Spoils and invitation

"Let's get this boss and call it a day," Tom proposed, starting at the massive bull-like monster from across the corridor.

"Doesn't it look kinda... strong?" Claudia squinted her eyes. "Didn't we earn enough already? With what we earned, you could live the rest of your days without working for a single day!"

As ridiculous as it sounded, that was the truth. The value of the data stones that one could mine after dealing with the boss of any given floor was constantly on the rise.

Grade one stones could be found from the first level all the way up to the nineteenth. What's more, ever since the tenth floor, grade two stones would start appearing in small quantities as well.

And the same procedure would repeat for every twenty floors.

"You are overestimating our earnings. So far, we have forty-three grade three stones and a hundred and ten grade four stones." Tom said, pointing his finger at a sizeable bag he was carrying to house all their loot. "There is no way one could live their entire life with that sum."

'To be fair, with the current prices, one could,' Tom thought. The rapid pace of development and technology sparked by the rise of a new source of energy was behind his current dilemma.

Just one year ago, two thousand bucks were sufficient for one to live through a single month. Stacking all the rent, cost of media, food, and many other necessary costs, the two thousand were the sweet spot for living in comfort.

But as of today, one wouldn't be even considered a middle-class with such measly earnings. The current price for living in comfort already managed to rise to twice that amount.

"But well, you might have a point," Tom said after releasing all the air from his lungs. "Right. There is no need to be hasty at all. Let's just return." He added.

'It's just a pity to waste all the time we spent clearing the floor,' Tom thought, turning around and casting a glance at the clean floor of the dungeon's level.

'So all the corpses already disappeared,' Tom thought, instantly spinning his mind into an analytic state. 'I forgot to take the timer with me again.' He bashed his own carelessness.

It was commonly agreed upon that the deeper one would venture, the faster monsters' corpses would decompose into nothingness. Yet, as it was still just a theory, confirming that as a fact could net one a nice, additional reward.

"Let's not dwindle here, then," Claudia said in a decisive voice before a bashful look flourished on her face. "I mean, how about we go back?" The girl changed the phrasing of her words from a decision to a suggestion.

'Was I too soft on her?' Tom pondered. In the end, this girl was acting like a slave for this raid. Outside of the full authority to command her as he seemed fit, it also meant that the split of their earnings would be entirely in Tom's hands.

'Well, not like it matters at all,' Tom decided to drop the topic, directing his steps back to where the two of them came from.

The journey to the dungeon depths was riddled with monsters, ready to take a piece of the player's avatar at any time. Thankfully, the same couldn't be said about returning.

With no monsters to hamper their return, Tom fully relaxed. By the time the monsters started to spawn in the dungeon once again, the two of them already reached the twentieth floor.

"Hold on to this," Tom ordered Claudia, throwing the bag with stones her way before casting his cleaving skill. The fires covered his body, as usual, instantly melting down all the weak monsters that dared to attack him.

"Ah, that was boring!" Claudia complained just fewteen minutes later when they finally reached the exit of the dungeon.

"Try to imagine how it feels when you are all alone," Tom replied with a tiny smirk on his face.

"Take that!" Claudia suddenly shouted, throwing the sizeable bag back into Tom's arms. "I don't even want to imagine this kind of thing," she then replied to Tom's suggestion, averting her eyes. "I wouldn't be able to play like that," the girl added before moving her eyes back on Tom's face. "That's right, I never asked why you didn't join any guild!" Claudia noticed.

"Let's talk about this sometime later," Tom replied, pushing through the exit.

His surroundings changed, but Tom experienced it too many times to be astonished by it. The bag of energy stones on his back was the only thing he didn't experience beforehand.

"Later?" Claudia asked as soon as she appeared in the lobby as well. "Later, but when?" She insisted on getting the answer.

"How about this? Once we cash out our earnings and split them, care to join me for a small celebration?" Tom proposed out of nowhere.

Claudia opened her mouth to answer, only for her words to be left stuck in her throat when she noticed that Tom already moved on.

"You little..." she murmured as she caught up to the man, already busy with pulling the stones one by one from the back and dropping them on the counter.

"Hmm?" Tom turned his head around, sending the girl a jolly smile.

"Nevermind," Claudia quickly replied, turning her eyes away.

"Okay, okay, don't sulk like that," Tom laughed out loud when seeing the dejected expression on the face of Claudia's avatar. "How about we go for a meal once we log out? I know a fancy place in the hub," Tom proposed.

"Sounds good to me!" Claudia replied cheerfully.

"Ninety million, seven hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars got transferred to your account," the mundane voice of the AI announced the exact value of their earnings.