REWARDS

[Hey! I just thought to f*ck everything and to keep on writing. I mean, it's just a hobby rn. No point in getting so worked up about it... Enjoy!]

"Arghh… f*ck!" I groaned while lying on the floor because my whole body was in pain. Using a unique concept while I'm still a middle ranker really takes a toll on my body. I then got up and looked around, trying to figure out where I was.

"Oh, you're finally awake?" I heard a surprised voice; naturally, I knew whom this voice belonged to.

"Robin! You came!" I got a little excited seeing Robin, but then I asked him the more important thing.

"You have something to eat, bro? I'm famished!" I asked, a little embarrassed. I got so excited when we found the ruin; that I jumped in with just the supplies I had on me.

"Haha, I knew you would say something like that. Here, take these cookies. Though I still don't understand why the Hunters carried chocolates and cookies as rations?" Robin said while handing me the packet.

"Because they are easy to carry, eat and are high-calorie items? I think we should also take such things with us next time. Although those energy bars are highly nutritional, they suck." I reasoned, but then I remembered there were even more important things to ask.

"Why did you decide to come in? I thought you would continue to be a b*tch until the end…." I said while eating the cookies and drinking as much water as possible. Both of these items were obviously given to me by him as I already finished my rations during my trial. Yes! That reminds me…

"How did your trial go, and how much time has passed since then?" I asked Robin, still munching on the cookies.

"You're asking me that now?" He asked with a deadpan face.

"What? I was dying from hunger!" I replied in a hurt voice as if he didn't care for me.

"Are you done?" Robin asked in a severe tone.

"Yes. So, how long do you think we have left to stay here?" I replied in a similar tone and stopped joking around.

"I kept your watch outside my trial portal, and it shows that 6hrs have passed since I entered that portal. Then for you, it must be 7hrs. Give or take a few minutes." Robin said while pointing to the portal to my left and then showed the watch in his hand.

"Good thing we had them; otherwise, managing the time would have become really difficult." I gave a smug look, as I was the one who found these magical watches.

"I still don't understand how these watches can alter their time flow when they're in a ruin. And how on earth you managed to find a pair of these…." Robin said while looking at the watch intently as if he was trying to search for its secrets.

"How else? As I've always said, these came from ruins themselves and are no longer a pair anymore… Mine was broken during my trial." I said with sadness apparent on my face. These watches were with me from the start of my journey, so losing them obviously disheartened me.

"Here, catch!" I saw Robin throwing the watch at me as he said, "Although I never believed you when you told me about what they could do, at least you still have one, and did you forget already? We're currently in a Kingdom level ruin! We can't even imagine the treasures that are here. And you've noticed that this place is not normal, right?"

"Yes, you're right. Let's go towards the throne room and get our rewards!" I spoke, finally feeling excited again.

"So, what was your trial? Mine was to protect a little girl from bandits and send her home safely. It was a piece of cake for someone like me." Robin said confidently and looked at me, waiting for me to tell my experience.

"Oh.. haha… It was straightforward, man. I just had to protect a village for a few hours; it went without a hitch!" I replied with an awkward laugh and just received a weird look from him.

"That reminds me, did you like my slide? I put much effort into making that." I asked Robin and expected him to thank me.

"Ah, that slide? That was a sick joke, man! Why did you leave that for me when there were stairs behind the cave? Did you want me to die?" Robin gave a side glance and opened the door of the throne room.

"There were f*cking stairs… haha.." I muttered under my breath and laughed; as I felt cheated by the heavens.

-

As we entered the Throne room, Robin and I were left speechless due to the size of the room. There was a red-carpeted path towards the stairs that connected to the Throne platform. The stairs were semi-circular in shape and continued for a few meters, the Throne being a few meters above the ground. There were seats on either side of the path, most probably for the ministers of this place to sit. As soon as we reached the stairs, a message flashed before our eyes,

[The person who appeared for the first trial kindly sit on the central throne. The others to take the seats below.]

"Others? But there are only the two of us." I spoke as both of us looked at each other.

"Nothing we can do about that. I guess you should go up there, your highness." Robin bowed a little as he spoke.

""Hahahaha…"" Both of us started laughing and joked around for a few more seconds. Not realising that even I was getting this tense.

"I should keep going now. Thanks, Robin…" I said with my sincerest smile, and he just nodded without saying a word. I knew even he was grateful for my help, as this couldn't have happened without anyone of us.

I then started climbing the stairs and soon reached the platform. As soon as I sat on it,

[Essence confirmation….. Complete!]

[Trial attempted….. First!]

[Kindly keep your hands on the armrest and your legs on the pedestal below.]

'Didn't hear anything about this… but what choice do I have?' I questioned in my heart, but I still complied.

[All preparations complete….. Are you ready to receive your rewards?]

'Yes!' I almost shouted, fear and anticipation eating me up.

[Confirmed!]

[Starting process…]

As soon as I saw the last message, I lost my consciousness…

[Thanks for reading! I'll say this in advance, but there won't be the system like you guys are used to. It will only be there to keep track of the MC's progress. At least rn that's the plan! Cause I'm really bored of systems, but I just can't write without there being at least a status panel or something. xD]