“Riu,” I said. “I’m going to need an explanation.”

  He pointed to the other side of the creek. With the rain gone, I could see pretty far down the path that led toward the kiosk. I could also tell just how destructive my super charged zap had been. There was a line of bodies that stretched all the way to the tree line on the other side. Beyond them was a massive, moss-covered creature. It was about as wide as the bear but much taller. I’d have to get a closer look before I could tell what it was.

  “Your spell, it hit the big man in the face,” Riu said, grinning ear to ear. “Shot him before he could grab me.”

  “I killed the boss…on accident?”

  Kojo and Riu helped me get up, then Kojo clapped me on the back.

  “Seems like you did. Blew his head right off.”

  “Huh.” I grunted as Kojo passed me my staff. “I guess we were due a little luck.”

  Riu glanced at Kojo, his smile fading.

  I sighed. “The kiosk isn’t clear, is it?”

  “There are many left,” Riu explained. “Only the boss and some others chased me here. But we will be okay.”

  “From what he could tell me, it seems like there’s only the infected left around the kiosk. Maybe a fairy or two. Nothing we can’t handle.” He looked me up and down. “You need to hang back on this one, though. I think all that spell casting nearly killed you. We don’t want to push it.”

  What he said made sense, but damn did it piss me off. I’m useless. Again. I reached up and touched my chest. Even through my robe, my skin was sensitive. It was like my entire torso was one giant bruise. Maybe it was.

  I agreed to only cast spells if totally necessary, then followed Riu and Kojo to the boss’ corpse. Kojo said there was a surprise waiting for me, but I didn’t much care for surprises. I opened my menu as we walked, shocked to see I’d leveled up while I was knocked out.

  The way XP worked was something I was still trying to wrap my head around, but it seemed a portion of XP was shared if you assisted in a kill. It’s how Riu managed to gain a level on the way here despite me getting most of the killing blows. I guess him killing that bear pushed me over the edge? Bastard must have been worth a truckload of XP.

  I was now level eight and had six points to spend. I put four of them into arcane, then two into constitution. After I finished, I looked over my attributes.

  Core Attributes

  Strength: 4

  Dexterity: 2

  Constitution: 9

  Perception: 4

  Focus: 10

  Arcane: 25

  I wondered what other people across the continent’s stats looked like. How many strength points would a professional power lifter have? Or one of those giant guys who competed for world’s strongest man? My mind conjured images of Brian Shaw wielding a warhammer in each hand. It was as comical as it was terrifying.

  The boss turned out to be one of those mushroom guys, just a super-sized version. He’d apparently been bending over to snatch Riu off the ground when my mega zap blew right through him. It looked like the spell had knocked a few trees over too. And even from where I stood, I couldn’t see where the spell’s destruction ended. It had already gone over a hundred yards. No wonder it almost did me in. That much mana all at once is probably not supposed to be possible. At least not with that spell.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  “Inspect the body,” Kojo said, nudging the dead creature with his boot.

  Jumbo Shroom Lv.15

  Information: Kill (1) more to unlock.

  The fact I needed to kill another one bothered me. That meant this wasn’t a unique creature. That more could be stalking this disgusting forest. I just prayed we could get out without encountering another.

  An icon appeared beside the boss’ name. It was new, the outline of a chest etched into the floating menu.

  I mentally activated it, then a massive chest appeared in a puff of smoke. It was a few inches off the ground when it appeared, and it landed with a hard thud. It was made of wood, the metal clasp bright silver.

  “Mine was different,” Kojo said. “Smaller, but the metal was gold. Means I had a higher chance of good loot.”

  “Loot?”

  As soon as I spoke, the chest popped open. Pale mist poured from it as a hologram like projection shot into the air. It depicted a rotating list of items on a wheel. They moved too fast to get a good read on them, but I made out potions, staffs, and grimoires.

  Congratulations on killing a boss!

  Unlike the other voices, this one came from inside the chest. It was slightly muffled and sounded like someone doing a bad impression of a gameshow host.

  There are five tiers of chests: bronze, silver, gold, platinum, and iridescent. Each chest has a small chance of landing an item one tier above it. Please note that iridescent chests are the only way to roll a legendary item.

  The item wheel was slowing, more items becoming clear to me. I worried it would give me something useless, but then the voice spoke again.

  Chests are limited to one per person, but don’t worry about getting shafted! The loot in a boss chest is always tailored to your current class.

  Convenient.

  Well, that’s it for now. Good luck, and may you live long enough to do this again sometime!

  “What did you get?” I asked, my eyes glued to the wheel. It was just like being back in the casino.

  “An enchanted pair of boots,” Kojo answered.

  I glanced down. They looked about the same as the leather boots he had before, just a bit cleaner.

  “They increase my dexterity and allow me to jump higher, probably so I can get better vantage points for my crossbow.”

  I wasn’t really listening to him at this point. All that mattered was the wheel. How much time had I spent at the machines and roulette tables back home? I’d almost forgotten how much I loved watching them spin.

  It suddenly came to a crawl, the item at the top of the wheel a glowing, purple grimoire. It had the image of a black hole or something on the cover.

  “I need that,” I whispered to myself.

  It kept moving, passing two staves and a scroll. Then it hit the grimoire, slowing even more.

  But it kept going, inching toward the next item.

  “C’mon, C’mon…” Then it passed over the threshold and stopped.

  “Fuck.”

  The robe appeared in a puff of smoke, just like the chest. It was blue with white trim around the sleeves, waist, and hood. I inspected it, realizing quickly my disappointment had been far too hasty.

  Robe of Empowerment

  Item Class: C

  Description: A robe once worn by a powerful wizard. Now it’s in far less capable hands. Offers the following bonuses.

  +10 Focus

  +15 Arcane

  Magic Resistance: +25%

  Skill: Empower Magic

  Empower Magic

  Skill Tier: B

  Cooldown: 24 Hours

  Skill Type: Strengthening

  Description: This skill enhances your next spell by five levels.

  Note: This skill only works while you are wearing the Robe of Empowerment. And no, taking the rob off and on again does not reset the cooldown.

  It was a simple skill, but five levels? Just three had turned fireball into a bomb. What would five more levels make it? A nuke?

  Getting my old robe to fit into my inventory was a pain, but I got it to work. The new robe was a lot brighter than my last one, and it shimmered in the dim sunlight. There was even the occasional sparkle along the sleeves, like I was one of those vampires from Twilight.

  “Can’t say I love the aesthetic,” I said. “But that skill is going to come in handy.” Plus, my arcane is now at forty. I have to imagine that’s pretty high for our level.

  “It is rather…garish,” Kojo said.

  “I like it,” Riu said, giving me a very enthusiastic thumbs up.

  I feigned a smile, then looked at the monster’s exploded head.

  “Where there any fairies inside it?”

  Kojo walked around the creature’s bulk. “None that I could find. Perhaps you turned them to ash, leaving nothing to inspect?”

  I knew that people left their inventory boxes behind even if their bodies were completely gone. But I guess these things operate on different rules.

  The three of us reconvened at a bend in the path. Riu told us there was a stone structure close by, that the kiosk was probably inside.

  “Just one more fight, and we’re finally there,” I said.

  None of us knew how helpful this “kiosk” would be in finding those we searched for. But we had to hope. Had to believe it would lead us to them.

  Ultimately, it was that hope that led us down the path and into the darkness beyond.