Chapter 59: Pioneer

Chapter 59: Chapter 59: Pioneer

[NO. 9: Vesperian Union Zone 2, That’s Not My Orange]

[NO. 8: Northerra Zone 1, Long Live V-God]

...

The list refreshed, entry by entry, and Seraphina Sinclair’s eyes scanned it quickly.

Tenth place... not her.

Ninth place... not her.

She frowned, suppressing her emotions as she continued reading down the list, until...

’First place?’

[NO. 1: Drakonia Zone 3, Blacktiger Ford]

Seraphina Sinclair: "...?"

She froze for a second, then raised a hand to cover her eyes before lowering it. She turned her head away, then back again, squinting to get a better look.

It was definitely her Zone, and it was definitely her ID.

’Did I... just take first place?’

Before Seraphina Sinclair could even react, the people in the Zone channel exploded!

"??????"

"Is this Blacktiger Ford *our* Blacktiger Ford?"

"What? Ours?"

"Holy crap! The master from our Zone 888???"

"Zone 3... Wait, *we’re* Zone 3! Holy shit! Is she really in our Zone?!"

"Is the master here?! Please let me ride your coattails!!!"

"Master, look at me! I’m obedient, I can fight, and I can even warm your bed!"

"Have some shame, you! Master, do you need an accessory? I’m a better bootlicker than him!"

"You should have some shame too!"

Seraphina Sinclair ignored the chaotic wailing in the channel, staring blankly at her name.

After a long moment, her lips parted but no sound came out. A sob escaped first. She covered her face and whispered to herself, "Grandma... I’ve finally made something of myself."

In her past life, Seraphina Sinclair had been just like any other ordinary person. After graduating from college, she obediently entered the workforce and became a typical office worker.

A monthly salary of four thousand, with social security contributions, wasn’t too bad.

But it was too ordinary. She was always too embarrassed to ask her grandmother for praise, but now she finally could.

Seraphina Sinclair let out a long sigh, quickly reining in her emotions. Her gaze swept around the mobile cabin before settling back on the system panel.

The text hadn’t refreshed yet. That line of words just sat there, like an imperial edict proclaimed to the world by an emperor.

She stared at the line and chuckled foolishly a couple of times. Finally, she was in the mood to read the over-the-top flattery in the Zone channel.

The text updated again.

[Congratulations to the ten players above! You will receive a special reward!]

[The "Pioneer" Title (Epic)!]

[Pioneer: Your name will be remembered by the entire server, and your footsteps will lead the tides of this era. When this title is equipped, All Attributes +5. Additionally, you will receive one extra "Black Fog Lottery" chance each time the leaderboards are settled!]

[Rewards have been delivered to your mobile cabins. Please check for them!]

’All Attributes +5?!’

This was way better than the "Legendary Title" she currently had!

But it was Epic Level! So that seemed about right.

Before Seraphina Sinclair could even snap out of her daze over the effect, a five-pointed star badge glowing with a Dark Gold light appeared on the floor in front of her.

’This must be what the system meant by ’delivered’...’

’Just tossed on the floor...’

Whatever. Seraphina Sinclair shook her head, picked up the badge, and chose to use it.

[Ding! You have equipped the "Pioneer" title!]

[Current All Attributes increase: +5!]

After equipping this title, her Family’s Blessing was pushed out.

Seraphina Sinclair felt it was a bit of a shame she could only equip one title, so she took a closer look at the title page.

Well now... It wasn’t that she could only equip one, but that only one title slot was currently open. There were two other grayed-out slots, meaning each survivor could equip up to three titles simultaneously.

’How do you unlock them?’

Seraphina Sinclair studied it for a while, only to discover that the whole thing was as stubborn and unhelpful as a rock in a latrine.

There were no explanations and no hints; it just sat there, cold and indifferent.

Seraphina Sinclair couldn’t even figure out where to begin her research!

She sighed and glanced at her personal panel. All her stats had increased by 5.

While the boost might not seem huge in the long run, its strength lay in being comprehensive and, more importantly, a permanent bonus!

Besides, most people’s attribute points were only around 10 right now. This one title boosted them by half that amount! The power increase was obvious!

But the most crucial part... the Black Fog Lottery!

Just from the name, you could tell this thing was definitely something special.

According to the system, it was probably a reward for the leaderboard settlement.

Right now, all she knew was that it was a lottery. She had no idea what the prizes were, so there was no point in dwelling on it.

But no matter how you looked at it, Seraphina Sinclair had reaped a huge harvest tonight!

She stood up and took a deep breath, only then noticing that the time had unknowingly slipped past 12:00 AM.

In that case...

’Julian Lowell... there should be a result by now, right?’

Seraphina Sinclair opened the Zone channel. Speak of the devil—the very first message was from Julian Lowell.

[Julian Lowell]: Holy crap! Everyone! Something huge just happened!!!

[Julian Lowell]: I just got a system notification! It said I "failed to select a path within the specified time," and then... and then...

[Julian Lowell]: My cabin has been locked! It can’t move tomorrow!!!

The channel instantly blew up—

"What?! It can’t move?!"

"Isn’t that just waiting to die?! You didn’t move today, and you can’t move tomorrow! The dead things from behind will catch up!"

"Holy crap! The system is so fucking ruthless! It’s cutting off all escape routes!"

"Thank god I chose... Who the hell would dare to gamble on that?!"

"Wait? Is that the only punishment? Some people are really far from the dead things. Forget two days, the dead things wouldn’t catch up even in three or four days! In that case, isn’t this punishment basically meaningless?"

Seraphina Sinclair read the message carefully. The person had a point; she had noticed this issue as well.

’The system can’t possibly have such a light punishment, can it?’

’If it were that simple, wouldn’t it mean that as long as you managed your movement time well, you could avoid all the subsequent negative effects?’

’Impossible!’

Seraphina Sinclair shook her head and continued reading.

"@Julian Lowell, man, what are you going to do now?"

[Julian Lowell]: I... How the f*ck should I know?! The system also said that because I "deliberately circumvented the rules," all negative effects will be applied simultaneously! That means even if I survive tomorrow, I’ll have to endure double the negative effects when I move for the next few days!

[Julian Lowell]: Fuck! You guys screwed me over!!!

Seraphina Sinclair let out a soft laugh.

’As expected.’

’How could the system leave such an obvious loophole?’

’So you don’t want to choose, huh?’

’Then you get all of them!’

This punishment really was simple and direct, yet exceptionally painful.

The people in the channel who had previously goaded Julian Lowell on were all playing dead now.

Only a few trolls who loved to watch the world burn were still teasing him:

"Julian, you can do it! If you survive this, you’ll be Legendary!"

"Yeah! It’s just double the dead things, right? Just do it!"

"Don’t panic, Julian. We’ll support you in spirit tomorrow!"

[Julian Lowell]: Fuck off!!! You sons of bitches!!!

[Utter_Chaos]: What did I say earlier today? I tried to warn you, but you wouldn’t listen. They were just treating you as entertainment, you know? I was the only one who tried to talk you out of it, and you actually said I was jealous of you. You deserve to die!