Might as Well

The next few runs were the same.

Thanks to their power and party composition, they basically flew through the fracture. They killed everything in their way, then demolished the final boss without trouble while collecting all the loot. Unfortunately, their luck was abysmal and they only got a few common skill books they already had and a few alchemical ingredients that were worth some money.

None of them minded though. The experience points were generous for people at their level and Sam had no doubt he had leveled up several times. However, the team was moving with a pretty good rhythm and he didn’t want to sit down for ten minutes to manage his notifications, so for now the amount of growth he achieved through this mad dash of grinding was unknown to him.

Still, they had fun.

Thanks to the monsters not posing much danger to their collective strength, he had time to actually instruct his friends on the intricacies of using mana in battle and how to get better with mana control.

Katie didn’t much care for it as she was a hack-and-slash girl, but she still paid attention and Sam noticed through his own senses how her mana, tainted with the madness of Outer Gods had grown stronger and more controlled, yet at the same time remained chaotic.

‘Her entire skill tree is probably just as bonkers as she is…’ Sam mused as he watched the object of his observation clash with several giant hogs.

Dan, as always, was pretty focused on fire, specifically on his dream of conjuring plasma. He was the one, aside from Clarissa, who really profited from the knowledge Sam had shared.

“Wait, are you saying that the spells will transform into one giant skill?” Dan asked incredulously as Sam recounted his experience at the Mage Tower while they traipsed through the dungeon.

“I’m pretty sure, yes.”

“Do you think healing has something similar?” Clarissa asked while Dan was deep in thought.

Sam shrugged. “Makes sense that there would be something like that.”

Clarissa looked thoughtful and Dan looked excited.

“Do you think if I evolve my fire magic I could get to plasma?”

Sam frowned thoughtfully. “I think you should stay with fire and ice and concentrate on the thermal aspect. Then when you have enough synergies go for evolving both of them. Then you can concentrate on merging the two different magics,” he explained to the avidly listening muscled mage.

Dan began nodding and was about to open his mouth when a bunch of giant foxes burst through the foliage, distracting him from the topic.

Sam just smiled and raised his sword joining the fray.

Half a dozen runs netted them some serious amount of materials. They even had to ask for several more bags to hold them as the first one started to overflow after the third run.

They stood before the tree and the swirling portal and watched as other people kept going into the dungeon.

Sam turned to the others.

“One more run for the luck?” he asked a little salty that even after six runs the skill book he wanted didn’t drop. While they were idling around between the runs waiting for their turns to enter, he heard several people brag about getting the book as a drop.

Sadly, all of them learned it immediately so he couldn’t really offer to buy it off them.

Thankfully, his teammates were nice enough and agreed to his request.

“Death to the foxes!”

“I think I’m pretty close to a breakthrough with a spell…”

“As long as we make money…”

Sam smiled at them. “Thanks, guys!”

Their last run, at least for now, started the same. First rabbits, hogs, and foxes en masse, with regular size but extra vicious.

Katie made another try to pet one of the fluffy rabbits, however, this time she was stopped by Puffball who the moment the terrified little animal stopped in petting distance, sprung forth, opened his jaw, and swallowed the rabbit in one bite.

They all stared at the scene with wide eyes while the definitely-not-a-cat simply licked his lips and began sauntering back to Katie.

A glance at each other and after a mutual decision to never mention what they saw again, they proceeded further into the fracture.

The second level was just as fast as the first, the fact the animals were giants didn’t help the mobs at all. Especially after they had learned the mechanics of their fighting style. The third level was a little more exciting, but once again thanks to Clarissa they had access to enough defensive magic that they could ignore the stray shots and forge ahead. The fourth and fifth were nice exercises for their magic skills and by the time they reached the end, Dan was bragging about how one of his skills had leveled up.

On the sixth, Sam began to focus. The book he wanted started dropping here, the chances for it growing bigger the closer they got to the final boss. The boss itself had around a few percent chance to drop it according to the memories the other Sam half-remembered.

Sadly, it didn’t happen. The materials and alchemical ingredients kept dropping but no skill books.

They were fighting the final boss and Sam was rather cross. Somewhat with the game for not dropping the exact skill book he wanted, but mostly with himself for getting this obsessed with a skill book.

For a moment he hung back and watched as Katie, still the adorable murder-blender that she was, fought the giant boar, the second phase of the final fight.

Lucky was hanging on the back of the solid illusion while Dan kept shooting spears of flame at the animal.

He let out a deep breath and refocused.

‘Forget the drops, just go and deal with the boss!’ he told himself and with a silent warcry, he flew forward aided by the flighty yet loyal wind that was always surging around him.

“Anything?” he asked in desperation as the rest of them went through the pile of drops that appeared after the poor old rabbit was practically vaporized by flames.

He refused to touch the loot for fear that he would bring bad luck and had the others go through it. Clarissa thought he was stupid but Dan gave him a clap on his shoulder and began sorting through the pile of junk in search of treasure.

“Hah!”

Sam’s head snapped up, landing on Katie who was standing triumphantly.

“Did you get it?” he asked hesitantly.

Katie looked back at him and quickly hid whatever was in her hand behind her back. “Um, no. I was just surprised, by the… view! Yes, the view!”

Sam gave the girl a deadpan look and she sheepishly brought her hands forward. He leaned forward to get a better look, but what he saw just made him more disappointed.

On the younger girl's hand was the dried and prepared leg of a rabbit attached to a small chain.

A lucky rabbit’s leg.

It usually had the effect of increasing the players’ luck by a few points. The only downside to the item was that it only worked for the person who found it. Basically, you have to be lucky to get it.

He shook his head and was about to return to watching the others sift through the loot when something impacted his head.

“Ow! What was that for?”

“I found your stupid book!” came the acerbic response from Clarissa.

He picked the skill book up and couldn’t help but laugh as he read the title.

[Congratulations you’ve found a skill book!]

[How to make the moonlight touch the real world and how to touch the moonlight. Corporeal Illusions and their many uses.]

Grinning wildly, he immediately learned the skill.

[Congratulations, you learned the skill, Corporeal Illusions!]

[Corporeal Illusions is compatible with two of your skills! You can set it as a subskill for them!]

[The two skills are Shadow Mirage and Illusionary Runes!]

The choice was obvious.

[You have chosen to add Corporeal Illusions as a subskill to Illusionary Runes!]

[Corporeal Illusions: Level 0/50 (0%) (Passive) Your illusions have weight and presence to them. You can interact with your illusions as if they were real-world items. The higher the level of this skill the more real your illusions become. Increases the strength and resilience of your Runes by 2% for each skill level.]

“Happy?” asked Clarissa with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh, hell yeah!” he answered with a wicked grin. “Just what the doctor ordered.”

Soon after they left the fracture, they were in an office and watching as several city officials went through the bags and counted up their value.

Sam simply luxuriated in the feeling he got the drop, while the others were going through their notifications and level-ups. He had a feeling that his would be a little long, so he left it for later.

“Sir, we have counted up the materials,” came the placid voice of one of the officials.

Sam looked back at him with a small smile. “What now?”

“You have two options, sir,” the man explained. “You either take the value of the materials in gold, minus, of course, the taxes, or we take some of the materials as tax and leave you with the rest. Minus, of course, the loaned bags.”

“The materials, please.”

“Very well, sir. It will be just a minute.”

Happy and sated with loot, they were heading toward the exit of the outpost when Sam saw a big group of people enter the facility, all of them adorned with a pretty familiar symbol.

A sun with nine rays around it.

“Oh, no…” he murmured and to his bad luck Clarissa was close enough to hear him.

“What is it?”

But before he could answer a voice interrupted them from behind.

“Hey!”

He whirled around only to behold a very familiar young woman. She wasn’t wearing the rather revealing exercise clothes he saw at the Training Hall, but whoever crafted the armor she was wearing knew what they were doing.

It wasn’t exactly the fantasy-standard boobplate, but it still showed off her figure enough that she could add a little cleavage without sacrificing the defensive capabilities of the armor. Her hair was done up in a ponytail, held there with an artifact that to Sam’s senses sang with protectiveness, while her eyes were staring at him with greed.

“H-hey!” he returned the greeting hesitantly, ignoring the squeak that originated from behind him.

“Watchu doin’?” came from the girl in a sing-song voice.

“Leaving?”

She had the temerity to pout.

Sam glanced around and was dismayed to see only people from her guild around them, strategically placed so as to prevent his team’s escape. Dan was nervously looking around, and Sam could feel the heat of Clarissa's glare on his skin.

“Why don’t you join us?” the young woman asked with an impish smile. “We can do a few runs together, see if we are… compatible…”

Another squeak from behind and he gulped. The girl was dangerous.

“Sorry, but we just finished a long run. Good luck with your runs!” he said as cheerfully as possible.

The girl didn’t frown but her smile dimmed a little. She stepped forward and gently placed her hand on his, looking as if it was the most natural thing to do. And thanks to the height difference she looked up at him the smile back in force.

“Oh, don’t be like that–“ She was, however, interrupted by a third squeak, loud enough that everybody could hear it. For a moment she looked at Katie and spoke up. “Excuse me! Do you have a problem with me?”

Katie angrily yanked the helmet off her face and began shouting at the other girl.

“What the hell are you doing, Isabella?”

Thanks to the surprise she let go of Sam’s arm and he took the opportunity to take two giant steps backward.

“Katie? What are you doing here?”

“What do you think? Picking flowers?”

“He is on your team?”

“No, I’m on his team!”

The two girls glared at each other and Sam could feel the mana stir around them. Before the entire thing could escalate, he stepped forward, hands raised placatingly.

“Ladies! Do you perhaps know each other?”

It was Katie who answered.

“We were classmates in high school…”

“Unfortunately…” came the scoffing remark from Isabella before she shook her head. She glared at Katie one more time, then returned her attention to Sam with an angelic smile.

“I shall leave, now that she is here. Don’t worry, we shall meet again. Ta!” she declared while throwing him a kiss and sauntering off to join her guild while her hips moved hypnotically.

Sam was distracted from the view by a growl coming from Katie who was doing her level best (and succeeding) to crush her own helmet into a ball of metal.

“So, not a friend?”

The ball crumpled into dust.