Chương 40

The first two notifications were for completing the dungeon and the stronghold. Congratulations! You have completed the Dungeon of Enigma and defeated Boss Vainglory. The dungeon was sponsored by the Sorvos Empire. Rewards are drawn from the sponsor's escrow. Enjoy, bud. Reward: B-Ranked Supply Chest x5 + A-Ranked Sponsorship Chest. All right, that wasn't that impressive, I told myself. Maybe I was getting spoiled by the rewards I'd gotten before. Congratulations!

You have completed the Stronghold of Undead Slavery. You are really good at fighting slavery. Abraham Lincoln would be proud of you.

"Uh, thanks," I muttered. Reward: There were just three ellipses. And then I heard a drum roll in my head. Is this for real? Congratulations! You have gained a Haven upgrade: Fortress Upgrade, B-Ranked. Turn your Haven into a veritable fortress. Just below, there was also written: As for your personal reward, you receive 20 Constitution points. That's good. Then came lots of notifications about my levels, culminating in: Congratulations! You have reached Level 20. You have 9 unspent Status Points.

Sphere of Intuition (Rank SSS) has reached Level 4. It hadn't leveled up until now. And now it had just gone from level 1 to level 4. Clearly, leveling up this skill wasn't as ordinary as I'd thought. The whole intuition deal meant I had to focus and follow the skill in a more esoteric way, rather than just keep using it willy-nilly. Spear Mastery has reached Level 16. But before I could get to my achievements, I saw something else. Congratulations! Your Global Followers Leaderboard rank is 8th.

I looked at that number, confused for a second, and then said, "Shit. In the world?" Yes. In the entire world, the System replied. My stream had apparently been out for many parts of the undead stronghold, because the System clearly wanted to hide a lot from both Lotheriel and the Sorvos Empire. Global Combat Leaderboard: your rank has been withheld from the Combat Ranking Leaderboard.

"System, have many people's ranks been withheld from the—" No, they have not, the System replied, meaningfully, at my question. That meant that the System was indeed treating me differently. I dared then to ask, "System, why are you hiding my combat ranking?" I waited for a snarky response, but it just said: For the sake of fairness. Damn, I thought. That was the straight-up admission of everything I had hypothesized up until now.

It was then not unlikely that the System didn't really like the Sorvos Empire that much. I hadn't known the System had morals or strong opinions about this or that, but I was wrong, apparently. And yet gods, whatever they were, could still lean on the System and influence its outcomes. I was distracted from this doomed chain of thoughts by the first achievement. New Achievement - First Blood. You killed a human being. Naughty, naughty. Reward: F-Ranked Murderer Box. Hope you're not gonna go fish for more.

I used the Sphere of Intuition to look at my hands, and I saw the black smoke. It doesn't really discriminate, huh? It's just a way to see how many people we've killed. New Achievement - Employee of the Month. You have gathered and given the most crafting materials to the crafting department. HR has never seen anything like it. Reward: A-Ranked Corporate Chest. New Achievement - Pound of Flesh. You really paid a toll with actual flesh. Despite being technically legal inside the dungeon, is it really moral?

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators! Reward: none. New Achievement - Nothing But the Truth. You and your team confessed and did not lie — and did not kill each other. Statistically remarkable for an office team. Reward: your team synergy will go up by ten. You will know what to do instinctively, as a reflection of that. New Achievement - Heroic Benevolence. You gave away a hero's heart. Are you stupid? Reward: C-Ranked Dumb Benefactor Chest.

New Achievement - Lich, Please. Three liches were obliterated by your team. Reward: B-Ranked Treasure Chest. New Achievement - Oh, Pretty. You blinded three bosses with a pyrotechnic kit. The audience would have loved that, and so would have the sponsor. So here's your reward. Reward: pyrotechnic kit restocked — and an encore, this time live. New Achievement - Use Your Head. You headbutted a boss. This has never happened before. Reward: Constitution, Plus 5. You're so stupid, you might need it.

New Achievement - Undo Button. You unmade a Mark of the Beast. How the hell did you do that? Reward: A-Ranked Enchanter Chest. New Achievement - Security Deposit Denied. You demolished a sponsored stronghold that had just been built. They hadn't even finished paying the insurance on it. Reward: S-Ranked Insanity Chest. You've earned the brand, bud. New Achievement - Liberator. Three hundred prisoner slaves were freed. They like you. Reward: none. You freed people. We shouldn't reward basic decency.

New Achievement - Chekhov's Lance. You unlocked your day-one weapon. Finally. About time. Everyone was waiting. Literally everyone. Reward: none. The lance is the reward. Come on, John. New Achievement - Media Training. You have been called for two interviews, and you have managed to insult the host twice. Reward: C-Ranked Media Chest. New Achievement - Neo. You dodged a spear and an arrow with your eyes closed. The gnolls said the fight was unfair. Reward: Dexterity, Plus 2. You show-off.

Then came the notification for the quest. Quest Completed: The Poisoned Blood of Kings. Reward: B-Ranked Pet Armor. A giant, clanging mess of metal appeared in front of me.

"Holy, this is actually full battle armor for Regulus," I muttered. Then I started quickly opening all the chests. First, the F-Ranked Murderer Box. It was a small little box, black with a red ribbon, like a Christmas present. I pulled the ribbon, and it came apart on its own. I took the lid off, and I saw in it a vial. Potion of Evil Strength. Drink this to increase your Strength by five. Your aggressiveness will also go up. I looked at it, took it, and smashed it on the ground. Yeah, good try.

Then came the supply chests from the Dungeon of Enigma. When I opened them, there were rows of weapons and armor, lots of ingots and crafting materials, and potions.

"Oh, shit. We can use that to arm everybody. I'm sure at the Haven, the crafters can turn this into a full batch of equipment for three hundred people." There was also a satchel. Satchel of Carrying. As the name implies, you will use this satchel to carry four items with you, instead of putting them into your inventory. The satchel's items can be retrieved during battle. Then I opened the A-Ranked Sponsorship Chest that came with the Dungeon of Enigma's reward. I opened it, and there was… Is this a fucking skull?

What the— There were two skulls, joined by several long femurs, that formed a scary, scary… This is a cloak? Item - Cloak of the Rotting Lich (Rank - A) - Level 20 Description: This cloak is an extremely powerful artifact that belonged to a strong lich. It has not been treated with the right chemicals, so it still has the original vintage smell. I gave it a whiff, and I almost retched. It immediately brought me back to the second trial of the Dungeon of Enigma and all the bloated, rotting corpses. Ugh.

But then I read the full description. Mana Regeneration, Plus 300% Mana Pool, Plus 100% Intelligence, Plus 15 Wisdom, Plus 15 Restrictions: This cloak can only be worn by someone who has raised a corpse explosion skill to at least level fifteen. Well, that meant this was for Hailey. I put it away, since it stank so bad, and I was really curious to see Hailey's face once I gave it to her. I wasn't sure she'd be so happy about it. Then I opened my A-Ranked Corporate Chest, and it had a… What the fuck is this?

Team Perk unlocked: Corporate Training. You can now select one of your allies who needs training to break through. I opened the panel it gave me, and it said: Corporate Training Points: 1. Complete more corporate events to gain more points. And then I saw Marcus was the only one whose name wasn't grayed out. Uh, I should probably tell Marcus before I press this. I moved on to my C-Ranked Media Chest, and it had an exclusive recorder update. Splice. Easily cut your recordings into broadcast-ready reels.

This also unlocks the reels page on your streaming tab. You can now earn money based on your reels' views. Make sure to enable intergalactic ads. The Federation is extremely, extremely against those who do not activate their ads. So your ads have been turned on, and you cannot turn them off until you leave the dungeon.

"What? Why would they even give me the option, then?" I threw my hands up in the air and moved on to the next chest. I took out the C-Ranked Dumb Benefactor Chest and checked its content. There was, inside, a large sombrero. The Friendship Sombrero. Put this on someone's head, and they will become your friend. You will be able to contact them from any distance, no matter how far, and you can use your chat feature with them privately.

I looked at the ridiculous sombrero, but then I read the description again, and I was like, "Oh." And I was in awe. This item was genuinely extremely powerful. I could use this on Bluemont, or someone like Langdon, even, so that we could coordinate from afar. Or maybe just Bluemont. Bluemont perhaps was the better choice, since he was our guide, knew a lot about the tutorial, and this would help me survive. Then I opened the A-Ranked Enchanter Chest, and inside of it were a brush and a pen.

Enchanter Kit — Beginner Set. I looked at it, and then I just said, "Yeah, I need to ask Bluemont about this." Then there was my S-Ranked Insanity Chest. All right. I opened it, and I saw a white glove. What the fuck is that? Item - Duelist Glove. Throw this in front of someone to force them into a duel to death. Nobody around you can interfere or fight, even among themselves, while this duel is active. The "to death" part was in bold.