Chương 77: (B2 Chapter 28)

Jonah's POV It's going quite well. I watched as my group welcomed its fourth member. We had been going around targeting monsters for Chris to fight when we ran into just the person I had been hoping for. During the tutorial, I had spent more time observing people rather than the monsters and the system. I had found a few people who could be swayed to join me, like Chris who just wanted to fight monsters.

We had been killing the reptilian monsters I had pointed out to him earlier one by one, and we were both now level 9, just one shy of getting an ability that could be game-changing for us. The sounds of our fight against the monsters must have reached the ears of Emily, who had also been someone I had my eye on. She had always seemed disgruntled and had looked at the 'heroic' group with barely disguised disdain.

She was on the chubby side and honestly needed to lose a few pounds to be useful to us, but I always felt like she would do whatever it took to 'one-up' on the 'popular' guys. Probably some old hatred with bullying or some nonsense like that. It was usually something similar with these 'heavy' types. But she was surprisingly strong and had a lot of stamina, which was in complete contrast with her size, but I think she had some muscles underneath all that fat. Perhaps she did some wrestling or rugby or something…

whatever it was, I didn't care. She had been against the popular bunch, and I had seen her chopping trees faster than most of the men in the tutorial. Plus, her eyes just had that look, the one my kind of people had. The dangerous look. She had picked warrior as her class, and I had thought about trying to get her to join me during the tutorial as a front-liner along with Chris. Therefore, when she had approached me a few hours earlier, I had been ecstatic.

Chris had been up front fighting off one of those lizard monsters while I was watching his back, when I saw Emily come out of a building and approach me. I watched her warily, ready to jump back at a moment's notice, but she simply stopped a few paces away from me and stood watching Chris fight silently for a few seconds before speaking.

"Where are Lucas and the others?" she had asked.

"Don't know, don't care," I had answered. She had looked over at me with a slight smirk and nodded her head, and then had proceeded to hack away at the reptile that had been approaching Chris from the side with her large axe. I didn't even know where she had gotten an axe from. Was that an option to pick as a weapon for warriors? I didn't know, but what I did know was that we had just added a good member to our team. Plus, she probably won't attract anyone with the way she looks, which is good.

Don't need sappy relationship drama to ruin what is just beginning. The next person approached us as well, instead of me reaching out to them. The three of us were chilling in an apartment when there was a knock on the door, which was pretty darn shocking for all of us as none of us had expected a knock here of all places. But without giving us more than a second to process the unexpected knock, it had swung open and Thor had come through the door.

"Hey guys, mind if I join you?" he had asked with a wave and a huge smile. Thor was… eccentric, to put it mildly. He was someone obsessed with magic, particularly lightning magic. I remembered seeing him repeatedly trying to change his mana bolt to a lightning bolt during the tutorial, which he would excitedly talk to with anyone who would even glance in his direction. Surprisingly, he never spoke with Omar. Instead, he had been content to spend his days near to the longhouses completely obsessed with magic.

Something that he had apparently succeeded in.

"I promise, I'll be useful," he had said, holding up his right hand which had lightning travelling from one finger to the next repeatedly. I had naturally welcomed him with open arms. He hadn't been someone I had picked for recruiting, but seeing him succeed at changing his magic had made his importance leap up in my mind. I don't think even Omar had managed to change his basic mana bolt spell yet. He had only crammed his spells with mana and gone for huge explosions.

I looked at the tall, wiry kid who couldn't have been older than twenty years, and thought he might be a genius. And aren't geniuses usually eccentric? Thor looks the part of an eccentric genius… if that is even his real name… We were in the process of welcoming Thor and I invited him to join us for dinner, which he had accepted, when Chris blurted out a question like the meat-head he was.

"Is Thor your real name?" he asked. I saw Thor's grin widen and an arc of electricity surge from both his hands before disappearing. He grinned at Chris for a couple seconds before answering, "It's real enough." He's not eccentric… he's crazy… but aren't we all a little…?

A few hours after Thor had joined us, we were fighting three reptiles as a group. The two battle maniacs were at the front hacking and slashing their way through the monsters, while Thor was releasing huge bursts of lightning at the lizards. I didn't even have to lift a finger before all three of the reptiles were dead. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. It was clear to me that we were a strong team, and I had a few more people in mind to recruit.

Lucas, Omar, Alex… enjoy your little fantasy of being heroes while you still can….

Alex's POV Omar had already thrown the chest wide open without waiting for all of us to even reach him. By the time the rest of us had gotten to him, he was already rummaging through the large chest.

"There's something in here for everyone!" he shouted at the top of his voice.

"This one's for me I think, look!" he exclaimed, taking out an elaborate staff that had a multi-coloured, glowing gem at the top. The staff looked to be made out of wood, and had three weaving 'branches' starting from the bottom all the way to the top. The branches joined together about two-thirds of the way up, smoothing out into a perfect point to hold the staff from for a mage, before they separated again and finally re-joined at the top, creating a beautiful 'nest' for the glowing gem.

It's beautiful, but I don't think it could be used as a weapon for hitting… I remembered the goblin elite mage I had fought back in the tutorial. It had also held a staff in one hand and had swung it multiple times at me in melee range, but this staff had just one place from which to hold it from, and I don't think Omar would be able to swing it much, if at all, from that position.

Speaking of the goblin's staff, I had tried to use it myself but the gem on the staff had a large crack and it had ceased glowing, so it had no effect on my spell-casting ability. Omar had also tried using it but it hadn't worked for him either. Thus, I had dropped off the staff to Mason for him to give to the smiths… or whatever production class makes staffs for mages. Omar being Omar; he had to immediately test out the staff. He stood up, pointed it in a random direction and fired off a normal mana bolt.

I couldn't see much of a difference, but it must have been something because Omar let out a whoop of excitement and continued firing off spells, completely oblivious to the rest of us. Almost everyone either shook their heads or let out a laugh at the antics of our most excitable member, before focusing on the chest. I finally had the chance to look inside and the chest itself, apart from being bright gold in colour, was inlaid with a royal red kind of velvety material that was amazingly soft to touch.

And Omar was right; there seemed to be something for all of us here. A huge tower shield and an amazing looking sword took up the bulk of the space, presumably for Lucas and Sam. They would have to figure out amongst themselves who would get the shield and who will get the sword. There was also a sheathed dagger, which I was itching to see. But I was more interested in the other items if I'm being honest.

There were two scrolls that were placed to the side of the larger items, and the final item was an exquisite leather armour. My eyes were drawn to the armour and the scrolls, which were probably skill scrolls, as I already had a pretty nice dagger. Hannah could probably benefit more from the dagger, as we were sorely lacking in the offensive department as a team.

Omar was still off to the side in his own world, while Sam and Lucas had picked up the sword and shield and were discussing amongst themselves as to who wanted what. Marcus was still unconscious, laying on the ground beside Lucas, which left Hannah, me, and Madelline around the chest. The two ladies looked at me, urging me to start picking up the items from the chest with their eyes. I picked up one of the scrolls, and a system screen immediately lit up.

Would you like to use the Skill Scroll (Rare) to learn the Skill: Regeneration? Oh! This seems like something for Marcus, and it will definitely be very useful for the group as a whole! I excitedly shared the news with the others, and their eyes lit up as well. Any skill that improved the healing capabilities of the group was amazing, and Marcus was long overdue for a new healing skill. I looked at Marcus, unconscious and on the ground. We had checked up on him and were relieved at seeing him still breathing.

I was afraid that the knight could have devoured him to zero health and killed him, but it looked like there was some kind of restriction on the knight that didn't allow it to devour health to zero. Must be why it targeted Marcus when he fell unconscious, the dungeon's rules must mean that the boss had to kill us itself… I wasn't sure if my thought process was right or not, but I figured I would find out soon enough. For now, I placed the scroll in my inventory, and picked up the next one.

Would you like to use Skill Scroll (Rare) to learn the Skill: Hex of Frailty? And now a new hex for Madelline. I see now why Omar was adamant that the staff was for him… Both the skills were tailor-made for Madelline and Marcus respectively. I handed the scroll over to Madelline wordlessly, and watched as her expressions shifted from curiosity to disbelief to intense excitement. Like earlier, she didn't wait and instead used the scroll immediately.

A red-coloured swirl rose from the scroll and went towards Madelline, disappearing inside her chest. Leaving her with her excitement, I instead turned to look at the remaining two items – a dagger and the leather armour. I picked up the dagger first, and a system screen popped up. Shadow Blade 5% chance to inflict Shadow Strike +2 Perception The dagger was an uncommon item, and while it was good, mine was much better. Mine had a 15% chance to inflict Bleed, gave me 3 dexterity, and was a rare item.

This one felt like it was meant for Hannah, who had contributed the least damage in this dungeon, which I was basing on the fact that the two skill scrolls I had seen were rare, and Omar's staff also felt like an item better than uncommon. It's just conjecture though; I'll see the leather armour first to see if my thought process has any merit… I handed the dagger over to Hannah, who took it with hands trembling with excitement. I smiled at her, but my focus was immediately back on the armour.

The armour was a complete set – a sleeveless vest, two vambraces, and thick pants. I picked up the vest, but surprisingly no system screen popped up. Confused, I then picked up all four items, and the system screen popped up. Whisper's Embrace +5 Endurance +5 Vitality +3 Health regeneration Grants the skill: Silent Touch The first thing that I paid attention to was the fact that the item's name was purple, so it was an epic item! Moreover, it was an item that gave me a skill! However, there was no set bonus listed…

does that mean all four pieces count as just one item…? I dismissed the screen and took the time to admire the armour. It was pitch black, so dark that it seemed to even devour the surrounding light. But within the darkness, there was an exquisite pattern stitched in dark gray in the center of the vest and on the vambraces, and on the sides of each leg of the trouser.

The pattern wasn't anything I was familiar with, but it looked amazingly esoteric, and the gray pattern almost seemed to swirl about within the darkness. Not wasting any longer, I immediately placed it within my inventory. I then unequipped my old armour that I had gotten due to my class selection of Assassin and donned the new one. The leather settled in and I was surprised at the softness of the armour.

Its outside was naturally rough and hard, but against my body the inside of the armour felt like the softest of hugs. It fit perfectly as well, and I was elated at finally having an actual set of armour which looked as amazing as it did while also granting a skill. I looked at the others, who were excited and happily admiring their new items or skills… apart from Marcus that is, who was still lying on the ground. I then looked beyond them towards the portal. Time to finally exit this dungeon!