I happily gazed down into the light coming from the chest. There was a friendly, warm sense that pushed up from someplace inside of me. This chest was worth whatever I went through. That spider was nothing compared to the contents of this chest.

I couldn’t see what was in the chest, but my heart told me it would be great. So I slid both my hands into the calming light of the treasure. I could almost feel, in my soul, music playing as my hands grasped ahold of something.

The light cut out and the great feeling of conquest moved to the background as I pulled the first piece of loot from the chest. I held in my hands a set of bronze greaves. At first, they looked too small for me, but as I held them, they seemed to grow. It wasn’t an instant thing nor fast enough for me to honestly say that it happened, only I was sure they gained a good 4 inches.

Unlike the wooden greaves that I left at home when I foolishly ran to rescue Blink, these were curved to better fit my legs and hinged to cover not just my shin but also my calf. As I put them on, I felt they kept changing ever so slightly. The greaves, when I finished strapping them on, glowed and shifted again.

The metal extended down to cover both my inside and outside ankles and extended up to shape just under my knee cap. The sides of the greaves reached up to wrap the sides of my knee, and the back dipped down to let my knee fully bend and my calf flex.

I saw a little light start at the bottom of the greaves as a set of vines engravings began to grow up and around. A blank area in the middle of the greaves on the front was left open on both. It appeared to be a shield in shape, but the blank, like I was lacking something needed.

I pulled up the interface for the greaves once they stopped adjusting.

Bronze dungeon greaves

+2 defense to location

+1 to deflect to location

Dungeon Greaves like all armor from a Dungeon will adjust to fit the one wearing it. As the first one to wear it your family crest will be applied. The crest of REDACTED has been added.

I peered back into the chest and saw two last things. One was a red glass vial and the other a small sack about the size of a Crown Royal Bag. I pulled both out, and as soon as the bag cleared the chest, the chest started to melt into the ground. Almost like chocolate on a hot day, but this ended up flowing into the cracks and vanishing.

“Blink, that was super spooky,” I said to the empty room. I knew she was there from the closeness of the bond. To anyone else, it would look like I was talking to myself.

I took a close look at the glass vial. It was about as thick as my thumb and four inches long. At the top was a cork. Not just a stopper; no, this was natural cork like I would expect in a wine bottle. I opened the interface to see if I could find what it was.

Minor health potion

+20 health

Well, that was fun. The minor health potion was enough to replace all my health. While this was great, it also more than highlighted the problem I would face. This place just gave me something it called minor.

While I understood that the world was not a game. Some things just followed logic; whether in a game or not, it was logic. The one that had me worried was the logical step of the use of adjectives. Because there was the word minor on this potion, it meant there was at least a standard, likely a major or greater as well. While that might not put most people off, it reminded me of how small I was.

Twenty back to health on a small item like this meant that there were people out there where twenty was minor. I didn’t think that Lannah counted as her HP was only 60, and a third of your health wouldn’t be minor. She was also just a merchant’s daughter. She wasn’t some sort of front-line soldier or a monster hunter. No, she was 5 foot 2, so even with the ideas from earth wouldn’t have as many hit points to heal.

I gently laid the vial down. I wasn’t sure how careful I needed to be right now, but it did appear to be thick glass.

I pulled open the small sack to see what else I got. In the small bag were 5 copper coins and a bone. I laughed. Not a little laugh but a full-out belly laugh. I needed that; in this messed up world where everything was out to get me, the box of loot acted just like I would expect from a game.

The bone, when I examined it, was worthless. It was just a bone, but I was going to keep it nonetheless. This room was too clean when I entered if I needed something to throw, I would use the bone.

I looked around the room until I was able to find the spider. I wanted to look more closely at it now that it was dead. If I was going to fight another spider, I needed to know the weak points.

I spent a few moments looking it over and found that the exoskeleton met just behind its head. Also, the narrow part where the abdomen connected to the rest of the body appeared to be weak enough that a good hit could take it out.

As I was flipping the spider over, I got a popup that I had never seen before.

Loot Cave spiderling?

Yes

No

This was getting both more amazing and scarier all at once. More amazing in that I could select to loot something which was never an option before and scary because it wasn’t a spider. It was just a spiderling. So I quickly picked yes, and the spiderling vanished to leave a single copper coin.

I stood up from where I was and started to head to the door I came in from. I had slipped the vial into my belt and was ready to move on. I felt like I needed to go find the next chest. It was fun, and the spider wasn’t too much to handle. I understood why Blink wanted to hunt.

“Okay, sweetie, let’s go!” I yelled over my shoulder as I strode through the opening and back into the hallway.

Blink sent me a feeling of contentment and of the joy of the hunt. What made me almost stumble, however, was when she sent to me the one word I hated that she started to use. “Bait.”

We headed back down the hall. I was less worried now that I had met and beat the first monster of this place. I was riding a high that I shouldn’t have, as I missed the signs that something changed.

The stonework changed to a rough dirt cave. I should have noticed it, but the torches were still in the same intervals. I believe the walls were the first to change, but I noticed the floor first.

It was as I lost my balance as my supporting leg was knocked out from under me that I learned I was on a dirt floor. I also learned that a bunny wasn’t something to laugh at. I had taken three points of damage and gained a limping debuff.

The rabbit, or perhaps I should call it a basher as that is what Lannah had called it when Blink brought one back, had come out from the side and had taken me down. As I was climbing back to my feet, I saw that Blink already had it dead. Which was great. However, the other two in the room were coming right at us.

The gray one on the right blurred a little and sped up as it charged me. The brownish one flashed forward toward Blink in leaps that were too long for its small body to cover.

I set my weight on my front leg as I took the charge from the ten-pound bunny. While the bunny was fast and charging hard, I had metal on my shins and most of my weight on the leg it hit. The poor or evil thing bounced off and looked dazed long enough for me to slide my sword into its cute neck.

I turned to see the one that had been jumping get slammed by Blink’s tail as she used it for batting practice. When it hit the wall, Blink was on it in a second, snapping it up in her mouth.

Blink sent, “Goods! So soft! So tasty!”

I leaned down and touched the one that I killed and got the loot option. I selected yes and was looking at the front foot of the rabbit.

Basher’s foot

Some say a basher’s foot will bring you luck.

Others point out that it was unlucky for the Basher.

Most ask why you didn’t eat the Basher.