Chapter 288: The Bounty System and Group Chat Marketplace
The instant the Bounty feature went live, the chat exploded into chaos.
Trying to Be Better: "Wait, what's THIS bounty thing now?"
Bros for Life: "How does a group chat have this many features? Mr. Cross, you're unbelievable. How does someone even invent something like this?"
The Indestructible Underpants: "Mr. Cross really is something else. This is a genuinely era-defining invention."
Broke, Except for the Money: "Ethan, you sneaky bastard, what did you cook up THIS time. I'll admit, this thing's actually pretty impressive — I figured it was just a chat feature, and now there's a whole other system tucked inside it. This can't be native to our universe, can it? Where's this tech even FROM, being this advanced?"
The Indestructible Underpants: "Ever since I met Mr. Cross, I keep seeing one incredible thing after another. The man himself is basically a walking miracle."
Trying to Be Better: "Master Ethan really can do anything!! Handsome, powerful, and he keeps inventing things nobody else has even dreamed of — how's anyone supposed to NOT be a little obsessed."
Little Punk: "My taste has always been impeccable. Ethan's MINE."
Marvel's Most Beautiful Woman: "Wade, you have a death wish. Mute him. NOW."
Reading the endless stream of compliments scrolling by, Ethan felt a rare flush of embarrassment creep up his neck.
He knew perfectly well none of this praise actually had anything to do with him personally — it was all just the System's own remarkable functionality doing the work.
Nobody knows your own business better than you do, he thought. He hadn't actually done anything worth this much fuss.
Caught up in that mildly awkward feeling, it suddenly hit him that he still didn't fully understand this chat feature's scope.
He'd originally assumed that once the System finished upgrading post-Mind-Stone-absorption, it would just be a simple communication platform. Clearly, he'd been thinking far too small.
Ethan started digging into the Group Chat's various features more carefully. At first, he'd worried the Friend Points used in Bounty tasks might somehow be connected to his personal Gacha system — even fretted briefly that his own Gacha mechanic might get exposed to everyone in the chat.
But the deeper he looked, the more that concern faded.
Beyond the Bounty function, Ethan discovered another module entirely: the Group Marketplace.
Inside it, he could spend Friend Points to purchase all sorts of items. The selection was still fairly limited for now — Senzu Beans, bulk Rider Drivers, suppression hairclips, a handful of smaller items — but he could already see the endless potential sitting just underneath the surface.
What surprised Ethan even more was that the Marketplace let him — and everyone else — upload and sell their own items in exchange for Friend Points.
And as group owner, he'd automatically take a 3% cut of every single transaction.
Curious, Ethan tried listing one of the Flame-Flame Fruits, pricing it at a hefty 2,000 Friend Points.
Looking at that number, he couldn't help but marvel all over again at just how lucky his own Gacha pulls had been.
Not that he had any intention of buying it himself — the Flame-Flame Fruit held zero appeal for him personally.
Flame-Flame Fruit. Not even a dog would touch it, he thought, privately amused.
Working through the Group Chat's features one by one, Ethan finally understood its true purpose — this wasn't just a simple communication tool. It was a way to help everyone in his Family level up their strength, fast.
His own Gacha pulls only turned up a limited number of Growth Templates, after all. This chat gave his friends and Family a much broader avenue toward real power of their own.
With that in mind, Ethan decided it was time to lay out the chat's full rules and functions for everyone, so they could make the best possible use of it.
Poor Man's Batman: "Anyone else notice these Friend Points? What are they even for? Mr. Cross, you're gonna have to explain this one."
Broke, Except for the Money: "Are you all BLIND? There's literally a Marketplace tab right there. Friend Points are obviously what you use to buy stuff from it.
My guess is Ethan's basically built some kind of online bounty-board system — post a task, earn Friend Points.
Which then powers you up. Only question is whether we're allowed to post our OWN bounties on this thing."
The moment Tony's analysis dropped, the chat went dead quiet for a beat as everyone scrambled to check out the Marketplace tab.
Ethan almost wanted to point out that Matt was, technically, actually blind — but decided against it.
After a few seconds of silence, the chat roared back to life.
Bros for Life: "Holy crap, there are actual Kamen Rider transformation belts in here?! Mr. Cross really went all-out on this one for us!"
Little Punk: "The Slip-Slip Fruit is PERFECT for me. Nobody else even THINK about it."
Marvel's Most Beautiful Woman: "That fruit is MINE. Touch it and I'll string you up and beat you every single day."
Rock-Man Muppet: "Honestly, I kind of want that Slip-Slip Fruit myself. I'd love to see what it does paired with my whole rock-body thing."
Broke, Except for the Money: "There's gotta be more ways to earn Friend Points than just bounties, right? Say, what if I just hand you 200 million cash for 2,000 Friend Points? I'm genuinely interested in that Flame-Flame Fruit."
Mayor of the Big Apple: "Not gonna lie, kid, you really went for broke this time. Half this stuff has me tempted. Question — can these items go to other people?"
Seeing Uncle Fisk's question, Ethan already knew exactly what he was thinking — arming up his people. Made sense; Bullseye's current strength really had been lagging lately.
Come Be My Family: "Yep. Anything you redeem in here, whether you use it yourself or hand it off to somebody else, that's totally fine by me.
The whole point of this chat and the Marketplace is to strengthen all of you — and your own people count as part of your strength too.
You can also list your own stuff for sale on the Marketplace and earn Friend Points that way.
Cash doesn't work here, though — at least not with me. So don't go thinking money buys you a shortcut just because you've got plenty of it, Tony.
If you want to trade cash for points privately with somebody else, that's between the two of you."
Broke, Except for the Money: "Buying Friend Points in bulk — I'll pay top dollar, guaranteed."
Won't See 50: "No offense, but Oscorp Industries isn't exactly hurting for cash either. Need money? Come talk to us instead."
Little Punk: "ME! I need money! Willing to pay in flesh! Or if you need someone for a job, hire me with Friend Points — cheap, reliable, buy one get one free!"
The Indestructible Underpants: "Speaking of the bounty thing — how'd that Thor guy manage to post a task directly? Where'd HE get Friend Points from?"
Dr. Banner's question suddenly reminded everyone that Thor was, in fact, still currently getting beaten up. It wasn't even the first time they'd all forgotten about him.
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