As his eyes reopened in his pod, Alexander yawned. He pushed open the top of the pod, rising to his feet, as Kary did the sa not too far from him.
He turned his head toward the window, noticing the sun had just set.
"God… I'm so tired. And we can't even rest yet… I hope the rewards are worth it…" he complained, stretching himself, before jumping out of the pod.
As he stretched, he caught a whiff of his sweaty sll, and his nose wrinkled.
"Yikes. I guess rushing over here earlier really made work. I feel like I ca back from the gym, and forgot to wash. I'm all sticky…"
Kary passed next to him and giggled.
"You sll sticky. Let's go take a shower real quick and eat a bite before we jump back in."
He acquiesced and walked in the bathroom's direction. And against all his heightened hormones of watching Kary's naked form wiggling before him, he did nothing improper.
After washing up, the two of them went downstairs to grab so leftovers from the fridge and ate ravenously.
***
Across the world from them, many other players were doing the sa, so easily, so less so.
Christine, known by the others as Twinxie, got scolded for faking sickness to skip school and had a hard ti liberating from her parents' chiding before she could jump into a shower and eat so snacks.
George, or Food Goblin, who had left work like a spooked kitten, had to listen to five angry ssages from his boss, as well as a warning email from HR, telling him he shouldn't do this again, or he would risk getting fired.
As for Edvin, or at-Shield, he wasn't as lucky. His phone was filled to the brim with angry voice ssages, as well as texts, and emails, from his boss.
All of them were more berating and derivative than the last, and in the last few, he heard what he didn't want to hear or read.
'You're Fired!'
His stomach dropped, realizing he might have committed a terrible mistake.
The other players in the party had it easier, for various reasons, and enjoyed a nice relaxing hour break, before logging back in feeling refreshed.
As everyone started reappearing in the forest, next to the large, holed tree trunk, Astaroth smiled.
Not a single one of them arrived late. He expected as much, given that their rewards would be plentiful without a doubt.
So looked dejected, others irate, but all of them were present. Astaroth wouldn't bother asking why their moods had shifted, as their personal lives were none of his business.
He watched as the tir ticked down the last seconds, his heart thumping in his chest, the beating getting faster and faster.
*Ding!*
Rewards compiled. Personal rewards have been rewarded, and group rewards are being put in a chest. Congratulations again, players!
**
A chest popped up in front of the tree in a flash of white light, as notifications rang in everyone's ears.
Astaroth checked his personal rewards first, before opening the chest. His curiosity was thoroughly piqued, now that he saw they had two-tiered rewards.
**
Personal rewards for dungeon performance granted.
1) Gold x 100,000
2) Exp x 100,000,000
3) World Reputation points x 10,000
**
Astaroth imdiately levelled up, as he received the Exp, as did all his companions, who had just opened their personal rewards.
All the glum faces suddenly cheered up as they saw the fruits of their labour. But greed flashed in their eyes, as they tried imagining what could be in the group chest.
Astaroth saw their looks, shared their enthusiasm, but coughed lightly to bring them back to order. So of them imdiately coughed as well, acting like nothing had just transpired.
But Astaroth wasn't going to keep them waiting much longer.
He walked over to the chest, lifting the lid, as white light flashed in his eyes, soon replaced by a list.
**
Group reward Chest
1) Gold x 10,000,000
2) Bonus Gold x 1,000,000,000
3) Exp x 50,000,000
4) Bonus Exp x 10,000,000,000
5) World Reputation (Guild) x 100,000
You have reached the last monts of the bonus stage. Extra reward granted.
*et Your Maker* awarded.
**
Astaroth salivated at the rewards, but the last one made him curious.
'et your maker? What could that an? Did I win a reward with New Eden's creator? Am I going to et with Chairwoman Constantine Levesque?'
The na was vague, but foreboding.
But when he thought about it, he rembered he was already supposed to et him, but then she had cancelled their appointnt. This all made him dizzy just thinking about it.
'Does she want to et , or not? Eh. Whatever.'
He shared the notification with the group, allowing them to see the results of their hard work. All of them beca slack-jawed and wide-eyed, even Phoenix, at the sheer amount of rewards.
'So much gold!' they all thought.
Phoenix imdiately coughed to get everyone's attention.
"The guild will take ten percent off of this reward, both gold and Exp, for our future growth, and we can share the rest amongst ourselves."
No one objected, since with the sheer volu of both rewards, ten percent off wouldn't make a dent in their gained reward.
Astaroth did as she instructed, sending ten percent of the gold and Exp to the guild treasury through the interface, before divvying up the rest.
All the party mbers received their loot with a notification sound and showed various levels of excitent as level-ups happened to all of them.
*Ding*
Dungeon Rewards received.
1) Gold x 75,750,000
2) Exp x 750,375,000
**
Astaroth, who had already just levelled up once, levelled up again, this ti twice, making him level fifty-three.
His ranking rose again, shooting him in third place, behind Phoenix, who probably had a bit more Exp than him, but overshooting the dicks from Aces High guild.
This made him happy. And in the first place, was another mber of his guild, Khalor.
Khalor had reached level fifty-four, only being one level above them. But he doubted the gap was that small.
With how exponential the Exp required to level up was, Khalor's levelling speed impressed Astaroth, as always.
But he had no plans to stay behind for very long.
'Let's dominate this dumb ranking, and leave all the other guilds in the dust,' Astaroth thought, smiling to himself.
Everyone was too busy jumping in joy at their rewards to notice his smirk.
Things were looking good for Paragon.
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