The raging breath left the dragon's mouth which resulted in the rest of its head evaporating like steam. It scattered, from the last few shreds of its being island disappeared into the empty air.

I looked out at the trail of cinders and blackened dirt. “Geez, I forgot how strong that skill was.”

{300 Exp gained}

{250 Exp gained}

“What the–sure their levels were lower than the golems I beat before but still…isn’t this experience kind of low?”

Arga walked up to me with a raised brow and leaned closer to my face. She faced the system's panels and glared at them as if completely captivated by its design.

“Hmmmm…”

Wait, can she see the system's message? I thought nobody besides me could see it this entire time?!

She paused for a while, still engrossed in what she was looking at, then spoke. “What are we staring at?” Arga asked.

...I guess not.

“Hey come over here and help me out, I’m not your guys’ drops collector! You were the one who asked me to join your party, remember?” Veldor screamed out.

That must be it! Experience is shared between my party members, so with a third member, the amount given is going to be much lower than usual. If that’s the case, we might have to start hunting stronger monsters…

Veldor was inspecting the trail of burnt grass where the golems perished. His head was pointed down the entire time, completely lasered in on what he walked through.

“What are you doing?” Arga asked.

Veldor leaned down to the scattered white chunks of stone by his feet. “Isn’t it obvious, collecting the drops?”

Arga smirked at me and I immediately understood what she planned to ask of me next. Without giving her the chance to say it, I raised my hand over the chunks of scattered stones.

In a plain tone, I uttered my command. “Devour.”

The beam of dark mist shot down over them and consumed it. Veldor flinched back and fell onto his behind.

“What the hell is that–it’s covering the monster corpses? We still need those for…”

The mist retracted to my hand before he could finish and his mouth remained open.

After a twitch in his eye appeared, Veldor looked for answers between the two of us. His head rose to me and then turned to Arga with a quick snap, but she only replied with a cocky smirk.

“That was seriously weird, even for you. What the hell kind of skill was that?”

I rubbed the back of my head while I thought about how to answer. “It’s how I absorb monsters to turn them into skills. It makes the monster drop process a lot easier too.”

“Yeah, you can get rid of the corpses easier but what about the materials? We needed those!” he replied.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Well then just wait for this next part, Frowny Face.” Arga grinned.

“My name isn’t Frowny Face, it’s Veldor. Did you already forget it?”

“No, you’re just such a downer usually, always frowning when you talk. Nobody blames you though, we all get that it’s just how you look.” Arga put on a gentle smile.

The corner of Veldor’s mouth twitched. He tried holding back the scowl that formed but Arga had been too much for him. It took over his face and a rage filled his eyes.

I felt that if I didn’t step in, things would have only escalated from there. I quickly called over their bickering and waved my arms about to grab their attention.

“Can you two stop messing around? We have to divvy up the loot.”

Veldor raised his brow and snapped back to me, still in a huff. “What loot?!”

I held my palm to the floor and the items rained out of the mist that formed from it. Large chunks of metals and an orb, white as snow, dropped by our feet.

{Weak Golem Core}

{Raw Golem material}

“Those are the drops…but they were–how did you summon them like that? Were they inside of you…?”

“What, no way! It’s just my skill!”

Veldor scratched the side of his face in deep thought. “Not like any skill I’ve ever seen…that’s a dual effect no matter how you look at it. You really lucked out with your grace. Must be nice to have powers like that.”

Lucked out? That’s probably the first time I’ve ever heard that before and the first time I actually believe it. None of this would have happened without Ellios’ gift…if not for him, I’d probably still be a weak Rust rank too.

We were pretty close to the Floor’s doors already, it hadn’t taken us long to reach Floor 5. Luckily Arga and I were strong enough to breeze through the enemies to that point but we had slowed down at that point when we last adventured.

The difference at that time was that it was just the two of us. With Veldor in our party, it was a whole other dynamic.

It was Veldor that truly kept things as smooth as they were. His routes through the Floors kept us away from all the monsters but also cut our travelling time in half. Being in one of the largest guilds gave him some useful knowledge.

“Okay, we’re approaching the door. Is everyone ready to cross over?”

“Yep!”

“Let’s do it.”

{User and allies have entered Floor 6}

“You’re actually pretty good at navigating, huh Veldor?”

“Well of course I am, I was on the main attack force for one of the Pillar Guilds.”

There he went again…he never failed to remind us just how great his status was compared to us.

“Pillar Guild?”

Veldor winced and was shocked that I even asked him such a thing.

“Do you guys know anything about adventuring besides killing monsters? Sigh… The Pillar guilds are the foundation for Istoria’s adventurers. There’s only a few of them, such as Heaven's Gate and Titan’s Helm but each one is as important as thirty regular guilds.”

“They’re that important? I knew they were a big deal but I didn’t guess it was by that much.” I responded.

“Well, the pillars are responsible for clearing the more dangerous floors, gathering materials and items that regular guilds just can’t, at a much faster rate too. There’s a lot of reasons but the biggest reason they’re so important–”

Veldor held up a finger in front of my face.

“Is they’re experience.” Veldor finished.

I see…so guilds like Titans Helm aren’t even in the same league as other guilds. I guess the gap between Liv and I just got bigger. That must be why Veldor and her know so much about the Floors than I do.

“Huuuuh? Then how come you’re not as strong as the rest of your guild mates?” Arga suddenly chimed in

Veldor’s ego took a visible hit. His face churned into a sour expression that looked more like something a villain would have shown.

“I never said I was the strongest on the main team, now did I?!” He replied angrily.

I turned to Veldor. “Now that you mention it, is it okay for you to be out adventuring with us? We don’t want to keep you here if they need you.”

Veldor’s face turned cold and came out with a quick response.

“No.”

It was a plain reaction, even for Veldor who was usually pretty to the point. Something was up with him but I didn’t want to pry. Not that I think he’d let me anyway.