Kai woke up when his MP returned to 1 from zero after three minutes. His head was resting in Mimi's lap, and everyone had gathered around him, sitting down while they healed and ate to maintain their natural regeneration rate, which was highly affected by the hunger bar.
He, too, started healing himself as soon as he regained consciousness. Looking up at Mimi gobbling bread after bread. His health was still at seven—he was the one who needed it the most.
"Hey! Go pick up the loot!" Mimi's annoying voice came from above him after a minute.
Kai sighed and got up. Only the leader of the party could pick up loot from bosses or mini-bosses. If he died, the surviving members would get the option to select a new leader—most of the time, the role was given to the strongest person in the team, so it was rare for a leader to die before most of their teammates.
Everyone eagerly followed behind him to see what he would get.
"What the hell was that last skill you used?" Jor asked.
"Yeah, Where did you learn that?" Mimi echoed.
Even his mother added, "Why didn't you use it before?"
Kai replied, "It's not a normal skill. It leaves me completely empty of mana every time I use it."
"Your bloodline skill?" his mother asked.
"Yes."
Kai reached the pile of loot The Hollow King had left behind and showed everyone the list displayed on his interface.
[Available Loot:
Gold x 30
Silver x 40
Beastbone Shards (Common) x 7
Cracked Hide Boots (Common)
Hollow Mead (Uncommon) x 2
Cursed Bone Charm (Uncommon)
Twinfang Blades (Rare)
Mantle of the Hollow King (Rare)]
"Rare item!" Mimi squealed.
"A weapon at that!" Sherry said excitedly.
"Two rare items—his cape and the swords!" Jor joined in the excitement too.
Kai picked up everything. The moment he did, a hidden door was revealed in the side wall, inside which was a blue portal—an exit from the dungeon. However, what truly caught everyone's attention was another object illuminating the dark room with its bright golden glow.
A Golden Chest!
A notification appeared on their interface—not just for them, but for all players across the town of Somnium.
[Congratulations to Player Renatus_Kai, Illegalmeowes, Call_Me_Prince7, MightyJor, and SherryBlue for breaking the record for The Beast Hollow dungeon.]
"We broke.. the record?" Jor murmured.
"That's never happened before.." Sherry said, her gaze locked onto the golden chest.
Kai answered, "Only teams that run the dungeon the fastest get it. There are hidden bosses that spawn a few times a week—killing them grants silver or bronze chests."
"Oh! it's like that.." Sherry murmured.
Kai walked up to the golden chest, the other four following behind him as if he were a mother duck and they were his ducklings. He opened the chest with both hands, revealing the loot inside.
[Available Loot:
Silver x 137
Gold x 40
Minor Health Potions (Common) x 5
Mana Recovery Herbs (Common) x 3
Leather Pouch of Beast (Uncommon)
Hollow King's Insignia (Common)
Wildhide Bracers (Uncommon)
Spirit-Infused Bone (Rare)
Hollow Reaver (Rare)
Wildheart Essence (Rare)]
The Spirit-Infused Bone and Wildheart Essence were ingredients. The Hollow Reaver was an axe that provided +8 to attack and +3 to magic defense, with a unique lifesteal effect (critical hits restoring chunks of HP). It was quite a strong beginner weapon.
Kai split the money and other items evenly among the five of them - the two beside him just dropped everything other than equipment onto him. Equipment was rolled for—since his main weapon wasn't a sword, he and Sherry didn't roll for the Twinfang Blades or the Hollow Reaver.
His mother won the axe, while Jor got the Twinfang Blades, which granted +9 to attack and +2 to speed. Kai, however, received The Mantle of the Hollow King, which provided +8 to speed and +1% mana regeneration.
The second they left the dungeon, players outside saw their IDs and immediately swarmed them. Constant friend requests and cries of "Help us level!" and "Carry us, expert!" were irritating to listen to.
Kai and his companions made a run for it. Once they managed to put some distance between themselves and the crowd, they finally had room to breathe.
Crossing the short distance on foot, they reached the town. The others dragged Kai to see their names on the Dungeon Leaderboards, even though he wanted to dump all the dungeon drops into the storage room he had bought.
Their names were at the top of the list for Beast Hollow. All other dungeons were still unconquered, and after seeing how the difficulty of dungeon monsters had increased, Kai finally had an idea why. Many teams must have been close to clearing them, but the limited dungeon entries—three times per day for Level 5 dungeons and once per day for Level 10 dungeons—were restricting high-level players from testing new strategies.
"It was a lot of fun playing with you three. Can we tag along when you do dungeon runs?" Jor asked.
"Ah, sure," Kai replied. "We have some people coming, but when we go for 10-player dungeons, I'll text you guys."
The couple beamed, exchanging smiles. Considering this was still a beginner town, they were good enough players.
Soon, Kai received two more friend requests, and this time, he accepted them.
Parting with the couple, Kai headed to the inn, stored all his loot—emptying his inventory—and fed Darksmile some hay before logging out for the day.
Both Jayden and Sora were online the last time he checked on them. It shouldn't take long before they reach Somnium. They weren't the only ones who had travelled vast distances to play with friends or simply explore new areas.
He had already shared a list of missions with his mother and Mimi—tasks they could complete in Somnium. Since they were staying there for a while, there was no rush, but it was up to them whether they wanted to do them or not.
Kai had also instructed them to keep an eye out for any information related to the Illness quest. Even in Somnium, the disease was a problem, though it wasn't as widespread here yet.
This mission was the only C-rank mission in the entire town, and beyond its rank, curing the villagers would yield the biggest reward. The town's mayor was a high-level NPC who ignored all players, no matter how they approached him. If they wanted to earn his favor, this mission was the best way to do it.