A few days had passed since Owen had awoken from his slumber. During that time he had turned Pyris’s place of rest; the building in the middle of his territory, and had created a tunnel straight down. He was too weak to properly harvest the metals he had discovered on the way, but on the third day, he had found it. Water.

Owen smiled and gave the rope he was tied to a sharp tug. He soon found himself being pulled upwards. It took 3 minutes to take him from the bottom of the Plunder-made well, to the surface. Pyris awaited him, rope in hand, lips curling into a smile.

“I found it,” Owen said excitedly. “Now we just need to make a bucket and we have a steady supply of water. Proper water. Not cacti flavoured water.”

“That’s good,” replied Pyris, taking his hand and pulling Owen out of the hole. “Although Bimpnottin is already working on fusing his fruit with the water storing cacti. Soon, I bet he’ll make a better product than pure water.”

“Flavoured water. Damn, I can hardly wait. And he’s only a two-star, as well. I really hit the lottery with him, didn’t I?”

Pyris nodded.

Owen sat down, back pressed against the cool walls of the well that the builders had created before he had begun on the tunnel. Apparently, the buildings weren’t as secured as Owen had hoped. Brook said it was because they lacked a fusing agent for the bricks. Right now, they were using sand fused with ground up rock. But that wasn’t good enough. Honestly, Owen had no idea about building anything really. He knew that they needed mortar to bond bricks together, but how they would go about getting some, he didn’t know.

Brook told him that they needed to keep digging to claim limestone clay, or this world's variant of it. It would require a lot of trial and error to get to that point, but Brook was hopeful that they’d eventually get what they needed. That was good. If they were going to live here for the remainder, the buildings, and the walls, had to be impenetrable.

Owen continued with a smile, “I hit the lottery with all of you.” Owen didn’t wait for a response—although he did notice Pryris’s smile grew wider—and stood up with a slight groan. “Now that that’s done, it’s time to grow a little stronger.”

Finishing his words, Owen placed the orcen Lord's body on the ground in front of him. Pyris still couldn’t help but show a flash of surprise at Owen’s ability. During the few days he had been with her, she had taken a keen interest in his Skills. She knew of his ability to Plunder his enemies, but she hadn’t seen it in person before. And now it was time. She leaned forwards, but then shook herself out of her excitement.

“Are you sure about this, my Lord?” She asked, concern sketched on her perfect face. “You still haven’t recovered fully.”

“I should be fine. I’ve rested long enough. And I think the rewards will alleviate my tiredness.”

“Rewards?”

Owen smiled. Instead of replying with words, he showed her with his actions. He called upon Unlimited Plunder and the mysterious, all consuming energy spat forwards and devoured the corpse in an instant. One moment it was there, and the next, it was gone.

Pyris’s eyes widened in shock. She felt the strange energy that was clearly different from when Owen stored something within himself. It was… old. One she hadn’t experienced before.

The moment Owen’s skill activated, first he felt a devouring weakness and a sharp pain stab into his heart. He almost keeled over, but then a staggering change took place in his body. A fundamental difference that was more akin to a metamorphosis. Owen took in a sharp breath as he felt the newfound strength rampage throughout his muscles, and felt it reverberate across his bones.

Your subordinate has defeated the Orcen Lord: Rek’ka, the Scourge x1 (Level 47)

You have plundered a Lord: Rek’ka x1.

| Claimed materials: Summoning Ticket 5x Warrior, Fragment: Shard of Gor’ul’s Fury.

| Stats gained: 15 Strength, 10 Vitality, 5 Dexterity.

| Skills gained — Overpower: Use Vitality as a resource to greatly increase the power of your next strike.

| Lord Emblem—

I can even plunder a Lord’s Emblem?! Owen thought in shock. Lord Emblem’s were no joke. His own was a testament to that. Every Lord, because of it, had to be taken seriously in battle. Each one provided such a large benefit, that it changed their way of strategy completely. Some may receive a Emblem that allowed them to easily raise an army of archers, and would give large bonuses to those troops. Others may be like Rek’ka’s Emblem, focusing on personal power, enabling them to lead them from the front in a raw display of frightening might.

Owen quickly continued the notification.

Lord Emblem: Overwhelming Might.

| Description: Increases Strength by 25 points. Increases Strength by 15%. Increases Strength of melee units by 20%.

Jaw practically hanging to the floor, Owen stood rooted to the spot. He glanced at Pyris, but she didn’t seem to be any different; a slight shock in her eyes, but that was it. So the added strength for my troops doesn’t include my Spectre’s. Got it.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

He moved onto Overpower. It was an awesome ability, using not Mana, but Vitality, as a resource. He learned it right away. It gave him a killing move, and if he combined that with another sword centric one… Owen smiled at the thought.

“My, lord,” she said, clearly surprised.

“Mm?”

Only then did Owen notice what had happened. His muscles had increased in size so much that he had ripped open his slim fitted shirt. He now had pecks that would put a human olympic bodybuilder to shame. Not only that, but his sight-line had raised. Pyris was still taller than him, but she was no longer towering over him. If he had to guess, then he had to be at least 5 foot 10 inches now, or around that point.

Owen found himself just flexing on the spot for a while, and only when he noticed Pyris’s strange expression, stopped himself. Heat flushed across his cheeks as he cleared his throat.

“It’s a big change.”

“I can see that,” Pyris said, sizing him up. “What is that ability of yours? It feels old. Prehistoric. I’ve never felt anything like it before.”

“It’s called Unlimited Plunder,” he replied with a proud smile. “I can devour a corpse of a fallen enemy and gain a portion of its Stats, Titles; pretty much everything, really.”

“That’s–”

Owen interrupted her, “Strong? I know. And as for my current appearance? I just acquired his Lord Emblem.”

“Incredible.”

“It is, but I also have a few drawbacks. I only have the talent of a novice, which means I only gain one stat per Level. Worse yet, is that the more I Level, the stats I gain from Plundering lowers. At some point in the near future, I’ll have to defeat powerful monsters just to gain any stats.”

“That is a problem,” she stroked her chin, her ears twitched. “That just means we need to keep hunting stronger prey and become more powerful.”

He smiled. “Yes, that’s right. We just need to keep fighting.”

With the well done, Pyris returned to the walls to make sure everything was okay. As the strongest amongst his forces, Pyris had to put in a lot of work now that more dangerous monsters were emerging by the day. Soon, Owen surmised, the scarlet crabs would be the least of their worries.

Other than that, the Fragment he had received: Gor’ul’s Fury, was a hulking battleaxe with some bloodthirsty attributes. It was a perfect gift for Lome.

Then there twas the rest of the Devil Wyrm’s skeleton he had yet to plunder. The only thing stopping him was a deep weakness that took hold of his heart. He didn’t dare risk plundering that, not to mention the tiredness from just Plundering the orcen Lord.

Owen wandered over to the mountain and dwelled in his thoughts.

Over the course of the few days he had spent with Pyris, he had noticed a few things about her. A lot of the time, she would be stuck in her own little world. She’d bite her lip, clench her fists, grind her teeth as revenge seemed to be on her mind at all times. Because of that, she rarely smiled or showed much excitement during the day. Sometimes, Owen would spot a hint of aggression hidden behind her beautiful eyes.

Beautiful, Owen thought, smiling to himself wryly. He had noticed that it was difficult to keep his eyes off of her, and it was strange. During his 24 years of life, he had made several connections with women, and had seen plenty of celebrities, too. Yet none of them had given him the feeling he had now. Owen first thought it was because of the unity they both held as a Spectre and Master. But maybe it was more simple than that. Maybe he was just attracted to her?

Owen shook his head, his cheeks turning hot as he stopped just below the mountain.

With her still in his thoughts, he glanced once again at her Stat page like he had done many times before. And it was incredible.

Name: Pyris Starbreaker (★★★★★★★)

| Race: Velorin

| Level: 14

| Class: Warrior

Attributes:

| Strength: 43

| Vitality: 51

| Dexterity: 48

| Magic: 54

| Mana: 50

Skills

| Nova Fist: Channel star energy into your fists, causing your punches to explode on impact, dealing burst damage and leaving a burning trail of stardust that causes lingering damage over time.

| Starbound Resilience: Passively absorb cosmic energy, hardening your body to reduce incoming physical damage, increasing your durability and resilience in battle.

| Meteor Step: Propel yourself forward with star-powered dashes, allowing rapid movement and quick repositioning. Leave behind a trail of stardust that briefly disorients enemies.

“Monster,” Owen mumbled under his breath. During the time he had been rendered into a deep coma, she had been busy growing stronger. And then there were her Skills; all of them revolved around breaking stars. How awesome was that?!

Thanks to her talent, and unique skills, perhaps only the top lineages could combat against her.

Finally able to move his thoughts away from Pyris, he hadn’t forgotten the reward that she had gotten him for killing Rek’ka. Owen ripped the ticket holding the dairy cow, and saw the wheel spin frantically. Colours of all kinds, hundreds of them, sparkled and illuminated the surrounding area. And then it landed, and Owen smiled. It was a 4-Star dairy cow.

Spawning in front of him, was a hulking beast that could only be described as a mix between a ginger Scottish hairy cow, and black shiny oxen, only it had enormous, spiralling horns. Rightfully so, it also had protruding udders at the bottom. The monster was at least 9 feet tall and 10 feet in length. It moo’d gently, its tongue lashing out at its eyes to give them moisture. With its large, orange beady eyes, the massive cow looked so cute.

Owen approached it, offering it his hand. The cow was apprehensive at first, but quickly warmed up. With its long and thick tongue, the cow licked the back of Owen’s hand. Chuckling, Owen then extended his hand and stroked the beast’s face. In response, it closed its eyes, and moo’d in content.

“There, there,” Owen said, stroking the coarse fur of the dairy cow. “We should think of a name for you. Since I’m Scottish, it’s only fitting that I call you Coo, isn’t it?”

You have granted the Dairy Cow a name. Affection grows.

Smiling in response, Coo seemed to match his emotions perfectly as she started jumping up and down on the spot, twirling a few times.

Owen laughed and turned around. He spotted Pyris standing tall on the walls. He waved over at her and pointed at the dancing Coo. Owen jumped with her, matching Coo’s silliness. Owen thought he saw Pyris smile, but she was too far away to see properly.

“Aright,” Owen said. “Let’s calm down, Coo. We have to quickly think about what you’re going to eat. Let’s check in on Bimpnottin, shall we?”

As if able to understand him, Coo nodded enthusiastically.