Chapter 240: Chapter 240 - What did you do?

Lumi raised his hand, and the celebration died down. A few hundred pairs of eyes turned to him, waiting for his command.

"Listen up!" Lumi spoke evenly and firmly, making the mass of players calm down from their excitement as they paid attention. "It’s time for loot distribution."

That got the players attention. Even those who’d been examining their skill points refocused their attention. The adrenaline from the fight was fading, replaced by curiosity about further rewards.

"The power you gained was the primary reward," Lumi continued, scanning the faces before him. "We all already knew this, given that I informed everyone beforehand. Still, I will repeat it again, and I will put it in writing for those who aren’t here." With Eden still here, the players still couldn’t be direct due to an "NPC" being nearby, forcing Lumi to speak of writing instead of posts or forums.

Lumi’s expression was serious. He needed them to understand the process and trust it. It wasn’t a matter of merely satisfying the players. He needed to be the only option in their minds.

"I’ll have the body appraised by a trusted source. Many of you may know him as a powerful authority figure. That would be Archmage Merath. Once I have an approximate value in Ems, I’ll evaluate each member’s contribution and pay you your fair wage."

A few players nodded along. Most had read the post, but hearing it directly from Lumi carried more weight.

"The top fifty contributors will receive something different," Lumi added. "Instead of currency, you’ll get a custom-made item of appropriate value, crafted from Currway’s body itself."

The crowd stirred at that. Money was money, but equipment was much more valuable. A generic belt or armor was easy enough to find, but it wasn’t so easy to find a powerful item for your level and class.

Their desire to get into the top fifty was evident by the hungry looks in their eyes.

Lumi let them talk for a moment before continuing. "The specifics will come later, once Currway is evaluated. Though note, given the sheer amount of us, which we must split the reward between, don’t expect a crazy amount of ems."

No one complained. It made sense. They’d already won big by leveling. Nobody was going to complain about additional rewards on top of that.

A warrior near the front raised his hand. Lumi called on him, and the warrior asked. "About how long until we get paid?"

"It will happen today, soon after the appraisal," Lumi replied. "The appraisal will happen immediately after arriving in town. Distribution will then follow."

Actually, being generous here serves multiple purposes. The experience alone would have been sufficient reward by most standards. But perception mattered more than raw numbers.

If he wanted loyalty, if he wanted these players to follow him again, to trust his leadership for what was coming, he needed to show them he valued their contributions.

Plus, he had money. Tons of it. More than he could spend on himself. Using it to build goodwill wasn’t waste, it was investment.

Money was meant to be used. And given how things were transitioning, given that Micheal existed, already introducing the concept of paying for service, then it was high time he also normalized paying those under his command properly.

Because despite how it may look, this wasn’t a game. And paying your army and subordinates was standard.

Crack.

The sound was subtle at first, but soon grew louder.

CRACK!

The masses looked up. The sky above them was fracturing.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

The sealed space was shattering. Visible fissures spread across the red barrier overhead, branching out like lightning.

"What’s happening!?" A player stumbled backward.

"The seal!" Another pointed upward. "It’s breaking!"

Lumi remained calm. "Don’t panic. With Currway’s death, there’s no need for the seal anymore."

The cracks spread faster. Chunks of the red barrier began to fall away, dissolving into motes of light before they hit the ground.

Reality itself twisted in epileptic light. The corrupted forest around them blurred, the ground and skies became translucent, then everything shifted.

It was much less violent than when they entered. It instead felt like a breath of fresh air, like being pulled out of water and into open air. Green replaced red. Living trees replaced dead ones. The oppressive atmosphere lifted, replaced by the familiar magical energy of the forest.

One moment they stood in the sealed space, the next they were back in Elenora’s living forest.

Players looked around in wonder, seeing the transformation happen in real time.

"We’re back!"

"Elenora!"

"It looks so tasty here!" The one who said that received a couple glances thrown her way.

They now stood in the outskirts of Elenora, with Currway’s massive corpse sprawled in the middle of the crowd.

Lumi immediately took charge. "No one touch the scales on the ground! If you already collected a few, drop them, or you are disqualified from further loot! Warriors! I need fifty of you to help drag the body."

He turned to Hazy, Vice, and Lena. "Collect all the scales scattered around. Don’t leave a single one. If anyone is hiding any, kill them."

With the orders given, the players moved. Warriors gathered around Currway’s corpse, gripping whatever they could to start pulling.

The three that Lumi had put on scale collection immediately spread out and began to stuff any dropped scales to their inventory. Lena, however, targeted the players.

She immediately teleported right to the face of a thief. She gave him a wide smile. "Hey!"

"Hi...?" Sen nervously waved his hand at her. Had she found out...?

Lena gave a wry smile. In truth, she had absolutely no idea if Sen had taken any scales for himself. However, he was a thief that she saw darting around the field during the raid.

She had no evidence, and thus he was ’innocent’. But this wasn’t a courtroom. The way she saw it was pretty simple. Innocence meant nothing.

She gripped her staff, giving him an unnaturally wide smile. "Look, man." She glanced at his name. "Sen...?"

She stopped for a second. She could threaten him, sure, but social reputation was a thing. Not for herself, for him. Therefore, she gave him a knowing smile, and put her hand out. "Thank you for collecting some scales on my behalf, it made the process easier. You can hand them over now."

Sen blinked.

Huh? He had done what on whose behalf? What did he do? He... Lena didn’t tell him anything!

Wait, but scales...

His eyes went wide as the realization hit him. If she knew he had scales, but was making up a story, wasn’t that giving him an out?

"H-here!" Sen quickly put his right hand out, taking eleven scales out of his inventory, passing them to Lena. "Sorry, I was just a bit distracted. My sister, you see..."

"I get it~" Lena waved it off. And thus, their impromptu performance was over.

She teleported to yet another player, beginning yet another performance where the two pretended.

Once they were done collecting...

Lena teleported next to Lumi, grinning. "Killing that demon was great! It was so fun. We should do it again, hehe."

Lumi nodded. "Absolutely, you should know we have a lot of enemies."

"Ah, right..." Lena settled down at that. Right, they did have a lot of enemies. And it wasn’t a good thing.

"Tch." She looked over at the demon being carried. Multiple warriors were dragging the large demon across the forest, and yet there were hundreds doing nothing. She snapped. "Hey, clear the way for them!"

"You, you, you, you, and you!" She pointed at various still players. "Get the logs out of their way!"

"You!" She pointed to another group. "Widen that passage they need to pass Currway through!"

Inch by inch, they dragged the demon’s body through the forest paths.

The operation took over an hour. How could it not? As if walking by foot wasn’t bad enough, this time they were dragging a large demon that could not simply be put into an inventory on the spot. By the time they reached the central area of Elenora, every player was exhausted but satisfied.

The sight of over a few hundred players dragging a massive demon corpse through town drew attention. Fairies and human residents alike stopped to stare.

"Is that..."

"A demon!"

"They killed it!"

Lumi led the procession directly to the Great Library. The same guard from before stood at the entrance, her tired eyes going wide as she took in the scene.

"I need to see Merath," Lumi said simply.

She didn’t even question it. She simply stepped aside, gesturing them through.

The library entrance was too small for Currway’s body, so the warriors left it outside. Lumi, Eden, and Lena entered.

Merath was on the second floor, examining a scroll. He looked up as they approached. He swiftly spread his senses, and his expression instantly froze.

"Lumi." His voice was carefully controlled. "What did you do?"