Ultimate Level 1 - 207 - A Reward Worth Killing For (Patreon)

[ Consume has Successfully Consumed Bonus Stats ]

[ 10 Strength Consumed ]

[ 10 Constitution Consumed ]

[ 7 Intelligence Consumed ]

[ 7 Wisdom Consumed ]

Glancing at the notifications, Max tried to walk and think while pushing the image of Batrire grabbing onto Fowl’s chest hair out of his mind.

Was there more intelligence to be gained or was that just the max of how powerful it was?  

Wondering how many points the boss possibly had in strength and constitution also left some burning questions, but he ignored that as he reached out to put a hand on Fowl’s shoulder and stopped himself.

“Uh… sorry… it served you well, though,” Max said, doing his best to comfort his friend.  “Why don’t you put a shirt or something else on though, before your nipples freeze and can’t be healed.”

Sniffing and laughing, Fowl nodded, his old plate chest appearing in a moment.

“I knew it was going to happen, but… part of me wanted to keep it.  I felt like it allowed me to be more help.”

“You were fine. We couldn’t have survived without your help.  Now stop crying, look at that chest behind you, and go open it.”

Fowl turned his head and spotted the chest behind him, almost snapping his neck when he realized how just massive it was.

“Damn, that's a massive chest!” he exclaimed, beaming with excitement. “You know how much I love a large chest, but that thing is the biggest one I’ve ever seen!”

Sighing, Max nodded and pushed his friend from behind toward it.

The dwarf dashed across the thirty yards or so where it sat, a massive chest made from dark blue ice.  Runes ran across the top and bottom band that housed the etched relief of giants.  One massive giant stood in the middle at the front, both horns now snapped off its head.

Everyone jogged to catch up, but Fowl didn’t wait, throwing the lid back and looking inside.

“Sweet mother of dwarven ale! Ockrim does love me!”

Before any of them could get there, Fowl reached in and pulled out a plate chest piece.

It was gold, not as bright as the one he had been wearing yet it reminded Max of the one Dexic wore.

“What’s it give?”

Fowl looked up at Batrire and grinned.

[Inspect Armor]

*****

Golden Defender

+40 Strength, Constitution, Dexterity

20% Damage Mitigation against larger enemies

Unmovable

Bonded

*****

Max’s eyes widened at hearing that it gave so many stat points, and saw Cordellia’s jaw drop.

“Did he just say… forty?”

“Your damn right I did! Quick! Come see what else is in there!”

No one waited, racing to see what else might be inside, each of them going wide eye at the swirling purple area and the goods waiting to be claimed.

A blue staff with markings on it waited for their mage. Cordellia was barely able to resist grabbing the quiver, which was the same color as the chest.  Batrire raised an eyebrow at the pair of pants waiting for her. It was a striped pair with blue and white lines, and it looked like a cloth of some sort. 

“Is that…” Max started to ask before stopping himself.

In the chest was a poleaxe, similar to the one he had used all this time. This one had blue metal and white runes running along it, a black shaft going down, and a spike on top that was over a foot in length.

Three yellow crystals, each twice the size of the other typical ones taken from the chests were radiating with a power that was almost able to be felt even from the storage.

Five places in the chest were also marked with an X waiting to be rolled on and not showing what might be given.

“That’s awfully weird,” Cordellia said as her fingers twitched. “But then again, I’ve come to expect that from partying with a dwarf with a hairy chest.”

Everyone chuckled, and Fowl groaned.

“Grab yer damn loot and tell me what it is!”

Each reached in at the same time, pulling out their items and staring at them with excitement. No one could resist the widening of their eyes as they discovered the stats of the new thing they now possessed.

[Inspect Weapon]

*****

Conqueror of the Broken Prince

+40 Strength, Constitution, Dexterity

30% Damage to larger enemies

Cleaving

Bonded

*****

There was the slightest moment when Max wanted to complain about losing the thirty-five percent bonus damage to monsters of a higher level, but then he remembered why that really didn’t matter.

He was short.

“How good is it?” Fowl asked, almost drooling with anticipation of the stats.

Upon hearing them, everyone nodded in appreciation.

Tanila shared hers, earning a gasp from Batrire.

[Inspect Weapon]

*****

Staff of the Ice Mage

+50 Intelligence, Wisdom

30% Bonus damage when casting ice spells

Cold Snap

Bonded

*****

“What about you?” Fowl asked, turning to see Cordellia fighting back the tears rolling down her cheeks. Her hands trembled as she held the quiver.  

[Inspect Quiver]

*****

Quiver of Slaying

+50 Constitution, Dexterity

20% Faster arrow flight speed

Slaying Arrow 

Bonded

*****

“What the hell is a slaying arrow?”

Swallowing, Cordellia turned to Fowl, and her face lit up. Her cheeks started to rise as she grinned.

“Once a week, I can summon an arrow that does twice the normal damage,” she replied.

The quiver glowed blue for a moment, and an arrow appeared in it. Slowly pulling it out, she showed it to everyone.

Its clear crystal head radiated with a slight hum, and its solid blue shaft had crystal feather quills.

“That’s impressive,” Max said as he smiled at their ranger.  “I can only imagine what that, with your ability, will do to someone or something.

Chuckling, Cordellia nodded and carefully slid the arrow back into the quiver and put it on her hip.  After a second, she put the arrow into her storage and filled the quiver with normal ones.

“No point in keeping that out until I need it.”

Max nodded, and Fowl turned to Batrire, who was rolling her eyes at him even as she grinned, every tooth on display through her beard.

[Inspect Pants]

*****

Pants of the Priestess

+40 Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom

+20% Healing increase on all healing spells

Disciples Blessing

Bonded

*****

“Holy elf–”

A hand to the back of Fowl’s head from Tanila stopped him, but Batrire nodded.

“That spell has a one-week cool down, but it will give everyone a temporary twenty-percent boost to their stats for five minutes!” she exclaimed.

Smiling, Max saw that Cordellia had taken a step back and was looking at the four of them.

“You ok?”

His question caused everyone to turn and face their ranger who was nodding slowly.

“I’m not asking. I’m just pointing out something.  Loot like this doesn’t drop this early.  We’re easily getting stuff that’s only dropped in the upper forty levels.  Tell me we realize this.”

Everyone nodded.

“It’s always been this way for us,” Max said. “We’ve never told anyone because… well, it wouldn’t be safe.  How many would kill to have what you now own?  Can’t you tell the difference between your power?”

She nodded and pointed at the chest.

“And there are still five other items.”

Fowl snapped his fingers and laughed.

“You’re right! I forgot! One for each of us!”

Max grabbed their warrior’s shoulder, stopping him as he turned back to the chest and watched Cordelllia’s face change.  

She bit her lip as her head slowly bobbed up and down.

“We could do it… we could actually pass the fiftieth floor,” she muttered.  Glancing up at the other four, she saw that everyone was nodding. “Seriously, if our items keep coming like this… we could go past the fiftieth floor!”

“That’s the plan,” Tanila said, moving to where the other elf was still struggling to realize it was possible. Putting a hand on her shoulder, their mage smiled. “Thuyja must have a reason for this. I’m not certain what it is, but we shall see it through.”

Lost in the moment, Cordellia laughed, flung her arms around Tanila, and shook her happily. When she realized what had happened, she turned bright red, setting down the woman she knew was royalty.

“Forgive me, I–”

“It’s okay,” Tanila replied, grabbing the ranger and repeating the same embrace. “I’m just as excited even if I don’t show it.”

Groaning, Fowl ran his hand down his face, tugging on his beard.

“Can we get back to the loot?”

“Someone make this dwarf happy, and let’s go loot the stuff in the chest.”

Everyone groaned as Batrire spoke but moved to join the dwarven warrior who was bouncing like a kid in a candy store by the chest.

“One each, right?” he asked, his fingers dangling near one of the items.

“Yes, go ahead.”

With permission from his love, Fowl touched an X, and everyone waited for the timer to end. When it did, a black box of about six square inches appeared in his hand.

“What the hell is this?” Fowl asked, turning it over and inspecting it from each angle.

“Does inspecting it show anything?”

Shaking his head at Max, the dwarf dropped it on the ground, causing Batrire to gasp as it hit the frozen ground.

“Fowl Hammerfall! What the hell are you thinking?!” 

Wincing, he picked it up and checked it, seeing it wasn’t even scratched.  

“Sorry, just testing something.”

Tanila moved forward and touched one, receiving the same thing. Seeing Max’s questioning glance, she shook her head.

Batrire and Cordellia both ended up with a matching one.

When his box touched his hand, Max jerked back.

Do you know what that is?!

Realizing the others were staring at him, Max tried inspecting it, seeing nothing come up at all, not a single notification.

[Inspect Item]

*****

?????

Bonded

*****

No, how could I–

Put those away. Do not take them out or reveal them to anyone!

What are they though? And why are you shouting?

Max’s head hurt from that last command, and if he hadn’t acquired the Formidable Mind skill, he wasn’t sure he could have resisted the desire to store it immediately.

Artifacts. I haven't seen one of those in ages. You need three more. When you acquire them, I will show you how to activate them. Until then, none of you must ever let someone know of their existence. Now, please! Store them immediately!

“Put them away, quickly.”

Max’s tone wasn’t the typical request, but everyone immediately stored the black boxes, staring at him with a look of confusion.

“Should I ask?” 

Frowning, Max took a breath and sighed.  He could feel their looks and knew Cordellia had no idea what was going on. The others knew his skill must have told him something and were wondering what he had just learned.

“Find an item, a bag, something, and store that inside it.  Lock it away so that no one will ever see it,” Max said, his face grim and hard.  “We need three more each.  When one of us owns four total, then I can help.  However…”

Pausing, he turned and faced each of them, slowly shifting his gaze and reading their scared and confused expressions.

“From what I’ve been told and know, those boxes will get you killed by anyone who knows what they are without hesitation.”

Even Tanila’s head moved back at that statement.

“You’re saying these are more powerful than everything else we have gotten?” 

Looking at Cordellia, Max nodded.

“Not yet, but in time when you have enough, or… if you have enough.  Imagine you showed it to the King of the Elves, hoping to earn favor from him.  Perhaps you thought he might reward you. The only reward you would get would be a painful death as he made certain you had no more on you and tortured you to find where any more might be.”

Turning to Fowl and Batrire, he nodded at them. 

“The same would be for your King or my Queens.  Even our own Faction would be a potential death zone, and we aren’t strong enough to face what would come our way.”

The joy of the moment was gone, replaced with a dread that began to take root in their hearts.

“Can’t we leave it? Or what if we–”

“No,” Max said, shaking his head.  

Cordellia stopped talking and nodded slowly.

“Trust me.  There are very few things I know about, and I wish this weren’t true, but no matter what, we cannot tell anyone about them. Does everyone understand?”

Every head moved up and down, and Max turned, retrieving the crystals.

As the chest disappeared, a portal appeared five yards away.

“I’m sorry to ruin our moment.  Let’s go home and celebrate.  We’re done with our first set of floors.”