"Finally found you."
Mario stared at the labyrinth map in his hands. Every fucking corner had been checked before he finally located the final boss chamber. He'd opened so many treasure chests along the way that he couldn't tell if his luck was amazing or terrible.
No new wands, but he'd scored some decent spell books, a mountain of magic crystals, and a few rare accessories. Could've been worse.
The maze was eerily quiet except for his footsteps echoing off stone walls. He made his way toward the chamber where the Minoshroom waited, the final boss of the Labyrinth.
The boss room was a space filled with mycelium, enclosed on all sides by wooden fence posts. The Minoshroom itself had a bizarre appearance, half mushroom, half minotaur, wielding a diamond battle axe. It looked somewhat like a centaur, except with a bull's head and way more fungus.
Normally when approaching a Twilight Forest boss, a health bar would appear in his view, dominating the top of his vision. But the Minoshroom's health bar just floated above its own head like any other mob. If defeating it wasn't required to unlock access to the Hydra Lair, he wouldn't have bothered. Total waste of time.
He took two more steps forward and crossed into the Minoshroom's aggro range. The boss suddenly snapped around, its eyes locking onto him.
All four legs began moving rapidly, building up momentum.
Mario smirked. "I haven't even broken the fence yet. What're you gonna do, fly out and—oh shit."
Before he could finish the sentence, the Minoshroom charged straight at him at incredible speed. The moment its body touched the wooden fence, the barrier shattered, splinters flying everywhere.
He quickly raised his shield.
BANG!
The Minoshroom's axe slammed against it.
Against enemies without magic or AoE attacks, a shield is king.
With his other hand, he flicked his wand. A figure materialized behind the Minoshroom, a skeleton wearing a tattered gray-blue robe. Through the holes in the fabric, bones were clearly visible.
It was a summoned creature from the apprentice necromancy spell Summon Skeleton. But he had found a rare accessory while looting earlier, the Talisman of Transformation, which upgraded his summoned undead by one tier.
Effect: Summoned zombies are husks; summoned skeletons are strays.
The stray had the same attack power and bow-shooting behavior as a regular skeleton, but its arrows inflicted a slowing debuff on targets.
An arrow struck the Minoshroom, and gray particle effects began swirling around its body. The slow was working.
Taking advantage of the moment while the boss' aggro was focused on the stray, Mario cast another spell. A blue ray shot from the tip of his wand and struck the Minoshroom, its health bar beginning to steadily drain.
Frost Ray, an apprentice ice spell.
This spell also slowed enemies, though its effect on real bosses was usually minimal. But since the Minoshroom wasn't actually a proper boss, the debuff worked perfectly.
Under the double slow effect, the Minoshroom could barely even turn around properly.
Mario, however, was a bit disappointed by the spell's damage output.
"Only three damage per second?"
If it weren't for the need to level up his wand proficiency, he wouldn't even bother with such low-tier magic. After four or five seconds of continuous casting, the total damage barely matched a single sword strike.
He kept firing while backpedaling. After more than ten seconds, the Minoshroom finally re-acquired him as a target. Its four legs started moving rapidly again.
A charge attack wasn't affected by slowing effects, so the Minoshroom's figure quickly turned into a blur as it rushed toward Mario, axe raised high.
CLANG!
Mario's shield blocked with one hand while his other switched the wand for a Netherite sword and slashed the Minoshroom across the head.
"That's more like it!"
Watching the boss' health bar drop by another significant chunk, Mario showed a satisfied grin. With all the attack speed bonuses from his Vampire Hunter gear set, his attack cooldown reset in less than a second.
The Minoshroom had only 120 HP total. It didn't take long before it fell at Mario's feet.
He glanced dismissively at the spot where the Minoshroom had vanished. It was supposed to be a mini-elite boss, yet it hadn't given him even the slightest sense of danger. The only real cost was how much durability his shield had lost.
Actually, the Minoshroom's normal attacks could break through shields and trigger a 1.6-second cooldown, but under the double slow debuffs, it couldn't land hits unless it used its charge attack.
Mario collected the loot drops, including the Diamond Minotaur Axe, and entered the boss chamber. Inside were several massive mushroom trees with treasure chests placed beside them.
After opening every chest, he found only one immediately useful item:
[Paladin's Ring (Uncommon):
Effect: When you heal yourself or an ally, nearby allies will also gain some health.]
Since he didn't have dedicated accessory slots, he could only keep items in his hotbar to benefit from their effects.
"There's just too much stuff. My inventory's completely full again."
He looked at his stuffed inventory. He'd thought that with Upsizer, storage would no longer be an issue. But as more mods were added, the variety of items exploded exponentially.
"If only I had some remote storage system. I'd even settle for Shulker Boxes right now."
After organizing his items, he reluctantly placed several less important objects back into the chests. It hurt leaving loot behind, but he had no choice.
---
After considerable travel time, Mario finally returned home. He immediately crafted several new storage chests and began organizing everything from the Electroblob's Wizardry mod into separate containers.
"Spell books go in the top chest. Keep identification scrolls on me. And magic crystals... looks like I still need to find a wizard tower, see if I can trade for materials to upgrade my wand."
Before long, his inventory was neatly emptied.
It was somewhat disappointing that in the large mine, he hadn't managed to find the moonworm queen. There were probably still unopened chests scattered around that area.
"Time to check on the company. See how my flying suit is coming along. Walking everywhere is getting old fast."
He turned and stepped into the Nether portal.
---
Mario arrived at Ivan's laboratory. The facility had come a long way from its humble beginnings.
In addition to Ivan and his father, there were now many technicians in white lab coats working throughout the space. Most of them didn't even notice him enter, they were completely absorbed in their experiments. The few who did see him just gave hurried nods before quickly returning to their work.
Inside a small work booth, Ivan wore a shop uniform so stained and worn that its original color was barely recognizable. He sat on a stool, welding goggles on his face and a toothpick in his mouth.
He was fully focused, wielding a welding torch and fusing metal plates together. The arc light turned the booth into something resembling a strobing nightclub.
Zzzzt...
Mario watched Ivan working so intently that he almost didn't want to interrupt. But Ivan seemed to sense his presence and hung the welding torch on the rack beside him.
"Mario! What brings you down here?"
Ivan looked puzzled. In his experience, Mario was the kind of person who never visited the lab unless he needed something specific. Normally he'd rather stay in his office doing whatever it was... than come down to the workshop.
Mario stepped forward and got straight to the point. "I need a suit of armor. Specifically, I need flight capability."
Ivan blinked, then nodded. For him, that wasn't a problem.
"Can do."
"By the way, we've already been contacted. Someone wants to buy our products."
"Of course," Mario said with a confident smile. "Those sharks could smell the blood in the water from miles away. An F-22 costs eighty million barebones, and our third-gen model sells for only ten million. That's what I call competitive pricing."
The third-generation model was a commercial version, its combat performance couldn't compare with the first or second-generation suits. Instead of the new-element reactor, it still used a palladium-based power source.
"We'll sell them in sets of ten. Buy three sets at once, get one free."
Ivan nodded. At that profit margin, they weren't just making money, they were printing it. But in a monopoly business, such margins were expected.
After briefly describing the specifications for his flight-capable armor, Mario turned to leave. He only needed aerial mobility, nothing more complex.
Ring...
His phone buzzed. He immediately felt a headache coming on, lately, every phone call seemed to bring complications. But when he saw it was Coulson calling, he relaxed slightly. Compared to Fury, he much preferred dealing with him.
"Coulson, what's up? What made you think of calling me?"
Mario answered cheerfully as he pushed open his office door.
"We found her. The person you asked me to locate."
Ok?
Mario was confused for a moment. He'd completely forgotten about the request.
"Uh..."
Coulson could tell Mario had forgotten, so he gently reminded him. "Skye."
Memory flooded back immediately. It had been so long without news that Skye had slipped his mind entirely.
"Where is she now?" he asked eagerly. Beyond her Inhuman heritage, her hacking skills alone were valuable enough to personally recruit her.
"She just graduated from university. Modified a van herself for traveling, and she's currently in Miami."
"Time to bring this poor kid into the fold."
A smile spread across Mario's face.
"I want you to have someone monitor her movements and send me her exact location. I'll head over immediately. While I'm at it, I'll take in some of Miami's... local culture."
"She's not simple. Her records are classified at S.H.I.E.L.D. Even I don't have clearance to view them."
"What? Fury still hasn't promoted you after the Hydra incident?" Mario teased over the phone. "I know a bit about Skye's situation. Don't worry, I'll handle it."
"Tell you what, offer still stands. Why don't you come work for me? The Hunter Association could use someone with your skills. Say the word and you'll be vice president."
---
Sitting in Fury's office, Coulson glanced up at Fury behind the desk, whose expression remained neutral, and gave a light laugh. "I'm quite happy with my current position. But I'll consider your offer. I'll send you her location shortly."
He hung up and looked at Fury with a faint smile.
"Coulson," Fury said slowly, "congratulations on your promotion. I'm granting you Level Nine clearance."
Coulson's smile became more genuine. Fury's expression, somehow, grew even darker.
He tried to poach my people and ended up getting them promoted instead. Fury mentally raised Mario's threat assessment another notch.
After ending the call, Mario replayed information about Skye in his head.
Skye's been under S.H.I.E.L.D. surveillance and protection for years. Let's hope Fury doesn't get greedy...
---
Four hours later, Mario arrived in Miami. Night had already fallen. As he exited the airport terminal, he glanced back at the building and felt a sudden wave of familiarity.
Miami sat at the southeastern corner of Florida, between Biscayne Bay, the Everglades, and the Atlantic Ocean. A tourist city with a reputation for beaches, nightlife, and crime.
The layout reminded him of Vice City from the old GTA games. Even the airport behind him bore a striking resemblance to the in-game version.
On his mini-map, he could see sporadic red dots moving through the terminal crowds.
"This place isn't half bad. I should recruit some people while I'm here, clean up the vampire population. Make future visits more pleasant."
With that thought, he moved to an empty corner, and retrieved a car from his inventory.
A sky-blue custom Bugatti materialized, courtesy of his generous friend Tony Stark.
The engine rumbled to life. Tires screeched against pavement as the car shot out of the alley. Before this, he'd only owned a beat-up Fiat his cousin gave him when he moved out of his parents' house. He wasn't much of a car enthusiast, but the moment he floored the accelerator, the performance difference was just... wow.