“Giant Spiders, approaching from above!” I yelped at my teammates. I took a moment for my enhanced mental processing to catch up, and then added, “There are three hundred of them exactly,” I turned off sixth sense as I heard the skittering grow closer. The torchlight exposed the spiders running down the walls like a waterfall of terror. Axel fired his blunderbuss where the spiders were thickest, and disgusting blue fluid splattered where the spiders used to be.

“Let’s run to the next tunnel!” Alixandra suggested. There was a forked path ahead, each tunnel leading to a dark unknown. I followed Axel as we fled for the tunnels. I flickered sixth sense to check behind me, and Alixandra and Cassidy were safely following behind.

I knew I needed a new weapon of some sort. I summoned my equipped staff into my hand, and the edges of it barely fit inside the confines of the tunnel. I maneuvered it as well as I could to be ready for the onslaught. The skittering grew only closer as we ran, the breath of the horde hot down our necks as we fled. I fumbled through the darkness, seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. We spilled out of the tunnel-like a split sack of potatoes. Then the spiders did the same. Cassidy was the first to respond. Diamond-shaped scales of darkness formed a sort of hovering sheath around her, a dark set of small wings sprouted out of her back. I was fascinated by her pitch-black wings. Even the little horns on top of her head appeared to have grown in size. She lashed out at the closest spiders with huge claws of darkness, shredding them into pieces like a knife through butter. Axel tossed something towards where we came, and fire exploded outward from whatever he threw, enveloping the tunnel walls and the spiders within. A quick scan with sixth sense showed me that the number of living spiders was reduced by sixty-one and ever decreasing. I played whack-a-mole for my life as I smashed any spiders that strayed towards me into a thick paste. Alixandra grabbed a rock off the floor and started doing the same thing I was. If I wasn’t careful, she would have beaten my high score. Our party was clearly not well suited for this kind of combat. All of us were suited for combat against one or multiple large enemies, with the exception of me, who was generally bad at any combat. A swarm like this was tedious to dispatch and dropped our party’s stamina quite low. Axel fired his blunderbuss every minute or so towards the biggest groups, killing five to ten per shot. Pretty soon we had only about fifty enemies remaining. I was too focused on squishing arachnids to check on my other teammates, but I was soaked in disgusting slimy blood. I even gained a debuff.

[Status Effect: Slimy II (Variable time)

Charisma and reputation gains decreased by half while this effect is active]

[Status Effect: Smelly I (Variable time)

Charisma and reputation gains decreased by 33.3% while this effect is active. Maybe take a shower.]

I didn’t appreciate the snark coming from the system, but I had creepy-crawlies to worry about right now. The battle ended not in an epic grand finale of life or death combat, but in systematic seeking and destruction of the last few spiders. Cassidy’s shadows melted off of her and seeped into her shadow, Axel’s blunderbuss disappeared into his inventory, and Alixandra heaved a sigh as she dropped her rock. I poked at some spider guts with my staff and wiped a bead of sweat from my brow.

[Your party has defeated ‘Giant Spiders’ (x300)!

+250 EXP

+1 Mystery Box!

Participation Rating: 5/10]

[Level Up!

You have reached Level 10:

+8 to all stats

+14 stat points

EXP to next level: 40/147]

I immediately began allocating points, not wanting to repeat the error of abandoning potential. Five points went into perception, four into agility, three into wisdom and two into intellect.

“What is a… mystery box?” Alixandra inquired Axel pulled something out of his inventory. A perfect little white box with a red bow.

“This thing I guess,” Axel replied as he pulled a cartoonish wooden box out of his inventory. He turned to me expectantly, so I analyzed the box.

[Mystery Box: A rare and valuable type of chest only found in unique dungeons or as unique quest rewards. The contents of the box can vary from curses, stat points, skills, junk, or ancient treasures. The higher the quality of the box, the better the chances of getting a good reward.

Quality: Exotic

Durability: 10/10

Creator: N/A

Date of Creation: N/A]

Axel accepted something and his box popped open like a balloon, sprinkling confetti everywhere. A rainbow shone from the empty space, hitting Axel and soaking into him.

“A status effect,” he grumbled and rolled his eyes. I analyzed him to see the details.

[Status Effect: Exquisite Power Surge II (23:59:57)

+12% stat bonus for the duration of the effect.

Eyes twinkle and shine for the duration of the effect.]

It was true, Axel’s rolling eyes were sparkling with dazzling light. As fun as the idea of a mystery box was, I wasn’t a big fan of mystery boxes. I accepted my quest rewards and removed my box from my inventory and shook it next to my ear like a Christmas present. No clatter of sound from inside. I went out on a limb and tried to use my sixth sense to figure out what was inside, but I couldn’t see through the box. I sighed and started to untie the bow.

[Open Exotic Mystery Box? Accept or Decline]

I accepted, bracing myself for any outcome. The box collapsed into nothing, and something cylindrical and dark fell into my hands. I turned it over and tried to look at it a little better in the dim light. It was a… a top hat?! It was indeed, in my hands I held a beautifully crafted top hat. It was cartoonishly tall and had a ribbon of red silk tied around it.

[Mystery Hat: A sleek silken masterpiece that will captivate the crowds!

Rarity: Exotic

Abilities:

+5% Chance to distract an opponent in combat while equipped

+10% Reputation gains while equipped

+1% Chance for flowers to fall out of your sleeves during a conversation when equipped

+5% Charisma

+2.5% Luck

Requirements: None

Durability: 69/69

Creator: N/A

Date of Creation: N/A]