Heavy breathing filled the cavern as everyone fought to catch their breath, broken only by the patter of Anna’s feet as she ran over to Rodrick and Olive to see if they needed any healing.
The Mesh flowed before Arwin, forming into the options for the skills he could choose to upgrade. He barely even got a chance to read the Achievement before it vanished.
[Decapitated]has been consumed.
[Molten Novice] (Passive)
Unlike the other time Arwin had been offered a skill upgrade, this one took him almost no time to decide on. He’d already promised himself that his next upgrade would be [Awaken], and nothing had popped up to change that decision. He selected it without a second of hesitation.
[Awaken] (Passive) – All items forged by your hand have the potential to take on a trait, determined by [Unknown]. The potential for the trait to be detrimental is [76%]. Materials with a higher chance to awaken will fight with you to exert their influence on the piece they are being made into. This does not guarantee that they will awaken.
Besides, it’s not like she’s offered to tell us her own abilities. I don’t know what she was doing with that sword swing of hers, but it looks like she’s got something that trades speed for either sharpness or power. Pretty good ability in the right scenario. Would actually pair incredibly well with Reya.
Rodrick’s eyebrows crept up his forehead as Reya leaned back.
“Whoa,” Rodrick said. “That is a cool ability. I’d have to see it at work to know if it was actually effective, but it sounds like it would be. Too bad you didn’t get it a bit earlier.”
“I doubt it would have worked here anyway,” Reya said.
“Now I’m curious,” Arwin said. “Tell me too.”
She shot a quick glance back at Olive before walking over to him. Arwin fought to keep the confusion from his face. Somehow, it felt like she was actually enjoying hiding the information from her rather than doing it purely for safety reasons.
Reya stood on the tips of her toes to whisper into his ear. “It lets me bind the energy of a monster I help kill as long as it’s within a tier of me. If I manage to bind it, I can basically summon a spectral form of the monster to help me fight temporarily. It doesn’t always work, and it’s easier the less difference in Tier I have to close between us.”
She stepped back and Arwin found the same expression that had made its way across Rodrick’s face infecting his own.
“Well, shit,” Arwin said. “That’s incredible. Is it…”
Reya nodded, picking up on the unspoken question. “Yeah.”
“And I think I can cook this!” Lillia exclaimed, holding up a chunk of centipede meat. It didn’t look as awful as Arwin had expected and vaguely resembled a huge chunk of lobster. He wasn’t quite sold on it tasting anywhere similar, but he’d try it if Lillia was cooking. “It would go good with lemon.”
“Isn’t that what you said about the spider?” Rodrick asked. “The one that you dumped out on the ground behind us?”
“Do you want me to go back and get it for you?” Lillia crossed her arms and pursed her lips. “Because I can. It’s probably a bit mushed up and covered with grime now, but I’m sure I can wipe it off. I can put it on every meal I make for you if you’re so caught up on it.”
Rodrick hurriedly cleared his throat. “You know what? Centipede sounds fantastic. I’d love nothing more.”
Lillia beamed and stuffed the large chunk of centipede into her bag. “I knew you’d come around.”
“And I think that brings us to the most important question of the dungeon,” Anna said.
“Whether we should get Lillia more food to cook with?” Rodrick asked.
“No. Well, not directly, but that wasn’t what I meant,” Anna said with a huff. “I meant if we should go deeper or not.”
“You want to go deeper after that?” Olive’s eyes went wide. “You can’t be serious.”
“There was nothing to indicate that was a special enemy,” Arwin said. “Though it probably should have been. Given how large that was, it must have broken into the dungeon recently and not yet found the right room it belonged in.”
“You mean the actual gated monster might be weaker?” Olive asked, a thoughtful expression passing over her features.
“It’s possible,” Lillia said as she walked over to join them, her bag of centipede-meat over her shoulder. That reminded Arwin to check and see if the centipede’s plates would be of any use to him. He went to pull one off, but Lillia pulled the corner of one out from her bag. “Already got one.”
“Oh damn. Didn’t even see you do it. Thank you,” Arwin said. He wasn’t sure how much use the plate would be since they hadn’t been all that tough, but he suspected he’d be able to find something to make from it.
“No problem,” Lillia replied. “Though our query remains. I think we could recover a fair bit if we sit around for about an hour. Enough to go at least one more room.”
“If the Mimipede settled here, the next one is probably a purple-torcher. I figure it was just too lazy or fat to fit through the door,” Rodrick said. “But I agree. I’m for staying for one last room.”