Chapter Seventeen - Worth It

The trio entered the clearing, weapons at the ready. Jaricko had insisted that they wait until his mana was at maximum capacity. Jack also agreed since using his armor fae had taken a large chunk of his meager reserves. Timothy had unsummoned his dagger but said he could eke out some more juice out of the hairspray and lighter. Suffice it to say that all three of them were taking the potential risk here very seriously.

Jack strode in first, metal pole at the ready. He scanned the area with his steady gaze and motioned for the other two to join him when he declared it safe. Jaricko and Timothy took cautious steps into the clearing, both tense but excited.

This was the first loot chest they had ever found. At least, they hoped it was a loot chest and not just a random piece of furniture left in the woods. Jaricko felt a tiny bit of self-doubt when he thought about that.

All this worry and it’ll probably end up being full of crap.

Jaricko frowned and tried to push the unhelpful train of thought away.

The trio eventually made it to the chest in the middle of the clearing. They circled it, unsure of what to do next.

“So, who’s going to open it?” Timothy questioned while shrinking. He obviously didn’t want to touch the mysterious container.

“I will. I’ll activate my fae and brave whatever happens,” Jack declared with steadfast resolve. Jaricko cheered in him inwardly, thanking his lucky stars he had met the strangely upstanding man. It wasn’t every day that a person such as him would appear, especially when the System made everything confusing. Jaricko thought it would have been the opposite, with everyone devolving into chaos.

“You’re a brave soul, Jack,” Jaricko commented before backing away. The large man only gave a curt nod before donning his armor fae. Ebony chitin sprung up around his body, cloaking his frame with its durable material. He looked a bit like a humanoid bug covered in all that carapace.

Timothy also backed away from the container, putting himself a good thirty feet away. The nerdy boy had grown more excited and scared as time passed. Timothy was obviously immensely curious about what was in the chest, but his experience in games and tabletops warned him to be careful.

It was strange how the trio had originally come out in the forest to grind essence so they could activate any latent fae in the camp. They had already spent a good couple of hours out here, hunting down spiders and building their essence stores. Now they were detouring off their mission in order to investigate this occurrence.

Finally, after a few seconds of dithering, Jack reached down and grasped the sides of the lid on the chest. He paused for a second before throwing it open. He rolled out of the way an instant later, heeding Jaricko and Timothy’s warning about potential traps.

Silence reigned in the clearing, only interrupted by the songs of birds and blowing wind.

Nothing had happened. Jaricko started to laugh, the mirth bubbling from his chest and erupting out of his throat. All of that worry for nothing to happen. It was almost sad. Although, Jaricko wasn’t displeased. Being safe and rich was better than being dead.

“Alright, let's see what’s inside!” Jaricko declared with unconcealed enthusiasm. Timothy joined him in the shout and the three rushed over to the chest.

Jack got there first since he was the closest. He reached down into the container and brought out a small glass bottle. The round bottom appeared empty and a small stopper was wedged on the top. The large man unsummoned his armor and studied the item.

“What’s that?” Timothy asked, vibrating with excitement. Timothy seemed to have his own version of the greedy toad that plagued so many gamers.

Stolen novel; please report.

“Not sure. There’s some more in there though,” Jack said and pointed towards the five other bottles on the bottom of the chest. Jaricko reached down and picked one up, noticing a few other items laying next to them.

Jaricko brought the seemingly ordinary glass container up to his face and studied it. A prompt appeared in his vision.

Fae Bottle (Tier - 0)

Very informative.

Jaricko rolled his eyes and muttered to himself at the display. Fae bottle could mean a variety of things, but it was apparently some magical item. Anything that had to do with the fae likely was worth keeping.

Jaricko reached down and pulled out the next item.

It was a small vial that was filled with a glowing white liquid that sparkled in the sunlight. It moved like slime and Jaricko felt disgust holding it. He almost dropped it but noticed another prompt appear in front of him.

Bottled Essence (Tier - 0)

His eyes widened in surprise and quickly saw two more at the bottom of the chest. He had to restrain the urge to take all three. He instead pointed towards the vials and told Timothy and Jack what they were. Their curiosity peeked and they both grabbed one each.

“Do you figure we just drink it?” Timothy guessed with a slight smirk. Jaricko shrugged. He didn’t see a better idea than that.

“Unless you want to pour it over your face,” Jaricko offered with a wry smile. The two boys smiled lewdly at each other. They looked over at Jack, who brought back down the empty vial and let out a satisfied burp.

“Good stuff. Tastes like cream soda,” The oblivious man commented. Jaricko and Timothy stared at him with wide eyes, not believing the man would have ingested the strange liquid so easily.

“What did it do?” Jaricko inquired, he had some ideas but wanted to confirm them first.

“Says I got 100 essence from that,” Jack responded. Jaricko didn’t wait any further. He popped off the small top and drank the slimy substance in one gulp. The teenager grimaced as it slid down his throat. He had the sudden urge to gag, but it was gone just as fast. Jack was right, it did taste like cream soda.

Absorbing Essence [100/100] - Bottled Essence (Tier 0)

Three more items were remaining in the chest. They were small vials filled with a cherry red liquid. Jaricko almost shouted in joy when he noticed them and grinned when he saw the prompt appear in his vision.

Bottled Vitality ( Tier - 0)

Jaricko didn’t need Jack to ingest his as he already had a good idea of what it was.

This is a health potion!

Jaricko counted his lucky stars that he had found one. While it didn’t guarantee his life in case of a crippling wound, it would undoubtedly help in an emergency.

The other two seemed to agree with him.

They split up the loot three ways, with each person getting two Fae Bottle (Tier - 0) and one of the Bottled Vitality (Tier - 0). Each of them had already drunk one of the essence bottles, earning Jack and Timothy enough essence to rank up two separate attributes.

Jaricko decided to follow his original plan and upgraded his Body. He instantly felt stronger and couldn’t help the grin that formed on his face. He had to suppress the sudden urge to see how many push-ups he could do.

He pushed the sensation away and focused back on reality. He pulled up his status sheet and took a look.

Status

Name: Jaricko Peterson – Tier 0 Human [6/20]

Class: Locked – Essence Required [0/10,000] (+)

Profession: Locked - Essence Required [0/1,000] (+)

Attributes

Tier 0 Mind – Rank 2 [0/100] (+)

Tier 0 Body – Rank 3 [0/200] (+)

Tier 0 Fortitude - Rank 2 [0/100] (+)

Tier 0 Spirit – Rank 2 [0/100] (+)

Tier 0 Capacity - Rank 2 [0/100] (+)

Essence: 229

Fae [2/3]

Pocket Watch Fae [Purple - Tier 0] [Spirit]

Variable Capacity cost, instant. Go back in time up to a number of minutes equal to the user’s Spirit (2). The user can interact with a summoned pocket watch to control how far back in time they wish to travel. Pocket watch construct can be adjusted to the user's preference.

Flickering Fire Combustion Fae [Red - Tier 0] [Spirit]

Medium Capacity cost, [5 - Mind (2)] second cast time. Summon a small flammable cloud of gas on a chosen area within 20ft. Every second the cloud of gas is conjured it has a 10% multiplied by the user’s Spirit (2) of exploding into flames. The cloud of gas remains for a number of seconds equal to the user’s combined attribute rank (11) or until activation.

It’s amazing how far I’ve come already.

The trio had been grinding relentlessly, but Jaricko had truly profited with his early acquisition of two fae. While the [Pocket Watch] fae hadn’t seen much use, it still filled Jaricko with enough confidence for the future. The [Flickering Fire Combustion] fae had made him a central component to taking out the Juvenile Mountain Forest Arachnids. Without it, he wouldn’t have gathered as much essence.

In a way, Timothy and Jack were hindering their own growth by allowing Jaricko to deal the most damage with his combustion fae. The teenager reminded himself to repay the favor when he got the chance. His teammates were turning out to be another lucky occurrence. Without them, Jaricko would have been hesitant to leave the camp.

In fact, Jaricko might not have even learned about the status sheet without Jack rushing over to save Tatum last night. Jaricko certainly wasn’t the sort to save someone he had only just met. Only Jack’s confidence had inspired Jaricko to attack with him, and pure luck had let them set the spider ablaze.

Jaricko shook himself out of his thoughts and glanced up at the sky. Clouds had started to creep out and cover the blue expanse. The sun was also retreating behind the mountains, casting the already shadowy forest deeper into the darkness.

“We should head back. I don’t want to risk being out here at night,” Jaricko admitted. The other two agreed with him and made their way back into the forest.

They followed the strips of clothes tied to the trees all the way back to camp.

They met a single arachnid that seemed just as surprised to see them as they were to see it. Jaricko executed it with a cast of his combustion fae, which went off at the three-second mark.

Absorbing Essence [25/52] - Juvenile Mountain Forest Arachnid [Tier 0]

The trio walked into camp as night descended upon the valley.

Entering Camp Grizzly Safezone [Owner - Clair Bough (0)]

Jaricko was laughing at a joke from Timothy when they were suddenly accosted by a wild-eyed Briar.

“Where the hell have you been, dudes!?”