Vol. 13 - Ch. 730 - Timely Drops! The Rewards for Effort is Golden!

"Goodness, I really thought we're at the edge today for sure, but we made it somehow! It's all your glory, everyone~.”

"Great work, everyone. But, truly, indeed. The appearance of the 2nd boss had really scared me."

"Couldn't have done without your healing, Lana. Our daredevil act worked off at the end, but only with your healing."

The outbreak, the dual boss fight, was completely out of the blood, but Lana truly managed to hold her performance regardless. Really, no words were enough.

This was the first time we'd gone all-or-nothing mode, but we knew we could do it with her. It was quite an experience, since we had only gone all-out mode when the boss was in Downed or stunned. As a result, the retaliation sure did tanked our HP, though the healer worked fast.

Ester and Karua did well as well. They didn't get all frozen up at the mega threat. The «All-Heal Prayer» at the perfect timing also displayed Lana's growth. She had come a long way, enough to rely on her. 

I praised them all with excitement, high-fiving with Lana. 

"Hehe, it's all natural. Feel free to sing more praises. Ah, well, though that did bring my MP level down greatly though."

Lana put up the 'let praises come' attitude, though her brows knit together when she saw the remainder of her MP. Unsurprisingly, effective healing consumed much MP. The «All-Heal Prayer» was one of the most MP expensive healing spells. 

She had «MP Auto-Regeneration LV10» and «MP Cost Reduction LV10», but this was a natural outcome when the fight was against two bosses. This was also her first battle against two bosses, so the need for healing was just that great. It must be the first time she was down to such a level. 

I, too, had consumed a great deal of MP.

"Lana, MP recovery please."

"'Kay—«Soul Oath»!"

«Soul Oath» was a single target skill. It nullifies all the buffs on the target, and in turn, recover the MP of the target for each buff nullified. Perfect for post-battle.

In the game, often I had used this spell to recover an exhausted MP bar when applying new buffs, instead of overriding. In reality, the body vividly feels the loss of stats from buffs, so everyone quite disliked using «Soul Oath», or changing buffs, amidst the battle. It became a post-battle management skill for this reason.

As Lana casted it, I felt slightly hollow. Oh well, it saved the use of MP potions at least. 

So, then why weren't we just playing the loop of applying buff and then casting «Soul Oath» outside of battle? We would've... if only the cooldown wasn't 3 minutes. 

Dungeons were time-locked, and playing that game of wait and use just to save potions was counterproductive. We just think of it as handy, but nothing more. 

"Zephyr, Treasure Chest. Both Goldy!"

I was sharing my feelings and thoughts about the battle to Lana when Karua chimed in.

"Wait, what?!"

"Goldy, you say?!"

—Oh, I so love you, «Sachineko-sama»! High-five (Imaginary).

Lana and I turned our heads almost at the same moment, and confirmed the truth—the true treasure chests, basking in golden hue.

"It's a jackpot, yay!"

"I will open it!"

"Calm down, you two. There's no need to rush. They're not going to grow legs and escape."

However, Sierra stopped us just as we were about to bolt for them. 

Uh-huh, she was right. I lost my cool in excitement. That's not good, me.

This time, being first doesn't matter. Let's simply decide who gets to open them.

"So, those who want to open a chest, raise your hands!"

"Yes!" "Yes!"

Two responses, but five hands shot up.

"No way, everyone?!"

"I want to open one sometimes too."

"It was a novel experience to face two bosses together. I'd be honored to open a gold chest in commemoration for overcoming such a challenge."

"Now, that's something I never saw coming!"

"It's unusual for Ester and Sierra to volunteer to open one! This is great!"

It seems overcoming this huge challenge has gotten them excited too. Their cheeks even look a little flushed. Well, in that case, there's no helping it. It's rare for these two to want to open a treasure chest. This is where we show our magnanimity. We always get to open them anyway.

We'll just aim for the next rare boss! ...Wait, why was I was getting a deja vu? Was it just my imagination?

"Alright, I think Sierra and Ester should have the glory to open them. What do you two think, Lana, Karua?"

"Sounds good to me. They're always so reserved. It's good they want to open a treasure chest!"

"Mm. I'm fine with it too."

"It's settled then."

"We did it!"

"Yes!"

Sierra and Ester high-fived at our decision. Nice~! I want to too. Though I just did with Lana.

"Mm, Zephyr."

"Oh, Karua too, yay!"

"Yay!"

"Woah there, Zephyr, you're having all the fun! Move over! Karua, I'm doing it with you too!"

"Yay!"

Lana and I also exchanged high-fives with Karua. Fuhaha!

After that, Sierra sat in front of the «Gold Chest» from the «Intermediate Spirit of Light,» and Ester in front of the «Gold Chest» from the «Intermediate Spirit of Darkness,» praying.

"Please give us something good. «Sachineko-sama», «Koneko-sama»."

"I pray too! Please give us something good, «Sachineko-sama», «Koneko-sama»!"

First, Sierra finished her important prayer and opened the treasure chest. What came out was a recipe.

"Finally, a recipe from a gold chest!"

A recipe—an item specialized in mass production. Getting one from a gold chest means you could mass-produce a super rare item! This alone was a huge win!

"What perfect timing it dropped! I wonder who will get it."

Indeed, Sierra. It came at such a precise moment. Just as we’d done gathering all three centrepiece advanced production jobs to our guild.

This recipe should be going in either of their hands. It would be great if it could propel our preparation for advanced dungeons.

"Let's decipher it back at the guild later! But, since it dropped in winter area, it's quite possible the recipe will require materials from around. Maybe we can spend a bit more on gathering, eh?"

Sierra's treasure chest was from «Intermediate Spirit of Light», aka the boss of winter floor 31st~40th. 

Hmm, but should we really turn around and focus on materials in snow? What we'd collected so far was drops, just enough as souvenirs instead of production materials. But, with the recipe in question, I wonder if we should get more of them.

Nevermind, I would just leave it for later. We can just make another round after deciphering it. Our guild only had one recipe analyzer, so it remained there, or we could have checked it here. It was dungeon week, so other members might require its help. 

Patience, me. We will get to it soon! 

That's a good start. Moving forward, it was Ester's turn, and she was going to open the wandering boss's «Gold Chest». Due to the difficulty of defeating wandering bosses, their drops sometimes include rare boss drops, albeit at a low probability. Let it be something good!

"Then I'll pray too. «Sachineko-sama», «Koneko-sama», please give us something good."

"I'll pray too! «Sachineko-sama», «Koneko-sama», pretty please!"

"Please."

Lana and Karua chimed in alongside Ester for prayer. Then, *Click*, Ester opened the treasure chest. The drop was—

"This is also a recipe."

"Two of them?!"

Amazingly, Ester's «Gold Chest» also contained a recipe. Woah, and what's more, it could even be on the rarity of a rare boss drop!

"Damn, I want to go back and get it deciphered right now!"

"Alright, alright. Only after we defeat the boss on the last floor. What good would knowing what recipe it is right now do?"

"Fine~"

What a pity. Well, it can't be helped. Sierra was right.

"Alright, in that case, let's just go defeat the last boss already!"

"Gooo (?)."

With Karua's not-quite-understanding response at our backs, we collected all the drops, registered at the shortcut—the teleportation circle—and stepped through the gate to the 41st floor.