Lighting lanced up and down Tom's back. He leaned forward to help take the pressure off his spine, but that made his stomach muscles burn where the Boar had stabbed him. He raised his hand to wipe away the tears gathering in his eyes before anyone saw. However, that movement made his arm and shoulder scream from where the Headless Boss had nearly ripped it off.

I need to get back to camp. They might have to carry me if this gets much worse.

He wasn't the only one who looked rough. Hana was slumped against Bo's side looking drawn and haggard. She pulled away and vomited. She moaned, and wiped her mouth with her sleeve.

Chloe was clearly struggling with some inner battle. One moment, she was crying, and the next she looked utterly pissed.

Finn was slumped in a corner. He had healed everyone as much as possible, but now he was exhausted and drained of mana.

It wasn't just Tom. All of them needed to get out of there.

Tom shuffled toward the others.

"Guys, let's get our stuff and head back—"

"But we have new abilities!" said Loo.

"We can check them later. Let's pack up our loot and get out of . . . "

No one was paying attention to him; their eyes were all elsewhere.

Tom winced as a painful jolt zapped down his spine and into his leg. His knee almost buckled.

Tom checked his ability list; maybe there was something that could help him. For his [Fighter] class he now had [Fortified Defender]. The ability would fuse his armor plates together and boost his defense, but would cost him in speed, movement and attack range. For his [Sponge] class he had [Muscle Modification]. It was similar to [Bone Modification] and [Skin Modification], but there was no assigned material yet. His bones had been automatically assigned Rubber, and his skin, Iron.

Maybe it's because I haven't absorbed anything my muscles want yet.

The only other material he had absorbed was Carbon Fiber.

I need to make a better effort to absorb stuff.

Worse; Tom's new abilities were decent, but neither would help him now.

"Can we please stop ignoring the loot!" Amber interrupted Tom's thoughts.

Bo had a hand on Finn's shoulder; Tom caught the last part of their conversation.

"We'll work on it together, as soon as I'm free. But you did great today without them."

Finn glared at the ground.

Bo looked up at Tom. "Yeah, let's get our loot and get out of here."

Bo offered his hand to Hana, and helped steady her as she stood.

Tom gritted his teeth. "All right. Let's loot and go." He took a few slow steps toward the glowing blue treasure chest, determined not to cry out from the pain.

He approached Epic's gift. Its radiance dimmed as he reached it, leaving a small wooden chest with Iron bands wrapped around it.

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"Let me open it first, in case it's boobytrapped."

Tom carefully opened the latch and leaned away.

When nothing happened, Tom peeked inside.

There was a blueprint. Tom picked it up and read it aloud.

"[Standard Performance Stage: Structure offers an XS.50 boost to all Bardic abilities.]"

"Wow, that's a huge boost!" Loo snatched the blueprint out of Tom's hand and studied it.

"I think it's because it's Standard level," said Chloe. "All our other gear has been Simple so far. I wonder if there is a range of bonuses gained for each level. I would bet all Standard gear is much stronger than Simple stuff."

"Rip, that means these are crap." Amber inspected her Daggers, frowning.

Bo walked up to Loo, and she handed him the blueprint. Its edges glowed blue as Bo placed his fingers on the parchment.

"I guess you're in charge of this," Loo said. "It's clearly meant for you!"

Bo let out a resigned sigh.

Tom approached the Boss chest. It was made of sturdy wood—like the first chest—but was banded in Bronze rather than Iron. Tom flipped open the latch and slowly lifted the lid.

Inside sat ten neatly stacked pieces of parchment.

Tom's eagerly reached for them; however, only one glowed blue as his fingers moved closer. He pulled it from the box.

[Basic Bronze Tower Shield: Equipping the Tower Shield grants the player an XS.15 boost to defensive capabilities, significantly reducing incoming damage from enemy attacks.]

"Can I get mine?" Amber asked, her eyes lighting up. She dove into the chest the second Tom moved over to make room. She rummaged through the contents, and emerged with her hand closed around a recipe. She read aloud, and excitement bubbled in her voice.

"[Basic Bronze Knuckle Duster Dagger: Equipping the Knuckle Duster Dagger grants the owner an XS.15 bonus in close-quarters combat effectiveness, enhancing offensive critical strike capabilities.]"

Amber did a happy dance.

Loo leaned in to see the recipe herself. "Sooo, Simple gear gives XS bonus from like .01 to .10, and then Basic gear gives over .10 but less than .50?"

"We don't know for sure, but sounds right," Chloe said.

"Don't get too excited yet," said Bo. "We need to find people with the right professions to build these items for us. And don't forget about the materials we'll need as well."

Amber grinned. "It'll be worth it."

The family members took turns retrieving their blueprints from the chest.

Kate and Finn uncovered detailed patterns for boar skin Leather Pants. Kate's pants gave increased physical damage—boosted further in Bear form—while Finn's offered a boost in healing abilities.

Hana and Chloe's blueprints were both for Basic Bronze rings, designed to enhance their spell power. Loo, Bo, and Brad were given instructions for necklaces which did the same thing.

Tess was the final one to grab her blueprint; hers was for a Basic Bronze Round Shield.

"We should take note that the Iron box contained Standard loot, compared to the Bronze one which contained Basic," said Chloe. "I'm sure there is a hierarchy that goes along with it. We haven't seen a chest that drops Simple gear. Maybe that would be Copper? Copper first, then Bronze, then Iron, then other tiers beyond that?"

"Could be but that's a lot of assumptions," Tom said.

The insistent stalactites and stalagmites had retracted into the floor and ceiling. They would have to go back the way they came to leave the Boss Room, and to leave the Dungeon.

Tom almost yelped when pain shot up his leg as he stepped toward the exit.

Kate's eyes locked onto him.

I might not be able to walk soon!

"Okay guys," Tom announced. "We've been in here long enough—"

"Hold up, the crystal is glowing again," said Bo. He reached out and touched it.

Tom groaned to a halt. A prompt appeared in front of him.

[Congratulations, you have defeated the Dungeon! Would you like to begin the process of claiming this land for your party?]

"Hell, yes!" said Bo. His hands were still on the crystal. "I'm clicking through the next steps, guys."

A giant map materialized above their heads.

"Whoa!" said Loo.

The image filled the cavern, and its ancient parchment and ink markings fluttered in an invisible breeze. It was labeled 'Headless Dungeon Block'. A thick boundary marker outlined the Dungeon's entire territory, which was almost perfectly square-shaped. All unexplored areas—at least 75 percent of the map—were grayed out and hidden from view. A marker in the bottom right corner indicated the Dungeon's location. To the immediate north was the hill they had settled on. To the west of the Dungeon were the Copper and stone mines they had found when exploring.

Tom assessed the relative distances on the map. Since it would take about four hours to reach the Copper mine on foot from the Dungeon's entrance, it would probably take two or three days to walk across the entire Dungeon block from east to west. Since the territory was square-shaped, it was roughly the same distance from south to north.

"Guys, this is it!" said Bo. "We can begin a settlement! This was our bottleneck!" He laughed gleefully.

"The other rooms had blueprints for housing, lumbermills, blacksmiths . . . even a town center," said Hana.

"All kinds of shit!" Bo said.

"Look at the prompt behind it." Brad gestured past the huge territory map.

Tom carefully repositioned himself to view the prompt. He winced.

"As you are the first party to clear this virgin Dungeon," Bo read aloud, "a one-time permanent Dungeon ability is granted to one party member. The gift permanently merges Dungeon and recipient, and will not be offered again. Would you like to be entered into the raffle for the Dungeon's boon? [Grow multiple stomach mouths] to increase your Bardic ability?"

Tom rubbed his eyes and looked at the prompt again. For him it offered wide Marauder-like feet for taking a stronger stance.

"Gross!" said Amber. "That isn't what it says for me."

"It's asking if I want [Psychic Scream]," said Chloe. "Maybe it's offering each of us something different, based on Headless physiology mixing with our classes?"

Bo frowned. "No way! Is this thing fucking for real?"

Brad raised his arm. "I'll give up my claim on this territory for it!"

Bo blinked at him. "Are you serious?"

"Yep! Extra singing mouths, like the Pygmies!"

"You want that? What if the mouths have sharp fucked-up teeth? What about that tongue?"

"It freaks me out, but new world, man. I told you, it's time to get weird. Gotta adapt. I'm serious; I'll give up my territory claim for it."

A loud pop echoed through the cavern.

Tom ducked, and there were shouts of surprise around him. His body screeched at him, but he stayed standing.

A translucent figure materialized in the center of the cave. It had a human-like shape, but they could see each other through its body, as if it was made of frosted glass. Two golden ovals were barely visible in what Tom assumed was its face.

The person held up its mostly invisible hand, and gave a slight wave.

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