Chương 164: Chapter 160

The copper lootbox started grinding down the slope, inching downwards at a steady crawl. At the very least it wasn't going anywhere fast. But the slope did start to steepen over time.

"Oof." Play said, watching.

"That's going to be a bit of a problem real soon~ Better hurry mortal. You're loot's trying to make a run for it. Semi-trying. Doing its best." Wade took a single panicked step in that direction, and then stopped, eyes narrowing in suspicion at Play's comment.

"Mimic?" The box continued innocently sliding to the side, slowly picking up speed. Leon laughed, "Of course. You put too many point into luck. Eri, we checking first please?" Eri extracted the greatsword from his latest victim, clicked his jaws a few times, then jogged over to catch up with the sliding lootbox. The skeleton easily reached it and put a hand out to grab a handle. He took a single yank... and failed to yank it anywhere.

Instead, it pulled out of his grip as if the thing weighted nine hundred pounds above his weight class. And it continued to slide, starting to gather speed. Now moving at a slow walking speed, still on course for the mana lake further below. Small sand-like bone fragments were the main culprit, acting like rolling wheels under the flat metal surface.

"Eri can't move my lootboxes." Wade muttered, watching as his lootbox continued to slide out of skeletal hands as the slope gradually steepened. It didn't fit any of the rules he thought he'd learned about lootboxes, which meant he hadn't gotten all the data. Or this box was special. But that was a moot point, the loot was getting away, rattling straight for the mana pool. And now they knew Eri couldn't grab those things and haul them up for him.

And he couldn't grab that box himself without making sure it wasn't a fucking mimic looking for a free meal while he was looking for free loot. Because it absolutely would be. Even if he survived the mimic bite and venom, the suit puncture this early into the round would screw him over. How could he grab a lootbox, without grabbing the lootbox or getting in biting range of the sharp teeth inside said lootbox? Wade raced forward, hand extending out to the skeleton.

"Grab my hand!" The lootbox was now rattling away on its slide, at the speed of a jog and picking up the pace. The pair caught up to the side of the lootbox, matching pace on the jog. The skeleton took Wade's hand on the left.

"Good, now grab the box!" Wade moved into the skeleton, giving him clearance to equally move to the right where the box was going faster and faster down. The skeleton reached his right hand out, and grabbed for the handle. The rattling intensified. The speed was starting to pick up to a proper run to keep up with it.

"Michael!" Play called out from further behind.

"Heads up, lake!" Eri increased his speed, trying to both grab the handle and keep Wade's other hand clasped. Wade couldn't see if the skeleton got a hold or not, the helmet wasn't giving him the field of view to his far-far right. But he could see the pool of liquid mana straight ahead down the slope that was increasing at a highly uncomfortable pace, exactly as Play warned. And he was running straight for it like an idiot. He decided straightaway to cut his losses.

"Abort!" Wade hissed.

"It's too far gone! We'll try something else!" It'll hit the mana lake and the team would have to figure something else from there, no point in taking risks running around on slopes. Besides, the dead body of the Nathir shape-shifter and the gold lootbox he'd dropped were deep down in a mana lake, so they needed to figure it all out anyhow. Plus, if there was a mimic in there, it probably wouldn't appreciate the bath.

It might be a System-made creature, but it had blood, muscles, venom, and bones - which meant it probably didn't do well in liquid mana. Not even the creatures in this environment had evolved to survive liquid mana. There was a heavy jaw click next to him. Wade blindly dug his boot into the bone to stop his half-sprint, and found himself slipping down onto his ass with a heavy thud instead, still sliding forward. The slope had grown a lot steeper than he suspected.

And the beady bone shards under him were happily speeding him along the whole process. Which was a problem, because the lake was right below and these suits were not rated for liquid mana. At best he could dunk the bottom of the boots in there, but only a few inches deep at most. He'd survive if he got exposed, sure. But he'd need to abuse some last-ditch options he had as emergency plans.

"SHIT! Shit-shit-shit-" He tried to dig the boots in, and failed to find a proper hold. He turned sluggishly to the right, heavy gloved hands trying to grab hold of the sliding floor under him. Trying to move the helmet so he could see what Eri was doing. The skeleton was equally on his ass scrambling against a far too smooth bone slide downwards, his left hand still holding onto Wade, trying to haul him back. But in his right hand, Eri was holding onto the lootbox handle.

He must have gotten to it right as Wade called for a stop. And more importantly, it was now properly moving with the skeleton's tugs. And the skeleton was clearly about to let go to get a free hand to work with. But Wade instantly picked out the important bit of information: Eri could move the lootbox now that he was holding hands with Wade. The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Eri! Don't let go! Smash the floor with the box!" The skeleton got the plan, lifted the copper lootbox straight up off the ground, and then slammed it right in front of him, breaking the bone floor. The copper sunk into the bone, broke past some of the open cavities within, and lodged itself into a stop. Eri slid right past, then came to a harsh snap-halt as his hand refused to let go of the handle. Wade felt an instant yank on his right hand, as mana-empowered bones gripped his forearm with absolute strength.

He looked down and found the mana lake just a few more feet away. The slope was now deep enough he wasn't certain he could walk up it. Not with all the tiny bone shards all over the place screwing with his hold. Eri was completely held up holding both Wade and the lootbox in two hands. Wade instantly grabbed for his belt, pulled the glock out, then aimed it directly at the lootbox before he'd even come to a full stop.

Because if there was any one moment the mimic in the lootbox could jump out and ruin everything - it would be right this moment when Eri couldn't help. Wade waited, gun aimed directly at the box.

"Come on you little shit. Come out and play." It remained sealed shut.

"For fuck's sake, now it's shy?" A standoff then. Play floated off further, watching.

"A little help maybe?!" Wade called out, still refusing to lower the glock in any other direction than the lootbox.

"That'd be work." She said, then ate a chip, watching.

"Plus, you want the other team's god to lend a helping hand to their players? Probably not a great idea. You'll be fine mortal, you've gotten out of worse. Go on, think up a good plan out of this one."

"Grab rope!" Leon called from further above, with a black nylon climbing rope, arching down and landing a few feet before Eri. It slid further down as Leon fed more slack, until it reached past Eri up to Wade.

"Try and move it to my right!" Wade called out, not taking his eyes off the lootbox for a single second. He wasn't great at shooting with his left hand, but he did have a few points in agility which might be enough to compensate. It did leave his right hand somewhat free. He could let go of Eri, and let the skeleton keep holding him on the forearm, then he'd grab the rope and the team would be pulled up like that. Off the corner of his eyes, the rope slid down and down as Leon fed it from the hoop.

Eri looked down at Wade. The skeleton was clearly missing his pope hat, and upset by it. The jaws clicked once.

"Yeah, I know it's convoluted, but it might work! I'm going to let go on a count of three, you got a good hold on my arm, right?" The skeleton turned his skull, checking his hold on Wade with his left hand, and the lootbox in his right. Calculating. Then he turned to the rope next to his skull and bit down, holding it tight in his jaws. He gave two taps with his skeletal toe.

"That works? You sure you got it?" Wade called up. Two more firm taps of the toe.

"All right, Leon, pull!" The Russian began to reel backwards, strong enough to both pull Wade, the lootbox, and Eri all together. One arm grab at a time, as Eri's jaws held the centerpoint that pulled them all up. Eri's bite was firm and Wade felt himself slide up the slope at a steady pace. They soon passed the missing pope hat, which Eri watched longfully, unable to grab it with anything.

"We'll get it back after we're safe." Wade called out, still keeping the glock leveled at the copper lootbox through the entire process. It wasn't being paranoid. That box was going to goddamn jack-in-the-box them the moment he looked away. He had enough points in luck not to trust luck. Soon the slope grew flatter and he found he could safely start pushing himself back up, feet getting a better hold.

"Shit, that was way too close." He muttered, keeping a hold on Eri's hand.

"Don't let go just yet. Moment you do, that lootbox turns into an anchor." The pair slowly and carefully walked the rest of the easy slope up, the danger past. Although, Wade kept a good distance from the lootbox. It remained completely sealed shut. Suspiciously sealed. Leon clapped the dust off his suit's mitts.

"So, why can Eri move lootbox only when you holding him?"

"I can open lootboxes with my hands right?" Wade said.

"I can also open them with gloves on. Or with rope and a broom tied to the rope, like back at the bell. That means tools I'm holding onto can move the box like I would."

"Ahhh, so Eri acting like glorified rope?" The skeleton clicked his jaws once, staring down at the slope where his abandoned pope hat remained, waiting. It was clear to Wade he better give Eri preferential treatment here, and if his team's heavy hitter wanted that pope hat first, then that'll be how it goes. They tied some rope on his rib, and let him to down the slope to collect. Meanwhile, as they pulled him back up, Leon and Wade prepared strategies on how to beat the mimic.

Assembled, and geared, the group turned to the lootbox properly. Eri gave the Russian a heavy slap on his forearm, the only way they'd managed to get his knockback boon to trigger without damaging the suit itself, then he cracked his neck, then advanced on the box. Wade followed right behind, one hand holding the skeleton's shoulder. Leon flanked to the back of the lootbox, shotgun ready in hand. Eri knelt down slightly, grabbed the copper latch and pulled up.

Glowing light spilled out of it, and a small red and white crystal shard floated at the center.

"You gotta be kidding me." Wade hissed.

"The one time it didn't have a mimic."

"Less talking, more looting." Play equally mentioned behind him. As a matter of fact, his luck had not triggered this time around. Which meant while the System was trying its best to steer him into issues, it couldn't just turn every single lootbox into a horrible, horrible mimic. But that didn't mean lootboxes didn't get anything good in them. The little shard dropped into his hand the moment he grabbed it from its position.

Identify was, as usual, his bread and butter to figuring out what anything was, because trying to guess what a floating shard of crystal could do was way above his ability. Weapon Enhancement Shard - Svalinn Wade narrowed his eyes.

"And what does that mean?" Fortunately, Identify was there to save him. Weapon Enhancement Shard - Consume the shard to imbue Svalinn on a weapon. His eyes went straight for the next part of that. Svalinn - Chance on hit: Manifests a small flaming shield protecting the wielder for thirty seconds. Given this shard came out of a copper lootbox, that meant the enchantment wasn't exactly end-game and had to be common.

However, given it would only enchant a single weapon, that might be enough to counteract the earlier negative.

"Oi, Wade." Leon waved a hand in front of his helmet. The real question were the scaling numbers. The shield is described as a 'small' flaming shield. Did that mean physically small, or that the damage amount would be small? What does flaming mean exactly? Visual appearance only, or did it have different defenses depending on element? Would fire based attacks just pass right through it or be extra blocked?

"Tap his helmet, or we getting stuck here for next hour." Leon said, wiggling his thicker gloves.

"You having sharper fingers." And how was 'chance on hit' calculated in THE GAME anyhow? In most games Wade played, that little description had a lot of deceptive math behind it. The obvious exploit was to put these kinds of upgrades right on the fastest hitting thing they had. Otherwise lovingly known among video game nerds like himself as a 'Proc' - Programmed Random Occurrence. With the occurrence getting an extra bit of representation since 'pro' was already taken.

So they added the extra C, and the name forever stuck from then on. That was how most games handled the weapon attack speed issues. Faster hitting weapons had a far lower chance on hit to proc their effect, while slower weapons would have much higher chances to proc. It meant different weapons would all have generally the same amount of procs with no way to weasel more out of the enchantment. Or so they all hoped.

So long as Wade breathed, no proc based ability was safe from his machinati- There was a heavy set of glass tinks that snapped Wade out of his thoughts. Ahead of him Eri waved his skeletal hand, then tapped the glass helmet again, going after maximum sound.

"Oh, right. Sorry." Wade moved away from the offending taps, "Uh, did I miss anything?"

"Oh, many things." Leon said.

"I kill big swarm of giant monsters, not-me is back with armor, and we moving two hundred miles in wrong direction."

"Very funny Leon," He rolled his eyes.

"You okey with more testing?" Leon asked, his hammer tapping the copper lootbox.

"There is many questions we should investigate, on lootbox physics." Wade did agree with that. All the other lootboxes had been goddamn mimics, so it's about time they found a proper lootbox to experiment on. And besides, it would give him time to consider if he should use the shard on one of his weapons here. Or save it for a potential other round.