Chapter 11: Tending to the grotto

Once Theanore woke up, it was to see the murder muffins swimming in the pool.

That was strange.

 Marinus didn't let them into the pool anymore. She looked into the pool and found that the merman was sleeping soundly on the bottom.

Ants were cutting stone from the walls of the pool, and they were carrying it somewhere.

Not wanting to wake up Marinus, Theanore followed the ants to where they were taking the stone. She found a decent number of stones piled up on the ground in a cavern.

"System, why are the ants expanding the pool and storing the stone?"

Marinus the merman earned their allegiance. He gave them the command. He also upgraded seven bait fish into higher animals. Two Eelacondas and five Mundyd. He believes you will benefit from a house.

"A house?"

A home with rooms where you live.

"That is silly. I already have a home. This grotto is my home. But I can expand it with this stone."

A group of ants came with something yellow, and they placed it to the side.

Wealth gained: A golden nugget.

The ant followers of Marinus the merman have struck gold. Would you like to absorb this nugget into your mana regen?

"Yes! Very much so!" Theanore said. The nugget flashed and disappeared before her eyes.

108/108 mana.

"I got forty mana?" Theanore asked as her fingers worked quickly to subtract the former amount of mana from her current one.

You did. Marinus the merman has 0/100 mana, just so you know.

"Ok. Then I want two deep wheats to be grown to maturity," Theanore said, and she followed the two lights that got out of her to the wheat tunnel.

 She harvested the two new plants, and she planted the grains in the soil.

With this done, she went to the nettle tunnel and got a nettle. She was becoming used to the stinging, even if it was unpleasant.

 Even though she didn't expect anything, she went to the mushroom tunnel. There were three fully grown mushrooms.

Theanore picked one and went outside to begin working on the soup. Once it was over the fire, she went to get some mint and raspberries for the tea.

Going into the honey lamps tunnel, she picked one plant, and she took the white bells and dumped them into the kettle. Then she placed the kettle next to the fire.

Going back into the pool cavern, she found that Marinus was up and playing with the murder muffins. He was splashing water at them as they advanced on him.

Was he really playing, though, she asked herself?

"Rip, Hiss, come to me!" Theanore commanded worried about all three of them equally. The murder muffins swam back towards her, and they shook off the water that was on their fur.

Theanore smiled at them, but Marinus looked annoyed.

"They tried to eat my tail again," he said.

Theanore tugged each of the murder muffin's ears in turn.

"Bad Rip. Bad Hiss. Mari is a friend, not food!"

The two murder muffins began to purr.

Theanore gave their ears another tug each. They wouldn't scratch her for it, she hoped.

"Mari, can you catch a fish for the soup?" the nymph asked, and the merman immediately dived. He resurfaced with an already clean fish.

 The murder muffins watched it greedily.

"You ate your fill, silly murder muffins," Marinus said as he gave the fish to Theanore.

The murder muffins began to rub against her legs, and she was tempted to give them some of the fish, but she stopped herself.

If Marinus said that he had fed them already then, he had done so.

 She went back to the fire pit and cut up the fish and placed the rolls into the soup. They needed another source of food.

 Maybe something that ate vegetables and bred fast? Something that could survive the winter that Theanore could feel was coming in the roots of her apple tree.

"System, what is an easy source of meat that can be looked after in a cave?" she asked.

The common chicken can provide you both with eggs and meat. It can be upgraded into a Fatty Slowpoke or a Colorful Egg Specter.

"And how much for two chickens?" Theanore asked, already imagining colorful feathers in her dresses.

Twenty mana. You have 0/108 mana. The ants have found more gold. Would you like to absorb it into your mana regen?

"Yes, please."

You have 250/250 mana. I suggest that you leave some gold for Marinus to absorb. He has his own projects.

"Oh…ok. I didn't know that. Ok. Give me four female chickens and one male chicken. With the other 100 mana upgrade, five deep wheat plants. And I will use forty mana for ten mushrooms, and the other ten mana can go towards the catnip bushes."

To make them denser or to make them give off a stronger aroma?

"Stronger aroma. That way, Rip and Hiss can smell them even in the pool cavern. Right?"

For ten mana you can apply this effect on only one of the bushes.

"Ok, system. Upgrade just one of the bushes with a stronger aroma."

Theanore really liked the warm feeling when lights got out of her in order to complete her tasks. She jumped towards the wheat tunnel. She could give her fish a present with one of the deep wheat grains!

Planting the grains of four of the deep wheat, she harvested the last one and went to the pool. She then threw the grain into the water and watched as the silver longtails came to eat them.

They didn't grow bigger, which disappointed Theanore. Maybe this was as big as they got? One was enough for a soup. Maybe they didn't need to grow larger?

 Marinus was not in the pool.

 She really wanted to see the Eelacondas and the Mundyd that he had upgraded…

0000

Marinus was looking at the eggs the Mundyd had laid. There were so many! But he needed to protect them somehow to create a school of Mundyd.

"System, how do I protect the eggs of the Mundyd?"

You can seal the entrance to the nest with seaweed, and you can purchase a temperature regulator. That would be a hundred mana. Absorb that much gold from your horde to make your mana regen to 100/200 mana? Yes/No?

"Gold? The ants found gold? Yes, take it! But leave the rest for Thea."

Theanore the nymph already took plenty of gold for her own project. Mana regen changed to 100/200. Spend 100 mana? Yes/No?

Marinus felt warm inside at the thought that he had managed to provide for Theanore. He was so happy, he felt like he could swim in circles for hours.

"Yes," he said.

Seaweed sprang over the nests with the Mundyd eggs, and seashells appeared on their outer walls. Maybe this was the temperature regulator?

Swimming around, he checked on the Eelacondas too.

They were laying over a clutch of eggs, not wanting to leave the nest. That could become a problem.

 If they didn't feed, they would exhaust their reserves and die from hunger!

Swimming quickly, Marinus caught some bait fish for the Eelacondas, and he held his hands to the serpents so that they could eat.

He repeated the action a couple of more times, and he was rewarded with the most grateful look he had ever seen in an animal's eyes.

With this done, Marinus promised the Eelacondas that he was going to feed them for as long as they needed to look after their eggs. The two snakes showed him they could eat plankton, but Marinus told them that they were too big to live off of it.

Going back to the pool, Marinus saw a tablecloth near the new edge of the pool with a soup pot and a tea kettle.

 Theanore was placing the finishing touches, as something big and feathery came into the cavern.

"Thea, what is that?" Marinus asked. Whatever it was, the murder muffins were terrified of it. They huddled together and hid in the shadows.

"It is a chicken! Well, a rooster, actually. Hiss tried to eat it and then Barry chased her, and it was so funny! You should have seen it."

Marinus wished he had.

The rooster took a step towards the huddled murder muffins.

 They tried to go into the wall.

 Barry sat down and observed the kittens.

Marinus reached out and patted the rooster on the back.

Maybe he could train it to protect the pool from the murder muffins?