“I’m glad that worked out,” Max declared as he leaned back against the carriage they had rented to take them back to the inn. “I was a bit nervous when you told them we would commit today, but that discount sounds amazing.”

Tanila chuckled slightly as she agreed. “The fact that he met us told me he would negotiate, and we will come way ahead by not having to give as much back to the Faction. Especially when we are in the tower.”

“How much does one normally give?” Max asked.

“It’s usually twenty percent of whatever you collect,” Fowl answered, not opening his eyes as he leaned against the carriage's wall. “Tanila is right. It will be a massive gain for us, only having to give ten percent for two years. At the speed at which we progress… well, it will be a lot.”

“I’m surprised you offered him those items so quickly,” Max said as he nudged Fowl with his foot. “I wasn’t sure if you would at first.”

Opening just one eye, Fowl rolled it. “It’s our home now. Factions work differently than even the adventurers guild. To hold those back would do us no good. As Tanila pointed out, the points we earned by turning those in today will have them begging to help us level faster.”

“Which means tomorrow we are going to do what?”

Max and Tanila looked at Batrire, who was rubbing her left arm with her right hand.

“I guess we will go and kill all the bosses for the dungeons we don’t farm anymore. Hopefully, we can get a few good drops, and the experience they give should be worth that grind.”

Batrire nodded, squeezing her arm slightly.

“But we don’t need to do the scorpion one,” Tanila said. “I’m not sure I want to ever go back in there.”

Max saw Batrire let out the breath she had been holding in, and Tanila leaned over and squeezed her knee.

“I guess that means a good meal, a solid night's rest, and then tomorrow morning we go at first light?” Max asked.

“Sounds good to me,” Fowl muttered. “But a nap now sounds even better.”

After grunting, Batrire elbowed her partner and leaned against him, letting him wrap his arm around her as they rode back to the inn.

Max glanced at Tanila, sitting beside him, smiling as she watched Fowl and Batrire relax together.

“You can lean against me if you want,” he whispered, motioning to his shoulder.

A slight redness filled Tanila’s cheek for a moment before she smiled and lay her head against the shoulder he offered.

“I got it!”

Max let Fowl handle the dragonkin boss and focused on the two warriors with it. With his new rank in Weapons Master and where his stats were now, killing them was only a one or two-hit process.

“One more!” he shouted, taking down the rooted warrior in a single strike. His axe blade cut through its skin without any issues now, carving through bone like they were sticks.

Fowl was standing strong against the boss even though it towered over him by almost five feet.

It had a shield and carried a massive sword, but nothing it threw at Fowl made it past the dwarven warrior's defenses.

Its tail whipped around, coming in to strike as part of a combo attack with its sword and shield, but Tanila summoned a wall of air, causing it to stop and allowing the dwarf to land a hit against its leg.

Spinning back around, its sword glowed, chopping at Fowl, who braced for the attack's impact. It drove the dwarf to his knees, but Max was behind it before it could make a second attack.

[ Power Strike ]

His axe head cut clean through the boss's stomach, sending its top half crashing to the ground.

Another strike to its neck cut its head off, and Max didn’t waste time grabbing the head and storing it while also cutting off the tail.

[ Consume has Consumed an Ability ]

[ Ability Rank is lower than Current Rank ]

[ Power Stored for Future Use ]

Max sighed, shaking his head.

“Nothing?”

“Says the power is stored for future use… that has happened a few times lately.”

Grunting, Fowl stood up and stretched, the heals from Batrire taking away his injury from the boss’s blow.

“And your skill still says nothing new?” Fowl asked, even though he already knew the answer.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

[Skill Description - Consume]

*****

Consume - Epic Skill: When killing a person, creature, or monster, the skill holder has a chance to consume some of the essence of the one defeated. Health, Stamina, Mana, Stats, and Skills have a chance of being gained. Stats cannot be consumed if current stats are higher. Skills can be upgraded if a higher-rank skill is consumed. No experience may be gained by killing creatures or others. No experience is gained via quests. The power of skills and abilities consumed may be stored for future growth.

*****

“Just that power can be stored. I’m not sure how it works, and it has been quiet on the discussion front lately.”

Grunting, Fowl moved to the boss and grabbed its sword, knowing it would dissolve if he didn’t get it in time.

“That is still a chunk of experience,” Tanila said as she moved to where both warriors stood fooling around, as usual. “Let’s get that chest and see if anything is worthwhile.”

The chest had a ring up for grabs, and everyone else passed so Fowl could have it. A bright orange cloak awaited him and soon decorated Fowl’s back. Someone had mentioned the word pumpkin, which had brought some choice curse words from the dwarf. A pair of red chain gloves went to Max, and both casters found a pair of lizardskin boots.

“I’m not sure how I feel about these,” Tanila said as she held the boots up. “It doesn’t really match my style.”

“Who cares?” Batrire replied as she proudly held hers. “Both of us need a new pair of boots, and they have to be better than what we are wearing now.”

“Fashion, Batrire, fashion. Soon, something with a massive brown spike will be your reward, and don’t make me–”

“Hey now, let’s not make fun of me,” Max said, cutting off Tanila, who was starting to laugh already.

“Fair point,” Batrire said with a sigh. “If a brown spike item shows up, I will probably just burn it.”

Laughing, the four of them headed to the portal, ready to head to the next dungeon.

“Ogre humping gods… you got to be kidding me…”

Fowl’s curse words finally subsided as the four of them stood there, looking at the portal to the elemental boss.

“Tell me we aren’t seriously considering this…”

Max watched the others as they all stood there looking at Fowl, who shook his head, knowing full well they were going to go in.

“A blue and purple boss portal… I mean…” Tanila paused, looking at Batrire, who just nodded in agreement. “We just turned everything in yesterday. If we show up with something today…”

“We still have to beat this thing,” Fowl added. “It took us four hours to make it through those golems. I can’t do jack to them, and they still hurt when they hit. We are about to fight a boss, not just any boss, but one whose room has a portal like that. What if we get in there and we can’t leave?”

“Then we fight and win,” Batrire answered, giving her plate-wearing dwarf a shove.

“I guess after this, we hit the scorpion dungeon?” Fowl asked.

Max saw the expression on Batrire’s face, and Tanila hissed at Fowl, who only realized how bad that comment was after he made it.

“If you want, we can,” Batrire said quietly. “If you’re brave enough to go into the boss room, then I guess I can’t say no to fighting the scorpion dungeon either.”

“It’s not the sam–”

“It is the same,” Batrire argued, stopping Tanila’s defense. “Fowl’s right. I made fun of him for being afraid, but I’m acting the same way about the scorpions. If he wants me to face my fears, he will need to face his.”

Max could only imagine how thankful Fowl must be for having his plate helmet still on, able to hide whatever expression the dwarf must have.

“Gods, if I die, at least tell my parents I went out with a bang.”

“So that’s a yes?” Tanila asked.

The warrior nodded as he strode toward the portal. “Warriors first.”

Batrire held out her hand and started to open her mouth, but it was too late. Fowl had already entered the portal.

“That bastard… I swear I’m going to kill him when we get out of here.”

Grunting, Max moved toward the portal, not wanting to leave his friend in there alone.

“Goblin shite…”

Those words filled Max’s ears before he saw what Fowl was cursing about. As his vision returned, the boss filled it.

“Holy dragon balls… that thing is–”

“Massive… and there isn’t a portal behind us.”

Max spun, seeing both women appear behind him but noticing that there was indeed no portal to escape.

Turning his eyes to the women, he saw both of them react, their faces going white as they saw the boss, and then turned, realizing there was no way out.

“I’m sorry,” Batrire said quietly, facing Fowl, still staring at the boss. “This is my fault.”

“It isn’t,” Fowl said as he turned to face her and pulled his helm off. A few wet lines were on his face, at some point having come from his eyes. “We would have gone in here eventually. The problem with being stupid is we would have convinced ourselves.”

Turning back to the room, Max took in the massive rock boss. It was easily over fifteen feet tall and had a body that was so thick he wasn’t sure how many hits it would take to crack it open. It was at least twice as wide as the other golems they had fought. If the shard was inside it like all the others, he tried to figure out how he could hope to get to it. “Well, we need a plan. Any thoughts?”

“I’m just going to let it attack me and not try to die,” Fowl said. His voice never wavered, and Max knew that was exactly what Fowl had intended to do. “I got a few seconds for my buff, and as long as it doesn’t use a crazy overpowered strike like I’m betting it has, I should be able to take one of its hits. After that…”

No one said anything, as Max understood exactly what this fight meant. Every part of this fight would come down to him. There would be no one but him who could damage this as magic basically bounced off the stone.

Are you there? If you can hear me, we both know I’m in a spot and may need your help.

Laughter echoed in his head, and Max felt the voice inside him respond. It was different than usual.

This is your doing, not mine. You didn’t have to follow that fool in.

He’s my friend. I won’t let him die if I can prevent it.

So now you will die with them all?

If I die, you die as well.

Max put his hands to his temple. The throbbing as the laughter in his head grew louder was becoming too much.

Yes, but they will die as well. I am willing to bargain to help, but you must be willing to pay the price…

“Seth, are you ok?”

Max knew his face was scrunched, and he looked at Tanila and the others who were watching him.

“I’m talking with… it… It wants to make a deal for help.”

“What kind of deal?” Tanila asked.

Max could see the way her cheeks wrinkled as her face grew tight. She was grimacing.

“I don’t know yet, but something tells me I’m not sure I’ll want to pay the price.”