<~> CHAPTER 60

I woke up feeling kind of hot. I was lying on a blanket in the shade but the temperature of this floor was enough to make me feel a bit overheated. The cute foxgirl lying next to me wasn't helping either, but it's hard to be mad about that. I was still in my larger werewolf form and Luna has told me in the past that my fur feels a bit chilly to the touch. If it is, I can't tell. It doesn't feel any different to me than when I first woke up like this.

I ran my fingers through Luna's hair and took a moment to play with her ears. The fur on her ears was really soft and they were fun to mess with, but it felt pretty awkward to mess with them when she was awake. Her ear flicked cutely to my teasing and I had to stop myself before I woke her up this way. Instead, I closed my eyes and gently pet her hair while waking up. I'm not sure how long I was asleep but I feel rested for the most part. Even if I'm a bit groggy, I don't think I'd be able to go back to sleep anyway, it was too bright out for that.

Luna mumbled something and her eyes blinked open. When she realized I was looking at her she smiled and nuzzled herself into my fur again.

("Morning sleepyhead,") I joked.

Luna let out a contented sigh and rested her head against me. ("Were you playing with my ears when I was sleeping?")

("Uh, why do you ask?") I had trouble keeping the guilt out of my 'mental' voice.

She giggled. ("I was dreaming something nice... Did you sleep okay?")

("Decently. I'm still a little sleepy but I don't think I'd be able to get back to sleep anymore.")

Luna rubbed her face against my chest again. ("Mmm, we better get up soon then.")

Despite her words, she made no move to get off of me or let me go, it seemed she was enjoying herself too much. I gently started petting her hair again which elicited another sigh from her. Her long fox tail lazily waved back and forth behind her, barely high enough that it wasn't dragging through the dirt.

"You two seem really close." Aria's words broke Luna's relaxed mood and she jumped up in surprise at the sneaky catgirl. "No no, don't mind me. Keep going," Aria said with a grin.

Luna checked over her clothes to make sure everything was in place and stood up awkwardly. She looked a bit more frazzled than usual, like she was embarrassed about being caught lazing on me, but I think I was missing something here. Must be a cultural difference, I have no idea what we were doing that would warrant this much embarrassment.

("Helena, will you ask her to give us a moment?")

("Sure.") I turned to Aria. "Luna asked for a moment alone. We're up now, no need to worry."

Aria chuckled. "Sure, sure. Hurry up you ...., once you're ready we're going to get moving again."

I turned to look at Luna but rather than give me the word I missed she just blushed and looked away. I sighed. Aria must have said something embarrassing and it went right over my head. Aria stood up and walked away from the bedroll we were sharing.

("You okay?") I asked Luna once Aria had left.

("Y-yes. I'm fine.")

I raised an eyebrow, ("We weren't doing something embarrassing that I'm not aware of, were we?")

Luna looked away shyly. ("It's not... usual for fiancés to sleep together like this. I-I mean, this hardly counts anyway. It's just a bedroll in the sand so I didn't think it would be too much or anything...")

("Does sleeping on the same bedroll or bed mean something special in this case?") I asked.

("Well... not directly but it implies that we're uh, intimate with each other. That wasn't my intention to imply though! I just like lying against you... and your fur is really cool...") Luna was blushing pretty bright pink. Not the most embarrassed I've seen her, but much more than usual.

("How strict are people about sex here?")

Luna practically choked when she heard my words. ("It's um, intended to be between married people only... It's not like... intimacy outside of marriage is unheard of but... most people would consider that improper...")

("Even between women?") I asked curiously.

("...what difference would that make?") she asked with confusion in her voice.

("Ah, never mind that. Where I come from people are a lot more casual about sex, most people do it long before getting engaged. Uh... n-not that I expect that of you of course. I wouldn't want to break any heavy cultural taboos but... I guess sex doesn't hold the same amount of weight for me as it probably does for you,") I told her honestly.

("Oh gods, you keep saying it without any hint of shame...") she was blushing red as a tomato now. It was a little surprising but maybe I shouldn't be.

I laughed a little. ("Is sex like a curse word here? What does the word fuck sound like to you then?")

("H-Helena! Please... That's so... graphic...") Luna cleared her throat and took a step away. ("I'm going to go see how the others are doing...") She walked over to the firepit and got a bowl of stew. The others were whispering about how embarrassed Luna looked and were speculating on what I had said to her. It was a bit amusing that none of them were even remotely close to guessing what we were talking about.

I joined her next to the fire and quietly dug into my own bowl of stew.

"That's the last of the Venison," Maxwell told me.

"Do we have any other fresh meat?" I asked.

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"We still have plenty of the bison meat and some bloody rabbit meat left," he replied.

I took another bite of my stew and savored the taste. "Will that last us the rest of the dungeon? Or are we going to have to hunt something else?"

"It'll be more than enough, we might need to sell some of it when we get back," Maxwell replied.

I nodded and took another bite of the stew. "I heard the next floor is hard, what's it like? What's the plan?"

Maxwell nodded. "The lost halls. At first, the floor looks like one of the maze floors but with white walls and thick fog. The problem is that the floor tries to separate groups. The monsters shouldn't be difficult for any of us but we'll need to use the last of our guiding rods to get through alone if we get separated from the rest of the group. If you're alone the floor changes, it takes .... from your .... and .... them to scare and .... you."

I tapped Luna on the elbow. ("It takes memories from your past and twists them to frighten and unnerve you.")

I nodded to Maxwell and he continued, having noticed I needed help with that last sentence. "Once you're separated, we think you get moved somewhere else on the floor alone. You have to find your way to the correct stairs while your memories try to trick you into letting your guard down. This floor can be very unpleasant for people with .... issues, and you can't even help each other through them once you've been separated. Even if the monsters aren't challenging to face, you might need to traverse the entire floor twice if you're unlucky. Guiding rods are the key to getting through, but we might be able to conserve some if you can navigate through the floor without them. Assuming you don't get separated. That's why I intend to split the remaining ones I have between us. If you get separated, you will have to meet us at the stairs going up. The staircase rooms are safe."

"You're the only one here who's never been through the floor before," Piper said seriously. "It can be quite intense and depending on how the dungeon decides to torment you, it could be quite stressful or an easy floor. It all depends on you."

I frowned and looked down at the dirt. This floor sounds like the kind of thing that tries to attack your insecurities. The more you have, and the more intense they are, the worse off you'll be. The part that makes me nervous is what it'll decide to throw at me. I'm not a basket case but I definitely have my issues. I was a little bit worried about it now.

"The best case .... is that we make it through the maze without getting separated," Maxwell continued. "The monsters on this floor don't attack you unless you're alone and the maze isn't difficult to navigate when you're in a group."

I sighed. "How likely are we to make it through without getting separated?"

"We've made it through that way less than one-fourth of the time," he replied.

"Great..." I said sarcastically. "How many guiding rods should each of us need?"

"I have three for everyone, that should be enough even if you have to navigate the entire thing alone," he said with a nod. Fifteen plus the ones he used on other floors, it seems he brought a lot of those with him.

He pulled over his pack and started separating the guiding rods into little wrapped bundles before handing them out to each of us to store. It was pretty nice that Aria and I got new bags from that chest on the clockwork floor.

"How do I turn it on?" I asked.

He gestured at Luna, who turned to me. ("Don't do it yet, but all you have to do is push some of your mana into it. It takes almost no mana to activate, but you do need enough control to push mana into them.")

("Mana? How do I do that?")

She tilted her head. ("You do it all the time with your axe, just do what you do there to activate the sharpening and cleaning enchantments.")

I stared blankly at her. ("What? I haven't intentionally activated anything. This axe has a sharpening and cleaning enchantment on it?")

Luna's eyebrows rose in surprise. ("You haven't been activating it intentionally? You activated the enchantments every time we started a fight, I thought you figured it out on your own.")

"What's happening you two?" Piper asked.

I frowned before turning to her. "Luna was trying to tell me how to activate the guiding rod. It's the same as activating the enchantment on my axe but I didn't know I was doing that this whole time."

Piper glanced at Maxwell who returned the look she was giving him. Suddenly he stood up and carefully drew his silvery blue sword. "Take this for a moment and try to activate it."

I grabbed the hilt of the sword and suddenly the blade began to glow much brighter before I let go again. "Whoa, what happened?"

Piper glanced at Luna before nodding. "It looks like you aren't .... your mana and it's flowing into whatever you're touching. The only reason none of us noticed it sooner is because your axe doesn't look any different when it uses its enchantment.

("I can see the mana though. You're not blasting it constantly, only when you are about to wield something,") Luna added.

"It's good that I gave them to you wrapped, you may have wasted all three of them on accident," Maxwell said with a relieved sigh.

"You won't have any trouble activating them, just be careful not to touch them before you need them and only handle one of them at a time," Piper said before finishing off her food.

Luna patted my arm. ("Don't worry, I'll help you learn to regulate your mana when we have some time. It'll take too long to do it before the next floor, but we can work on it on the first five fours and in town once we reach the surface.")

("Is mana regulation all that important?") I asked.

("Normally, yes, very much so. But for you? It's not that important. Most people with half the amount of mana you have would use magic to fight. For you, it mostly just fuels your transformation and your regeneration but you have so much mana that it doesn't matter if you waste a lot of it. Proper regulation would allow you to stretch your magic farther and recycle some of what you would have lost, but the only things that tap into your mana pool right now seem to have a very efficient conversion so you aren't wasting much.")

("What does all of that have to do with the guiding rods?") I asked, getting back on track.

Luna shrugged ("Well, normally people have to be taught to let mana through their 'gates,' for you, the gates are all wide open and you're leaking it everywhere. Your mana is so bright to me I couldn't tell that it wasn't being properly regulated, any item that reacts with mana will probably be filled to the brim without you intending to.")

("Is it hard to learn?") I asked nervously.

("It shouldn't be, though most people learn to do it the other way around, so it might be a bit of a novel challenge. But I'm sure we'll figure it out!")

I sighed. ("I'm glad you're so optimistic.")