I placed my cup on the bedside table and leaned back to rest my head against the wall. The crowded room didn't bother me; my small size allowed me to keep my legs close and make room on the bed for Sereza.

She was busy chatting with Celanae, who was writing stuff down in a journal.

Teddy and the gang joined us when we snuck back to the inn. We decided to head to our room to debrief each other on all that had happened. There was a lot to say, and even more I needed to explain.

Thankfully, Teddy had some saved street food in his dimensional storage, so we weren't entirely out of luck. I wanted to grab something to eat, but in my rush to get away from the celebrating crowd, I had failed to factor in that every villager was currently at the beach rather than working. There were no food stalls available.

Teddy began the debrief detailing their week spent outside the barrier. And even if I thought our time in the city was rough, they had it worse. From the start, monsters roamed the island, forcing them to fight through the first night instead of hiding like Sereza and I did.

Beyond the island, the gods fought in the ocean and completely demolished the island. Thankfully, there was another barrier, but it only activated on the bigger, nastier attacks.

They battled an endless tide of summoned and freed monsters from the first night onward. Each morning, they rested and spent the rest of the day reinforcing the base and clearing the area of monsters.

Apparently, at one point, they were joined by a different adventuring group consisting of four people, but they disappeared one night, and they never found them again-- not even their belongings.

At least they had Igas and Celanae to create a fortress underground. Though, I'm unsure I could sleep in an ice fortress for a week straight. Sounds miserable.

As they finished telling their version of the rift, I let Sereza introduce herself and explain things. Igas and Teddy practically beamed at her when she mentioned helping Tilly after she found her. There wasn't too much to explain since I came in on the second day, and we were together until the separation through the portal.

My retelling of things was a little more action-filled. I went over everything from night one until the part where we separated. Not even Sereza knew what really happened after we tried to escape the pocket dimension, so I had to retell the whole thing without skipping anything.

By the time I finished, the others fell silent, and more than a few stared with their jaws open.

"What?" I asked.

Teddy hesitated, so Isaac cut in. "What do you mean what? By the gods, Cyrus. That's ridiculous. I told you not to die, and the first thing you do is the exact opposite of that!"

I blinked a few times, surprised at the emotion in his voice. Isaac looked around, then scowled and hid his face with shadows.

"Right. Uh. Moving on."

"Hold up," Sereza interjected. "What happened to the thing your dragon buddy swallowed? How did that stop the monster from attacking you?"

"Ah, yeah, about that... I can't say. I know why, but it's not something I can tell you guys about. Maybe later after I get permission from Cal."

The others frowned but nodded. Only Sereza paused and pointed a finger. "Who's Cal?"

"My god. Long story, don't worry about it for now."

"Wait, what! What do-"

I ignored her despite her protest and continued explaining everything up till the point where I pushed Ventus through a window and began to fall into the void. There was some obvious annoyance about my vagueness, everyone else no doubt suspecting I had something to do with the revival of the goddess.

Only Celanae and Teddy knew exactly why, and they remained tight-lipped.

"So enough about the rift. What did everybody get?"

Teddy went first and held up a new shield and mace. The shield was big, big enough to obstruct most of his body. Made from opaque glass, the light in the room caught on the surface and scattered into a rainbow of colours.

He held up his mace, and I couldn't hold my laughter in. It looked like someone had petrified a bloated pufferfish and stuck it on a wooden stick. When he channeled mana into the weapon, the pufferfish grew spines along its body that retracted when he stopped the mana flow.

I whistled. "Nice. So, just some gear?"

Teddy shook his head and sent over a system notification. I accepted and read what popped up.

Friendly Weather

* The weather is a fickle thing, prone to change at any moment. But those considered a friend by nature shall find the weather kinder to their weary bodies.

* Depending on the weather, you will gain a minor resistance to the natural elements.

"Did you all get a perk?"

They all nodded.

I turned to Sereza. "You too?"

"Yes. I'll show you mine if you show me yours?"

I shrugged, pulled up my status screen, and selected the part about my new perk. I shared it with everyone since there was no reason to hide it.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

If I can't trust them, then there's no point to any of this.

There was a brief pause as everyone got that distant look in their eyes. The first to react was Celanae, who began writing things down in her journal. When she looked up, her excited grin turned into horror as she saw what I had pulled out of my inventory.

The others stopped reading the notification around the same time and joined in, looking concerned.

"So," I started as I gently shook the jar. "Bets on what it'll taste like?"

"Cyrus... maybe we should think about this," Teddy offered.

Isaac held out a hand, stopping the others from speaking. "No, no. I'll take that bet. Easy answer: It'll taste like rotten fish. Nice and salty."

"I say the opposite. I bet it tastes like pork," Igas countered.

Eodyne stared at the jar containing the weird eldritch organ with narrowed eyes. "Taste like nothing. It'll be chewy and bland."

At this point, Sereza was looking at everyone with concern. She had a baffled look, and I struggled not to laugh.

"Celanae?" I teased.

She sighed and summoned a different journal. After opening a fresh page, she raised her pencil and squinted at the jar. "Sour, a bitter sour with the consistency of squid."

Teddy groaned. "Fine. At least summon Áine before we begin this foolishness." Everyone stared at him expectantly, and he sighed. "I bet it tastes like sweet onions. And it'll melt in your mouth."

I bumped Sereza's shoulder. "And you?"

"Oh, hmm. I suppose it'd taste like garbage. Like pure sewage in chewy form."

Isaac grumbled some, but with all the bets given and the betting board summoned, I sat the jar on the floor and slowly unscrewed the top. I felt mana travel through the enchantments after I broke the seal, but it was so faint I ignored it in favour of peering down at the floating ooze-ball.

Isaac saw my hesitation and sneered. "What's the matter? Squeamish now?"

I ignored him and slowly lowered my hand into the brackish liquid. It felt thick, and I felt the first tentacle caress my skin.

Usually, I consider myself resilient to stuff like this, but the slimy tentacles slapping my skin made me want to hurl. Mustering my courage, I tried to grip the tentacles, but the slimy things slipped right out of my hand.

With a growl, I curled my hand under the ball and lifted it up. Letting gravity do its job, I trapped the tentacles between my fingers in case it tried to squirm out of my grasp.

The weirdest smell hit my nose when I pulled it out of the jar. It was as if someone had stuffed garlic and vinegar up each nostril. The others made their disgust known, but I shut them out and lifted the ooze-ball high.

Just like sushi. Just like slimy sushi.

I heard hurling noises from my left, but I focused on the disgusting mucus ball swirling in my mouth. I almost threw up, so I channeled some mana through my body, hoping it would distract me from the disgusting thing.

Surprisingly, once the mana flowed past my chest and into my throat, my mouth had a strange reaction, and the ooze ball melted into a liquid. It tasted like nothing, the cold mana being the only thing I could feel running across my tongue.

There wasn't even a need to swallow as the liquid moved into my belly. In the end, there was a faint sweet taste that faded within seconds of the fluid going down. I blinked a few times and swished my tongue around to check if it had all melted.

"Well?" Celanae asked.

So damn tempted to start convulsing.

"It tasted like nothing, faintly sweet maybe. It all melted after I channeled some mana into it."

Groans resounded from the room, and Sereza looked around, almost bewildered.

Celanae added a mark to Teddy's name, putting him in the lead by three. "He was the closest, so no complaints."

I smiled and prepared myself for the barrage of questions from Celanae.

Briefly closing my eyes, I entered my soulspace and searched for changes made from swallowing the disgusting organ. I spent a full minute searching but found nothing and was ready to give up. However, before I left my soulspace, I looked down and noticed the tiniest new detail to mark my soul.

Lines of runes formed a circle on the obsidian island where I stood. Inside the circle, a new rune caught my eye, one that wasn't there the last time I visited my soulspace. The rune had a squiggly design with wave lines. The rune did not glow nor give off an energy signature.

Whatever it was, it looked like I had a lot more gross stuff to eat.

As I reopened my eyes, I found Celanae tapping her notebook, and I sighed. "Alright, so there are no changes, but..."

----------------------------------------

Khrem placed the ring down and set it to the side. He then picked up my new spear with zero hesitation. He turned it around and then set it back down. He then tried to pick up my mask, but before his fingers could touch it, he retracted his hand and shook his head.

He reached into a drawer and pulled out a notebook and an enchanted pen. He clicked the button once, and it started writing on its own. As it finished writing, he ripped the sheet out of the book and handed it to me. "I can't identify the mask. Received a warning from my skill. If I continued trying, I'd be on the ground with a massive headache."

"Okay. Thanks for helping with the other stuff," I replied.

"No problem, but I want some of that venom from your weapon."

"Uh, sure. Go crazy."

I pulled read the descriptions of the enchantments on the items.

Silent Scream

* This ring absorbs sound, granting the wearer a sense of being insulated from the world's noise.

* The wearer gains a moderate resistance to being deafened or otherwise impaired by loud noises.

Horror Spike

* A flexible spear made from a severed monster tentacle. Can bend and twist for precise strikes. Channel mana to make the blade's tip secrete venom.

Zolnja's Divine Scale

* A sacred scale freely given by the Guardian Serpent Zolnja, etched with a blessing. It protects the chosen through the harsh storm.

* Provides protection against various forms of intense pressure, including the presence of condensed ether.

I finished reading the descriptions and looked up in time to see Khrem holding a vial up to the suddenly undulating tentacle. The bone spike at the tip of the spear dripped a dark green-black venom.

When he started rubbing the shaft up and down, I snorted. "Is that necessary? Doesn't it produce venom if you channel some mana into it?"

"Yes. It produces venom; it does not shoot the venom."

He milked the spear till the vial filled up. When finished, he capped the vial and set it in an open slot on a rack. He handed the spear back and rubbed his hand.

"Something wrong?"

"Cold. More mana intensive than I thought. Be careful."

I saluted. "Will do." I gathered my things and stopped before I left the room. "Hey. We are probably leaving after tomorrow. I'm hosting another cookout. I know the village is doing its whole celebrating thing, but I figured it'd be nice to have one more private with people we know."

He paused his examination of the venom. "When will this be?"

"Probably around evening, maybe five or six."

"I'll be there."

I smiled and waved goodbye. As I exited the alchemy room, a wall of sound from several partying and celebrating adventurers greeted me inside the guildhall. It was packed to the brim, forcing me to slide my way through.

By the halfway point, I slapped on the ring and felt it resize to my finger after channeling some mana into it. Once it settled against my skin, the sound lowered to a more tolerable volume, and I sighed in relief.

It took me three minutes to get out of the guildhall, which was an insane amount of time for how small the building was.

Never coming back here. I'm sure Khrem will inform Travis about the party.

I debated heading back to the inn but saw two very large beastkin carrying a rod with giant fish hanging off hooks.

Not a fan of seafood, but it'll make a good dinner.

I rushed to catch up to them. If they didn't want to give me the food, I had plenty of coins to throw at them.