Rewards

Mia clasped her hands together with an awkward and guilty smile on her face.

"Sorry, I just assumed so many things when I didn't really understand. Granted, I still don't understand much about... whatever it is. But I won't jump to conclusions anymore."

In response, Jessica wore a similar nervous smile on her face.

"Ah... no need to worry about any of that, haha."

Mia nodded several times quite enthusiastically.

"Yes, I won't, I won't."

Jessica couldn't help but continue to laugh awkwardly, not knowing what to say. From what she heard, Mia's worries sounded very reasonable, to the point that she was quite scared.

After all, it was one thing to have an impossibly frightening enemy that you couldn't do anything about, and a whole other thing if that impossibly frightening thing was you instead. After all, if it was something else at least you would be able to put a face to it.

But what were you even supposed to do if the monster was yourself?

She continued to grow more anxious and uncertain, visibly showing it through her frantic breathing that quickly went into hyperventilation. Both Mia and Jack looked at her rather strangely. After a while, Mia reached out to her.

"Are you ok?"

Then, Jessica's expression suddenly flattened. All of her concerns and memories appeared to disappear entirely. She simply looked over at Mia while tilting her head to the side.

"Of course I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?"

Mia was visibly confused but didn't question it.

In the distance, was the sound of gunshots one after another. Emma had gone forward on her own after receiving a king. She had combined it together with two of hearts to turn it into an eight, not for the sake of difficulty, but rather because it was the last number needed to finish the game. The monster inside ended up being a large panda. However, despite supposedly being far more difficult, as dictated by its number, she didn't have much of a harder time, simply firing her gun a few extra times until it eventually died, making it look like a rather easy fight.

With that, they had finally completed all of the numbers. The man in a suit was quite displeased, simply standing on top of a tree for a long while, looking up ever so slightly into the sky.

He let out a soft sigh.

"You've completed the game. I suppose the rewards are in order."

The man in a suit walked up to Emma, handing over a glowing blue crystal, that jutted out in several areas. It would've almost looked like candy if it wasn't for the fact that the faint light pulsated, irregularly and at different levels in different parts.

It was the reward they were promised, a one-time use instant warp back to the hub. However, he wasn't done with just that, also handing over an additional three items to Emma, one of which was what appeared to be a pulsating orb, that looked very much alive.

Holding onto it, Emma had a small frown on her face.

"I must say, it's not the kind of reward I would've preferred."

The man in a suit clicked his tongue.

"If you don't want it, then you don't have to accept it."

Emma let out a chuckle.

"Oh don't be like that. I'll still take it. After all, there are people out there that are willing to pay a very heavy price for something like this..."

She held onto the top of the strange item which had some elasticity to it with a smile before stowing it away. From there, the man in a suit disappeared, before appearing above a tree next to the others as well.

He hopped off, landing in the grass lightly before walking over the three of them. Mia looked over with a bit of concern, wondering if they were in trouble.

"W-We were just taking a small break!"

The man in a suit waved his hand with boredom like he couldn't bother looking at them anymore.

"Whatever, I don't care. You guys all passed the game. I'm here to give out the rewards and then have you all get the fuck out."

He first walked up to Mia, handing out the warp crystal, along with a fairly thick and familiar pelt. One that resembled a honey badger's. The pelt itself was just barely enough to cover her torso on one side.

[Reinforced Honey Badger Pelt]

[Flexible, but tough material. Can withstand several slashes before being destroyed.]

After that, she was given a small plastic packet of what looked like yellow powder, but upon closer inspection, it was actually countless tiny little flowers.

[Dazzling Powder]

[When scattered into the air and upon contact, any living being may be temporarily caught in a daze. Chances lower depending on intelligence.]

Mia muttered the names and descriptions to herself before looking at the man in the suit strangely.

"I thought the only reward was the warp? Why am I getting these?"

With a sigh, the man reluctantly explained.

"You get additional ones for the individual tests you did in the game."

Mia blinked a few times before nodding.

"Ah... thank you."

The man in a suit let out a short chuckle.

"Not much point in thanking me, you were the one that hardly got anything compared to everyone else anyway."

Mia's eyelid twitched, as she recalled the only two things she beat were the honey badger along with the bunny, which were rated at a difficulty of 3 and 4 respectively. Which was indeed the worst out of everyone else.

Still, she wasn't exactly ready for a tougher challenge, so she simply accepted this as a pleasant surprise.

The man in a suit shifted his attention to Jessica, also giving her the crystal. Afterward, he handed over a small black bead that looked somewhat similar to a pill.

[Condensed Vitality]

[Consume in order to give a slight permanent increase to the overall constitution. If wounded, it will also heal wounds, but mitigate effects depending on the severity of wounds.]

Jessica raised her eyebrow slightly when she read this. It appeared to be something quite good. It appeared to essentially be a slight health increase or a way to restore injuries. Before she could think about that much longer, the man also handed over a glimmering black feather.

[Enchanted Crow's Feather]

[Throw in a direction to disperse into a medium torrent wave of sharpened feathers for 10 seconds.]

They were rewards for the monkey and crow respectively. Jessica couldn't help but furrow her brows slightly, as to her a "wave of feathers" didn't exactly sound like the most threatening thing. She thought that the previous reward seemed more useful, at least it was supposedly a potential permanent upgrade, which was something that lasts longer than a consumable.

Regardless, she didn't complain. Her thoughts were still more occupied on how much control she actually had over her own movements.

Finally, the man in a suit moved on to Jack, similarly handing him the warp stone. Along with that, he gave a small duckbill-shaped whistle.

[A Quack]

[When blown, it makes the sound of a duck to everything within one hundred meters. Disappears after use.]

It was nearly useless, but Jack had a bright smile on his face as he received it. Soon after, he was handed what appeared to be a small figurine of the coyote and fox hybrid he had fought earlier.

[Stitched Together Happily]

[Combines the user with another willing living being. Both parties will merge into one another, keeping both sides of their strengths. Compatibility may vary, enhancing the strengths even further. Transformation lasts for a week, and can be used 3 times.]

Jack audibly let out an "ooh" when he saw that, seemingly already thinking of the possibilities, rather than the concerning implications of using this item.

Finally, he was given a medium-sized red bead.

[Condensed Scent]

[Consume to substantially increase the ability to smell.]

The description was rather vague, but Jack didn't mind, instead laughing at the description. He thought it was quite interesting. Those were his rewards for killing the 2 of hearts duck, 9 of diamonds coyote and fox, and the 10 of diamonds owl. Out of all the rewards, the Condensed Scent appeared a bit strange.

Though Jack didn't wait before directly swallowing it right then and there.

Before widening his eyes.