mouth. The rich creaminess complimented the sweetness wonderfully, providing a fantastic medley as she hungrily swallowed the milk.

All too soon, the glass was empty, leaving her regretting drinking it so fast. She looked around and saw similar expressions, as well as pink milk moustaches on them all. Thinking quickly, she rubbed at her upper lip, wiping away the evidence of her indecorous consumption of the ambrosia-like milk.

“What’s it called?” Alyraele asked, still staring at her own empty glass.

“Strawberry milk,” Joram replied with a huge smile on his face. “I’ve also got banana milk, blueberry milk, chocolate milk, raspberry milk, and a hazelnut and coffee flavoured milk. I’m told that drinking a glass of milk after a good soak in a hot spring helps to rejuvenate the body and mind,” he finished, making everyone practically salivate at the thought of the other flavours.

“Now, we should get back and start planning,” he said, then turned to go.

He stopped when he noticed that Wentian was the only one to follow him.

Jae-Eun exchanged glances with Aya and everyone else before they nodded, almost as one.

“Sorry, Joram,” Alicia said, shaking her head. “But I think that we’ll all be in much better form after a good soak in the hot springs,” she said to the approval of every woman present.

“Ah, sure, why not?” He said, then turned to Wentian. “Let’s go,” he said, then went off to the men’s side.

“This place must surely have been made by the gods,” Aya said reverently, still clutching the empty glass of milk in her hands.

As confused as everyone looked at her statement, none chose to argue with her guardian before Aya placed the empty cup on the counter then hurried back into the changeroom.

“Huh,” Renna said, snapping them out of their own thoughts on the dimensional space and the amazing milk. “Well, let’s go,” she said, copying Joram’s words as she pulled Emily along with her.

That was all that was needed for the rest of them to eagerly follow along, chatting excitedly.