Overcomers

When the Prodigy Maker died Kore said "Shit! Jola you have to find a way to use that weapon without my help, I didn't even get to kill anything throughout!" Jola sat on the floor, laughed and said "Sorry, I'll pay you for your service, no worries".

Samad said "I'm going to help the Rank 3s" and dashed toward the Rank 3 battle that was about to end. The rest of the Rank 5s followed Samad and Jola sat with the corpse of the Prodigy Maker, and asked his IP for information about the creature.

The IP said 'The Rank 5 Nemesis Prodigy Maker is a Rank 5 Hive Womb who has accepted that the purpose of its existence is to kill members of the Human species. It acquired the knowledge of how to create undead with Magical capabilities in order to become the Nemesis of the Human race' Jola asked 'What about the Overcomer title?' the IP responded 'An Overcomer in your case is a Human who had a major contribution in the destruction of a Nemesis race. There are currently 10 other humans with this title. The benefits of the Overcomer title are that you have been given a part of the Magic of the Nemesis race, as Magic was the core of the Nemesis race's power' the IP showed him a screen.

[Nemesis race extermination contribution

You killed 3 Rank 5 Nemesis Paragons: one without an assist and two with an assist.

You were a part of the death of the Nemesis Prodigy Maker

You were the one who gathered the army for the extermination of the Nemesis race.]

[You've received the 2nd place prize]

Jola could guess who 6 of the other Overcomers were. He checked his memory but couldn't find any of the new knowledge. He gave up on finding it and watched the battle end.

The Rank 5s didn't participate in the Rank 3s' battle much, they mostly carried away the wounded Rank 3s to the back of the line. At the end of the battle 16 Rank 3s had died and 47 of them were in critical condition. But overall the battle had gone beautifully.

After the battle Jola had a meeting with the Rank 5s. Jola said "My IP gave me a notification after the Hive monster died, I got a title, did any of you get the same?" They all nodded.

Jola asked "Were your rewards a part of the magic of the Nemesis race?" They all nodded in affirmation. Jola said "Ok, I just wanted to confirm".

Jola continued "There are only 7 of us here, do you know who else might have gotten the remaining 3 titles. There are 10 Overcomers by the way". Mistura said "I'm pretty sure Funmi would have gotten a title. She is a Rank 4 and she killed the 2 Magicians".

Jola was shocked, he asked "How?" Mistura said "I don't know her team didn't give me the details. All I know is that she was very fast, faster than the Magicians could react".

Jola thought 'Interesting'. Jola said "That's all th-". Anita interrupted with a raise of her hand the attention of those in the room focused on her and she said "I was wondering. If the Magic we got is like anything we know of from fiction, won't it be good if we taught the people of the sanctuary? Especially those who did this raid with us, it would suck if we all got something as powerful as Magic while they just got en-code that they can get from any monster"

Samad said "Is it necessary? They are going to get a big part of this land, I think that's enough pay and besides we didn't get our rewards by just making them come here and doing nothing; we risked our lives for this. I don't see why we should share our rewards since we earned them".

Anita replied "That's understandable I also don't plan on teaching the participants every part of the Magic, just a part of it, maybe the basics if there's such a thing. It would be good if we thought the entire sanctuary, at a price obviously. I just feel the participants should get something special as a reward, this is our first raid, we got something special so I feel they should also be a part of it".

Kore said "That's actually a good idea. Even if we earned our rewards, they didn't sit back either. It would be good if we made a difference between the Rank 1s and 2s who were so happy to sit back and watch us work and the Rank 3s and 4s that came with us"

Demola said "That's a good idea but I propose we make a textbook, a manual of sorts that teaches the Magic we are willing to teach the public. We will make the manual free for those who participated and those who didn't will have to buy it, the price of course will not be small"

Jola said "Can't we just teach everyone for free? It will make the sanctuary stronger as a whole and bring it to a whole new level of power".

Anita said "We can't just give everyone the reward of the labor of those who risked their lives. It would kill the moral of those who worked to earn it and it would make those who did work for it even lazier. Demola's idea is good, we won't be giving too much but we wouldn't be giving too little either"

Mistura said "That's all good and dandy but there will be those who just pirate the Magic manual and sell it at a lower price. Regardless, I'm not selling my own Magic".

Samad added "Same".

Anita said "Ok, we'll see how it goes. We don't even have said Magic manual yet. That's all I have to say". The meeting ended.

The bodies were carried into the carts and the after the battle field as cleaned up, a podium was made. Jola came up to the podium and said "I appreciate all of you for coming here today, 16 people have left us and I feel bad that I can't help but be relieved that they were all Rank 3s. I know it seems cruel but I can't lie and tell you that I value them more than the Rank 4 and 5s also because I didn't know them personally, but regardless they will be missed. Let us have a moments silence for our dead comrades"

The army was silent for a moment and Jola continued with a smile "Now for the rewards of this campaign, I am pleased to tell you that they are extremely incredible, beyond what you would have imagined but first, I must make a request…" He looked around at the rankers as they barely controlled their excitement and curiosity.

He said "I ask that the remaining Overcomers come to the podium for recognition" the rankers looked at themselves in confusion thinking 'What does he mean?'

…

Mira was the same but her confusion got worse when Funmi started heading towards the stage.

Funmi looked back at the puzzled Paragon members, smiled and winked. Funmi was the first to get to the stage, after her Deji went up, and after him the lady that killed the Endpoints came up the stage.

Jola continued "The 10 people who had the highest performance got the title of Overcomer. That includes the Rank 5s and these three the reward for the title is a part of the Magic of the Nemesis race, which is what this horde was made up of, as your IPs would have told you. I and my associates have decided to study this Magic and distribute a Magic training manual to all those who participated in the raid for free as a 'thank you' for the assistance"

The crowd cheered learning Magic? They had never expected the reward to be so amazing. They still had many questions but they would be answered in time.

…