As the adrenaline faded, Zoey became acutely aware of her broken left arm. Rolling up her sleeve, she could see that her forearm was bruised and swelling where she had been hit. She had no way of healing it right now, so her best course of action would be to immobilize the arm and let the break heal on its own.

In short order she used her Aether Engineer talent to fabricate a carbon fiber brace for her arm. She made sure as best she could that the break was aligned properly and kept it in place with the brace. She also attempted to fabricate some pain killers and other medical items, but her interface informed her that it was not possible.

Now that her arm was temporarily fixed, she turned her attention back to her surroundings. Both the ogre and the mantis corpses had dissolved into particles and formed into another chest sitting in the arena. she approached and opened it, curious about what she would find despite the pain in her arm.

Opening the chest she was surprised. Compared to the meagre but good items of the first two chests this one had a ton of stuff. There was a shiny longsword, a hefty pouch of gold and silver pieces, a strange unmarked book with red bindings, a leather bracer that was inlaid with a strange metal, and finally, an oval shaped object the size of her fist. She collected the items into her inventory. She would inspect them later, right now she wanted to get out of the dungeon.

Once she had collected the items from the chest, a portal warped its way into existence behind her. She took one last look around and stepped through it. There was another moment of disorientation and nothingness, and then she appeared back in the forest right under the overgrown canopy and the tall stone spires where she had entered the dungeon.

She noted that it was getting dark, and began heading back to Nito's house, hoping to get there before dark. She could find her way well enough during the day, but at night it would prove difficult.

Thankfully she was able to get back just as the sun disappeared and darkness descended on the forest. Nito was already back from his hunt with some food he had gathered.

"Zoey! Welcome back. Wha! What happened to arm!"

Nito was immediately concerned when he saw her arm in the brace she had made. She recounted her day to him not leaving out any details. Nito was amazed and angry at the same time when she finished her tale. He was amazed that she had found a dungeon and cleared it in a day, and angry that she had gone in by herself and gotten hurt.

Zoey appreciated Nito's concern, but he did not know that she had the advantage of her interface. She had known for the most part what she was getting into, with the only surprise being the mantis creature.

When she asked Nito about the mantis, he happily provided his knowledge. Turns out that it had been a Scythe Mantis Reaper, one of the deadliest predators known on Darren. They were a predator that would place their eggs into an unknowing host, and when the egg hatched, it would literally eat its way out from inside the unlucky victim.

The Scythe Mantis Reaper that Zoey fought had prematurely hatched due to her killing the ogre and had been weak as a result. A Scythe Mantis Reaper that had hatched on its own would be no less than a Rank 4 monster on birth and extremely deadly!

Reminded by the name of the creature "Scythe Mantis Reaper" Zoey remembered that she had picked up a book that shared the same name. Pulling it from her inventory, she handed it to the startled Nito, who took it gingerly. After reading the title, his eyes seemed to bulge slightly and his mouth dropped open. Zoey couldn't help but laugh at his comical expression, at least until she jostled her broken arm and winced at the painful reminder.

Seeing her pain made Nito snap out of his shock. He suddenly looked like he remembered something important and practically ran to his sleeping area and began digging through his stuff. Moments later he returned holding a vibrant green essence stone.

"Here, take this. Will heal any injury! No need for elemental attunement! From very rare creature called Mittra, not found often! Nito very lucky! Found wounded Mittra one day and got two stones from it! You take one!"

He handed Zoey the green essence stone and went back to inspecting the book Zoey had given him, muttering to himself the whole time. Zoey smiled at his obvious excitement. Nito had helped her quite a lot and she was happy to return the favor.

She returned her attention to the Mittra essence stone that he had given her. If her hunch was right, Nito had just gifted her something amazing. If her Dark Star Runic Blood could form a rune ability from this with her Ability Assimilation, she would be able to heal herself from now on!

She calmed her mind and entered her inner world. Her essence lake was tranquil, and the small sapling in the center of the lake seemed a little more robust than it had been. The molten red and blue colors of her heritages could be seen twinkling behind the petrified crystalline surface.

She wasted no time and started to absorb the essence from the green stone. In short order, the green magic essence was flowing into the lake and her innate talent activated. The deep bass mechanical voice once again announced the assimilation process had begun.

Zoey was used to all this by now and simply let the process take its course. The only difference this time was that she could feel a warmth gathering in her left arm. Nito had said that the stone had healing properties, so she figured the warmth she felt was the healing taking place.

Seeing that the process could take a while, Zoey closed her inner eye and rested while the healing and the Ability Assimilation took place.

She would assess the changes after she was rested.