Chapter 878 (1/2)

Thump.

Alice Wilde looked up from her danish, rather annoyed at the sudden interruption to one of her very few moments of peace. She was currently monitoring entrants and exits to Donnyton’s Dungeons and there was no one scheduled to enter for a while, so she was enjoying a rare moment of peace.

Honestly, playing babysitter with the Dungeons was one of her least favorite duties. Assholes usually liked to hang around after they cleared a Dungeon and brag about their accomplishments. Despite the fact that they could clearly see Alice’s emblem that indicated she was in the 20th Squad of Donnyton, and therefore eminently capable, most seemed to hope that she had slept her way into joining the Squad and treated her appropriately.

Still, they were just polite enough that Alice couldn’t justify reprimanding them. Or dragging them into a Dungeon and beating the shit out of them. As a frontline tanker, Alice packed more than enough punch to knock idiots like this on their assess.

But polite upbringing prevented her from crossing that line as long as they didn’t. So it was an endless parade of sludge that she was forced to slog through. One that she had believed was blissfully over when the System arrived but had very quickly reestablished itself after society managed to get back on its feet.

Such was human nature.

But it was due to these concerns that Alice valued her time alone so much-

Alice blinked. Groaning, the body that had collapsed outside of the Dungeon portal rolled onto her back. She spat blood to the side and then just lay there. A sharp dagger of guilt ripped Alice open from hip to shoulder.

After another blink, Alice dropped the danish in the dirt and hurried over to the wounded woman. Thank god it’s a woman. “Are you alright?”

She immediately realized how dumb the question sounded, but Alice couldn’t help herself. It came out like a reflex. Cursing her idiocy, Alice raised her hand and used Mending Touch. Very quickly, the worst of the gashes across woman’s upper torso knitted back together. The wounded woman released a relieved breath.

“Thank god,” She muttered as she sat up and spat out a fat glob of blood.

Alice put her hand on the other woman’s shoulder, inwardly marveling at how soft and clear her skin was. Probably not the time to mention that... “Ah… careful. This is my fault, I knew you had been gone for a while, but…”

Alice trailed off. Probably not a good idea to say that she had lost focus because a friend had brought an absolutely delicious danish from a cute little bakery that was becoming popular recently. Instead, Alice drank a Mana potion and used Mending Touch once more. It didn’t actually restore Health, but it would remove all of the wounds and the associated debuffs that would lower a person’s natural regeneration.

“Holy shit, no, no stop looking at me like a stepped on puppy. I’m just glad it turned out like this.” The woman said as she stood and stretched. “Thanks for that, by the way. Real convenient that you know healing magic.”

“Yea well, usually people wounded enough for it to matter can’t escape the Dungeon, so…” Now that the wounds were gone, Alice recognized her. Her name… was Helen right? The one who had come earlier and demanded entrance to the Dungeon. Since the woman had money and no one else was scheduled to use the Level 50 Dungeon Alice had allowed it, but…

Then Alice froze. Wait a second… if she had been gone for almost two hours in the Level 50 Dungeon… Didn’t that mean that Helen had been alone in the Dungeon for almost 3 months…?

The Level 50 Dungeon?

Alone?!

“Ah… you should…” Alice started, but then she trailed off. Aether Sickness was a problem that no one could avoid. What help could Alice give but go find a bed, and quick? If you spent too much time in a Dungeon, you simply weren’t able to function in the relatively thinner Aether of Earth. You would be bedridden for weeks.

“Right, wouldn’t have been able to try again if it wasn’t for you. Thanks again,” Helen said briskly. Then she walked right back up to the Dungeon and disappeared.

“You…” Alice tried to stop the other woman, but she was already gone.

“Crazy…” Alice said, looking down at her bloody hands. Then she looked over at the danish, lying discarded in the well-trodden dirt. After sighing, she said. “Seriously…? Why I am surrounded by so many weirdos…”

*****

Even with Sam’s very full complement of equipment, forging the metal that Randidly had created was difficult. Even he had a hard time believing how resilient the ingots he provided turned out to be.

When Randidly had given Sam the ingots, the other man had just grunted sourly, fiddled with one, tested their weight, and then nodded his head. As they got deeper into the creation of the molds for the arm and the shaping, however, Sam’s idle interest quickly sharpened to a viciously sharp point.