Auntie toasts the VRMMORPG

2.16 Teaching the Pebbles - Part 2

Flora beamed to the Riverstones.

The Training Hut stood tall behind the Gym Hut. It looked finished, but Flora wanted to make sure, so she connected to four octopuses and told her AIs to inspect the location and equipment.

The new boxes stood on the Mezzanine level, and Flora discovered that some of the rune-schemes were missing because Aito had written it in the information sign. Then she remembered she had wanted to add the rune-schemes by herself.

None of her clan members was in sight, but most of the boxes were occupied. Flora found a free Treadmill Tunnel on the lower floor.

"Aidan, define all the Riverstones as friendly targets so that they'll profit from my Divine Radiance," Flora said as she logged into the workshop. In the simulation grounds, she chose a Boxing Box again, this time with lightning.

When she arrived on Riverstones Island, a crowd lounged at the Bistro, chatting and drinking cocktails. She only knew some of them, like Emba and Grill, Ressa's teammates, and Ponda, the busty witch. All her favorite Riverstones like Robby, Eddie, or Mia, were missing.

Flora greeted the crowd and asked where the others were. Ponda pointed her to the gym area.

A trail between fruit trees led to the section Eddie and she had dedicated to training. A track with Robby, Ressa, Zapple, and Hoffi running on it surrounded a meadow. There Hub and a few others used the classical strength and gymnastics equipment. Too Biased and Normad fought with dummies. Honey and an unknown woman played with a Stehaufmaennchen while Lana and Mia climbed across the obstacle course.

"Hey, Ma! Great, you are back. I'll use your workshop again, okay?" Robby waved at her and disappeared.

Hoffi slumped to the ground. "Thank you, Boss-Ma; I needed the break."

"I strongly suggest you resume training," Flora said disapprovingly.

"Ow, mother and son are from the same mold," Hoffi whined, but picked himself up while Zapple laughed and ran circles around him.

The others interrupted their training and approached.

"We'll start with the lesson as soon as Robby declares everyone is here. Please notify everyone interested." Flora said and started to jog. "No need to waste the waiting time. Go, go, go!"

The Riverstones reacted with groans and laughter but followed Flora.

"Alright, Aidan, let's optimize our setup for the session. I want everyone's stamina and mana up. So, Divine Radiance is a must. Do the pebbles profit when I cast Rekindle in the box?"

"What pebbles, Milady? You share the pools with the body in the box. Therefore the positive effects of the spells should propagate through your Divine Radiance aura."

"Excellent. I meant the Riverstones with pebbles. Bind Rekindle and Pray for Stamina to the gloves and cast on cooldown. We'll use Ora et Labora, too. Should we connect it to Dodging or Free-Running? I believe Dodging might be better. What else can we do?" Flora started glowing as she implemented the plan.

Aito displayed a picture of Bliz, the little ice elemental, and a fire elemental next to her.

"Right, Bliz has Refrigerate. And the other has Rekindle?"

Aidan confirmed that Embrun had the spell, and Flora summoned him. He looked like a campfire, broader than tall, and multiple red fire tongues reached in the sky.

"Welcome to the team, Embrun! Please follow us and cast rekindle on one of the pebbles. Can you see who needs it the most?"

The fire elemental ducked, which Flora interpreted as "No".