As the last of the zombies were eliminated, the storms were disabled, and silence fell over the depression where the Spellblades were camped. With a mixture of relief and exhaustion, the mages collapsed to the ground, while Ophelia and Dana came over to join Karl and Tessa.
“Sleeping early was a good call. The other mages look horrible.” Ophelia joked.
“I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but we have been in combat for nearly two hours, miss ‘I don’t have ranged attack skills’.” Dana replied.
The berserker snorted in amusement. “I’m not getting zombie blood in my fur if I can avoid it. Didn’t I come around with water for everyone?”
Rae laughed in Karl’s mind at that comment. She had been in the centre of the camp, firing stones at the zombies the entire time for the exact same reason.
It wasn’t easy to be a furry lady surrounded by zombies. She was just thankful that the area was full of mages who were happy to use fire to get rid of all of the leftover bodies and viscera.
[There are no more zombies around. Are the Danas all recovered yet, or do we need to guard them?] Hawk asked, distracting Karl.
[The Spellblades are recovering, but they have enough Commanders who are fit to watch over the camp that you can return and sleep until the sun comes up at the very least.] [I’m on my way back. Tell Rae not to slack, since she’s the only one who can see anything coming in the dark if I’m asleep.]
Hawk was definitely cranky about being awakened in the middle of the night. The moon was half full in the sky, and there were no clouds, so even the humans could see a little in this light.
Karl paused there. He had forgotten that he was one of the humans again. Perhaps if he thought about them as their classes, it would help. Mages and clerics had more trouble seeing in the dark than he did. Yes, that was better.
Prince Corbin took notes of the situation as the team began to relax, and then got back to his original line of questions.
“You said that you had been in the dungeon. Did you complete it? What sort of rewards did it give?” He asked.
Karl realized that he had never even checked, and now he had to search through his inventory boxes to find what might have come from the dungeon, and separate it from what had certainly been there already.
There were some Commander Rank armour pieces, nothing special. Some decent Ascended Rank armour, and then a small golden chest.
That was unexpected.
“There were some coins, some armour, and a golden box.” Karl replied with a shrug.
Tessa turned to him. “A golden box full of what? Did you even examine it, much less open it?”
Karl shrugged, and Tessa rolled her eyes at him. In the dim light of the camp, backlit only by the cooking fire that Lotus was tending, it was easy enough to ignore the fact that she was exasperated by his lack of interest in the rewards of the dungeon.
Karl checked the box, a bit embarrassed that it had slipped his mind.
[First Dungeon Completion Random Reward]
“It’s a random reward. I don’t know what is in the box.” He explained.
Dana poked him on the side of the head. “Those boxes are a group reward. Why don’t you go ahead and open it, so we can see if it’s something useful?”
Corbin made a ‘get on with it’ gesture. He was just as interested in what the dungeon had given as the ones who had actually been there.
Karl took the small golden box out of his inventory and held it out for everyone to inspect. “Well, it looks normal enough. I wonder what sort of reward fits in that box.” Corbin noted.
In the edge of Karl’s vision, Lotus smirked. One of them had opened up into a full stage with a spinning wheel when she tried to open it.
Karl flipped the lid to the golden chest, and it immediately vanished, replaced with a message in his Status overlay, appearing as words in his vision.
[Calculating First Clear Rewards]
[Group Reward Calculated] Epic Grade items granted
[Individual Reward Calculated] Over Rank Penalty Applied
Karl sighed as he saw the message, and then waited for the next message while he checked his inventory for the Epic Grade Item that the group should have gotten.
[Ring of the Beast Lord] Increases Luck by 150 points. Increases damage of Skills used by bonded or summoned companions by 15 percent.
Karl had no idea what the Luck stat was supposed to be. It was nowhere in any of his interfaces, even when he checked them again. It must exist if he could get a bonus to it, but it was not a visible status line.
However, fifteen percent more damage from the skills of his beasts was a pretty good ring. Combined with the Giant Strength Ring that he wore on his other hand, it would make a noticeable difference in their combat ability.
[Individual Reward Granted] Karl’s vision went blank, and he found himself standing in an empty void with nothing but a spinning wheel with square spaces on it like a paddle wheel on the grain mill. It was the same concept as the other spinning prize wheel, but this one had the prizes around the outer edge instead of on the face.
That made room for many more options, and the wheel was dozens of metres tall.
Karl looked at the skill in front of him. The actual square looked like tinted glass, but there was elegant script on the front that read ‘Skill Book: Pimp Slap’. Now that was a skill. How useful it would be in common was questionable, but the name alone implied that it had great possibilities.
The other slots couldn’t be read from his position, as if the titles were blocked. So, Karl knew what spot to watch as the wheel spun to get a guess at what might have been possible.
There was no benefit to delaying any further, so Karl jumped up a few metres and grabbed the wheel to drag it down. It was huge, and it would take some effort to get more than one full spin out of it, he assumed.
The slots began to blur by too fast for him to read as the wheel rapidly picked up speed from Karl’s overly enthusiastic spin.
It felt like an eternity before it began to slow, and he could finally see the options. There were clothing items, an Epic Grade tent in a box, whatever that was, some oddly named skill books, and even experience bonuses.
It wasn’t on par with the last time that they had gotten a reward, but there were some good items interspersed with the cosmetic items. Perhaps if he didn’t have Rae with him, a Commander Rank coat might have meant more.
The wheel slowed to a stop, and Karl stared at the words on the reward slot in front of him.
[Congratulations. Random Reward Granted.]
Karl stared at the label on the spot in front of him. [Skill Advancement Token] Advance one known skill by one tier.