Amongst the loot gathered, there were many monster cores and a few soul cores. But one core, in particular, caught his attention.
It was the Somnus Bat's soul core!
This was a big boon for him. Astaroth had already tried using normal soul cores to make spirit companions, but failed. It appeared any monster under the elite stage wasn't strong enough to be converted.
But the Somnus Bat was an elite monster! He could now have a third companion.
No one in the party objected when he started grabbing the cores for himself, as they had agreed upon it. Then, they dispatched the meats and leathers equally between each other.
Next were items.
Most items dropped by normal monsters were ingredients and materials. But zone bosses also dropped gear occasionally.
The previous zone boss, the ape king, had dropped two such items. And this one just dropped three!