CHAPTER 38: REWARDS

Max took the wooden stone from Athena and looked at it weirdly. How did wood turn into stone and then get used for communication anyway?

[You’re the author, boy!]

’Yeah, I didn’t pay attention to these smaller details. Rune bullshit goes all the way,’ Max replied.

[...take this then.]

[Quest - Master of Runes.]

[Description - Learn the basics of the Rune Language and craft a Tier 2 Artefact from scratch.]

[Rewards - Lap pillow from Kafka whenever you want.]

Max was stumped, as he just looked at the screen before him without blinking. His lips twitched as he asked, ’Big Sis, what is this?’

[You aren’t tempted? That’s a shame!]

’I would have worked on Runes anyway since I was curious about them so this quest wasn’t really necessary,’ Max smiled and said. ’Of course, I’m not refusing that reward. Thanks in advance!’

"Why are you grinning like an idiot?"

Stelle’s voice woke him up from his stupor as he turned to look at her. He shrugged and replied nonchalantly, "I’m just happy for our gains this time."

"Oh!" Stelle nodded as if she were a wise safe. "I see! That is a good reason to be happy about."

Max was speechless looking at her. Then, he just flatly ignored her and looked for Charlotte, who had finally finished healing everyone.

Every single woman from the Amazon was thanking her and praising her for her efforts. They were often injured because of their habits, so healers were just god-sent people to them.

Well, healers were that important to just anyone.

Along with Stelle, he went towards her when she managed to send everyone away and said, "Good job! Now, we have removed one of the pests and even gained an ally!"

"Yes, by the way, Miss Athena was asking me if we want to use the Skill Shard they got from the Black Knight," Charlotte asked, as she sat down on Stelle’s hammer.

"What is the Skill?" Stelle asked.

"It’s something related to the hardening of skin," Charlotte replied. "Black Knight used it to become unbreakable so it’s just perfect for the people of Amazon. That’s why they’re so grateful for our help."

’Ah! No wonder she was so good to me! They actually got the Armour Skin skill,’ Max had a look of realisation as he said. "Sure! It should be good for you too in case of emergencies."

After their small talk, they went inside the castle once again and began to search for treasures. They did find a lot of things inside the castle, but the majority of the stuff was mundane so they just left it there.

Though, Max did fill up his inventory with lots of Gold Coins from a small treasury. He had found it before, but ignored it because of their pressing needs.

’I’m gonna be rich!’ Max grinned as he stuffed the system space with every valuable thing he could find.

[You do know that gold is not that valuable for hunters, right?]

’Money is money, Big Sis. For a normal lifestyle, gold is still very valuable,’ Max sighed in regret when he saw that his inventory was full.

All of a sudden, the world began to crack, as if struggling to keep its existence.

"I guess that’s our cue to leave," Charlotte muttered, looking above her through the broken roof of the castle. The sky was splitting apart, giving a terrifying scene of world-ending calamity.

Deciding to talk about it later, their group began to advance towards one of the exits. Others had already left after gathering some of the rewards from the castle.

In the end, it was just a Bronze Rank Quest so there wasn’t much they gained from here, nor did they expect to.

The Skill Shard was the main reward as it was one of the requirements to make Guilds.

Now, only Max and his friends were left in the falling pocket dimension. So, they also left the castle and went towards the exit.

The Labyrinth gave enough time for everyone to leave the pocket dimension, but if people still stayed, they would die a cruel death.

Even those immortal beings at Diamond Rank had died in these situations, so nobody dared to test their luck.

As they stepped out of the metal gate, it shifted slightly before closing itself. Then, it vanished completely, leaving a normal labyrinth wall behind.

"We will part here as we need to report to our Queen about this," Athena said, as she took out a Skill Shard and gave it to Max. "Learn it!"

Max nodded and allowed the system to learn the skill. Then, he looked at its description.

[Name - Armour Skin]

[Type - Active Skill]

[Grade - Peak-Bronze]

[Description - Uses mana to harden the skin, increasing defence by 50% and reducing agility by 30%]

It was a good skill that would help them, so Charlotte and Stelle also learned it quickly. Though, Charlotte was still hesitant about it.

Although there wasn’t a limit on the skills one could learn, they had to be careful of the pressure each skill does to their soul.

Every skill and Artefact connected to the soul was like balls dropped on a trampoline. Powerful skills would weigh more and therefore increase the chances of the trampoline being destroyed.

Similarly, one had to be careful of the skills they learned before their soul gets destroyed by the burden. Of course, they could make their soul stronger, resulting in having more skills.

Charlotte already had a few skills under her belt and she had recently learned the Early-Silver Grade Phasing, so she was hesitant about learning yet another skill.

However, Max reassured her. Only then did she nod and learn the skill. It wasn’t like she couldn’t understand his reasoning, though.

In the majority of battles, the opponents would target healers first by sending assassins. There was no way a healer could outrun an assassin, so it was good to have a defensive skill like Armour Skin.

After Stelle learned the Armour Skin, the Amazon Warriors left to find their exit. The Labyrinth usually opened the portals early whenever a Boss was defeated to help the hunters.

As they watched them leave, Stelle asked, "What do you want to do?"

A soft smile formed on Max’s lips as he said, "We head to Second Floor so that I can reach the peak of Bronze Rank."