"Well…that was over quickly…" Loraine muttered under her breath, eyes focused on the devastated battlefield. The goblins had been shredded like paper in mere seconds, the fight over before it even began.
Well, calling it a fight would be overestimating it a bit, it was simply a one-sided massacre.
'Its to be expected when your family can afford weapons as powerful as those…' She thought to herself with a sigh, a touch of envy stirring in her heart at the prospect.
"Filthy creatures, how annoying…" Carl growled underneath his breath, looking down at the pile of goblin remains at his feet, a look of disgust plastered on his face. He flicked his wrist casually, casting the blood off from his axe, the blade's sharpness cutting through the air.
"Oh come on," Lisa said, rolling her eyes at her brother in full annoyance. "If you were so worried about getting dirty, then maybe you shouldn't have been swinging that thing around so carelessly." Lisa scolded, wiping in a bit of the monster's blood of her face, a victorious grin plastered on her face.
Unlike her brother, Lisa didn't care about her appearance much when she was in battle, all that mattered to her was cutting down anything that stood in her path and growing stronger from the experience, as she could just hire someone to clean her armor after she was done.
"Oh shut it, how else am I meant to swing a heavy blunt weapon around? Unlike that pole you call a sword, my axe is far more difficult to wield." Carl retorted, a triumphant grin spreading on his face as he watched his sister take offense to that, her teeth gritting like a wild animal ready to pounce.
'Sigh….do these two ever stop arguing?' Loraine questioned internally with a frown, annoyed.
'Oh well,' Loraine turned her attention back to the pile of corpses the two siblings have left behind, immediately starting to get to work.
Loraine crouched down, setting down the large bag to her side. Her hands quickly opened up the bag, retrieving a small knife from its confines.
'Cmon…you've been through this plenty of times. Just stomach it.'
Using the knife she obtained to cut open the monsters chest, struggling a bit as it's skin was extremely tough for a E-Ranked monster. The knife wasn't sharp enough to be highly effective, a look of irritation crossing her face.
"Seriously? Did they not bother to at least buy something sharper? They know damn well an ordinary knife isn't gonna cut shit…" She said, expressing her frustrations.
Could they have done this to make her work harder on purpose? Surely not.
But at the same time, knowing them, it wouldn't be too surprising either, as they don't exactly have a good history with each other.
After struggling for a little bit, the knife finally penetrated the skin and forced itself deep into the monster's flesh, which was a huge contrast with the skin as the flesh of the goblin was far softer.
Without wasting any more time, Loraine made a huge cut in the monster's flesh, right next to the goblin's heart where a small black crystal lay inside, a Mana Core.
'Great, this one had one.'
"There we go." Loraine grinned, a small chuckle escaping her lips as she quickly stuffed away the crystal and proceeded to handle the rest of the goblin remains.
A Mana Core was the primary heart of all monsters found inside the Tower, containing all of their Mana and life essence. Besides Skill Books, and other Items, Mana Cores were the primary source of a Seeker's income, as they had a lot of uses in the world.
From alchemical purposes, to enchantments, and even powering machinery, Mana Cores were a stable in the world of Seekers.
After a few minutes of looting from the corpses of the goblins, and finding a few Mana Cores, Loraine also decided to grab and take back some of their body parts, mainly their ears as they could be sold to the Association for an extra buck.
"Phew…that sure took a while. Would've been quicker if I actually had a good knife to use, but at the end of the day, I can't really complain." Loraine said, grabbing her large bag and quickly hurrying after Lisa and Cain who were far deeper into the Tower.
'Shit…did they seriously not bother to wait for me?' She questioned herself, becoming more and more irritated as the seconds ticked by, her lungs burning from all the running she had been doing.
As she ran through the barely illuminated corridor of the first floor, more and more evidence of the twins handy work were left behind for her to loot and catch up with.
'Maybe it would be quicker if I just used my hands…I know for a fact that even my fingers are more durable than this janky piece of metal..' Loraine thought, glancing at the knife that looked like it had seen better days, a sigh of disappointment escaping her lips.
After a while of looting, and slowly ascending the Tower, floor by floor, looting whatever had remained from the monsters that were obliterated, did she finally start hearing some sounds of combat that suggested that the twins were close.
'They must be at the fifth floor, fighting the Floor Guardian at the moment.' Loraine thought, breaking a small sweat at the thought.
When a Seeker has reached the fifth floor of the Tower, they will encounter a giant monster, known as the Floor Guardian, that they will have to defeat in order to pass and ascend a flight of stairs that will take them higher into the Tower and into a brand new environment.
The Floor Guardian acts as a Mini Boss in preparation for the actual Boss at the end of the Tower's Sector, situated at the 10th floor, where a much harder challenge awaits those that are brave enough to face it, and naturally with it, far greater rewards and experience points.
"Hahaha! It's over!" The thrilled voice of Carl shouted, the sound of his axe colliding reverberating throughout the 5th floor with a powerful shockwave.