Chapter 81. Deciding About Loots Distribution

The Man looked at John, "What's he talking about?"

John replied calmly, "I was just about to get to that. We are going to take on a level 20 Boss."

"You f**king kidding me? That's an 8 level difference from us! Well, 9 levels if you consider the majority. You are asking us to go against that kind of monster? You made us waste our time coming all the way out here?!"

The Man pulled out his large mace in righteous anger.

"Calm down, calm down," John coaxed as he took several steps back and hid behind Jack. "With our numbers, it is not impossible to take down the Boss as long as we coordinate properly. I thought you Men of Solidarity are known to be fearless?"

"Fearless is different from suicidal, you maniac!" The Man took some steps forward, completely ignoring Jack, and swung the mace at John.

Jack drew his sword and blocked the mace mid-blow.

"Calm down," he said flatly.

The Man was shocked.  His mace couldn't move an inch further; it was as though he had swung into a steel wall. His strength stat was the highest out of all of his team. He had fully allocated all his free attribute points to his strength. Yet, this person had blocked his blow without moving even a little from the impact. And he seemed to be at ease doing it.

"Who are you?" The Man asked.

"You can call me Storm Wind," Jack replied.

Hearing that, The Man's rage was somewhat diminished. He thought he might have heard that name somewhere before.

John came out of hiding and started wheedling again. "As you can see, Mr. Storm Wind here is another capable adventurer, just like you. With the two of you working together, even a level 20 Boss is as good as dead."

"Stop with your bullshit!" The Man hissed at John.

"Fine, fine," John didn't intend to poke at the big guy's temper and backed off.

The Man put his mace down and asked Jack, "What level are you?"

"Fourteen," Jack answered.

He could see that The Man's eye twitched when he heard that. His gang members also started to murmur.

"High level doesn't guarantee success. Furthermore, the boss is still six levels higher than you," The Man said.

"That's true," Jack replied, "but as this guy said, it is not impossible if we work together."

"Are you confident we can do this?"

"Not really, but I think we should try."

The Man pondered for a bit. He looked back at his gang members, and then returned his gaze to Jack. He then uttered, "Men of Solidarity have never been afraid of a difficult challenge! And we also respect people with real strength. You seem to be an okay fellow. If you are ready to challenge this boss, then we will not wuss out. But we still need to talk about the distribution of the loot! We are not going to go back empty-handed after taking such high risk!"

"What do you propose then?" Jack asked.

"If I may," John interjected.

The Man glared at him.

"Friend, don't shoot me down before I speak, okay? I really have something to say that might be useful." John said with exasperation.

"Fine, talk!" The Man uttered.

John smiled and then said, "I, at first, was going to let you folks find out for yourselves, but since you are so hung up about the loot, I guess I should let you all know now. In the room where I saw the Boss, I caught a glimpse of something that looked like a treasure chest. I'm pretty sure, if you folks have played VR RPG games before, you know what a treasure chest means. So here is my proposal; there are three groups here. My group is only after the quest completion. You two are after loot. So how about one group takes whatever the Boss drops and the other takes whatever is in the treasure chest. Is that fair enough for you folks?"

"Treasure chest, hmm?" The Man seemed to consider the proposal.

After some consideration, he then said to Jack, "Then we will take the treasure chest. What say you?"

Jack didn't answer carelessly; he asked Peniel instead, 'which is more profitable? The boss drops or the treasure chest?'

'Depends on what grade for both," Peniel answered. "Ask the scheming guy what color the treasure chest is.'

Jack turned to John, "Did you happen to see the color of the chest?"

"My attention was mostly occupied by the Boss, so I don't really pay attention," John said. "And it was also quite dark inside the cave, so forgive me if I couldn't determine the color of the chest."

After hearing this, Peniel said, 'Listening to him, I would say it was most probably the lowest grade bronze chest.'

'Why do you say that?' Jack asked.

'Because if it was any other grade - Silver, Gold, or the highest grade, Diamond - even with a glimpse, you could easily tell the color in a dark cave, as they would be quite bright.'

'I see… Why is the grade color the same as the grades used by Adventurers Association?'

'It's the other way around actually. The Associations copied the grades found on Treasure Chests. Anyway, if it's just a Bronze Chest, then take the Boss drops. Even if it is just an Elite Boss, the loot quality should be slightly higher, but the quantity will be less compared to treasure chest loot.'

'Just? Aren't we hoping that it is an Elite? If it's a Special Elite, we will be in trouble, right?'

'If it's a Special Elite, just tell everybody to pack and go home.' Peniel agreed.

Jack nodded, "Okay, we'll take the Boss drops."

The Man offered his hand for a shake. Jack extended his, which The Man shook vigorously.

"Now that the negotiation is done, shall we get the show on the road?" John asked them with a smile.

"Lead the way," The Man said.

"All right, but before that…" John made a few gestures. Not long after, both Jack's and The Man's group all received Party Invite notifications.

"If we are to cooperate together, it will be better if we are all in the same Party," John said.

"With you as the leader?" The Man scoffed.

"Just imagine me to be a puppet leader," John said. "The boss is, after all, for my quest.  If I'm not the leader of the Party that kills it, I'm afraid the system won't acknowledge my quest as complete. Then all of this would have been a waste."

'Is that true?' Jack asked Peniel.

'Nah, he just made that up. He would clear the quest as long as he is in the party that kills the monsters in the cave. Even if another team joined in killing the monsters, his quest would still be considered as completed.'

"Fine! But my people only take orders from me." The Man accepted the Party invite.

Jack also accepted the invite.

They formed up and started for the cave. John took the lead, then came Men of Solidarity, while Jack's group walked at the back. They climbed up a significant distance to the higher part of the hill. The grassy fields with flower patches gave way to a rocky terrain that was then replaced by small woods filled with pine trees. In these woods they were attacked by a pack of Silver Wolves.

When the wolves attacked, John expertly retreated to the back, conveniently letting Men of Solidarity handle the wolves. They didn't seem to mind though; they looked like a bunch of battle crazed lunatics who relished combat. They yelled and laughed as they made short work of the wolves. Jack and the others didn't even bother to take out their weapons.

After killing all the wolves, The Man glanced back at Jack and said, "Impressed?"

Jack replied by simply giving him a thumbs up.