FULL NOVELXO Chapter 1349 1349 Second Treasure!
--- Lily --- Marigold, Blue, March, Romilda
Lily had done it. She'd made it to the top of the spire. It didn't quite reach the surface, but she could clearly see the sun through the water now. Sadly, there wasn't any other chests, that she'd found anyway. That begged the question. Where did she want to go now? Looking out at the ocean around her showed quite a few spires nearby, as well as a kelp forest way off in the distance.
There was also something square floating around in the water. Not chest shaped sadly, more like a pontoon… but that might still be a good indicator that a chest was on top of it. The annoying thing for Lily was that happened to be almost as far away as the kelp forest, just in a completely opposite direction. Lily wasn't sure if it was worth investigating.
*Ok. Best case scenario it has a chest in it. Worst case scenario, it's just a marker that tells you where the centre of the net is. Or no, I guess worst case scenario is that there's a chest there that isn't open yet and then I have to debate how worthwhile it is to stick around until it opens. I mean, the kelp forest looking place probably has at least one chest in it… but I don't know how long it would take me to find it. Dammit, I guess I'm going to the pontoon.*
Of course, Lily wasn't going to be completely silly about it. She swam upwards until she hit the waters surface and then let her wings carry her up and out of the water. She spared a brief moment to be thankful for the fact her wings were leathery instead of feathered as she left the water. It didn't take long to climb high enough to see on top of the pontoon. On top of it WAS a chest that she could see… but there was also a wooden stand with a Thyme behind it.
*There's going to be challenge when I get there… dammit. That's not what I was hoping for but I guess it's better to know there's something to do instead of just waiting around forever. Now the real question is, should I climb high enough to see the edges of the net? Will I even be able to see it properly from that high up? Does the net stick out from the water enough for that? I'd assume that the top floats… but that's just an assumption on my part.*
Lily shook her head as she angled towards the pontoon. *No it's just not worth the time investment. I'm not even sure what knowing that information would really get me. Sure I might have a better idea of where my competitors are, but it's been at least twenty minutes so they could be anywhere. No sense in wasting time just to check something that doesn't ultimately matter all that much.*
Lily transformed as she touched down on the pontoon and the Thyme there perked up. They were wearing an oversized coat, the sort that you'd see in cartoons when three kids were stacked on top of each other to get into an adult movie. The fact Thyme's had was massive and covered most their face didn't help matters at all. "So, you want to play a game?" asked Thyme.
Lily sighed. "I'm not sure I WANT to play a game but I'm betting that if I want to get the treasure I'm going to have to play along?"contemporary romance
"That's the spirit!" said Thyme as he pulled out three large shells and a rubber ball. "Now, watch closely. Follow the ball and don't lose it," Thyme flicked the ball underneath the left most shell and then started to shift them around rapidly. Thyme's hands started to blur even as Lily tried to focus on them. Her eyes had improved massively, but there was just no way for her to follow this. Thyme was using at least Rank 4 speed, perhaps even with a bit of time magic thrown in just to cause problems.
Lily could feel her eyes watering as she tried to get an idea of where the ball was. She'd see occasional flashes of red as Thyme flung it from one cup to another, only for it to quickly be lost in the shuffle again. Lily couldn't help but grit her teeth at the sight. *How the heck am I meant to follow this? I don't normally care too much but I think Thyme has made this completely impossible.*
Lily clicked her tongue as Thyme's little show continued, berating herself slightly. *No. There IS a trick here. Thyme never makes anything impossible and they're not going to start now. I just have to figure out what I'm missing and then I can win. So what did Thyme say? 'Follow the ball and don't lose it'. Ok… that… well that leaves a lot of things open. I was never told not to use magic, or not to interfere… hmm.*
Lily stretched her shadow out slowly, letting it creep up the side of the table before repositioning herself slightly to disguise the moment it moved onto the table. Thyme didn't react, but they'd probably seen through her shallow attempt at subterfuge anyway. Lily waited that that flash of red then launched her shadow upwards making a wall to catch the ball…
Only for Thyme to lightly smack the shadow construct. Shattering Lily's control over it and sending her shadow reeling back to its natural position. Lily glared up at Thyme who still seemed completely focused on the movement of the cups. Not even bothering to return her glare or berate her for mucking up her attempt to snatch the ball.
Of course, the lack of reaction confirmed that interference was completely fair game. Lily didn't know how long Thyme would keep shuffling the ball for so she had no choice but the try again. This time, Lily readied a shower of paper, hoping to knock the ball off course. She summoned the sigil for the spell just outside the cups range so that none of them would knock into the sigil. Thyme didn't react.
Lily smiled at that little detail and got ready. Once again, she waited for that flash of red and then pounced. The spell activated and a swarm of paper was sent towards where the ball would, hopefully, be. Sadly, Thyme was ready for this attempt as well. Thyme simply shifted one of the shells in front of the ball and collected all the paper she'd launched before the dumping the paper out onto the floor and continuing to shuffle things.
*Hmm… that didn't work but I might be onto something there. If I can just fill up all the cups with paper, even for a moment, I might be able to just snatch the ball with my hands. Thyme still had to wait for gravity to do its job. They can't just instantly empty the shells. Of course, there's no certainty that Thyme will use the same blocking method… but I have to at least make the attempt.*
Lily readied another sigil, much larger then the first and Thyme didn't visible acknowledge the presence of it, much to Lily's joy. She waited until it felt like the right time and then launched her hail of paper. Thyme reacted as she'd hoped, scooping up the paper with a flash of shell filled hands. As they were defending the paper onslaught Lily whipped her hand across the table, making a grab for the paper only to be blocked by an elbow. Lily wasn't deterred however she kicked the back of the table slightly sending the ball towards her.
Lily watched as Thyme eyed the ball, making minimal movement towards it as it left the basic range Thyme had stuck by so far. Just in case, Lily bent down and caught the ball between her teeth. Arm still held in place by Thyme. Lily simply waited for a few moments. When Thyme started clapping she relaxed but didn't let go of the ball just yet.
"Yes, good job, very good job. The chest, and this here key, is yours!" said Thyme as they reached deep into their coat, far deeper then strictly necessary, and pulled out a comically large key about twice the size of Lily's arm. "Urm… thanks, can you let go now?" said Lily.
"Of course, good luck," said Thyme as they finally released the hold they had on Lily and then sunk down into the floorboards. Lily leaned over to take a look but Thyme had already vanished. Shrugging at Thyme's antics she walked over to the chest and tried to open it. Only to find it refusing. With no obvious keyhole Lily did what she thought to be the most logical thing, and whacked the top of the chest with the giant key she was holding.
The key in her hand vanished and the chest popped open. A glance inside showed a small pouch attached to a belt. Lily had a guess as to what this was. Clipping it on swiftly she reached in a hand and was pleased to see that she was easily able to stick her arm in up to her elbow, despite the pouch only being about as long as her hand. "YES! This is going to make gathering more treasures so much easier! Totally worth playing that shell game for," cheered Lily.
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