There were a total of 103 treasure chests in front of Zyrus. More than half of them were of common grade, and he generously gifted ten of them to the players who came alongside him.
As expected, they were thrilled after hearing that he’d leave 10 chests for them to open. Zyrus also planned to create a treasury after this so the players under him could trade among themselves.
‘It’s about time I set up contribution points as well,’
He wasn’t a newbie when it came to ruling over the players. He was well aware of all the deals that would make the players work hard towards their collective goal.
And the best way to motivate them was by giving them more strength. Soon, the researchers working at the base would produce results as well. Most of them were military items while some were quality-of-life products like foldable tents, sensing devices, thermal storage items, and so on.
They would require a lot of materials for that, and by selling them for contribution points, he could then set up an internal system.
Setting the idle thoughts aside, Zyrus focused his eyes on the 20+ rare chests and 4 unique chests. It was quite a haul even by his standards.
He, Franken, and Jacob split the chests into three and opened them one by one. He and Jacob talked about how it felt like playing a gacha game while Franken listened with interest.
Compared to the days they spent to reach this place, the process of opening the chests was over in a blink.
Zyrus set apart a few decent ones for his soon-to-be knight squad and decided to place the rest into the treasury.
He felt great just by looking at the numerous sparkling items.
[Fiery Greaves]
Effect: Strength +5, increased resistance to fire-based terrain effects.
Blazing strike: Add fire attribute to your physical attacks. Duration: 1 minute Cooldown: 1 hour
[Blizzard Amulet]
Effect: Resistance to Frost +20%.
Icicle Barrage: Launch a hail of icicles at enemies in a fan-shaped area.
Range: User’s level/3 Cooldown: 6 hours.
[Fang of the cursed]
Effect: Crit Rate +15%.
Shadow’s Embrace: Teleport behind a target within 10 meters. The next surprise attack after activation has a 60% chance of inflicting a [Slow] debuff.
Cooldown: 1 hour
[Thunderwood wand]
Effect: Int +5, Lightning damage increases by 10%. Imbued with the spell static discharge.
Static discharge: Stores leftover mana, and releases aoe magic to deal 50 lightning damage. Recharge rate: 1 attack per 50 MP consumed
[Cloak of the Weathered Vine]
Effect: DEF +10, Resistance to detection type abilities.
Entangle: Immobilizes an enemy for 3 seconds, Cooldown: 30 minutes
[Pheonix’s blessed totem]
Effect: HP Regen +10%, Fire resistance +20%, around 20-meter radius.
Note: The user can move in a 30-meter radius after placing down the totem, but they will have to supply mana continuously.
Consumption: 5 MP/Sec, Cooldown: 2 hours
[Pearl of the morning Dew]
Effect: MP +5, Reduces spell cooldowns by 5%
Heart of the Elf: Amplify the next elemental spell’s damage by 30%
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[Ogre’s Grips]
Effect: STR +5, Grants a chance to ignore 10% of enemy DEF.
Gravitational Pull: Drag enemies from a 5-meter radius in the air.
Cooldown: 1 hour
Zyrus closed the numerous tabs and placed the items in his inventory. One can never get tired by obtaining new items, so it was time to open the unique chests.
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[Tyr's Vow]
Gauntlets forged with the blood of Tyr, pulsing with the unyielding strength and determination to sacrifice.
Effect: STR +10, Defense against Physical Resistance +20%, Magical resistance -20%
Creed of Sacrifice: Increases damage dealt by 50%/80% after losing 80%/95% of your HP. If the wielder kills the enemy in this state, then their HP will recover by 200, and the cooldown will decrease to 7 days. Otherwise, the wielder will be inflicted with a [Unworthy] debuff for three days.
Unworthy: Exp gain reduced by 90%, Recovery rates are halved.
Duration: 10 minutes, Cooldown: 1 month
Zyrus drew a sharp breath as he looked at the thorny gauntlets. The red spikes that adorned the black gauntlets were proof that this was a destructive weapon, both to the wielder and the ones who faced them.
“I’ll give them to Strongfist,”
“Indeed, it’ll suit that musclehead,” Franken replied while urging him to open the next box. Zyrus wanted to let them do it as well, but he decided not to after seeing Jacob’s nervous face.
‘Is he worried about not getting something useful to him?’
Zyrus thought as he walked towards the next chest. Come to think of it, Jacob didn’t get anything when he opened the chests in the first ring as well.
‘Surely his luck won’t be that bad, right?’
[Anubis’ Judgement]
A mask imbued with Anubis’s punishment. May the judgement befall your foes.
Effect: Deal additional 10% bleed damage to sinners.
Scales of Duat: Inflict [Weight of The Heart] in a 33-meter radius.
Weight of The Heart: Make the enemies kneel down for 1-10 seconds based on their sins, and Increase damage received by them by 30%-60%, Cooldown: 3 months.
“Hmm, another great item. I’ll give it to Kyle,” Zyrus spoke and unhurriedly opened the next chest.
[You have obtained the blueprint for “Frost Cannon”]
“Haha…what luck. Didn’t think that I’d get a unique grade blueprint,”
.
.
[You have obtained the blueprint for “Electric Torpedo”]
“…”
“…”
“…”
The trio looked at each other and mourned for Jacob’s bad luck.
“Don’t worry, I’ll find some materials to increase your fire affinity if we don’t find anything useful,”
“Yeah, personal strength is better than show-offy items,”
You’re not helping, Franken.
“…That’s reassuring. I guess.”
With a somewhat gloomy and resigned Jacob in tow, we finally left to sail back towards the third island.
…
Four days later,
Zyrus was observing the sea from the mast as usual. Except for 7 players who had more than a couple of broken bones, the rest had fully recovered in these past days. Franken was busy figuring out how to hatch the eggs as well.
In the meanwhile, Zyrus spent his days teaching Jacob and writing down plans for the future. He would separate from the players after the third island, and thus, it was crucial to write down what he knew beforehand.
The danger level was just about right to train the players without suffering too many setbacks. What he focused on the most were places rich with natural resources.
Sanctuary was a magical place where one might find material at unexpected places. Floating metal and seaweed that can be produced into gunpowder-like substances were one such example.
While he had joked it off at the Lair of Nidhogg, the unique grade blueprints were in fact better than all of the rewards combined. The blueprints themselves weren’t that valuable, but the key here was ‘Unique’.
It implied that from now on, not a second set of the ‘Frost Cannon’ and ‘Electric Torpedo’ would exist. His troops had the exclusive rights to learn and develop those two technologies.
The scary part about this was that even if someone managed to create a unique war machine such as Frost cannon without the blueprint, they wouldn’t be recognized by the sanctuary. If they want their creations to be recognized then they’d have to modify some parts of it.
It was similar to the concept of ‘patent’ before the earth’s unification. However, the enforcement power of the sanctuary was a million times stronger than any corporation or government on earth.
‘It’s about time we reach there,’
Zyrus closed the map at the thought. The rendezvous point was at a half-day distance from the third island. He planned to launch a night assault this time since it was advantageous for the players.
*Thump*
He jumped down from the mast and looked for Jacob who was busy studying the theories of arcana.
“Take the notes and blueprints back to the second base, and teach the researchers about this as well,”
“You sure?”
Although it was basic-level stuff in Zyrus’s eyes, it felt like a treasure trove to Jacob.
“Yeah, why not,” Zyrus chuckled with cold eyes. Even if someone was stupid enough to have different ideas about his shared knowledge, what could they do with it in the middle of nowhere?
Not to mention that the newbie players wouldn’t know about the loopholes of his crown’s authority. And even if some smartass managed to stir things up, his knight candidates were left behind on the second island to deal with it.
He wasn’t the least bit worried about being schemed over after all these preparations.
“If you say so,” Jacob shrugged after a moment of silence and went back to his studies.
‘If nothing else, he’s got the diligence needed for an arcanist,’
Zyrus recalled his first encounter with the arcanists as he walked towards the back of the dragon of war.
‘I’m looking forward to meeting them again…’
“What’re you daydreaming about?”
“Nothing important. Anyway, take these and give them to suitable players in my knight squad. I’ll hand over the rest to Ria,” Zyrus replied as he handed over the rare items.
“You’re taking none for yourself?”
“Nope, I’ll use my equipment till the end unless they get destroyed,”
“Heh, how ambitions. Who knows though, maybe you’ll pull it off,” Franken replied with an excited gleam in his eyes.
The duo parted their ways after chatting for a bit, as Zyrus had yet to make the rules for contribution points.
Although he wanted to keep most of the items in the treasury, he didn’t plan to send them back. Weapons belonged to the battlefield.
It was moronic to stuff your warehouse with weapons. Of course, he couldn’t just hand them over like candies either.
Thus, Zyrus had come up with a borrowing system in the past. Players can borrow a piece of equipment by paying a certain amount of contribution points.
And what if they’re without any points then?
‘Hehe…then I’ll gladly loan some out with ‘reasonable’ interest rates…’