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1047 Words
“Wait, was that… Oh, right, that was the jungle rift.” He frowned at the mention of that rift. They had rushed him to a hospital for healing so quickly after clearing that rift, he had almost forgotten about it. Or rather…forced it from his memory.
“Exactly. It’s only been with you for a few decades. But if you want to count the last time it was separated from you, then it’s been…a year? Two?”
“One and a half,” he grumbled in agreement while the wound scabbed over and bandaged by Liz. Once it was done, he pulled out a new pair of boots and socks. Liz took them and put them on for him despite his insistence that he could do it himself.
Aster came over and sniffed, but he could feel that she was worried for him through their bond.
Ruffling her fur, he said, “It’s fine. Just a toe or two.”
Aster didn’t feel reassured as she asked, “But we can’t get it healed until we leave here? Right? Did you happen to get a new spell I don’t know about?”
Matt sighed. She was exactly right, and they all knew it.
Wounds that the body couldn’t naturally heal were beyond undirected healing spells, which was all they had access to without a dedicated healer.
Susanne offered a suggestion. “Maybe we can find a friendly healer and get them to regrow it?”
Matt scoffed as he stood up. “It’s fine. Nothing lost except my pride.”
He couldn’t even blame it on not using [Cracked Phantom Armor], the skill just hadn’t been enough to block whatever had hit him, but he had been running it at about the lowest rate he could manage…
A few practice steps and Matt found he wasn’t inconvenienced. Luna had trained them to fight with injuries, handicaps, and missing appendages. This was a minor one, all things considered.
Liz looked more worried than he felt, and she stuck close to him as they inspected their rewards.
The boss duo dropped a number of items, including a snowflake tiara that Aster claimed, as it matched the pendant she had made to house her old flying ice cream cloud when they were Tier 6’s.
It also boosted any water or ice spells cast while she wore it, and would create a cloud of mist when activated, giving the fox some concealment if she needed to break a line of sight in a fight. All in all, it was a nice addition to her toolset, and she put it on her head immediately.
They were cleaning up the miscellaneous skill shards, and item drops when Susanne called out, “I think I found something.”
As they walked over to her, they saw what she meant.
Under the throne the boss had sat on was a cutout. A cutout that perfectly matched the treasure chest they had carried all this way.
With the elephant destroyed and on its resummon cooldown, he and Susanne had to manually carry it to the throne from where it fell, but they only set it into the hole after they emptied it of the items it held.
A petty part of Matt wanted to leave the cornucopia in it, but he wasn’t going to pass on any loot, no matter how dumb it was. They could probably sell it to a restaurant or make a table center out of it. It would make a good party trick if nothing else.
As it happened it was a good decision. Once they sent it down the treasure chest lit up and started to glow with a light that grew over a few seconds to a blinding intensity.
From the throne, the voice of the old pirate echoed out. “Ahh. The Misty Island. I have finally arrived. I must thank ye. I never thought to make it to these shores, let alone make it to the throne room. I see ye have struggled and grown. But struggle is where we grow. And I see you have found the horn of plenty.”
As the woman spoke, the cornucopia floated over to the throne with the key that they used to open the front door, the mirror that broke illusions, and the compass that led them to the island.
“The horn has powers beyond the norm. From its bounty, I empower the tools you used to get there. First the key. With its power, you may, for a cost, unlock any lock you encounter. Take everything not nailed down. Give nothing back.” The voice cackled as it said that last, and the key started to glow from an energy that came from the cornucopia.
“The mirror to show you the truth of things. Few things are as dangerous as seeing beyond the deceptions people put up for others to see. Break those illusions.”
The mirror then glowed with the same light that empowered the key before the compass started to glow.
“A compass to point you to a treasure already found is useless. With the power of the horn, it will now point where the greatest treasure in its vicinity is. It will cost you, but everything worthwhile does.”
With that, the cornucopia fell to the throne, and Matt picked up the items as he was the closest.
“This can’t be real. Right?” Matt and everyone else was looking at the compass which rested on his palm.
Liz shook her head. “A seeker item? I’ve only heard about them in stories. Legends really. If so, that’s more than worth the bullshit we dealt with, even if it only works for Tier 14 and under items. How’s it work? Try it. I want to see.”
Susanne nodded silently in ascent.
Aster was the only one to look away as she asked the throne, “Any chance I can get the cornucopia to make ice cream instead of fruit, Miss Treasure Chest?”
Seeing that it didn’t respond, she lowered her ears and sulked.
Matt tried to send mana into the compass, and to his surprise, it worked. Or at least, it took the energy, but nothing else happened.
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- Writer
