It was slightly shocking how quickly Valda's composure had broken as soon as the skeleton man had brought out the collection of trinkets. She quickly let go of Luka's hand, grabbing for the necklace that promised some sort of mana regeneration and trying it on like a starving person being given water. Her disappointment was just as strange.
"Well, don't worry about it, Miss Valda," he said. "Maybe it's broken or something. Here, let me."
It wasn't broken. As soon as he put on the trinket, he felt his body become stronger. The world was suddenly lighter on his shoulders, and the power that normally welled up from inside him had turned from a stream into a river that threatened to burst its dam.
"This... this is definitely an adventurer's necklace."
"Very high quality, too," Undine said. "Those used to be more common around the 6th Monster Lord's era, when the humans had access to powerful magic and enchantments. Her successor, the 7th, hunted down the holy artefacts and destroyed them in retaliation, and most of them were lost."
"A good thing, I'd say," Salamander said. "Future Heroes had to depend more on their own training and skill because of it. They were stronger without those things in the end, and so are you. I mean, you've been using the same equipment since Part One, and that was more than enough!"
"But... health regeneration... performance increase!"
"You don't need it. Alice loves you just the way you are, and your performance isn't part of it."
"Aw..."
Luka reluctantly took off the necklace. "This is a great gift, but I don't think either of us will find much use for it, sir."
The blue mana potion, on the other hand...
"Nope, it's useless for you," the flame spirit said. "You don't really use much mana in the first place, just your own stamina. Besides, you've got a huge amount of mana just in your body, which is much more than that little thing can give you. This is without mentioning the boost you get from having contracts with us."
"She's got none, though," Sylph said, having finally dug her way out of the ground. "None! Nooooone! Not a bit! Running on empty! Even less than a normal human!"
"And she really wants it for some reason..." The gears were beginning to turn in Luka's head, albeit slowly. "But what could she want with mana? She seems to be just fine now even without it..."
"You'll figure it out eventually." Undine disguised her own lack of knowledge as mysterious mentor advice. "Ignore the potion, it's harmless. For now just pay attention. This skeleton is interesting."
"I think it's safe, Miss Valda," Luka said. "That potion... it's saturated with mana, but there's nothing dangerous about it. At least, nothing that would lead to seeing things."
Unbeknownst to Henderson, almost half a pound of dirt that had been caked onto his body and clothes had gathered on his table. Slowly, the dirt came together and morphed into miniature mud girls, who started marching in circles waving their arms around. Gnome saved the last bit of dirt to form a miniature replica of herself in the center, looking at the insane man with something approaching interest. Perhaps it was the allure of the mystical puns, or his insistence on using her name to describe something of his, but she felt a certain attachment to the old man.
