Chapter 56. Ranking Rewards

The crowd outside couldn't see what Jack could. All they saw was the blue sphere flickering with lights. But Jack's mind was flooded with images.

All the images were jumbled up at first; Jack couldn't make heads or tails of what he was seeing. But they soon arranged themselves in a neat fashion.

The items were arranged in rows. Jack could shift through them with a thought. If he counted them, he would find the number of the items to be exactly one hundred. He chose to focus on one of the items, one that looked like a sword.

*

Sword of Havoc

*

"What the…," Jack focused more on the sword. There was only an image of the sword and the name, no description of the grade or the damage value.

'The heck', he thought. He turned to Honuren who was beside him.

"There is no description on the items?" He asked.

"No, there isn't," Honuren replied matter of factly.

"But… then how do we know the value of the item we pick?"

"You don't."

"But…"

"The reward is a gift. If you get a rare item, then you are blessed by Gods. If you get a normal item, it's still better than those that did not make it to rank one hundred. Just take it as a trial of luck."

Jack wasn't sure if Honuren's words were meant to console him or if he was just trying to get him to stop being wishy-washy and get on with the reward choosing.

Jack let out a sigh, he helplessly continued browsing the wares.

*

Swift Hand Amulet

Bag of Coins

Skill Book

*

Jack shifted through the items one by one and read the names. This was pointless. In the end, he thought he might just make the decision based on how fancy the item's name sounded or how cool the item looked. He saw a cool-looking magic staff and thought to himself if he should just choose that staff. He was still using the basic staff he got when he started the Magician class. It was certainly lacking compared to his Fighter sword.

'Wow, there is also a Harness of Soul,' he suddenly heard Peniel's voice.

'Wait, you can identify these items?' He asked telepathically.

'Of course, who do you think I am?' She replied with an arrogant tone. 'I told you I hold in my mind all the knowledge there is to know about the world, right? That certainly includes magic items.'

'Wow, perfect! Then you can help me make a decision. What's this Harness of Soul you mentioned?'

'It allows you to record your soul. If you die in the wilderness, you can come back to life with the condition same as when you make the recording. Every recording requires coins, and there is also a limit in which you can only revive three times. After that, the Harness of Soul will disintegrate. But I guess it is useless for you since you have that Immortal Soul thing.'

'Okay, let's browse through other stuff then,' Jack said and shifted to the next item and had Peniel describe what it was.

'Stack of Fire Shell. It contains six pieces of Fire Shell, a consumable item that can be thrown and deal 200 points of fire damage.'

'A grenade then. Next.'

'Sheet of purple silk. An uncommon material that is used for Blacksmith job.'

'Swift shoes. Uncommon equipment that increases movement speed."

"Warning Tent. An uncommon tent, this is the one that I told you which has an alarm function when monsters get near. Maybe you should select this one.'

'Let's continue browsing,' Jack said.

Time passed as Jack was checking the rewards selection. The crowd gathered started to murmur and getting impatient.

"Why the heck is he taking so long?" One of the people grumbled.

When around five minutes had passed, Honuren told Jack, "You have one minute left. If you don't pick an item once the time is up, one item will be selected randomly for you."

"What? There's a time limit?" Jack was dumbfounded. He was only halfway through.

'Change of plan!' he told Peniel. 'No need to describe to me every item. You will recognize the item's worth from its image, right? I will shift through the rest and you pick the one you consider the most valuable.'

'Hehe, you are going to let me make the decision?' Peniel teased.

'Stop joking, we are running out of time!'

Jack then swapped one item after another, stopping just long enough for Peniel to look at the image.

"Thirty seconds," Honuren informed.

'Crap,' Jack cursed in his mind.

'Peniel, not yet?' Jack asked anxiously.

'Don't rush me' she retorted.

Jack was speechless, thirty seconds left and she said don't rush her.

When another ten seconds passed, Jack considered just picking the Warning Tent that Peniel had described previously. However, he heard Peniel's excited voice.

'What the..! This thing is also here? That one! That one! Choose that one!'

Her excited voice was a bit hysterical. Jack looked at the item she indicated. It was a simple cube. It looked like it was made from stone with some strange carvings on each of its six sides.

'What is that? It doesn't look that impressive. There are still some items left to check,' Jack protested.

'Stop arguing and just pick it! The time is almost up!' Peniel shouted in exasperation.

Hearing the urgent tone of her voice, Jack decided to trust her. He extended his hand.

'This one,' he said to Honuren.

Honuren looked at him intently. "I must say, having a High Fairy guiding your selection could be considered cheating…  but I will let you off this once."

He gave Jack a meaningful smile and then waved his hand. The cube disappeared from the selection shelves inside the Sphere.

"It's inside your storage bag already," Honuren told him. "Well done, young man. I wish you all the luck. Next!"

Another orb descended as Jack thanked Honuren and walked back towards the group of White Scarfs. He took a quick peek in his storage bag and found the cube there. This was better this way, no one would know what treasure each of the one hundred rankers got.

He spoke with Peniel as he walked, 'I was scared for a moment there. I thought he was going to disqualify me. He could see you even when you were hiding in your separate dimension.'

'Of course he could,' Peniel replied.' He is a Demigod. You have done well to treat him with respect. He could disintegrate you with a simple thought if you drew his ire.'

'A Demigod?' Jack was astonished. He didn't expect the old man to have such an incredible background.

'Yes, he is one of the Demigods under the God of Hope.'

That was cool, Jack thought. Just in Tutorial phase and he had already met with one Goddess and one Demigod. He suddenly remembered another thing.

'Wait, he said you are a High Fairy? Does that mean you are not just any normal Fairy?' He asked.

'Of course I am not just any normal Fairy,' Peniel replied with annoyance. 'You think the Goddess will just pick any normal Fairy to do her will?'

As he walked and conversed with Peniel, he was bumped by someone. He turned and looked at Warpath who was glaring at him.

"Lucky punk," Warpath said to him in hostility and continued walking towards Honuren. He was the second person who got picked by an orb.

"What's his problem?" Jack said as he watched the guy's back.