novelraw Chapter 185: Reward Settlement
Chapter 185: Reward Settlement
Night Owl paused meaningfully at that point. It was both a warning and a reminder. The All-Heavens Lord Alliance's "humanistic care" extended only to certain basics — the competition within was still fierce and unforgiving.
She continued: "That's also why many Lord-class players, past the midpoint of their careers, choose to become mercenaries — working under other people, serving as advisors, rather than keep filing applications. You've seen Ron and Hathaway yourself. Even completing a Four-Star mission is an enormous struggle for players like them."
"Many times, it isn't that your strength is insufficient, or your preparation inadequate. It's that unpredictable events have a way of appearing right when you least want them. You never know if what you've carefully prepared for turns out to be a room full of brilliant messes — or messy brilliance. The external variables are simply too many."
"That said — the Three-Star Lord mission is still something you must find a way to complete, no matter what. Only once you have even a small piece of territory of your own do you have enough of a foundation to stand on — and to recover from failure without being shattered by it."
"Take Ron and Hathaway — the reason they've been able to come back, again and again, to keep applying for a Four-Star Lord mission, is largely because they each hold a small territory of their own, roughly ten square kilometers. That advantage is not subtle."
"There's also something I must be clear about: do not let yourself become arrogant. Yes, you've taken first place on the Rookie List, and now the Rookie King title — but if you analyze your situation honestly, there's a certain element of luck built into this. If not for a Rookie like Joffrey running interference for you, your path to the Rookie King would not have been nearly so smooth."
"Because if Ron had simply been placed in Joffrey's camp instead, Hathaway would never have taken such aggressive action against you. She would never have gone so far as to assassinate Hathaway, pushing the mission storyline into a spiral that even she couldn't contain. All she would have needed was patience. Given five months to reclaim the Head of Household position, she could have sidelined you entirely — waited for Leon to finish building the Temple, let the mission simply conclude, and step quietly into the spotlight. The era belonging to Hathaway would only just have begun."
"So — take time to examine your own weaknesses as well as your strengths. Compensate for the gaps, reinforce what you're good at. Your future has real promise."
"One more thing: the loophole that Joffrey exploited will be patched in the next Rookie cycle. Every six months, without any prerequisite, there will be a mandatory settlement. The capable rise, and those who cannot keep up will be outpaced."
"That covers everything I wanted to address. Are there other questions you'd like to ask?""Thank you for your guidance. I do have one more question — about the Chaotic Killing Battlefield. Is there anything you can tell me about what to expect there?"
George asked sincerely. In the world he'd just left, he had tried asking others about it, but they'd been uniformly vague — as if they couldn't, or wouldn't, speak plainly.
Night Owl nodded. "Of course. But you should understand clearly: do not discuss specifics about the Chaotic Killing Battlefield in excessive detail when inside an Orderly-and-Peaceful mission world. Doing so draws severe Bad End risk. Outside of those worlds, however, it's another matter entirely."
"Let me explain it properly."
"Take this mission world you just departed from. Do you know why the gods of that world wanted Luna's power?"
George shook his head. He hadn't the faintest idea.
"Because that power traces back to the Chaotic Killing World. It was left behind in that world hundreds of years ago, by a senior player who was conducting a mission — left there by accident. The manner of the accident, I suspect you've already guessed. That player left behind children. Descendants."
"The native gods of that world detected the trace, captured it, and through generations of selection, cultivation, and mutation — eventually incubated the Grand Witch Luna. A Four-Star Magic Zombie."
"Magic Zombie?"
George was startled. Magic — and zombie — those two things actually combined?
Night Owl looked at him with a measured expression. "Exactly. The magic is as you understand magic to be, and the zombie is as you understand a zombie to be — but the source isn't any virus. It's the contamination of the fundamental magic source, causing a cross-dimensional loss of control. I can't go into the full background here, but the short version: a mage of supposedly extraordinary power lost control. The dispersed magical energy contaminated hundreds of worlds. Magic Zombies are what resulted."
"And the Chaotic Killing World that you'll be entering next — it's almost entirely defined by Magic Zombies."
"Magic Zombies come in many variants. The Grand Witch Luna was a Charm-Type. Her eldest daughter Mixi was a Summon-Type. The younger daughter Hathaway was an Ice-Snow Type. These are all common Magic Zombie classifications."
"These Magic Zombies can spread contamination, though the rate is far slower than what you might imagine. Take the Grand Witch Luna — working at full capacity, she could corrupt three to five soldiers per day into Fallen variants. But unlike the zombies you might be imagining — those that win through pure numbers — Magic Zombies win through quality. They retain memory. They are intelligent. Many times, you'll find yourself grudgingly admitting that they are nearly indistinguishable from a person."
"But they are still zombies. Once the magical energy within them reaches a threshold, they detonate into Burst Types — and beyond that, into variant forms so strange they defy description."
"They rampage through the Chaotic Killing World, destroying order and structure without restraint. We cannot save such a world — we can only move in and take what can be salvaged. That's essentially it. We value what we acquire, and we take only through legitimate means. Never cross the hard lines. Remember that — always."
"As for the rest, you'll discover it yourself. But I can offer you two pieces of advice, if you want them."
"First: I'd suggest that around five months from now, when you receive your first summons to the Chaotic Killing Battlefield, you file for the Three-Star Lord Mission at the same time. With good fortune, you might carve out your Three-Star territory during that very Chaotic Killing engagement. Ah — I should have mentioned: every Lord-class player's territory must be personally claimed on the Chaotic Killing Battlefield. Unless you accumulate significant enough merit — as Ron and Hathaway have — headquarters won't simply allocate you a stable territory in an Orderly-and-Peaceful world."
"That's for you to think about."
"Second: if you'd rather be a mercenary player, make that decision now and build on your existing strengths. Mercenaries have a good future ahead of them too, in their own way."
"The point is this: don't hesitate, and don't waver. The most dangerous thing in life is trying to do two things at once without committing to either. The most dangerous thing in work is starting with ambition and trailing off without finishing."
"That's all from me. Your reward settlement has come through. You may choose any six items from ten available rewards. And remember what I said earlier: once the settlement is complete, rest for a while before reporting to Internal Affairs."
"Thank you!"
George thanked her again. Night Owl turned and left.
The surroundings shifted. There was a quality to it like watching the sun rise and set in rapid sequence — seasons cycling through, time rushing forward at a blurred pace.
Then a gray mist spread through the air — and cleared — and George found himself back in the original park. Autumn rain falling softly. Yellow leaves covering the ground. What in the world?
He looked around in confusion. No one else visible. He tried to walk — and couldn't move. Something held him fixed in place, as though the entire surrounding landscape had become a painted backdrop.
And in that moment, within the continuous autumn drizzle, a series of notifications appeared silently before him.
【Respected Three-Star Lord, please select six of the following ten rewards. Note: all gains from your Rookie King contest are encompassed within this list.】
【1: 100 gold coins.】
【2: One One-Star Resource Card. Internal capacity: 50 kg of water or liquid; 50 kg of food; 50 arrows or crossbow bolts; 3 weapon-type equipment items. Note: armor items can also be stored, but cannot be retrieved during combat. Market value: 100 gold, available at shops in major cities or headquarters.】
【3: One Bronze-Quality Clearance Token. (Bound upon selection — non-transferable and non-sellable.)】
【4: One Two-Star Pet Card, capable of storing Two-Star or Three-Star quality hunting pets or mounts. Market value: 300 gold, available at shops.】
【5: Have your Noble Crest Armor upgraded to Three-Star by a Four-Star Armorsmith. Torso Defense +18, vital-area Defense +30, encumbrance +6. One additional random bonus trait.】
【6: Have your Two-Star dagger reforged and upgraded to Three-Star by a Four-Star Blacksmith. Damage +60, increased hardness, gains Armor-Piercing, Bleeding, Disabling, and Critical Strike traits.】
【7: Have your Three-Star War Bow continuously optimized, retaining its current grade. Encumbrance +2. One additional random bonus trait.】
【8: Have your boots upgraded to Three-Star by a Four-Star Leatherworker. Leg Defense +6, Agility +2, plus one additional random trait.】
【9: One Five-Star Settlement Card. Market value: 1,000 gold. Bound upon acquisition — non-transferable and non-sellable.】
【10: One Five-Star Retention Card. Market value: 1,000 gold. Bound upon acquisition — non-transferable and non-sellable.】
—
Now that was a problem.
He wanted all of them.
Ten options and only six choices — what kind of cruelty was that?
He exhaled. Night Owl's advice came back to him: do you want to be a Lord, or a mercenary?
But he wanted to be both — now what?
"One, two, and nine can go. The One-Star Resource Card can be purchased at headquarters. The Five-Star Settlement Card sounds impressive, but it only matters if I can't last until natural settlement — and I'm not that fragile."
"Option seven can also go. The Three-Star War Bow is already more than powerful enough. I can't even use its full potential yet. As for the encumbrance increase — you adapt to that over time."
"The Five-Star Retention Card, though — keep that. It might come in useful for Title grinding later."
In the span of seconds, George made his selections: the Two-Star Pet Card, the Bronze-Quality Clearance Token, the Three-Star Noble Crest Armor, the Three-Star dagger, the Three-Star boots, and the Five-Star Retention Card.
He didn't want to be a mercenary — but he wanted to be a Lord who could handle himself in a fight.
The moment his choices were made, a few more lines of text appeared.
【Note: equipment crafting, upgrading, and repairs require time. All rewards will be delivered to your personal Arbitrary Door within fifteen days. Your relevant weapons, equipment, and supplies will be held in temporary storage at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Upon registering at Internal Affairs, you may collect them.】
【Note: the current space constitutes your personal Arbitrary Door, bound to your individual identifier. You may use this Arbitrary Door to return to your original world — but note: you may only observe. You cannot interact with that world in any meaningful way. If you do, you will be pursued and penalized. Extreme violations will result in relevant memories being erased and you being returned to your point of origin.】
【Note: you may use your current Arbitrary Door to travel to other public Arbitrary Door nodes, or travel between public nodes using those terminals. Each use requires payment of one Standard Silver Coin.】
【Warning! Do not linger for extended periods inside your personal Arbitrary Door. The All-Heavens Lord Alliance cannot guarantee absolute security there. True security lies in: activate it only once, and minimize how often you return to your personal Arbitrary Door.】
【Note: your personal Arbitrary Door is an extraordinarily valuable piece of personal property. You may not fully grasp this right now — so consider it a piece of advice worth heeding.】