Distracted from the conversation by the rewards, one of the rangers went and picked up a bow, then stared at it with what seemed to be a mix of horror and confusion.
"This is an Epic item, but not like anything that I’ve seen before. Come and inspect the actual status of the items." He insisted.
Karl checked the item, and then he was confused as well.
"Aren’t those the level of bonuses that are always on items?"
"The levels, sure. But what are these bonuses? Where is the added monster damage, the agility bonus, the Ranger modifier?"
"It’s got nature element damage bonus, [Crippling Wounds] skill bonus to slow the target, and increased attack speed. That’s no worse than usual. In fact, it’s extra useful because you’re all Elven Rangers, and you use nature element damage skills."
They were clearly at an impasse, so Rae transformed to mediate.
"I think that they only ever get boring skills on their items, but since we were here, they got things that they didn’t expect, and it’s messing up their ability to stack bonuses to get just what they wanted."
"Oh, good point. Nothing is worse than getting a good bonus that’s not what you need."
"Wait, when gear drops in a dungeon, you get all sorts of modifiers? Not just the ones that are for your class?"
Karl nodded. "Everyone can equip every bonus. It’s just a matter of whether you have a skill that can actually make good use of it.
Actually, let me correct that, some bonuses aren’t for everyone. Some are class specific, and then there are items that have a specific skill. For example, I could make a sword with [Earthquake] on it, and most of you would not be able to use the skill, even if you had the sword.
Because that’s not a skill that Rangers can use."
Now the Elves looked truly confused. "How does that even work? Every item type has specific bonuses. The Craftsmen of the Elves all agree."
"Perhaps it’s a system-based difference? Like, the items that we make aren’t designed for their System, so they have very different bonuses? That would explain the confusion," Rae suggested.
"First, hello, might I ask who you are?"
Rae laughed, "Lady Rae Bloodbath. I’ve been here the whole time, just in spider form. This transformation makes it easier to interact with others, so I use it fairly often."
The explanation seemed to have shaken the very foundation of everything that the Elves knew about the world.
Monsters were monsters. Even if they were intelligent ones like dragons, they were what they were. They didn’t learn skills to turn themselves into humanoids, they used the skills that they were born with.
If monsters could just learn new skills, how would anyone else survive?
"Isn’t this fun, we’re all learning new things." Cara cheered, twirling a shining silver necklace around her finger.
"Hey! How did you get that?"
"Badger, remember. I’ll trade you for it. One shiny object."


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