The most valuable, lightest stuff was… gems. The four Bags of Holding they had available could hold a bit less than three hundred fifty kilograms of cargo while having a weight of only two hundred and fifty or so. If it was just a question of volume, they could have taken quite a bit of loot, the real constraint was the weight limit they had to work with the array – forty-five kilograms of "outside" weight.


    It was a very nice mathematical problem to solve. Or could have been. Sharpclaw was useless with solving it – her [Mathematics] was sitting at 17%, and she had even problems counting on her fingers to two. Bianca wasn''t much better with 33%. Prof had 54%, but while it was enough for everyday survival, he didn''t feel like solving the puzzle successfully. The best mathematicians they had were Wolfgang and Mini, with 75% and 80% respectively. Not ideal, either.


    Let’s see…


    It was actually an easy problem to solve. Foxy’s bag had an inside volume of a bit over ten liters, and so could hold thirty-five kilograms of stuff, and with weight being cut down to a quarter, that was a bit below nine kilograms “outside” weight. The next best was the Classy Purse, with halving weight and one point five liters volume. It could hold four point two kilograms inside, with a bit above two in “outside” weight.


    After that came the Girly Backpack, which could hold the rest of their moveable weight, thirty-four kilos “outside” and fifty-one “inside” weight. For a total of ninety kilograms. Mathematics was easy. Especially, when you just had to shovel loot into bags and a convenient screen told you the result. It was almost like a pocket calculator at home…


    Actually, back on Earth Prof had not the faintest idea, of what precious stones cost, he wasn''t rich enough to deal with the question. He only knew they were really expensive – the four true precious stones more than the rest. Even on Arkadia, his [Valuation] wasn''t high enough to give really accurate returns. Probably he would need [Jeweller] on a high level and tools too. Most likely a few months time to finish too.


    The price for such a haul… If he would just fill the bags with mid-quality cut diamonds (that would be 450.000 carats, if anyone would wonder) for example, he would be sitting on more than three billion dollars (or Euros, if you are from Europe, or three hundred thousand gold for Arkadians). Assuming, the stones were mundane and not magical. The larger the stones, the more likely he put a target on his back.


    Two points were going in Prof''s favor: firstly, he simply did not realize the implications of having ninety kilos of precious or semi-precious stones in his pockets (he would have a heart attack just because of the numbers floating about), and secondly, luckily only a smallish part of the stones were loose true precious ones. All right, there was a third point too: he respected other people''s work enough not to just pry stones out of jewelry and items.


    Actually, there were only around forty kilos of loose stones lying around, and only ten percent were true precious stones, the rest being everything from malachite to topaz, peridot, and aquamarine. To be more precise, there were only forty kilos of stones above one or one-and-a-half carats, but there was a tub full of smaller splinters, and he suspected, the dirt also contained such. He decided, taking the tub''s contents was more hassle than gain, and sweeping the floor… No, he would rather fill the remaining weight with jewelry. Preferably magical jewelry. Or such with large stones.


    Forty kilos of precious stones doesn''t sound like much, some would say, right? It''s actually a lot for any private person to have (it''s a lot even for a party of five to have), especially if you consider the price. It ranges from about three Dollars per carat for malachite to around twenty thousand for diamonds. Larger stones are disproportionately more expensive.


    Fifty kilos of magical jewelry, on the other hand, would sound as much, yes? Actually, no. Since Prof prioritized larger pieces, he ended up with only thirty pieces, with five of them not even magical. Most of them went into the Girly Backpack because the other pack''s mouths were too narrow.


    He did it! He stumbled upon unimaginable riches just out of nowhere and came out RICH! No more crawling around in dungeons for scrap iron, no hunting stupid animals and monsters! Yes!


    Before he left the building where the Hags collected everything, he did a very last sweep. His Scavenger-senses were tingling previously, so he wanted to be sure, he didn''t leave anything really important behind. The few hits he received were one tome, written in an unknown script, a nice chair, a life-size statue of a raven, made of some black metal, and finally, a small box with six little statues.


    Those belonged to the game set he had to collect! He left the other items, since those were too heavy, but took the game pieces. Progressing with a quest was always good!


    Wolfgang was already done with the preparations – actually, he didn’t need to do much, but set the director-crystal to work and wait for Prof to complete the looting.


    “All right, girls and boys. Before we go, everyone goes to visit the latrine one last time. No need to burden the array with superfluous weight!" Prof cautioned everyone. Just like on a school trip.


    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Five minutes later, Wolfgang was directing them to certain places between the two circles.


    “Pay attention. Parts stick out circles will stay behind. Powering array!”


    Prof wasn''t an expert in magical teleportation arrays but was almost certain, they shouldn''t emit pulsing light in sickly colors. Probably they shouldn''t belch smoke like an old steam engine either. Or screeching loudly.


    “NO! Array blows! Shed weight! Quickly!”


    Shed weight? Just so, without a pricy diet or a personal trainer? Just swallow a pill and the weight will go away as it was magic? Oh, Wolfgang probably meant loot!


    “NOOOooooooooo!”


    Wolfgang was the first, his cool pseudo-Viking helmet was already sailing out of the circle. Prof saw Bianca throwing her shield and sword away, followed shortly by her coif, and she was frantically trying to unbuckle her vambraces. Hopefully, that would be enough, Mini certainly wouldn''t throw her stuff away, Sharpclaw didn''t have anything and as for Prof… Well, he would have to think really hard on what to throw away, do some valuation, and measure cost per gram to find something that wouldn''t hurt him all that much financially.


    His paralysis was interrupted by two quick tugs from his belt – the Classy Purse and the Belly-bag were just gone! Sharpclaw was climbing up his legs, gaze fixed on the Girly Backpack and the Warrior Crown.


    “Oh, fuck, nooooooooo…”


    Before the Kobold could deprive him of the last of the loot, the array did something. There was a very bright flash, a shrill sound, and a distant boom. Everything went dark.


    Prof woke up on a cold stone floor. The only light visible was the faint exclamation mark on the edge of his vision. He took a deep breath but coughed immediately. Wherever he was, it hadn''t been properly ventilated in a long time, the air was almost unbreathably stuffy. He was sure, however, that he wasn''t dead – the afterlife office he visited was shitty, but at least it had lighting.


    “Oh, no! The bags!" he realized, Arkadia did it again. Unimaginable wealth was dangled before his eyes, and as soon as he was happy to be rich, a good part was just taken away! It was the bywaymen-incident and the Hunting Licence-debacle all again.


    “Prof, is that you? Are you all right?” It was Bianca’s voice somewhere on his right.


    “We lost most of the gems, I think I have to cry. However, it looks like I leveled."


    “Yes, me too.”


    “Sharpclaw leveled too!" the little loot-destroyer hissed from behind


    “That makes four.” Mini was near them too. Binky made himself known by licking Prof’s face. Prof really hoped, it was Binky, though, and not Sharpclaw or worse, Mini. It was most likely Binky, though, the breath smelled like the owner ate a couple of Brook Hags recently and the tongue was enormous.


    “Me Level 11 now! Me Redcap now! Brought MYTRHILL to Greenskins!”


    “Does that mean, we left the Valley? What happened?”


    “Array too weak to handle the weight, almost blew. System says, I recovered lost treasure and brought it back to Greenskins, I thinks, we are in Ostwaldland now."


    “But where in Ostwaldland? This doesn’t look like a castle.”


    “Sssstorage cccccellar, Sharpclaw thinkssss. Foundsss broken crate.”


    “It''s a stupid question, but does anyone has a candle, torch, or lantern?" Prof asked, with not much hope in his voice.


    “Actually, I do.” answered Mini, followed by some scraping and rustling “You know, a certain someone wanted me to discard so-called unnecessary stuff to make more room for rocks. Luckily, I did not heed his request, and kept this nice memento from my time in a prison in Felseberg.”


    Unbelievable! Mini didn’t just have skimpy clothes in her bags?


    “Miss Mini, you were in prison? What for? Public nudity, unrequired harassment?”


    “No one would jail my beautiful self for that! Actually, they had a prisoner in need of interrogation, and the Watch Captain asked me nicely to help him out. Such a stallion! After we were done, I interrogated the prisoner and as payment, I kept the lantern. Good times!"


    With the lit lantern, Prof was finally able to survey the room. It was indeed a storage room for discarded junk, just like one would find in any castle. Or home. Junk tended to accumulate, no matter where one lived or the social status of the homeowner. Richer people just had more junk to accumulate. Or had they less, because they could afford the costs to get rid of it?


    “Do you hear music?” Was Bianca so embarrassed to imagine music? No, actually, Prof heard it too. When Mini lit the lantern and he could see again, he could pinpoint the music coming from behind a closed door.


    “That’s new. Clay, if I’m not mistaken?”


    “Yes, Clay. Military musics-player, from hearing. Playing very bad. Probably third grade.”


    Prof refrained to comment on the possible military abbreviation.


    Just as Wolfgang finished his critique of the musician''s Skill, the song changed to what Prof would have called a "suspension-full track" and the door flew open. An Orc, three Goblins, and someone, who was most likely a Hobgoblin stormed the room. A fourth Goblin stayed behind, still playing on a kid-sized guitar. Room clearing with a soundtrack, the Greenskins knew how to do things!


    “Freeze! For infiltrating a secure military installation, I place you under arrest! Resistance is futile!”