Chapter 15

My foraging slowed us down a bit, but Cora and Mike didn’t mention it again after my gift of cores. I didn’t give them all the cores I earned, but I did take less than I was entitled to due to the level disparity.

We encountered more shadow snakes, thorn monkeys, and a new mob – the hearth deer – during our journey. Hearth deer weren’t any more dangerous than regular deer unless they happened to have access to fire or spent a long time in the sunlight.

Their name came from the bucks’ ability to store heat in their antlers, which many liked using in their hearths. Tossing an antler from a hearth deer into a fire would ensure the fire burned much longer, and even after the fire burned out, the antler would remain fiery hot for a long time. How long depended on the amount of time the antler had spent soaking in the flames.

To a lesser extent, the antlers could store heat from sunlight. With enough direct sunlight, the effect was similar to that of a cooler flame, making the beasts much more dangerous to fight during the day.

Thankfully, the deer we encountered on the second floor were not empowered since the trees blocked enough of the light. With only indirect light, their antlers only grew uncomfortably warm instead of dangerously hot, negating the additional threat.

After making our way through most of the floor, we decided to camp in one of the hallways just two rooms away from the boss room.

As a set of hearth antlers were empowered by Mike’s Enflame skill in the last room we cleared, Mike constructed a domed shelter in the middle of the hallway. He was nice enough to partition a small section of the space so I could have a bit of privacy.

We used the recently empowered hearth antlers as a replacement campfire since the space was too narrow and confined to build an actual fire. I didn’t feel comfortable trying to cook using the antlers as a source of heat, but the addition was enough to make the small campsite a bit more comfortable.

Though it wasn’t technically required, we kept watch overnight after eating some cold rations we’d each purchased.

We had collected a couple of decent skillbooks throughout the day, but they weren’t anything that any of us wanted to give up a slot for. I hoped that would change when we defeated the boss the following day.

The boss was a hearth deer that had spent enough time in direct sunlight to make his antlers glow a dull red.

“Don’t use your fire skill,” I warned Mike, though I was confident the warning wasn’t really necessary. “I won’t use my Lightning Bolt, either, since I bet it can absorb the heat from the skill as well.”

“That’s a good point. I’ll try to use the ground to hold it in place. Since Lightning Bolt is still your only real ranged option, I’ll do what I can to handle him on my own.”

“I have a bow,” I pointed out. “It’s just the beginner bow the dungeon provided, but it’s better than nothing.”

I’d honestly forgotten about it until I looked into my storage to see which weapon would work the best. I wasn’t amazing with the bow by any means, but like most other weapons, I was competent.

The news seemed welcome, and we quickly planned out our approach. We kept it simple and didn’t get too hung up on the details since plans rarely survived contact with the enemy, but it was enough that we all felt like we were on the same page.

As I carefully placed my shots between Cora’s Compressed Space Bolts and Mike’s offensive use of Earth Manipulation, I realized that I really enjoyed working with the Arkenesis couple. Not only were they capable, but they seemed like genuinely nice people.

I’d worked with worse, that was for sure.

My mind drifted back to the war I’d inadvertently caused in the Realm Dungeon of my old realm. Working with a bunch of sect elites had been a struggle back then. Everyone wanted to be in charge to display how amazing they were.

It was like trying to corral a bunch of peacocks who were constantly trying to outdo each other. It was lucky that the war hadn’t lasted but a few years.

“Should we manually harvest it?” I asked when the boss finally fell.

Mike hadn’t been able to hold it in place with his magic, but he’d been able to harry it pretty well with his primary skill. Between the three of us, it hadn’t taken long to defeat the higher-level floor boss.

Before anyone could answer my question, the wave of essence hit me. The boss had been level ten, and I had only just reached level eight the evening before. It wasn’t enough to push me to level nine, but it was close.

I noticed Cora’s expression going vacant for a moment and knew she must have just leveled. They’d both gained two levels the day before, so her newest gain put Cora even with her husband at level seven.

“I’m not sure,” he said as he watched his wife come out of her momentary fugue. “The antlers look valuable, but I’m not sure they’d be more valuable than whatever the dungeon might give us.”

“It’s not just the antlers,” I informed the couple. “The meat, pelt, and most of the organs are also valuable. Actually, most of the creature is worth something. If you want, I can store the whole thing and process it later. I’m sure I can extract most of the creature’s value.”

I knew that I could, especially if I looted it inside my demesne.

I wouldn’t have suggested it if I didn’t think fully harvesting the boss would provide more value than letting the dungeon handle looting it. Sure, the dungeon might provide a nice reward, but unless it was something truly amazing, I knew I could probably earn more fully processing the boss.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“You sure you want to risk it?” Cora asked. “Our best skillbook came from the boss of the last floor.”

Come to think of it, mine did too. And as much as I needed the funds to purchase an enchanting focus, I knew that would come in time.

“That’s a good point. Alright. Let’s loot it,” I said, figuring I could always rerun the second floor again if the loot sucked. I wanted to check to see if another Golden Oak appeared in the first room, anyway.

Seeing a bright red skillbook, my hopes soared that it might be something I could use.

“Fire Blade,” Cora said, glancing at Mike before looking at me. “I know you said you wanted a fire skill. Is this one you’d be interested in?”

I felt torn.

While, yes, on the surface, Fire Blade seemed to check every box for a potential skill, I wouldn’t be able to use it to create bladed weapons without damaging whatever weapon the flaming blade was anchored to.

If I didn’t want to use the skill in such a way, it would have been fine. But since my intention for a blade skill was to use it to modify my existing weapons, the skillbook didn’t really work for me.

“I would, but I think a different type of fire skill might work better.”

“If you’re sure,” Cora said with a shrug before handing it over anyway so I could store the skill.

For a moment, I thought that Mike might be interested in learning the skill, then I remembered that he could get the same effect by using Enflame on his stone sword. He could also do roughly the same thing as the ranged effect by enflaming stone shards or something.

Really, Enflame was a bit of a cheat for an Earth Magi. It made him way more versatile.

Not that I had any room to complain.

“Want to keep going, or leave?” Mike asked when the exit portal appeared.

“I vote we continue after I cook up some of the meat and vegetables we’ve collected,” I said. The room would be safe until night, so there was no real reason to rush.