Chapter 83

The lock-box, smaller than a typical loot chest, creaked open. Jordan and Liz bumped into Natalie as they all crowded together, peering over Sofia’s shoulder to see what was inside.

In pristine white gloves, Sofia held up their first spoils of war.

Potion of Intermittent Invisibility

Description

For three minutes, alternate between invisibility and significantly increased visibility. Effect swaps every twenty seconds.

The thin vial of clear liquid had bits of golden flakes suspended inside; they glinted from the illumination offered by their lanterns, flickering and disappearing as Sofia turned the vial left and right.

“Invisibility,” Sofia said. “That’s a stronger effect than I’d expect for our level.”

“Only twenty seconds,” Jordan said. “Useless in a fight.”

While invisibility would, of course, be enormously useful in normal circumstances, it was rendered rather useless when the effect swapped to the opposite: increased visibility. By the sounds of it, if a damage-dealer took the potion to flank opponents easier, when they switched to the detrimental half of the potion, their movements would become even easier to see—and maybe the effect implied it would draw a monster’s attention to them, making Natalie’s job that much harder.

“But great for utility,” Sofia said. “Making it through a hot zone, maybe. Sneaking a reward out. Something like that might be coming up.”

The dungeon had a tendency to provide consumable rewards like this when a challenge suited to it was nearby. Not always, but often enough that over the centuries, a noticeable pattern had emerged.

And even if they didn’t want to use it, it’d sell well. Invisibility, even short and alternating, was a better drop than they could’ve hoped for, being level one. Though the ‘increased visibility’ did make it far less valuable than if it’d been the real deal.

Sofia handed the vial to Liz. The healer would be the person least likely to be tumbling around, and therefore possibly damaging the potion. Not that dungeon potions shattered easily, but they were far from invulnerable, too. They wouldn’t block a weapon blow, say, or even landing the wrong way on it.

The next item out barely fit inside the lock-box.

Phantom Quiver

Uncommon

Lv. 1

Effects

- Minor increase to Prowess.

- Phantom Arrows. Fabricate ghostly ammunition that deals minor additional magical damage and has a low chance to apply a disorientation effect.

Description

Crafted from shimmering blue-and-silver fabric with a long, sturdy strap for carrying.

It was their first uncommon.

The rarity of an item wasn’t the ultimate deciding factor of how valuable or useful it would be, but it was a pretty solid one, especially when combined with the level requirement. The gaps between rarities were fairly significant. An uncommon, on average, sold for at least three times as much as a common, and likewise, a rare over an uncommon.

The higher rarities—epic, legendary, and divine treasures—were essentially impossible to find at lower levels, and especially at the beginner stage of level one. Triply so the last two rarities. Maybe there were a few epic pieces of loot floating around at level one, but probably only a couple across the entire world. The upper rarities were more typical at higher levels.

As for the item itself. A quiver. It wasn’t the best piece of loot for their team. Jordan could handle herself with a bow, and was even quite skilled with it, but her class was a melee-focused poison one. She might receive more ranged abilities as she leveled, but that was only a maybe—and once she leveled, the quiver would become outdated. So, while a decent item for her, not a perfect one, or even especially great.

Sofia handed the item off to Jordan, probably making the same assumptions that it wasn’t amazing on her, but even so, it belonged on the rogue. It wasn’t like Sofia could use it, or anyone else. Maybe they would end up selling the item rather than using it on future delves, but for now, it would be wasteful for Jordan not to make use it in the interim.