The dungeon so far had been sturdy. In one of their attempts at the dungeon, they had tried to break through walls, thinking that it would be faster that way. They hadn’t budged in the slightest. Even Jill with her spatial magic couldn’t make the stone budge. Whatever force created this dungeon obviously designed it to have no shortcuts. The creator probably took some perverse pleasure in forcing adventurers to wade through the filth and muck. And now one of those very walls separated him from the hidden treasure.

[Any ideas?]

Mash probed Priscilla, thinking that she could probably figure something out. He doubted that force would be here. Priscilla must have believed the same.

[It must be a puzzle of some kind, magical in nature.]

He nodded staring at the wall with more attention as she highlighted the puzzle in question. Lines of mana were woven over the stone. That alone wasn’t particularly unique as the entire dungeon had been like that. That was why he had missed it initially. The puzzle in question blended into the rest of the markings. Now that he saw it, it looked annoyingly complex. How many hours would it take to solve it? Was it even worth it with how tired everyone was?

[I have found a solution.]

Priscilla's message almost felt like mockery. At the very least, Priscilla had sent the message after letting him fail at even understanding the nature of the puzzle. He grumbled a little and slowly placed one palm against the puzzle. The wall had no visible signs that there was anything there. Slowly he began pouring energy into the puzzle, making sure to match the symbol Priscilla was showing him. Apparently, she had read the lines of mana to find what shape the puzzle was looking for. He guessed that there were probably some clues throughout the dungeon or something, but this seemed to work just fine.

The stone against his palm sunk into the wall and parted. The brick was in a squarish shape and was easily as tall as he was. As the stone slowly shifted, he caught his first glimpse of the chest. Golden paint was discolored by smudges of dirt and dust, but the chest itself was whole. In contrast to everything else here, the chest was obviously made of wood. Why hadn’t the wood decayed like the paint?

He couldn’t detect any hostile magic on the chest. No mana moved through the wood at all, yet his domain still couldn’t pierce it. That made him consider whether this chest was even a part of the dungeon or not. The walls and traps had all used mana, but this clearly didn’t. It could mean that this chest was placed here by someone else.

Moving without much forethought, he reached down and attempted to lift the entire chest. The wooden container itself was already part of the treasure in his mind. His back foot slipped as he failed to lift the chest. The sudden movement made him topple forward and his forehead smacked into the edge of the test. A loud smacking noise echoed in the silent chamber. Though the collision didn’t actually harm him at all, and quick glance at the chest showed that it was similarly undamaged. While being free of physical pain was nice, he dreaded the silence that hung afterward. His friends were silent, and none of them made any comments. That didn’t stop them from smirking and trading glances, fully aware that his domain let him see everything.

He grunted and moved quickly to change their focus. The chest thankfully wasn’t locked, and he threw the lid open as fast as he could. Wood crashed against stone as the lid hit the wall behind it. His friends didn’t hesitate to rush over, each of them peeking over his shoulders to gaze at the unusual treasure. Mash similarly just stared at the objects.

Fruit. The chest contained five very recognizable fruits, and nothing else. Red skin and round shapes told him what they were, and his domain showed him that they weren’t magical. There wasn’t even anything else in the chest. Their very spectacular reward turned out to be a handful of apples. Logic warred with reality in his head. He knew that there must be something special about the fruits. Something like the chest but in fruit form. He knew that, but his eyes showed him five very plain, very ordinary fruits.

“Are those apples?”

Lisa’s question wasn’t tinged by sadness or exhaustion. Her voice had regained its eager curiosity, and Mash nodded as he picked up one of the fruits. The surface was smooth and red, and it was just as hard as he would have expected.

“Yeah, why?”

Jill casually replied to Lisa, and they talked a little as Mash continued to stare at the fruit. It had to be special. He almost took a bite just to prove it but paused as no one stopped him. He could tell that they were watching though. Even Lisa, who was explaining how apples were rare in the north to Jill. Mash looked at Red and had to ask.

“You’re not going to try and stop me?”

She seemed genuinely confused for a second.

“You have a skill that will stop anything you eat from harming you. If anyone is going to test an unknown food item, it will be you.”

There was no hesitation at all in her voice and everyone else was nodding. Mash didn’t need any more encouragement. He wanted to eat the fruit already and stuffed the entire thing into his mouth. His jaw changed shape to fit the fruit, and he bit down hard to crush it. The sound of chewing filled the room as everyone waited in anticipation.

Mash swallowed the fruit without chewing or tasting it properly. He couldn’t even say if it was sweet or not. Large chunks were visible through his throat as it went down. He knew it wouldn’t be pleasing to look at it, and both Jill and Luke looked away when it happened. Mash just wanted to get it down as quickly as possible.

It took a second, but then he felt it. The familiar rush of power brought an unbidden smile to his face. His friend’s reaction and the world around him bled away as his focus shifted inward. He brought up his status excitedly. Already knowing what to expect he scanned his status quickly.

Name: Mash Stellumbra Class: Chimeric Vagabond

Level: 142 → 147

Health: 4101 / 5010

Energy: 2109 / 5790

Fortitude: 501

Endurance: 329

Strength: 393

Agility: 429

Intelligence: 250

Wisdom: 150

Charisma: 150

Free Stats: 110 → 160

Skills: Hunger, Magical Layered Wood, Inhuman Hibernation, Chimeric Transformation, Wooden Birth, Chimeric Reconstruction, Vagabond’s Path, Chimeric Domain, Reconstructed Adaptable Monster Core, Chimera’s Constitution, Wooden Body, Mimic’s Avarice, Harbinger of Nothing, Devoured Soul Body, Mark of the Devourer

There weren’t a lot of changes to look at, but what he saw made him laugh. He laughed and laughed ignoring his friends’ questions and prods. Priscilla shared the information with the others though, and they each grabbed one of the apples greedily. None of them started eating, their gazes passing over the fruits fervently. It gave levels. That was unheard of as far as Mash knew and wasting them would be among the worst things they could do. He didn’t regret eating it though. It would probably only be a day or two now for him to reach the next advancement.

“Is it a set amount of levels, or do you think it depends on a person’s level? If it’s the second, then Lisa would gain a lot of she ate it now.”

Jill’s suggestion was shot down immediately by Red, Lisa, and Luke. All three of them looked completely horrified at the mere suggestion.

“No, at the very least we will save it until we reach level 145. If not later.”

Red told Jill what to do and pushed Jill’s right arm down to stop her from even trying to eat the fruit. Jill looked like she wanted to protest, but she let her hand fall back down. Red was a little taller than Jill and used all of that height to give her a disapproving glare.

“If we end up not needing to use it, we can probably sell it for millions of gold, if not more.”

Red spoke like an angry mother chastising her child, and Jill appropriately wilted beneath her. They all put the fruits into their storage, and Mash stored Lisa’s fruit in his space. With that last reward received, they spent the better part of an hour trying to remove the chest. They failed spectacularly.

The chest was sturdy beyond belief. All magic had just failed to even affect it. It almost seemed to exist separately from mana. Even Jill’s spatial explosions couldn’t damage it. Once that failed, they had just given up. It was already well past time to leave, and Jill teleported them out. The rest of their night was marred with a discussion of the fruits and the dungeon. They were hopeful, imagining what they would do if there were more fruits in their next run.

A good night’s rest did a lot for their state of mind. The amazing fruit had already improved their moods and sleep fixed the rest. Furthermore, they decided to do half as many runs and also clear the dungeon earlier than needed.

Time went by quickly on the second day, and they fell into a rhythm with the dungeon. And almost everyone gained at least one level. Almost, since Mash didn’t gain any, it was only a small disappointment though. He had already gained more than he expected because of the fruit anyways. Sadly, there were no more fruits on any of their subsequent runs. It seemed like a reward that they could only receive once.

The second day similarly went by without much difficulty. He did get to experiment a little with hunger and wasn’t sure about the skill. Since changes to his body were permanent, he was significantly stronger and faster. The subtle improvements from hunger just didn’t feel impactful. Hunt’s flat boost had been more noticeable. The bigger advantage was the freedom it offered him. The stats didn’t immediately vanish when he stopped fighting and he no longer got paralyzed afterward. The bonus attributes took a while to decay too.

On the third day, he managed to gain a level again. He was glad for it but knew that it would take even longer for the following two levels. The problem was that it was growing annoying. The levels were nice, but the dungeon was terrible. Even Lisa started to lose the initial rush of excitement that had carried her along so far. They were looking for other dungeons. Even if they were a little riskier or easier. Jill, Red, and Lisa teleported back to the capital that night to do some more research. Mash was the only one who wasn’t supposed to go back, and Luke stuck with him to be a good friend.

Three days turned to five, and then a week before they found another dungeon. Mash hadn’t gained another level, and he was fairly sure that the repetition was reducing the rate at which they leveled. They had managed to produce a much larger list of dungeons now, but some of them weren’t exactly on the kingdom. It would be fine so long as they didn’t tell anyone, but his brother wouldn’t like it. They deliberated it for a while but finally decided on another dungeon when Lisa suggested it. She had been the most patient of them all, and her request was given the consideration she deserved for it.