Cromus stood and stretched after what felt like days. Placing his hands on his lower back, he bent backward until his spine let out a satisfying crack. "Oh, man. I know it’s only been hours, but it feels like I’ve been stuck in that spot for ages."

  Sais got up shortly after, brushing dust off his armor. "Yeah, laying on rocks does that. But hey, no Croakers showed up, so we’re good to take our time and look for that sweet loot."

  Both of them grinned at each other, their mood mirrored by Athas, who beamed as cheerful as ever.

  Loose Tooth, leaning against a boulder, snorted. "Okay, yeah, I sees it now. You two real alike… real weird."

  Cromus rolled his eyes, still grinning. "From my point of view, Loose, you should be thankful for our weirdness. Thanks to it, we escaped, beat the bad guys, and now get to enjoy the spoils."

  As he turned back, he spotted Sais crouched by the Naga’s corpse, rifling through its belongings. “Hey, what the hell?”

  Without looking' up, Sais kept searching'. “You seemed busy chatting, so I thought I’d get a head start.”

  “Damn loot goblin,” Cromus muttered, only to be met with confused and indignant noises from the actual goblins behind him. He quickly clarified, “Not you guys.”

  Sais pulled a necklace from the body, its gold chain glinting faintly in the dim light. His eyes gleamed as he whispered, “Jackpot.”

  “Oh?” Cromus stepped closer as Sais tossed it to him. The necklace had a simple yet elegant design: a golden chain with a centerpiece of amethyst set in a golden hand. Its craftsmanship demanded attention. Without hesitation, Cromus activated his Identify skill.

  Amethyst Grip: This necklace was crafted by a struggling jeweler who, after a breakthrough in his craft, poured his newfound skill into its creation. The necklace seamlessly blends with any outfit unless willed otherwise. Grants a 2% Charisma bonus when interacting with others of a similar race and contains a small spatial storage for its bound user.

  Do you wish to bind to Amethyst Grip? Yes/No.

  Sais raised an eyebrow at Cromus’s less-than-enthusiastic expression. “What’s with that look? It’s a great find.”

  Cromus tossed the necklace back to him. “It is, but you’d get more out of the Charisma bonus than I would.”

  Sais shrugged, donning the necklace. It melted seamlessly into his gear, as if it had always been there. He activated its storage function and pulled out a satchel. The unmistakable sound of clinking coins filled the air.

  “Uh, Cromus,” Sais began, his voice filled with suppressed excitement. “I think we’ve solved our money problems.”

  Cromus’s eyes widened as Sais opened the satchel, revealing stacks of gold coins. Each coin bore an intricate design of a dwarf and elf standing back-to-back on one side and a castle on the other.

  “How much is there?” Cromus asked, plucking a coin from the pile to inspect it.

  “The spatial storage says this bag holds 500 gold coins. There are four bags in total, all full.”

  Cromus tried to temper his excitement. “That sounds like a lot, but we don’t even know what gold’s worth here yet.”

  Sais chuckled. “I doubt creatures and people sell cheap, but even so, this should keep us comfortable for a good while. Plus, look at these.” He retrieved two small red crystals from the necklace’s storage and handed one to Cromus. Both of them used Identify.

  Fire Crystal: A crystal imbued with the fire element. Can be used in alchemy recipes or to enhance weapons and armor with fire attributes.

  “Huh, so basically it’s for imbuing stuff with fire abilities?” Cromus asked, turning the stone in his hand. A tug at his sleeve made him glance down at Keezz’s eager expression.

  “May I see that, Biggin?” the elderly goblin asked.

  “Sure.” Cromus placed the crystal into Keezz’s outstretched hand.

  Keezz’s eyes widened in reverence. “This real precious. Can be used lotsa ways, but goblins… we only got one sure way.”

  “And what’s that?” Sais asked.

  “Yous sure ya wanna see?” Keezz’s gaze flicked between them.

  “As long as it won’t hurt us,” Cromus added.

  Keezz gave a toothy grin before poppin' the stone into his mouth and swallowing it whole.

  Both Cromus and Sais stared, jaws dropped in disbelief. Their shock was short-lived as Keezz’s skin began to take on a faint reddish glow.

  “Now I got amplified fire spells,” Keezz said, his old voice sounding stronger, his face seemin' less lined.

  “I am not eating that,” Cromus said firmly.

  “I don’t think you should,” Sais agreed, though his curiosity remained piqued. “Keezz, is the crystal still usable after it... passes?”

  “Depends. If it stays inside too long, power might drain. Otherwise, still usable,” Keezz explained.

  “And besides fire spells, what other benefits does it give?” Cromus asked.

  Keezz stretched his shoulders with a pleased expression. “My bones don’t hurt no more, and I feels a bit younger.”

  Cromus and Sais exchanged a glance. “He does look a little younger,” Cromus noted. “Does mana have that effect?”

  Sais snapped his fingers. “I remember Henry saying something about worlds with higher mana. More mana might make folks live longer or something like that.”

  Cromus nodded, but his brow furrowed in thought. “Speaking of Henry, is he okay? Last time I saw him was before that blue smoke engulfed us.”

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

  “He’s fine,” Sais reassured him. “His body’s magical. When I cast the spell, he was essentially dismissed until I can summon him again. There’s a cooldown—about an hour—but we’ll see him soon.”

  “Good to hear,” Cromus said. “Back to the stones—how many do you have left?”

  “Just one,” Sais replied.

  They both turned to Keezz, who grinned mischievously.

  Athas, oblivious to the tension, wagged its tail happily, his ever-present cheer lighting the moment.

  “Moving on. Was his gear magical?” Cromus asked toward Sais.

  “Naw, it was basic stuff. If it was, I don’t think the fight woulda gone the way we wanted it to,” Sais replied.

  “Well, all that matters is we’re standing and he’s not. Plus, I think I know where there’s more stuff,” Cromus said, gesturing behind him to where he had been tossed earlier.

  Walking through the passage of the cave, they came across a makeshift door frame that had been broken inward. Stepping through, they found pathetic shards of weak wood scattered across the room.

  “I didn’t notice this when I walked out. He musta thrown me harder than I thought,” Cromus said.

  His eyes followed the broken pieces to what he could only imagine was the spot he landed. Six beast cores lay nearby. Cromus walked over and identified them all: two corrupted wolf cores, three regular wolf cores, and one Bearded Vulture Bear core.

  “Must be worth something, since they’ve been collecting them. Definitely taking those with us,” Sais said as he started putting them into his spatial storage before making his way over to a makeshift room.

  A single twin-size bed sat alone near a wall, with a desk and stool put off to the side, cluttered with paper and an inkwell. But the thing that grabbed both their attention was the pile of gold bars—twelve, to be exact.

  Cromus was the first to speak. “Yeah, I think you were right to assume money isn’t our problem. I think our real problem is where we’re gonna spend it and on what.”

  “Gear for sure, but what I’m really hoping for in this world is something like a city builder game,” Sais said, grinning wide.

  “You mean where you build a town, slowly expand, and eventually take over everything the game lets you?” Cromus asked.

  “Yep. Make our own soldiers, buildings, all that. ‘Til eventually, you’ve got crazy stuff that leaves most other civilizations in the dust.” Sais’ joy was palpable.

  “We’ll see. But it would be nice to actually have a home. I think our best bet is taking over the goblins by beating Red Fist. There’s your soldiers.” Cromus said.

  Sais’ look became serious. “I think you’re right,” he said, glancing around to note that the goblins hadn’t followed them here. “But it just worries me to tie ourselves to goblins. Other races will probably avoid us.”

  “Well, we can change their minds,” Cromus said.

  “That’ll probably be harder than you think. We talked about it the day we chose to leave. Most races see them as monsters or just easy farm. They probably give a lot of negatives to building relationships with other cities or things like that,” Sais argued.

  Cromus looked at him blankly. “Everyone has a choice. You can let yourself be the handicap, or you can be what you wanna be. Others might not wanna work with you if you stay around me. That’s a possibility.”

  Sais caught on. “True. But we’ll make it work. It’s easier to argue that one’s different than a whole village with a stigma on ‘em. I’m just sayin’ we’ll be fighting an uphill battle.”

  “I can acknowledge that. I wanna make the best of this we can. Instead of seeing it as a negative, let’s see what positives we can take from it. Judging them before we even see the possibilities is starting off wrong. Are they simple? Yeah. But imagine what can happen with a bit of guidance. I already see goblin rogues at our command. They could end fights before they even start,” Cromus said, now getting excited.

  “Okay. We’ll give it a shot. I’m not gonna lie; they’ve kinda grown on me. I just hope others will see it too. Now can we get back to the loot?” Sais asked.

  With a happy look on his face, Cromus nodded.

  In one of the desk drawers, they found a two-inch-thick disk of hard material they couldn’t identify. It had a carving of a planet on it. It was heavy, and when they tried to use Identify on it…

  ???: This item is out of your capabilities.

  “Welp, I say we keep it. Maybe later we can figure it out,” Cromus said.

  “Agreed. Worst case, we can’t use it but find someone who can,” Sais replied as he put it in the storage. “Kind of a bummer for the last thing we found. I really need to find a replacement bow or crossbow.”

  “Oh, I know where we can find weapons. Just gotta backtrack a bit,” Cromus replied.

  “That’s good. And hey, we’ve got spatial storage. Even if that was the main thing we found, the rest could be useful. I’m happy with what we got. It’s a fantastic start on our way,” Sais stated as they left the room to find the four goblins waiting patiently.

  Well, somewhat patiently. The two young ones were playing with some moss, Keezz seemed to be meditating, and Loose Tooth was munching on something from a satchel he was struggling with.

  “Loose Tooth, what you got there?” Cromus asked.

  Loose Tooth froze. “No… nothin’,” he said with a pathetic lie, hiding the satchel behind his back.

  “Sure, what you got?” Cromus said with a devilish smile.

  Loose Tooth sighed, quickly giving up and bringing the satchel out for everyone to see.

  It was filled with jerky. “Oh, is that all?” Cromus said, but his stomach growled at the sight.

  A sad look on his face, Loose Tooth pushed the satchel closer to Cromus. “Take it, Biggin.”

  “I’m not gonna take your find. I’ll have a little if you allow—just enough to get back to our camp for some food,” Cromus said.

  “Really?!” Loose Tooth asked.

  “Of course. You found it, plus none of you tried to take items from that room or the Naga while we rested. You give us some of those rations now, and we’ll give you some of the meat we cook later. Deal?” Cromus asked.

  “Ye… yeah, Cromus,” Loose Tooth said, genuinely surprised they didn’t just take it.

  Cromus and Sais shared a handful of jerky, gnawing on the tough strips of dried meat. Like the other food they’d scavenged, it lacked any seasonings, leaving the flavor as barren as the cave they had just explored. The dryness of the meat made each bite a chore, with the texture offering more resistance than satisfaction. Cromus chewed thoughtfully before grimacing, swallowing hard. “This stuff is rough,” he muttered, his voice tinged with resignation.

  Sais nodded in agreement, forcing down another bite. “Bland as dirt,” he said with a sigh. “But hey, it’s better than nothing.”

  The lackluster meal left them yearning for something more, but they pressed on, returning to the chamber where Cromus had discovered his new sword. Sais searched through the remaining items and found his old crossbow and bolts, along with something new—a bow of remarkable craftsmanship. Its sleek, dark wood gleamed in the faint light, and embedded near the top half was a familiar, glowing crystal.

  Darkwood Elemental Bow: This finely crafted bow was fashioned from the resilient root of the Darkwood tree, magically enhanced for superior flexibility and durability. A mana crystal embedded in the bow’s upper section allows it to draw elemental energy, granting powerful bonuses to its attacks. The crystal can be recharged using any other mana crystal.

  Sais’s initial excitement quickly shifted to disappointment as he remembered something—he had given one of their mana crystals to Keezz, who had used it for his spells.

  Cromus, noticing Sais’s crestfallen expression, stepped closer and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “That’s rough, buddy. But hey, don’t sweat it. We’ll find more mana crystals to keep your shiny new bow powered up!”

  “Yeah... you’re probably right,” Sais replied, though his voice carried a faint hint of regret. Determined to make the best of the situation, he pulled out the remaining mana crystal from his pouch and held it near the one embedded in the bow. A faint, glowing prompt appeared in his mind, offering an option to transfer the energy. Without hesitation, Sais mentally clicked “Yes.”

  The crystal pulsed faintly, then dimmed as its energy was absorbed into the bow. The etched runes along the weapon shimmered briefly before settling into a steady glow.

  Meanwhile, the goblins busied themselves scavenging small daggers from the pile of leftover gear. Keezz, standing apart, merely smirked. “I have no need for weapons,” he said. the other goblins just shrugged having faith in their shaman.

  With their loot secured and the group ready, the seven companions exited the cave without incident. The cool air of the open forest greeted them, and they set off back toward their campsite, their steps lighter now that the trials of the cave were behind them.