At the highest floor of the giant stone tower, Ethan sat near the goblin shaman’s corpse and removed its boots as he eyed the necklace Vivian held. ‘’How much essence does it give?’’

‘’About two minor breakthroughs worth,’’ Vivian replied.

Hmm, 20 Vitality stats? ‘’Impressive,’’ he said. ‘’The ones I’ve seen in the artifact shop were a quarter of that at most.’’

‘’If you pay enough, you can find even better ones, but that’s not the issue,’’ Hayley said, admiring the necklace from afar. ‘’These kinds of artifacts store the essence inside and share it with its user through mana. Constantly doing this is a big burden and they never last more than a few months. If this one lasted from the times of Anpu, there is no way its materials are from a lower realm.’’

‘’Interesting,’’ Ethan mumbled as he wore the boots. ‘’Are there any limits? I can’t cover myself with hundreds of jewels, right?’’

‘’You wish,’’ Vivian said with a mocking smile. ‘’The burden Hayley mentioned goes both ways. First for the artifact, then for its user’s soul. Since you have rank-2 skills, you can have 5 minor breakthroughs worth essence externally, and it gets doubled every time you’ve expanded your soul.’’

So, tiers 3 to 5 could get 50 bonus stats, 100 for tiers 6 to 8, and 200 for tier 9, he thought before getting on his feet to test the leather boots which were carrying a small amount of mana.

‘’Using the temporary ones is only feasible for the super-rich, but this one is perfect for us,’’ Hayley added.

‘’It’s a neat toy, but nothing more,’’ Liam said, shaking his head. ‘’External aids are not only unreliable but there is also an essence penalty for the monster you hunt with it.’’

Ethan sent mana to his boots, but couldn’t comprehend what it did. Raising his feet, he did it again and realized that he couldn’t lower his leg. The corner of his mouth curled upward as he stepped into the air and started climbing up like there were invisible stairs underneath him.

‘’[Wind Steps]?’’ Carl asked, sitting on the floor and watching Ethan intensely.

‘’Even better. I can stand in the air as long as I have mana,’’ he said before jumping down. ‘’Though the mana consumption is rather high.’’

‘’I saw a rank-2 [Wind Steps] with a similar use before. It’s pretty good, but useless after tier-5,’’ Fraeya commented.

‘’So, how are we gonna share these artifacts?’’ Carl questioned.

‘’Depends on the contribution. We’ll talk more over a meal. Are you guys hungry yet?’’ Ethan asked. Getting a few nods and shrugs, he clapped his hands. ‘’Alright. Let’s switch to the balcony. We can also check if more goblins are coming or not.’’

The group went out to the large terrace and was once again struck dumb by the gorgeous scenery. They were on the highest floor of a 20 stories tall tower, very close to the city center and next to a massive azure mushroom that was a bit bigger than the tower itself.

‘’What did you say these mushrooms are called?’’ Ethan asked, breaking the silence.

Hayley gulped. ‘’Catillo Funguses.’’

‘’Are they worth any money?’’

‘’Not really. They are pretty much parasites. They leach mana from every living creature in their habitat and share it with each other. This leaching is so strong, they actually never allow another being to surpass them in cultivation,’’ Hayley explained. ‘’Even if those peak tier-5 goblins advance by killing each other, the catillos would feel threatened and make sure to kill them in retaliation.’’

‘’How do they attack?’’ Carl asked.

‘’Soul attacks through the mana they’d gathered from their enemies, and with their roots if they needed to get physical.’’

‘’Damn,’’ Liam murmured.

Ethan, who still remembered Rachel’s warning about the soul attacks, shuddered slightly. ‘’But if our tiers are lower, and we don’t mess with them–’’

‘’They don’t care whatever we do,’’ Hayley finished, nodding.

‘’Guess I’ll take your word for it,’’ Ethan said dryly and withdrew his gaze from the terrifying plant. He fetched his diner table along with some chairs and arranged them on the balcony before filling it with food. Soon after, the party was celebrating their minor victory with a meal under the blue lights of catillo fungi. ‘’So, I think we should temporarily distribute the artifacts to whoever is in need more, and once we’re finished with this place, we’ll share them again according to contributions. For now, I say the necklace goes to Carl and the boots go to Fraeya. What do you say?’’

‘’Why me?’’ Freya asked, taken aback.

‘’You can use those ice columns to jump in the air, and killing the floating goblin shamans would be much easier. The distance isn't a problem for me or Liam anyway.’’

‘’Oh… Okay.’’

‘’It sounds good,’’ Liam said, filling himself with a glass of wine.

‘’How are we gonna decide who contributed how much?’’ Carl asked.

Ethan rolled his eyes. ‘’I will say my opinion and if the majority disagrees, we will find a middle ground. For example, right now Hayley is at the bottom with her information about the mushrooms. You’re above her, but below Vivian, since she helped us with the head start. But if you keep helping us to clear the other towers whereas she keeps watching from afar, you can outdo her in no time. Does anyone disagree?’’ he said with a smile while watching Vivian from the corner of his eyes. Though, she kept eating leisurely and didn’t seem to mind it at all.

Carl shook his head. ‘’N-No. That sounds fair.’’

Ethan’s blunt words made the others get quiet. His sarcastic tone was actually good natured as he only meant, ‘how else could we decide on contribution?’ But the others seemed to understand, ‘do you want artifacts? Good. Work for it.’

Well, not everyone. Liam gulped his drink and gave a satisfied sigh. ‘’When are we going back again?’’

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Fraeya glared at him. ‘’We all drank potions already. Going again without rest is suicide.’’

‘’I have some healing salve,’’ Hayley said, raising her hand. ‘’It’s only as good as low-grade potions, but it isn’t related to the body tolerance of the potions since its ingredients are different.’’

‘’There is such a thing?’’ Ethan asked, lifting an eyebrow. ‘’I had no idea herbalists were that handy. Honestly, I was thinking of it as a cool way to say, alchemist.’’

Hayley snorted with an irritated look. ‘’Alchemy is a subdivision of Herbalism. They basically do our chores.’’

‘’So that’s where the arrogant wolf was hiding!’’ Vivian said, leaning to pinch Hayley’s cheeks. ‘’I was starting to think you might be someone else.’’

Hayley tried hard to get rid of her. ‘’Let go! I told you I’m not arrogant. I just stated a fact!’’

Fraeya turned at Ethan with a frown. ‘’It’s still risky. There are too many goblins in this city.’’

‘’Actually, I was thinking how easily we took over this place,’’ he said. ‘’If we could use that shelter’s tunnels, they won’t be seeing us coming, and thanks to the [Void Mute], they won’t be hearing us either. We can clear out two towers in a day without a noise, maybe even three.’’

‘’But the doors only open from the inside,’’ Vivian said before opening her eyes wide, ‘’Oh. You can teleport and open the doors for us.’’

‘’It’s a deal then,’’ Liam piped up cheerily.

Carl hesitated before speaking, ‘’The caravan will be leaving in three days. Unless they find this place in the meantime.’’

‘’They either need to find that secret passage or dig for days before reaching here. Even if they manage one of them, it’s a fair game from then on, but I think they’ll search everywhere for three days and leave for Mirasatra,’’ Ethan said.

Fraeya bit her lip. ‘’Then they will leave without us.’’

‘’We can resume the trip with my ship. It’s not that far anyway.’’

Seeing her reluctance, Liam gave a frustrated sigh. ‘’For fuck sake, Fraeya. You’re not their nanny. You’re a passenger just like the rest.’’

Ethan felt a boring argument was on the way as he wondered if using [Void Mute] on himself would be rude, but strangely enough, Fraeya didn’t say anything and carried on with her meal silently. It was the first time he saw her being passive like that, and it appeared he wasn’t the only one as everyone at the table was eying each other worriedly.

The curly white hair was concealing the dark elf’s face, but one didn’t need to see her expression to understand that she was in pain. In the past, Ethan also found himself similarly dispirited on occasions, especially when thinking about his parents. Looking at Fraeya’s distant and mechanical movements, he felt ashamed for finding the subject boring when his friend was suffering from it.

He jumped on his feet and stored the cheap wine bottles that he got from the merchants back in his ring before fetching the good stuff he had left from Niamaris. One by one, he filled everyone's glasses as he rotated around the table and put the bottle next to Fraeya. Then, he snatched Vivian’s straw hat swiftly and wore it himself, sending her a wink.

A [Blink] carried him on top of the balcony’s large stone fence, he sat facing the others and placed his drink next to him. As everyone was watching him curiously but wordlessly, he called his runed guitar with long claw marks on it and opened two skills simultaneously, [Void Mute] and [Mana Connection].

The runed guitar started playing itself as it suddenly became alive. Ethan’s thumb was tapping the corner of it along with the rhythm until it was time for the lyrics. He had no idea if his voice was any good, but he thought with a skill like [Mana Connection], that was only secondary.

The opening song was ‘Angel’ by Judas Priest, and the one that followed was ‘Sweet Child O'Mine’. Ethan started his mini concert with emotional but uplifting songs and slowly switched to more lively ones, raising the tempo.

Behind him, was the captivating scenery of the Imperial City. This city once had been imagined as the center of the Azora continent, yet it got buried underground soon after, becoming a home for hobgoblins and parasite mushrooms. That didn’t mean it looked any less mighty than in its heydays, though. There wasn’t any damage on any building let alone the lofty black towers. Even the streets had preserved their precise symmetry with the structures despite their worn-out look.

Now, after millennia upon millennia, this fine townscape was demonstrating its old glory under the azure light as a background to Ethan while he played his runed guitar and sang to his heart's content.

During the first song, the others listened to him motionless, but by the tenth song, they were already enjoying themselves immensely. When he finally stopped the show and offered them a small bow, they started clapping enthusiastically.

‘’That was amazing!’’

‘’Wow!’’

‘’Was that the same skill musicians use?’’

‘’What was that foreign language?’’ Fraeya asked, her gloomy mood replaced with a curious one.

‘’It’s from my hometown,’’ Ethan said.

‘’Where is that? What is it called?’’

Ethan smiled slightly before shrugging. ‘’Maybe one day I tell you guys about it.’’

‘’Oh, c'mon!’’

‘’Stop playing the mysterious!’’

Looking at everyone’s animated ways, he couldn’t help but chuckle. Now that I’m thinking, this [Mana Connection] is perfect for boosting the morale of the troops. There is really no useless skill, only lack of means.

Everyone settled back around the table and kept chatting casually for a little longer. When it was impossible to hold Liam back, they decided to cultivate till they were at their top condition before trying to take over another tower.

All this time, no one bothered them, but they were still able to see the goblins pretty much everywhere in the city. In the end, using the underground tunnels was their best option. Just like they did the first time, they slipped into the tunnel from the first floor and reached the shelter through it.

Ethan fetched his crooked pen and marked the doors they had used until now before they picked another one and ventured inside. It turned out, this one was even longer than the first one, but they still made it to the tower’s secret door in an hour. Ethan [Blink]ed inside and opened the door right away, but only after covering the first floor with his [Void Mute]. Because the moment he let the others in, there were already two dozen goblins charging toward them with screams.

According to their plans earlier, Beet sent his shades to distract them while the others dispersed to do their tasks. Ethan’s priority was not letting anyone leave the building or use the stairs. Once he made sure of that, he started hunting the goblin shamans. By the time he killed the fourth shaman, he noticed that only two hobgoblins were left.

Thanks to their planning earlier, the efficiency of the group was terrific. Everyone was working together and helping each other, causing their speed to increase considerably. As the last of their enemy died, Vivian and Hayley also entered the place, and Ethan left for the upper floor.

They applied the same tactic as the first tower, but this time goblins were caught unaware. Adding the party’s coordination during the battles, the fight in the stone tower turned into a slaughter fest quickly.

Yet, there were just too many enemies. Even before reaching the top floor, all of them used some of Hayley’s healing salve, and when they were finally at the top, almost none of them had enough mana. This resulted in some really close calls, like Carl almost being burned to a crisp, but they still managed to kill the boss after much struggling.

‘’I told you to wait some more and cultivate before the final battle. That’s the outcome of your impatience,’’ Hayley scolded as she helped Carl with the burns on his skin.

‘’Ethan’s [Void Mute] isn’t mana-free,’’ Liam said, sitting on the floor haggardly. ‘’And even if he had enough mana, who knows when the goblins will be alerted by the silence of the tower?’’

As they argued about their mistakes at the last moment, Ethan trod toward the leader’s corpse. He bent down with a grunt and removed the green bracelet from its wrist. This lusterless green item with a hazy wing symbol was the only object that emitted mana fluctuations. When his inspection didn’t give him any clues, he wore it on his left arm. The change in his body was on the spot, but only after hearing Ani’s voice, his eyes lit up.

‘DING! You have temporarily gained 20 Agility stats.’

‘Temporarily? Do you mean until I remove this bracelet or something happens to it?’

‘Yes.’

‘’Dibs!’’ he shouted, his mouth shaping into a grin.