Stumbling Up: A Loser's Guide to Progression - Chapter 54: Dreams in a Box

"You had a key this whole time?" Tandy looked at me like I was a total dumbass. I guess I deserved that.

What was I going to say? I was busy taking advice from a talking slug on picking sides in a continental Faction War against the [Corruption] that ended the last age.

“Yeah, I was having fun watching you all problem solve.” Wow, I was starting to sound like Richard. The little twerp was rubbing off on me too much.

Meredeath gave me a dirty look as she snatched the key from me.

She marched over to the trunk. With a sharp twist and an audible click, the lid popped open.

And our money problems? Solved. The top of the chest overflowed with silver and copper coins. Leo was digging through the coins when Andrew and Mira came to look.

"I've never seen so many coins in my life," Mira whispered in awe—same here, kid.

The coins were shiny, too, untouched by grubby hands.

"If you dig into the top, there should be a handle. The real treasure is underneath the coin layer," Andrew said, using his teaching voice. He really did know a considerable amount about dungeons.

Leo dug around and pulled out the top compartment of the chest, spilling copper and silver coins everywhere. They rolled across the floor, and Mira started chasing them down.

Below sat, well, I wasn't exactly sure what it was. It looked like an assortment of junk.

My persimmon! Richard undulated down my arm to the edge of the chest. Tandy reached in and handed the golden piece of fruit to the slug.

"That's a small reward for beating a dungeon. A persimmon?" Tandy was annoyed, reaching for the tarnished thimble sitting at the bottom of the chest.

"Dungeons tend to put rewards in the completion chests that match the thoughts of an individual when they enter for the first time. You should always school your thoughts before stepping into a dungeon portal."

I thought of our first encounter with the [Trial Dungeon], and how the magic warped the whole challenge around some of my thoughts. I needed to think about this more carefully next time. Of course, it would have helped to know I was stepping into a dungeon.

"Cole, who is this guy?" Leo asked, frowning as he picked up a scroll.

"This is, Andrew. He's a [Wayfinder]," I said, as though that meant something.

"He's the [Wayfinder] and the very best Ashborn in Eddie's Mill!" Mira added, giving me a dark look at the injustice I'd done her hero. "Andrew helps the orphanage and teaches us things."

"Like, don't go wandering in the tunnels. What were you doing down here?" Andrew asked sternly, as the girl tried to look away.

"I know, I know, but..." Her small voice trailed off for a second. Then she looked at us, full of resolve. "But with the refugees, we need more. And you can't do it all."

Andrew sighed wearily.

"While I appreciate the desire to help, perhaps getting caged in a hidden dungeon is not the best way to help. I've taken two days off from [Quests] to find you." Andrew gave us all the apologetic look of an overtired caretaker.

I didn't want to ask. No one else had indicated that they'd even really heard the exchange between the two. But they tugged at my heart.

"There are refugees? What's going on with the orphanage?" My question lingered between us, my companions refusing to look at me. Richard perched on the edge of the chest, sweet sticky juice running down his chin.

"I didn't want to involve you, but we had an influx of children from Terny. The town was leveled in some sort of Dungeon outbreak. Might have happened here, too, if we hadn't completed this one. Anyway, they sent the children out of the city, while the adults fought the horde. A lot of orphans were created that way."

"The den mothers say that we're going to have to send some of the new ones away if we don't figure out something," Mira added in her tiny voice. "So Andrew always tells us that if something needs doing, you're the one who should do it. So I was hunting rats!"

She’d been hunting rats so her friends could keep a roof over their heads. Life sure had a way of putting perspective on our problems.

"By the claws of the Everbear, I'm never going to have a full coin purse, am I?" Tandy looked morosely at the pile of coins sitting on the floor. Tandy came to the same conclusion I had. We weren't going to keep the coins.

I'd never been more proud of her in my life.

I looked in the chest and saw a small coin pouch. It was surely meant for Mira. I picked it up, feeling its light heft. The girl was definitely someone to watch for.

"I think this was meant for you, little one." I handed her the small pouch. She opened it, squealing in glee to find three gold coins. She held it tight to her chest as though it were the greatest treasure in the world.

I looked at the rest of the coins, feeling a pang of guilt in the face of her need.

Here Mira was, doing what I kept failing to do. Actually making a difference.

She looks like Rhi Voss with her Faction Points. Hopeful. Ultimately doomed, but hopeful. Like a cold moth headed to a candle. If only the world could be saved with a pouch full of coins.

Could he read minds now?

"I'm assuming this is yours?" Meredeath handed Andrew a green scale that matched his armor. I hadn't noticed it before, but his scale armor only extends halfway down his chest; the rest was a normal enough chain mail below his shirt.

"Ah, yes, another leaf in my mantle, although I don't feel like I did anything to deserve it. Young Cole here, taking out the boss." Nonetheless, the [Wayfinder] snagged the scale from Meredeath, and the armor shimmered as it clipped into the mail.

“So, it’s like a Boy Scout patch?” Meredeath asked. She looked at our blank expressions with exasperation, “Like a rank? The more of these scales, the more grand hoo-ha of [Wayfinding] you are?”

“Ah, yes, something like that.” Andrew smiled uneasily, lost in translation.

Two bits were left in the bottom of the chest, a dark onyx ring and a pin with a lizard. I didn't want to admit that the aesthetics matched those of certain group members who hadn't received their share of the loot.

"Why do I have a lizard pin?" I asked, trying to trigger [Analyze]. Andrew gets an armor promotion, and I get a gecko pin?

It's not a lizard, it's a chameleon. Well, chameleons are lizards. It's not just any lizard, it's a chameleon!

What was in that persimmon?

"Are you drunk?"

Do I look like I've eaten a hot pepper?

Richard looked up at me, half of his persimmon falling into the chest. Bits of honey-yellow flesh stuck in his teeth as juice ran down his entire face.

This is what the world needed: more slugs drunk on persimmons.

I shook my head, reached down for the persimmon, and handed it back to him.

Thank you, kind sir.

Now I knew he was drunk. He was never polite. My hand touched the pin.

[[Pin of the Chameleon] - Got something to hide? Pin this on and [Camouflage] as a 'human.' Cost: 1 MP per hour. Warning: prolonged use has side effects.]

Interesting pin. I wonder what anxiety that’s solving?

Was that what I'd been thinking when I entered the dungeon? That I needed to hide?

"What does your ring do?" I asked. Did it hold a death ray? Or some source of magical eyeliner? Another [Protection] barrier?

She jumped, her focus broken. She slid the ring onto her finger nonchalantly.

"It's just the ring I was looking at in the store. The one we couldn't afford. I never could get it out of my mind; apparently, now I have." She gave me one of those smiles that didn't reach her eyes. Neither of us seemed happy with the implications of our prizes.

"Holy shit! I can't believe it!" Except for Leo, who was jumping up and down with excitement. "Do you know what I've got here?"

Tandy and I looked at each other, as I said, "No, you haven't told us."

"I've got, right here, in my hand, an invitation to the Ceaparean Drift Hunt!" Leo was vibrating with excitement.

Even Andrew and Richard, coming from their respective focuses, looked at Leo. Each had the look of someone triggering an [Analyze] skill.

Legends were born during the Ceaparean Drift Hunt. It was a twice-a-decade celebrity monster hunt with every [Adventurer], noble, and merchant on the continent. Fancy people hunting fancy monsters.

And we had a ticket. Great. We were going to look like country bumpkins with sticks.

Leo grinned like he’d won the strength contest at the county fair.

"I guess we know where we're going next," Meredeath said, her tone a counterbalance to Leo’s radiance.

We were going hunting.