After the kobold chieftain fell to the ground and died, the entire group let out a collective sigh of relief and relaxed. The fight hadn't lasted a very long time but it had been stressful and taken all of their focus. None of them believed that they could have won this fight alone. After catching his breath and relaxing for a few moments, Thomas realized he hadn't gotten a system notice like the last time he beat a boss nor had the boss's body begun to disintegrate into dust.

Thomas made his way over to the bosses body and examined it. It was not a pretty sight. The boss was covered in gaping wounds, some showing bone through them, as well as spots of flesh that had been turned into charcoal. The boss had taken an unbelievable amount of abuse before it had finally succumbed to its wounds. Cautiously, Thomas reached out and gripped the handle of his kukri still sticking out of the bosses back. With a hard yank, he ripped it out of its body.

The kukri's handle was burnt and ruined and the blade had been severely warped and cracked due to the heat generated by the lightning, in other words, it was completely ruined. That wasn't important though, what was important was that the kobold chieftain still wasn't disappearing. As she watched Thomas, Selena spoke up in a tone that suggested what she was saying was obvious, "You have to cut off its head."

Thomas grimaced at that. Sure he spent a lot of time decapitating goblins and weaker kobolds, but he'd never had to deal with the 'aftermath' like blood or seeing the exact effects of his actions. Thomas let out a sigh and stored his trashed kukri in his inventory. He lifted his hand and conjured a solid metal axe with a wide blade in his hand. Janice's eyes widened at the sight of the magically summoned axe and once again felt jealous of the flexibility that Thomas had with magic.

Thomas used the axe to lop the dead bosses head off in one smooth motion. As soon as the bosses draconic looking head detached from the body, the body began to turn to dust and left behind a single mana crystal and a system notice appeared in front of everyone.

System Notice: You will be teleported to the dungeon entrance in 60 seconds unless you move to the next room.

Thomas collected the severed head and mana crystal from the boss as the back wall of the boss room slowly opened to reveal a passageway leading to the next floor. Together they all moved to the stairs and made their way down towards the sixth floor of the dungeon. Once they arrived in the saferoom at the bottom of the stairs they located the teleportation formation and exited the dungeon.

The party had been formed for the explicit purpose of beating the chieftain and now that they had it was time to turn in the quest and get their rewards. None of that was an issue for Thomas. He'd lost his only melee weapon and really wanted to replace it before getting into more fights with monsters. He could summon weapons with his magic for sure, but if he ran out of mana or needed to use another spell he would lose the magically conjured weapon and be barehanded. It would be much better to always have a real weapon he could use.

When they arrived outside it was only late afternoon. They checked out of the dungeon and made their way to the guild building. When they arrived the place was pretty empty as most people would show up in the morning to get quests and return in the evening to turn them in. As they approached the counter, Thomas turned to Victoria and Janice as he asked, "Do you two mind sticking around for a bit after we turn in the quest? I haven't really had much of a chance to talk to otherworlders and wanted to spend a bit of time talking to you two."

Janice agreed since she wanted to ask him a few things as well. Victoria grinned broadly as she said, "Oh? One flower isn't enough for you?"

Selena let out a deep sigh and just ignored Victoria's joke at her expense. Thomas couldn't help grinning in reply and giving Victoria a playful wink. He then turned to Selena and asked, "Is it alright if I turn in all our repeatable quests as well?"

Selena gave an affirmative nod before saying, "Do it after we break up the party with Janice and Victoria though since they have their own to turn in as well."

With everything agreed on, Thomas stepped up to the receptionist with a smile and said, "I'd like to turn in the quest for defeating the Kobold Chieftain in the dungeon."

The receptionist, a young woman, grimaced a little at the mention of the particular quest they wanted to turn in but still politely said, "Please present the kobold chief's head and mana crystal."

Without hesitating in the least, Thomas pulled out the chieftain's head and plopped it down on the counter along with its mana crystal. The receptionist paled a little when she saw the condition of the chief's head but still did her job in a professional manner. She checked the head and mana crystal thoroughly before she looked at the group and said, "Guild cards please."

Everyone pulled their guild cards out and set them on the counter. Thomas spoke up and said, "After the quest is completed we'd like to break back up into two parties. Myself and Selena in one with Janice and Victoria in the other."

The receptionist accepted the cards and went about her job. It only took a few moments before the three players received a system notice for completing the quest.

System Notice: Quest Complete! Head into the Reykhoten City Dungeon and defeat the Kobold Chief within! Collect his head and turn it and his mana crystal in at the Adventurer's Guild.

Rewards: 2,000 Experience and 500 gold System Notice: You have gained 667 experience.

Seeing how much experience he got answered two of Thomas's questions. It seemed like quest experience was indeed split between players completing a quest together but none was given to the locals. If the experience had been split between all four of them then they would have only gotten 500 experience each, getting 667 meant it was split just between the three players. Selena didn't seem to notice anything. The receptionist placed their guild cards and a sack containing 500 gold coins on the counter with a bright smile, "Thanks for all your hard work."

After everyone claimed their guild cards, Thomas distributed the gold between the four of them he spoke to the receptionist, "Selena and I also have a lot of kobold and elite kobold mana crystals to turn in." He quickly checked his inventory before he continued, "A total of 190 kobolds and 130 elite kobolds."

The receptionist looked a little surprised at the numbers but quickly recovered and said, "That transaction is too large to handle at the counter. I'll lead you to a private room where an appraiser can check everything and give you your reward."

Thomas smiled and gestured for her to lead the way. He wasn't the least bit surprised since it was the exact same as the back in Ulvstad when he'd done the same thing. It always felt more enjoyable to turn in a bunch of quests at the same time and gaining a huge amount of experience and money all at once. As the receptionist stood he turned to Victoria and Janice, "This will take a bit of time."

Victoria shrugged, unconcerned, and said, "We'll head to a nearby restaurant to get something nice to eat. When you leave the guild take a left and look for a place called 'The Minotaur's Resting Place'. They serve some of the best minotaur steaks."

Thomas laughed at the place's name, "Will do. Wait for me there. I'll even pay for the meal if you're still there when I arrive."

Victoria threw both of her hands in the air and shouted, "YES!" After lowering her arms she grinned broadly, even showing her teeth, as she said, "I'm ordering the best cuts!"

Janice just shook her head at her friend's antics before the two of them left. Thomas and Selena followed the receptionist into a side room where they could turn in all their materials. After the receptionist left, Thomas began pulling out all of the mana crystals and organizing them into two large piles. The elite kobold crystals were slightly larger than the regular kobold's so it made them pretty easy to tell apart. Not that it mattered since Thomas had kept them well organized inside of his inventory.

When the appraiser arrived and saw the two piles of crystals numbering over 300 he swallowed loudly. He immediately went to work checking all of the crystals. Even though each crystal only took a few seconds to check, the sheer number made the entire process take nearly half an hour. When the appraiser was done he looked at Thomas and Selena as he said, "I have confirmed that you have brought 190 kobold mana crystals and 130 elite kobold mana crystals." He held his hand out, "If you give me your guild cards I can finish processing your quests and bring you your rewards."

Both Thomas and Selena handed their cards over to the appraiser. He collected all of the mana crystals and left to process their rewards. It only took a few minutes before he returned and plopped down a rather large sack filled with gold coins. He smiled politely at them as he said, "You have completed the kobold hunting quest nineteen times and earned 1,900 gold. You have also completed the elite kobold hunting quest thirteen times earning 1,625 gold. The total comes to 3,525 gold."

System Notice: Repeatable Quest, Quest Complete! (x19) Head into the Reykhoten City Dungeon and defeat the Kobolds within! Collect 10 of their mana crystals and turn them in at the Adventurer's Guild.

Rewards: 300 Experience and 100 gold for each batch of 10 mana crystals turned in System Notice: You have gained 300 experience. (x19) System Notice: Repeatable Quest, Quest Complete! (x13) Head into the Reykhoten City Dungeon and defeat the Elite Kobolds within! Collect 10 of their mana crystals and turn them in at the Adventurer's Guild.

Rewards: 350 Experience and 125 gold for each batch of 10 mana crystals turned in System Notice: You have gained 350 experience. (x13)

Thomas felt his throat go dry at the sheer amount of experience that poured in. He almost felt guilty for getting to keep all of the experience to himself. It seemed wrong that Selena didn't get any of it even though she worked as hard as he had. It also made him worry about players abusing the locals in order to get more experience for themselves. He didn't know what the developers were thinking with this decision but there was nothing he could do about it.

Thomas collected his guild card and noted that his rank had gone up a few but not nearly as much as he'd expected. It was pretty clear to him now that he only got ten points for each quest he turned in so it would take quite a few quests to gain a significant rank. After splitting the gold with Selena she looked at him and said, "Meet me at the gates tomorrow morning. We now have time to work on your other needs."

Thomas knew she was referring to his unholy magic so he nodded, "See you tomorrow then."

After they parted ways, Thomas made his way towards where Victoria and Janice were waiting for him. He opened his character sheet and felt his throat go dry once again. He'd gained over 10,000 experience from turning in those quests. It was a massive amount of experience and it would go a long way towards increasing his attributes and getting them that much closer to being even. He had just over 13,000 experience he could spend on raising his attributes. He'd never had such an amount to spend all at once before.

Feeling excited about the future he made his way towards 'The Minotaur's Resting Place' to join the women waiting for him. He could finally have a conversation with other players and see if he could learn some new and interesting things from them. He was sure they had some questions for him as well. Janice would definitely want to ask him about his magic, he even contemplated trying to teach it to her and seeing what would happen. He smiled as he walked towards the door of the restaurant.