Chapter 26 - Pinch Me, I Must Be Dreaming

The loot formed a small mountain atop the already mountain-sized sand dune.

There was a bit of everything scattered throughout the pile. Weapons, armor, crystals, gems, potions. Anything and everything imaginable seemed to be buried somewhere within it.

Before Mei could leap headfirst into the treasure mountain, literally, Skysandra stopped her.

“You each get to pick one item from this pile. But you can split this one among yourselves.”

She opened another dimensional tear in the fabric of space and withdrew a much smaller pile of magical items.

“These are the items dropped by that worm. I don’t need or want them, so they're yours to keep. The other items are my personal rewards to you.”

Compared to Skysandra's personal reward pile, the loot dropped by Lord of Flesh seemed almost unimpressive.

That illusion lasted all of two seconds.

The smaller pile still radiated enough magical light to blind a person. If it had appeared anywhere else, at any other time, it would have looked like a king's treasury emptied onto the sand.

Mei's head snapped back and forth between the two piles, unable to decide which one she should inspect first.

In the end, anticipation won.

She rushed toward Skysandra's reward pile and immediately started sorting through the crystals and gems, holding each one up to the sunlight before asking the chat which was prettier.

Granessa followed at a much more leisurely pace. However, the slight stiffness in her movements and the frequent glances she cast toward Skysandra betrayed her unease.

Adam didn't join them right away.

Instead, he looked up at the small, but legendary, figure floating above him.

“So, this was your plan all along?”

Skysandra tilted her head.

“What makes you say that?”

“Just a feeling. I thought it was strange when you gave us those quests back then.”

A soft smile touched her lips.

“You're smart. Or perhaps it's your latent magic intelligence shining through. Either way, you're right. I planned it all out the day you entered the tutorial world.”

Adam blinked.

“That long?”

“Technically, longer. I always intended for players entering this world to exterminate the goblins and drive out that pesky worm. Unfortunately, no one appeared for many years.”

Her smile widened slightly.

“Until you two.”

“I still don't get it. Lord of Flesh was only level fifty. A tough opponent for us, sure, but not for you. That fight was a complete cakewalk.”

“Contracts with the Company, the ones who designed this world, are absolute. They operate on the level of universal laws.”

For the first time, her expression grew slightly serious.

“The terms of my contract require me to occupy a certain mountain and act as its guardian until this world is cleared by Players. I can't go into the specifics, but one of the clauses prevents me from fighting or killing the native inhabitants through my own initiative.”

Adam rolled the explanation around in his head for a few seconds.

Then understanding clicked.

“Oh, I see. Lord of Flesh parasitized a native being, making it impossible for you to touch him. So when you gave us that feather, you found a loophole.”

“A loophole?” she repeated with amusement.

“Yeah. When I summoned you, you weren't acting on your own will anymore. Technically, you were acting under my will as a summoned creature.”

Skysandra nodded.

“Something like that.”

Adam still had plenty of questions. Unfortunately, before he could ask any of them, Mei's voice rang out from the far side of the loot mountain.

“Adam! Come see this!”

He glanced toward the excited shout, then inclined his head slightly toward Skysandra.

“Thanks.”

“You're welcome.”

Turning away, Adam made his way around the towering pile of treasure to join Mei and Granessa.

As Adam walked past the scattered treasures, he casually glanced at a few of the items and nearly stopped in his tracks.

The lowest rarity he spotted was a Super Rare.

Everything else seemed to be Super Secret Rare or Ultra Rare.

SSR and UR tags were attached to almost every item in sight. If he started digging through the pile, he was certain he would uncover a Legendary item or two. Possibly more.

The thought was tempting. Very tempting.

But not just any Legendary item would suit him.

He was still trying to figure out exactly what he needed to push his magic into a freer state.

The staff he currently used was far too restrictive.

His spellbook was better, but it came with its own problems. It could only hold ten spells at a time, and every spell cast through it consumed additional mana.

What he needed was something different. Something unconventional. Something that would let him cast without forcing his magic into predefined shapes.

Unfortunately, finding an item like that was easier said than done.

With a sigh, he pushed the thought aside. There would be time to figure it out later.

Circling around the mountain of treasure, he made his way toward Mei and Granessa.

Both women were holding what looked like movie tickets.

At least, they looked like movie tickets at first glance.

Upon closer inspection, intricate circuit-like patterns covered their surfaces. The glowing lines appeared to be filled with some kind of vibrant liquid that flowed beneath the material.

Adam focused on one of them.

An information screen immediately appeared.

Class Advancement Ticket (Ultra Rare)
A ticket filled with liquidized source mana of the utmost purity. Used to advance a class beyond its limits. Rarity limited to ticket rarity +1.
(Sidenote: Only advanced classes can offer stat increase effects. Starter classes, regardless of rarity, can not.)

“Oh, those are good picks,” Skysandra said from above.

She floated lazily in the air while looking down at the tickets.

“Your starter classes are limited to Rare rarity, which means they won't provide stat enhancements like Super Rare and higher rarity classes. But with those tickets, you could obtain a Legendary class. Any Legendary class is guaranteed to increase all of your stats by at least one rank.”

She smiled slightly.

“Including hidden stats.”

Mei glanced up at her and tilted her head.

“I can see your panties, y'know? They're sexy, and I love that lacework. You don't happen to have an extra pair, do you?”

Skysandra blinked slowly. Then she descended to the ground.

“No. I don't,” she replied calmly.

“Eek!”

Granessa stumbled backward with a startled, high-pitched cry as Skysandra landed nearby.

Everyone turned toward her in confusion.

Granessa pointed at the human-form roc with a trembling finger.

“S-she's so small,” she said with a trembling voice, on the verge of tears. “Like a fragile child.”

Compared to Granessa, Skysandra was very tiny. She barely reached the orc's thighs.

To Granessa, who had grown up among the kin of giants, Skysandra likely looked less like the queen of rocs and more like an unattended toddler.

Skysandra crossed her arms and let out an exasperated sigh.

“I'm leaving now, before I do something I regret,” she paused. “Or maybe don't.”

With a wave of her hand, the enormous mountain of treasure vanished into the dimensional space she stored it in. When the pile disappeared, only three tickets remained behind. Two in Mei's hands and one in Granessa's.

“Those are your rewards,” Skysandra said. “As for the worm loot, do with it what you will.”

She took a step forward. Her body blurred, before abruptly returning to normal.

She glanced at Granessa then her eyes shifted toward Mei, specifically the chest plate of her bulletproof armor, where the curves beneath it were still impossible to completely hide.

Skysandra clicked her tongue.

“What's so good about being a bit big?”

With that line she vanished.

“There are a lot of things,” Mei answered immediately.

Though Skysandra had already vanished. But that didn't stop her.

“They look sexy no matter what outfit you wear, you can hold things in or on them, and they feel great.”

Receiving no response from the empty air, Mei simply shrugged.

Then she held one of the tickets out toward Adam.

“Here.”

Adam accepted it and tucked it into his inventory. He had no intention of using it yet.

Judging by their reactions, neither Mei nor Granessa planned to use theirs immediately either.

Mei was already sprinting toward the pile of loot dropped by Lord of Flesh, eager to see what treasures were hidden inside.

Granessa, meanwhile, was still standing several steps away, visibly shaken by her encounter with a tiny person.

In her defense, orcs were descended from giants. People as small as Skysandra simply didn't exist among their race.

Well, aside from babies. And even those were probably enormous.

Letting Granessa work through her anxiety on her own, Adam headed over to the pile of loot with Mei.

“What’s this?”

Mei held up a massive bundle of brown tanned leather.

At first glance, Adam thought it was crafting material. Then he noticed the straps, buckles, and metal clasps attached to it.

It was clothing. Barely.

An item screen appeared.

Orcish Chest Wrap (R)
Made from the thick hide of a Grogroshin Worm, this chest wrap is the perfect armor for a proud orc warrior. After all, they take pride in showing off their muscles.
Effect: Boosts defense of bare skin by 50%
Set Piece 1/2 (Collect all pieces for a Set Bonus)

“Granessa, this one's obviously for you.”

Mei unraveled the chest wrap and held it against herself.

The leather was so absurdly large she could have wrapped both herself and Adam inside it at the same time.

“Mine are big,” she said with a laugh, “but not that big.”

“This must be the other set piece.”

Adam reached into the pile and pulled out a massive leather combat skirt designed from the same material.

Orcish Combat Skirt (R)
An orc combat skirt, for male or female use, made from Grogroshin Worm hide. Extremely durable.
Effect: Boosts defense of bare skin by 50%
Set Piece 2/2
Set Bonus: Boosts offensive power by 1~10% per wound suffered during combat
(The more life-threatening the wound, the higher the buff received.)

Honestly, the set fit Granessa perfectly.

Despite technically wearing armor, most of her body was still exposed. Her metal chestplate covered only her breasts, leaving her sculpted arms and defined abs bare. Even her studded leather pants were skin-tight enough to outline every powerful muscle in her legs.

The armor practically screamed orc warrior.

Granessa accepted the items and inspected them carefully in her enormous hands. What looked gigantic to Adam and Mei appeared almost normal-sized to her.

“These are fine items,” she said with approval.

“Omg! Look at this!”

Mei suddenly burst upward from inside the loot pile like an excited raccoon digging through garbage.

Only instead of trash, she emerged holding a rifle over her head triumphantly.

Gunslinger's Assault Rifle (Ultra Rare)
A fully automatic weapon forged from highly advanced polymers and magic. Customized entirely for use by Gunslingers.

Effects:
Customizable Design - Whatever weapon you imagine will appear (limited to semiautomatic or fully automatic rifles)
Damage Stacking - Deals extra damage per continuously landed shot (misses reset bonus)

[Mag Dump] (Exclusive Skill):
Empty the entire magazine into a single target. Excess damage is converted into bonus damage on the next shot

Rifle requires live ammunition to function

Mei read through the description excitedly.

Then her face fell.

“Aww… it needs real bullets. Where am I supposed to get ammo in a fantasy world?”

She immediately turned toward the chat.

“Chat! Search up how to make bullets in a fantasy world!”

The chat instantly exploded with KEKWs.

Random recipes flooded the screen. Most had absolutely nothing to do with ammunition.

One person somehow posted a recipe for goblin pie. Disturbingly, it was real.

Adam had actually seen goblins eating it before.

The recipe mainly consisted of raw meat stuffed inside pie crust. And that was the human-made version. 

“Don’t you already have a blueprint for live ammo?” Adam asked.

Mei froze.

“Oh! I do!”

She hurriedly pulled a rolled-up blueprint scroll from her inventory.

“Granessa, are there any blacksmiths around here?”

“We have blacksmiths in our village,” Granessa answered. “However, they won't learn new blueprints. For that, you'll need a human or dwarf smith.”

The two quickly fell into a discussion about nearby towns and possible blacksmith locations while Adam continued sorting through the loot pile.

There were plenty of items.

Unfortunately, most of them weren't especially useful to him.

Several glass vials contained acidic worm blood labeled as both poison and crafting material. Apparently, it could be coated onto weapons to inflict corrosive damage.

The downside was that the weapon itself would slowly melt too.

There were also stacks of raw worm hide, the same Grogroshin leather used to craft Granessa's armor set.

Adam absentmindedly shifted aside another bundle of pinkish hide when something caught his eye.

At first, he thought it was more leather.

Then he realized it was darker. Smoother. With a color almost like flesh soaked in blood for too long.

Curious, he picked it up.

It was a pair of dark pink gloves.

The name was incredibly plain compared to everything else they'd found.

Mage's Magic Gloves (M) - Two-Handed Weapon
A pair of gloves crafted using the heart blood and cell tissue of a Grogroshin Worm King who ingested myriad poisons to push his innately Legendary regeneration abilities to a Mythic level. The heart blood of a Grogroshin Worm is where all of their magic is stored. This particular Grogroshin Worm King, known as Lord of Flesh, possessed the highest magic and strongest regeneration ability in the history of his kind.

Effects:

[Flesh is King] (Exclusive Passive):
Unable to wear clothing. In return, gain +1 rank to Magic and Constitution stats, and +500% health regeneration

(To preserve your dignity and uphold streaming TOS, you are allowed to wear mundane, non-magical shorts and shoes.)

Remaining effects locked until wearer reaches S-rank Magic and Constitution

Adam read the description once. Then again. Then a third time.

He stared blankly at the gloves in silence, trying to process whether the item was real or if he had suffered heatstroke from the intense desert heat and was hallucinating them.

He genuinely couldn't tell.

“Someone pinch me,” he muttered. “I must be dreaming…”

“Ow! Ow! OW!”

Adam nearly dropped the gloves as sharp pain exploded in both arms simultaneously.

He whipped his head around.

Mei and Granessa stood on either side of him, both wearing innocent expressions.

“What?” Mei asked with a shrug. “You asked.”

Granessa nodded solemnly. “You asked.”