continued - 5/5

Preparing for their inevitable fight, Joe took out his spoon spear and a small bundle of the parachute rope he'd brought with him out of caution, although he had another couple dozen other items that seemed to be meaningless for what they were seeking today. Joe tied the parachute cord to the end of his spoon spear and tied the other end to his good spear. He now had a ridiculously oversized pair of nunchuks. He held both of them by the shaft while letting the ropes dangle freely until there was a spark ready to use it on. After less than a minute of walking, they came upon another one and Joe quickly dangled the spoon spear out in front of him and walked towards it. The spoon spear swung freely above the dungeon floor, and when Joe got close enough to begin attacking, he dipped the spear down so that the blade of the spoon spear began dragging on the ground even as he dragged the spoon spear shaft into the body of the lightning monster.

As soon as the lightning hit the shaft of the spoon spear, it almost seemed to be locked on to it, even as a quavering electrical cry came from it. Just like the previous monsters did when they touched the ground, this one began to spasm and flicker, although it took quite a bit longer for it to ultimately die. The end of this one did not come with a fading flicker as the other monsters did that fought the adventurers Joe had followed. This one came to its end with a compression, then explosion, of light before a muffled explosion rang out through the long hallways and chambers. A piece fell from the body, and Joe bent to pick it up. Huh… another gem, like the slime! Seems pretty easy to come by! Joe picked it up and examined it closely, noticing that it looked very similar to the slime gems, although this one seemed a bit whitish purple in color. There even seemed to be hints of flickering light almost like lightning inside it. Hmm… a lightning gem? What were the slime gems then?

Joe pocketed the lightning gem and flipped open his log and took a look at his gains but found that it was simply a single experience point. Makes sense. The gem was a single gem. Seems like a pattern! Joe also found the name of the creature, which turned out to be pretty obvious: spark. Sparks… not a bad name. It's what they are, although maybe ball lightning would be better… too long though. Joe carefully checked the parachute cord and sighed with some relief when he found it completely undamaged. He'd made sure to keep the rope tied quite high up the spear shaft so that the monster only intersected with his spear quite a bit lower on the shaft and not near where the rope was tied. Huh… seems like I'm ready for taking these things on! The shaft of the spoon spear, however, had warmed slightly but only barely enough for Joe to notice. Still, Joe made sure to cool the spear by swinging it through the air while they walked.

Joe spent the rest of the day wandering the rooms and hallways, quickly and effortlessly killing the sparks. It turned out that they were encountering them even faster than the slimes back at the village, so Joe felt that his growth was a bit faster than the norm. He'd already figured out that he would likely be able to get a new job to level ten, now, in about a single day. A significant gain and one that excited him. The only thing holding me back is unlocking enough jobs!