Chapter 40: Uncrowned King

Chapter 40: Chapter 40: Uncrowned King

"We’re the real smart ones for not joining the instance! Look at the people who did, tsk tsk. They’re so pathetic, the only thing they have to brag about is a bit of sunshine!"

"Between dying once and staring at a fluorescent tube, I know which one I’d pick."

"Let’s put personal feelings aside and be objective. There are definitely benefits to doing an instance now. Didn’t the system say this one was just to get us familiar with them? It’s optional this time, but it almost certainly won’t be next time. That’s when the experience we participants gain will be useful, right?"

"Stop giving yourself so much credit. You’re so biased it’s not even funny, and you’re talking about being ’objective’? ’Put personal feelings aside’? Your entire post is nothing but personal feelings!"

"Enough! Stop this pointless arguing. I just have one question: can anyone actually clear this instance?"

Seraphina Sinclair’s eyes lit up, her interest piqued.

"How could anyone possibly clear it? Didn’t you hear what that dude said? The third wave has thirty Rotting Corpses! That’s not three! It’s *thirty*!"

"Do you have any idea what thirty Rotting Corpses means? If all of them tried to eat one person at the same time, none of them would even get a full meal!"

"Could we maybe use a less morbid example?"

"Suddenly, I’m kinda hungry."

"Why are people starting to identify with the Rotting Corpses???"

Seraphina Sinclair: "..."

’Well, that’s just how people are online. You get used to it.’

Seraphina Sinclair kept scrolling and actually found something useful.

"Back when the Sunflowers were first basking in the sun, I was just wandering around. I’ve forgotten the exact location, but I saw a Stone Tablet with something carved on it! It had nine numbers on it. I didn’t understand what the Stone Tablet meant at the time, but after getting out and hearing you all talk about the number of Rotting Corpses in each wave, I realized it matched up! This means the instance has nine waves of monsters in total! And the number of monsters keeps increasing! I can’t remember the numbers for the middle waves, but I remember the last number was 90!"

’A Stone Tablet that records information about the monsters?’

’This can’t be a special feature of the novice instance. It’s probably something every instance has.’

’This is critical information!’

Yet the person who posted it didn’t seem to realize the importance of this information. Most people in the regional channel were simply stunned by the final number.

"90?! Nine waves!! Does that mean the total number of Rotting Corpses is probably over two hundred?"

"Two hundred is way too conservative. It has to be at least 300, minimum!"

"And that’s not even counting the fact that these Rotting Corpses can attack. If they just stood there motionless and let us chop them down, some of us still wouldn’t last, would we?"

Their discussion grew heated, and everyone seemed convinced that absolutely no one could clear the instance.

Quite a few people started making bold, outrageous claims:

"This instance! Absolutely no one can clear it! If someone does, I’ll call them my daddy on the spot!"

"Bit greedy, aren’t you? Wanting it all?"

"The poster above isn’t sincere at all! Let me make a real promise: if someone clears it, I’ll eat my shoe!"

"That’s not even that impressive. Let me show you how it’s done! If someone clears it, I’ll call every single person here ’Daddy’!"

For some reason, Seraphina Sinclair suddenly opened the system window that had been sitting idle for a while. For the prompt about a server-wide announcement, she selected "Yes."

[Congratulations to survivor "Blacktiger Ford" for being the first on the server to clear the "Novice Instance"! A server-wide announcement is now being made to commemorate this achievement!]

[Congratulations to survivor "Blacktiger Ford" for being the fastest on the server to clear the "Novice Instance"! A server-wide announcement is now being made to commemorate this achievement!]

These two messages were like a bomb going off. Almost everyone was stunned into silence. The once-bustling regional channel went dead for a second before being flooded with identical rows of three question marks.

"???"

"???"

"Stop spamming for a sec! I didn’t mishear or misread that, right?"

A server-wide announcement is read aloud by the system and simultaneously pinned to the top of every regional channel for five minutes!

You’d have to try pretty hard to miss it.

"HOLY SHIT?! Who?! Who cleared it?!"

"Blacktiger Ford! It’s Blacktiger Ford again! Everyone must know who he is by now."

"This guy’s the real deal."

"Last time there was a server-wide announcement, you all said he was just lucky. Before that, when he was selling evolution info for the Sunflower in the regional channel, you called him greedy. Well, what about now? Two server-wide announcements, plus clearing the novice instance! Blacktiger Ford is the uncrowned king right now! I’d love to see what excuses you come up with this time."

"Heh heh, where are the guys who said they were going to call him ’Daddy’? Come on out and meet your new father! My good little sons!"

"Haha, you think the big shot did it on purpose? Choosing to make the server-wide announcement at this exact moment?"

"A pro like that doesn’t have time for petty stuff."

Except Seraphina Sinclair actually did.

She glanced at the chat for a moment before closing the regional channel. After dismissing the two server-wide announcement windows, a new one popped up.

[Please wait for other survivors to clear the instance or be ejected upon death! Rewards will be distributed to all survivors after the instance is complete!]

’Oh, so that’s how it works.’

’The rewards are only handed out after everyone has finished.’

But... Seraphina Sinclair narrowed her eyes. ’There are still other people in the instance?’

’How did they manage to survive?’

’Goes to show everyone has their own unique advantages.’

But it was clear that, among them, Seraphina Sinclair was a cut above the rest.

The annoying thing, however, was that her private messages had exploded once again.

"Big shot, please remember me! I bought your Sunflower info last time! You’re so powerful! I’m your number one fan now!"

"Ford! You’ve done so well, your ’mama’ is so proud. Keep up the great work, Ford! I always believed in you!"

Seraphina Sinclair frowned, classifying these messages as the behavior of rabid fans.

These were the relatively good ones.

"My daughter is only eight, and a Rotting Corpse bit her leg off today... Since you cleared the instance, you must have some healing items, right? Please, I’m begging you to save my child!"

"As the server’s number one, you should be leading everyone to survive. Are you hoarding the walkthrough because you want to watch us all die?"

This kind of guilt-tripping was all too common.

Without even a flicker of her brow, Seraphina Sinclair read the message and immediately blocked the sender.

Then there were the provocative ones.

"Who are you trying to fool? It’s impossible for one person to handle 30 Rotting Corpses in the third wave! You definitely cheated! You either exploited some system bug, so just you wait. The system will come for you!"

Seraphina Sinclair always felt that people who sent these kinds of messages were the stupidest of all.

The ones who tried to guilt-trip her at least hoped to get something out of her. To put it bluntly, they were acting in their own self-interest.

The rabid fans, while not seeking material gain, at least provided emotional value for both parties.

But these provocative types...

Seraphina Sinclair’s lips twitched into a smirk. They were actively harming their own interests just for a moment of verbal satisfaction.

’Not that they’d get any.’

Seraphina Sinclair was not the type to take insults lying down.