Ultimate Level 1-Chapter 428: New Loot

“What’s going on? Is something wrong?” Batrire asked as everyone stared up at the blank screen.

“It’s probably because of where we are from,” Max replied, pointing at the corpses. “We’ll find out soon enough, but for now, let's store this stuff and see what we can do with it.”

It didn’t take long for them to strip the arena floor clean of the corpses, ignoring the purple blood that had flowed out from holes they had created in the bodies of their foe. Soon they stood around again, and no one was sure what would happen.

Minutes passed, and then the screen flickered to life.

“Tower climbers… something is off,” the orange blob of whatever said, his voice sounding a little deeper. “You are not from this world or any part of this… program. You, Ifrit, are recognized as one who has made waves within the system of planets with access to our protocol program. Tell me, are these the ones you mentioned in your broadcast?”

He could feel everyone’s eyes on him, and Max took two steps to separate himself slightly from his friends.

“I am. You’ve seen what I recorded, right?”

A gurgling laughter came, and the shape bounced up and down.

“Many have seen it. For one of your power to be at this level… I would almost say I feel guilty having sentenced those to a quick death. Still, they knew the dangers. Now then… the usual rewards for such a thing are not going to work… the… system will not allow me to grant you items or essences that your body could use. It has however allowed me to make some requests, and your rewards will be… unusual but perhaps they will work for you.”

A bell sounded, and a white disc with a tiny green chest appeared a few yards away.

“Inside is all that you will be given. Please take it and leave.”

Once more, the screen was blank, and Max glanced back at his friends, seeing their eyes locked on the small chest.

“I guess we’ll see what we got,” he said. “Fowl, you want to open it?”

“Nah, Cordellia can. I think she’s overly excited about getting a peek.”

Smiling, their ranger moved to the chest that barely came to her knees, bent down, and lifted the lid.

“Potions… of some kind.”

Everyone joined her and stared inside the chest. No swirling portal or anything like it was present. Instead, it was a standard metal chest with five small potions of swirling colors.

She reached inside and plucked them out, handing one to each of them.

[ Identify Potion ]

*****

Elixir of Gains

+10 to a Random Stat

+10 to a Random Stat

*****

“Uh… is this thing seriously going to give me twenty points?” Fowl asked as he swirled the potion around near his face.

“That’s what the description says,” Tanila stated. “Would you expect it to do something else?”

“No… still I’m almost happier to have this than a piece of equipment that I can’t use,” their warrior replied. “I mean… twenty points is pretty good even if it ends up in my intelligence.”

“We could only hope,” Batrire declared as she gave him a wink.

Smiling, Max stored his and motioned to the rest of them.

“There’s the portal. Let’s take it, and then you can drink it later when you want. We would probably be better off leaving like we were asked for now.”

“Asked or told?” Tanila said as she moved to join him.

Shrugging, he grinned.

“I guess we’ll never know.”

***

“This world is so different,” Rakonath said as Max scratched the scales on his neck. “We flew around for almost a day, and the vastness of the sand was a bit overwhelming. How you survived for so long is a testament to your strength.”

“It was more of my desire to see Tanila again,” he replied. “What else did you see?”

“Aerthen showed me the large mountain cliffs you mentioned. They went on for a while and some creatures lived up there but we ignored them for now. This was more about exploring and getting waypoints determined for when I get to go out alone if you still plan on leaving me here.”

“I’m not leaving you here. This is a chance for you and Aerthen to get strong in an environment I believe is better suited for helping you grow stronger. Part of me wants to take you into the tower. The other part of me wants to keep you safe. Until I’m certain you won’t be at risk of dying, I cannot bear the thought of fighting beside you yet.”

A snort sent some mucus flying and the silver dragon shook his head.

“I’m just excited that soon you should be able to ride on my back. Aerthen says that I could probably carry you right now but not for long and that it would be best to be stronger before I try. Perhaps before you must leave, we can attempt it.”

“I look forward to that day,” Max informed his dragon, patting the scales softly. “There is still so much I want to do, and yet I feel unable to do most of it. It’s like everything pulls me in different directions, and I have to decide what is more important.”

“You feel drawn to the tower and the need to complete it, don’t you? What happens after you pass it?”

Grinning, he shrugged and leaned against the silver scales, sliding down until he was resting on the floor.

“No one knows, but each day Bob and I work to piece things together a little better.”

“That is the one inside your head with you?”

“Yup. It’s funny… or maybe weird that both of you can sense the other when you are talking to me. Still, he is an ally. Just as close of a friend as you and the others. Igarra had defeated the tower, and Bob thinks this is her world… something she crafted or created after passing it. We’re not sure how it works, and no one has solid answers, and I didn’t get the answers I wanted from Phaius–”

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“The human god on your world?”

“Correct. Next time we meet I’m going to have a lot more questions for him, and hopefully, this time he’ll be able to answer them,” Max replied before sighing. “So many things are kept secretive. It makes me wonder why.”

“I understand what you mean. I have often tried to reach out to my Father in dreams, but nothing has come of it. I can sense his presence far off, but it is almost like he is hiding himself from me… distancing himself from me. Aerthen says it is because he is perhaps trying to protect us. Similar to what you are doing with me.”

Frowning, Max could sense the frustration of his dragon.

“You don’t agree with my decision to keep myself from you those first few months?”

“While I did not like it, I understand why you had to. There are many lives dependent upon you. I myself am one of the many, and anyone can easily see who sits at the top of that list.”

A slight thrum came from the growing dragon, and Max chuckled with him.

“Do you feel alone?”

Max’s question cut off Rakonath, and for a moment the two of them sat there in silence. His hand scratching a scale was the only action either took as the young dragon thought.

“No… Sometimes I felt like a part of me was missing, but Aerthen has never let me feel alone. She always reminds me of the wisdom of the path we are on. Even now, she understands how coming here benefits both her and me. Back on the other world, we might find ourselves in conflict with the gold dragon, Kemruss. Neither of us wishes to test our strength against him right now. Being here, with your blessing and the ability to fly away if needed, we can roam, and she can teach me to hunt prey of a different kind.”

“You do realize it will be a month before I can return… possibly longer, depending on what is taking place back home.”

His dragon bent his neck until both silver eyes were locked on Max.

“I do. Do not forget time isn’t the same to me. Those first few weeks I was an eggling and had yet to learn the simple things I needed to. Now, I see the bigger picture. We will spend hundreds of years together, and a month or two now will mean little.”

Shaking his head, Max patted the jaw that was near him.

“You’re pretty smart for someone under a year old.”

“I owe it all to Aerthen.”

***

Max flipped through the sheets of items that Everett had written down while they were gone, scanning the information about crafting materials, weapons, potions, and armor.

“What are the top three items for us to focus on?”

The faction leader tapped the top of the page he had laid out before him, and Quilazmore nodded after receiving a questioning look.

“Weapon wise…” Everett said, pausing and shaking his head at apparent disbelief, “You’ll not replace that one anytime soon. Knowing what you can craft means you can do a far better job than most of the stuff for sale at any time. An occasional item might appear to have value, but those are so costly and do not make good use of the tokens you acquire.

“Armor is similar… but with the few pieces you shared with me, again, we’re back to looking at a very short list of things we think would be worth acquiring. That leaves us to crafting materials as well as potions and elixirs.”

Max verified that the sheet he was reading from matched the one Everett used.

“This first one is a crafting material, and knowing what you’re looking for is probably high on our list.”

*****

Star Fragment - Rumored to be a piece of a fallen star, though many consider them a variant of a meteor or other falling object. Most are smaller than the size of a normal person’s hand yet are well known for their unfailing strength and ability to absorb magical energy. Takes a special forge to smelt.

*****

“Your friend is right,” Quilazmore said as he picked at his teeth with a nail. “Those are rare, but if you can acquire one, I’m certain you and Buwingrid could use it to create something special. Just know it would most likely cost most of our current tokens. However, I have started the process of listing the corpse you have, and I expect it to fetch a fair price.”

“About that… I want to try one more thing before we sell it. I may know someone who would want it.”

Both black eyebrows came together as the dark elf studied him before shrugging.

“It’s your trophy. I’m just here to help facilitate the transfer of materials and tokens.”

Clearing his throat, Everett pointed to the second item on the list.

*****

Blessed Elixir - This elixir appears about every three to four months and often sells immediately after being listed. Each time, it appears that the selling price continues to grow and is often one of the top four most expensive items. Rumors state that this elixir can grant anywhere from 50 to 100 stat points across two random attributes. A person can only drink one of these in their lifetime.

*****

Whistling, Max gave an appreciative nod.

“That’s a lot of stats… how good are they?”

“As I informed your friend, they are quite expensive, and Igarra spent quite a large sum to acquire hers.”

“Was that a recent purchase?” Max asked.

Quilazmore shook his head and tapped on the tablet on the table.

“No… I can see a history of what she purchased. Most of her purchases were spent on the currency we cannot access but occasionally she did purchase something for herself. This was one of them.”

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Everett grinned as he leaned back in his chair.

“Could you imagine? Getting lucky and getting a hundred in two stats you wanted? That’s forty levels!”

“What would you do if they ended up in the stats you didn’t want?” Max asked.

Shrugging the Faction leader never lost his smile.

“I’m certain I can use the points somewhere. Besides, an increase like that is worth it no matter what stat it ends up in.”

Leaning forward, Everett tapped the third item from the top.

“Which leaves us with the most difficult and hardest decision we can make.”

****

Planetary Communication Ring - This ring requires a second one and each must be purchased independently. Upon acquiring two rings, they may be bound and up to five may be connected to one master ring. Once a week the ring may be activated and communication can take place for twenty minutes across worlds.

*****

“A way to communicate between here and our home planet,” Max said slowly.

That would help ease your mind and allow for long-term planning and troubleshooting.

So you agree with me that this should be the first item we focus on?

I do… and you’ll need three at least: one for here, one for you, and another for Everett or whoever is going to have it back in your world.

Nodding to himself, Max saw both men looking at him, waiting for his response.

“Get three. We’ll figure out what we need to do.”

A slight hiss came as Quilazmore sucked air in through his sharp teeth.

“Those aren’t cheap nor are they extremely expensive…if you want three, I can make it happen. It should take no longer than a week.”

Storing the papers Everett had given him, Max nodded.

“That’s fine. And start selling a few of Igarra’s dragon scales. I spoke with Buwingrid, and I know a market exists. Perhaps even a tooth or two as I know we don’t have a ton of them left. Let’s remind the worlds out there that she’s dead by my hands. Perhaps we can prevent anyone else from being stupid in the coming weeks.”

Laughter filled the room as Quilazmore laid his head back and roared.

“Oh, Max… for once I hope you’re right,” he finally got out.

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