"Hey, do you even know where to go?"
Rion immediately stopped and turned to her. "Now that you mention it… I got no clue."
Lie sighed, then grabbed Rion's hands tightly and led him back to the Guild. This time, she made sure to get the location, marked it on her map, and they were off again. They had to travel a bit outside the city before reaching a hill that sloped down toward the beach.
"It's the ocean!!!" Rion shouted as he ran down to it. He kicked off his shoes and stepped into the cold water. Lie followed behind, stopping at the edge of the shore.
Rion turned to her and whipped out his wand. "Hey Lie, how do I cast water magic?"
Lie furrowed her brow. "Um… get into a watery mindset?"
Rion stared at her, unimpressed. "The hell's that supposed to mean?"
Lie laughed. "Sorry, sorry. You know how when you use raw magic, you have to imagine it coursing through you?"
Rion nodded.
"Well, it's the same with water. But in addition to imagining the magic, you have to picture water—how it moves, what it's made of, how it feels, etc. Some thoughts work better than others depending on the person or situation. Most water magic books give you a bunch of images as reference to imagine, the simplest ones are waterfalls, running rivers, and the ocean of course."
"Wow," Rion said, genuinely intrigued.
Lie nodded. "All magic needs visualization to work, but there's a physical element too. For example, just being in water helps."
"Really?" Rion looked down at his feet, sloshing in the water.
"Yeah. Being in water, around water—hell, even drinking water beforehand—can help the process."
"Is that so?" Rion muttered. He then turned sharply and closed his eyes.
"Alright." He quickly thought of a rapid waterfall.
He held out his wand.
"BLAST!"
Nothing happened.
"BLAST! BLAST! BLAST!!"
Still nothing.
"…This is stupid."
Rion put his shoes back on and started walking to the left, toward the cliff hanging over the beach. "Let's go smash some eggs!"
Lie sighed and followed him. Once they reached the base of the cliff, they spotted it: a cave entrance leading downward.
"Is this where the nest is?" Rion asked.
Lie nodded. "Yup. All the eggs should be down here."
Rion chuckled. "Kinda creepy."
He took a step forward toward the cave. It was a little further down, so Rion and Lie climbed carefully over some rocks before finally reaching the cave's mouth.
To Rion's surprise, the inside was fairly well-lit—thanks to the luminescent green algae clinging to the walls. It was almost… pretty.
"Hey Lie, why do we gotta destroy these eggs in the first place?"
Lie turned to him. "We're not destroying all of them. But Clamshells tend to lay way too many. If we let them all hatch, they'll eat every fish in sight. That'd be bad news for Wanier. That's why the quest exists—this one's also paid for by the city, not a private client."
"Ah. Makes sense," Rion said, pulling his wand from his waist.
"Are you ready?" Lie asked.
"Ready as I'll ever be."
They gave each other a nod, then headed down into the glowing cave.