90

--TheirWorld--

The first thing that came out was the two-hander he had wielded against them. Tea and Guin cringed back at the same time as its golden hilt appeared before them.

“Damn,” Drakov said, looking at it as Paw laid it down beside her. “Too bad none of us can use his gear.”

“You can say that again,” Paw said, as she drew out the next piece: his armor. Everyone looked at Ibraxis — who smirked and looked away — but the armor was brand new compared to the wreck Guin had removed from Othren’s body. She put that one aside as well.

The next piece was more of a surprise. It was a silver and gold bow.

“Where the heck did that come from?” Starshine asked as visibly Drakov drooled. “Did he have a bow the whole time?”

Guin tilted her head. “The archers each had two weapons, a bow and a sword,” she said. “I guess it’s reasonable to believe that he would, too.”

“C-C-Can I have that?” Drakov asked, stepping towards it like he was possessed. Chuckling, Paw handed it to him. “Unless there is anyone else here who can use a bow, it’s yours.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” the young asian man went quickly, taking it in his hands and rubbing it against his face. “My wish has been granted! Whatever deity was listening to my prayers, I’m sorry I ever doubted you!”

Starshine snorted. “Get a room, would you? It’s just a bow.”

“It’s not ‘just a bow’, you noob!” he scolded, petting it. “This is a high grade item!”

Guin smiled and nudged her nose forward. “Anything else in there?”

“Mmm,” BronzePaw went, taking out what looked like a roll of paper and offered it to Guin. She took it. “This is sealed, but I’m guessing it’s something that you would want, Guin. It looks like the sigil of the nobles.”

The last item from the chest removed, it disappeared and the area started to reset.

Paw looked around in a panic. “What should we do with these things?”

“Drakov and I got something, so let’s say we are exempt from the roll,” Guin looked at Drakov, who nodded.

“I don’t want anything,” Ibraxis shrugged.

“If each of you give me a gold, I’ll pass on it too,” Stella said. “My flying is affected by the weight of my bags, and both of those things look way too heavy for my liking.”

Tea and BronzePaw looked at each other and shrugged. They each handed a Stella a coin before pulling out a pair of game dice and rolling them. Guin watched with great interest. She hadn’t yet had a chance to play with the dice system — she didn’t actually expect that they would be real dice. The system reported the outcomes onto each of their screens. BronzePaw won the sword, and gave the armor to Tea.

“The crowd is gathering,” Drakov pointed out. “We should get out of here before they try to figure out how we managed to stop this guy at our level, or decide that taking us on would be far more interesting than taking the bosses on.”

Tea clung to lute. “You don’t think they’d attack us do you?”

The torn up ground had gone back to being just mush of mud and roots. Before the guards had a chance to respawn, curious players began to funnel back in. Most of them were interested primarily in the dungeon entrance — Guin saw a few groups squeak around the tree, risking an uncertain glance at them before disappearing into the trunk — but there were also quite a good number who were very interested in their apparent success at battling someone who was categorized as a ‘good’ and ‘elite’ NPC.

“I don’t think we should wait to find out,” Drakov said. “I wouldn't be shocked if there’s a bounty on our heads by the time this guy resets. Look at your notifications — ” he pointed to a space where Guin imagined his window was open. “ — we lost a lot of reputation with not just the Noble Clan, but the Imperial Family.”

Guin took a peek, staring at the -2000 reputation they had lost for Othren’s death alone before swallowing hard. “This is ridiculous…” she breathed before shooting another glare at Ibraxis. “You just had to pick a fight, didn’t you?”

“Are you a broken record?” he asked flatly.

“Enough. It’s getting late,” Starshine pointed out. “What do you think, call it a night for today and try fresh tomorrow?

The whole group nodded. The fight had shown them just where they stood, power wise. Had any of battles gone in a different direction, chances were they would have lost. And what does that mean for the boss battles ahead? Guin wondered, looking back at the tree.

Arguably, they had only won because of Ibraxis’s presence; something they all had to swallow.

“Tomorrow will probably be difficult, time-wise,” Ibraxis told them. “I know Guin and I have extracurriculars until seven, and I’m sure we are going to want more than a few hours to figure the place out.”

BronzePaw considered. “It might be good to use this experience with Captain Othren as a base to improve ourselves when we have time,” she said, looking at her hands. “I think a day of skill and technique improving could do a lot of us some good.”

“Makes sense,” Starshine nodded. “I have to say, I need to get spells other than [Magic Missile]. Do you think that the monsters in there are going to have armor classes like this?”

“I wouldn’t doubt it,” Drakov said. “At least when it comes to the bosses. High Magic creatures tend to have properties like thicker hides, higher reflexes, and damage reflection.”

“Great,” Starshine rolled her eyes. “More stuff we aren’t equipped to deal with.”

“It’s not so bad,” Guin said. “We just get prepared for it.”

“That other bat bastard is going to have a field day if we don’t get through this dungeon,” BronzePaw growled, then pointed at her brother. “And I refuse to depend on him to get us through. I say that we all should put some effort into making sure that we are all pulling our own weight!”

The group all exchanged nervous glances as BronzePaw stalked towards the edge of the glade.

Ibraxis winced. “On that note, I have an early morning class to teach, so I had better take my leave as well,” he said with a wide yawn that made all his teeth visible. Nodding to Guin, he said, “See you tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Guin nodded and bowed slightly. He sat cross legged right where he was and disappeared as he logged. BronzePaw was already gone. Drakov and Tea were the next to wave farewells, leaving Starshine staring at Guin.

“You are much more of a troublemaker than I gave you credit for,” Star said, poking Guin in the forehead. “Also, what is it with you and Ibraxis?”

“Literally nothing,” Guin told her. “And if there is something, let it at least be amiable.”

“I’m actually kind of surprised at BronzePaw,” Star said, crossing her arms and gazing in the direction of where the garule woman had logged off. “I know you had less-than-good-intentions, but I don’t get why she doesn’t seem to want to play with that dear brother of hers. It’s almost volatile.”

Guin sighed. “I get it, to some degree,” she said. “Her alpha personality is getting the better of her, I think. But there’s nothing I can do about it now, except hope that Paw stops seeing it in such a negative light. I just don’t know if I should let Ibraxis handle it, or say something and probably make it worse.”

“My vote is let Ibraxis handle it,” Star said as they walked over to the place where BronzePaw had logged out. “You are awful with Paw in good mood. Her being in a foul one can only mean more problems.”

“I guess,” Guin said.

“We’ll deal with it tomorrow,” Star said, waving. “I’m out for the night!”

“Night!” Guin waved her farewell and logged out herself.

***

Dassah stretched. Laying in bed for so long had made her muscles considerably stiff. She was almost grateful that she would have her gym class tomorrow. The fact that Sathuren would be there aside, she had a bone to pick with Ishida Sensei. On the other hand, maybe should could learn something to help her group in the dungeon.

Storing the bits of equipment back in the box next to her bed, she thought of all the things she had learned — and that she still had left to learn. Chances were that she’d be able to log on for at least a couple of hours before bed tomorrow. She hadn’t opened the letter that dropped from Othren yet, and she wanted to see what other uses [Pandora’s Box] had.

After grabbing a late snack, Dassah sat with her phone and checked her various messages.

“Hmm?” she went, looking at the screen a little closer to make sure she was reading it right.

Jake: Hey! Sorry I haven’t contacted you — work and school have been really busy!

Jake: I was hoping to make it up to you by offering to buy you coffee and breakfast tomorrow? At the Perch?

Her brows furrowed as she sat back and re-read the messages. Should she accept the invitation or not? At least it was at the Perch. It was a place she had come to feel safe in, and it was relatively close the school.

Shrugging, she messaged him back saying that she should be there at 7:00, but she had to be in work by 9, if he wanted to meet up. If nothing else, she’d get coffee out of the deal, one way or another. It might be good for her to get out by herself, too. She hadn’t done much solo exploring since she had gotten to the Enclave.

Lights off, she finally went let sleep carry her away.