Dinner was a pleasant affair, and the members of the party got along easily. They all had different personalities, but they were all nice enough.
After dinner, they sat in a corner of the tavern's common room and continued discussing the upcoming expedition.
"So Tia, you've never been on one before?" Bona asked curiously, tilting her head as she munched on the fries in her hands.
"Yes. I've been busy with tasks related to gardening and learning new abilities, so I haven't had the time." The girl nodded.
"Ah, no wonder you advanced at such a young age." Of the five of them, Sylutia was probably the youngest. She wasn't short, though, and was about average height for the group.
"Then I'd better give little Tia a proper rundown of what she needs to know. Wouldn't want anything to go wrong along the way." Rodriguez—Bad Apple, that is—flipped the dagger between his fingers, expertly peeled an apple, then cut it into pieces and passed them around.
"First of all, take things one step at a time when exploring. Don't rush straight into somewhere completely unfamiliar and extremely dangerous."
"It's best to go with someone experienced. It doesn't matter if you make a little less along the way; safety comes first, especially in the beginning."
"Next, planning your route is incredibly important."
"When we travel through the black-and-white World of Shadows, it's like a paintbrush leaving marks on a blank sheet of paper. We use up our Aspect Power, and we're also exposed to the World of Shadows' Distortion pollution."
"Fortunately, the Secret Realms and borderlands we can reach at our current level are all relatively shallow areas. As long as we don't let the Distortion pollution build up too much, and return to base in time to rest and cleanse