Chapter 43: The Emperor Isn’t Worried

Chapter 43: Chapter 43: The Emperor Isn’t Worried

[Fourth Tier: For survivors who defeated the third wave of monsters but not the fourth. Rewards: Basic Survival Pack x3, F+ Level Weapon of a Specified Type x1, Simple Medical Bag x2, Regular Energy Drink x1. Note: You have become a qualified survivor. Current survivors in this tier in this Zone: 0!]

...

From this point on, all the way to the ninth tier, the number of people was zero.

The Zone channel was initially surprised, but after considering the sheer number and difficulty of the Rotting Corpses, they decided it made sense.

After all, the system had said from the start that this instance was just for new players to build some grit. It didn’t matter what your current strength was; you were expected to die a few times just to get the hang of it.

The text was still appearing, bit by bit, but the people in the Zone channel were no longer paying attention.

"So those 32 people in the third tier are the ones at the very top. They’re already the strongest group in our Zone."

"I can agree they’re the strongest ’group,’ but if we’re talking about a single individual, it has to be Blacktiger Ford."

"If it weren’t for the server-wide announcement, who would believe someone could actually clear this instance? But... how did he do it? I’m not saying there can’t be a huge gap in skill, but this is just insane, isn’t it? There’s no one from the fourth tier on, and then suddenly, a ’1’ just pops up for the tenth tier. No matter how you slice it, it’s just bizarre, right?"

"It’s simple. We’re all ordinary people, and Blacktiger Ford has obviously transcended that level. It’s completely normal for us not to understand."

"Aren’t you guys curious? Someone should @ the expert and ask."

"Huh? What are you trying to instigate? If you want to ask, just ask! Let’s see if the expert even gives you the time of day!"

"You’re obviously the one who wants to know, but you’re too afraid of offending the expert to ask yourself. So you post this in the Zone channel, trying to trick some other fool into doing your dirty work. Your reasoning isn’t wrong—every man for himself, after all—but your methods are just pathetic. It’s... both stupid and malicious!"

"I’d actually like to know, too."

"Me too, hehe. But I wouldn’t ask in the Zone channel. Experts hate freeloaders. I’ll send him a private message later and see if he’s willing to make a trade for the information."

"Then I’ll go too, hehe. There’s no harm in asking politely, right? We’re not trying to get something for nothing; we’re genuinely willing to offer up supplies!"

"Right, right! Offering supplies is absolutely the way to go!"

Unlike these people, Seraphina Sinclair was still focused on the tier rewards in the announcement.

That’s right. She wasn’t paying attention to the number of people, but to the rewards.

The reward for the fifth tier was: Advanced Survival Pack x1 (containing 1L of drinking water, high-calorie military rations x5, advanced Bandages x3), plus one piece of random E-level equipment, and one special Potion.

This Advanced Survival Pack was obviously much better than the basic version. Just look at the food: one contained compressed biscuits, while the other had high-calorie military rations.

Seraphina had never had military rations, but she’d certainly heard of compressed biscuits. ’The system isn’t going to invent some special kind of compressed biscuit just to stick it in a Basic Survival Pack.’

’Even if such a thing as "special compressed biscuits" did exist, it would surely be part of a special reward, not something found in the Basic Survival Pack that nearly everyone receives.’

Besides that, the other two items were also rarities.

’A random piece of E-level equipment...’

’Wait, *equipment*?’

Seraphina’s eyes narrowed. She suddenly realized this meant it wasn’t guaranteed to be a weapon.

’And aside from weapons, she hadn’t seen any other type of equipment yet.’

And this was only the fifth tier. Seraphina didn’t know what the final reward for clearing the entire instance would be, but she was already certain of one thing.

These rewards were definitely going to be an eye-opener for all the players.

At first, the text of the system announcement appeared line by line, but by the ninth tier, it was squeezing out just a few words at a time. The more Seraphina watched, the more annoyed she got, so she simply closed the panel.

When she opened it again, the text, which had been squeezing out like toothpaste from a tube, was completely frozen.

Seraphina: "..."

’Can I affect the system now? Did closing the panel cause it to bug out?’

Seraphina refreshed the page several times. It was only when she happened to glance at the Zone channel that she realized the system was doing it on purpose.

It wasn’t just her text that had stopped; the text on the panels of everyone in the entire Zone had frozen.

Whether it was to build suspense or for some other reason, Seraphina had to admit, they’d picked the perfect moment for a cliffhanger.

’I really want to know what the rewards are!’

The Zone channel immediately erupted in discussion over the matter.

"It said ten tiers, right? How come it stopped after the ninth?"

"Did they find an issue or something?"

"What issue could there be? The server-wide announcement already went out. The ’first clear’ and ’fastest time’ achievements match up. And now you’re saying there’s a problem? You’ve got to be kidding me."

"Blacktiger Ford is the one who knows if there’s a problem. He knows perfectly well whether he has genuine skill or just exploited some loophole. If he confesses before the system announces it, maybe he can still save a little face, right?"

"What’s with all the snark? I recognize that ID. You were the one kissing his ass the most just a minute ago! Now that things look a little off, you’re the first one to jump ship and start throwing shade! Why are you always in the middle of everything? Besides, you didn’t even participate in the instance, did you? With all this free time, you’d be better off going and counting ceiling tiles."

"Oh, for crying out loud. What bug? What accident? The first announcement was SERVER-WIDE! Do you understand? SERVER-WIDE! Not just in our dinky little Zone! But the system announcing the rankings *now* is our local Zone one. So here’s my theory, just my own personal theory, mind you. The big server-wide system has seen it all. It sees someone clear an instance and isn’t surprised; it just follows the protocol. But this little local system here? It’s never seen a survivor actually clear the thing before, so it probably panicked, thought it made a mistake, and is running off to verify the results!"

"That’s a lot of words. I’m sold. I’m with this guy!"

"Does being long-winded make you right? You’ve said all that without a single piece of evidence, it’s pure speculation. You’re all just blindly defending Blacktiger Ford. I’m making a note of all you defenders now. If you manage to live to a ripe old age, I’ll be the first in line to sell you bogus health supplements!"

Seraphina: "..."

’What are they fighting about now?’

’How did they start questioning me?’

’This is... this is...’

’Seriously, what does this have to do with any of them?’

’Do I need their doubt?’

’Do I need their attention?’

Seraphina genuinely didn’t get it.

’At the end of the day, this was *her* achievement and *her* reward! What in the world did it have to do with any of them?’

The system wasn’t giving *them* the prize. They were all acting like a bunch of nervous courtiers worrying for the Emperor, more concerned about it than Seraphina herself.

Seraphina opened the Zone channel and began adding everyone who was using this as an opportunity to pop up and insult her to her block list.

She actually enjoyed a good flame war in private messages, because in her decade-plus of experience online, she had yet to meet more than a handful of people who could out-argue her.