“Charades again, huh?” my drakan mate mused. “Hmmm… Did you ask them to look around the Dungeon for any other enemies?”

  Almost instantaneously, cheerful loops answered Aisha’s first guess and we both laughed. She’d hit the nail on the head.

  “Damn, thanks for the help, Rose. This will save us a lot of time.” The Berserker stroked our round friend a little.

  “Honestly, we owe this win to her and the other Pixies.” I added my own caresses to the mix, and we showered our friend with praise and attention. “This fight was hard enough with just the Seed to worry about. It wasn’t exactly weak. If we’d had to fight it while defending against its army, that would have been next to impossible. The barriers were godsend.”

  Aisha nodded sagely. “I agree. I’m sure you’d have had us culling its puppets for days before we launched an assault. That would have taken a long time, and certainly wouldn’t guarantee our safety, like our allies just did. It surely couldn’t grow new warriors at a moment’s notice, but who knows how many of them still hid in the mud.”

  “Yeah. It was certainly worth helping them, even if we kind of triggered a premature assault during what was supposed to be a reconnaissance in force.” I chuckled. “But, things hardly ever go according to plan, as much as I hate it.”

  “You are a great quick thinker,” she hummed at me sweetly. “I know we can always count on your sharp wits, even if our prepared strategies are rendered useless.”

  “I’m trying my best. Having such a reliable warrior by my side helps a lot.” I smiled back at her as we gazed at each other. “Now, I think we should head home and read through all the notifications. This place still gives me creeps. Let’s just grab my lost handaxe on the way back and come here after refreshing ourselves up a little. I’m sure the big guy’s corpse is worth at least something.”

  Before we left the Seed’s chamber, I looked around, my eyes drawn to the deep crevice left behind where its massive trunk ripped itself off the wall. I noted its existence and reminded myself to be sure to check on it later. It didn’t look like anything special, but you could say that my gamer senses were tingling.

  Quite a few dead and slowly withering wooden corpses littered our path, but we didn’t stumble across any living thing. Colorful orbs zoomed above our heads, moving in every direction, as they conducted a thorough reconnaissance of their reclaimed home. I bet they knew where to find us if they saw something concerning, so we didn’t interrupt them.

  Reaching the former prison chamber where we’d had a very close encounter earlier, we took a quick peek inside and I used the force to call for my old, unbound weapon. There was nothing else to look for there, so we were on our way as soon as I’d retrieved my old axe.

  My new handaxe flew out of its holder, floating by my left hip while I slipped my original axe in its place. It felt kind of cool, seeing it hover at my side as if attached by a strong magnet. I bet I could fit something bigger on my back in the future. I should start thinking about creating a more intimidating image. Currently, I looked like a wet-behind-the-ears newbie in starting gear.

  We entered our apartment without any jump scares or signs of nefarious activity. I was pretty sure a completion notification awaited us, but even so, I didn’t yet feel too trusting. It was only my second Dungeon.

  “Home, sweet home,” Aisha purred as she set her greataxe against the wall and stretched, starting to pull her armor off.

  I quickly gave her a hand with some of the more difficult buckles, and she reciprocated the favor. She slumped on the bed while I went to the kitchen and grabbed us some cold drinks. We clinked our cans of refreshing soda together and took a few pleasant sips, glancing out the sliding door. It was mid-to-late afternoon, and the balcony basked in the slowly setting sun.

  “So. It’s time?” Aisha asked with an expectant smile.

  “Let’s take a look.” I smiled back and brought my watch up between us, triggering the illusion display.

  ★━━━━━━━━━━★

  Congratulations!

  You have managed to bring down the Seed of Doom and end its tyranny over the Pixies of the Shadern, gathering enough experience to strengthen yourself.

  Lucas King: Level 8 -> Level 9

  Gained Attribute Points: 7

  ★━━━━━━━━━━★

  “Nice. I leveled up too.” Aisha checked her own wrist, displaying her side of the notifications. “Oh. And I got a new skill.”

  “Great. What is it?”

  I leaned close to my companion, studying her transparent display.

  ★━━━━━━━━━━★

  Your prowess in battle has earned you a new ability.

  New Class-Related Skill Learned: Impairing Blast (F)

  ★━━━━━━━━━━★

  “Sounds a bit too mysterious to guess, although it certainly is some kind of a debuff,” I commented.

  “Let me bring up the description before we move on.” She quickly navigated through her menus and did as she’d said.

  ★━━━━━━━━━━★

  Impairing Blast (F)

  By condensing mana in the head of your weapon, you can make your next blow discharge the spiritual energy into the targeted surface, which will in turn become brittle and susceptible to breaking. No material will remain solid, if enough blows are dealt.

  ※　※　※

  Primary Scaling Attribute: Fury

  Secondary Scaling Attribute: Strength

  ★━━━━━━━━━━★

  “Useful. I guess it’s thanks to how you shredded the Seed’s bark at the end. It will certainly be of use against heavily armored enemies which could give your blade some trouble.” I stroked my chin while contemplating the new ability.

  “And I’m pretty sure it packs a punch too. Mana discharge is no joke. But, we’ll need to test it first. You did say that this path is slightly less magical. Alright, next?”

  As she turned to me, I refocused on my own screen.

  ★━━━━━━━━━━★

  Congratulations!

  You have successfully freed all the captive Pixies living in the Shadern, bringing peace to their caverns. Completion of Bonus Objective 01 has been confirmed. Additional rewards will be distributed alongside the basic completion payout.

  ★━━━━━━━━━━★

  Congratulations!

  You have carried out all assigned tasks and successfully conquered the Beginner Dungeon 01!

  Your performance is being calculated. Due to the number of additional variables, the processing time might be longer than usual.

  Time left before rewards are announced: 01:34:12

  The connection to this Dungeon will be severed in: 47:34:12

  Use that time to finish all your business inside the current Dungeon and rest before your next assignment!

  ★━━━━━━━━━━★

  “Shit. I completely forgot we have to wait for J to do their job. Heh.” I smirked at the little word coincidence, earning myself a raised brow from Aisha. “Nothing. Just my brain being stupid.”

  She chuckled softly. “That’s rare. Usually, it’s pretty smart. But yes, way to ruin the hype. I admit I got all excited, thinking we were just minutes from finding out what we received for an award. I’m sure it will be worth it, though. Two hours of processing is no joke. I bet it’s because of the bonus objective.”

  “Yeah. Anything more on your end, or just the same as mine?”

  Aisha quickly scrolled past the mirrored announcements.

  “Oh. Oh, wow.”

  “What is it?” I watched her face brighten a bit in mild surprise.

  “I… have a new title…”

  “Really? That’s amazing! I sure hope it’s a nice one. You deserve the best.”

  “I’ve never heard of it, but I think I like it. It sounds much… stronger than Blood-Crazy.”

  I hastily shuffled around to get a better look, leaning in to read the notification at my proud drakan’s side.

  ★━━━━━━━━━━★

  Congratulations!

  Your achievements and battle experience have earned you a new title!

  Berserker -> Annihilation Berserker

  It’s your first step on the path to becoming a legend amongst legends! Pulverize your enemies and crush any obstacles blocking your way ahead! A bright future awaits you!

  ★━━━━━━━━━━★

  “Sounds fucking badass!” I exclaimed, my excitement perhaps even greater than the new title’s owner. “I’m pretty sure it’s one of the paths to Armageddon—the ultimate pinnacle of mass destruction. Considering what you’ve shown, it suits you perfectly. At least, in my eyes.”

  We turned to grin at one another. I could tell that Aisha thought the same. She dismissed the prompt and placed a firm hand around the back of my neck, and I let her pull me into a passionate kiss filled with gratitude and appreciation.

  “Thank you. This is much earlier than in my previous life. I can’t imagine how much stronger I will get if we continue at this pace,” she said after pulling back for some air.

  I grinned at her. “Better buckle up because we ain’t slowing down. This bus has no brakes, and we have just started going downhill.”

  Even if she didn’t fully understand my analogy, she clearly grasped the concept, leaving another peck on my lips. I chased her mouth afterward, nibbling on the two, delicious bumps as she drew back. An approving smirk painted her face when she had to pull her lower lip from between my teeth. It seemed my fierce male drakan impression earned at least a passing grade.

  “What are we going to do in the meanwhile, then? Would you like to… waste some time… or…?” Aisha squinted at me with a playful look.

  “If that’s what you’d like to do, I’m always up for lazing around with you,” I replied with a little waggle of my eyebrows. “But I think we could do some harvesting and treasure hunting. I know well that the longer we delay it, the harder it will be to actually get back into it after we go full chill mode. The choice is yours, partner.”

  My beautiful companion scrunched her nose and twisted her pretty mouth around a bit while thinking it over. Eventually, she let out a quiet sigh.

  “You are right. We should take advantage of all the buffs and such effects while they are still on. We are going to be drained, later.” She then stood and stretched alluringly, looking back over her shoulder at me. “Shall we go?”

  Aisha extended a hand and helped me up. She pulled me up alongside herself with a chuckle as I slammed into her muscular body. Thankfully, the two magnificent cushions softened the impact and I ran my fingers along the underside of her thick tail to pay her back for this clear mischief.

  Ending our brief teases, we prepared to go back into the Dungeon. A quick glance into the storage confirmed my assumptions. A bunch of homemade saline solution vials remained on the shelves and though I stopped for a full minute or so to watch, no more seemed to disappear in front of our eyes. Someone must have cracked the market already and put up a more competitive price.

  But hey, we had gotten a boatload of cash before then, and we surely didn’t want to continue this troublesome venture while fighting off other traders. Maybe we would figure out something else in the future. If there had been one niche like this, there certainly were more just waiting to be discovered. Slow and steady wins the race.

  We grabbed a bunch of bags and backpacks and left the confines of our lovely apartment behind. There wasn’t much to collect on the way to the main chamber. We had enough wood to last us a long time, and I didn’t feel it was necessary to clog up most of our storage with it. If it was worth something, then maybe, but it wasn’t.

  I considered grabbing the crystals poking sporadically out of the walls, but decided to ignore them for now. If we didn’t find anything nice further into the Dungeon, we would pick some of them up on our way back. No need to make the bags unnecessarily heavy so early in the trip.

  Rose led us confidently to our destination and we looked around the Seed’s throne room. Some Pixies casually floated around, now that the danger to their home had been dealt with. Aisha walked off to check out the smaller, adjacent caverns while I made a beeline for the huge crevice in the wall where the Seed had been half-buried.

  And sure enough, my gamer instincts hadn’t been wrong.

  I found a small space behind the opening and I had to cover my eyes for a brief moment as a brilliant radiance rendered me nearly blind. After a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the light, I realized that the shine came from a myriad of much larger crystals than those we had passed in the tunnels. I could tell that these were dripping with spiritual energy.

  The Seed must have hoarded them here for its nourishment, or whatever, as a number of thin, empty trenches connected the crystals in what looked to have been some kind of network. I frowned before realizing what this was. The trenches were where the Seed’s roots most likely had been before.

  What captured my attention the most, though, was a small pedestal-like wooden altar made from a naturally grown tree, like the trunk had reached only a few feet up before extending to the sides with claws of bark that wrapped themselves around something. That something was a perfectly rounded floating orb of dark emerald, about the size of a basketball, I would say.

  I had a feeling that all the energy drained from the Pixies in the prison cages had been siphoned here. The crystal felt slightly ominous, so I held back my urge to touch it, waiting for Aisha to see it first. Perhaps she would know something more about it. I had a hunch or two, from the game, but nothing certain.

  Soon, my lovely drakan partner reached the hidden compartment and joined me.

  “Nothing interesting in the other roo—woah, this feels nice,” she switched topics mid-sentence after seeing the multi-hued glow of the large crystals.

  “Look a bit lower,” I instructed her with a smirk.

  She rubbed her eyes and then followed my suggestion.

  “Oh, shit. Is that what I think it is?”

  “And what do you think it is?” I arched an eyebrow at her.

  “A huge-ass chunk of pure crystalized mana? Nature element, most likely?” Aisha stared at the orb with a slightly amazed expression. “This is going to fetch one hell of a price.”

  “Is it safe to move?” I asked.

  “Best not to touch it directly. You don’t want to fry your Soul Band by accidentally absorbing some of the energy locked inside it. Throwing a cloth over it should be enough.”

  “A bit risky, but fine. I better pray not to slip my finger onto its surface.”

  Aisha chuckled softly. “Worst case scenario, I’ll make sure to properly wring you dry before you implode from mana overload.”

  I rolled my eyes at her but couldn’t stop my mouth from tugging up at the corners.

  We then began recovering the shining crystals first. There were quite a lot of them so we had to fill our bags to the brim four times in total, making numerous trips back and forth. But, we thought it would be worth it. I was sure they would be useful, or had a decent price.

  Then, we carefully removed the emerald orb. I brought a large white sheet to wrap several times around the ball and we carried it home together. It wasn’t terribly bulky, but it did weigh quite a bit, and I didn’t want Aisha to struggle with it alone.

  Just as we were setting the sheet-wrapped bundle down on the ground in our storage, the doorbell rang and spooked the hell out of us. Thankfully, the orb had been nearly to the ground, so it didn’t shatter or crack, simply thumping onto the floor, the layers of sheet enough to cushion it after a drop of only an inch or so.

  Aisha went to check on who or what was at the door while I examined our treasure for any damage. Finding nothing amiss, I bundled it back up and went to see what she had found. Walking back into the living room, I found my draconic companion with a piece of paper in her hand.

  “It’s a letter addressed to you. No sender,” she said, waving the envelope at me.

  “You can open it, if you want,” I said.

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah. You know I trust you. We are in this together. What’s mine is yours.”

  She smiled softly and motioned at me to sit with her on the bed. I turned to grab a dagger first, but heard a tearing noise and spun around to find a perfectly straight line across the top of the envelope. She had run it over the tip of her sharp horn in what must have been a well-practiced motion, slicing the letter open with unimaginable grace and precision.

  Aisha held it towards me, and I pulled the neatly folded letter out of the thin envelope. She scurried closer and leaned over my shoulder to read it with me.

  ~ * * * ~

  Hello again!

  Yes, I know what I said about no contact, but you are just making it impossible, Lucas. You have no idea how hard it is to hold back and keep from talking to you about all your achievements. I hate and love you so much at the same time, I swear.

  But anyway, it’s me, J, and I just finished calculating what you will get for your recent stunt. The rewards should be there in a few. You are in for a treat, I tell you. No more about that, though, I’m already risking a lot.

  One thing I wanted to tell you about, was something that you must have clearly already wondered about as a human from Earth, with a quite non-human companion. I bet you can guess why I’m bringing this up right now ;)

  So, how come you haven’t seen anything ‘weird’ or ‘fantastical’ in all your life before being recruited? Well, there are a few safety measures on Earth that keep the paranormal a secret, more or less, from the common people. For their own good, of course. And for the comfort of non-humans who live out there among them.