Chapter Thirty Three

Bob didn’t waste time. After a brief glance at ‘Treasure Sense’ showed him that the floor was now empty and the denizens of the others nowhere near their respective stairways, he quickly made his way towards the ever-more beckoning sensation coming from the now-cleared room.

He reached it in a matter of seconds, his large Dexterity score blending well with ‘Surefooted’, before pausing right in front of the entryway. Feeling an almost Christmas-eve level of anticipation as he slowly pushed the doors inwards.

He noticed the first and least enticing of the room’s ‘treasures’ right away. A massive copper chandelier which sat like a patinaed ship-anchor not six feet past the doorway. Each of its six long, reaching arms likely to weigh at least a dozen or so pounds individually. Which wasn’t even mentioning the once-elaborate centerpiece. A corroded mass larger than your average toddler.

Were it any other situation, Bob probably would have found the item hard to move past. At least a moment or two guaranteed to be lost in lamentation for his small size and the massive object’s relative lack of value. The ‘mimic’ part of his brain demanding nothing less.

In the current situation, however, it was as if the chandelier didn’t even exist.

He briefly noticed the open balcony as he rounded the lump of black-green metal. A small part of him wondering if that’s how the crabs had gotten in, before he then cast it and any other thoughts from his mind. Moving as swiftly as he was able towards what looked to be a mostly barren corner at the end of the room.

A mostly barren corner that was giving off so much ‘sunlight’ that Bob could almost feel it against the fine-grain of his body. A sensation which seemed to be erupting from a small pile of debris partially hidden under a scattering of sand.

A small pile of debris he was literally unable to tear his eye from.

His feet almost unconsciously slowed as he came closer. A slight sense of near-reverence coming over him as he was able to slowly make out what he was looking at. Its glinting, near-untarnished state confirming his greatest hopes.

Rings, necklaces, what appeared to be multiple versions of some strange badge of office, all piled up together in what Bob guessed was once the location of a safe or strongbox.

And all of them glinting a delicious, unmistakable, golden shimmer in the dim light of his surroundings.

A portion of Bob was briefly stunned. Feeling almost unsure of what to do when staring down a glut of such unimaginable riches.

Luckily, another part of him was not so constrained.

The lump of crumpled silver filling most of his form was expelled like a spent bullet casing. The tarnished bit of metal sent sailing through the water with nothing but a flex of his nonexistent muscles.

It hadn’t even hit the ground before his tongue had already scooped up every last glimmering object littering the floor beneath him.

 

Ding!

Congratulations!

You have found (7) Treasures!

 

You have acquired (3) ‘Golden Badge of Azcoran Citizenship (C)’!

Value is appraised at: 20 (60) Gold Pieces!

Next Level: 6,014/32 Silver Pieces

 

You have acquired a ‘Signet Ring of the Cursed Ancestors’ (C)

Value is appraised at: 15 Gold Pieces!

Next Level: 7,514/32 Silver Pieces

 

You have acquired a ‘Lesser Masterwork Golden Pendent’ (D)

Value is appraised at: 8 Gold Pieces!

Next Level: 8,314/32 Silver Pieces

 

You have acquired a ‘Lesser Masterwork Sapphire Pendent’ (D)

Value is appraised at: 5 Gold Pieces!

Next Level: 8,814/32 Silver Pieces

 

You have acquired a ‘Lesser Masterwork Diamond Ring’ (D)

Value is appraised at: 3 Gold Pieces!

Next Level: 9,114/32 Silver Pieces

 

Ding!

Species Level Increase!

5 – 14

Constitution + 36

Dexterity + 27

Willpower + 18

Intelligence + 9

Next Level: 91.14/163.84 GP

 

New Skill Slot opened!

New Species Trait Available!

 

Ding!

‘Treasure Hunter’ Unique experience gain activated

910 Experience gained for ‘Treasure Hunter’ (B)

 

Congratulations!

‘Treasure Hunter (B)’ is now level 11!

Perception + 40

Dexterity + 32

Willpower + 24

 

Ding!

‘Treasure Sense’ Has reached its first Evolution!

Evolve Now?

 

Normally, Bob would have greeted the numerous windows appearing before him with a sense of awe and triumph. It was by far his greatest increase in power and ability since his arrival here. Top that off with a new Trait and an evolution for what might be his most important ability and he should be ecstatic.

Unfortunately, he simply wasn’t able to be.

Because it was just too much.

His mind screamed in silent agony as he felt himself be remade. The numb, mildly tingly sensation which had followed every other level increase now gone. Replaced by a rush of energy so vast and potent that his entire existence began to fragment under the weight of its power.

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It was too much for his wooden form to take. The strain of multiple attributes near-tripling themselves destroying his physical body. A burning, electrical agony running through him before he was suddenly cut adrift from all feeling and sensation. His body not altered, but rather erased in the rush and seemingly replaced wholecloth.

He had no idea how long he lingered in this form of half-existence, but eventually, he snapped out of it. Popping back to consciousness as if he’d just escaped a horrible bout of sleep paralysis.

Only now, the world he opened his eye to appeared very, very, different.

At Bob’s prior Perception of thirty, he was already seeing things better than he ever had before. His previous, mildly myopic, biological eyes blown out of the water by artificial excellence. Capable of seeing farther, clearer, and in much greater detail than at any time during his past life.

Now, there was simply no comparison.

The water seemed to shimmer in its own radiance. Bob’s jeweled eye picking up spectrums of color he wasn’t sure he’d ever seen, previously. It also seemed to move more… slowly. Or perhaps predictably. He felt more ‘aware’ of his surroundings than he ever had before. Almost able to sense every ebb and flow in the water around him before they happened.

It took him a few moments to break out of the strange state he’d fallen into. Constantly being distracted by how much firmer he felt. By how quickly each part of his body wanted to move. By the almost gelatinous quality the water around him seemed to take on as he tried to step forward. His every motion now feeling much more bound and constrained by the force pressing against him.

Or rather, his lack of force pushing back.

With a mild frown, Bob opened his status page.

 

Name: Bob

Species: Thousand-Foot Mimic (E) +

Species Level: 14 – 91.14/163.84 GP

Title: Hard to Swallow (D) +

Class: Treasure Hunter (B) 11 – E/NA

Blessings: +

Health:- 78/78

Mana:- 62/62

Strength: – 14

Dexterity: – 109

Constitution: -78

Intelligence:- 62

Perception:- 70

Willpower:- 93

Species Traits: +