Waking up the next day to the norm of being wrapped up in a personal heated fur blanket of sorts, Sam had no chance to get out of bed without waking her. Something he was becoming more certain of, was on purpose.

  It wasn’t that he minded, but at the same time, he would like to let her sleep even if he got up, something impossible in that condition. Her calm purring-infused breathing stopped as he woke and started to move, having her see that he was awake before stretching without getting off.

  The rest of the morning went through as normal, Sam sent Janik a message as agreed and went through the process of getting ready and dressed. The latter was something Sam had a different view on in regards to Dia, but she was in a Human society now and had to adapt. Besides, even if he let her roam around without clothing later, he was a bit uncertain about letting her roam around without Armour, but that would become a talk for later.

  Nothing of interest happened during their morning routine, Sam had checked the market last night but there wasn’t much of interest there, at least not within his budget, taking a quick check now this changed, there was one skill he found that he wanted. Pyroclastic Blade, was a D-rank passive skill that adds a low fraction of fire damage to all hits. Hitting the buy button and paying for it to make sure he got it before anyone else beat him to it. The system finally confirmed that the purchase was successful and that $575 000 had been deducted from his account.

  It felt almost a bit scary, how easy it was to buy something digitally, though he had to validate himself and log in, it was just a few clicks and done. He could understand how people blow their savings on things like these. Another thing was how easy it was to blow over half a million on something in a few clicks, and how he was fine with it.

  Ignoring the damage to his sense of monetary value, he was happy that he got the Skill Crystal. He set his first goal on the desk so he could pick it up on his way.

  Entering the room where you received your purchases was always somewhat secure; if not, anyone could just snap and steal the item without problems. Imagine if Sam was across the room with a range-extended Psyhand and just stole things with his Item Box. The odds of this were low, but it at least seemed like it was a precaution taken anyway.

  The process was easy. He entered, properly identified himself with proof of ID, and got his purchase. Activating it right away, he was happy to see that even though it was just a D-rank skill and had a 1/10 calculation, it had a minimum of 1 damage regardless, which made it much more practical for the cheapest daggers.

  [ Pyroclasm Blade - D-rank - Passive

  Infuses your weapon with fire, adding bonus damage with each hit.

  - Adds 1/10 base weapon damage as fire damage, minimum 1. ]

  On that topic, it was about time to upgrade from the cheapest daggers. He was still wielding 14x of the 5-damage daggers, they did a little damage, yes, and triggered Static Charge but they were much too weak. Getting 14x 20dmg daggers cost him $1 400 000. However, it would increase the pure physical damage from 70, between those daggers, to 280. And this was without considering the added damage from Thunder Strike or Pyroclasm Blade. It was a hefty cost but worth it considering that they would go against higher health targets on the Third Floor. Besides, though at a reduced cost he could always sell things later.

  He was also carrying a staggering amount of 5-damage blades, getting rid of those wasn’t going to earn him much, and the market was oversaturated with them as well, so he might as well find something to use them on. Perhaps try out the empowered launch thing he did with the wooden dummy the other day.

  Leaving the pickup room, he headed for the mess hall where he was going to meet Janik, and it seemed that he was there already, eating with Elara coiled on the table.

  As they came over, Elara slithered over and extended herself off the table, coiling around and climbing Sam’s outstretched hand to end up draped around his neck and shoulders, pushing the top of her head against his neck.

  They sat down and started eating, Janik didn’t wait and started with his explanations.

  “So, I have checked out the Third Floor, like the others we’re most likely not going to meet many Players there since they want to rush to the Fourth Floor and all that. The Third Floor also means that Players are stronger, so the PvP fucks who want to prey on the weak tend to not frequent there so... We’re not going to be alone, but we kind of might be.”

  Sam felt that this information might be for his, or rather, Dia’s sake.

  “I also finally took the plunge and got myself a skill.” Suddenly changing the topic. “Have a look.”

  Without hesitation, Sam had a look at Janik through his Appraisal. Everything was as he remembered except one addition.

  [ Counter Stance, C-rank

  -Prepares for an incoming physical attack, starting a timer, if hit during this timer the user counterattacks immediately.

  -Damage is not automatically negated. ]

  Lifting an eyebrow, Sam noticed the last bit of information.

  “That doesn’t seem too safe. You might take a ton of damage that way...”

  “Oh, naturally. I think it’s made for high Defence tanks, but if I mix it with Active Defence. As a parry counts as a kind of hit. I had a quick read on things and it seems other Players have figured that out, and tested it, so it should be good.” He looked super happy with a wide smile.

  “In that case, it’s much more practical. And on that topic, I got a skill of my own. Nothing amazing, just a D-rank fire damage addition to physical attacks,” Sam smiled, knowing the value of this with his combat style.

  “Oh, that’s going to be fun to see used underwater,” Janik grinned at him.

  “.... you got a good point there,” Sam sounded uncertain, he hadn’t considered that but it did make him consider something worse.

  “Though, how will my electric damage work underwater...”

  Janik smiled. “You need to read up on things on your own at some point. Stuff just works like normal, which I know doesn’t make sense, but I suppose the System aids the lack of logic. Though some creatures in there have fire resistance.”

  “That makes sense,” Sam commented aimed at the fire resistance. “And the System keeps... helping... I guess,” he added dryly.

  “The system giveth, and the system taketh,” Janik replied with a sage nod.

  It almost annoyed Sam that Janik knew what he was talking about, making the joke more on the nose than it had any right to be.

  Feeling some annoyance building up, he was feeling eager for some way to get his aggression out, but before that Sam changed the subject and focused on Elara.

  “I was told yesterday that you had an idea with some of his kids?”

  He knew what the idea was, but he wanted her to explain it from her angle.

  Extending her head out from Sam’s body, she anchored herself around his shoulders, so she could properly look him in the face.

  “Yes,” replying simply with a happy smile, Sam could feel the tip of her tail almost wag as she continued. “Ethan explained that some monsters could be hard in the Dungeon, that they had to run around and hide. But Grace had the idea of using my Venom to help.”

  She looked almost sad for a brief moment. “I... took the liberty of giving him a dose of my Venom to test with, we put it on a dagger that his party member used to throw at a target. He said it worked perfectly, it just took some time.”

  Sam quickly checked the math of her Venom 2 ability, and anything with a Vitality of 16 or lower is just dead. If he remembered correctly this meant anything up through most of Floor 2, though some Golems would be fine, in the End Dungeon the Frost Wraiths, Shatterbacks and Blizzard Whisps had below that, so it was a good thing to use even at higher levels. Something with 20 in Vit, like the Ice Drakes, still only had a 20% chance to succeed in their resistance, so it was potent.

  And it could grow stronger if they inflated her Vitality.

  “That’s great to hear,” Sam commented, mostly to put her at ease of using her Venom without permission. He wanted to tell her that she could decide these things on her own, but this didn’t seem like the time, since she had shown hints of somewhat wanting to consider him her master in more than just a title.

  Her smile came back and her little wagging intensified.

  “We had the idea that, if you allow it, I could sell the venom to other Players, that way I can be of some help.” Her smile faded ever so slightly at the end before it came back a second later.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  Sam couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty at that. Though it was never an intent, he did bring her into this world but due to the randomness of how things worked, she came out as a glass cannon-like creature. She can do considerable damage with her Venom but, even with 22 Vit, she only had 65 HP. And though that was amazing if you compared it to what Sam had for quite a time, at their current level nothing could -not- kill her in one hit. She didn’t even have a Defence rating.

  Though she had come with them for Dungeons here and there, she had not done anything but be a Passenger. The occasional Venom application, yes, but in total. Dia, who is a newer addition to the party is a valuable combatant as well as other things. Elara might feel neglected as the only time she was given the total focus for a day, Sam disappeared for a while.

  If nothing else, Sam felt confident that she could handle herself in social situations, since she got them to get hold of Janik on her own.

  “You don’t have to feel like you need to be of h-” Sam wanted to reassure her that she didn’t need to feel any pressure to do anything. Sure he brought her into this world, mainly through intrigue, but in his eyes, she didn’t owe him anything.

  However, he was interrupted.

  “I want to!” She exclaimed to the point of having the other tables nearby react. She calmed her voice but looked at him with determination in her eyes. “I want to. I feel the need to be useful to you, I want to be useful to you. I know I’ll die if I go and fight the things you fight, but this lets me do at least something.”

  Sam wanted to reply, but he didn’t have anything he could say. She wanted to do this, which was enough in his mind. He wanted her to be a person... snake... whatever, for her own sake. And even though this was for his sake, it was something she wanted to do. So, who was he to stand against her wishes after he had said that she needed to do what she wanted?

  “I don’t see a problem with that. If you want to do this, for whatever reason, I won’t stop you. But, we might have to check with TAC, just in case there are some weird rules or something.”

  As soon as he agreed to her wishes, he could feel her tense up a little, her smile grew larger and the tiny tip of her tail wagged even more than before.

  “As a bonus, I was considering bringing you with us to the Third Floor. I don’t want you to fight anything but I thought you might like to have fun in the jungle.” As he spoke he took out his phone and found some images in the guide app of the flora and island, showing it as a tropical paradise... if you ignored the Dungeons and System... stuff...

  This widened her eyes even more, confirming to Sam that this was the right thing to do.

  “Now, we haven’t gotten any breathing thingy for you, so you can’t come with us in the dungeons, but you can... do snake things, I guess.” He smiled. He didn’t mean anything negative with that statement, it was just the best way he could define it. Ans Andce she had referred to her instinct and wishes related to that before, it felt appropriate.

  “Now,” Sam continued, having ignored the others long enough. “Let’s go talk to Tac to see about the Venom thing, and we’ll go to the Third Floor afterwards.”

  Stopping himself right after getting up from the table, he realised something vital he had missed. “That reminds me, I assume you want the point in Vitality, then?”

  Elara smiled wide at him and simply nodded, having her Vitality stat boosted by a point.

  Leaving, they headed for the reception to at least get to know who to talk to regarding this, there were no lines and several available counters, though most of them stood empty on both sides.

  Walking up to one with a middle-aged man behind, he welcomed them with a smile, asking how he could be of assistance.

  Sliding his ID card over as he returned the greeting, Sam went straight to the point.

  “Yeah... I don’t know how to ask this but... My companion here-” he referred to Elara who perked up as he did. “-would like to sell her venom to Players who might want it.”

  “Oh, that’s a unique one, let’s see here,” he mused to himself as he wrote something on a computer behind the counter, using a moment to search through things.

  “It seems one of the easier things could be to consider it a crafted product and sell it as a crafter. Though I see that she’s registered and... is smart enough to talk?”

  She nodded as the question looked more directed at her. “I can talk and communicate on my own.”

  “Ah, that makes things easier. Since you’re a companion it has to be registered on your Player... Sam.” He looked at Sam almost to confirm who he was, checking his card and something on the computer he looked satisfied. “Yeah, that’s not an issue. Do you want to sell it to us like any other object to be sold on the market, or set up a crafter’s booth?”

  “Crafter’s booth?” Sam asked with a raised eyebrow, he had an idea what it was in context but he wanted to make sure.

  “Crafters often make their things elsewhere and have a booth, a stand if you will, where they sell things under the protection of TAC, it’s much safer than in Aetheria, as you can imagine. It also lets you register what you have for sale to let people know beforehand, getting you customers who know what they want which might give more purchases. As a result of this, TAC will take a 10% commission fee.”

  Sam pondered, this wasn’t a bad deal, safety and relatively decent access to customers. “What if nothing is sold? And we’re selling Venom... powerful Venom... isn’t there anything we should consider about legality or something?”

  Wanting to know this beforehand seemed to get a chuckle in response.

  “If you don’t sell anything, there is no money to take the fees from, so that’s free. And if crafters can sell all sorts of poisons, potions, weapons and more, what’s Venom to the list?” He seemed almost a bit amused.

  “Well... it’s powerful and can kill players with a prick?” Sam tried to make it sound worse than it perhaps was to get a proper answer.

  “And a dagger, sword or axe can’t do the same?” Though he didn’t chuckle this time, he did seem oddly amused at Sam’s uncertainty. “No, I understand your thoughts, but there is no problem. Like anything sold on the market, nothing is ‘bad’ unless used for bad.” He made air quotes around ‘bad’.

  “Player versus Player is illegal, but... as you might expect... There is no proper way to handle any of it.” The man ended that topic by shaking his head, seeming to not be fond of it as a whole.

  “But, enough about that. Should we handle the registration?”

  “Err... yes, I don’t see why not. Since she can talk and she’s registered with me, I assume she can come and go as she wants, she doesn’t need me around at all times, right?”

  “Not at all, we handle the details in the system, so she just needs to identify herself, and there’s only so many with her System Title linking her to you, so I don’t see a problem there.” The man smiled at Sam before he turned the focus to Elara.

  Sam gave them a few minutes, and the man spoke to her directly asking her the important questions, since Sam was there he could interject or whatever if he felt the need. But this was to be her thing anyway so he didn’t want to get more involved than needed.

  Instead, he opted to discuss things with Janik and Dia.

  “The first Dungeon, like most of the island, we’ll mostly meet are Reefclaws who are large spiked crabs, Tidecallers who are something like water elementals, Skewerfish who are... long fish, Coral Stalkers who are lizard-like chameleon things, and Murkwales, basically large whale-like creatures. Everything has Defence ratings now.” Though there was an annoyed tone in his voice, there was also a strange hinting tone.

  Sam assumed it was hinting that Janik taught him how to get through Defence, which was good, but he was milking that a bit much.

  “Yes, yes. You’re a good teacher,” Sam agreed, perhaps it was about time to give him some credit.

  Puffing his chest, Janik accepted the compliment before continuing.

  “Glad to hear you think so. But things are now over level 40, and we’re not. So it might be smart to take it calmly, perhaps try out how our skills work underwater before we brave a dungeon.”

  Nodding in agreement, Sam had to admit that was not a bad idea. He had moved his Psyhands underwater before but never attacked anything. “We can go for a swim and see how things work out.”

  Dia was looking excited as they were sounding ready to go, Sam assumed it was because of her going back to the jungle. Elara was discussing things with the receptionist, based on how it was sounding there shouldn’t be much left to discuss before they could properly head to the Third Floor.