Coughing up blood, at least, wasn’t an act.

  It was just an unavoidable side effect of his [Mana Hypersensitivity] quirk, which Shane was now selling as the “price” for using such a strong skill.

  If people thought he’d been saving his ultimate move for no reason, the accusations would fly. “Why didn’t you join the fight from the start? Why show up this late? You owe us for the losses.”

  He’d learned the hard way that gratitude went sour fast.

  That’s why he’d been keeping his mouth shut, to hold back the blood he could feel rising in his throat. Cases of hunters suffering side effects for using powerful skills were rare, but they existed.

  And revealing it now, when everyone was high on the relief of surviving, would have a much bigger impact.

  For a second, all chatter died out and the only sound was Shane’s wet coughs.

  From his peripheral vision, he could see it on their faces already. Their expressions were quickly turning into alarm and concern.

  Perfect.

  “Hunter Ashwell!”

  Another cough tore out of him, blood running between Shane’s fingers. His insides burned like hell.

  Shit.

  “Don’t talk!”

  “Let’s get out of the dungeon first!”

  He wasn’t about to force any words out, but the hunters were quicker to help than he’d expected. If he hadn’t wrecked himself to keep them alive, he might have actually felt guilty about tricking them.

  Ryan moved to support him, since the heat radiating off Shane had faded to a feverish warmth.

  But Shane straightened his back and gave a slight shake of his head. He could walk fine on his own two feet.

  Pretending to be a patient was kind of… embarassing already.

  He had been hoping to bait them into thinking he’d sacrificed a lot for them, but he didn’t want them to baby him.

  Seriously, it was just a little blood. Why were they freaking out?

  Well, I guess they have to try to clean up their image after so many rookies died on their watch.

  Shane forced himself to accept Ryan’s help. Maybe he should take the pitiful act further. That way, no one would complain when the System rewards were handed out.

  “So you actually are kicking me out of the dungeon.”

  He was referring to the time Ryan had told an F-rank like Shane shouldn’t be entering dungeons.

  “Is this really the time for jokes?” said Ryan, the jab clearly hitting its mark. But Shane could feel some of the tension leaving the guy’s shoulders. The fact that Shane had the energy to joke around seemed to have reassured him.

  Yeah. Make sure to remember what you said back there. And keep feeling like you owe me.

  The mood lightened a little as other people started helping the injured.

  [You have successfully defended against the 2nd monster wave!]

  The quest screen updated. But it didn’t say the dungeon was cleared, and everyone except Shane froze.

  [The rank of the reward will be increased!]

  Shane thought he could hear Ryan’s heart pounding.

  [Dungeon Clearedl!]

  [Top Contributor: Shane Ashwell]

  [Rewards and monster loot will be distributed according to contribution.]

  [See you all at the next dungeon raid!]

  Give me a break.

  Shane never wanted to set foot in a dungeon again, but he pressed [Confirm] to receive his share. The plan was a success. He already knew what the loading screen would spit out as it calculated the percentages.

  A thirty percent contribution was in the bag.

  In a world with no experience points or levels, the most important factor for growth was the dungeon reward. And naturally, the rewards were distributed based on who contributed the most to the clear.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Roughly speaking, over 30% got you a high-tier reward, 20-30% was mid-tier, and 10-20% was low-tier.

  [Please note that rewards will not be given for contributions of 10% or less.]

  That’s what the System window said, but in reality, you’d at least get a mana potion or some minor loot, so you never left empty-handed.

  But there was another category, even above high-tier.

  [The top-tier bonus reward will be given to the hunter with over 50% contribution!]

  Fifty percent contribution.

  The internet had dubbed that “god-tier” and memed it to death, so “did you hit 50%?” started popping up in all kinds of random threads.

  Shane shouldn’t have known any of that since the internet was illegal where he used to live, but his friend had been a born rule-breaker.

  While Shane was lost in thought, the other hunters quietly worried about the reward that had cost several lives. If they got fired from their guilds, would this be enough to count as severance pay?

  Soon, a random box marked with a ‘?’ appeared in every hunter’s inventory.

  Shane wasn’t nervous. He already knew the result. He’d helped kill the entire second wave, so he was definitely over 30%. But he hadn’t been there for the first. And he’d only been able to help with the second wave because of the blood spilled by the other hunters earlier, so 50% was impossible.

  [Skill: Bloodcraft]

  Rank: B–

  Source: Broken Oath (exclusive)

  Effect: Converts nearby blood into Mana. The relic-bearer’s own blood yields the highest conversion.

  Overflow: Mana gained from Bloodcraft can exceed your Max Mana, creating a temporary Overflow bar. Overflow is spent first and persists even after the skill ends. When Overflow hits zero, your mana cap returns to normal.

  This strategy always got him a high-tier reward in the game.

  [The rewards have been distributed.]

  Shane opened his inventory and tapped the box. Then he stopped in his tracks.

  [Top-tier Reward]

  What?

  Shane swiped the notification away.

  ...Okay, perhaps he should have taken coughing up blood a little more seriously. He was hallucinating.

  He blinked and reopened the message, to see what it actually said.

  [Top-tier Reward]

  Shit.

  His palms started to sweat as reality sank in, his eyes glued to the text in front of him.

  When Shane stopped walking, Ryan, who was still holding his arm, asked if he was okay. Then Ryan saw the contribution score on the System window and looked even more shocked than Shane was.

  [Top Contributor: Shane Ashwell (50%)]

  “Fifty percent contribution?”

  Ryan, who had received a 30% contribution reward himself, couldn’t close his mouth. But he soon regained his composure. He gently nudged Shane in the side with his elbow.

  Shane stiffened, fighting the urge to jerk away. For a split second, that elbow felt like a dagger checking for a soft spot between his ribs.

  Only when Ryan smiled did Shane’s logic catch up.

  “You deserve it. I don’t know why I was so surprised,” said Ryan.

  Oh. So was he buttering Shane up?

  But why was he acting so friendly all of a sudden? Was he after Shane’s reward? If Shane were attacked right now, he could only think of one or two ways to fight back.

  He managed to tear his eyes away from Ryan and check the item again. The other hunters figured he was quiet because of his injuries. Really, it was his head. He was getting a splitting headache because this didn’t make any sense.

  Why did I get fifty percent?

  Contribution wasn’t just based on the number of monsters you killed. But no matter how he thought about it, all he had done was put the finishing touch on a meal that had already been prepared.

  Then he realized the difference between the game and reality.

  The EX-rank Quirks.

  Unlike in the game, he was saddled with four Quirks that came with harsh penalties. The System must have factored that in, raising the evaluation of his attack. His past combat experience, which made his skills more potent than others of the same rank, probably helped too. He sighed.

  Shane’s mind raced. He seemed to be on the right track, but the fact that things weren’t going according to plan was frustrating. The reward he’d been aiming for was a one-time-use scroll that would permanently cut a skill’s mana cost by 50%. The amazing thing about the scroll was that the effect stacked.

  But instead, he got a pendant that would triple his current mana stat.

  Obviously, it was a much better reward. The problem was that unlike mana cost reduction, a bigger mana pool would only make his [Mana Hypersensitivity] worse.

  Was there really no way to use this thing?

  It was probably just his imagination, but even through the inventory slot, he felt pressure against his chest as he looked at the pendant. Okay, definitely not.

  It felt like the universe was constantly playing a cruel joke on him.

  The System had rewarded his handicap by giving him a golden noose that would kill him faster.

  And the danger wasn’t limited to using skills.

  His body was currently cracked glass, barely holding his natural mana. With more mana running through his system, even breathing would become a struggle.

  Tripling the volume of mana before he’d raised his Constitution to handle [Mana Hypersensitivy] would be suicide, especially when there was no telling what awaited him inside the next gate.

  But ignoring the pendant wasn’t an option either. He needed more mana—or to be precise, lowered mana costs—for the major raids ahead.

  He briefly considered trading with Ryan, but quickly dismissed the idea.

  Since he secured the number one reward, Ryan’s 30% contribution reward must have been downgraded.

  Usually, hitting 30% guaranteed the best loot from a dungeon, but because Shane pushed him into second place, his item would have nerfed stats to compensate for Shane’s windfall.

  So simply trading the pendant was off the table.

  There was a menu that also listed contribution rankings from other recently cleared dungeons. He filtered it to show only dungeons that rookies had participated in. He scanned the logs of dozens of recently cleared dungeons to see how many had produced a rookie with over 50% contribution.

  About ten people.

  He saw the faces of the two hunters fighting for the number one and two spots in the rookie rankings. The names weren’t listed, but Shane already knew who they were. The rest he recognized from ads and the news of this world.

  And now, among those ten rising stars, was Shane.

  Of course, he was the only F-rank in the group.

  Goddammit.

  This was going to draw way too much unwanted attention. But he couldn’t dwell on the negatives.

  He could probably sell the pendant for a high price.

  If he flipped it, he could buy another piece of equipment of the same value. It was a slight delay, but he was still closer to his goal of stopping the First Cataclysm.

  ...As long as he didn’t get ripped off at the auction house.

  Shane made his decision. He would put the item up for auction. After that, he’d lay low and just grind dungeons until the apocalypse. He was going to complete achievements like a madman and hoard every skill point he could.

  “Excuse me, Hunter Ashwell. If you don’t mind my asking,” asked Ryan. “What reward did you receive?”

  …Ok, first things first. Keep the pendant away from these hyenas and get out of this dungeon in one piece.

  The System stops recording once the dungeon is cleared. It’s hard to get away with killing someone after the fact, since the video would show the hunter survived the dungeon, but right now was the perfect time to try and steal someone’s reward and play dumb.

  Getting jumped right now would be annoying.