Zich stared at the Lucky Handband for a few seconds.
"Luck?" he muttered, turning the item in his hand. "What kind of description is this?"
The handband looked simple, yet the markings on it gave off a faint glow. It did not look powerful like a weapon, and it did not feel useful like a skill scroll. If anything, it resembled something a scammer would sell to desperate players.
His eyes narrowed. "Increases luck for twenty-four hours and can trigger lucky events? Sounds fake."
A laugh almost escaped him, but the thought stopped midway as he remembered where he was.
This place had already given him a graveyard class, a slime summon, Blood Leech, a dungeon, and even a technique he created by forcing mana into a skill. At this point, doubting strange items too much was probably the stupidest thing he could do.
'Right. This mountain is already unreasonable. A luck item isn't even the weirdest thing I've seen today.'
With that in mind, the Lucky Handband was placed into his backpack. The EXP fruit and the saw followed, while the skill scroll meant for Slimy was kept aside for later.
His attention shifted to the corpse of the Silverback Ape Shaman.
The boss lay on the chamber floor, its chest cut open and its staff broken beside it. Moving closer, he crouched and searched the head first. A small soul shard appeared in his palm, brighter than the ones he had gotten from the normal Silverbacks.
[Soul Shard x1 obtained.]
[Current Soul Shards: 4]
"Boss shard, huh?" he said with a small smile. "You better be worth more than the others."
After storing it away, his hand reached for the shaman's broken staff. Even though it had been cut during the fight, the upper part still carried strange markings and looked sellable.
Nearby, Blood Leech stood at the side, its armor cracked but slowly repairing itself. Slimy had already reformed, though its body still shook slightly. The Silverback Grunt gripped its club and stared at the dead boss with dull eyes.
Before anything else could be checked, a system panel appeared.
[Ding! Dungeon clear complete.]
[The Silver Ape Settlement will close soon.]
[Please exit the dungeon.]
A faint tremble ran through the chamber. Small stones fell from the ceiling, and the glow in the room began to fade.
Without wasting time, he waved his hand and unsummoned his pets. There was no reason to risk anything strange happening while the dungeon closed.
Once his backpack was secured, his steps followed the path that opened near the back of the chamber. It looked like an exit, so he moved through without overthinking it.
A moment later, the outside world greeted him again.
Fresh air filled his lungs as familiar terrain stretched out ahead. The eastern plane looked unchanged, with trees scattered along the lower slope and the ground covered in stones and short grass.
Adjusting his backpack, he walked forward, unaware that his foot crossed a faint line on the ground—the marking that separated human and Velharian territory.
Not long after his departure, two red-skinned figures approached the mountain entrance from another direction. Their bodies were tall and lean, with long arms and narrow eyes. Both wore simple armor made from dark leather and bone plates.
The first Velhari stopped the moment he noticed the fading dungeon light, his eyes widening. "Closed?"
The second rushed forward and reached out, touching the air where the portal had been. His face twisted with disbelief. "No. Impossible. We only left to gather the others."
"It was here," the first said, breathing harder. "We found it first."
Dungeons were rare on the first layer. Even a normal one could decide whether a small group would rise or remain weak.
They were ranked, Normal, Hard, Difficult, Extremely Difficult… and Nightmare at the top. Some even have double cores, two bosses.
"This one was at least Normal rank," the first added. "Maybe higher. I'm certain. We could have gotten treasures and soul shards. Boss monsters always guarantee them."
The second scanned the area, anger building in his eyes. "Someone cleared it. And I'm sure it's those despicable humans."
A sharp glint flashed in the first Velhari's gaze as he turned toward the human settlement. "There's only one way to find out."
Far away, Zich had barely taken a few steps before he noticed movement ahead.
Three players stepped out from behind trees and rocks, blocking the path. More followed from the sides, spreading out until he was completely surrounded.
His steps came to a stop. One hand moved near the sword, though it remained sheathed.
'Really? I just finished a dungeon and now there's a welcome party?'
From the center of the group, Rael stepped forward.
A cocky smile sat on his face, his weapon resting casually on his shoulder. The players around him looked confident at first, though a few couldn't hide the greedy glances toward the backpack and sword.
The moment Rael came into view, a hand rose to his face.
"Of course it's you."
Rael's smile stiffened slightly. "You don't sound happy to see me."
"I'm tired," he replied. "And you're annoying even when I'm not."
Several players frowned at that.
Rael's eyes turned colder, though the smile stayed in place.
"You got brave after cheating your way up the rankings."
His hand dropped as his gaze met Rael's. "Cheating?"
Rael stepped closer. "Don't act stupid. You expect me to believe you gained all those points by yourself? Someone like you?"
One of the players beside him quickly added, "You were probably stealing from others. Maybe killing injured players too."
For a brief moment, Zich's eyes shifted to the speaker.
The player swallowed and took half a step back.
Rael lifted his chin. "It doesn't matter how you got those points. What matters is that you have them."
Silence followed, something Rael clearly mistook for fear.
"You have two choices," he continued. "Hand over your pets and transfer your attribute points. If you do that, I'll make your death painless."
***
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