Mash woke and jumped to his feet. He had seen the fight end, but his thoughts were muddled, and he stood for an enemy that was not there. Soon the previous events caught up to him, and he remembered Luke managing to kill the thing somehow. Whatever technique he used had reversed the monster’s technique, destroying it in the same way it did to others. Mash's lips turned up slightly, thinking about how the thing deserved its death. However, he wished he could’ve done more to harm the creature but remembering its death wails, he figured it died painfully enough. Quickly he looked over his friends’ conditions.

They all seemed fine but were staring at him and looking around. They probably guessed that he had sensed an enemy, or a trap, or something. Mash shook his head towards them, returning to his seat while he spoke.

“Sorry, it was nothing. My mind was just a bit muddled when I passed out.”

They slumped visibly, though none of them had even stood up earlier. Mash realized that his friends were more drained than he was at this point. Mash also took off his mask, no longer needing a faceplate to protect himself from the random touches of the monsters. Honestly, if another monster arrived, he doubted whether any of them could muster the strength to fight it. Mash should be able to manage it with persist. He still had some energy he could work with and checked his status to confirm the fact. His head spun as the information entered his mind.

Name: Mash Class: Scale Wood Devourer

Level: 54 → 59

Health: 589 / 1400

Energy: 23 / 2150

Fortitude: 130 → + 10 → 140

Endurance: 82 → 85

Strength: 85 → 86 + 1 →87

Agility: 83 → 85 + 5 → 90

Intelligence: 121 → + 9 → 130

Wisdom: 71 → 73

Charisma: 65

Free Stats: 0 → 25 → 0

Skills: Persist, Mana-wood Creation, Inhuman Hibernation, Mana Territory, Unnatural Monster Core, Inhumanity, Wooden Body, Carnivorous Tree

Mana Territory (Passive): Your eyes just weren’t enough. Sense the changes in the mana around you. Connect to the mana in your space and inherently understand the nature of the mana.

Current Range: 13 feet → 14 feet

As he processed the information, Mash’s mouth fell open at the levels he had gained. Five levels were insane, even considering that he killed most of the enemies by himself and helped with the boss. Still, this fight didn’t seem like it was enough for so many levels. This change astonished him, and he quickly turned to the others.

“How many levels did you guys’ gain.”

They looked confused at first, obviously, they had been too tired to even think about checking their status. Luke visibly shook when he checked his, and Mash wondered what had happened. Luke didn’t miss Mash’s stare and replied hesitantly.

“I gained nine levels and a new skill. It was the monster’s …”

Luke’s voice was shaking as he spoke, and it took Mash a second to notice the water pouring down his face. At first, the tears had mixed with his sweat hiding them, but his voice gave away his real feelings. Mash turned towards the others, but they clearly looked just as concerned. Red slid slightly closer to Luke, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“What happened? You know that we won’t care.”

Red’s concern was obvious, and her genuine tone seemed to reach Luke. He still hesitated, meeting each of their eyes, before continuing.

“I knew I needed to attack the thing’s soul. I only have one attack for that… I stole it took its soul and siphoned part of its power. That’s why I got its skill and so many levels.”

Luke kept pausing as he spoke, taking many short breaths in between his words. It sounded to Mash like he was more scared of his own actions, than how any of them would react to it. Mash thought his five levels were a lot, but nine levels from essentially a single enemy was unheard of. He knew that Luke got some levels from the other monsters, but that was still insane. Did that mean that if he kept stealing things' souls, he would’ve leveled rapidly? Could all liches do that?

That question caused Mash to shiver, and he pushed the thought away. Instead, he tried to find some words of comfort too but realized it would be better to keep his mouth shut. His first thought had been to mention how powerful Luke’s skills were, or how the new attack was basically an instant kill on anyone without otherworldly magical defenses. Even with his paltry social awareness, Mash knew that none of those notions would do anything to appease Luke. It would probably just make things worse. Mash turned to Jill, but she seemed just as lost as he was, probably only able to come up with stupid quips.

“Luke, once we get out of here, you should have Luna heal you.”

Jill decides to give him some advice, holding back whatever wisecrack she thought off. Though, Mash didn’t understand her intentions and prompted her for more. The others seemed just as confused and waited for Jill to explain.

“She has a healing skill that can help you sort through your thoughts. Well, not exactly like that, it just helps you process things better. Look, I can’t explain it the best, but it should help. She told me about it when I was struggling with the stuff Mash talked about before. I didn’t accept it, but maybe you should give it a try.”

Jill explained her reasoning, and Mash agreed that it sounded like a good idea. Honestly, he might go to Luna, even if it didn’t do all that much. Despite his items and skills, this place had bothered him significantly. Luke only stared at his hands for a moment, before wiping his face and nodding towards Jill. It wouldn’t change the reality but hoped the healing would help Luke process it. Mash tried to change the topic as the silence grew among the group.

“What about you two how many levels?”

They went on to explain how each of them had gained four levels themselves, and mash was still amazed by that. They had done the least in this last battle but had still gained four levels. Even if they were a lower level than Mash, it still felt like they had gained a lot from the fight. Why had he gained so many levels and how come he gained them at the same rates as the others? Mash wished there was someone who could answer his questions and realized that there might actually be. The library in the capital should be filled with information on classes and levels, not to mention the Princesses would have access to more information too. he hadn’t seen the Princesses in a few days but figured he would get the chance soon.

For now, he crossed his legs and began his meditation. He used the time to adjust to the new range of his mana territory while recovering. It had been surprised to see how low his health had gotten. He hadn’t been hit many times, but it was clear that the number of hits didn’t correlate to the damage he had taken. Normally, he would ask Red or Luke to help him heal, but they were also recovering. Luke’s recovery was more a mental ordeal than a physical one, but Mash didn’t want to bother him. His skill should be enough to heal the injuries he had, and he simply let it happen. The pain was subdued compared to the other torture he experienced today, and he could handle it easily.

Once Mash had finished his recovery the group was ready to move on. Their priority was finding a key for the cells and the entrance gate, so they moved towards the monster’s corpse. Well, there wasn’t really a corpse left, but they went to its tattered clothing anyways. Guessing that there would be a key in its clothing, they debated on who would sort through the bloody rags. Ultimately, Mash ended up doing it. Red and Jill absolutely refused, and he wasn’t so callous as to push that onto Luke.

Walking up to its clothing, Mash was able to better understand the size of the thing. Its clothing covered a large section of the floor, torn and tattered from the explosion of its physical body. Mash bent over to lift it and realized that it was not a material he knew of. It was heavy, not that he couldn’t lift it, but much heavier than cloth would be. Furthermore, it felt strangely metallic, and Mash tried tearing it with all his strength. It didn’t even stretch when he put his back behind the effort. The material was an armor of some kind, but Mash didn’t feel like collecting it. He didn’t even care if it was valuable, he wouldn’t wear the thing’s clothing in any circumstance.

He didn’t actually need to look through the armor, merely walking around to let his mana territory encompass it. The clothing was magical in nature, and he figured that the key would be too. If it didn’t have mana then it would contrast from the clothing, and if it did then he hoped it was different from the cloth. Either way would let him find it, the only problem would be if the mana of the item matched the cloth, since it might blend then. However, he knew that it would have to be perfectly identical for that to happen.

He didn’t find it though and started a more meticulous search of the clothing. He didn’t want to miss the item if it was there and was disappointed that he couldn’t sense it with his skill. It took several minutes to search through all pieces of clothing, but he had found nothing. Before looking over the remains on the battlefield, they decided to check out the room the creature had been in before.

The room was elevated slightly, and Mash made a simple ramp that they could climb. Jill could have teleported them, but it was almost always a better idea for Mash to use his energy before anyone else used their mana. They climbed the ramp and entered the now broken glass wall. Thankfully, there were a few chests and large desks in the room. Everything was made for the large creature and took a lot of effort to open and search through.

They found a lot of interesting things. One of the chests was filled with extra clothing, and the desks were filled with books and papers. Red made sure to collect the books and papers, and Jill searched through the chest of the clothing. Mash and Luke looked through the other chest and found it filled with parts from numerous types of creatures, the smell burning his nostrils. Mash and Luke stepped backward slamming the chest shut. Turning towards Jill and Red, they hoped that one of them would find the key.

Sadly, they weren’t so lucky and had to search through the chest of decaying animal parts. Nobody wanted to search the last chest, so they instead poured it out over the floor, and looked over the scattered pieces quickly. The smell quickly filled the small room but was much more manageable as it dispersed throughout the entire space. It was still bad though, as an alcoholic-smelling liquid poured out along with the decaying pieces. Did the thing drink this stuff? Mash gagged at the thought of it. However, there was no key or any object that would look like one either. This left them needing to meticulously search the entire arena.

They began their search, scouring the room carefully. They double-checked when they couldn’t find the item on their first scan. They had to pick through the charred remains of creatures as well as the goopy pseudo-flesh that was left by the larger monsters. Everything about the process was disgusting, but they persevered anyway. The key was the only way to save the people

The entire search had taken around two hours, and they finally had to decide that there was no key. The creature had a different method for entering the cells and doors. Giving up on searching the room further, they left toward the cells again. They would need to figure out how the creature opened these things, or they would be forced to use the dungeon key and abandon the people in the cells. That was not something any of them wanted to do.