Chapter 208: ...Claw's Nest (9)

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I had the whole loot table memorized.

But that didn’t mean I was free to get what I wanted.

The treasure box, or [Vending Machine] as it was so lovingly referred to in the gaming community, had a strict set of formulas that you had to insert to get the desired output.  The formula included a set list of ingredients plus the order that you had to put them in.

Items like potions, weapons, armor, accessories…

As well as monster parts and Cores..

And sometimes, a characters; if you wanted to delve into the darker side of things.

When the [Vending Machine] was first discovered, it was a big deal.  Here was an item that could possibly jump-start your build by giving you whatever item you wanted, as long as you could figure out how to work the box to your favor.  Anything was up for grabs.  Equipment, Cursed Weapons, Legendary Armor, Elixirs and unique accessories…

Cores you couldn’t get till the late game.  Charms that could make farming certain monster types a joke.

It became a community effort to get a loot table.

Back then, I contributed too.  But I kept some information to myself.  I remember not liking the thread too much.  There were too many trolls on the boards, always posting false information.  Or, more likely, people who played on a different version of the game.

“Everyone, take out whatever is in your [Dimension Ring].”  I ordered.

“Why, Slaveborn?”  Lety asked.

“This chest can spit out an item, depending on what kind of stuff you put in.  I want to see what we all have, so that I can go over our options.”

To be truthful, there was only one item that I wanted in this situation.

[The Friendly Compass].  An accessory that dropped from monsters that usually inhabited abandoned Mage Towers.  Specifically from [Golem] and [Undead] types that were grade-3 and above.

With it…

‘I could find everyone.’

The caveat being that it was a single use item.  It would break after it got within a set distance within the target.

But that was a small price to pay, if I could find my comrades.

That is if we had enough materials.

“Come on, hurry up.”  I scowled at the three of them.

Freier put a hand on her [Dimension Ring], gave a little shrug and started to bring out all her belongings.  Kyrian was already underway.  Lety began to follow suit.

I did the same.

It took us a better part of an hour  to gather everything, and then sort them by category.  Then we had to take all the duplicate items and put them back into Dimension Rings, because it was getting too hard to see.  We spread them all out on the floor like a flea market, with me doing most of the sorting.

“Are you planning to just dump everything into the chest?”  Freier sat nearby, watching me sort the monster parts.  

Lety had a lot of monster parts; not really anything else.

…Had Arione been treating her like a Pack Mule?

“No.”  I gave her a look, pretending she had grown a second head.  “That’s a waste of materials.”

“Then what are you planning to do with this?”  Freier said, “In case you weren’t aware, the chest is only set to work up to a certain value.  After that, it’ll disappear.”

What Freier said was true.  The chest couldn’t be used indefinitely.  That’d be insane.  No, the chest had an internally set value.  Once the items produced met that value, it would break.  All chests had a different value too.

“I know that too.”  I snapped.  I lost count because of her and had to restart.

“Then what is your plan?”

“I’m going to use the chest to produce an item that could track down my party members.”

“...How?”

I frowned at her.  “The chest is right there.  That’s how.”

“No, I mean, how will you ensure you get it to create what you want?”  She asked.

“By putting in the necessary items…”  I muttered.

“But there’s no way of knowing what item will produce–”

“Stop right there.”  I held up a hand.  “You’re afraid I’m going to gamble everything away?”

She nodded.  “And I know that I’m overstepping my bounds, but if you truly wish to save your companions, there is a better, systematic approach to using the [Vending Machine].  We can–”

“You don’t need to worry.”  I turned back to my task.  “I have the loot table memorized.”

And she said nothing.

I couldn’t see her expression because she was behind me.  But I knew that she was there, just frozen in place.

Finally, she said, “You’re lying.”

I sighed.

“I don’t care.  Now, go away before I forget why I decided to keep you alive.”

Her heels clicked against the marble floor as she walked away to some other part.  Peeking over my shoulder, I saw her say something to L’teya, to which the barbarian laughed.

Muttering a curse, I returned to sorting the monster materials.

“Lock?”

“Goddamit,”  I snarled to no one in particular and turned to see Kyrian.  “...Not you.  What is it?”

“Nothing.  I came over here to help.”

We delved into the monster materials together.  Normally, a Mage would never get his hands dirty like this.  Mages are pretty rare in this world, and they tend to be a little stuck up.  

Especially the researcher ones.  Kyrian was a battle mage though, with the catch of being a minor noble.  But living as the next best thing to homelessness with Skaris and I, it had changed Kyrian.  He wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty.

“You should be kind to her, Lock.”  He said at last.

I knew the silence was too good to last.  Losing count once more, I turned to him and gave him my undivided attention.  “To who?  The Player?”

“...Freier, yes.”

“Why?”

“It’s not like you, to be cruel.”

“I don’t get what you mean by that.”

Kyrian took a deep breath and I felt a speech coming.  But he just shrugged.  “You seem especially bitter towards her.  You… treat her… differently.  Than anyone else.”

“She was part of Delas’ party.  She killed people that we were on the expedition with.”

“Yes.  Yet, so did we.”  He played with the Dimension Ring on his finger.

“Only cause we had to.”  I had to fight to keep my voice level.

“...Yes, we did.”  Kyrian nodded, “I wonder what her reason for fighting were.”

“Don’t tell me you’re sympathizing with her.”

“Her situation is not so different than mine, Lock.”  He smiled softly, his blonde locks reduced to raggy oily tufts of hair without a chance to wash for days, especially after being soaked in seawater.  “I was once a part of the Akka Xaluds.  Hunting you… and L’teya over there, if memory serves right.  Yet, you welcomed me with open arms.”

I didn’t have anything to say to that.

Because… as vexing as it was, I could see his point.

But that was the problem.  Kyrian wasn’t a [Player].  Freier was.

Not only that, she was part of the [Player’s Guild].  The very same guild that didn’t work under any country, any world power, but for their own.  They weren’t beholden to anyone, many of their motivations were still shrouded in the dark.  How the hell could I trust her when I didn’t even know what she wanted?

Actually, what did the [Player’s Guild] want?

To go home?  To rise to power?  Just what?

I shook my head.  “Now’s not the time to talk about this.”

Kyrian nodded, “Agreed.”

We got to work.

It took awhile, but I managed to catalogue all the useful items that we had.  Luckily for us, there were enough materials in there to create a compass.  The bad news?  It wouldn’t be the [Friendly Compass].

“It’s not enough.”  I shook my head.

“...What do we need?”

“The material of a grade-4 monster, a weapon with the [Scry] ability, and a map enchanted to track monsters grade-5 and above.”  I sighed, “We have the gold and the substitutable items… but those three are non-negotiables.”

“Then let’s go hunt a grade-4 monster.”  Lety said simply, “and take the chest with us.”

“The chest is bound to the dungeon.  The moment we try to lift it, it will lose its magic and crumble to dust.”  Freier explained.

“Oh.”

“Lock, what do we do?”  Kyrian looked to me.

“Give me a second to think.”

The [Friendly Compass]... it was out of reach.  WAs there time to hunt a grade-4 monster and come back?  No.  That was a waste of time and the whole point of creating the [Friendly Compass] was to use our time wisely.

I needed to give up on it quickly.

“Ok, we’re giving up on the compass.”  I said.

“That quickly?”  Freier looked surprised.

“Value.”  I said, “We need value.  The [Friendly Compass] costs too much of our time.  We need to make do with what we have here.”  

And acting quickly, I rummaged around the room and picked up the materials we needed.

“What are you making now?”  Freier followed me around.

I wanted to tell her to go away, but kept myself from saying it out loud.  “A different type of compass.  One that points towards the nearest non-monster.”

An item so common in MSS that it doesn’t even have a name.  They use it to rescue stranded adventurers from dungeons.  Atleast, that’s what it used to be used for.

Gathering the mats, I dumped them into the chest and closed it.

Lety walked up to the chest, her eyes shining.  “What happens now?”

Giving her an even look, I opened the chest.

And all the materials were gone.  Instead, a small compass was in its place.  A tin-and-copper case, with a plain watch-like face, with a thin metal needle pointing one way.

“T-that’s it?”  She sounded disappointed.  “I thought this thing was magical.”

“That was it.”  I grabbed the compass, “Grab your materials.  We’re leaving.”

“And leaving the chest here?”  Freier bursted, breaking the calm demeanor.

“Yes.”  I kicked the chest, “It won’t spit out anything more useful.”

“How can you tell?”  She kept asking questions.

“Because of the color.  The metal used.  The shape.  Instinct.  It’s a shitty chest.  At best, it might spit out a grade-10 Core, if we really push it.  But that’s a waste of time and materials.”

As I was talking, she was staring at the compass in my hand and then back at my face.  Most of her face was hidden by the veil, but she strained her neck; studying the compass.

“This will point to the nearest human being.”  I threw the compass to L’teya and she caught it easily.  “L’teya you take the lead.  Just go in the way that the needle points.”

Taking the compass, she pointed towards one of the tunnels.  “That direction.”

“Lock, the tunnels were all twisting until now.”

“Yes, but that was in the underground system.  We’re in the Spire now.”  I answered, “Come on.  Gather everything up.  We’re moving.”

My heart started racing.  Finally, a lead.  Finally, a tool that I could use to actually track people down, instead of looking around blindly.  Now, I was a step closer to finding the people that I swore to protect.

Within minutes, we were racing.

The Spire, a structure made of marble, had tunnels filled with the same obsidian stone.  Rectangular in everyway, and following the Compass’ direction, we realized we were steadily heading up.  Imagine a huge skyscraper, but it’s the size of a shopping mall times ten.  That’s what we were running inside of.  Finding someone we know out of everyone was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

With the compass…

Speed.  We needed sped.

“Freier.”

No sooner than the words had left my mouth than she summoned her mount.  A black-winged lion.

I was impressed.  If only she wasn’t a [Player]... I could use a capable healer like this.

“Kyrian, get on.”  I ordered.

With the Healer and the Mage on the mount, L’teya and I began to sprint at full speed.

It didn’t take us long to find another person.

The people came around the corner and leaped back.

“Barbarian?!”

“...Scion.”

L’teya’s face went pale.

They were people she knew.

Scarlet.

And Maria Akka Xalud.

Upon seeing us, Maria Akka Xalud immediately went into a fighting stance.

And I drew my sword.

I said two words.

“Kill them.”