Dungeon Diver: Stealing a Monster's Power

Chapter 141

"I-Impossible... They actually got a Strengthening Fragment out of a Mutant...?"

I repeat the words I heard Tripp say moments ago over and over in my head. His words mixed with the expression of pure shock on the man's face give me a quite uneasy feeling.

Impossible? Why would it be impossible?

I look over at my team, then back at Tripp. It seems like none of them overheard his mumbles like I did. My 2 seconds of happiness have run their course after leaving the Titan's Domain. Now, another eerie spiraling sense of paranoia fills my head.

Technically, the Fragment didn't come from the mutant... That's what makes all of this even worse. None of the mutants I've defeated by myself dropped any fragments, and none of the ones we killed today did either.

Still, their drop rate is apparently 1%. It would be completely normal for us not to get one for a while....

We would be lucky if we got 1 all week at this rate. This quota should be impossible to meet...

"Impossible..."

I turn to Tripp. He's still staring at the black gem in Maria's hand from a distance with his mouth wide open and face white like he's seen a ghost.

There's definitely something fishy going on here...

After our celebration of collecting a single Strengthening Fragment after a long day of work dies down, Tripp calms himself down as well, returning to normal. The 3 others look to him for guidance, and I play along doing the same. He smiles and points behind him.

"Well, great first day of work. We should start heading back now, it'll take quite a while to make our way to the dungeon's entrance."

We all nod in agreement and follow our blond-haired guide back through The Great Plains. We face 3 more mutants and dozens of underlings, but they're taken out with ease, dropping nothing but mana crystals.

As we near the exit gate, Abby speaks up to the group.

"Hey, now that you're all a part of the Association, why don't we get rooms at the Vanguard Heights? We're all going to be spending a lot of time in the city, we might as well get a nice place to stay."

I look at her with a confused expression.

"The... Vanguard Heights? What exactly is that?"

Tripp grins and steps in.

"It's a residential building. Well, more of a residential tower. Only Hunters from the Association are allowed to stay there. It's a pretty exclusive apartment complex. I'd recommend it, my apartment there is incredible. There's always space available for people with contracts, we could go and get you 4 situated tonight."

I look over to Arie and Maria. Both of them are grinning ear to ear. I nod.

"Sure, let's check it out right after we leave the dungeon."

Maria jumps in holding up the black gem.

"What about this? Aren't we going to hand in our loot soon?"

I chuckle.

"Sure, sure. We'll be meeting at the Association HQ tomorrow morning anyways, we can just hand it in then. Sound like a plan?"

With a firm nod, she replies.

"Hmmph. Okay, makes sense."

The 5 of us leave the dungeon and make our way up to the surface. It's late and I'm starving, the rest of my group feels the same way. Tripp leads us to the Vanguard Heights, telling us on the way that we can get food there.