Chapter 70: Our Lucky Charm Strikes Again!

Chapter 70: Chapter 70: Our Lucky Charm Strikes Again!

Rika stared at the map, then at the chamber in front of them, then back at the map.

"This isn’t on here."

Kael peered over her shoulder. "Maybe the Guild forgot."

"The Guild charged fifteen hundred gold for this map."

"...Maybe they forgot even after charging fifteen hundred gold for it?"

Vex snorted while Zalor actually laughed outright.

"You people are never letting that go from her," Lucien said.

Kael gestured broadly at the crimson-lit chamber. "Why would we? We found an entire chamber the Guild didn’t know existed and it may be full of resources, that are definitely worth a lot and forgot to put it on the map." He then pointed dramatically at Lucien. "And who found it?"

"...Me?"

"Our lucky charm, that’s who." Kael threw an arm around his shoulders. "Every time you join us, we find better loot, secret chambers, get paid more—"

"And survive," Zalor added.

"That too."

Lucien sighed. "I regret saving you from those bats already."

"Too late," Kael said, already smiling. "You’re stuck with me."

They found more the deeper they explored, a modest vein of Blood Mana Crystals threading through the rock, close to a hundred common and a couple of noticeably larger uncommon-grade blood mana crystals.

Then the magical plants and treasures.

Dark-red roots and translucent leaves clustered near the crimson veins, Crimson Veinroot as Vex called it, Uncommon Rank, with it being useful for mana recovery and blood purification.

Soft crimson moss growing along the damp red walls, Bloodmoon Moss, good for anti-poison and mana circulation pills, Common Rank. And tucked in a shadowed corner, a small flower with a center that genuinely resembled a beating heart with blood red petals surrounding it.

Scarlet Heartflower Rare Rank.

’Seraphina is going to lose her mind over these,’ Lucien thought, carefully harvesting several and storing them together withthe party.

"Don’t take everything," Rika said, watching Kael eye the entire moss patch with alarming enthusiasm.

"Why not?"

"Because we need room for whatever we find on the lower floors and by leaving some, more can grow here, so do t strip everything."

"We should collect the valuable stuff and leave some of the Bloodmoon Moss," Vex added.

"Agreed," Zalor said.

"Why should we care, I say we loot the entire place." Kael declared earning a smack from Rika.

They split the haul into two categories, the good stuff for personal use or sale later, and the common materials destined for the Guild’s buyback counter.

"We’re getting rich," Kael announced.

"We’re getting slightly less poor," Lucien corrected.

"That’s exactly what rich people say." He said eyeing Lucien.

They found the staircase down to Floor Three not long after continuing their way, as they reached it they could feel the denser mana radiating off the descending stone stairs.

"We’re stopping here," Rika said.

Kael blinked. "Here?"

"Yes, it’s been more than half a day, we got to rest, eat, and recover."

His stomach growled loud enough to echo in the cave tunnel they found themselves in.

GRRRRROOOOOWL.

Everyone turned to look at him.

He glanced down at himself. "...My stomach has spoken, and eat it shall."

"We’re camping," Rika shook her head at his drama before she confirmed, already unpacking.

They set up quickly, a Concealment Array Plate, something that Lucien found out worked like an instant or pre-made array but with certain limitations like, a smaller area covered, being weaker than actual arrays while requiring lesser mana to stay active, etc.

This arrays effects were like the name said concealment, or to be more specific, muffle sound and dampen their presence around the campsite. A monster detection crystal staked into the ground next to them, to detect any beasts or monsters that approached and a few Mana lanterns, dim enough not to draw attention.

"The lights will attract bats Zalor." Rika said, eyeing them.

"Dont worry Rika, they are Mana-dampened, they cost more but," Zalor said. "they shouldn’t be seen passed the array."

She examined one and seeing its dim light was satisfied. "...Fine but don’t put too many up."

"So we’re camping underground," Kael said. "In a monster-filled dungeon once again but this time near a staircase that leads down to more scary monsters."

"Yes," Vex, Rika, and Zalor said in unison.

"...This is the worst vacation I’ve ever had." Lucien joked making Kael burst out in laughter at his ridiculousness.

"So what are we eating?"Kael asked staring at Lucien as the others also turned to him.

"I thought you guy’s brought ready made meals, shouldn’t you eat that?"

Lucien opened his storage ring, and the others stared as an entire kitchen’s worth of ingredients appeared, meat, vegetables, bread, seasonings, magical produce.

"You brought all that?" Kael asked.

"I have three wives, so I got to be prepared to feed them anytime." Lucien said, already prepping.

"...how much do you have?" Zalor asked staring at how many ingredients and spices he pulled out.

"How much do you or your wives eat for you to carry this much?" Rika asked.

"Come on bro, make some for me, forget the others, how will I eat my boring food while you eat like you’re in a luxury restaurant?" Kael asked, begging to be fed.

"Fine, fine, lucky for you guys, I carried more than extra."

He cooked without ceremony, roasted meat, grilled Crimson Crawler cuts, seasoned vegetables, warm bread, a simple broth soup. The smell filled the small and concealed campsite, bo smell leaking out and attracting the monsters.

Kael looked like he’d seen the afterlife. "I haven’t eaten properly since we entered."

"We entered less than a day ago," Rika said.

"Exactly, more than twelve hours with no eating, I already losing weight, look at me."

"That’s not how hunger works," Vex said.

Kael ignored him, eating with the focus of a man solving a very important problem.

"Are you even chewing?" Lucien asked.

"Important nourishment," Kael said, mouth full.

"He’s going to eat our entire share," Zalor said.

"I’m a growing boy."

"You’re twenty, you pig, Lucien’s the boy here out of any of us."

"I’m a still growing boy."

Lucien laughed and the sound of it, the warmth of the fire, the smell of good food, pulled something unexpected loose in his chest.

’Evelisse would’ve loved this,’ he thought.

His smile faded slightly.

’I miss her complaining about everything, Aurelia’s bluntness at everything, Seraphina warmth and kindness and just... being there.’

He pulled out his phone on instinct to text them, but as expected there was no signal in a dungeon, obviously.

"Something wrong?" Kael asked.

"Nothing." He tucked it away. ’No phones in dungeons, right.’

’Guess I’m more attached to them than I realized.’ He thought as they talked about various things, with them being curious on how he pulled three wives.

Rika divided the loot after dinner, Blood Mana Crystals split by contribution, common materials set aside for the Guild.

"Lucien should get the Heartflowers," Rika said.

He blinked. "Why?"

"Your said your wife’s an alchemist, isn’t she?"

"She is."

"Then give him the plants," Vex said.

"And maybe he can cook us something delicious again," Kael added mouth salivating a little at the thought.

"You’re only agreeing because of the meat," Lucien said.

"...That isn’t entirely false."

"I’m going to cultivate for a while," Lucien announced once things settled.

Rika looked up. "Youre going to Cultivate, here in a dungeon, surrounded by dungeon monsters?"

"Yeah, the mana density’s higher down here than up top, so it should be better to cultivate, easier too."

"Okay," she said, sitting down herself. "I’ll do the same myself, now that I think about it, but don’t stray to far from the camp."

Vex and Zalor followed suit, hearing his reasoning.

"I’ll cultivate tomorrow," Kael said.

"Why?" Rika asked.

"My stomach needs to agree to let me up first."

"...."

"I told you to not eat so much of the meat."

"You look like you’re going to have triplets, with how much your stomach is bloated." Zalor joked while laughing as Kael struggled to get up.

"So are they a boy or a girl Kael and who’s the father?" Lucien asked making everyone except Kael burst put in laughter

After spending some time joking around and resting a bit, they separated to go cultivate for an hour or two as Rika suggested, mainly so that Kael could give birth to his children as she said or in other words digest the food he ate, before moving downwards.

Lucien slipped into a secluded alcove near the stairs, activated an Uncommon Concealment Talisman he’d bought specifically for this, and his presence faded, blending into the surroundings.

He then opened his storage ring, and vials began appearing, one, five, a dozen, then dozens more, until a genuinely absurd amount of his collection surrounded him.

’Fifty liters of slime blood, or maybe jelly?’ he thought, staring at the pile. ’Maybe eight hundred milliliters of bat blood and about two liters of crawler’s blood.’

"...I may have gotten carried away with the slimes, but it’s better than being low on Blood later on, don’t know what we will end up finding." he muttered.

He uncorked the first vial anyway as he downed it in one go, before nearly choking pn it, as the blood was too jelly like.

"Yeah definitely more jelly than blood."