Chapter Thirty-Nine – Rebound – Part Two

I'm not good at quotes...

- WHA Hero Ajax -

Everyone's waiting for me to continue collecting the rewards. I swipe to the next pop-up.

[ Overall Gate Performance Rating: D-Tier ]

That's bullshit. We do usually get D and F, but I thought for sure we'd get at least a C or maybe a B. Why'd it clap us so hard? Is it because I basically soloed the Emperor Dragonfly? Most of us survived though. Whatever. I move to open the next box.

[ Hunter Individual Performance Rating: S-Tier ]

S-Tier again, still don't know what it means. Shit, I can just ask now.

"Anyone know what S-Tier means?"

"You got S-Tier?" Cortez asks, blinking, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I got it on the gathering one as well."

"Holy shit…" Tran says, smacking Barlow's chest with the back of his hand, eyes wide, "I was right, I fucking told you!"

"Damn it…" Barlow grumbles.

"What?" Dorliac asks.

All eyes are on Tran, something tells me that what he's about to say is probably less important than Cortez, but somehow, in some fucking mysterious way, all of us are waiting for him to explain. I don't know if it's the giddiness or the excitement, but it just pulls you in, makes you…

"Yeah, I told Barlow ages ago, the system copied a lot of Mangas and Animes. The whole tier thing, A through F, that's translated by the system, so that we all understand it. So I said, there must be an S-Tier because there's always an S-Tier," Tran looks at Barlow with a shit-eating grin that would turn the Grinch's stomach, "Remember what you said? Remember the bet? Or should I say, remember what you bet me?"

Barlow's face twitches. He shifts uncomfortably. What the fuck did he bet?

"Bro, no one takes those kind of bets seriously," Barlow says, holy shit, he's actually stressed.

"Nah, I don't know about all that other people stuff, but I take bets very, very seriously, bro," Tran grins, gripping his shoulder, "Always have, always will."

Dorliac coughs before she says in a sharp tone, "As absolutely riveting and not time-wasting as that whole conversation was, let's move back to what S-Tier might mean."

"I don't know, ma'am," Mwangi says, staring at Barlow, "I kind of want to know what Barlow bet."

"Do it on your own time then."

He sighs, but he nods, turning to Cortez, "What do you know?"

"Not much, only that it's like Tran said, higher than A-Class."

"Well, last time I ended up getting a Legendary item drop because of it I think," I say.

Mwangi tilts his head, "How much did you leave out?"

"Well, I never got it, so I didn't think it was really important."

"You didn't think that almost getting a legendary item was important?" Dorliac asks, scratching her head, "Do you actually need a formal psych evaluation?"

There is a choice word that I really want to say right now, but uh, probably a bad idea. Still, it's not in my nature to not clap back.

"Apologies, ma'am, next time I need to take a shit, I'll tell you how many plies I used."

[ Minor Blessing Status Effect Gained ]

[ Tier: 1 ]

[ + 1% experience gain ]

I guess Ulana doesn't like Dorliac. What a surprise, pretty woman, petty goddess. That phrasing might have been a bad idea though. Wait, no, Mwangi and a few of the others are laughing, I'm good, besides the fact that she doesn't seem entertained. Dorliac just looks at me with a droopy eyebrow like she's bored.

"I'm going to get back to the notifications."

She nods, still staring.

My hand moves back into the menu picking up where I left off.

[ Extra Reward boost for clearing quest added ]

[ System Notice: Additional Extra Reward boost added for solo clearing quest ]

Nice, just like the gathering quest. Although that's kind of surprising, considering people did shoot at the Emperor Dragonfly. Maybe you have to inflict a certain amount of damage to constitute participation? Wonder if that means I'd get a split of the boss kill experience from just a single brand igniting? More questions… beautiful.

[ Luck modifier added to reward roll ]

[ System rolling for reward… Success ]

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Dazzling light explodes from the text boxes. I don't even get excited. I know it's not going to let me keep it. Something just tells me Red's going to be a pissy little bitch about it.

[ Legendary Item Rolled ]

Here it comes… like fucking clockwork.

[ Congratulations on… ]

Yep. This definitely tracks.

[ System Error… Cannot receive Legendary item from a Yellow Classified Gate ]

[ Downgrading Reward ]

[ Rerolling… ]

Here comes Ulana with the… wait, why is it Red again?

[ Petitioning for Further Downgrade… Success ]

Why isn't she fighting? She always fights Red, and why is Red shitting on my rewards?

"What's wrong?" Cortez asks.

"She's not fighting Red…"

[ Petitioning for Further Downgrade… Success ]

[ Petitioning for Further Downgrade… Success ]

[ Petitioning for Further Downgrade… Success ]

What the actual fuck?

"She always fights though, right?" Cortez asks with a furrowed brow.

"Yeah, always."

"Maybe she's busy," Cortez tries.

"No, she gave me a minor boost for being a dick to the Lt," I say, shooting a glance at Dorliac, she blinks, raising an eyebrow, "She's definitely not busy, just choosing not to fight I guess."

Cortez grabs my shoulder.

[ Blessing Lost ]

Whatever. At least she's not screwing with Earth's gates again.

"Maybe she got banned from interfering in treasure drops," Gilroy suggests.

Actually, that's not a bad thought. The purple system did not seem pleased with her interfering. Something tells me that it's the big boss of the System and Red is some kind of… I don't know, bureaucrat?

"Well, what did you get?" Mwangi asks.

"Still have to roll for it, Sergeant."

"Hurry up."

I swipe to the end, and the roll begins.

[ System rolling for reward… Success ]

[ Very Common Item rolled. ]

[ Manually selecting item... Success ]

Very common? I didn't know you could roll that. That's lower than the lowest we normally get. Red's manually selecting it too? Wonder what it is.

[ Issuing Item… Success ]

A portal opens in front of me. Everyone comes close, waiting, hoping, and then blinking when the item falls into my hand.

It's square, I squeeze it in my hand, the edges are flimsy, like cardboard. There's a plastic circle in the center, a small cut made across the plastic. Cloth of some kind juts up from the hole in the plastic… is it…

"Is that a box of tissues?" Tran asks.

"Yeah…"

Dorliac grabs it, looks it over, and then tries to place it on Abyss, not even a grumble of hunger for it.

"Red is such a dick," Tran mumbles.

"Even I'm not that petty," Gilroy says, grabbing the box next, taking one of the tissues, and wiping the crusted blood and dirt off his face.

"Debatable," Barlow says, then seeing Gilroy's expression he finishes with, "Sergeant."

"Hopefully the system doesn't try to balance all his future drops," Cortez says, giving me a worried glance.

Mwangi takes the box next, tearing it apart.

"It really is just a box of tissues," he sighs, shaking his head, "Okay, keep going soldier, check your levels."

"Roger, Sergeant."

I swipe open the notification that says I leveled up during a quest. Pushing past that, it issues the rewards.

"Holy fuck…" I mutter.

[ Congratulations, you have leveled up. ]

[ Congratulations, you have leveled up. ]

[ Congratulations, you have leveled up. ]

[ Congratulations, you have leveled up. ]

[ Congratulations, you have leveled up. ]

[ Congratulations, you have leveled up. ]

[ Congratulations, you have leveled up. ]

[ Congratulations, you have leveled up. ]

[ Congratulations, you have leveled up. ]

[ Congratulations, you have leveled up. ]

[ System Notice: Level Up Roll Ready ]

[ Start? ]

[ Yes / No ]

"What the fuck…" I say, looking at it again. Ten levels… I'm past level twenty…

"What happened?" Dorliac asks, coming forward.

"I'm… I'm level twenty-four."

"Impossible," Dorliac says.

"He did solo the boss," Barlow says.

"Still," Dorliac retorts, eyes squinting at me, "That's just not possible."

"The Emperor Dragonfly must have been stronger than we thought," Mwangi says, stroking his chin, "Which means the gate difficulties we thought we knew, have indeed recalibrated."

"But that's just ridiculous," Dorliac says, brow furrowed again, "He's just passed me in level."

"If the bosses are harder," Mwangi begins, turning to look at her, "The reward should be greater too."

"Don't forget he also smoked that WHA mage," Tran says, nonchalantly, until he sees Cortez's what the fuck expression, "Sorry."

"Still, Lt is right, that's ridiculous," Gilroy gripes, he doesn't look happy that I just jumped him in levels.

Normally, reaching level twenty before hitting E-7, Sergeant First Class, means you get the option for green to gold. Meaning that if I'd hit level twenty-four under normal circumstances, I could potentially become an officer, just like that. Just like Dorliac did.

"Well, he won't be able to level up like that again," Cortez says, still by my side, "It gets significantly harder to level after twenty."

"Which is why I'm saying it's bullshit," Dorliac groans, "He went from fourteen to twenty fucking four."

Wait, is she actually upset? Why would she be upset about me leveling so fast? Dorliac straightens her face, seeing everyone's looks.

"This is good, regardless, this is a good thing, it means he has a chance to get to forty," she says, pulling her hair up into an overly tight bun. She only does that when she's pissed. Why is she pissed?

"This means two new Witherbrand skills," Tran says, using his fingers to count, "Once for fifteen and once for twenty… oh shit," he says, eyes going wide.

"And another subclass," Cortez says, she seems to be less tense than before. Maybe she's seeing the benefit of more people in the circle of trust. I know I am.

"What could the subclass of Witherbrand even be?" Barlow asks.

"Good question," Gilroy says, crossing his arms like Mwangi, until he gives him a look and the arms go back down.

"Before that, allocate your points," Mwangi orders.

"Roger, Sergeant."

Alright, let's hope for a good roll.

[ System Notice: Level Up Roll Ready ]

[ Start? ]

[ Yes / No ]

I hit the yes.

[ Rolling Level Up Attribute Points… Success ]

[ 27 New Points Allocated ]

Wait… shouldn't it have been twenty? Did I finally proc the bonus attribute points? Fuck me, that's huge. Seven extra points is insane. I'm about to click my status sheet, but my stomach turns suddenly. Violently. My legs tremor and my arms shake as I fall on the ground. My body's locked up. Oh no.

"Give him space," Dorliac says, kneeling next to me, I feel her healing magic probing my body, "You're fine, just breathe."

My breaths are ragged. Tendons all over my body feel like they're going to snap at any second, even my bones are aching. What the fuck did I roll? Another tremor writhes through me. I try to hold my stomach, but my arms are stiff and undulating.

"What's happening," Tran asks.

"Rebound sickness," Cortez says, holding my head in her lap, "And really bad by the looks of it."

"He must have rolled high strength," Mwangi says.

It fucking hurts. I think my arm is breaking, shit. The light is becoming darker… until it's only darkness.

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