Of Victory and its Spoils

After a few minutes, John stood, cautiously putting weight on his leg as Gamer’s Body finished repairing the damage. The lower leg of his jeans was in bloody tatters, and he made a mental note not to let his mom see them. The room around him was a mess, melting trails of ice and destruction tracing the remains of the Keeper’s **** throes back to the chandelier.

From the boss' body sprung several of the loot bags that John had been getting from the enemies throughout the dungeon; a chime played as lights of blue, green, and purple flashed around him, beams of color rising from around the room. The Gamer guessed that the colors indicated higher rarity drops, like in an ARPG. John began to tab through his notifications, noting that the level up had refilled his HP.

The first two were the notices of completion for his quest and the dungeon itself.

'Alright, Dungeon com-' John cut his own train of thought off. “Wait a second… proceed to the top? I needed to get to the top to leave? Are you telling me I was trapped in here this whole time?!”

John looked up at the sky accusingly, hurt in his eyes.

Well, there were a few ways out. This is just the one you found.

John swallowed heartily, mouth suddenly dry.

“I-I just figured that the spell that took me here could take me back. Doesn't that make sense?”

It doesn't say it does that, does it?

John opened his inventory and re-read his gem and skill again.

'...No.'

The Gamer sighed, shaking his head. He wasn't sure if he was sad or terrified or shocked or angry, or at whom he should be directing any of those feelings.

'That’s on me then - no assumptions. Note to self: be aware of specifics. It's over at this point. Let's get home and figure things out there.

That's more like it. Now, come on, there are fabulous prizes to claim!

The rumble of thunder outside was briefly interrupted by a loud clunk as the icy blue gem fell from the hilt of the boss’ sword, still stuck in the ground. The pretty blue **** rock settled into the carpet as the last of its glow faded away. The Keeper’s body had vanished, leaving behind a large sack in its place. Not even dust remained of the monstrosity that had tried to take his life.

“Tried… and failed,” John mumbled with a sigh.

'She's not wrong. This is supposed to be the fun part,' he thought, dismissing the notification of his level up.

The Gamer limped over to the center of the room, phantom pain from his leg injury fresh in his mind. Once in the middle, he rested on the crushed metal frame and began to inspect the drops. The first thing he picked up was the fallen crystal that had once adorned the sword.

It was a pure, vibrant blue gem, smooth on one end, trailing and spiking on the other. Bands of steel encircled it at its widest and narrowest points, with the latter simply crowning the furthest peak.

’Interesting. I guess the boss was using gems too?’ John thought, comparing the numbers in his head. ’Way higher damage, but also higher cost… and channeling time? How was it using the spell so quickly then?’

Out of curiosity, John practiced casting the new spell at a wall, finding that it took him slightly less time to focus and draw together enough water to cast than the gem had indicated, though he had only a guess as to why. He was at least able to hold that charge and move the targetter around, though it was much more intensive than his other spells had been, and it drained his mana slowly.

When he did finally release it, it was tremendously visceral, carving a brutal line between him and the target nearly instantly, for what would have been massive damage. The Gamer made a mental note that the skill was powerful but impossibly impractical. Leaving the ice to melt, John moved on to the boss’ sword.

To call the weapon a sword seemed almost silly as John approached it. The blade was a huge slab of metal, honed to what John assumed had once been a fine edge, worn down with time and use. It was damaged, as though it had been through many battles before it had made its way into John’s possession. Large patches of it were stained red and black.

With his leg fully healed, he braced himself to try and heft the weapon, but to no avail. His measly strength could not even budge it from where it was stuck in the floor. Nonetheless, he was able to both [Observe] it and store it in his inventory, though he received a notice that it would take up multiple slots due to weight.

'So the equipment affects how the gems are used? Does that mean anyone with the sword could have used the [Ice Surge] gem?' John wondered, looking again at the heap of metal he’d dropped on the boss. 'Can't exactly ask him, now can I?

'Somehow, I don't think the gigantic sword I can't lift is going to be my style. Still, probably worth keeping for experimentation, if nothing else. Maybe the Strength to use it will end up being worth it.'

With the big items he could recognize contained, John prepared for inventory Tetris and began juggling items around in his inventory, ditching the assorted body parts he’d picked up along the way. Part of the loot goblin within him hated just throwing stuff away, even junk, but rotting body parts weren’t exactly items he was heartbroken to lose.

The Gamer moved on to the other drops around the room, going mostly in the order that he assumed was rarity, purple to blue to white. He'd assumed the green sacks were a middling uncommon rarity or something at first, but it seemed as though those were all cash drops - he made out with a couple hundred extra bucks.

A lot of the common, uncolored drops were rusty metal weapons or armor - more or less the same junk that he’d scavenged before the boss room. They were easy enough for him to leave behind for space.

He did also find the boss’ coat among the loot, though it was a shredded mess and stained with ooze. The Gamer decided that he didn’t need a nasty, ragged trench coat that badly anyway, and discarded it.

When he'd first opened it up, John's eye had immediately been caught by the helmet that the boss had worn, a sturdy, steel thing, adorned with a bit of color. It had enchantments for both STR and END on it, which would have made it an immediate equip, if not for it also sporting the damage that the boss had sustained from his plan.

The entire top was caved in and pierced in multiple places. One of the eye holes had been ripped open and shredded. The back of the helmet barely existed at all anymore. It was little more than enchanted scrap at this point.

'That sucks,' John lamented, still choosing to store it away, 'It’s kinda cool though… might make a cool trophy. I wonder if it’s salvageable at all. Can magic items be repaired from this kind of condition? Or at least recycled?'

John shelved that train of thought, wanting to finish looting and exit the dungeon. The next several pieces of armor were in much better shape, so he set about trying each one on in sequence.

The first was a relatively nice pair of armored gauntlets, which, despite seeming too large for John, fit just fine once equipped. Plates protected his forearms and the backs of his hands, with a set of sturdy hide gloves underneath for his palms.

They didn't have any fancy magic, resulting in an insignificant [Observe] return, but they were in the best material condition of anything he'd gotten. John wasn't exactly as dexterous as he'd have liked while wearing them though, and they were quite heavy on his hands.

'Annoying, but maybe something I can get used to.'

Second, he had recieved a fine set of leather boots, glowing a faint blue color. Simple straps of tanned fabrics and leather were fastened together around soles of significant heft. Their [Observe] was quite plain, but did note that they added a single point of Agility while worn, which John supposed was better than nothing.

'Plus, these things probably have better grip than just a pair of sneakers,' he thought, experimentally walking around with them equipped. 'Not exactly super comfortable though. That'll take some time.'

The largest drop of armor he'd gotten by far though was the boss' chestpiece. On closer inspection, John recognized it as a type of scale armor - something he’d seen in a few video games. Rough plates of assorted metal had been fashioned into rough “scales” of metal and layered over a simple leather and cloth shirt. An extra piece of metal had been fastened to the inside of the breast area. The whole thing had a faint blue glow.

It was a little dirty, and more damaged than either of the other pieces, but wearable.

It was a heavily defensive magic piece, granting a ton of raw HP, though it was apparently going to be quite heavy. John guessed it had been part of why the Lighthouse Keeper had been so chunky.

’I’m surprised I can even equip it, honestly,’ he thought to himself, checking the armor in his inventory. ’I guess that tracks. It’s not like being too weak in real life prevents you from trying to wear things.’

"Oof." John exhaled as the armor appeared on his body. Despite the softer undershirt, the metal weighed heavily on him, enough that it took him a minute to breathe comfortably again. John panted slightly as he stretched, gauging whether he’d even be able to wear the thing or not. As he tried to take a single step, he stumbled, unable to handle his increased top-heaviness, so The Gamer yielded and unequipped the armor, leaving it to rest in his inventory.

’Yeah, that’s definitely not ideal. Man, the stats are good though…’ he thought, reviewing the bonuses he’d seen on the Observe sheet. ’Item requirements are maybe something to consider, though they seem to directly conflict with my ability scaling. I need to start writing all this stuff down.’

Coming to terms with his weakness as a low level character, John checked out the final drops, two vials of the black goo that all the monsters were bleeding.

’This is the stuff that’s soaking through all the walls too, right?’ John thought, looking around at the mess of a library he was in. ’What would I do with this? These feel like things I shouldn’t get rid of though. They’ll probably be useful for crafting or maybe a quest or something, if this is anything like a normal RPG.’

John wrapped the vials carefully in his ruined winter jacket and stored them away safely. Those added, he had just enough space to pick back up a couple of the enemy drops, just in case, the crab bodies and the severed head. John then picked himself up and set on up the lighthouse.

He gingerly opened the door that the final boss had been guarding, and started climbing stairs. The further he got from the boss room, the more exhaustion began to set in for The Gamer. His legs were on fire and he found himself out of breath as quickly as he could draw it in, but he soldiered forward with the promise of home at the front of his mind. There were three further floors he had to pass before he reached the beacon room.

The floor above the library had, at one point, been a makeshift medical facility, though it was in as bad of shape as the floors below had been. John shuddered to think about what had become of its occupants when the lighthouse had been attacked.

The next he’d crossed was all living quarters. The door to this floor had the thickest barricade he’d seen since the first, and the least amount of damage. He wondered if someone had, at some point, actually managed to hold out up here, though the general abandonment of the place didn’t give him much hope that he’d find anyone.

The penultimate floor had all sorts of maps and charts scattered about, with telescopes and binoculars and cameras pointed in every direction out its windowed walls. John made a quick evaluation of the maps he could see, which covered the entire area he’d traversed and beyond. The people who were holed up in here were looking for something, though what it was, he wasn’t sure.

With enough effort, John thought he probably could have figured it out, but he wasn’t up to the effort, especially with his goal so close at hand. His brain could only process the concept of leaving.

The final floor was simple. There was no damage, no signs of fighting, just emptiness. The beacon room stood alone atop the tower, with every box and panel covered in a thick layer of dust.

John sneezed a few times as he took in the room.

Somberly, he walked to the side of the beacon itself, where the on switch had been precariously balanced in the middle, just enough for the light to keep flickering on and off.

Smiling to himself, he pushed it up with a hearty clunk, firmly into the on position. Light once more pierced the storm around him. The golden light radiated through the fog, illuminating the area all around the lighthouse. With vision somewhat restored, John finally took in the wider area he’d been dropped in. The outcropping that the lighthouse itself was perched on was connected to the mainland by a single concrete bridge.

Across the bridge, John could barely see into the city he’d noticed when he first entered. The buildings were blown out and overgrown, ruins of whatever they’d been before. The carcasses of tanks and APCs adorned the road he could see down - the remnants of a battle long past. Barricades and checkpoints had been abandoned and left to rot.

Everything seemed grayed out, as if the whole world had been filtered. He thought he could almost make out faint signs of movement in the streets and windows, but it was impossible to tell for certain at this distance.

Turning from the devastation, John took in the beacon room alight with a pleasant amber glow. It made him feel safe. There was a warmth to it that he missed. As he looked around, his eyes were drawn to an item he’d missed initially, hidden in the shadow behind the beacon itself.

It was a staff of simple, white wood, standing at John’s shoulders, with a short blade of scrap fastened to the bottom. The top curved lightly to accommodate a small, hanging lantern, in the middle of which was a simple purple gem, encased in faux branches of silver. Despite its color, it glowed with the same amber light as the beacon John had just relit.

’There’s that word again - Barrier. Is a barrier just a dungeon, then?’ John wondered momentarily. ‘Does “immediately,” actually mean this will let me leave at any time if I ever do one of these again?’

Yes.

’Nice.’ The Gamer smiled, turning his attention to the item that the gem had come in.

John held the staff carefully in his hands. For its size, the weapon had not inconsiderable heft. It was somewhat warm to the touch, and he felt more powerful just holding it.

’Now THAT is a fabulous prize,’ he beamed internally, his smile growing ever wider. ’Didn’t even have to wait until I’m thirty to get my wizard staff. I can test this baby out more when I’m home.’

He juggled his inventory once more, combining his [Ice Surge] gem with the sword he had to give himself one extra slot, unequipping his magic focus and storing it away safely.

“Alright,” he mumbled to himself. “Homeward bound. ESCAPE DUNGEON!”

He charged the staff with mana, and the amber glow tinged violet for a moment as vertigo overtook John. The world shattered.