Loot! Glorious, nightmarish loot!

Inside of the box, there was quite a large pile of assorted loot: a few crystals, leather, a small vial filled with a red liquid, a hoof, a hood, a pile of clean bones, which was weird considering they had to have come from the nightmare, but okay. Lastly, there was some form of thread and a black, curved horn. Jack tried to nibble on the hoof as John pulled the items out and placed them on top of the chest, but after a stern gaze from John, the leopard pulled back. When John looked away, however, the leopard once again inched forward.

“Jack, I can see that, sit. Let me take a look at the items before you nibble on them, you silly goof. Here, have a porkchop.” John tossed the meat at Jack. The leopard playfully yawned at it, sending an icicle to shoot it out of the air, then Jack pounced on it, mewing happily as he devoured the food.

With Jack happy and Toph looking curiously at the items, John started casting Observe on them one by one. First, the thread like object, he made up his mind to keep the most promising items, the horn and the hood for last.

Nightmare Sinew
Muscle fiber taken from the body of a nightmare, this tough material is beloved by craftsmen due to its ability to withstand high tension without snapping.
Crafting Material

John pulled the sinew taut, wrapping it around his hands to check out it’s durability, and no matter how hard he pulled, he could not break it. With a satisfied nod he put it in his inventory, determined to bring it and the wood he got from the ent to Old Fred, see if he could help him make something with it. He then moved on to the next item.

Nightmare Hide
A cut of leather from a nightmare’s flank, tanned to perfection. The grayish black coloration conceals a powerful resistance to magic, making it effective for crafting anti-magic gear. However, the same property prevents it from being defensively enchanted.
Crafting Material

John ran his hands over the leather, then nodded storing it too. It might not be great at helping him fight creatures like, again, the nightmare, but it would be a great boon if he could get gear made with this leather before he encountered Ellen again. Something he just knew was going to happen, one way or another. A heavy shudder went through John; thinking of Ellen made another less pleasant memory re-surface. His face went pale, and he had to grab the chest to remain standing, bringing a hand to his mouth as he felt the sudden urge to retch. Jack and Toph both rubbed him softly, with Jack nuzzling into John’s legs and Toph rubbing her small head against his cheek. Feeling his distress, they wanted to make him feel better.

After a few more moments of fighting his nausea down, John managed to clear his head of the horrifying image. “I’m okay guys. I really need to talk to someone about that though, this isn’t going to blow over, I think.”

Jack mewed while Toph peeped, patting his ear. John smiled and rubbed both of them back, after which he went on with inspecting the loot.

Monstrous Bone (M)
Thick, heavy bone of a medium sized monster. This bone can be used by a wide range of artisanal professions like Alchemists, Blacksmiths and more.
Crafting Material

John put all four of these bones together, thinking about if he should go and look for another crafting professional, but for now, he just thought of bringing them to Old Fred too; he might be able to craft some things with them himself too. He knew his skills were low, mainly due to his low mana pool, so maybe using some of the crafting materials to level the things he did not need mana for might be a good idea.

After storing the bones in his inventory, he moved on to the crystals. He noticed that there were two of them, both of them about as long as his index finger and as thick as his thumb. One of them seemed to be filled with a morphing blob of reddish brown liquid; it bubbled lightly inside of its crystal prison. The other crystal housed a dark, swirling mass of what could best be described as smoke. Both of the crystals had smooth edges, slightly reminding him of lightsaber crystals, but then filled with a substance instead of just being a nicely colored piece of glass.

He looked at the reddish brown one first.

Crystalized Corruption
A sinister gem filled with the essence of cruelty, ruthlessness and madness. If cracked, the corruption will seek out the nearest living being and bestow upon it a horrible, painful and agonizing ****.
Crafting Material

John almost dropped the crystal when he read the notification, putting it into a corner of his inventory, needing to find a way to dispose of it later on. There was no way in Hel, hell or Hades that he wanted anything to do with this. With apprehension he looked at the other crystal, hoping it would not be as bad as the first.

Crystalized Shadow
A crystal filled with energy aligned to the Dark attribute, sought after by many crafters within the Abyss. There are many uses for crystalized elements, like enchanting a weapon, gear or being used in rituals.
Crafting Material

He looked at the smoke inside of the crystal, then nodded to himself. “I can see this being darkness, nice to see that it’s not just the Avatar elements in play here,” he mumbled to his pets, both of them sending him quizzical looks, Toph putting her claw on his forehead to check his temperature.

“Right, you guys have only been around for a week, boy, do you two have some tv to catch up on. Next time we have some time off, I am showing you two the wonderful thing that gave me the idea for your name, Toph!”

Toph only looked more worried than before while Jack happily mewed. Liking the idea of spending time with Toph and his master, even if he had no clue what a tv was. After pocketing the crystal John scratched Jack between his ears and tickled Toph’s exposed stomach, earning himself a happy purr and squeak from his beloved critters. He then moved on to the vial of thick, red liquid.

Nightmare Blood
The thick blood of a nightmare. Having lost its purity and silver hue, small particles of darkness tinged mana now reside within, making it a sought after component for Alchemists, Scribes and Shamans.
Crafting Material

John swirled the bottle with his fingers, seeing the liquid move slowly like syrup. While there was no corrupted tag on it, he still wanted to make sure, activating his latest skill only for his mana to fizzle.

Cleanse bottle of blood?
Y/N

He quickly pressed no, and content that there was no corruption in this, he tossed it into his inventory too. In terms of loot, there was a lot, not much was useful directly, but he could see the potential of it. If he got into crafting some more, he was sure that the loot would become a very useful part of his toolkit. Hunt, gain loot, craft, hunt again. The perfect game loop, if he thought so himself.

He stretched his limbs, then went on to the next item left on the chest. The least imposing of the three was first up for inspection.

Nightmare Hoof
A severed hoof from a nightmare, one of the apex predators of the Endless Forest, present it in the name of your deity to earn their favor and pride.
Hunting Trophy

John put the hoof in with the other hunting trophies, having accumulated a few over the course of his hunt. That, well that was one of the few things he was proud of. He rubbed his hands together when he looked at the hood. Reminded of the other head slot item he looted during his hunt, he felt less against using it now, after dying himself. Yes, he was not really keen on killing, and he sure as hell was going to need help dealing with it, but if he did not use whatever he could to survive, well, then he knew where he was going to end up. The hood was made from the same ash gray material as the leather, but it was a little bit more giving in its touch, softer to the touch if you will.

Dreamwalker’s Hood
A softened cowl made from nightmare leather, it channels the beast’s Darkness affinity to increase your stealth in dimly lit places. It decreases visibility in total darkness by 30%, in low light (dusk) by 20%, in shade by 10% and by 0% in full lighting. Also has the ambient effect of casting a shadow over the wearer’s face for that ‘cool’ look.

John was surprised, a bit overwhelmed, but overall quite happy with the hood. When he slid it to his inventory screen, he saw that there were three slots, one for head covering, one for his eyes, and one for his mouth, allowing him to, if he wanted, equip a gasmask, goggles and a helmet. With the mouthguard and hood, that left his eyes open. Maybe he needed to look into that later. However, now that only one thing was left to look at, John’s eyes shone as he took up the horn. He hoped it would be the same as with the ent and that this would be a pet evolution item.

Horn of Anti-magic
The condensed essence of an apex predator of the Null attribute. When given to a pet with any attribute, it will **** an evolution. WARNING: There is a chance of the energy overwhelming the pet, making the evolution have a detrimental effect on the pet. Use at your own risk and be sure to be ready before using.

John’s eyes lit up. While he came to understand that the nightmare’s core attribute was darkness, the horn that had left him a permanent reminder was different. He felt the mana around it waver, unlike the other time when the apple was almost buzzing with power, this one seemed to suck it in.

John looked at his pangolin and leopard, holding the horn up to them. “Do either one of you want to try this out?” Of course he wanted the choice to be theirs, he was happy to keep his pets like this, but if they wanted to, he would at least offer it.