As Karl opened the reward chest from the boss, something flickered in his vision, almost like the notifications that appeared inside dungeons and trails, but obviously in his vision, and not in the air in front of him.
It was almost like the information was on a pair of goggles in front of him, but it vanished after a few seconds, and never got clear enough that he could properly read it. The lid on the chest flipped open, and a small pile of items were found inside. [Gained 1 Skill Point] appeared in Karl’s vision, making him pause.
“Did anyone else see that?” He asked.
“See what?” Lotus asked, coming to stand beside him as Remi slid up his back to see what was in the box.
Karl looked through the items but didn’t touch anything yet. There was a chance that it would bond to him if he picked it up, and this was a Commander Rank dungeon, and he had Royal Rank Armour as a skill. It would be better to let the others make up for any items that they might be missing.
There was a pile of cloth, some chain armour, a collection of Gems that Karl’s [Identify] skill said would have no particular benefit to the beasts, but they were magical, and not just pretty.
Then there was a dagger, a wand and a square item wrapped in cloth that looked like a book.
Karl liked books.
So did Remi.
He carefully lifted it out of the treasure box and opened the cloth wrapping.
It was a book, bound in red leather, with a dragon head on the front. That was promising, even if it didn’t have any words on the cover.
[Usable by Clerics, Red Dragons]
The words appeared in Karl’s vision again. The strange goggle effect when this effect appeared was a bit disorienting, but the message was clear enough. He couldn’t use it.
“Hey Tessa, I think this one is for you.” Karl called as he held out the book.
Tessa leaned over, using the rough surface of Thor’s scales to keep from sliding off, and grabbed the book before sitting back upright.
She flipped the book open and smiled. That wasn’t the response that Karl was expecting, as the book didn’t vanish.
“It’s not a skill book, it is a hymn book. The pages are full of Red Dragon Cleric battle hymns, and keeping it equipped adds bonuses to my Holy Magic.” She explained.
She let go of it, and it appeared in a smaller form, hanging by a chain from her belt. It was locked shut, but if it was just a hymn book, she didn’t actually need to open it. She already knew the songs, and she wasn’t a bard that needed to sing in combat.
Not that she didn’t sing in combat on occasion, but that was more to keep Thor amused while they waited than because it helped with anything in combat.
The other items were removed one at a time, and none of them particularly appealed to the members of the group, but once the last item was removed, the box disappeared.
“None of us plan to keep this stuff, so we will put it in storage for later.” Karl explained.
The researcher nodded. “That is fine. Anything you get from the dungeon is yours to keep, I’m just here to observe and record.”
Karl scooped the spare items up and put them in the spider silk bags that Thor wore as part of his ‘work uniform’ that included Tessa’s saddle.
They moved out to take on the next groups, this time sending Ophelia first, so she could practice her fighting skills in Dire Bear form.
Her toxic claws easily tore apart the Ogres, and even the blade wielded by the Commander rank leader of the group was no match for the [Refreshing Lightning] shielded claws of the Dire Bear.
Ophelia shifted back for a moment between groups. “Hey, that’s pretty cool. In this form, it still counts my weapons as equipped, and I get the life steal from them when I kill things with my claws.” She explained.
“That will be huge later. The more damage that you do, the more you will heal, and if you have poisoned multiple targets, you should get a steady stream of healing in return from the life steal.” Karl replied, impressed by the utility of her new form.
Ophelia smiled as she transformed back and charged another group, testing that theory. Instead of focusing on one target, she used [Swipe] an innate skill of her new form that worked with [Toxic Claws], and black poison began spreading from the wounds on all four Ogres in the group.
They weren’t breaking Thor’s [Refreshing Lightning], as the massive bear was surprisingly agile, but Karl could see the pulses of magic flowing from them to Ophelia every second or so.
“That bear is a menace.” Their observer noted.
“Yeah, Bear Totem Berserkers are beasts in combat, and that new transformation she got the other day is definitely not a Rank One skill.” Karl agreed.
“Might I ask where she got it?”
Karl winked at him. “There was an advancement trial on the Hill Giant border, but you didn’t hear that from me. I don’t know whether it’s classified or not.”
The observer nodded. “It’s been ranked as need to know, and I already knew about it. I just didn’t know that it was your team. Was Team One the other one to enter?”
Karl shook his head. “No, they arrived in the helicopter for this response. I don’t know where they were stationed.”
“Still, two dungeons for your group so close together is huge. Not many Elites get that lucky with their assignments.”
That made Tessa laugh as she looked down from Thor’s back. “The World Dragon favours him. Everywhere that we go, things are destined to go wrong in all the right ways. Everyone who has been in his group has advanced as much in the last few months as they did in the earlier parts of their lives. None of us were Commanders when the war broke out, and now look at what Ophelia can do to a whole team of Ogres.”
Just as she spoke, one massive paw crushed an Ogre’s face, shattering bone before the claws tore the flesh apart.
“You have a point. That’s not low Commander Rank combat power.”
The next boss was carrying a staff with a large jewel on top, and Remi was eyeing it with greed.
[I need the shiny stick. I can have the stick when we kill it, right?] She asked.
[If it doesn’t vanish when he dies, you can have it.] Karl laughed. The bodies in the dungeon simply vanished after a few seconds, leaving piles of stuff on the ground now and then. Mostly it was just coins, but they had picked up a few pieces of cloth and leather armour and a few crude magical weapons as well.
The observer nodded, and the attack started, with Remi instantly going for the Ogre’s neck from behind to poison him while she slid down his arm to attempt to steal the staff. One way or another, she was determined to have it, even if she had to bite his hand clean off with only two teeth to get it.
Unfortunately, Karl’s attempt to be helpful was a bit too much, and the [Stun] enhanced maul strike crushed its skull, which made the body vanish a half second after Remi gained control of the staff. With the boss dead, the staff was also gone.