“Rewards…” Ralph mumbled. “Are you talking about the Tokens?”

“But we did not do much, did we?”

“It must be because of me,” Zain said. “It looks like I cannot conceal my talent anymore… Fine. It is just some Medals anyway. Although they will not help me much, I guess I can accept a few of them to keep our Captain’s face…”

“Stop dreaming,” Alnea said to Zain. “As Norren just said, except for spreading your names, you have not done much for the team in the past month. Do you think that is enough to earn Medals? Or have you forgotten how hard it is to earn Medals in the Trials?”

“…Then why are giving out the Medals?”

“To encourage you, of course. After all, this was your first task. Besides, I am offering only Low Grade Medals for now.”

“…Just some Low Grade Medals?” Zain mumbled, only to earn everyone’s glare.

“Are you looking down on Low Grade Medals?” Alnea said. “You can give up the reward if you want. But let me remind you, in the future, earning even these Low Grade Medals will not be easy.”

“…Who is looking down on the Medals? Even if they are Low Grade, they are still Medals. Who does not know about their preciousness?”

Seeing the stinky mouth being deflated for once, Alnea nodded in satisfaction, before picking up where he had left off.

“As I was saying, this time, the Medals are more of an encouragement than proper rewards. So, this time, everyone can get a Medal from me. But just this time. The next time you want to earn Medals from the team, you will have to earn it in an institutionalised way.”

“…Institutionalised way?” Zain said, tilting his head in confusion.

“It means we will have to exchange our contribution for Medals.”

“…Are you selling your Medals for Blood Coins?”

“…Let me finish first,” Alnea said, trying his best to not lose his patience. Was this how his master felt when he acted cheeky with her? No, he was not as annoying the stinky mouth… Probably.

“…After our last team meeting, I discussed the details of my arrangements with Vestia and Yuri. They pointed out to me that giving out rewards based on just my discretion may make some of you feel dissatisfied with my arbitrariness. To address this issue, we came up with a system of ‘Stars’ to keep the process of rewarding everyone more transparent and fair.

“From now on, Vestia will be recording everyone’s contribution to the team, and how well you complete your tasks. Smaller and easier tasks will be marked with one ‘Star’, while harder tasks can be marked with up to ten ‘Stars’. And though there will be no upper limit to the number of ‘Stars’ you can earn by contributing to the team, relatively, earning ‘Stars’ by contributing to the team will be much harder.

“In short, the better you perform your tasks, the more you contribute to the team, the more ‘Stars’ you will earn. And once you have enough ‘Stars’, you can exchange them with the Medals. As for the exchange rate of the Medals… A Low Grade Medal will be worth ten ‘Stars’, an Intermediate Grade Medal will be worth fifty ‘Stars’, a High Grade Medal will be worth two hundred ‘Stars’, and a Top Grade Medal will be worth a thousand ‘Stars’.

“If you have any doubts about what the ‘Stars’ are worth, or how she will be judging your ‘Stars’, you can contact Vestia after the meeting for further details. For now, just keep your doubts with yourselves. Next, let us talk about the rewards you will be getting this time. Let me warn you first. Right now, I have only Martial Style Medals with me. If anyone wants Medals of other halls, then you will wait—

“It is alright, Alnea,” Vestia said, taking out a bunch of Low Grade Arcana and Glyph Medals from her pouch. “Although I do not have as many Medals as you do, what I have should be enough to meet the requirements of the team for a while. There is no need for you to change your plans.”

“But they are your—

“Did I not say it just a few hours ago?” Vestia said, winking at him with a smile. “What is mine is yours.”

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“…I am afraid that we cannot accept your Medals, Vestia,” Yuri said, answering Vestia before Alnea could.

“…Even if I am trying to help him?”

“If it was just about helping Alnea, I would not have stopped you,” Yuri said, shaking her head. “On the contrary, no one would be happier than me to see you suffer a dumb loss and give all your Medals to Alnea. But this is different. The Medals you are giving to him will be used to reward other members of the team. Although it seems as if you are giving your Medals to Alnea, in essence, you are giving them to the team.”

“So what? Alnea is also giving out his Medals, is he not? Besides, I am also a Star Seeker. Can I not contribute to the team?”

“Exactly. You are contributing to the team. Your Medals will not be sent to Alnea, but to the team as a whole. Of course, we will also mark your contributions. Ten Stars for each Low Grade Medals.”

“You…”

Yuri smiled ever so slightly, as if trying to show off her victory, while Cecilia grinned blatantly, taunting Vestia for her failed ploy.

“…Then let us do as Yuri says,” Alnea said, trying to diffuse the tension in the air. “I know that you are not very interested in the Medals, Vestia, but I cannot accept them for no reason. Besides, marking the Medals as your contributions to the Team will also be beneficial for you. When you have gathered enough Stars, you can also exchange them for rewards.”

“But like you said, I am not very interested in the Medals…”

“Then you can exchange for other rewards. You can think for yourself what reward you want. Just remember, the greater the number of Stars you gather, the greater the reward you can exchange for.”

“…Is that so,” Vestia said, with her dimples, along with smile, returning to her face. “Then I would like to thank Yuri for helping me stop in time, or I might have lost my chance to earn such a big ‘reward’.”

“…There is no need to thank me,” Yuri said in a stiff tone, glaring at him for a moment, before returning to her usual self. “We are all Star Seekers. It is only natural that I help you chase after the ‘Star’ you Seek. Just a reminder though. Some stars burn brighter than others… Who knows, you might end up burning yourself before you catch up to the Star.”

“…I am sure that Alnea will never let me burn. Is that not right, Alnea?”

“…Naturally, I will never let my companions get hurt,” Alnea said, trying to ignore the cold glares being directed at him. “Alright then, it is time to hand out your rewards. Karl, which Medal do you want?”

“…A Martial Style Medal.”

“…Were you not going to act as a Scholar?”

“It is precisely because I am a Scholar that I need some handy Martial Styles to cover up my weakness.”

“…How many Blood Crystal Martial Styles have you exchanged?”

“…What are Blood Crystal Martial Styles?”

“…I am asking because I have already exchanged all nine Blood Crystal Martial Styles, and have also practiced all nine of them. If you want, I can recommend you the best Martial Style for your situation.”

“…Not many… Just five.”

“…Which ones?”

“…Blood Crystal Condensation, Blood Crystal Evolution, Blood Forging, Blood Muscle Forging, and Blood Bone Forging.”

“…Is this a Scholar? This is clearly a Warrior!”

Alnea ignored Zain’s mumblings, as he took out a Martial Style Medal, and handed it to Karl, before saying, “If you find the Blood Crystal Martial Styles not too hard to practice, then I would recommend you to exchange three more Medals from the team in the future, and then redeem the Blood Organ Forging, Blood Crystal Resonance, and Blood Manipulation from the Martial Style Library. If not, then stop after exchanging Blood Organ Forging.”

“…I will consider your suggestion.”

“Alright then, next, Zain. I am assuming you want an Arcana Medal?”

“…It is not that I want the Arcana Medal, it is the Arcana Medal which wants me.”

“…Here,” Alnea said, taking the Arcana Medal from Vestia, and handing it to Zain, before quickly moving on to Ralph. “Which Medal do you want, Ralph?”

“…A Glyph Medal.”

“…And you, Fran?”

“Glyph Medal.”

“…Aren?”

“…Arcana Medal.”

“…Norren?”

“…Martial Style Medal.”

“…None of you three want any Medals, right?”

“No.”

“Then that’s it. Six Medals. Two from me, four from Vestia. That makes it forty Stars for you, Vestia.”

“And twenty for you,” Yuri said.

“…There is no need to record my Stars, right? I am the team leader—

“But you are still a Star Seeker,” Yuri said, shaking her head. “Rules of the team applies to everyone, Alnea, even you. Or else, we will be less like a team, and more like your subordinates.”

“I do not see any problem in becoming your subordinate though…”

“…Fine. Twenty Stars for me, forty for you. Remember to note it down, Vestia.”

“Of course,” Vestia said. “I am looking forward to what kind of reward I can get from you.”

“…Now that we are done dealing with the reward, let us discuss the Black Desert Trials.”