134 Exploring
Yunan, Lili and Reina stayed in bed until the next morning, they left the villa feeling refreshed and joyful, they went to the guild branch and left messages for their organisations to pick them up sometime later, although Yunan wanted to keep both of them close to him, he was not selfish enough to jeopardize their commitments.
They met leol as he was coming down from the 19th floor, finally Yunan was faster than an organisation, and he did not miss the chance to rub it in, none of the Valyrians were slow by any means, reaching the twentieth floor within two years of time is quite an effort by any organisation, and Yunan did it alone, of course the entourage Leol had with him called Yunan a liar and a show off, prompting him to literally throw some of the overbearing ones out of a window.
Leol was now having an entourage of chicks following him wherever he went, even the pretend relationship with muscles did not save him, and with him arriving at the 20th floor the entourage got bigger, most of them are girls from noble families who are dying to get their mittens on an heir of a powerful and neutral family to bind their families to him, although Leol is very liberal with them and does not refuse them all the time, he was very adamant about not getting into any kind of commitment, he still pushed his friends to a secondary priority, out of self service.
Yunan was not the kind of guy to believe in blind loyalty but he was still a loyal guy, as long as no one pushed him aside, if Leol was not as enthusiastic to keep the team together, Yunan would not begrudge him, however he would also not stick to the man either, if even the dull Lili noticed Leol was distancing himself from them, Yunan was sure to have noticed that too.
No matter, Yunan still held a feast like he always does with guests and made sure everyone had a good time before blatantly sending the guests away because he wanted some time with his girls, after cleaning up he took the four girls into the bath and performed his new massage therapy skill on them, he needed to use the skill on others and not just himself, that skill got a warm welcome and was to be a permanent addition to all group baths from then on.
The twentieth floor was the first safe zone in Tartarus, a floor with no monsters in it, it had a vast jungle and some grassy and flowery plains, it had lakes and rivers with small animals one can hunt for food, including hares and fish and some fat fowl, the floor was large and no one cared about exploring it before since most of the edible flora and fauna were nearby the stairways, and the town that was built by the guild had everything one needs so there was no map of the floor since the guild did not pay for maps of the safe floors.
The floor also had a crystal ceiling that mimics the sky on the surface, time of day, brightness, or the shining of stars, all was to make it as close to the surface as possible. It was a pretty good place for taking it easy so Yunan took Reina and Lili on a week long trip around the floor, they sampled the exotic fruits and animals, they swam in the lakes and soaked in the hot springs, they found caves full of jewels and an especially beautiful obsidian cave that led to a lava lake.
Inside the lava lake they found a cluster fist sized lotus that were blooming, instead of seeds its leaves surrounded a fiery orange fruit, Drogon dove in the lava for a swim and picked only one fruit for himself and one for each of the three teenagers with him. The fruit was not warm like they thought, it rather felt like it had been cooling in a spring, it tasted sweet and juicy, it had a fleshy feeling but still melted like chocolate in their mouths.
The fruit was a full 200 point increase in attributes, it made them feel full and congested, like they had eaten too much and needed to digest it first before they could move again. After leaving the cave they chanced upon a milky white pool, brave like always, Drogon dove inside and came out sparkling like an obsidian sculpture, Yunan put a finger in the milky pool and felt like his body was too dirty for his finger after pulling it out, and so the three dove in. According to the Black fate, the pool was surrounded by a type of rock that filters water into a cleansing salve that can suck away the damaged body tissues and impurities.
Yunan ended up digging the whole pool out and put it into his storage space for later use, after some thought, Yunan returned to the lava cave and scanned it, not obsidian but it was called a fermentation rock, it can accept all kinds of waste and distill it into a lava wine, a naturally cold beverage that is as nutritious as honey, the fruit lotus was something that must have been dropped there by an animal who came by the cave before.
Yunan was feeling very bad that he could not dig the fermentation rock out thanks to its sturdiness, so he left with the girls in search of something they could take with them, however Yunan was told by the Black Fate that if he returned the milky pool he would be rewarded by Tartarus, Yunan did not understand but he still thought that if the Black Fate asked for it it must have some meaning to it. As the trio returned to where they took the pool they found a number of small animals anxiously running around the crater Yunan left behind.
Yunan understood immediately why he should return the pool, this was the place where the animals cleanse their bodies so that when they are hunted by adventurers, they would provide the best and cleanest meat. As soon as Yunan put the pool back the animals jumped in and out before running away. The Black Fate conveyed the gratitude of Tartarus and the promise of reward, however Yunan dismissed it and kept wondering about trying to get his luck to activate and shower him with good stuff.