14 Book 3 Chapter 10

Monsters had the chance of dropping more loot than usual. Ascenders called this phenomenon a 'jackpot.' It could also happen to field and raid bosses, but the odds were much lower, especially for raid bosses. In all of Jason's years ascending the tower, he'd only had a raid boss drop a jackpot less than ten times. It was already lucky enough to have a jackpot once a month.

Before going through the pile of loot, Shenlong glanced around the room, searching for threats. He turned to his companions after he determined they were safe. "Everyone okay?"

Eboni morphed back into a human before grunting. "Damn energy barriers got in the way. I don't think I dealt a single point of damage."

"Don't you have any other forms?" Dubaku inquired.

"Like a dragon!" Roy's face lit up as he recalled his experience as a dragon.

"Psh." Eboni rolled her eyes. "I wish I had a dragon form."

"Maybe a phoenix?" Roy blinked.

"I dare you to become a phoenix!" Amara growled in annoyance, the phoenix tattoo on her forehead flashing.

"Relax," Eboni waved her hand dismissively. "You guys think too highly of my master. If she could transform into a phoenix or dragon, don't you think she'd be one of those gods?"

"So, what can you transform into?" Roy asked curiously. He still recalled the powerful and mighty strength he felt when he was a dragon. In comparison, his human body was too weak and frail. It wasn't even close.

Eboni proudly stated. "A winged snake."

"Oh!" Roy imagined an eastern dragon with long slender bodies and thin wings. "Can you fly?"

"Yeah," Eboni pointed at the low ceiling. "I didn't think using it here was a good option. The room is too small."

"That's true." Roy nodded in agreement.

"I'll get other forms in the future; I'm just not strong enough right now." Eboni was looking forward to learning what other forms she'd get. She was wild by nature, so she loved the feeling of becoming a monstrous animal. She was lucky to have found a master tailored to her character.

"Hey, you guys," Jason called out with a groan. "I hate to interrupt your wonderful conversation, but I kinda need some healing down here."

Everyone glanced down and found Jason lying underneath the boss's loot. When it died, the massive quantity of loot had piled on top of him.

"AH!" Carly shrieked when she saw the state of Jason's body after pushing away the items covering him. His body was filled with holes after tanking the gunfire. Carly's hands lit up with mana as she hastily cast her spells. "Sorry, sorry! I didn't see you down there."

Jason chuckled and pointed at his feet. "I was just admiring one of the drops we got. It's uh, quite incredible."

Everyone reached the same conclusion. "A Celestial grade item?!"

Even Shenlong gave a smile. "Not bad, not bad."

Roy dropped to his knees and pushed away item after item, searching for the Celestial grade equipment. He picked up an item, inspected it, then tossed it aside when he didn't see the right grade.

"Hey," Jason caught a small silver case that Roy had tossed. "Be careful with this thing."

Roy blinked in confusion. "That's the thing you were talking about?"

"Yep." Jason smiled

Everyone huddled around him, wondering how such a small item could be so amazing. Cheslov frowned upon recognizing the object. "This, isn't this a contact lens?"

"Yep." Jason's smile widened.

Carly was the first one to read the item's information. She gasped. "No way! This is amazing!

"No freakin' way!" Eboni was alarmed. "There's such an item?"

"This would raise our combat power drastically!" Roy determined after reading the contact lens' information.

(Unique) Augmented Multi-Purpose Contact Lens

+Able to determine enemy weak points, increasing critical strike chance up to 20%, less effective on higher grade monsters.

+Able to view the target's information. Equivalent to Expert grade Inspect skill

+Vision can be linked with other contact lenses

+Able to zoom up to 10x

+Night Vision

+Can change eye color

*Requires two lenses to work

"This is hands down the best support item I've seen to date." Cheslov shook his head in disbelief.

"Mm." Olivia desperately wanted the item for herself. Out of everyone here, she had the fastest attack speed. Her damage would skyrocket from the increased critical chance.

Carly's eyes sparkled. "Look, it can change your eye color! So cute!"

"Don't pick red, that's my color." Amara snarled after seeing the look on Carly's face.

Carly fearfully waved her hands in front of her. "I won't, I won't. Pinky promise!"

Jason and Roy rolled their eyes at each other.

"Unfortunately, there's only one, while there's twelve of us," Shenlong stated, immediately reducing everyone's excitement.

"Don't speak so soon." Jason chuckled as he opened the case. Inside were five sets of contact lenses, enough for five people.

"Let's do it like usual, rolling dice," Shenlong said sternly, leaving no room for negotiation.

"Fine with me." Jason agreed.

Everyone pulled out a small dice, a magic tool sold on the thirtieth floor. When used, it showed a random number between one to a hundred. This was a standard tool used by solo ascenders who made temporary parties.

"Roll for the first pair." Shenlong tossed his dice, followed by everyone else.

All sorts of numbers popped up.

"Woohoo!" Carly jumped in place. "I can finally change my eye color to blonde!"

"Hey!" Roy gave her a look. "You want blonde? That's almost gold!"

"B-but, I think your eyes are beautiful." Carly's cheeks turned red as she looked at Roy. "My hair is blonde too, so I think, I think it'll look good."

"Fine, do what you want." Roy shrugged his shoulders, a little embarrassed.

Peter whispered into Jason's ear. "I can't believe the first thing she thought after winning was being able to change her eye color."

Jason just shook his head. He had plenty of past girlfriends who had two sets of jewelry—one for combat, and the other for looks.

Amara just so happened to be standing next to Peter. When she heard him, she snorted in disdain. "Have you looked at yourself in the mirror recently? Why don't you take some hints from Jason, at least he takes care of himself."

Peter coughed as he pulled out a small mirror from his inventory. A man with greasy hair and an unshaven face stared back at him. "Ugh, I didn't realize I look like crap. I've been too busy running the guild."

Jason consoled Peter by patting him on the shoulder.

Shenlong interrupted. "Alright, enough talking. Roll again."

After a minute, Carly, Olivia, Amara, Dubaku, and Shenlong each received a pair. The rest could only sigh in disappointment.

"Alright, let's distribute the rest of the drops." Shenlong bent over and began to sort through the boss's loot.

In the end, they gained several modules and a significant amount of metal scraps, which turned into reputation at the Sanctuary. Much to Roy's delight, a plasma cutter dropped. Nobody else wanted it, so it ended up in Roy's hands.

(Heroic) Plasma Cutter

Damage: 150-200

Durability: 1,000/1,000

+25% Chance to inflict an additional 50% Fire damage.

+50 Agility

+10% Attack Speed

+20% Ignore Defence

Requirements: Level 80

"Vhum, Whum!" Roy made the sound of a lightsaber as he swung the plasma cutter through the air.

"Let's finish this quest. I'm starving." Cheslov's stomach growled as soon as he spoke.

"Alright." Shenlong made his way over to the locked door and scanned his keycard again. This time, the device turned green. With a swish, the door slid open.

Jason and Zhen Hu took the lead. Fortunately, as they explored the facility, there were no monsters, only abandoned labs. Eventually, they came across a massive computer with over twenty monitors. Shenlong inserted the USB, receiving a notification at the same time as he did. "Good. We can return now."

After storing the USB, Jason and his party returned to the Sanctuary, all of them wondering what their rewards would be. Only Jason knew that soon, the way ascenders fought would be fundamentally changed.