Free Web NovelChapter 242: Chapter 242 - So put them in a line.
The players quickly began to line up. The players rushed to be the ones at the front, pushing each other out of the way, and fighting over their spot.
"Hey!" A bowman just had someone slide in front of them in line, unprovoked. "You just cut in line!"
The warrior looked back. "Really? Don’t you know that priority is given to those that contributed more?"
"Huh?" The bowman was taken aback. "Says who? Lumi didn’t-" He suddenly caught the implication. "Hey! I did way more than you, clown!"
Regardless of the specifics of the players fighting amongst themselves, most of the top fifty contributors were immediately obvious. To begin with, there was himself. Beyond that, there were those who he had invited, and as predicted, performed well. That would be Ryan, Lena, Vice, Hazy, and Tora.
Beyond that personal circle, credit absolutely had to be given to those who had set up the pitfall trap that Currway had fallen into, which made him take continuous severe hits. It involved a surprisingly high amount of players, making Lumi internally nod as he could cross off a bit over two dozen from it alone.
Then there was every single player who had managed to grievously damage Currway’s eyes, who had his eyes targeted repeatedly.
There were then the warriors who gave their lives to halt Currway’s advances on major players such as Lumi or Lena. freewebnøvel.coɱ
And even though it was just luck that they were given that order by Lena, there were the two magicians who melted metal for Lena.
When those factors were considered, the list of fifty quickly filled up.
Below them was the rest of the raid group. They would be loosely ranked on if they managed to do any damage at all, or at least supplied some materials for the pitfall trap. Buffers, and those who brought materials or consumables were also considered higher.
Once the front of the line existed well enough to work with, Lumi began to work through them methodically, one by one. He assessed what he remembered of each player’s contribution, made his judgment, and completed the trade. Most received somewhere around five thousand Ems. Those who had contributed more walked away with six, seven, or eight thousand. Those who had effectively done nothing got two or three.
[You have received: 5,000 Ems]
The reactions spread through the line as each player checked their inventory after trading. "Five thousand! That’s not bad, normally takes me a few days!"
"I got six!"
A warrior near the back pumped his fist. He’d been part of Ryan’s shield wall, the one that had held against Currway’s charge long enough for the mages to keep pouring damage in. "Go Lumi! Wow, I didn’t think he’d remember me. I mean, there’s over a thousand of us!"
Nearby, an archer stared at his notification quietly. He’d been one of the players who followed Vice’s order to stop firing randomly and lock in on exposed flesh, landing clean shots on the spots where Currway’s scales had already been broken. Eight thousand. "More than fair," he said to nobody in particular, already mentally calculating how many potions that translated to.
Some players had expected nothing beyond the experience they’d gained. Others had hoped for a token amount. Getting a fair payout on top of thirteen levels was more than most had dared to hope for.
"Lumi actually paid us!"
"I want to be in the next one."
"He said he’d do this and he actually did it."
Once the majority had been processed, Lumi raised his voice. "Ryan. Lena. Vice. Hazy. Tora." He paused, checking over DMs he was actively having at the same time with several of his lietenants. He had to grab the names of those, and then call them out by name, one at a time. H
The players that he had called had come to the front. It came to thirty, roughly as expected. Many of the players had died, after all. As already stated in the forum post, he would stay in Elenora a bit longer, then leave a contact for those who died to be able to claim their share of the loot.
Regardless, he faced the current group. A good portion of them already knew Lumi directly. The majority didn’t. He looked over their faces, made a mental note of each one, and said, "Add me as a friend, those of you who haven’t already."
He began to rapidly receive friend requests, which he began to accept in rapid succession.
"Lumi just added me," one of them muttered, standing very still as the confirmation appeared.
Once they were all connected, Lumi addressed them. "Instead of Ems, each of you will receive a custom item crafted from Currway’s body. The value will reflect your contribution. I guarantee that within two weeks at most, you will have it." He gestured toward Merath, who had been watching from the library entrance with an expression that sat somewhere between patience and resignation. "The crafting will be handled by Archmage Merath. What I need from you now is your request. Item type, and any specific features that matter to your build."
Merath merely closed his eyes, and did not object.
The requests came quickly. Most players had strong opinions about what they needed and weren’t shy about it.
A warrior at the front asked for heavy scale armor, chest and shoulders. A thief requested twin daggers and added something about wanting the weight balanced toward the tips. An archer deliberated aloud for a solid minute over something about some strings. One of the shield warriors from Ryan’s wall asked for a tower shield, then thought about it and switched to a round shield, then began thinking about it again.
"Pick one." Lumi told him firmly.
The warrior made up his mind immediately. "Round shield." Lumi moved on before he could reconsider.
The two mages who had prepared the molten metal for Lena stood together near the back. They had come into the fight as relatively unknown players and spent most of it behind cover doing what Lena told them, which had turned out to be one of the most decisive contributions of the entire fight. One asked for a wand without hesitation. The other wasn’t sure what she wanted and looked genuinely overwhelmed to be standing in the top fifty at all.
Lumi glanced at her and evaluated her equipment. Her wand was already passable. However, there was a distinct lack of accessories. Therefore he suggested. "An accessory, perhaps? You don’t have any on, and you can stand to gain more power for free rather than replacing an item."
"O-oh!" She blushed, looking down at herself. "Y-you’re right, um... sorry. I- I um, a pendent, perhaps?"
"Alright." Lumi nodded and already moved on to the next player.
Once all fifty requests were in, Lumi turned to Merath fully. "Great Merath. I need these crafted."
The old mage looked at him for a long moment, then at the list of requests Lumi passed him, then at Currway’s corpse outside, then back to Lumi. He scoffed. "Oh, and now you call me great? Save it."
He continued. "You seriously dropped work on me, to make fifty custom pieces, each one tailored, all of it from demon materials which resist conventional crafting methods and require specialized techniques for every single piece." He paused. "Within two weeks."
"At most," Lumi said. freёwebnoѵel.com
Merath sighed through his nose. He could take it as actively contributing towards humanity, like he did in the old days. It was difficult to get used to it again.
"Fine." Merath replied, then added, with a measured look, "you owe me. Significantly more than you already did."
"I already know," Lumi said.
Merath turned to the fifty players before him and raised a hand before any of them could react. "Quality takes time. I will not rush and produce inferior work. Two weeks is what has been promised and two weeks is what I will attempt, but if a piece requires more time to do correctly, it will take more time. Understood?"
A chorus of agreement went through the group, enthusiastic enough that Merath seemed mildly surprised by how readily they accepted it.
"Very well." He gestured with his staff toward Currway’s body, a faint pulse of magic moving through the air. "Bring the scales as well. Everything collected."
Players rushed to comply, piling the scales near the library entrance. Merath examined them with a critical eye, checking quality, checking integrity, checking for damage that would render them unusable. He said nothing more to Lumi after that, only waving a dismissive hand toward the crowd. "Leave me. All of you."
As the crowd dispersed, the players beginning to scatter as they once again focused on themselves, first and foremost all their new skill points, Merath floated back through his library doors without another word, already deep in thought.
There were fifty custom pieces for him to do in just two weeks.
It looked like a great deal of work was in his foreseeable future.
