There was a bright flash of light that made them both wince and cover their eyes. When they opened them the two floating items were gone, but they each felt a shift in themselves. Looking down at himself, which caused him pain from the injuries that covered his body, Synexus noticed an amulet hanging around his neck. Touching it, a notification popped up.

  Amulet of the Devoured(legendary): Ullashtt items choose who to bind with. Bound to Synexus. This amulet cannot be destroyed or removed except by the bound. Effects remain if not on the body. The amulet yearns for magical items. Feeding the amulet will allow it to convert residual magic into stat points. These stat points will be randomly allocated.

  Potential locked, level up to unlock.

  Potential locked, level up to unlock.

  Warning: This item is much too powerful for you. If its ability is not used within 33 hours of the last time the ability was used, you will suffer drawbacks. The amulet will take health points from you at the rate of 1 point every hour until it is fed.

  He stared at the message in awe. This was amazing, but it had quite a drawback. What if he couldn’t find enough magic items? He had a few saved up already, but they wouldn’t last. Why had the amulet automatically bound to him? Would this be a boon or a curse? He wasn’t sure how to go about answering these questions except for investigating its potential further. The ability did work in conjunction with the achievement he had gotten from killing the worm, so there could be some synergy at play. It also looked awesome. It was a gold worm chain around his neck with each end meeting at a pendant that was a deep black stone. It was empty. A void that he knew he could never fill.

  Immediately, he took out one of his Fangs of the Ground Shaker Wolf to see if it would eat that or if it had to be a magical piece of equipment. To his surprise it did accept the fang and followed up with a notification.

  Amulet of the Devoured has been fed.

  One stat point has been allocated to Vitality.

  Synexus smiled. He could make this work for him. Remnant magical materials were far more commonly dropped by monsters than magical equipment. Sure, he wouldn’t be able to sell them like he originally planned, but Ahae had given them both a decent amount of guins. After deciding that the drawback was worth the benefits he looked over at Kumo who, like him, was lost in thought over a new item that spawned on her.

  Bracers of Unrelenting Suction(legendary): Ullashtt items choose who to bind with. Bound to Kumo. These bracers cannot be destroyed or removed except by the bound. Effects remain if not on the body. These bracers refuse to let their prey escape. Creates a vortex of air that drags foes in. The vortex will not stop unless the foe is killed.

  Potential locked, level up to unlock.

  Potential locked, level up to unlock.

  If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  Warning: This item is much too powerful for you. If its ability is not used within 33 hours of the last time the ability was used, you will suffer drawbacks. These bracers will start to slowly suck the air from your lungs. You will be in a constant state of suffocation until you die or until the vortex is released on an enemy.

  Kumo was surprised at how these gold and black bracers coiling up her arms just appeared on her and how useful they would be with her abilities. She was one with the air and now she could suck in her prey just as she could push it away before. This would suit her nicely, and if she had a steady stream of enemies, it wouldn’t be a problem. She was always a fighter, and this gives her another reason too.

  They both shared what their abilities could do with each other and discussed the drawbacks. It seemed that they would have to focus on fighting monsters whenever the opportunity arose to keep the side effects at bay. At least until they were powerful enough to master their new items. They agreed to always let Kumo open the fights with the vortex unless it is dangerous to do so, and all the remnant magic materials would go to Synexus. Magical equipment would go to whoever could use it more efficiently.

  All this talk of fighting made them realize that they wouldn’t be able to do so for a while. Synexus had a broken right leg, and a useless left arm. They decided it wasn’t broken, but it would take some time to heal. Luckily, he had a faster healing rate than most thanks to his nanobot infested blood. Kumo was cut up pretty badly and she was sure she had a sprained ankle from one of the falls, but she would be up and running in a few hours. She confirmed to Synexus that a higher vitality meant a faster rate of healing which was something that he meant to ask her the day before but forgot.

  They decided to rest against the tree they had found themselves next to. It still wasn’t clear why the worm had dissolved. It could have been a side effect of the poison burning through the beast’s blood, but Kumo had a theory that without the creature’s vitality, the massive amount of magic it had dissolved its organic tissue. Either way they were resting against a tree, and they were still filthy. Some type of river or lake was a priority. Synexus joked about finding a cave to rest in to recover and Kumo gave him a flat look. Apparently, it was too soon.

  As they sat there, they talked about the gains they had gotten. They both received the same achievement for killing the Ullashtt which were basically mythical creatures only really talked about through stories according to Kumo. In addition, Synexus had leveled up Accelerated Growth two times putting it at level 7 and making it tied for his highest skill. He also leveled up Body Transmutation to 5. Kumo had far more gains. She leveled up Breeze two times putting it at level 6, Blades of the Cloud leveled up four times making it her highest skill at level 8, and on top of that she had leveled her class to level 5 which matched her lowest skill Cloud Cover. She did not get a new skill at level 5 as she figured since she had gotten five skills when selecting her class. She would get another at level 10. Overall, almost dying had been a benefit to them. They would certainly have nightmares over being slowly digested for the rest of their lives, but what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

  Once Kumo was pretty much healed up, she helped Synexus up and let him lean on her shoulder as they hobbled to a better location. They decided to continue moving East while also looking for a place to make a more proper camp. It only took half an hour to find a stream and a flat clearing close by. The water was cold and refreshing after being nearly drowned in warm, syrupy blood and mucus. It was hard to get all the filth off themselves, but they were sure to wash everything.

  Finally, they were all clean again and sitting by a warm fire under a calm night sky. They would not take that view for granted again. Kumo had found a nearby screech to kill with her vortex to stave off the side effects and had given Synexus its beak to store in his dimensional thief plant hybrid. Things were looking up for them both after their near escape of death earlier that day. Tomorrow they would be well enough to start their trek to Gale again, even though it would be slow going until Synexus’ leg was completely healed which would take a few days. The worm was dead, but there were always enemies waiting for them in the forest.