“Lady, preserve me,” I swore under my breath before kicking back and leaning against the wall of the private tavern dining room we’d rented for the evening. “This is a lot of loot.”

Across the table from me, Jaegan was napping with his staff clutched to his chest like a childhood stuffed animal. His earlier energy had quickly been replaced by exhaustion as the battle high faded. It took all he had to walk into the upscale tavern, order his meal, and eat it before passing out.

Ylsa, on the other hand, was nodding along as I spoke while she fiddled with the bones from the poultry carcass in front of her. “I think Jaegan and I must have killed at least a couple hundred [Flame Golems] and [Inferno Drones] between his spells and my axes. If you have all the loot from that many monsters, I’d be surprised if there wasn’t a lot there.”

“It’s not that…” My face was pale. “I have all the loot from the [Ashen Tunnelers] and the raid boss as well. Either Mindy never went out to gather her portion, or the System just gave it all to me without giving her a bit due to the Party Interface.” I rubbed my face slowly with both hands. “I can’t decide which would be worse, to be honest.”

As usual, Ylsa gave me a new perspective. “If the Lady says this Mindy woman is fit to be a vassal, why not induct her? If you did, this wouldn’t be an issue.”

“It’s not that simple. She and her sister, more the latter if I’m right, have some ties to Devourer’s church.” I paused to sip some of the more than adequate wine before continuing. “If we’re not careful, we’ll show our hand and everything will get more difficult. [Status Shield] is a good tool, but when Grandpa told me about it, he said high ranking clergy would likely be able to see through it.”

“As you say.” She was obviously not happy with the decision, but decided not to argue with me. “How much loot did we get if it’s enough to make you uncomfortable?”

With a grimace, I shared the loot breakdown to her and barely avoided smirking when her jaw dropped.

[Party Loot:

Coins:

33 pp

4086 gp

94718 sp

421919 cp

Gems:

Alexandrite (800 gp)

Amethyst (110 gp)

Banded Agate (9 gp)

Black Pearl (700 gp)

Bloodstone (50 gp)

Coral (80 gp)

Deep Blue Spinel (500 gp)

Emerald (1000 gp)

Eye Agate (13 gp)

Freshwater Pearl (5 gp)

Hematite (9 gp)

Jasper (50 gp)

Lapis Lazuli (11 gp)

Moss Agate (9 gp)

Moss Agate (12 gp)

Onyx (30 gp)

Rhodochrosite (12 gp)

Sapphire (1000 gp)

Star Rose Quartz (50 gp)

Total Gem Value - 4450 gp

Weapons

33x Emberforged Axes - Uncommon

147x Lava Javelins - Uncommon

3x Obsidian Longblades - Rare

3x Obsidian Scimitars - Rare

2x Obsidian Daggers - Rare

Armor

12x Obsidian Platemail - Rare

2x Cinder Robes - Rare

Hydra’s Ward - Legendary

Misc

Acid Spray Skill Scroll]

“That is a lot of loot.” She sat back with a thump about halfway through before focusing again to finish reading through. “Do you remember our agreement from the mine hoard?”

“I do, but I was hoping you wouldn’t, if I’m being totally honest. I don’t really need this money–”

“You don’t need it now, but with your responsibilities, you will need it.” She cut me off with a stern look. “The winds of fate dance around you, Milord, and those who can see them will be drawn to you like moths to an open flame. When that happens, you’ll need to be able to outfit those who follow you.”

A single platinum coin danced across my knuckles as I considered her point. “You’re not wrong, but you don’t know how wealthy I already was before this. I have–”

“Stop, please.” Ylsa covered her ears. “I don’t need to know how wealthy my benefactor is, only that he is generous, kind, and strong. You’ve proven to be all of those things and that’s enough for any goliath, me included, to follow you.”

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“You know, I am part dwarf, I live for the deal.” I flicked the coin into the air before sucking it back into my ring before it could bounce. “This whole stopping me from even arguing about it is a real buzzkill, but two can play at that game. I’ll agree to take forty percent–”

“Fifty percent and not a bit less, Jaegan and I already agreed. Milord.” Her face split into a cheeky grin for half a second. “I argued that you should get sixty-six percent, but he said you’d reject it outright if I said as much.”

With a groan I nodded. “He was right, though I still think fifty percent is too much.”

“Raiju counts for at least as much as we do.” The goliath tribes woman pointed to where my bonded one slept on a pile of furs I’d bought on the way over. “If it feels wrong, just consider the additional twenty-five percent her share and spoil her with it.”

“Fine.” I opened up the party interface and selected the loot split to allot fifty percent of the coin to me and twenty-five percent to Ylsa and Jaegan. As for the rest, I only really had interest in a few things, so I tagged them and sent the rest over to the other pair to distribute as they wished. Despite how tired I was, I couldn’t help but grin at my haul.

[Party Leader Loot:

33 pp

800 gp

Sapphire (1000 gp)

Emerald (1000 gp)

2x Obsidian Daggers - Rare

Cinder Robes - Rare

Hydra’s Ward - Legendary

Acid Spray Skill Scroll]

[Obsidian Dagger - Rare

Durability - 100/100

Description - Obsidian weapons are known for two things, their impossibly sharp edge and their fragility, and this is no exception. Obsidian daggers aren’t meant to be wielded in a melee, they’re to be used to to carve through the defenses of anything too tough for a standard blade before being replaced once more for those more resilient blades.]

I wish I’d had a pair of these while I was fighting that hydra. If I had, maybe… I shook my head to try and get my head back on track. Nope, not going there, plus, she’s fine now. I’m willing to bet they’ll channel fire abilities well too.

[Cinder Robes - Rare

Description - Originally crafted by a sect of monks who dedicated themselves to the study of a nearby volcano, these over robes are now worn by mages with a penchant for fire all over Genovia. Wearing these robes grants the wearer and their equipment resistance to fire damage. In addition, once a day, the wearer can turn into a cloud of ash and instantly teleport a number of feet equal to their Wits.]

I hope these things resize, or I’m going to be in a damn dress, but that last ability would make it worth doing. Another teleport, this one without the need to be in the sun, is damn near invaluable. Plus, I think they’ll fit over the real prize.

[Hydra’s Ward - Legendary

Description - Hydra’s Ward is a set of dark grey leather armor crafted from the resilient hide of a slain Ashen Hydra Dominator. Imbued with the creature’s acidic nature, the armor grants the wearer and their equipment resistance to poison damage, immunity to acid damage, and the ability to channel toxic energy into their attacks. The armor’s surface shimmers with a faint, iridescent glow when reinforcing weapons in an echo of the hydra’s power.]

Dominus, you’re too good to me. I would have sworn I heard a giggle, but decided to move on. Then again, maybe this is just the kind of perk to expect from killing a level fifty-two raid boss. My current armor is great, but this is on a whole ‘nother level. I don’t think Arlo will be too mad when I tell him… I should really send a letter home soon, or they’ll think I died or something.

With a thought and a push of will, I donned the armor and a moment later did the same with the robes. I stood up and used the system to see what I looked like with a wide grin.

I was still short, but the charcoal colored [Cinder Robes] did a good job of drawing people’s attention to my face instead of my short stature. Beneath the loose robes, the slate grey [Hydra’s Ward] popped, doing even more to draw attention to my face, which I’d always say was my best feature. I tested drawing a potion and an alchemical grenade around the [Cinder Robes] and was pleasantly surprised to find it was nearly as easy as it would have been without them on as long as I remembered they existed. Over the next few minutes, I practiced that exact thing until it became second nature.

There was nothing worse than having a potion you needed, only to fumble at getting it when you needed. Dad had told me about how his cousin had nearly died due to a change in his kit without his knowledge. He’d been stabbed, but the healing potion that had been on his right hip had been moved behind his back for some reason. If it weren’t for Dad stepping in and saving him, he’d have died right there in the training hall. The Ironwind Clan doesn’t mess around when training their assassins.

With my immunity to acid firmly in place, I finally decided to check out the only [Skill Scroll] from the loot. It was kind of what I expected, but that was actually a good thing in this case.

[Acid Spray - Spray acid from any part of your body in one of four shapes, a bolt, a line, a cone, or a globe. The bolt can travel Wits feet, while the line is half that long, but two feet wide. The cone is half again as long as the line, but spreads out to the same width as it is long with your body as the originating point. Finally, the globe can be launched up to half your Wits in feet before exploding into a globe of acid thirty feet across.]

Looks like I have an oh-shit option now. Drop the globe at my feet and let it go off. That should be enough to dissuade most foes. Not sure about the options given everything that’s happened recently, but at least one mode is good for me at this point.

With a small trickle of light, the scroll appeared in my hand before I quickly learned the Skill within.

[Learn Acid Spray - Y/N]

I mentally assented and, a moment later, the scroll glowed brightly and a new window appeared.

[Active Skills - Mastery

Skill Dominance - 31%

Acid Spray - 31%]

Looks like I might be able to buy cheaper [Skill Scrolls] after all. I’m willing to bet the System gives out base percentage examples of scrolls, so if I still got thirty-one percent and that’s the same as [Skill Dominance]... I can assume the two are linked. I wonder what’ll happen if I master it fully? Will it automatically evolve any Skill I get?

Shaken at that thought, I looked out over the room to find Jaegan had not only woken up, but he was also wearing a set of [Cinder Robes].

He beamed as he tipped his non-existent hat to me. “My generous lord, thank you for not arguing too hard with Ylsa. She was deeply concerned you would manage to talk her into a corner with that silver tongue of yours.”

“She didn’t really give me a chance, if I’m being totally honest. Plus, it’s hard to talk over her when you’re as short as I am.”

She gaped at me for a few moments before recovering and looking back down at one of the [Obsidian Longblades]. A quick check of its status confirmed my guess, it worked just like my [Obsidian Daggers] just with a much bigger blade and a bit more durability.

I slowly padded away from the table toward the door to the rest of the upscale tavern. “I’ll get us a room upstairs, alright? I need to check in with the Governess before I do anything else today. Hopefully she’ll know what the hell is going on with the Tower.” My face darkened. “We all saw that message. If this was just Wave 1, I don’t want to see what Wave 2 or 3 would look like.”

Jaegan nodded thoughtfully. “I can’t say I like the woman, but it’s been twenty years, so maybe she’s changed?”

“Anything I should know?” My hand rested on the brass knob. “No one told me what to expect with King Evergreen and I wish they had.”

“Don’t trust a word she says without seeing a contract or invoking the System.” Jaegan grabbed his wine goblet and drained it. “She’s a snake, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t a hell of a Tower scholar. She’ll deal honestly if the System is watching, trust me.”

“Not a lot to go on, but I’ll take your word for it.” With a twist of the knob, I let myself out into the hallway before closing the door slowly behind me. Raiju took a hell of a beating from the hydra and all the [Inferno Drones] who’d swarmed her before she came to join me. She deserved a good night’s rest and going to visit the Governess wasn’t going to be conducive to that.

The tavern was known as the Bawdy Maid and it had those in spades despite catering to supposedly more discerning clientele. All around the huge common room more than a dozen busty women and a pair of salaciously dressed men strutted around faking wardrobe malfunctions as they delivered drinks and food alike. Despite that, the atmosphere was far more upscale than the average inn and it was all because of the towering man behind the bar.

The owner of the inn, Marcus Trenton, was a seven foot tall dark-skinned mountain of a man who stood more than three and a half feet wide to go with his height. Whenever a customer even thought about getting handsy with the wait staff, he’d flick a shelled nut with pinpoint accuracy to nail the offending hand. Because of that, his staff felt safe to really play up their acts as Bawdy Maids and the visitors loved it.

Marcus watched me slip out the hallway that led to the private dining rooms with a raised eyebrow. I raised two fingers before bringing them together and pointing up. He nodded silently and I knew I had our domicile figured out, at least for the night. Slipping out into the streets was easy, but taking in the view outside wasn’t.

All around the tavern were the burnt remains of buildings, with only a few stone structures still standing. The Bawdy Maid was located on the edge of the ring of buildings surrounding the Tower, the region that got hit hardest when the monster wave began. If it weren’t for Marcus, a retired Tower Climber, none of the buildings in the center of town would have survived.