Lucas moved his gaze from the center of the chamber to his leg. The wound was still healing, red and hot beneath the fading green sheen.

  The four gashes that had been soaked in blood moments ago were now completely clean. The light had purged the wounds, leaving them looking as though they had been disinfected with alcohol. Even visually, he could see it happening - new tissue forming where the cuts had been deep, strands of flesh drawing together and knotting themselves into place.

  Lucas forced his eyes away from the sight and checked his status window instead, hoping it would distract him from the pain in his leg. Healing deep wounds in this world was nothing like he had imagined. There was no relief in it, only a persistent, burning ache.

  He quickly scanned the blue window that flashed before him.

  [...Level: 27; Status: Injured; XP: 7/59; AP: 0.8…]

  The only big change was his Injured status, but beyond that, nothing stood out.

  When the pain eased enough for him to stand, he rose and looked again at the strange column of silver light, still shimmering like a lone sunbeam in a dark chamber.

  He walked toward it with a limp.

  As he got close to the bear corpses, the stench hit him hard - iron, filth, and burned flesh. The charred bear lay farther away, so the smell of burned flesh was faint, but the one he had pierced through the throat had soiled itself. The mix of excrement and blood clung heavily to the air.

  Lucas pulled his gaze away from the bodies and fixed it on the silver light instead.

  As he approached the center of the chamber, he noticed a wooden chest resting on the stone floor. It was about a meter long, half a meter wide, and slightly less in height, with a simple lock set into its front. Nothing about it seemed out of the ordinary except for the silver light pouring down onto it.

  It proved enough to stop Lucas a few steps short. In this place, even something as harmless as an apple had managed to drag him into unnatural sleep. He wasn’t about to trust appearances.

  He activated Coward’s Eye.

  [

  Name: Wooden Chest

  Description: A reward granted after successfully clearing a chamber in the dungeon

  Tier: Uncommon / Rare

  ]

  Finally. A reward.

  His heartbeat quickened as a familiar thrill stirred in his chest, reminding him of the excitement he used to feel when looting in Lineage 2. It was the very first game his friends and he played.

  He got melancholic for no reason. But he quickly regained focus, narrowing his eyes.

  Lucas scanned the chamber and picked up a loose stone. Even if Coward’s Eye claimed the chest was a reward, he wasn’t convinced.

  He threw the stone - not hard enough to strain himself, but with enough force to matter.

  It struck the chest with a dull thud and dropped to the floor, rolling to a stop just in front of it.

  The chest didn’t shift.

  Lucas waited, silently counting to ten.

  Maybe he was being overly cautious. But after trusting his skill once and paying for it, he had decided that caution was the only sensible choice.

  Better safe than sorry, he thought as he finished counting to ten and moved closer to the chest. Crouching before it made him grimace as a sharp jolt of pain shot up from his leg and into his head.

  Lucas didn’t linger on it.

  He reached for the chest carefully. First, he let only the tip of his index finger pass into the silver light, watching closely for any reaction. Only after confirming that it was completely safe did he try lifting the lid, but the lock didn’t allow him.

  He had half-expected it to open on its own for the one who had cleared the chamber, but even in a magical world, not everything worked that conveniently.

  He would have to break the lock manually, and his staff was still lying near the bear corpses. Lucas picked up the stone he had thrown at the chest.

  The lock gave way more easily than he’d expected. After two strong strikes that sent pain through his wrists, the upper steel hinge securing the lock tore free.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  I hope the reward is of better quality than the chest itself, Lucas chuckled inwardly. Despite the thought, his heart was pounding as he lifted the lid, eyes scanning the contents hungrily.

  A smile broke his face as he reached in to pick the very first item that caught his attention - a bow with a matching quiver.

  [

  Name: Hunting Shortbow

  Tier: Uncommon

  Description: +2 to Dexterity while wielding the bow

  ]

  Lucas turned the bow in his hands as if there were no greater treasure in the world. He counted the arrows quickly - twenty-five.

  Finally, he had a weapon that allowed him to keep his distance. With no offensive scrolls left to rely on, it would be invaluable.

  He set the bow and quiver down beside him and turned his attention to the remaining items. One was a vial filled with green liquid. The other was a small bottle containing two pieces of gray, gelatinous matter. Beneath their semi-translucent surface, tiny specks shimmered like faint sparks.

  What the hell is this? he thought as he brought the bottle closer to his face and activated Coward’s Eye again.

  [

  Name: Constitution Essence

  Description: Can be consumed to increase Constitution

  Tier: Faint

  ]

  [

  Name: Healing Potion

  Description: Can heal non-lethal wounds that aren’t too deep

  Quality: Excellent

  ]

  Lucas had already expected the green vial to be a healing potion, but he had no idea what an Essence was supposed to look like. Not until now.

  He liked the idea of increasing his Constitution, but how was he supposed to consume it? The simplest option that came to mind was swallowing it like a pill and maybe washing it down with a bit of water, but he dismissed the thought almost immediately.

  A strange item powerful enough to alter his body wasn’t something he could afford to experiment with.

  He decided to wait until Evelyn woke up and ask her.

  Lucas checked the chest one last time, going so far as to run his hand along the bottom, just in case some hidden mechanism activated and revealed a secret reward. If this world really worked like a game, why not? But nothing happened. His hand just came away dusty.

  Before standing up, he picked up the bow and slung it over his shoulder. Hanging the quiver on his back proved far more troublesome, reminding him of Gio’s words when the sanguine had mocked him for carrying it there instead of on his side.

  Lucas might have tried Gio’s method if he’d had a proper belt, but the rope holding his pants up wouldn’t support that much weight. The last thing he wanted was his trousers slipping down mid-fight and compromising his mobility.

  Eventually, he managed to secure the quiver to his back. He stored the two bottles in his small pouch, which now held only three scrolls, and then turned toward the bears.

  One of them was charred, its hide completely ruined. The other, though soaked in blood and filth, was still usable.

  Should I skin it? he thought. His hand settled instinctively on the knife at his waist.

  In the end, he decided to do it. He had no idea how long he and Evelyn would be stuck in the dungeon, and sleeping on cold stone would be far worse than resting on a warm, thick bear hide.

  The problem was that Lucas didn’t know how to skin a bear or any animal for that matter.

  His father had loved hunting, but Lucas had never gone with him. Not once. Since childhood, he had cared too much for animals to harm them for sport - or even for food.

  How times have changed… he thought as he slid the knife into the bear’s stomach and drew it downward all the way, then repeated the cut, this time working toward the neck.

  He tried to picture the process in his mind, imagining how to separate the hide while damaging it as little as possible, and followed that mental outline as best he could. It took far longer than killing the two grizzlies, and the result… well, it could have been worse. But by the time he finished, there was still enough meat clinging to the hide to feed a family of five.

  Lucas was smeared with blood and grime, but he felt an unexpected sense of pride. He had always been happiest when working with his hands, and only now did he realize how much he had missed the simplicity of the process.

  He laid the hide out on a clean stone and spread it flat. As he straightened his back, his stomach growled loudly. He had been ignoring the hunger for hours, and his body had finally run out of patience.

  There’s no other way, he thought and turned toward the charred bear. At least some of its meat should be edible.

  Now that he had some experience cutting bear flesh, he worked faster. He chose the hind leg, reasoning that it would be the least damaged.

  The first few layers were nothing but blackened mass, charred through completely. Worse than that was the smell - burnt flesh so thick it made his stomach churn. The nausea was almost unbearable, made worse by the state his body was in. Lucas was exhausted, starving, and still covered in blood.

  But all the negativity vanished when he saw that the next slice was edible. The meat looked dry as paper, but it wasn’t burned.

  Lucas bit into it and winced. The taste of scorched flesh flooded his mouth. Still, he swallowed. In his situation, filling his stomach mattered more than anything else.

  He kept eating, forcing himself to chew and swallow. He decided to take some back for Evelyn as well; she must have been also starving.

  He was already wrapping the meat in the bear hide when he heard a scream.

  Evelyn! He recognized the voice instantly and shot to his feet. Grabbing the wooden staff and the folded bear hide, he ran out of the chamber as fast as he could.

  He headed for the room where he had left her, boots slapping loudly against the pale stone floor of the corridor.

  The entrance was already in sight.

  A blue notification flashed before his eyes.

  [You’ve successfully cleared the Chamber of Knowledge!]

  The next chapter on Tuesday!

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  Should I include pictures (like in this one)?