Jack let out a relieved sigh when the Ogre remained still on the ground. His tense nerves finally began to loosen after the grueling fight.
The group soon heard a notification voice, "Congratulations on defeating the Horned Ogre. Receiving 3420 experience points."
Everyone was pleased to receive these experience points.
"Yeah! I am level 12 now!" Bowler proclaimed in joy.
Two of the remaining five Men of Solidarity also leveled up.
Excitement welled up within Jack's heart; he was just a tiny bit short of level 15. He could soon become an advanced class!
A semi-transparent blue flame arose out of the Ogre's body, floated towards Jack, and disappeared inside him. Jack was unhurt but confused. Suddenly he had an idea and checked the Container of Souls in his bag; it now had 98 souls. A single Boss monster had granted him a 50 soul point boost.
'Alright!' Jack thought happily. Now, this was more like it!
As he contemplated the souls he gained, a heavy hand clapped on his shoulder, startling him. He turned and saw The Man grinning at him.
"My man, I never saw anyone fight as crazy as you. You inspired us!" He said.
Jack was about to give him a humble reply, but he had spoken first, "come, join us! You are just the right material for the Men of Solidarity!"
The offer left Jack dumbfounded, but before he could say anything, The Man interrupted again, "I will let you be the boss! Our gang only recognizes the strong. You are stronger than me, so naturally, you will be the boss!"
"I'm sorry, I'm not interested," Jack finally blurted out quickly before he was interrupted again. But The Man had already left to check the drops where the Ogre had fallen and disintegrated, so Jack didn't know if The Man had heard him.
"Come, boss! See what loot you have gotten from this kill," The Man invited. He either hadn't heard Jack's reply or chose to ignore it.
Jack approached the loot on the ground; there were three items and several coins. The items were a book, a helmet, and a staff. Jack inspected them with his God-eye monocle.
*
Steel Helmet, level 10/20 (uncommon medium armor)
Physical Defense: 14
Magical Defense: 10
Durability: 40
Endurance +1
*
Burning staff, level 10/20 (uncommon magic weapon)
Magical damage: 34
Range: 10 meters
Attack speed: 1
Energy: 60
Add 10% fire damage to Magic attacks
*
Skill Book (rare consumables)
Grant 1 skill point
*
Two uncommon and one rare! The Boss didn't disappoint. But how should they distribute it? There were three people in his team - himself, Bowler, and Fierce Flame – so, logically, they should get one item each. Flame and Bowler had also come over to look at the loot.
"You choose first," they both said to Jack. They both agreed that Jack contributed the most, so he should take priority.
After considering for a moment, Jack decided to take the helmet. Flame and Bowler were surprised; they thought Jack would take the rare item. But Jack wanted to complete his armor set, and he was missing a headpiece. Besides, he didn't need the skill book since he could upgrade his skills later with the Container of Souls, and taking the magic staff might make the others suspect his Magician identity.
Fierce Flame then chose next, as she took more risk when fighting the Ogre compared to Bowler. She had no use for the magic staff, so she picked the skill book. Bowler took the staff. He was the last to choose, but he felt that he was the one that got the most valuable loot, as it was suitable for his class. He immediately replaced his equipped weapon with this new one.
They then distributed the four silver and 69 copper coins. Flame and Bowler took one silver coin each and handed the rest to Jack. Jack wanted to divide equally, but they just walked away after they took their share. Jack had no choice but to accept.
"Good haul, boss?" The Man asked Jack.
"I'm not your boss…." Jack replied.
"Sure thing, boss. Now let us look for this treasure chest. Where is it?" The Man turned to John.
John pointed to the far end of the cavern, "I saw it near the cave wall over there."
The Man nodded then signaled his gang members to follow him. Jack and the others followed along too.
Jack said to The Man, "I'm sorry for the men you lost."
Contrary to his expectation, The Man laughed heartily, "Hahaha, no worries! It was not like they died for real. They just returned to level 1. They will get back to their levels in no time; a real man won't be fussy about things like this! When we meet back with them, you will see; they will be proud to have had the chance to fight such a tough boss! I'll bet they will be damn surprised that we have managed to beat that monster! Haha!"
The Man was indeed easy-going despite his rough exterior. Jack's impression of him was improving.
Soon they saw a dark treasure chest up against the wall where the Ogre had been sleeping. Jack and the others hadn't noticed it because the Ogre had been sleeping with his back leaning on it, hiding it.
"Treasure chest!" The Men of Solidarity shouted in excitement. They ran towards the chest in high spirits.
"Look at them. A bunch of grown men acting like children! They make me lose face," The Man scoffed.
"Boss! The chest is locked!" One of them exclaimed.
"What?!" The Man yelled, then ran towards them fretfully.
"Look at him, getting panicked over a trivial matter," John said in disdain.
"Why, did you already know the chest was locked?" Jack asked.
"Yes," he answered. "I've read something about treasure chests when I visited the library; all of them are locked."
'Is that real, Peniel?' Jack asked the unseen Fairy.
'Yes, what the guy said is correct,' Peniel answered. 'That's why I asked you to stock up on some lockpicks.'
'So I can use a lockpick to open it?'
'You can try, but it is not guaranteed to open. However, this Bronze chest poses the lowest difficulty. So even though you're at the lowest lockpick rank, you should still have a reasonable chance to pick it successfully; unless your luck is truly rotten."
Jack then asked John, "You know how to open it?"
John answered, "I do."
"How?"
"The book in the library said we can use some special treasure chest keys. If we don't have any, then we can try our luck with lockpicks."
"You have such keys?"
"No."
"You have lockpicks?"
"Yes."
"Why don't you go help them open it then?"
John looked at Jack with an innocent face. "Why? It's not like I will get the items in the chest," he said.
Affronted by his callousness, Jack ignored him and approached the Men of Solidarity, who were still squatting around the chest trying to figure things out.
"You truly are a despicable fellow; you know that?" Bowler said to John.
"I know," John shrugged. "Can't help it."
Jack asked The Man, "Do you or your men have any lockpicks?"
"Lockpicks? No, we don't," he answered.
"Okay, move aside. Let me have a try," Jack said as he fished out a lockpick from his bag.
"You will help us open it?" The Man asked with a surprised expression.
"I can't guarantee it will open, but I can try," Jack said.
The Man showed a grateful face. "You are the best, boss!" He said.
"I am not your boss!" Jack said helplessly.
He took a look at the treasure chest. It was pretty big. It came up to his thigh and was almost as deep as his arm and was wider than that. Its dark bronze surfaces had some carvings of mystical runes on them. He squatted down and looked at the keyhole. There was a handle above the hole. He tried to use the handle to push the lid up.
'Yep, it's locked,' Jack said to himself.
'How do I use this lockpick?' He asked Peniel.
'You hold one of the two steel pins in each hand. Then insert them into the keyhole and try rotating them inside. The pins will automatically look for the correct spots, but they are not always accurate. You have to feel their vibration. When you feel it get stronger and hear a click, that's when you twist the pins.'
'Sounds rather complicated,' Jack said as he followed the instructions and inserted the pins in the keyhole.
He did feel the pins move by themselves. He then concentrated on feeling its vibration. When he heard a faint click, he twisted the hooks.