"And which class are you?" Maya asked, as casually as she could.

"Ranger. Isn’t it obvious?" Andy winked and raised his bow. "Be right back." He logged out before Maya could stop him.

Runescale’s brow furrowed and he twitched in the telltale signs of checking his own stat sheet. "Luck? There’s no such thing as luck on this world."

Hahaha, right. Maya considered explaining, since she’d want Runescale in her elite team eventually, but decided against it. He didn’t seem the sort to keep a secret. He would probably complain loudly to anyone listening about his inability to become a trickster. No, best to keep him ignorant for the moment.

"So, mind filling me in on your spell while we’re waiting?"

"You promise to make me a lightning sword or a new spell in return?" Runescale pressed.

"Fine. Yes, you get first dibs on any new lightning spells I make."

"Watch closely, my apprentice, and you will see how it’s done." Runescale began moving through the attack motions for Runestrike, but shifted just a tiny bit. Maya resisted the impulse to correct him; he was going to make it more expensive without a proportional increase in power. In fact, with all the mistakes he was making, she'd be surprised if he could cast it more than once without using his entire energy pool.

Then he got to the important part of the modifications, and Maya stared, trying to take it all in. He'd focused the power on the wave rather than the strike, shifting the focus of the spell into a short, close pulse from the caster that would echo back on itself once it reached a set distance. This meant it still stunned the caster, but in a distinctly different way from the original version, and a way that she could correct without more than a half hour’s work.

The adjustment was the same sort of weird intuitive jump that her luck let her do by instinct, but somehow Runescale had figured it out on his own. It was a good reminder that while she may be better at spell creation, she wasn't the only one capable of it.

The academy had discovered a lot, even if the underlying principles escaped them. And, if she were honest, they often escaped her too.

"How much magic did it take to make that?" Maya asked. "And where did you get it from?"

"I collected it from the base of the stalagmites!" Runescale announced proudly. "We grabbed most of it earlier, but no one was crawling around to get the last of it."

"Very resourceful," Maya said, and he grinned at the praise. "I think I can make some further improvements to your design. Would that suffice for repayment?"

"Show me and we'll see."

Maya shrugged. "I don't have the magic for it right now. How long will it be before this dungeon respawns?"

"A week or two probably." Runescale waved it away. "That's not important. If you're going to work on Stun Strike, I need you to make it better looking. I didn't get to look awesome enough."

"How about making it not paralyze you? Would that be awesome enough for you?"

Runescale considered for a lot longer than Maya would have anticipated before replying. "Yes, but it would be better if you could make me glow."

Thankfully, before they could get any further down that particular dead end, Andy reappeared. "Luck again," he said.

"Do you have any plans for later today?" Maya asked.

"No, not particularly."

"Would you mind hanging around a while longer after we finish the dungeon?"

Andy shook his head. "I'm all yours. Honestly, it's nice having someone familiar around. I don't think I've seen the same person more than once since coming to this world."

"Then I'm happy to help." Maya did feel a little weird, being Andy's only connection here, but she wasn't planning to go anywhere and if he had no problem with following her around she wasn't going to send him away. After all, her plans were likely to make them all a lot more powerful and famous than anything he could do as a solo player. And if he had two trickster characters available? He’d be a very very valuable resource as he grew more powerful.

"Right now we just need to wait for Xaneta to arrive, she'll help us finish the boss, then we can get back to the academy and do some serious research."

"Yes, new spell time!" Runescale shouted, doing a silly little dance.

"You are welcome to join as well, Andy," Maya said. "If you have any interest in magic."

He glanced at his bow, then shrugged. "Does it have to do with your secret plan?"

"Not exactly. I just love making new spells."

He smiled. "If it's something you love, then I'm sure it's worthwhile."

"Are you... an obsessed fan or something?" Maya asked. It was one thing to have a noob tag along, but something in the way he was talking now gave her a different, less normal vibe.

"You have obsessed fans?"

Maya glanced at Runescale, then at Andy, then sighed. "Nevermind. I won't turn you away, whatever your motivation. We're going up against the biggest player on the server, and right now we have very few advantages."

"Quality, not quantity!" Runescale declared.

"Yes." Maya wondered if she could recruit some of the independent tricksters. Sevard had been open to working for anyone, including Domitius, but only until it became too boring for him. Xaneta seemed friendly enough, though they didn't know each other nearly as well. Both of them were high tier and could bring a lot to an alliance.

But Maya had little to offer. Sevard had always been generous to her, letting her keep the majority of their shared loot from adventuring together. Even at her richest, it was only pocket change to Sevard, and she had hardly any of it left now.

"I think I need to talk to Shardlord," Maya decided. He was high tier, so he should have several alt slots available. If she could get the academy's leader in on their little rebellion, they could race Domitius to the top in style.

Then Xaneta rushed in, looking for a moment like a differently-coloured Rominian until she came to a halt beside Maya. "Ready?"

"Sure. We've built a--"

Xaneta nodded and sprinted up onto the platform, sliding into the boss room without waiting for an explanation.

Apparently she was in a hurry today. Maya hurried after her, Runescale opting to remain in his downstairs crawlspace, and Andy following Maya.

"Wow, you glitched him good. I think he could give me a run for my money," Lucy said between attacks. She was dancing between flashes of light, moving with such speed and grace that Maya could only stare in astonishment. It was as though she were attacking and evading in almost the same instant, flowing away from danger perfectly setting up her own attacks, and doing it so elegantly and beautifully Maya couldn't look away.

Was this what she looked like when she was dodging with high luck earlier? If so, no wonder she had obsessed fans!

Andy was firing his arrows again, and Maya realized that for once she didn't have to worry about drawing aggro. Xaneta was holding it effortlessly.

She grinned and started firing off Heart of Stone. It didn't take long to spend all her energy, but that still made a noticeable dent in the boss's health. Xaneta's attacks brought it inching down in slow, steady ticks. From what Maya could see, she hadn't been hit once.

Once her energy ran out, she switched to throwing her soulbound daggers. They were clumsy weapons for throwing, but the more she practiced the better she'd get at using them, and they dealt significantly more damage than her standard throwing knives. She should look into getting some higher end blades meant for throwing at some point, but for the moment this was the best she was going to get.

She hadn't mastered the ability by the time the boss's final health ticked down. Xaneta still hadn't taken a single hit; the entire party sat at full health.

Maya desperately hoped that bringing in a tier 5 for a tier 2 dungeon wouldn't break her quest. But a moment later her fears were allayed.

Mission complete: Trickster Day 20. Reputation with The Trickster has increased.

Item gained: Belt of Intelligence (Rare; lv16, +16 Int)

New Mission: Recruiting. (Repeatable; ongoing)

Convince one person to change class to Trickster. Rewards: increased reputation with The Trickster, random item, +5 luck for 10 days.

Maya blinked. Usually finishing a quest for the day resulted in her bonus and nothing else. Today she got a new follow-up quest? Nice! And it even offered her a bonus for something she was planning to do anyway. This really was a lucky day.

"Need anything else?" Lucy asked, with obvious impatience.

"No, I guess not—"

Before Maya had even finished speaking, Xaneta threw a handful of glittering Dust of Recall into the air, stepping forward to teleport back to the leypillar.

"Wow, she's definitely busy today."

But there was no time to waste wondering what had Lucy so distracted. Maya had her +79 luck and time was ticking. She sprinted for the exit. As they departed the dungeon, a cascade of notifications filled her mind and she came to a startled halt. Maya remembered being impressed by the rewards for the Crimson Flame dungeon, but this was something else altogether.

You have completed the Minotaur’s Master dungeon!

Your level has increased!

You have 4 attribute points to allocate.

Items gained:

Crystalstar Armor (Legendary; lv45, +13 Int, +12 Agi, +25 Mom)

Runner’s Leggings (Uncommon; lv45, +20 Mom, +15 Agi)

Minotaur’s Might Stud (Rare; lv45, +23 Mom, +22 Str)

Earring of Focus (Exceptional; lv45, +47 Foc)

Minotaur’s Might Breastplate (Rare; lv45, +23 Mom, +22 Str)

Ring of Agility (Uncommon; lv45, +35 Agi)

Minotaur Horn x5

Crystal Fragment x11

Powerstone x2

140 gold

"What is the point of this?" Runescale asked, annoyed. "I can't use level 45 gear!"

Maya frowned at her own rewards. High level crafting materials, high level equipment, and an absolutely ridiculous amount of gold and silver. She remembered how they'd gotten gear from the Crimson Flame dungeon that was leveled for the highest level players in their party, even though the dungeon wasn't supposed to scale.

It seemed high luck could rewrite encounters even when nothing else could. Between Maya herself, officially tier five, and Xaneta, who was legitimately tier five, both tricksters with high luck today, that explained the loot. The game thought it was rewarding them better, giving them on-level equipment, but in reality it would remain practically useless for a long time. The number of tier 5 players was small enough that they probably all had whatever armor they wanted already, so it wouldn't even be in high demand if they tried to sell it.

"I'll buy it," Maya decided. Worst case scenario, she could melt it down and reforge it into something new. "If you don't want it, that is."

"Sure," Andy said, handing over two equipment items. "I need on-level stuff. How much are they worth?"

"I have no idea. Ten gold?"

Andy shrugged. "Fifteen for both sound fair to you?"

Maya nodded and paid him, receiving an (Uncommon) Runner’s Leggings which matched the one she’d already received, and a (Rare) Minotaur’s Mind Ring which increased intelligence by 25 and attunement by 20. She wished she could equip it, but the level 45 requirement meant it would be a long, long time before it was of use.

She glanced at Runescale, but he scoffed and shook his head. "This stuff is awesome! I’m definitely saving it until I’m able to use it myself." He held up a black crystal tiara with pale blue gemstones to admire, obviously enamored. Maya personally thought it would look ridiculous on him, but refrained from commenting. It matched the Crystalstar Armor, so it probably had Legendary stats as well.

That left her with 125 gold, an entirely insane quantity to get from zone 2. She’d never seen so much gold drop in one place, even in zone 5. No wonder Domitius had his minions farming lower level dungeons, if they gave this much more loot than the overland encounters.

But delving the depths of Domitius’s dastardly designs would have to wait. With almost 80 luck right now, she didn't want to waste a second of it. Running back to the leypillar would take almost twenty minutes. She checked her inventory and silently cursed herself for being unprepared.

"Anyone have a spare Dust of Recall I can buy?" she asked, resolving to buy more the moment she arrived back in Nirsym.

"I do," answered both Andy and Runescale at the same time.

"I'll take them both," Maya said, initiating trade windows with both players. She added a few gold, probably overpaying by a lot, but in too much of a hurry to care. The dungeon had given them ridiculous amounts of gold, she could afford to splurge. "Now, to turn in this quest and get back to the academy."

The return trip was simple enough. Once they'd teleported back to the leypillar, they talked to Bredge and received their official quest rewards - though Maya thought the loot from the dungeon so far overshadowed the official reward that it felt like a bit of a letdown. 45 silver might have seemed like a lot to an ordinary tier 2 player, but compared to over a hundred gold it was barely worth the effort of picking it up.

"I need to pick up some things in Nirsym, and then I’ll be researching the rest of the day. Maybe a little crafting." Her mind raced with potential, mentally pathing out the routes through the day. She needed to fulfill her promises to Runescale and... did she need to do anything for Ben and Star? They'd ditched on her with no warning. Did that nullify their promised reward, or did they deserve it anyway for helping with the first sections of the dungeon?

"If you have a spell you want me to look at, bring it to the academy after classes end. I’ll stop by for a few minutes to check it out."

"And you’ll give me the new one you promised?" Runescale prompted.

"If it’s done. I can’t promise it’ll be today."

"And you’ll tell Quan that I was useful?"

"Yes." He’d earned that much, at least. He may be pushy and arrogant, but useless was taking it too far. Besides, he had modified her prank spell on the fly to paralyze a boss. If that wasn’t worth inclusion in Storm, she didn’t know what was.

"Yes! I told you I’d prove myself!" He did an undignified little jig, bouncing in step as they walked toward the leypillar.

"You going to join the academy?" Maya asked Andy.

"Maybe. Can I tag along with you a bit longer, or would that be a distraction?"

Maya hesitated, then nodded. "Alright. As long as you’re quiet."

"You won’t even notice I’m there," he promised.

Runescale touched the leypillar and disappeared, heading to Kalyx most likely to prepare for class. Maya tapped it herself, selected Nirsym while mentally including Andy in her invitation, and a moment later they shifted to the desert city.