Bernita was the first to find her voice. "Lily... did you enter the dungeon?"

What followed was laughter — genuine, unrestrained, the kind that built slowly and then couldn’t stop. "Aside from missing out on the big tree’s experience," Lily said, still giggling, "there’s quite a pile of things in here. It’s strange though, Brother Don, where did all the monsters go? There’s nothing left but drops."

Don’s pulse jumped. "Lily, that’s because they were all summoned. When the Elder died, they went with it." He paused. "Are you telling me you’re standing in front of a pile of loot right now?"

"I might be," she said, in a tone that was doing nothing to hide how pleased with herself she was. "Hurry up and come see. There might be a surprise. And if none of you want it, I’m trading it for steamed buns."

The team chat exploded.

The shift from quiet resignation to barely-contained excitement happened in the span of about ten seconds, and then everyone was moving. Don could hear it in their voices, the quick, overlapping messages, the sound of people who had already given up suddenly having somewhere very urgent to be. He set off at a pace that was closer to a run than a walk, humming something tuneless under his breath, the early morning air cool against his face.

He was halfway there when the group chat erupted in gasps.

"Shh," Lily said immediately. "Keep it down, or we’ll attract attention."

"Lily." Don’s voice came out higher than he intended. "What is it? Is it a quest item?"

"That and more." She let the pause stretch just long enough to be genuinely maddening. "Just get here. And you should probably think about upgrading your equipment while you’re at it."

Don’s legs were already moving faster. He arrived at the dungeon entrance slightly out of breath, took one moment to compose himself, and touched the teleportation array.

The silver light cleared, and six faces looked back at him, all of them smiling in a way that immediately told him the situation was better than he’d dared hope.

Cappuccino gave a slow, approving thumbs-up. "Don. You’re the biggest winner today."

Diana nodded once. "Genuinely lucky."

Lily was standing with both hands behind her back, the picture of theatrical innocence.

Don adopted his most persuasive expression. "Little sister. Whatever you’re holding. I will trade you one lollipop for it. Final offer."

"I don’t eat lollipops," she said, sticking out her tongue.

Diana shook her head with the air of someone who had long since made her peace with the nature of men. "Top-tier equipment and the right kind of company. That’s all it ever takes. I thought you might be different."

"I’m really not," Don said honestly.

Lily laughed and opened her arms. The light that spilled out from her hands was immediate and almost aggressive in its brightness, a cold shimmer that forced Don to squint before his eyes adjusted.

Resting in her palms was a dagger. Perfectly balanced, the blade catching light along a curve that spoke to engineering rather than accident.

He read the attributes twice.

[Huron’s Dagger]

[Rank: Silver]

[Type: Dagger]

[Required Level: 25]

[Physical Attack: 190–215]

[Strength +30]

[Agility +40 ]

[Constitution +30]

[Seal Slots: 2]

The base attack alone put his Queen Bee Sting to shame, and the bonus stats were the kind of numbers that made the dagger relevant well past the level range it occupied. Two open seal slots on top of that. He kept his expression measured, but his hands weren’t entirely steady when he picked it up.

The second piece of equipment was a breastplate. A faint green mist clung to its surface, and the leather had a quality to it, fine-grained, slightly springy under pressure, the kind of material that had been worked carefully rather than quickly.

[Elder’s Breastplate]

[Rank: Silver]

[Type: Leather Armor] 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

[Required Level: 25]

[Physical Defense +190]

[Magic Defense +190]

[Strength +17]

[Agility +25]

[Constitution +17]

[Seal Slots: 2]

Don looked at it for a moment, then looked at Lily, then back at the breastplate.

Lily’s expression was serene and entirely unconvincing. "Don’t even think about pretending you’re being generous."

"You need better defense. You proved that tonight."

"Your eyes already answered the question before your mouth opened."

Diana stepped in before the negotiation could go in circles. "Take it, Don. You’re the one in close range. Equipment dependency is different for a melee player." She glanced at Lily. "If it bothers you, help her level up. That seems like a fair trade."

Lily nodded immediately, with the enthusiasm of someone who had already decided this outcome. "Exactly. I’m with you now. You can’t shake me."

The statement landed with a weight it probably hadn’t intended to carry, and Don became abruptly aware that several people were looking between the two of them with expressions of careful neutrality. He decided explanation would make things worse and said nothing.

He unsealed both pieces of equipment instead. Eight stones total, not remarkable luck, but acceptable. The dagger unlocked cleanly: maximum attack up by fifty-five, and an additional one hundred and fifty damage folded into the backstab skill. The breastplate added ninety points to both physical and magical defense. The numbers were extraordinary. The level requirement was a problem, he was still one level short of equipping either of them, but that gap had a shape to it now, and shapes could be worked around.

A bronze-grade cloth leggings rounded out the drop pile, along with a small, satisfying heap of gold coins that divided evenly without argument.

He was still calculating when Diana caught the confusion on his face and laughed. "You’re looking for something. Turn around."

He turned.

The Elder’s corpse hadn’t despawned. It lay stretched across the dungeon floor, enormous and still, a fallen tree in every sense of the word, its bark already going grey at the edges, its roots curling upward like open hands.

Don found the vines and climbed without ceremony. Old habit, he’d spent enough time as a kid raiding bird nests in the orchards outside his hometown that vertical surfaces had never particularly intimidated him.