'It's not about anything but the task at hand.' Rean thought.
Outside the gate.
"Now about that lecture," Shom said.
"I am not going to be heavy-handed with it. After all, you were the only one who took initiative. I'll be brief, that way we can get to the real thing stuff," he said.
"The thing is, your instincts were dead right. Whether your decision was calculated or not, the act of making that very decision proves you're capable of thinking and acting as a hunter on a much higher level than the rest of the team." Shom paused.
"Even Michael?" Charles asked. "Am I performing on a higher dimension than Michael?" he reiterated.
Shom didn't respond. He only continued, ignoring Charles like nothing was ever said.
"The fire that forces one to push and persevere is something we've noted as extraordinary and extra necessary to become one who stands out. Enough talk. Let's get you that reward," Shom ended.
"So how do we go about it?" Charles asked.
Shom once again didn't respond. He was busy looking at his phone. He was checking something, scrolling through a list.
'Are we doing some kind of switch or image training? Maybe it's some kind of special mana meditation or something.' Charles thought as he eagerly awaited Shom's response.
"It's simple, I just got one," Shom responded.
"Let's go," he said, dropping his phone and heading back into the bus.
"Where are we heading to?" Charles asked, reasonably confused.
"We are heading to a dungeon gate not too far off from here. Jump in and I'll explain everything," Shom said.
The driver held his face. He nodded negatively as if he was dismissive of Shom's actions. He started driving when Shom gave him the go-ahead.
"Okay, since hunters can only increase their physical stats through training and there's no time for that rigorous, monotonous grind, I'll be rewarding you the easiest way I know how," Shom said.
"Which is?" Charles asked.
"You are not that bright, are you?" Shom asked rhetorically. "Whatever, that's dungeon raid and point gathering, duh," he said.
"Okay, good, but how is that any different from if I just joined the raid the normal way and, well, got points with the rest of the team?" Charles asked.
"Well, that's not rewarding, for one. For another, I'm going to give you reward points practically. I'm betting this will be the most amount of reward points you've ever seen," Shom added.
"Okay, now I'm excited. I can't wait to clear this gate," Charles responded.
"No, no, no. I don't think you understand anything I have been saying. You are not partaking in this raid with me. Hell, even I am not partaking in this raid. We are joining another division with the Cranes, overriding protocol, and we are heading straight into the boss's chamber to kill it. It's only C-rank, but that should give you about a thousand points."
"Woah," Charles exclaimed. "That's a... that's like a... a lot."
"How do we even go about that?" Charles asked.
"Kid, do you do anything but ask questions? Sheesh," Shom said with slight irritation in his tone.
"Okay, okay. I go in, I mess up the dungeon boss. I leave just enough leeway for it to not instantly die. You come in and give the final blow. Bam, 1000 points," Shom explained.
"Amazing."
They arrived at the gate.
"We'll be back here in 10," Shom told Carl.
Shom and Charles proceeded to enter the dungeon gate.
Ten minutes passed.
Two figures exited—it was not Shom and Charles.
Another two, then three—a whole division was making its way out of the dungeon.
It would seem Shom made good on his word. They had cleared the boss chamber.
The gate became unstable, warping left and right, shrinking in on itself. Before it closed, two figures made it out. It was Shom and Charles.
"Okay, let's head back," Shom said.
"Charles, hello, hello."
Charles wasn't responding. How could he? He had just procured a thousand points without doing any of the heavy lifting.
"Let's go," Shom said, lightly tapping the young hunter.
Charles finally snapped out of it.
"Yuh, sure, let's go," Charles replied.
They headed back to the site. They arrived in about 20 minutes.
"I don't believe it," Shom exclaimed.
"By gawly," Carl remarked.
"Guys? What's up?" Charles asked.
He looked ahead from the back seat.
He understood.
"How the hell?" Charles remarked.
They got down the bus. On arriving, they were met with seven hunters—no gate.
The seven hunters they had left just under an hour ago had seemingly cleared this B-rank gate all on their own.
"I don't believe it," Shom said with a smile creeping onto his face.
Shom told Charles to get back into the bus.
Shom walked up to the seven. He said nothing.
He looked at them; they gave him the same treatment. No response. No acknowledgement of the situation. Nothing.
"Okay, you guys get in."
Shom turned, making his way back to the bus. He paused, noticing no steps followed his.
"What's going on? Don't you guys want out of here?" Shom asked.
"It seems I'm going to have to speak for the group, you know, being the highest-ranking officer here."
"Mr. Captain, you owe us an apology," Michael said as he stood up. He walked toward the captain.
"Now, where's our apology?" he added.
Shom smiled. His smile led into uncontrollable laughter.
"So that's what this is. You want me to apologize? Okay, and what's next? You want a thank you? You seven haven't figured out a thing, have you?" Shom said.
They all looked surprised, all but Michael. He retained a bland expression.
"I should reward you for doing your jobs? I should reward you for being useful?" he asked rhetorically.
"Hunters exist to clear gates. Nothing less. You expect cake when you just did the bare minimum. You really are just noobs at the end of the day," Shom ended.
Shom turned. He walked toward the bus. Before going in, he added,
"I previously wasn't going to get a report from you guys on what happened in there. I wanted to be lenient. It may have been just one or two of you who carried the raid. I was going to take that one person's effort and split it up on all your accounts—but no. Not anymore. Your standing in this division will depend on the briefing back at headquarters. Now get in."
Shom ended, settling in the front seat.
At that moment, it seemed like all the hearts sank. All but one.
Michael smiled. He couldn't hide his expression. Nobody took note—no one but Rean.
'I knew you'd react that way.' Michael thought. He was weirdly pleased.