--- Lily ---
Lily blinked and realised that at some point Kat had started to move her around off to the side. "Um… Kat?" asked Lily.
Just those two words were enough for Kat to answer the mostly unspoken question. "Lily this is a public venue and we were standing in the very, very small entrance. Look, you can see a few other people around if you pay attention,"
Lily pouted at the amusement in Kat''s voice as she looked around and saw Kat was correct. The ''ss'' bridge had a few other couples on it off in the distance. The cavern really was huge when you considered what it was. The bridge had a bunch of corners and stretched out fairly close to the edges. There were around five couples that Lily could see… but there was one group of four people. She didn''t know if that was two couples who hade together or if it was a set of four.
Shaking her head and recentering herself now that she wasn''t quite so distracted by the sheer beauty of the ce Lily asked, "What… what IS this ce?" As soon as she did she could feel the grin Kat was projecting at the back of her head so Lily turned around to confirm, and give a raised eyebrow in response.
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Kat answered softly, knowing that Lily''s ears were good enough and that neither of them wanted to be too loud around the other couples who were keeping things quiet. "I knew you''d ask that… so I didn''t just find out about this date spot I also did two other things. The first was ask about the history of this ce… and the other was make a small purchase." As she finished speaking Kat pulled a thin book out of her storage ring.
ncing at it, Lily could see that it read ''The Mana Crystal Cave: Details and aplete History''. Lily felt her eyes widen as she started to giggle. "Hahaha Kat you really do know me so well. I''m sure that will be an excellent readter and a great way to remind me of this moment. Though… why did you ask about the history if you were going to buy the book?"
Kat grinned back, "Because I know you better then you seem to know yourself. Sure you can read the bookter… but rather then just sitting here and enjoying the view I can ALSO tell you what I already know about the caves. It might not be as detailed but I did get a fair bit of info. If you''re interested that is,"
"Of course I am!" insisted Lily as she turned back to facing the crystals and leant back into Kat''s arms. "I''m ready to listen whenever you want to start,"
"Ha, I didn''t expect you to be quite that eager but I suppose you did spend over ten minutes just staring at everything here," said Kat.
"Wait I did?" asked Lily.
"Yup. It''s why I decided you''d had enough time to take this all in and we shouldn''t keep blocking the entrance. Sure they make some allowances for just how stunning this ce is… but they actually do have a rule about the next group will be allowed in after five minutes even if you''re still blocking the entrance," exined Kat.
"Wait then why give me ten?" retorted Lily.
"Because it''s not peak times. Most people are asleep and there''s no natural lighting here so it looks just as good during the day when it''s a more reasonable hour for most people," exined Kat.
"That… makes a lot of sense," agreed Lily. "Now story time please,"
"Of course," Keeping her voice low Kat started to exin with a bright smile upon her face, "Now keep in mind this is what people told me and I got from a quick look over the book I got you. I don''t know how true it is exactly, but I suppose that''s half the fun of this ce. It''s a local legend.
"Now, the town dide first, and while the book doesn''t go into too much detail apparently it''s been through several rounds of expansion via earth mage. At the beginning it was just a fairlyrge cavern with a natural undergroundke running through it that has since been expanded a number of times.
"During the early days of the town''s existence it was sort of a ''gold rush'' style town. It sprung up because there was just enough space to fit in a few prospectors and their families in a nice central spot in the mountains that was, and in many ways still is quite rich in materials.
"It''s said however, that the man who found this ce showed it to his husband was promptly barred from excavating it for the sight was so captivating that ruining such a ce would surely put a curse upon you.
"That double husband duo was named Strik and Nyred and… honestly the book was super unclear if they were both prospectors or not. Some parts seem to imply that one of them had other work while other parts imply they both worked in prospecting so I can''t really say.
"Regardless, the ce was quickly imed as their find and then instead of mining it out they made it into an early attraction. It waster, in the first case of theft that they learned mining it would be a challenge beyond what they thought.@@novelbin@@
"You see, this is what''s none as a y line crossing geode'' . At some point this was the meeting ce of severaly lines, which apparently exist. The geode was likely already here though perhaps not quite sorge and grand. The mix of crystals and the huge amount of magical energy transformed this ce into a sort of enchantment.
"All of the crystals here are nearly impossible to break. It''s why the entrance is so small and there isn''t really an exit. Strik, the one who found this ce, got really lucky in finding a weak spot in the walls. Several people have tried to steal from this ce since but all of failed simply breaking their tools in the process.
"Because despite all of the crystals here INDIVIDUALLY being worth so much money that you could likely buy up everything else in the town twice over… nobody is strong enough to break them. It''s epted as a fact that one of the main reasons this cave continues to survive, alongside it''s beauty, is that it''s questionably possible that it even could be mined at this point.
"While most of the ley lines have shifted and no longer cross through this area it is still has an exceptional natural mana flow that seeps more and more into the crystals. The fact that even attempting to mine a single crystal here would be so expensive makes it easy for the town to dere it a protectedndmark and punish people for trying,"
"That''s actually really cool. I mean, it sucks that you can''t just trust people to protect this ce for how stunning it looks… but… but I think maybe I prefer the fact that it can also protect itself? I think that''s neat. I even like the fact that they didn''t realise quite how hard it was to mine untilter…" mumbled Lily.
Kat shrugged, "Yeah well… that''s one of the things I question about the books. Did Strik decide to show the ce off after realising that it couldn''t be mined? Or did they really only find out about how tough this ce waster. I mean, I''ve never heard of a ''ley line crossing geode'' before but then again… it''s not really something I''d look into,"
Lily frowned, "I guess it depends on how sessful Strik was elsewhere… but considering the story mentions that Nyred insisted the ce be protected I think it''s more likely that Strik had ns to start excavating the ce after showing off to his husband only for that n to fall through. You could be right but eh… I doubt those two are still around to confirm or deny right?"
Kat nodded, "Yeah the ce is owned by their kids,"
"Wait…" mumbled Lily.
"The first generation was adopted andter generations came about in the more normal way," added Kat.
"Cool… cool… um… is there any other neat stuff? Like when did the bridgee about? What is it made of? Because like… it looks like ss but it''s too clear to be tempered… but then it''s super solid? Like I imagine it''s not going to shatter so what exactly IS it?" asked Lily.
Kat smiled and patted her girlfriend on the head. "I don''t know that one off the top of my head… but I do remember seeing a chapter about the bridge in the big book. Do you want to read it together and find out now? Or save it as something to doter?"
Lily turned her gaze up at the stunning crystals that covered the ce once again, and let her mind rx. "I think… I think if you don''t already know it can wait until another time. For now I''m happy to just enjoy this ce,"