Mitch’s healing magic flowed through his body, nding torn muscles and closing shallow cuts from the fierce battle.
Beside him, Leya presented a more concerning sight, angry red burn marks painted her arms and torso like a cruel canvas, her clothes charred and crumbling in places where the flas had been most intense.
"Hold still," Mitch murmured, placing his glowing hands over the worst of her injuries. The healing energy pulsed between them, a soft blue radiance that seed to drink in the burns like water on parched earth.
Fortunately, his dinsional pocket space contained more spare clothing for exactly this kind of situation. As his magic worked, Leya’s skin gradually returned to its natural color, unmarred and smooth as if the fire had never touched her.
"Better?" he asked, examining his handiwork with satisfaction.
Leya flexed her arms experintally, then grinned. "Good as new!"
With their injuries tended to, they turned their attention to the goblin’s crude hut. The hut stood like a patchwork monunt to scavenged survival, weathered wooden planks held together with strips of hide, animal pelts stretched taut over gaps in the walls.
The structure emanated the musty scent of old leather and woodsmoke, punctuated by less pleasant odors they preferred not to identify.
At the hut’s center sat their prize: a wooden chest that imdiately captured their attention.
Both adventurers felt that familiar feeling of anticipation, the addictive thrill that ca with potential treasure.
The chest itself was a work of rustic artistry, its surface carved with intricate patterns of intertwining branches and delicate leaves.
Mitch lifted the lid with careful reverence, and both peered inside.
[Tier 2 Wooden leaf bracelet – A bracelet in the form of a leaf made from a tier 2 tree that had great mana conductivity. 2 to mind and 8 to mana regeneration]
"Not bad," Mitch said, turning the bracelet over in his hands. The wood felt warm to the touch, almost alive, and he could sense the mana threads woven through its grain.
For a mont, he considered strapping it on, the extra regeneration would certainly help during prolonged battles.
But his fingers unconsciously brushed against his current bracer, the one that projected his mana shield. That defensive barrier had saved his life a few tis.
"In the heat of battle, steady protection beats faster recovery," he mused aloud. "Enemies don’t pause for mana breaks."
Leya nodded in agreent, her own bracelet that enhanced her physical prowess already occupying her wrist. "I’m set too. We sell it?"
"Afraid so," Mitch replied with a shrug.
As they prepared to leave the hut behind, Mitch’s mind turned to tactical analysis. The previous battle had been closer than he liked, too many variables, too much chaos.
"We need to refine our approach for the next encounters," he said, watching Leya check her sword’s edge for nicks. "I’ll focus entirely on the shield-bearers, they’re the real threat with that reach and armor.
You handle the knife-wielding scouts before they can surround us. We nearly got overwheld because we split our attention."
Leya paused in her weapon maintenance. "What about my fire spell? The cooldown won’t be ready for another hour."
Mitch considered this, weighing the tactical advantages against their ti constraints. "We can manage without it this ti. If we’re going to reach the boss chamber by week’s end, we need to clear this area today. Every delay costs us."
The dungeon’s peculiar magic ant that the entrance to the next chamber would remain sealed until they eliminated every goblin hut in this section. It was frustrating, but those were the rules of this particular dungeon.
They scouted the hut, and it seed that there were the sa number of goblins.
They counted the sa number of defenders.
Mitch’s familiar once again served as their opening gambit, distracting the goblins while Mitch and Leya struck from behind.
They killed the archers like the first ti, but this ti, they stayed together rather than splitting up.
The knife-wielding goblins ca first, as expected, green scarred creatures that moved like wolves, seeking to flank and overwhelm. These goblins fought with cunning and coordination that spoke of genuine intelligence.
Working in perfect synchronization, Mitch and Leya cut down the ambushers, leaving only two scouts who wisely retreated to support the shield-bearers.
Then ca the real challenge, three massive goblins, each having a towering shield and a huge sword.
Mitch activated his new spell, space magic crackling around his blade in a shimr of distorted air.
His first strike didn’t just cut through the leading goblin, it bisected the creature so cleanly that both halves fell away before the others could react.
The sa swing continued through the second goblin’s shield, shearing through tal as if it were parchnt.
anwhile, Leya, when the third shield-bearer’s massive sword crashed down toward her, she didn’t dodge, she t it head-on, her shield absorbing the impact with a resounding clang that echoed through the forest.
In the sa fluid motion, she pivoted and struck down the two remaining scouts who had tried to exploit Mitch’s montary commitnt to his attack.
Mitch’s second space-enhanced strike finished the goblin that attacked Leya, leaving only their final opponent, a creature whose split shield fell away in pieces, leaving it ard with a sword alone.
The last goblin managed to parry Mitch’s decapitation attempt with surprising grace. But skill could only carry one so far against two experienced adventurers.
Leya’s frost-enchanted blade found the creature’s eye, and ice crystals spread through its brain in seconds, ending the fight.
"Much better," Mitch said, breathing only slightly harder than normal. "Experience makes all the difference."
The second hut’s interior revealed another carved chest, but this one contained a crushing disappointnt: five gold coins that clinked mockingly as Mitch counted them.
[5 x gold coins]
He even inspected them, wishing they were sothing else.
"What? Gold coins? I didn’t even know these chests could contain sothing so... mundane," Mitch said, his voice heavy with disbelief.
Leya couldn’t help but laugh at his expression. "Welco to the real world of dungeon delving! You’ve just been incredibly lucky up until now. Most adventurers see more gold than magical items."
"But only five coins..." Mitch stared at the ager sum as if it had personally offended him.
"Just wait until we find a chunk of worthless tier-two granite," Leya said with amusent. "Then you’ll really appreciate these coins."
The remainder of the day blurred into a repetitive cycle of scouting, fighting, and looting.
They cleared each remaining hut, dealing with the occasional lone goblin that attempted to ambush them from the forest’s shadows.
The encounters beca almost routine, their tactical coordination improving with each battle until they moved like a single organism with two bodies.
Their luck with treasure, however, remained consistently poor. Two huts contained no chests whatsoever, leading Mitch to wonder if the goblins had hidden their valuables elsewhere.
The final hut yielded eight gold coins, a "treasure" so disappointing that Mitch actually hurled a mana bolt at the offending chest, reducing it to splinters.
"Feel better?" Leya asked, watching him dust off his hands.
"Yeah."
His gather skill, when used on the few fallen shield-bearers and archers, proved equally disappointing.
The magical technique that allowed him to extract materials from defeated enemies yielded the sa common drops as the weaker goblins.
When the last goblin fell, the ground trembled beneath their feet, a deep thrumming that resonated through the chamber.
In the far wall of the chamber, previously solid rock began to shift and part, revealing the entrance to the next area.
"There’s our path forward," Leya observed, but made no move toward it.
Mitch nodded, equally reluctant to press on. "It’ll stay open until we complete the dungeon. No rush."
They had spent the entire day in the underground chamber, and both felt the weight of exhaustion settling into their bones.
The dungeon would be here tomorrow, and they would be sharper, better rested, and more prepared for whatever challenges lay beyond that threshold.
"Camp?" Leya suggested.
"Camp," Mitch agreed.
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