The debuffs cleared, and my strength returned, all in a rush.

  I took a tentative step, flattening gravel in a meter-sized area around my feet.

  “Right,” I said, letting out a deep breath and concentrating until my strength was back to something reasonable.

  //25 Str//

  Throttle spat blood. “Did you hear that?”

  “Hear what?”

  The iron gate buckled, then wrenched open, metal snapping to reveal a short, scrawny little girl with a silver dress. She was currently on fire.

  I squinted. “Sern?---”

  She bolted toward me, burrowing her face in my arms and holding tight. The fires steadily drew back, leaving behind deep burns along her skin, like before.

  “Serenity?” I whispered, rubbing her head. “Did I scare you?”

  She sniveled, blowing snot onto my shirt.

  I knelt down and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “I’m okay, see?”

  After Sern, Cierin burst through the smoldering remains of the gate, pale in shock. “GRIND!” He screamed, pointing at Sern. “What is going on!?”

  Sern shivered once, before falling asleep in a ball.

  “Sorry,” I said, scooping her into my arms. “She got stressed.”

  “Stressed—” Cierin cut off glancing around the arena. “Where are we?” He then spotted Throttle, bleeding out a river. “THROTTLE!”

  “I’m fine, idiot,” Throttle wheezed, smacking his hands away. “Loot the monster before I fall unconscious.”

  Cierin sighed in relief, before collapsing on the gravel, mumbling weakly. “You’re still alive, so…all’s well that ends well, I guess.”

  Throttle glanced at Sern, frowning. “I would like an explanation of exactly what that was.”

  “Sometime later,” I said.

  “Fine by me,” Throttle huffed. She crawled over to the corpse of the Heraldess, a pile of loose rock in vaguely human shape. “What are you waiting for? Loot the boss.”

  “No,” I said, tightening my grip on Sern. “It wouldn’t feel right.”

  “You’re an odd man, you know that?” Throttle grumbled. She brushed rocks away, before scooping orbs and rings into piles. “At least take the strength orbs. I’ll get the health, and Cierin—” she turned towards him, biting her lip. “What do you do again?”

  “I’m an assassin,” He sighed.

  Throttle glanced down at the orbs. “What stats do assassins use again?”

  Cierin handed over to the pile, grabbing a bunch of random different colors. “Assassins can use anything.”

  “I strongly doubt that,” she chuckled.

  As the two joked, a storm of emotions was running through my mind.

  Practically speaking, if I wasn’t going to loot the Heraldess, somebody else would. And I really needed those stats.

  As awful as it would be to get killed and looted, how much worse could it be to have her loot ignored by the one who finally beat her? I really didn’t know much about monster customs, but I’d imagine it would be an imaginable shame to lose, and then have loot so bad your opponent wouldn’t even take it.

  So taking the loot was a courtesy.

  A dark laugh passed through my mouth, dying on my lips.

  Who was I kidding? There was no justifying any of this. I’ve already beat plenty of monsters, and they probably would have talked if the game had allowed them. Despite potential sapience, I had taken and used their loot to kill more monsters.

  It was inevitable.

  Inevitable or not, I still had some shred of decency, so I laid Sern away from the corpse, before checking the loot.

  “That’s the spirit,” Throttle grinned, shoving red orbs my way, along with a broadsword.

  [STRENGTH UP! (+25) 117 Str]

  [STRENGTH UP! (+15) 132 Str]

  [STRENGTH UP! (+5) 137 Str]

  //25 Str//

  ~

  Greater Health potion (1)

  ~Full recovery (236 Hp)~

  ~

  ~Uncommon item~

  [Morgothigatogica, Feaster of Foes]

  “Successive kills increases damage dealt by Morgothigatogica”

  [+15-700 Str]

  [10,000/10,000 Durability]

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  At the very least, the loot was exceptionally good, with strength orbs strong enough to trigger additional attention from the interface. As for the sword, I couldn’t help but wonder how many monsters I had to kill in “rapid succession” to get seven hundred strength added per attack.

  Honestly, it’d been forever since I’d held a blade other than Crapshoveler, so I’d have to spend some time practicing with the nightmare-black blade before I tried it in actual combat. And besides, Morgothigatogica had hook barbs down each side of the blade, meant to gouge and rip through flesh.

  This was not a sword to be used lightly.

  “Thank you,” I whispered, nodding to the pile of rock.

  Throttle scoffed. “What’re you doing?”

  “It felt right,” I said. One orb stood out from the pile, hidden deep in the back. “What’s that?”

  “What’s what?” She asked, glancing.

  I reached in, pulling a hazy yellow and blue orb up from the pile. The color mixed around, like fluid, occasionally overlapping into spots of bright green.

  “That’s new,” I muttered. “Is this a stat?”

  She shrugged. “I’ve been playing the game for, like, two weeks. It’s probably a stat, but what do I know?”

  I took the orb and squeezed.

  She smirked. “Having trouble?”

  “A little,” I hissed, increasing my strength. “Are you sure this is a stat?”

  //50 Str//

  “What else would it be?” Throttle asked. “Just put a little elbow grease into it.”

  I clenched, planting both hands on opposite sides of the orb, and pressed until the glass started cracking.

  //115 Str//

  The orb exploded in my hands, crackling with distinct energy signatures, almost like its own flavor.

  ~Uncommon stat~

  [(+10) 10% SwrdAff]

  “SwrdAff—sword affinity?” I guessed, whipping Morgothigatogica from my inventory. “Whoa.”

  Morgothigatogica was a heavy sword, but with the boosted affinity, made her maybe ten-fifteen pounds lighter, and she moved through the air much easier. “Ten percent really does make a difference.”

  “You’ve seen the cool magic, okay?” Cierin said, shoving an orb into Throttle’s face. “Now get some health and stop bleeding everywhere.”

  Throttle bit into a green orb, smiling as color returned to her face. “Anyway, this health and damage are common, and this is uncommon, so does that imply that there are legendary stats?”

  “I’d assume so,” I said. “Though they’d have to be pretty good.”

  “Grind, how’d you get this open?” Cierin grumbled, scrabbling at a purple and orange orb in his hand. The crystal was solid, and refused to be broken, despite his continued attempts. Eventually, he gave up. “Alright, Grind. You have this one.”

  ~Uncommon stat~

  [(+10) 10% AuraMp]

  “What’s Aura?” I asked, turning my hands over and feeling the skin. Sure, I felt something different, but I didn’t have a clue what that was, or how to use it. Beyond that, what was Mp? Maximum power? Potency?

  “Why ask us?” Throttle stated, snapping me out of thought. “We’re idiots. Go get Irion. He knows these things. First, we’ve gotta find an exit.”

  Cierin held up two small silver keys he’d found planted into the Heraldess’s remains. “How about these?”

  I took one from his hand, smiling.

  {Greater Door key}

  [Uses 1/1]

  [Enter the dungeon from any location]

  [Proceed?]

  [Y/N]

  “NOPE!” Cierin snapped, tightening a fist around the other key, this one soft blue with a large gemstone at its base.

  “We’re not doing that again! You’re plenty strong just as you are, and this dungeon is insane!”

  {Exit key}

  [Uses 1/1]

  [Leave the dungeon, Coward]

  [Y/N]

  “Well that’s uncalled for,” Cierin muttered. “Yes, we’re leaving.” The key snapped out of his fingers, stabbing into a pocket of space, before reaching a portal open, from which cool forest air blew.

  Throttle sighed. “You’re no fun.”

  “We’re not technically even in the dungeon yet, and we’ve already almost died,” Cierin snapped. “I’m optimistic, not insane.”

  Throttle blinked. “Not in the dungeon.”

  “That boss you fought?” Cierin scoffed. “She’s probably the easiest fight in the whole dungeon, next to the gargoyles.”

  He stepped through the portal, still ranting, with Throttle following close beside.

  I stood on the dungeon side of the portal, watching.

  Serenity quivered in my arms, snuggling closer. One of her bruns brushed against my shirt, and she winced.

  Back in my third life, myself, Dexten, Cierin and Mall all died because we didn’t know about the dungeon board, and that we didn't properly understand stat or the system. There were mechanics crucial to the function of the game, of which we were totally unaware.

  What if there was something similar for Sern?

  Both Cierin and Throttle had seen what Sern could do, if pushed hard enough. Both of them would ask about Sern, and things could escalate. She was the strongest member of our team, and by far. They’d want her to fight, and to fight a lot.

  But using her powers, even if only for a moment, was incredibly painful, without even mentioning the psychological aspect of killing.

  I had to find a way to keep her from fighting.

  There were some ideas stewing around in my head, usually in the form of a magic item. Something that’d allow her and me to have more distance or to move between dungeons without dragging her along. Or damage relocation, where she could only die if I died first.

  If there even was an item like that, I hadn’t been able to find one, not in the market, or in stores. Whatever magic it would use was rare and that meant I’d have to fight a high level dungeon to have any chance of finding it.

  I turned the key over in my hand.

  Unlike the blue key, this was carved from bone, with a bright blood-red ruby at the end, and silver accents down the front.

  Could I do it? Could I beat this entire dungeon, on my own, if I really tried?

  Was she worth that kind of risk?

  Sern opened one eye, squeaking.

  I smiled. “Looks like somebody’s awake.”

  Sern looked twelve or so years old, but then again, she was an NPC, so she's probably lived much, much longer. Probably longer than Asiel or Brom, if she was born at the start of the game. Despite that, she acted like a child much younger than herself, and far more helpless.

  She needed to spend time outside of the dungeons, living life. Going to school.

  I was sort of her father, wasn’t I?

  If there was an item that could give her a real chance at life, it’d be in a dungeon like this one. And if we left, the key might not work again. The dungeon may even cease to exist.

  “Your call,” I sighed, setting her down onto the ground, and looking her in the eye. “Would you like to go, or stay?”

  Sern took my hand and pointed toward the portal.

  I smiled. “As you wish.”