Skill Hunter -Kill Monsters, Acquire Skills, Ascend to the Highest Rank!

"Beaten you within an inch of your life," she said simply.

Ike paused. He laughed. "At least the answer wasn\'t \'eat me.\'"

"It\'s on the list, but it\'s not my number one reaction," she said. Wisp set him down and stepped away. "It\'s good to see you again. Do you know how long I was trapped in there?"

"Something like a year?" Ike asked.

"Yeah. A year, surrounded by nothing but gold and skill orbs and the most lavish furnishings and jewelry. It was torture!" Wisp cried, throwing her head back.

"It was?" Ike asked, not so sure.

"All that stuff, and I couldn\'t move it one step! All that stuff, and nothing I could do but look at it? So sad! Unbearably sad!"

Ike gave her a look. "I thought you were dead."

"And I thought you were sure to have moved on and left me trapped here forever, so who was the real loser here?" Wisp asked.

Ike snorted. He patted her head. "It\'s good to see you again."

"Yeah. Same."

For a moment, they both stood there, just enjoying one another\'s company.

"So… where\'s all that treasure?" Ike asked, breaking the silence.

Wisp chuckled. "I\'ve already stuffed the best of it into my storage rings. But if you want to grab the second string stuff, it\'s—" She turned and pointed.

A fresh, solid stone wall blocked off the space she\'d broken through moments ago.

Wisp scowled. "Money-grubbing bastard."

"I\'m not sure you get to say that when you\'re the one robbing him blind," Ike pointed out.

"Yeah, but still."

He walked over to the wall and patted it. His palm thudded against stone. "Think the treasury\'s still behind this wall?"

Wisp charged it, fist raised. Startled, Ike jumped out of the way just in time for her to land her punch. The stone wall blasted away, revealing a dusty parlor behind. Stones bounced over a piano, twanging the disused instrument\'s strings.

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Wisp leaned through the hole. She looked left, then right, then shook her head. "No."

Ike laughed. "No, I guess not."

She gestured at the far wall on the other side of the dusty parlor. "We could keep going."

Ike looked up at the stairs, leading up to the double doors. He raised his brows. Wisp has a point. Why follow this man\'s script when we can forge our own path? "Let\'s go."

Wisp climbed through the hole she\'d made. Ike hopped after her. As they crossed the parlor, Wisp looked at him. "You Rank up?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah? Just… yeah?"

Ike snorted. He looked at her. "What am I supposed to say? Yeah. I did. What else is there to it?"

Wisp shrugged. "Usually, people make more of a fuss of it. It is a big deal."

"It\'s a big deal, but… I don\'t know. I don\'t feel that different," Ike said.

"You\'re the same rank as me now. And you\'re less than half my age. That\'s insane," Wisp said.

"I\'m like… a quarter your age."

"You\'re the youngest one here. Baby," Wisp accused him.

Ike glanced around. "So… have we been walking in place for a while, or is that just me?"

Wisp twisted her lips. She fired a blast of spider thread at the ceiling and swung on it, easily landing on the far side of the room. There, she turned and stuck her tongue out at Ike. "Spider superiority."

Ike crouched. Lightning surged around his body. He leaped, crossing the distance between them in one bound.

Wisp shook her head. "I can do that, too. Boring."

"What? That was cool. There was lightning and everything," Ike argued.

"I can do it without the lightning."

Ike rolled his eyes. "Fine, whatever. You win. \'Spider superiority,\' or whatever."

She grinned. "I knew you\'d understand eventually."

Ike stepped forward. He drew his fist back. Shockwaves built up around his fist. He slammed it forward, shooting the shockwaves into the wall. The wall shook, then crumbled.

For a moment, a hallway appeared on the other side. Before either Wisp or Ike could step into it, it whirled away. In its place, stairs led up to a small platform.

Ike raised his brows. "I feel like we\'re being led somewhere particular."

"No, really?" Wisp murmured.

"So… shall we?" Ike asked.

She shrugged. "Might as well. We can smash our way through if it\'s a trap or if we get bored, but if this guy\'s trying to show us something, we can look."

Ike startled. He looked at Wisp.

"What?"

"That\'s a surprisingly reasonable take from you."

She scowled. "What\'s that supposed to mean?"

"You didn\'t say anything about eating it, for one."

"I don\'t try to eat everything."

Ike raised a brow.

She sighed. "Almost everything, yes. But not everything."

"Give me an example," Ike asked as he walked up the stairs.

Wisp thought for a moment. She pinched her chin.

"Uh huh. I\'m waiting."

"Shut up! I\'m thinking, dammit." She thought for another few seconds, then snapped her fingers. "Like gold. No point eating gold. It tastes bad, it\'s bad for your mana passages, and it\'s worth a lot if you don\'t eat it. There. Not everything."

Ike snorted, amused. He put his hands up. "Fine, fine. You win again."

"I always win," Wisp said, with all confidence.

They reached the top of the stairs. There was no looping this time. No attempt to send them backward. A pair of double doors awaited them. Ike raised his brows. "This guy really likes double doors, doesn\'t he?"

"You know, I hadn\'t noticed. But now that you\'ve said it, I can\'t help but notice."

Ike raised his hands. He pushed the doors open.

Wind rushed by. Ike fought against it, squinting against the rush. Wisp yelped and ran to his side, latching onto his hip. The two of them stepped forward slowly. With every step, the wind gripped at their feet. It dragged at their bodies and caught at their clothes. Ike narrowed his eyes and pushed on. One step at a time. Stealing inches from the wind.

Abruptly, the wind stopped. Ike staggered forward a step, then looked up. He looked around. What the…