Chapter 115: Spice Water

She found it funny how he acted just like her in things like this, and then a question surfaced in her mind about where he hadn't acted like this in the past.

Alex sighed, glanced over his shoulder, and then said, "You are right; what I think is useless. Let's go."

Alex then walked forward, moving first. Emily followed behind him.

Seeing his broad back from behind, which looked hunched by burden, Emily thought to herself, 'Did he do that for me and Mom?

Both of us were in a slump at that time; we even fought each other. If he also acted like us, I cannot imagine how our family would be now.'

This made Emily realize how much of a burden her brother had carried all this time. And now he is someone burdened with resurrecting a whole species.

God knows what kind of things he will face in the future.

She ran forward, blocking Alex's path, then with a smile on her face and a cheerful tone, she said, "Alex, my dear brother, as long as you never leave us, I and the rest of the Suzaku guild will always be there to help carry your burden."

Hearing Emily's cheerful tone, Alex felt warm in his heart. He understood Emily wanted to cheer him up.

He smiled, then flicked her forehead, "Of course, I will make sure to work you all to the bone."

"Ouch! That hurt, you know," Emily protested with a pout while using her hand to touch her forehead, but her lips curled into a smile.

Alex chuckled; they then continued their journey through the maze.

Some distance away from them, Quartz and the others were taking a break at an oasis.

In this dungeon, there are a few Oasis scattered around. Hunters usually use these places to take a break.

"We are so lucky to have found one in the area we promised to meet," Olivia said with a chuckle as she dipped her feet into the cold water.

Even though the desert is hot, the water in the Oasis weirdly always feels cold, breaking any physics rule they know. Usually, the water temperature would be similar to the area around it.

The water also has magical properties that make anyone drinking or touching it feel refreshed; it's called spice water and is one of the exotic resources that can only be obtained from this dungeon.

Usually, a single trip by a hunter squad will bring back at most 100 liters (3.3k ounces), making it a rare product. But with a storage ring, Olivia knew they had hit the jackpot since they could bring back as much as they wanted.

"Let's take it after Alex and Emily reach here. I don't want to be staring at a dried-up lake," Quartz said while lazily lying on a deck chair, her hand holding a can of juice.

Meanwhile, Zold stood up in alert, looking around the area.

Seeing his actions, Quartz chuckled, "Don't worry, we've already checked; no monsters are around here, and we won't have to wait long anyway."

"Aunt, based on the distance we traveled from Alex, despite the marks we left, it could still take them a while to find this place.

And the range for our communication to work again is only ten meters; it's better to stay alert because we never know if there are flying monsters."

"Flying monsters? Here?

Come on, we have checked the monster list many times; even the rarest one here cannot fly, Zold." S~eaʀᴄh the nôvel_Fire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

"We never know, Aunt. Better safe than sorry," Zold replied in a flat tone.

"You really need to learn how to enjoy life, Zold." She then looked at Olivia, "talk some sense into him, Chibi."

Olivia let out a chuckle, "What sense? Zold is not wrong. We are in a dungeon; you should stay alert."

"Hmph, you just want to make up a reason to contradict me. I should have asked Emily."

Looking at the clear water in the Oasis, Olivia added, "Well, based on what Alex says, this place is just another world, meaning a flying creature will surely exist."

"I still can't believe it… what he says makes sense, but if that's true, the implications are just too big. Well, forget it; I hate thinking about complicated stuff. So, how much do you think we can get from this water alone?"

"A 500ml (16.9oz) bottle sells for around $1,000. If we can really take all this, we can easily get tens of millions.

That is quite a sum, but not that much. I do wonder what will happen if we dry up the entire Oasis."

"What could happen? This place just stays like this anyway; no one has ever had a problem when they took part in it."

"Well..." Olivia's words were cut off, hearing familiar footsteps from behind.

Her lips curled into a smile, and she looked at Alex and Emily, who were walking towards them. "You all right?"

"Yes, we are fine, Aunt Olivia," Emily answered as she approached Quartz, chuckling at her nonchalance.

Alex turned his gaze toward the Oasis and crouched down beside Olivia, "So this is the source of spice water," he mumbled.

"Now that I remember, you always liked to drink this," Olivia said, looking at Alex.

Alex dipped his finger in the water, then put it inside his mouth, making Olivia's cheeks turn red, and she turned her gaze away.

"It's sweeter than the one I usually drink," he said. Hearing his remark, Olivia's face turned redder, like a tomato.

Alex was tasting the water because he wanted to ask Vesa to analyze the content. He wanted to compare it with the one he usually purchased and then find out how it's made.

Looking at the clear water made Alex curious.

Logically, a place with an exotic resource like this would have monsters guarding it, but this one Is different.

Not to mention Guardian, even a fish cannot be found inside it.

He felt the urge to jump down and check what was causing the water to change like this, but knowing they didn't have much time to waste, he stopped thinking about it.