Grimmand let out a low whistle, leaning his axe against his hip. "Well, I will be damned. A free skill upgrade? On the first floor? I have heard of parties grinding for six months in C-rank dungeons just to get a drop like this. The System really must have been watching that fight closely."
Elara sat on a flat rock, uncorking a mana potion with her teeth. She took a long, grateful sip before wiping her mouth. "It says 'clear without losing anomaly.' That is Jacob. The System is rewarding us for keeping the kid alive against a boss that had no business being here. Technically, shouldn't the reward go to him? He is the one who took the hit, after all."
Carlos shook his head, staring at the screen. "He is not registered in the party interface. The System does not see him as a member. It sees him as an objective, like a payload or a VIP. The reward has to go to one of the four linked members."
He looked around the group. His expression was serious, but his posture was relaxed for the first time in an hour.
"So, how do we do this? I could claim leader privilege, considering I did most of the tanking, but that seems like a good way to start a mutiny before we even see the second floor."
"I took hits too!" Grimmand protested, tapping his dented shield. "And I am the one who actually killed it. If my axe mastery goes up a level, I could cleave through those jackal shells in one swing next time. Just saying, it is a solid investment for the team."
Tamsin was cleaning his fingernails with the tip of a dagger, looking bored. "If we are talking investment, giving it to the scout makes sense. Higher stealth means I can spot the traps before they blow Elara's eyebrows off. Or better, critical strikes mean I finish the fights faster, so Carlos does not get a headache."
"My eyebrows are fine, thank you very much," Elara shot back, though there was no heat in it. "But if we are being logical, a mage with a higher-tier spell clears waves faster than any of you. Just imagine if my Frost Bolt were level five. That Gatekeeper would have been an ice sculpture before it even jumped."
Carlos sighed, running a hand through his sweat-damped hair. "We are going to be here all day arguing logic. Everyone has a valid point. We do this the adventurer way. We let the System decide."
He tapped the interface, bringing up a sub-menu.
"Standard randomizer. One to twenty. The highest number takes the upgrade. No whining, no trading. Agreed?"
"Agreed," Grimmand grunted. "But if I roll a one, I am going to hit something."
"Agreed," Elara sighed. "I never win these things. My luck stat is abysmal."
"I am in," Tamsin said, a small, unreadable smile playing on his lips. "Fate is fair, right?"
"Alright," Carlos said. "Grimmand, you are up first. Do the honors."
The dwarf stepped forward and tapped the floating holographic die icon. It spun wildly in the air for a few seconds before settling.
[Grimmand rolls: 8]
"Bah!" Grimmand spat, kicking a pebble across the dirt. "Eight. Mediocre. Just like the ale in that tavern back in town. I told you I have no luck today."
"Better than a one," Elara noted. She stood up and tapped the icon. "Watch and learn, master dwarf. This is how you... oh, never mind."
[Elara rolls: 4]
Grimmand burst out laughing. "A four! You could not even beat an eight! I feel better already. Maybe the System knows you tripped."
Elara crossed her arms, her ears flushing pink. "It is a random number generator, Grimmand. It does not have opinions on my footwork. Go on, Carlos. Show us how a leader rolls."
Carlos stepped up. He didn't make a show of it. He just pressed the button.
[Carlos rolls: 17]
"Hah!" Carlos grinned, turning to the group. "Seventeen. Now that is a number. Looks like I will be taking that Shield Bash upgrade after all. Unless our rogue here has a miracle in his pocket."
He looked at Tamsin. The rogue was F-rank and E-rank on paper, unassuming and quiet. Beating a seventeen on a twenty-sided roll was statistically unlikely.
Tamsin shrugged, spinning his dagger. "Seventeen is high, boss. But you never know. Sometimes the wind blows the right way."
Jacob watched from the sidelines. He knew about probability. He knew the odds were less than 15% for Tamsin to win this.
Tamsin reached out and tapped the icon casually.
The die spun.
Tamsin watched it with narrowed eyes. He didn't pray to the gods. He didn't cross his fingers. He just leaned into that deep, hidden well of luck that he had never put on his status sheet. He felt the familiar tug in his gut, the strange warmth that always came when he gambled.
The die slowed. It clicked past 15. It clicked past 18.
It stopped.
[Tamsin rolls: 20]
"No way!" Grimmand roared, throwing his hands up. "A natural twenty? Are you kidding me?"
Elara's jaw dropped. "I have never seen a natural twenty on a loot roll. Ever. Tamsin, what kind of shrine did you pray at this morning?"
Carlos stared at the number, blinking. Then he let out a short, incredulous laugh. "Well. I stand corrected. A twenty beats a seventeen any day of the week."
Tamsin looked at the number, feigning mild surprise. He knew his passive skill, Gambler's Tilt, added a flat +3 to any chance-based interaction with the System, but to the rest of them, it just looked like divine intervention.
"Lucky me," Tamsin deadpanned. "I guess fate likes rogues today."
"Unbelievable," Grimmand grumbled. "Fine. Take it. What are you going to upgrade? Backstab? Stealth?"
Tamsin looked at the reward selection screen that had just appeared in front of him. He thought about it for a second.
"Actually," Tamsin said, selecting an option. "I am going to upgrade Critical Eye. It helps me find weak points in armor. With how thick the hides are on this floor, I figure making sure my daggers actually penetrate is more important than hiding."
A gold light enveloped Tamsin for a brief second as the skill leveled up.
"Good choice," Carlos nodded, clapping the rogue on the shoulder as the light faded. "That extra crit damage will pay for itself on the next floor."
"Alright, the rogue got his magic light show," Grimmand grunted, turning his attention back to the massive carcass of the Gatekeeper. "But we are forgetting the main course. That was a random spawn boss. The loot table on those things is supposed to be juicy. If I walk away from this with just a story about a flying pig-lion, I am going to be upset."
"It is not a pig-lion," Elara corrected, stepping gingerly over the churned-up earth. "It is a chimera variant. And Grimmand is right. The body is already starting to dissolve. We need to grab the drop before the dungeon reclaims it."
Carlos knelt beside the massive beast. The edges of the creature's fur were already turning into gray smoke, drifting up into the dungeon's ceiling. As the biological matter faded, it left behind the condensed mana structures that formed its existence.
"Let's see what you were hiding," Carlos muttered.
He reached into the fading smoke and pulled out two objects.
The first was a monster core, but it was twice the size of the jackal cores they had been collecting. It pulsed with a heavy, rhythmic thrumming sound, like a slow heartbeat.
"Ooh," Tamsin whistled, leaning in. "That is not an F-rank core. That looks like a solid E, maybe even pushing D-rank density. That will fetch a pretty heavy coin at the guild exchange."
"It is an Earth-affinity core," Elara noted, adjusting her glasses. "You can feel the gravity coming off it. That explains why the beast hit so hard. It was magically enhancing its own weight."
Carlos dropped the core into the party's shared loot bag and reached for the second item. It was one of the creature's tusks, but unlike the bone-white ivory of a normal animal, this one was a deep, metallic gray. It looked more like forged steel than organic matter.
Item: Tusk of the Heavy Boar[Rank: E]
Material: High-density bone. [Suitable for weapon crafting or armor reinforcement.]
"Crafting material," Carlos said, tossing it in his hand. It made a heavy thud when it hit his palm. "Grimmand, this is up your alley. Want to try and fashion a new pommel for that axe?"
Grimmand shook his head. "Nah. Too light for a dwarf axe, even with the density. But we can sell it to a smithy. Someone will want to grind that down for arrowheads or dagger tips. Good penetration."
"I will take the coin split," Tamsin agreed. "My daggers are fine."
Carlos stood up, securing the bag. "Solid haul. A skill upgrade, a high-grade core, and a rare material. Not bad for twenty minutes of work, even if we did almost get squashed."
He looked over at the shimmering distortion between the two stone pillars. The gate to the second floor was humming, the air around it vibrating with a low frequency.
"Alright, break time is over," Carlos said, checking the straps on his shield. "We have cleared the anomaly. Now we go back to the standard grind. Everyone, check your mana and stamina. Jacob?"
Jacob looked up from where he had been staring at the spot where the monster had vanished. "Yes?"
"You did well back there," Carlos said, his voice softer now. "But the next floor is going to be different.