[You have killed a Giant Spider]
[You received 5 Karma Points for completing a mission]
[You received 2 Karma Points for being a major contributor]
"Wait, Gavin—did you also get the major contributor reward?" Arnold asked with a frown.
"Nah. I missed all my shots, so I didn't even get a mission reward since I couldn't land a hit," the guy with glasses said with a sigh.
"Then how come I only got 2KP?"
[Rainbowboy: Our goat doesn't play with his points.]
[Strong_man: ngl he's just too cool, even when being cheap.]
[Strong_man has sent 5KP]
[How did he take down that monster so easily?]
Arnold ignored the messages and shifted his gaze to Lucas, who was staring blankly into space.
"Do you think he got it?" Gavin asked from the side.
"Let's find out."
Lucas stared at the messages floating in front of him.
[You received 5 Karma Points for completing a mission]
[You received 3 Karma Points for being a major contributor]
It was his first time seeing notifications like these, and he was still trying to understand them.
'Why am I getting random points? Is it because of the monster they killed?'
When he raised his head, Arnold and Gavin were standing right in front of him.
"Hey, did you get a reward?" Arnold asked.
"Y-Yeah… I don't know how though," Lucas answered with an awkward grin. "I guess it's all thanks to you two."
"Wow, so that means you got the major contributor reward?" Gavin pressed.
"What's that?" Lucas asked,
"It's a reward given to the people who contribute the most in battle," Gavin explained. "Usually 5 or 3KP for low-level monsters like these. The highest one normally goes to whoever lands the most impactful blow."
"How'd you get it without even knowing what it is?" Gavin wondered, genuinely amused.
"Maybe the stupid system is just messing around," Arnold muttered before walking back to the crack in the wall.
He drove his fist into it three times.
The thick concrete gave way, widening the opening—except instead of breaking through, it revealed a dark shaft leading downward.
"Check it out."
Gavin stepped closer with Lucas right behind him.
All three stared into the hole.
It stretched deeper than they could see.
"So this is where those things have been hiding."
"It's deep," Lucas murmured.
"No wonder we haven't seen many since." Gavin said, dropping a stone inside.
It made a sound after a few seconds
"Alert the others. I'm going down," Arnold said, gripping his spear.
"No, you are not." Gavin immediately pulled out a small notebook and flipped it open. "Have you forgotten rule number one of the party?"
He cleared his throat and read aloud.
"Safety is our number one priority so every decision during a raid must be approved by the captain or the assistant captain"
"Shut the fuck up, you kiss ass. I'm just going to see what is at the bottom,"
"I'm sorry my friend but I can not allow that," Gavin adjusted his glasses, "Going into the depth of a dangerous looking hole seems like a decision that should be made by the captain,"
"Back me up here chat,"
With a wave of his hand the translucent floating screen became visible to all three of them.
Lucas could see the flooding in of messages.
'There were more than a thousand people watching'
He was shocked but managed to keep a straight face.
[Firemage222: You are my mentor bro]
[Percy: Don't be a wuss, allow our hero do his thing]
[Magicman: Also think you should just let him go, Arnold is fit to do this on his own]
[Loser322: No, let's wait for Nuclear punch man]
"It doesn't matter because I'm going–" Arnold stopped talking as a new message popped up on the screen.
[Guildmaster001: Don't do it Arnold, I'm already heading that way with the others]
He mumbled and folded his arm but he didn't protest any longer just kicking a stone angrily.
Lucas stared at him as he walked away, he didn't expect Arnold to be the kind of person to obey rules
But a single message was enough to shut him up
'Whoever that person was, he must be someone very extraordinary to receive such a reaction from a hothead like Arnold'
'Maybe he'd let me join their group' The thought was funny for him to even imagine, 'How can I join them when I practically can't fight any monsters?'
'But I did receive that contribution reward…' he couldn't figure out what that was about.
Gavin said you had to have actually attacked the monster before you could receive the points, but he didn't even have any attack skill, only 'Charm'
'Maybe that's it…'
It was just a passing thought, but the more he considered it, the more sense it made.
'That could have been why the monster didn't attack me, because I told it not to'
It hardly seemed believable yet he became even more certain that was the case.
'I need to find a way to test it out'
Just then the rest of the group appeared, a total of five people. Two of them he recognized as the old man that visited his apartment building and Carol London, the woman who had saved his life multiple times.
The other three were new faces, but they all looked pretty formidable.
"You again?" Carol said as she approached him, "How did you end up here this time?"
"You two also know each other?" Gavin said,
"Yeah, I saved his ass a few times," she sounded playful but here expression remained almost indifferent.
"Twice, and the second time was only because I came to say thank you for the first," he explained but that only made him look even more pathetic.
"Guys gather round,"
The person speaking was another man, he wasn't as big or as fit as Arnold but the authority he commanded could only mean one thing.
"Who are you?" Damien, the leader of the group asked as their eyes met.
"Lucas,"
"Lucas, did you also come here to save the engineers?"
"No need to waste your breath on him, he's just a fucking loser that's looking for a stupid death," Arnold's said with disgust in his voice.