Reilly's Resolve

Teyo ran over the scenarios in his head, becoming a shop keep, making food and selling it to people, how lucrative it could be, and after a moment of wonder he answered her. " No. Not interested"

Reilly's mouthed dropped " Wait no no listen trust me I have this all planned out!"

" No, I don't like people normally, and my goal isn't to have a shop. What I want is whatever is at the end of the 200th floor."

" Teyo wait please just listen! " Reilly took off the Prince Slime crown and she dug her hand into it and pulled out a long metal rod. " Here tell me what you think about this" She then handed it to him, being approximately 5 and a half feet long Teyo's was surprised at the crown more than the rod but nonetheless grabbed it rolling it across the floor on one end. It's weight was actually rather heavy. It felt at least 40 pounds. Reilly then pulled out her notepad and then opened up her menu and jotted some things down and then slid it over to him.

" Do you see why I ask?"

The paper said the same thing his Appraise skill confirmed a minute later. Teyo grew extremely happy but then cautious. He knew if he accepted the item it came with terms, the other thing was, this things weight tied him down far more than he would like.

" Fire Pit Poker"

Praise tier - Spear

+5 Damage

+2 Damage with fire attribute abilities

Description: Somewhere out there a large fire place is missing it's poker.

Value: 1 Dusk experience gem.

" What exactly are you suggesting with this. I don't see how this makes a shop.

Also how much did you pay for this? And the hat.. What was that."

" Okay promise you will listen to everything after I show you. Let's go to your training room."

Teyo asked Wellyn whom directed them upstairs. There were many doors up here but the furthest back was a door above which a placard stated " Training Room".

After entering they were met with a large square wooden walled room with a cork like material padding the floor. They both took off their shoes and stepped into the room further where Teyo felt the air quality improve and a surge of energy. Holding the spear sized poker Teyo looked over at Reilly wondering what she wanted to show him.

Reilly now having his full attention " Okay so I leveled up when we ate last and I didn't quite understand what my spell meant nor did I have the mana to test it. But I found out it's actually amazing! At least for us." Reilly then waved her staff in a large circle counterclockwise and then back slowly on the way backwards the trail of her staff left after images like heat waves, thier illusory strengh becoming stronger until she reached straight upwards. At the high peak above her head, the after images quickly caught up to her staff and with the last ripple hitting, the top of her staff it began to glow red hot.

"Smoulder!"

She smacked her staff down atop the spear in Teyos hands, creating a spray of sparks with the sound of a hammer on anvil. The staff lost it's glow and it transferred to Teyo's spear. Every so often a lick of air would flash out a small flame off it's tip with a consistent flicker of crackling popping and spraying of sparks. Teyo's eyes grew wide, then he smiled.

" I learned the spell, but the inspiration came from you Teyo... Maybe with this we can.."

" Fine.. I agree. But let me set the terms."

Reilly's eyes teared a little and she gave a quick series of nods.

" First, we use this ability alone. No one else we que with gets to know about this. One because if it ends up in a highlight reel on The Dungeon Chef we can't be connected. Second, The food I make that we bring in to sell is only sold to people I deem worthy of being party members in the future. We will share this secret with only those who we can trust, at least until someone else finds out, hopefully that doesn't happen. So while it will be rare and not entirely lucrative it will still be our lasting boon. And finally, You make a pact with me right now. You will not tell a soul about my Identity. And here keep this." He handed her back the Spear

" That ability.... Let me guess it's an enchantment? "

Reilly had nodded yes and extended her hand to shake and the take the spear.

" Yes, it lasts for 5 minutes, but as you see it takes a little long to cast. What am I supposed to do with the spear?"

" It's s a bit heavy, and unfortunately that's not my style, maybe in the future we will find a use for it but right now it would only slow me down. The crown, it can still hold it right?" Teyo grasped at an answer for the crowns ability.

" Yes I can hold onto it. Uhm also.. I'm level 3. Because of your... suggestion and food. So I still have one more thing to show you." Reilly once again readied herself. She pulled her arm's backwards and choked up on her staff, then she poked out her spear hitting Teyo square in the chest.

" Censor!"

Teyo felt the poke and stepped back a little. He felt a little pain from it and rubbed his chest. Examining himself he didn't quite feel any different, He felt a bit unimpressed. " Uh rei..." Teyo paused.

Reilly stood tall and looked him in the eyes. " What's the matter? Is my ability that astounding? Yeah I thought so. hahaha"

Teyo couldn't speak. After just a few more seconds it stopped. He noticed a second later how strong the ability was. " Wait so you can't speak? So you can't use abilities or cast spells?? How many seconds was that like 5? That's awesome!"

Reilly giggled and then answered him " It's about that long or longer. The only downside is I have to touch the person. But in a fight that moment of exchange, hopefully it will allow me time to swap out with you. So now that you know my abilities, mostly, Is there anything else you can do that I didn't get to see? I'm curious."

Teyo understandably thought of what else he could share. Thinking back to what she could have seen to what he knew now. There's only the Appraise ability. That also made him realize that he could do it at range for the cost of 2 mana. Being in the training room Teyo activated it. The benefits of this skill was it didn't need a vocal activation, simply holding or staring could activate it if that were his intentions. Teyo stared at Reilly for a minute, Reilly blushed after a few seconds.

" Hey what are you looking at? A pimple??"

"No, just give me a second. shhh"

A moment later Teyo read out what he saw.

" Slime Wardrobe"

Head piece

Praise+ Tier

Description: Once a hiding place for a maid whom loved a prince, this magical space, is able to hold items that fit within the rim of the crown. Available space of 8 cubic feet.

Value: 1 Dusk experience gem.

Reilly blushed. " Yes that is correct. How did you? That's amazing! How does it work?? You didn't even say anything."

Teyo paused and thought of how to respond. " Have you ever played the Devil series Snowstorm made like 20 ish years ago. My dad use to play it and there was this guy in that game named Packered Rain, A shaman guy who you brought gear to and he told you how good it was. Pretty much just like that. Gosh this is a tiresome way to speak but if you don't know look it up on Viewtube."

Reilly shrugged her shoulders then responded with a wink and a thumbs up.

Teyo's mind began to stir as he thought about the possibilities and combinations of their abilities. While coming up with ideas he began to broaden his view but then got hung up with a wild accusation. He was thinking about his Appraise skill and how he got it. He killed goblins on accident with the stone spire that fell from above. That prompted a tavern quest, which was the same thing but harder and scaled a bit more, but the core of it was the same as the initial reason for the quest. It was to be cunning in your surroundings. Being that the quests name was Natural Predator, the item it gave was great and all but the Appraise skill, why such a reward for that avenue of thought and ability? It was as if.. Teyo grew glum. " Isn't this ability sinister by nature? This isn't going to be something difficult to acquire for most, once they push something over a cliff to it's.. this will be rather common for those of bad intent. This is a strong warning, as well as signal to hide your trump cards. Hmmm"

Teyo then decided to explain as best he could to Reilly.

" Reilly, this ability wasn't because I leveled, I earned it another way. Just think about it. If I looked at your equipment and was able to understand it's ability, and how valuable it was, what if I was bad? You need to hide your equipment from prying eyes. It shouldn't be that difficult for people to gain this skill. Sooner or later many people will."

Reilly nodded in agreement then spoke.

" Well I still have a decent amount of play time left, with everything I've done I've got just over 9 hours left. Why don't we hop back in que?"

Teyo agreed and they went downstairs. After dropping off the gear he had made and acquired he placed them all into the box that Wellyn pointed him to. The only thing he decided to take was the box with the string. Placing the knife on his hip he took the pan and axe into his other. He was ready to go. Reilly also decided to hide the crown and her necklace. Turning her back to Teyo, the tucked them both under her shirt. She made good use of one side of her chest placing it just inside the rim of the crown, it just barely fit. Looking up noticing Wellyn she nearly fainted, but he seemed to be just wiping the bar. She turned back to Teyo him none the wiser. With a nod they both came to the bar and sat down in front of the Que log. Wellyn then looked up and sighed.

" Just so you know ma'am, if you decide to que with him you will have to forfeit the progress you've made. Are you okay with that?" Reilly agreed than the two of them began their que but we're then asked another question that made bit of them look at one another. " It seems that the other members of your previous party are still on floor one shall I send them an invite as well? However they will also have to forfeit their progress."

Teyo thought about it briefly. And then with a bit of anger in his voice. " No, we will find new party members. Thanks Wellyn" Not only did he give him a bit of information he assumed that they too, understood that he and Reilly were still alive.

" Alright then I will re-que you." A moment later the log on the counter began to scroll and then the names populated. However only two additional names popped up this time, rather than five.

Teyo raised his brows then looked at Wellyn again. He immediately responded

" 5 group que's are for individuals whom are all on Hard mode. Which raises the difficulty of the level. Would you like to re que for individuals on hard mode only? "

" Oh uhm no actually that's fine. Reilly let's just use today as a que for materials and information. We won't pass the level and come back and do it on hard mode tomorrow." Teyo said, Reilly shook her fist and nodded yes. After that the door cracked open and the dark miasma like wisps exited the crack like fold, signaling to the pair it was time. After another once over themselves, the pair entered.