With the bounty collected, Jack approached one of the six large x-shaped tubes.

The entire heart was slightly pulsating, mimicking an actual beating heart. If he hadn’t just spent an extensive amount of time draining the life out of a monster from the inside, the way the tubes expanded and contracted would have probably disturbed him.

Instead, though, he couldn’t help thinking about what would happen if he used Vitality Absorption on it. Identify worked on the heart, implying it was a creature according to the system. Did that mean it had stats as well? What about Mana Absorption?

From what he could tell, the spell seeker had been camped outside the dungeon well before Lucy and he showed up. From everything he knew, dungeons were supposed to be dense areas of magic, and the system says the heart is the source of the dungeon’s magic. So it was reasonable to think that the wolf was waiting for the dungeon to break so it could go after the heart.

Only it was distracted by its weird fixation with Lucy.

They were already planning on destroying the dungeon, and Kai was going to take care of the incoming horde. It couldn’t hurt to at least see if his skills worked on it.

He decided to wait until after he destroyed the first five x-tubes before trying to absorb anything, just in case something went wrong.

Aiming for the center of the tubes, Jack slashed with his scimitar. Instead of the expected sound of sword cutting into flesh, the sword hit the tube with a solid thunk. Like he was chopping into a tree.

**Alert** You have provoked the dungeon.

There was an eruption of noise from outside the heart. With a quick glance, Jack saw that the long tunnel leading to the heart was now filled with drones and other creatures. Kai had already stepped forward and brought his leg down, slashing one in half.

Turning back to the tube, Jack saw that his sword had only dug about half an inch in. Pulling it out he swung again, this time activating Hydraulic Strike to give his attack some extra power.

While it helped a little, it was still going to take several strikes to cut all the way through.

To the sounds of Kai slaughtering the seemingly endless amount of drones, Jack continued to hack at the tube until he was done. Then he moved on to the next one.

After getting a few inches deep, each tube started leaking a thick clear fluid. It continued to bleed the entire time until he cut the tube in half when the fluid would suddenly stop as if someone had turned off a faucet.

When he was finally in front of the last tube, he began to quickly poke and prod it. He attempted to activate Mana Absorption but was not able to get a response.

Using the same technique that he did vs the Corpse Titan, Jack stabbed hardened spears of his hair into the tube. Again, he tried to activate Mana Absorption, when that failed he tried Vitality Absorption to no avail.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew he was missing something, he just couldn’t figure out what. Maybe he needed a specialized evolution? Maybe he just needed to have a higher level in his skills? Either way, he obviously couldn’t absorb anything right now.

Cutting through the last tube went quickly enough. Once he was done, he felt the ground shake for a moment.

Your party has slain a Dungeon Heart Level: 15

Your contribution 100%

You are awarded 48 Experience.

You have been awarded 1/2 Skill Token.

Half a coin appeared in front of him and he quickly shoved it in his bag.

**Alert** The Bloodied Woodlands has become unstable.

Time until dungeon collapse (1 hour)

As he turned to leave, his eyes were drawn to the piles of slime on the ground. Every RPG and video game instinct he had told him to harvest some before he left.

Looking around the chamber, he attempted to open his inventory, centering it on various spots, but each time it failed to open. That was the exact reason he had brought a bag to collect the bounty items, his inventory was just too big to fit in the area.

It was a nine-foot cube and there was just no way he would be able to fit the entire thing in there. He made a mental note to either bring some jars next time or figure out a way to access his inventory without summoning the whole thing.

Exiting the heart, Jack followed closely behind Kai as he cut a path through what seemed like an endless amount of drones.

Jack was focusing on avoiding the attacks of the stray drones that Kai either missed or didn’t take down in one strike, but near the end of the tunnel, he spotted something huddled against the wall.

“Prince! You’re alive!” Jack exclaimed to the apathetic-looking frog. Swatting away a drone, Jack rushed over and grabbed the frog. “Don’t worry buddy, I’m not going to leave you here to die.”

An annoyed click told Jack to get back into position. Holding the frog-like he would a football, Jack followed the bird-man to safety.

The imposing figure of the giant golden eagle Ava greeted them as they exited the dungeon. Next to her, Lucy flashed blue when she spotted them.

Even though they had been running for a little over half an hour, Jack was surprised that he was only a little winded. A high stamina pool has its benefits.

Walking up to Lucy, he presented the toad. “Look Lucy, I found the prince.” Seeing the confused look on Kai’s face, Jack explained. “This is the frog I told you about, the one that I thought was a genie but wasn’t.”

Jack turned the frog to look him in the eyes. “You’re not, right? Because you’d have to tell me, I just saved your life. No? Ok, yeah, he’s just a frog.”

Kai eye the amphibian skeptically. “Are you bringing the frog with you?”

With a shrug, Jack replied. “I don’t know, he helped me understand the luck attribute a bit and the skill I got from him was ultimately what let me survive inside of the boss. I just felt bad leaving him in there to die, I didn’t think about what would happen after. How about it, you want to come with us? I promise I won’t let Lucy eat you.”

When the frog gave no signal of understanding, Jack shook his head. “Oh god, I sound like a pokemon trainer. Whatever, thanks for the help prince. I hope you don’t die.”

He walked over to a nearby tree and placed the frog next to it. The frog waited a few moments but began to hop away from the dungeon, never looking back.

“Ok, so we have around twenty minutes until the dungeon collapses. What actually happens when that timer is up? Does it actually just cave in on itself? What happens to all the stuff inside?” Jack fired off question after question as he walked back to the small group.

“It might be easier if you just wait to see what happens. Go ahead and Identify the bounty while we wait.”

Sitting down, Jack opened up the bag of items. One by one he pulled an item out and identified it.

First was the pale branch that didn’t quite fit inside the bag fully.

Cane of Consuming Corruption A cane made from a branch of the Neoforman tree, a symbol of cleansing.

Permanently remove one affliction from target.

Useable once every thirty days and only during a full moon.

After reading its text out loud Jack exclaimed, “Wow, that's amazing! I mean afflictions can be anything, right? My broken bones were considered an affliction, and so was my depression. Even being turned to stone was considered an affliction, so could I unpetrify someone with this?”

Kai nodded his head. “Curing afflictions is an uncommon ability. It usually requires special resources or a large amount of mana, depending on the severity of the affliction. Being able to remove any affliction without cost is very rare.”

“Hmmm, it’s definitely useful. With the weird thirty-hour days how often is a full moon?”

Kai’s face twisted into one of judgment before he quickly changed it back to a neutral one. “It is once every thirty days, in this area it is on the seventh.”

“Huh, well I guess that would prevent people from just following the full moon and curing an affliction a day.” Jack tilted the stick back and forth and could detect some sort of liquid inside. “I’m really curious though, what is on the inside. That reminds me, do you know how magic items are made?”

A flash of panic went across Kai’s face. “No. Dungeons can make them. Some classes can too, but I do not know anything else about how they are made. I can introduce you to someone who might when we get to the herd.”

“Ok, I won’t bug you with any follow-ups then.” He placed the cane on the ground and pulled out the next item. It was the black ring with red line work. It had a seam down the center that looked like it would split into two separate rings. “Ugh, I really hope this isn’t what I think it is.”

Ring of Marital Aid What used to be the symbol of a couple’s eternal love now is a tool to keep those who are separated connected.

While wearing one of the ring halves you can send a message of up to ten words that will display on the other half.

Useable once every ten hours.

The message will translate into a language that the wearer understands.

Jack let out a sigh of relief. He was not looking forward to figuring out how to make use of a magical sex toy. A magical pager on the other hand could be very useful.

Kai cocked his head. “Is there something wrong with that item?”

Jack suppressed a giggle. “No, it’s fine, the name was just misleading, I am very happy with it. Here, look for yourself.”

Taking the ring from him, Kai inspected it closely. Twisting it separated it into its two halves. “So what does it do, and how do I activate it?”

“Oh right, you can’t use Identify outside of a dungeon.” Jack quickly told him what the item did. To test it, Kai wore one half and Jack wore the other. It was extremely simple they just had to think of a message with the intent to send it. The ring did everything from there.

Kai’s eyes widened in excitement when the red lines on the ring arranged themselves into the short message Jack sent. Kai turned to Ava, showing her the ring and gesturing like a kid showing off a new toy.

Jack waited for a moment for Kai to turn back, but he seemed to be lost in his mental conversation with Ava. Might as well check out the next item.

The Adventurers Almanac The bloodstained journal of Darshana Ward. While she may have been cut down before she finished her adventure, that didn’t stop her from updating her journal every dawn.

Jack dropped the book and took a few steps back. “Shit, Kai are ghosts a thing?”

Finally, looking away from Ava, Kai responded, “Yes.”

“Umm, I think the book might be haunted then. It said it was an old adventurer’s and that she still writes in it. Do we have anything to worry about?”

Kai twisted his face in thought. “Undead bound to magic items is not unheard of, but the only ones I have heard about were made by crafters, not dungeons. If it did not say anything about a spirit, it might just be a magic imprint mimicking the person. Some items do seem to have a type of personality, most of the time they are divination types.”

Jack cautiously approached the leather book. He actually noticed some red stains on the cover, opening it he saw more prominent stains on some pages. Flipping through quickly the first quarter of the book was filled out with journal entries, pictures of flowers and monsters, even a self-portrait.

The rest of the book was mostly empty except for the last three pages. The first page had a large title with the words ‘The bounty is plentiful’ but what drew his eye was a sketch of the four of them, Ava, Lucy, Kai, and himself, all arranged in their current positions down to him looking down and reading a book.