The Legendary Fool

158:

[Calculating Individual Contribution…

Synrak Veralis: 66%

Aleph Longstradia: 16.6%

Zirel Covan Nottrakon: 16.6%

Existing reward after distributing equally amongst three party members: 1 Random Uncommon Ranked Card and Six Nexus Points.

Upgraded reward based on exemplar individual performance: 2 Random Uncommon Ranked Cards and Eight Nexus Points OR One Rare Artifact of the individual’s choice and Eight Nexus Points

Please choose one of two available rewards within twenty four hours or one will be allocated to your inventory at random.]

Tom waved away the notification, his heart still pounding as he realized that they had returned to the safety of the Nexus City, standing a little distance away from Nexus Node: Epsilon.

‘It actually fucking worked,’ Tom thought, his hands still quivering from the exhilaration of the attack that he’d managed to just about pull off. Never before had he seen Mirror World threaten to shatter from absorbing an attack, but he had been certain that Warrior’s Shardsong at 100% wasn’t enough to overcome the Nether Shaman’s shielding.

He wondered if his actions had weakened the reactive shielding around the Stygian Titan as well, or if he had been misguided in assuming that the shielding came from the Nether Shamans.

That was a question he had no way to answer, so he focused on the one being asked to him by resummoning the system screen.

He blinked as he read the choice being offered to him, before reading it carefully again to assure himself that he hadn’t misunderstood.

On the surface level, the two uncommon cards seemed like the obvious choice. Sure, they would be randomly allocated to him, but his current selection of Uncommon cards in his deck wasn’t the strongest to begin with. Lifeblood had diminishing returns at his level and aura shift required him to focus on using an uncommon card for offense or defense when his Rare Shadow Wraith card would do a much better and lethal job at both.

However, Tom’s aim in the short-to-medium term was to familiarize himself with his existing deck and uncommon ranked cards weren’t a commodity that he couldn’t stumble upon himself.

Rare artifacts on the other hand, were harder to come across and came with the added drawback of being easily identifiable in most cases. Even such a difficult Nexus Quest had only awarded them eight Nexus Points, which told Tom that they’d be here for a few months, if not longer unless they really wanted to rush things.

If he robbed or killed someone linked to the Neem Guild for a Rare Artifact, he would not be able to use it until he either travelled to a different Nexus City or ascended to the next floor. Even risking using something so identifiable on a Nexus Quest could prove to be very dangerous, given that multiple parties could accept a Quest from the same node even after they had been teleported.

Tom asked the system to display active Nexus Quests being offered and sure enough, the Active Rift Quest was still there, with an amendment.

[Active Nexus Quest: Active Rift

Description: You cannot accept this quest as an individual or party as you have already completed it once]

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Antagonizing the Neem Guild could prove to be dangerous if they decided to use the Nexus Quest system against him, a discovery that Tom intended to share with his party at the earliest.

For now though, Tom couldn’t help but notice that the Divine System was letting him choose what kind of Rare Artifact he wanted.

‘I don’t suppose you’re going to give me a custom-made Rare Artifact?’ Tom thought, his question directed to the Divine System.

Unsurprisingly, no response followed.

Tom was so lost in his deliberations, he barely noticed when Aleph tapped his shoulder to get his attention.

He turned to face her, only to realize that her gaze was directed to her right, her expression guarded as she seemed to be sizing up someone.

Tom turned to follow her gaze, only to discover that someone was approaching them from around the Nexus Node: Epsilon.

His gaze instantly narrowed upon a polished, rose-gold pendant that had the symbol of the Neem Guild engraved onto its tag’s flat metal surface. The metal used in its construction was the same as Rowan and Lorcan’s, but markedly different from the bronze-hued pendant the Neem Guild member that had ushered them into the Nexus City had worn. Ｒ₳𝐍𝙤฿Ěṣ

That made the raven-haired man that appeared to be in his late twenties. The pendant told Tom that he was an important member of the Neem Guild but not a core one. As he drew closer, with an average build and stiletto sheathed on his either side, Tom realized that he recognized that square-faced man with a hooked nose and a burn mark on his right cheek.

Myris was amongst the oldest of the Neem Guild’s next generation, but his prospects, at least from Rowan’s perspective, weren’t very high. Or rather, Myris had taken to administrative tasks with far greater zeal than combat, much to the chagrin of his father, who was one of the founding members of the Neem Guild and a man who had attained the hundred points needed to ascend to the next floor in his heyday.

He wasn’t much of a fighter, but he wasn’t someone Rowan wanted to cross, either. Considering that Myris had been given the responsibility to manage new recruits, most of them had good impressions of him. Sure, they were still in their “honeymoon phase” and the reality of the Neem Guild would crash upon them when they tried to leave, but that was years away.

Tom glanced at the number that was scrawled above Myris' head, a sight that was only visible to his own eyes. The ask was of 60 SP, which was in the range he’d come to expect.

Unfortunately, Tom didn’t have 60 SP to spend. The fight had drained him of more SP than he’d expected, which explained the unexpected heaviness he was feeling while holding onto Mirror World.

Challenging the limits of his deck cards also came with a tremendous SP cost, it seemed.

“Greetings,” Myris offered after coming to a stop a few steps away from them.

“Yes?” Tom took the lead for the group.

“Oh, my apologies,” Myris apologised with a good-natured chuckle. “I am Myris, a member of the Neem Guild, the ones currently in-charge of this Nexus City.”

“Oh,” Tom replied with feigned surprise. “Is everything alright?”

“Of course,” Myris replied, offering their group a beaming smile. “I had heard that a new group of climbers had entered the city and I just wanted to introduce myself.”

‘Climbers with potential, you mean,’ Tom thought, not letting any of his disdain show on his face as he smiled before replying, “Well it is nice to meet you, Myris. Is there any way we can help you?”

“Only if it would not be too much trouble,” Myris politely replied. “It is a tradition for the Neem Guild to invite climbers for light fare, you see. The Neem Guild does not wish for any climber to take the challenge of Nexus Quests without adequate information and as such, we consider ourselves duty-bound to share what we know.”

“That is very kind of the Neem Guild, Myris,” Tom emphatically nodded, as if he were moved by their kindness. “But I’m afraid that my companions and I are tired after the day’s strenuous events. For now, I feel it is best for us to rest.”

“So foolish of me not to consider that,” Myris winced, looking genuinely pained by his faux-pas. “Please, rest for the day. We can do this another time.”

‘Preferably never,’ Tom thought, before replying, “Another time then, Myris.”

Tom watched Myris walk away for a few moments, before turning his gaze skyward and noticing the dusk-like haze that had replaced the mimicry of daylight.

“What was that?” Aleph whispered the question.

Tom just shook his head before saying, “I’m beat. Let’s get to the inn.”

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