VRMMO: World's First Glyphborne

Chest lids were flung open with a swift kick one after the other, causing the golden structures to immediately melt and reveal their contents to the party.

Five pouches that were bulging with gold was not unexpected in the slightest, nor was the fact that most of their rewards were rather glamorous.

Alongside the gold there was; a small pouch of jewels and gems, a solid ball of pure gold that was the Essence of Sin dropped by the Boss, a pair of ruby encrusted silver rings that offered permanent fire resistance, a pure silver mace, half a dozen more fragments for their collection as well as an offering of more scrolls.

This was what the golden chests had to offer. As for the pair of ruby chests, they didn’t know what they had to offer yet, as they refused to open.

Figg was prying his staff under the lip of one, whilst Lilith was using all of her strength to try and rip the other open. But no matter how much Figg strained or how much Lilith’s muscles bulged, the chest lids didn’t budge in the slightest.

"What the hell? Are we supposed to just carry these till the end?!" Figg shouted, pulling his staff away from the lip and whacking the chest in annoyance.

"I want my loot!"

Belladonna placed her hand on Figg’s shoulder, pulling him away from the chest before he tried to kick it and hurt himself. Saige offered the Druid his tail to brush to relieve his anger. It was an offer that Figg turned down at first, before relenting and taking the tail into his hands and gently nuzzling against it.

He had to admit, it was an effective stress reliever.

Crouching down next to the ruby chest, Belladonna frowned and brushed her hand over its body.

"There has to be some way to open it. They wouldn’t give us bonus loot if it wasn’t-" She muttered, before she was interrupted by the sound of glass cracking.

A spider web of cracks spread from the point that she touched, until the chest simply disintegrated into sparkling dust that blew away from a non-existent wind. All that was left was a small glass vial resting on the ground.

"W-what? How did you..." Figg stuttered, his hands tightening around the fluffy tail in his hands.

Saige winced from the feeling and had to slap the druid’s hands before pulling his tail out, causing Lilith to come over and give it tender strokes to make him feel better.

"I just touched it." Belladonna muttered, picking up the vial with curiousity and lifted it up to eye level.

Shifting it back and forth, she watched the liquid contained within slosh back and forth. It was liquid gold, just like the demons blood had been. Floating within that golden liquid was a small amount of silver, ruby and diamond dust, causing it to sparkle like glitter.

It was like everything that the demon was had been condensed into this singular vial. A vial that immediately shattered as she moved it, spilling its contents all over her chest.

Belladonna gasped and stumbled back, swiping her hands across her chest in an attempt to get the stuff off, but it didn’t just refuse to leave her. It started to grow, sticking to her fingers and crawling across it like it was alive.

It spread across her armour and crawled up her bare arm, until every inch of her was covered in the sparkling golden liquid. Then, it simply faded away into nothingness, leaving Belladonna standing in horrified confusion.

"What the hell..." She muttered, looking over herself in confusion, before noticing the shoulder of her armour was starting to move. It was growing a black liquid that was rapidly spreading down her arm, accenting itself with a few dottings of white liquid, until finally it solidified into a perfect replica of the armour that had been destroyed.

"Woah.." Was all Belladonna could say as she tapped the armoured arm curiously. It was firm, and had exactly the same texture as the leather had previously. If she hadn’t seen it grown from a liquid moments ago, she wouldn’t have known the difference.

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[Symbiotic Protector: A strange creation born from the talent of the Forge Master after he was challenged by the Trickster, the Symbiotic Protector is a living armour that bonds itself to a host.

After bonding, it will feed on a small portion of the hosts life force. In exchange, it protects the host against any danger that it can, and will use the life force to regenerate endlessly.

The Symbiotic Protector can absorb any existing armour to perfectly mimic its material properties. It can assume any shape that the host can imagine, although the material properties will not be mimicked unless previously absorbed.

As it has assimilated with the host body to the deepest level, it will act as an extension of the host for any magic based properties, such as the effect of potions or infusions. Because of this, it cannot be removed. For all intents and purposes, you are one.]

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Belladonna’s eyes glanced over the length description of the thing that was now covering her body. Her face twisted with disgust, then shifted to awe, then went right back to a hint of disgust at the final regards.

Once she had taken it all in, and she was sure that she understood everything about it, Belladonna closed her eyes and concentrated.

The others watched with curiosity and confusion as her armour shifted, liquefying before shifting its appearance completely. The fur and the leather faded away, the sludge covering her body changing colour before finally solidifying into a casual hoodie and torn jeans from their own world.

"What?! How did you do that?!" Figg shouted, as Vestra immediately moved over with wide, sparkling eyes.

She ran her hand over the sleeve of Belladonna’s hoodie before frowning softly.

"It still feels like leather..." The illusionist muttered, pinching the fabric between her fingers and rubbing it. It was soft and flexible like a hoodie should be, but it still had the roughness of the leather armour that it had previously looked like.

"Is it just the appearance that changes?"

"No, I think it’s just because it doesn’t know what its supposed to feel like. It would need to absorb the real thing before it can mimic the material." Belladonna answered, letting the armour shift back to its original form.

To answer their burning curiosity, she told them the description of the armour, which only made their amazed eyes grow even wider. All except for Saige, who narrowed his eyes and frowned as he rubbed his chin.

He glanced between the armour, the destroyed chest and the one remaining ruby chest as he thought for a few seconds, before finally asking,

"Bell, what did the kill screen say for the boss? Concerning the loot I mean."

Belladonna frowned as she stopped rubbing her arm along with Vesta and Figg, and pulled up the screen again. She scrolled up to the right message and quickly read through it for her brother, who frowned more.

"Recognised and found amusing. Hmm..." Saige hummed, glancing at the chest again, before letting out a soft laugh.

"Bell, I think these chests are just for you. I think you made the Gods laugh in their own tribulation, and they gave you an extra reward specific to you. That armour is one, and that is two."

He said, pointing at the remaining chest they had failed to open.

The entire group followed his finger, before simultaneously turning towards Belladonna with one question in their minds.

If something that good was in box number one, then what could the other gift possibly be?