Unlike Ascensions, rewards for clearing things such as the floors within the Maw, were still novel for Rory. Part of that was due to this vocation, oddly enough. Given a big part of what he did for a living was making stuff, Eon had seemingly gone out of its way not to give objects or items as rewards, preferring to opt for simple Ascension energy or raw resources.

  It did seem a tad unfair to Rory; the others on the planet likely were given items as rewards, whereas he had to make everything. Still, the plus side was that unless Eon was being unfair about it, Rory had a strong suspicion that the things he could make would generally be better than whatever Eon would give out.

  Yet even with his general complaints, when Rory opened the reward interface, he felt an internal giddiness that reminded him of waking up on Christmas morning, praying he was on Santa’s nice list.

  Well, Santa, I think I deserve the nice list after nearly dying.

  Opening the interface, Rory paused for a moment.

  “Huh.”

  “What is it?” Apostolos asked, concerned. “Something go wrong?”

  “No, not quite. The opposite. It’s better than I expected.”

  “Meaning?”

  Flicking the interface over to Apostolos, Rory re-read the textbox.

  Challenge Area cleared: The Maw-Level Two

  Loot Table(s) earned

  Boss Slain (X)

  Boss Slain+ 20% Floor clearance (X)

  Boss Slain+ 40% Floor clearance (X)

  Boss Slain+ 60% Floor clearance (X)

  Boss Slain+ 80% Floor clearance (X)

  Boss Slain+ 100% Floor clearance (-)

  Open rewards: Y/N?

  “Does this mean we get...” Apostolos paused for a moment, counting the rewards. “We get five separate rewards?”

  “Looks that way,” Rory confirmed. “Also, I know what you’ll be doing for a while.”

  “Full clearing the floor?” Apostolos questioned.

  “Bingo. You’re a tier-five now, and you’ve got those Radiance Embers, so I’m officially clearing you for engaging with tier-five monsters without having me around as supervision.”

  “Oh, sweet!” Apostolos cheered before coughing into his fist, trying to look less excited. “I mean, uhh, thanks.”

  “Anyway, rewards time,” Rory said as he finally clicked the yes option.

  Loot Table reward obtained: Raw crafting material.

  The sand suddenly vibrated all around them as something slowly emerged from the depths. It was…

  “What is that?” Apostolos questioned.

  “Good question,” Rory answered. “I’ve no idea.”

  It looked like a weirdly bulbous pineapple, roughly the size of his torso, with honeycomb-like holes covering it. Curious, Rory examined the object.

  ???

  Quality: Uncommon

  The former nest of an Ash Mite colony that has since been abandoned as the mites reached their larvae stage. Devoid of life, the nest is composed of a surprisingly durable organic mineral highly resistant to erosion.

  “Oh, ick, but also interesting,” Rory said as he took in the former monster colony. “Says here it used to be the nest of the swarmlings that attacked.”

  “Swarmlings?”

  “Oh, you probably couldn’t see them from the entrance. Yeah, a bunch of tiny worms, anywhere from the size of my thumb to a few feet long. Nasty little buggers. They could even explode, which was less than stellar.”

  “Oh.” Apostolos took a moment to examine the nest before frowning. “So… what’s the use, and why does it not have a name?”

  “The material itself is unnamed, even if the colony was not,” Rory said. “That aside, who knows? I’ll have to think about potential uses.”

  “I guess that makes sense… Hey, could I name it?”

  “Why?”

  “Because you suck with names.”

  Rory said nothing in response, simply glaring at his apprentice.

  “I’ll take the lack of rebuttal as permission,” Apostolos answered smugly. A moment later, the interface and description of the nest were updated.

  Hiveinite

  Quality: Uncommon

  The former nest of an Ash Mite colony that has since been abandoned as the mites reached their larvae stage. Devoid of life, the nest is composed of a surprisingly durable organic mineral highly resistant to erosion.

  “Really? Hiveinite? I thought you said I had bad naming conventions. That’s no better.” Rory said, irritated at how, after getting on his case, Apostolos had done no better than he would have.

  “Oh, come on, you would have named it something like ‘Ash Worm-ite” or something just as bad.

  “Well, we will never know now, will we?”

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  Rory did not admit that if he had named it, he would have called it exactly that: ashwormite.

  “What’s next?” Apostolos asked, changing the subject.

  Moving on to the next reward, Rory let his interface do its thing.

  I wish there was a little graphic or animated scene, like those old bowling alleys.

  Perhaps Eon had a sense of humor after his earlier attempts at jokes during his ascension, as out of nowhere, his interface suddenly changed, a wheel spinning before vanishing as the familiar text appeared.

  Loot Table reward obtained: Fast Travel Shortcut unlocked.

  Before Rory could voice his confusion, the nearby ruins, or what remained, suddenly began to rumble as the stone stitched itself together. Rather than forming back into the temple structure from before, it now appeared as a pavilion-style platform with four pillars in each corner.

  “What is that?” Apostolos asked, always the one to ask the first thing that came to mind.

  “Reward said a fast travel shortcut, so… maybe an easy exit out of the Maw? Don’t have to trek through the second and first floor to leave.”

  “Really?”

  “No idea, that’s just my guess,” Rory said with a shrug.

  And if that’s my guess, I’d put money that Eon had a similar thought process.

  How it worked, well, they’d find out soon enough once they left the Maw behind.

  “Reward number three,” Rory announced as the slots wheel appeared momentarily before the standard message.

  Loot Table reward obtained: Area Map.

  Rather than question what an area map was, Rory opened his interface, mentally ‘opening’ the map. Instantly, a map of both the first floor, which had only two rooms and one long tunnel between them, and the second floor appeared. A few areas remained unexplored, appearing as off-shooting passages marked by question marks.

  “Looks like your job got easier,” Rory said to Apostolos.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Third reward was a map.”

  “A map?” Apostolos scrunched his nose up for a moment before frowning. “What’s a map?”

  “What do you mean?” Rory said before pinching the bridge of his nose. Because of cognition’s benefits, it was far easier to remember directions and retrace steps. It had never been an issue that Rory needed Apostolos to have a map of anything.

  Thus, he’d never actually taught Apostolos what a map was.

  “Here, just… look. You’ll understand.”

  Mentally confirming the process, Rory permitted Apostolos to access the map. A moment later, Rory saw Apostolos receive a notification, and his eyes widened.

  “Wow, this is so cool. It’s an overlay of the area!”

  “Yeah, a map,” Rory said. “That’s what a map is.”

  “What… what’s the point, though?” Apostolos said, his amazement fading. “I can retain this much information easily enough, even if I don’t plan on investing in cognition as heavily going forward.”

  “Think for a moment. The first floor of the Maw had two rooms. The second floor is somewhere in the ballpark of one hundred and twelve. Extrapolate what the third floor might look like.”

  “Oh… Oh wow.” Apostolos answered.

  “Exactly.” Rory snapped his fingers as Apostolos got the bigger picture. “That’s a lot to remember and have laid out, even with cognition. Once you’re A6 or with me, you’ll also head down to the third floor.”

  Apostolos perked up at that, always happy to be included.

  Right, next reward.

  After handling three of the five rewards, Rory began wondering if anything would be more substantial. The map and the fast travel platform were nice, but they wouldn’t directly help them.

  All right, let’s get something good now.

  One spinning wheel later, Rory was presented with the standard text.

  Loot Table reward obtained: Spiritual Source.

  “That’s… novel?” Rory glanced around, waiting until a moment later, he felt his eye twitching until it was nearly spazzing out of his head.

  “You okay, master?”

  “Something… really valuable,” Rory muttered, closing his eyes. He’d never felt such a strong reaction from the potential vision of any version of his eye skill. Looking for the source, Rory saw none other than the corpse of the Ash Reaper Coscinocera vibrating. Within moments, the entire thing began to split, as from the center of the dead monster, a dark, grey-colored pill-like orb remained.

  Upon noticing the strange pill-like item, his eye nearly popped out of his head. Reacting, Rory quickly examined it.

  Anima Seed of Reaping Sands

  Quality: Common.

  The anima center of a monster that has evolved and obtained a Spiritual Body. Without the necessary anima to fully sustain such a spiritual body, what anima remained was instead consolidated into a seed-like organ, ready to flourish should the degree of anima required ever be regained. It has uses for crafting and alchemy and significant benefits for nurturing an underdeveloped Spiritual Body.

  On the one hand, it seemed strange that such an extraordinary object would be graded as a common quality; on the other hand, Rory had to judge it against the source and long-term view of what such an object meant. In other words, a skilled baseball player might seem impressive until judged against a professional athlete. In the same sense, the Anima Seed he was currently examining, while far more ‘eye-popping’ than nearly anything else he’d discovered, was barely of note if compared against other Anima Seeds, if any other Anima Seeds had even been found.

  But.

  But that was the long-term understanding of its overall worth. In the short term, it was apparent that such a reward was insanely valuable.

  But to whom was the real question? Sure, Rory could probably use it for some project in the future when inspiration struck him. Until he had such inspiration, though, it would likely collect dust in his hovel, much like his Den Mother’s Nuclei.

  So, if he wasn’t going to use it…

  Hobbling over to the corpse -his body was still somewhat sore- Rory snatched the weird pit-like object and tossed it to Apostolos.

  “What’s this?” The young man questioned.

  “Take a look for yourself.”

  Watching Apostolos do precisely as he instructed, Rory saw several emotions flicker across his face before settling on disbelief.

  “You’re just going to give this to me? Don’t you think you could do something crazy with this?”

  “Sure, maybe. Or it may sit there, unused for years. You’re the one with a Spiritual Body and looking to take a more active combat focus. If we can give you a bit of a jump start, may as well take it.”

  “T-thanks,” Apostolos murmured, staring at the Anima Seed. “So, do I like…?”

  “That’s for you to figure out,” Rory said. “I’ve got one more reward to look over, after all.”

  Ignoring Apostolos, Rory rubbed his hands together.

  All right, Apostolos got some super fancy reward. Surely, I’m bound to get something just as good in return?

  Opening the final reward—five of six in total—though the sixth hadn’t been unlocked yet, Rory saw the wheel spin.

  Loot Table reward obtained: Third Floor unlocked.

  Before Rory could chirp his complaints that access to the third floor of the Maw was now locked behind a reward table, the dunes began to shift.

  “There!” Rory pointed toward the fast travel platform, the only thing remaining stable. Scrambling, the two of them quickly ran to stable ground. From the stable pavilion they now stood upon, they watched as great chains suddenly lashed out, tethering the platform to the several entrances to the boss room with chains large enough to walk across.

  As for the dunes? They began to fall away like sand dropping through an hourglass until, within a few minutes, every trace of sand was gone. The fast travel platform was suspended above a gaping hole, hundreds of meters large, tethered through massive chains connecting it to the faraway walls of the cavern and the exits from which they entered the cave.

  “So… Is this a good or bad thing?” Apostolos questioned, not privy to the information displayed across his reward interface.

  “Good thing… Sort of. The final reward was access to the third floor. Kind of bull shit that it’s listed as a ‘reward,’ but whatever, I’m not annoyed.” Rory said, very much annoyed.

  “And that entrance is by jumping down a bottomless pit?”

  “Seems that way,” Rory confirmed.

  “So, are we…?”

  “Hell no,” Rory said, shaking his head. “All my gear is gone, and you’re only A5. If the third floor works like the second floor, there will be monsters ranging from A5 to A6 just freely wandering about. We are not in the state to tackle that. No, we’re going to leave.”

  “Oh, okay… Wait, what about the hiveinite? Did it fall?”

  Rory’s eyes widened, realizing he hadn’t been paying attention as the sand fell away. A moment from groaning in annoyance over the lost reward, Rory relaxed as he saw the oversized hive near the platform’s edge. He was reasonably sure it hadn’t been there before. Still, it would have been cheap to reward them with the resource only for it to be instantly lost due to the dune falling away under their very feet, something they hadn’t been prepared for.

  “Guess we’re all good,” Rory said with a deep exhale. “Not bad for a day’s work, eh?”

  “You almost died.”

  “Your point?” Rory questioned, giving his apprentice a look as if almost dying was no more special than missing a bargain deal on ramen.

  Scratch that, in college, missing a bargain deal for ramen would have been worse than almost dying; lord knows I would have been shit out of luck with as broke as I was.

  “Fine, never mind.” Apostolos gave up arguing; his master was far more lackadaisical about the topic than he was. “Can we just go home then? I could go a month or two without all this high-octane energy.”

  “Sure, if you-” Mid-sentence, as if sensing their intent, the pillars at each corner of the platform suddenly lit up with a purple flame hovering above each of them. Before Rory could question it or even finish his sentence, they found themselves gone from the boss room, appearing outside the entrance to the Maw.

  “-want.” Rory finished his sentence.

  “Did we just teleport?” Apostolos asked.

  “Seems that way,”

  Apostolos was silent. For several moments, the young man seemed content to look around and observe their surroundings before his shoulders slumped, what remained of his fortitude draining away after the events of the day.

  “Yeah, I just want to go home.”