"Congratulations, Lucas! For motivating your team to fight bravely against impossible odds, despite the almost total certainty of violent death, you receive a platinum Leonidas loot box!"

Leonidas, the Spartan king in the movie 300 who led the famously doomed fight against the Persians. It contained 3 items. Two scrolls and something that just made me laugh.

"Fake beard. This stylish beard will make you the talk of any party."

No buffs, no perks, no special abilities. Just a stupid fake beard. I imagined wearing it with my equally dumb fake rubber wolf teeth. That would get some laughs. Maybe if I collected enough of them I'd get a surprise set bonus.

"Upgrade Scroll. Plus 2 to The Show Must go On."

"Scroll of Friendliness. Plus 100 to CHA."

The influx of power that roared into me only made me scowl, but I bit my lip and refused to let Cyrus goad me into asking about Charisma again. Even if transforming the stat from CHA to Charisma cost me 90% of the accumulated points, I'd still celebrate it. That entire loot box had turned out to be mostly a gag prize. Wasting a box like that made more sense when I saw the next, much better loot box.

"Congratulations, Lucas! For actually surviving the fight against an unstoppable necromantic leviathan and an endless army of zombies with every member of your team still alive, you receive an emerald Henry V loot box!"

Emerald. Finally. I was starting to worry the insane fight hadn't won me any good loot. With my titles that auto-upgraded loot boxes against bosses and higher-leveled monsters, I usually got tons of emerald and even diamond loot boxes, not gold and platinum.

Hundreds of shafts of brilliant green light shone from the huge, glittering emerald, lighting up the fog all around. When I willed it open, it exploded in a rainbow of light, a chorus of angelic voices, and rolling drumline. It contained two items, a scroll and a fancy golden staff about 2 feet long.

"Scepter of the Victor's Grace. Rare. As the commander of a mighty force, you shower your valiant followers with gifts worthy of their prowess. Place the Scepter upon the shoulder of each member of your team to bestow a unique title. Total uses: 10."

"Whoa!" I laughed as I reverently plucked the golden scepter from the air. "Why not just give each of them a loot box with a title scroll?"

"For the first time, you led a large team in a boss battle. As your leadership abilities level up, so to does your right to reward your followers," Cyrus said.

Interesting. Was it tied to the fact that I'd won the Alpha title and even wore that orc chieftain's leadership necklace during the fight? All the extra perks from all those werewolf followers had evaporated when the pack teleported to another world, dropping my stats back to normal, but maybe I could pick up more followers. Could team members be counted as followers somehow?

I put the Scepter away. With 10 uses, I could award a title to every member of the team who had fought with me against Noctarus and his zombies, including Nigel. I grinned. Lion with a title. Perfect.

"Ability Scroll. Gain the new level-2 ability Visionary Resolve. Plus 2 to Heavy Weapons ability."

"Visionary Resolve. Ability. Rare. All followers and team members under your command receive plus 10% to Constitution, Strength, and Mental Resistance per level when facing monsters more than 20 levels above yours, or enemy forces that outnumber you by more than 2 to 1."

"That's super cool." Of course, I preferred abilities that boosted my stats too, but in the recent fight I'd feared more for my teammates than myself. That 20% boost could easily mean the difference between life and death.

"Another result of your growing leadership prowess. You've proven yourself a devastating killing machine on your own. Showing the world you can lead others into battle builds up an entirely new side of your skillset," Cyrus said, sounding very pleased.

How that tied into his machinations and experiments with me, I had no idea, but I'd take every perk I could get my hands on.

"Congratulations, Lucas! For ordering your werewolf pack into a battle they could not win, you receive a platinum Ender loot box!"

"Hey, two-thirds of them survived," I protested, but neither Cyrus nor Eva responded. The shining platinum loot box contained 1 scroll and 1 other item.

"Undying Loyalty Token. Uncommon. The absolute devotion of your pack condensed into physical form, this token provides the loyalty equivalent to 5 followers."

"Upgrade scroll. Title Alpha upgraded to include: Add another permanent counter to your Undying Loyalty Token for every 10 unique followers you acquire."

I laughed as an influx of power filtered through me from both my Alpha title and my orc general bone necklace. Just a fraction of what I'd enjoyed while I had 45 werewolf followers, but 5 followers was still way better than nothing.

When I checked my stats page, the green extra column for Follower Boost had returned, showing current boosts from my Alpha title and my orc bone necklace for my 5 followers, and the fact that it was still night. My 99 in Constitution equated to a whopping 258 boosted stat points.

Even reducing that number by the 60% effectiveness, I still ended up with a ton. Strength trailed Constitution, but Agility was even higher since it got calculated from both Strength and Dexterity. With my Swordsman ability unlocking even more effectiveness from Agility, I should be able to devastate monsters with my blades.

"So what's the difference between followers and members of my team?" As far as I could tell, I hadn't received any boosts from my team, even when they accepted my battle plan.

"Team members might follow your lead or even call you the team leader, but followers place far more loyalty and faith in you. Teammates can become followers over time."

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Interesting, but not as specific as I would have hoped. Still, that was a great prize. Hopefully I'd get more multi-stacking buffs like that moving forward. My Alpha title had proved just how quickly my stats could multiply under the right conditions.

"Congratulations, Lucas! For coordinating the defense of the entire human population against Noctarus's surprise attack and leading from the front, you receive a platinum Lionheart loot box!"

When I saw the single item, I pumped a fist in the air and laughed. The small, metal pin pivoted in the middle like a tiny alligator clamp.

"Fyrvaldir Pauldrons of the Mighty. Rare. Part 3 of 5. Attach to your Embersteel Battle Helm shard to double the entire set's defense and extend protection across the shoulders and down both arms. Collect more pieces of the Fyrvaldir set to unlock greater set bonuses to both defense and offense."

That last bit was new. I still didn't know exactly what the final set bonuses would be, but that clue suggested it would become a battle suit strong enough to power even offensive skills. That made me even more eager to finish the set.

It seemed the best way to collect pieces of the Fyrvaldir set was to defeat bosses. At this rate, I might collect at least one more piece before facing Queen Marisara. The ethereal armor had already proven itself pretty strong. Doubling it again turned it into seriously powerful defense.

"Congratulations, Lucas! For risking a mind wipe by casting your thoughts into the advanced rune matrix surrounding the energy storage crystal on the roof of the castle, you receive a gold Nicholas Flamel loot box!"

Nice. A second achievement for risking dangerous rune scripts. The shiny gold box contained a single scroll.

"Upgrade scroll. Plus 3 levels in Runesmithing."

I wasn't surprised. I'd felt my Runesmith ability stretching and growing from that brief contact. Had gazing into the rune powering the big crystal on the roof helped me advance enough to survive the insane script on the ship?

"Congratulations, Lucas! You have completed the stage-2 quest and defeated the final boss. Experience doubled for completing the stage in a unique and creative way. You receive a diamond Caesar loot box, a bonus diamond Lucky Stiff loot box, and gain 2 levels! Stat points allocated, plus 12 free points."

Level 37! The number had seemed impossible to reach just a week ago. The brutal challenges of stage 2 had pushed me beyond my limits at every turn, but the rewards had also been incredible.

The extra points again from my upgraded David Copperfield title pushed every level up to 6 free points. I was fast making up for lost time down on stage 1 where my leveling had been so arduous. I added most of the free points to Strength, pushing it up to 80 and the rest into Dexterity, topping it out at 63. Most of my base main stats were pretty equal, other than Wisdom which had gotten that big one-time boost. Constitution came in second with that other big boost that one had gotten, with Strength not far behind. I was more than pleased with how much each stat had grown.

I closed my eyes to savor the rush of new power. It paled compared to what I received from the flood I'd gotten from my Alpha title, or when I'd just unlocked that 20% extra efficiency, but I still loved it. Every new level meant a permanent boost to my stats. I needed every scrap I could get. I might have gained insane amounts of power in the past 5 days, but would it be enough when we ascended to stage 3?

I honestly felt cautiously optimistic about stage 3, even though I knew nothing about what we'd face there. Still, my goal was the all-important level 75 when I could for sure unlock the rest of my tier-1 efficiency. Thirty-eight more levels. That's all I needed to get. I'd have to accelerate my leveling speed, but honestly, for the past 5 days on stage 2 I'd held a pace that would get me there. Hopefully I could keep charging ahead without nearly dying so much.

I grinned at the sight of the bonus loot box and basked in the pure white brilliance of the giant diamond loot boxes for a long moment. Light reflected off the thick fog, transforming the entire area around me into a giant halo of awesomeness. It felt good, but I couldn't hold back my curiosity and willed the first box open. After the flashing lights, trilling fanfare and explosion of diamond shards, the box left behind 2 scrolls.

"Title Scroll. New title: Intergalactic Guardian. You not only led your faction with bravery, creativity, and inspiring leadership, but grasped a far grander vision of the contest of worlds. You are among the rare few who succeeded in reaching a higher tier of leadership. As a result, factions across 2 worlds completed their quests, despite conflicting missions. Rare is the victory that all sides can share."

"Plus 1 level to all primary abilities. All new primary abilities start with plus 1 level."

"All non-Earth sentient beings who Identify you will see this title and understand you have become an ambassador for intergalactic negotiation."

What? For a moment, I stared, then re-read the description a few times. The new levels in every primary ability was staggering. I wasn't sure what the second part meant, though. When would I meet another non-Earth sentient being?

Bosses, I guess. That meant the stage-3 boss and maybe a stage-3 dungeon boss, but how would that help? And when we got up to stage 4, I doubted Queen Marisara would sit down at a table and negotiate when she saw me. Still, despite the empty grandeur of the title, I'd happily take the extra ability levels.

"Upgrade Scroll: Three free upgrades for your Base Camp castle."

"Ha! Thanks, Cyrus. I never doubted you for a minute."

"Your faith in me is heart warming," Cyrus responded, and I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic.

Thank god for that one. With 3 upgrades, that should definitely get me the basement so I could access my new vaults. I must have enough mana crystals to buy upgrades, but what if there were limitations to how many I could purchase at one time? This way, I could get to those vaults of Velexis without delay.

The other diamond loot box exploded with another fanfare of light, revealing 4 items. Three big clear glass jars and a scroll.

"Home Sweet Home scroll. Open a teleportation gate for you and any invited party members to step through to return to your Base Camp castle. Gate remains open for up to 6 hours. Uses remaining: 5."

"Hey, that's cool!" It reminded me of Scroll of Town Portal from the Diablo games. Diablo II had been one of my all-time favorites. I couldn't help grinning, and only barely resisted the urge to try it out and see if I got the glowing blue oval portal like the game.

The ability to jump back home for a few hours to rest and resupply in the middle of a tough dungeon fight could be life saving. If I'd had that portal available earlier, we might have been able to snatch extra gear to more easily turn the tide on the zombie hordes.

The description of the 3 bottles caught me totally by surprise.

"Ship in a Bottle. When uncorked, will teleport any nearby ship inside for easy transport. Uncork a second time to release the sealed ship."

"Like a Gypsy Camp potion for ships?" I glanced over at the partially-repaired ship I stood next to, then the other 2 nearby. I had enough jars for all of them. "Weird. You want me to take the ships?"

"What can it hurt?" Cyrus asked.

There had to be a reason. Even if there wasn't, the idea was too cool to ignore. So I uncorked the first bottle. A storm of golden light poured out and encircled the nearest ship. Within 3 heartbeats, the entire ship flashed and disappeared. A miniature version of the ship appeared inside the bottle, and I corked it, then inspected the ship closely.

It looked like a perfect miniature copy. So much easier than lifting it by hand. "Is that the actual ship in some kind of altered space like the inside of my castle?"

"Something like that, just on a grander scale."

I tapped the side of the glass. I couldn't help it. Of course, nothing happened. I resisted the urge to shake the bottle and see if the ship would bounce around inside. Sometimes we all had to fight down the 10 year old within.

"What would have happened if a person had been on the ship when I shrunk it?"

"Great question. They would still be standing on the ship, but would be stuck in the bottle in a timeless stasis. They wouldn't die, but also wouldn't progress."

"Huh. That's cool."

Within seconds, I bottled the other two ships and stuffed them into my inventory. I surveyed the barren lake obscured by thick fog and nodded in satisfaction. That had been a great haul.

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