As his heartbeat returned to a rhythm he could call normal, he became aware of something uncomfortable on his arm. Sticky and cold at the same time, he turned to see half his sleeve covered in blood. He swore, loudly. That coat was expensive. Then the pain hit. Shaking hands removed the garment, to see a long gash on his upper arm. At least it was shallow. Emerald and Jenny Mae appeared with some bandages and helped him cover the wound. And forced him to put the blood-soaked coat back on to keep his temperature level.

  “Excuse me.”

  Heath turned to see the dungeon monitor with hands on her hips, staring at the crew. He had honestly forgotten she was there, just happy to have made it out of the dungeon, mostly intact.

  “As per the agreement you signed, you are required to declare all loot you have removed from the dungeon.”

  “Yes we know,” Heath bit out. His arm was really starting to ache now that the adrenaline was wearing off.

  He stomped over to the door, entering the heated room where the local guild would rip them off. Heath wasted no time emptying the sack. It was pitiful. A smattering of argo, each speck smaller than a grain of rice, went on the scale. Not enough for the ship to get anything good. It would be helpful for the Loon’s overall durability but that was it. If they even got to keep it. Then their treasures from the second cavern. A plant he couldn’t name, now slightly crushed from their wild flight out of the dungeon, and the other thing Heath had no name for, looking exactly the same as when he pulled it from the well.

  Their appraiser took three seconds to look at it all and split the meager pile, copper thing on one side, everything else on the other.

  “Guild cut,” he said, pointing at the pile with the argo.

  “But what is it?” Jenny Mae had pushed to the front of the group and was poking at the blob where it sat on the table.

  “Mana Heart. You kids are lucky. Ridiculously lucky. Never heard of one of those pulled from this dungeon before, but it does something to mana channels. Cuts down casting time. By a lot. If I were you I’d find a rank three caster Class and sell it to them. You’ll make more than any local wholesaler.”

  Without waiting for Heath to agree, the rest of the loot was swept into a box and their appraiser left the room. He was suddenly very aware of the Wizard behind him, staring at the object with hungry eyes.

  To her credit, Ekaterina didn’t react outwardly, but it was obvious to anyone with half a brain that it would be perfect for her. He scooped it back up and walked out of the guild compound, finding the Loon where they’d left her. A drone with a green and black design was buzzing around the entry hatch, but Heath shooed it away, cursing the guild’s nosiness as they tromped aboard.

  He was tired and achy and it was with less of an air of success that they returned, despite having earned a solid amount of progress for the day. All he wanted was a medpack and bed, but [Leadership], and the memory of his Uncle, were both pushing him hard.

  “Great job today everyone. It was a hard fight but we all made it out okay. Mostly. We worked well as a team and the loot was excellent. Let’s plan to meet tomorrow morning to discuss.”

  It was the right call. The skill pulled Heath’s attention to the straighter shoulders and more genuine smiles of his crew at the honest praise before they wandered off.

  Heath himself made it two steps further before he swayed alarmingly.

  “Heath! You are injured! The closest medpack is two yards to your right. You can do it. Please make it Heath. I will call Emerald to return. I knew this was too dangerous. You need armor before you try delving again. Oh no. Or a hull. Nothing is safer than a well-maintained hull.”

  “I’m fine Loon, just a bit dizzy.” He edged towards the medpack compartment, leaning on the wall for support. Loon muttered the entire time, about how Heath was brave for having taken the hit but also about how he should never do it again.

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  Finally, sweet relief when he was able to remove the temporary dressing and slap a real bandage on the wound. The local anesthetic seeped into the muscle while the fibers sanitized the area and sealed his skin closed. It would speed up the healing and then be digested by his body within the week.

  “Truly, this is an outrage of the highest proportion. A mech suit like Crewmember Copperfield, perhaps. Or an aura so strong that nothing can reach you to penetrate.”

  With the pain fading, Heath was able to laugh at the last one. “Okay Loon. I’ll get strong enough that nothing ever comes near me, problem solved.”

  A ship couldn’t sniff, but that didn’t prevent the Loon from trying. “I don’t see what’s so funny about the idea. It seems the best option, all told. Especially if you are not going to use your defensive skill on yourself.”

  “I needed it for other things. I’ll tell you all about it, just let me lie down.”

  And that’s what he did. The Loon oohed and aahed at all the right parts, full of praise for Heath’s and the others’ heroism, and righteous anger at the goblins who attempted to harm them. He fell asleep still smiling from the review. They might just have a shot at this.

  Waking up was a different story. His arm was fine, it was the rest of him that protested the previous day’s activities. The fighting and running had taken its toll. And despite their training while on planet, long stretches without much but a shoddy treadmill that only worked when it felt like it, set up between the cargo crates, was not the best way to keep combat skills up to date.

  Morning brought with it the news he was now level 30, with skill levels in [Knots], [Leadership], and [Shield] besides. The [Crew Sense] bonus he’d earned from [Leadership] after their first dungeon was stronger as well. Now safely on the Loon, he could feel Emerald and Copperfield, still in their bunks, while their perpetually early riser, Jenny Mae, was already in their mess hall/recreation area combination.

  More difficult to parse was the thin thread leading to Ekaterina. It was shaky, and only barely existed, but it was there. Which reminded him of the real problem he would be dealing with today.

  The mana heart sounded perfect for Ekaterina. And from the sound of it, if he gave it to her now, she would be stronger for the rest of their dungeon runs. If something like that showed up for Jenny Mae or Copperfield, Heath wouldn’t even hesitate. The others had made it clear they were in it for the long haul. And, a practical part of him pointed out, they knew his secret. Keeping them close with boosts in power made sense.

  The Wizard was not part of the crew. She had stolen from them, and had only agreed to their dungeon delving due to mutual need. And there had been no promises for anything after the cluster. If he took the treasure out of her cut of the dungeon proceeds that would be fine. But there was no way of knowing now what the rest of the rewards would be, or how much of their total profit would be accounted for by the mana heart.

  More power now, to someone he couldn’t trust fully, or wait until later and potentially suffer because they didn’t seize every opportunity available. Not to mention what the others would think.

  Heath had the urge to roll over and go back to sleep to avoid it all, but resisted. That wasn’t what it meant to be a Captain. He could tell the others were moving and he got up to join them all in the mess, Jenny Mae cheerily reading and describing her leveling strategy, while the rest of them blinked sleep out of their eyes.

  “G’morning,” Heath mumbled. He slurped down his standard breakfast and waited for everyone else to wake up enough to discuss.

  “We should talk about yesterday, what went well and what didn’t.”

  “Agreed,” Ekaterina was the first to speak. Rarely a good sign but at least she was engaging with them. “You lack options for close quarters fighting. As does Miss Burtell. Our effectiveness as a team was slowed by this fact.”

  Heath wanted to rebut the tone, but the content was fair enough. “You’re right. I need more practice with that.”

  “A combat Skill would do it, but spending the points is hard to swallow,” Copperfield suggested.

  The others nodded along. Heath himself was torn. For a delver, a basic combat skill like [Unarmed Combat] was more than just being able to throw a punch. It was a training guide and alarm system, helping a delver stay aware of surroundings. For a Captain, it was generally a waste of a skill slot that he could use for something else.

  “There are so many other options I need though. Better linking with the Loon, other boosts to the ship. Or the crew…” he trailed off.

  “Hmph. That is obvious then, yes? You earn it the right way. Only fools or the unmotivated spend class skill points on the most basic general Skills. At our next stop I will teach you. The Althalas training program is well-proven as a method.”

  “That’s a myth,” Copperfield argued. “You can’t just punch a few things and pick up [Unarmed combat], or every Classer on the Rim would have the skill.”

  The look Ekaterina sent at Copperfield would have withered a whole pack of goblins. “That you have even managed to gain a Class with such ignorance is a true miracle. Only fools would expect just punching a few things to be enough, but for anyone following the proper training regimen –”

  “Well I’m sorry I wasn’t born with a silver spoon shoved so far up my –”

  “Thank you,” Heath cut off the brewing argument. Heath was torn between agreeing with Copperfield and telling the woman off for her implication, and appreciating the actual content of the advice. “If it’s possible, I would appreciate the help. I still have all two of my general slots open.”

  “Let’s talk about what worked well,” he said in a desperate attempt to change topics. “Copperfield was able to tank the damage from the goblins no problem. Jenny Mae, that [Sharpshooter] bonus was really coming in handy. Ekaterina, your fire lance at the end probably saved us a lot of pain.”

  They spent the rest of breakfast going over their delving run. Ekaterina even avoided driving any of the others off in anger so Heath was considering the whole thing a success. But then it was time to have the tough conversation.

  “I’m thinking we should treat the mana heart like the argo crystal, unless anyone disagrees. We keep it in the pot for now, and then figure out the final valuation and loot split later.”

  Everyone studiously ignored looking at Ekaterina, who in turn refused to acknowledge that this was targeted at her. When no one said anything, Heath continued.

  “Okay then, decision made. Jenny Mae, where are we off to next?”

  “First we need to head back to the port for the local cargo. Then we have one jump to Plancher’s Rest. There’s a rank one dungeon called the Ruby Estate. It’s a castle! Sounds more fun than the smelly caves, right?”