Chapter 10
Chapter 10
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 10
Chapter Title: The Number One Contributor
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Any place where NPCs gathered to live had a thing called Contribution Points.
It quantified how much you'd contributed to the place and how much help you'd given the residents.
The benefits that came with it, along with the rising favor from the residents.
That was why some players deliberately racked up Contribution Points.
In hopes of uncovering some hidden piece.
'Am I really number one?'
That was exactly Luke right now.
He'd boldly claimed the top spot in the village's Contribution rankings, triggering a hidden event.
"You've done so much for our village all this time. How could we give you the same reward as the other adventurers?"
"......"
"You're our village's greatest contributor, after all!"
And that was why.
Even the village chief was wagging a finger in approval, fully acknowledging Luke.
'But I'm a thief?'
The man before him had no clue he was a thief.
"Anyway, just wait here a moment. I'll fetch your reward right away."
While Luke stood there dazed, the chief pulled a large box from inside the room.
A square box big enough that anyone could tell at a glance it held something valuable.
The moment he spotted it, Luke's foggy mind cleared in an instant.
"Ahem, well now. What incredible reward are you planning to give me that you need a box this big...?"
"Oh, it's nothing special."
"What?"
"Still, for someone like you who's bound to leave the village someday, these should be helpful enough."
"Hahaha, you should've said that from the start."
He'd nearly been disappointed before even receiving it.
Luke grumbled inwardly as he peered down at the box on the table.
Gulp!
This was a reward given only to the number one contributor.
What on earth could be inside?
His curiosity spiked as the chief finally opened the box.
'Ooh... Oooooh?!'
He could see it.
It was right there.
A variety of gear and items.
All of them high-grade or better.
'W-what is this! Dark Shield, Fairy Armor, and even a Silver Sword?!'
Among them were some fairly well-known pieces of equipment.
'Ahh, so this is the reward for number one contributor!'
He swallowed hard.
Luke stared wide-eyed at the rewards before glancing at the chief.
"Wow, giving me all these amazing rewards... As expected of the chief—you're a big shot!"
And with a light joke, he tested the waters.
Of course.
"Hoho, I'd love to, but unfortunately, I can only let you pick one reward."
He was shot down immediately.
"That's the rule we set from the start. I can't bend it, not even for you."
"Kuh!"
He was firm.
And so.
For a split second, a thought crossed his mind.
'Just kill him and take it all?'
But committing murder here would make him the target of every guard.
Plus, he hadn't even hit level 10 yet.
If the guards chased him down while he was still stuck in the village, he'd be caught in no time.
'Tch, and I can't even steal these.'
He could only Steal items he'd Scouted.
The rewards right in front of him were blocked by the system—he couldn't even put them in his inventory.
He could only pick one, just as the chief said.
'No helping it.'
Still, one of these would be plenty.
Luke decided to think positive.
"Sigh, well, it looks like there are more rewards at the bottom. Mind if I take them out one by one to check? Yeah? You do? Great, thanks!"
He chattered to himself, pulling out items and inspecting them one by one.
'Hm?'
Deep inside the box.
Amid the gear and items, an old compass caught his eye.
'Why does this keep sparkling?'
Among all the rewards, only that compass was emitting light.
Strange as it seemed, Luke reached in and pulled out the glowing compass to inspect it.
But at that moment.
'Huh, a mask?'
A black mask pattern in the shape of a face mask popped up over the compass.
And then.
His vision went dark.
There was a man.
From childhood, he loved discovering and exploring things.
Tumultuous adventures.
All the world's hidden wonders and secrets.
Uncovering them was pure joy.
So as soon as he came of age, he set off on his travels.
As an adventurer, as a pioneer, wandering the world.
One year.
Ten years.
And even twenty.
His adventures showed no sign of ending.
It felt like the time would last forever.
But as the years passed and age caught up.
Thud!
His body grew frail with illness, and the legs that had carried him failed at last.
He couldn't defy the march of time.
The end of a long journey.
Sensing it was the end, the man slowly closed his eyes.
Clutching the compass that had been with him his whole life.
The man fell into an eternal dream.
And time flowed on.
'A compass that points to what you desire most?'
The compass, left behind by the eternally dreaming adventurer, ended up in a certain man's hands.
The king of shadows who first ushered in the era of night.
The Night King himself.
'Interesting.'
The Night King was pleased.
A compass that pointed to one's desires.
He'd collected treasures from across the world, but this was a first.
This, too, would surely become part of his endless greed.
"A fine new addition to the collect—"
"My king, they've invaded our territory again. This time, it's an army of over 100,000!"
A shadow rising from the floor.
The Night King's face hardened at the sudden report.
In that instant, time, which had flowed endlessly, ground to a halt.
An empty silence.
At the same time, the world began to drown in pitch-black darkness.
Czzzzt!
And with that, the memory ended.
"......ge."
A blurry field of vision.
A voice coming from within it.
"......look!"
It's getting closer.
Closer and closer.
The sound was drawing near.
And then.
"Hey, look here!"
"Hek?!"
By the time he snapped out of it, he was back in the chief's house.
'W-what was that just now?'
Memory recall.
That's what the message had said before he blacked out.
Luke frantically scanned his surroundings with confused eyes.
The village chief staring at him with a puzzled face.
The familiar interior of the house.
Definitely the chief's place.
'Don't tell me it was because of this?'
Sure enough.
The suspected culprit was the compass in his hand.
Night King's item.
The mask-shaped pattern engraved on it.
In simple terms, it meant find the Night King's items and reclaim power through the energy left in them.
'No wonder there's no job quest. They set it up like this instead?'
His job skills and exclusive traits were probably structured the same way.
And as if confirming his guess, new messages appeared before his eyes.
'Of course.'
Sure enough.
The first ability granted was the power to see hidden patterns.
Otherwise, he couldn't find the Night King's items scattered across the continent.
The item itself was utterly unremarkable.
'In the memory, it pointed to what the owner desired most.'
Maybe it needed some special condition.
Wondering if something was hidden, he stared holes into the compass in his hand.
Then the chief across from him chuckled and spoke up.
"Hoho, taking a liking to that broken old compass. You really are one of a kind."
"Pardon?"
"There are so many other rewards, yet you pick the busted compass of all things."
"Wait, pick the compass? I haven't chosen my reward yet."
"What are you talking about? You've already picked it."
"This old man's finally lost it..."
At that moment.
Luke's gaze locked onto the box.
'No, you damn...!'
A curse rose unbidden.
What kind of nonsense was this?
He'd just stood there motionless during the memory recall, and somehow the reward auto-selected.
He couldn't have been more wronged.
"Um, sir."
"Yes?"
"Can I get a refund? I zoned out for a second and picked wrong, so could I maybe pick again...?"
"Ho ho ho, no can do. Can't undo a choice once it's made."
"There's a saying about three strikes, you know. It was a mistake, so if you let me pick again, what's the harm...?"
"As I said, impossible. Just let it go."
The chief cut him off firmly.
No more chances.
"Anyway, seems our business is done. Keep working hard for the village. Adventurers like you are rare."
"......"
"Oh, and drop by for tea sometime. You're always welcome."
Luke's dazed eyes twitched.
He could now freely enter the chief's house—which was notoriously hard to access—but it brought him no joy.
He just stared at the chief's back with a look of utter disbelief as he turned away.
"What are you waiting for? Business is over. Get going. Don't tell me you're still hung up on the reward? If so, I'll have no choice but to call the guards..."
Only after the dismissal did Luke reluctantly turn to leave.
'Ahh, my number one contributor rewards...'
His eyes still lingered on the box atop the table.
'Out of all those high-grade items, I get a useless compass.'
If it weren't a Night King item, he'd have smashed it on the floor already.
In the end, all he'd gained from visiting the chief's house was a permanent ability.
Plus the busted compass and the power to see Night King patterns.
Not a single immediately useful reward.
'Damn Night King.'
He could only curse the timing of that memory.
Luke muttered inwardly as he headed for the door.
At that moment.
'...Wait, this isn't right.'
He suddenly remembered he was a thief.
'Right, no guards around now. It's just me and the chief.'
And the chief had his back turned, packing the items back into the box.
In other words, perfect Scout timing.
'The one guy in the village I couldn't Scout was this chief.'
The village chief NPC, infamous for being so hard to meet.
What could he be carrying?
With tense anticipation, Luke slowly crept up behind him.
The chief was still focused on putting away the displayed items.
'Please don't turn around.'
He seized the moment and activated Scout. A scroll window popped up immediately.
Thump!
His heart pounded.
He fretted that the chief might turn around any second.
'Oh, it popped up...'
And the moment the first item was discovered, Luke's eyes went wide as saucers.