Red light enveloped Fenric the instant extraction completed. Warmth soaked through bone and marrow; fever bled off; torn muscle knit; toxin on his body cleared. The system's post‑dungeon purge stripped away every negative state.
While he floated in the glow, settlement prompts cascaded:
"Samsara Player 'Shura' — mission complete. Rewards:"
• Samsara Points: 30,000.
• Strength +20.
• Personal Instance Card ×1 (stored in Personal Warehouse).
• Gold Treasure Chest ×1 (stored in Personal Warehouse).
Notice: You have advanced to Official Samsaraplayer status. You can no longer enter Safe Zone dungeon worlds, nor re‑enter the First Floor (World War Z) of the Samsara Tower.
Fenric's eyes lit up.
Tower rewards really hit different! Thirty. Thousand. Points. A stat boost on top. A Personal Instance Card—solo farm, no competition—and a mysterious Gold Treasure Chest? It's like hitting a Jackpot!
The healing cycle ended. He re‑coalesced in Samsara Square.
Ding—!
You have a new communication request: "Arke" invites you to a video call.
Of course she did. In fact, half the Samsara Space probably wanted him right now. But after his last publicity wave he'd told the system to auto‑block all comms except Arke. Which is a good call.
He accepted.
Arke appeared in holo—mask on, expression complicated.
"Arke-chan," Fenric said, grinning. "Shouldn't you be offline sleeping? You can't queue in a dungeon this late."
"I was… discussing things," she said, caught off guard by how honestly that came out. "Making plans with friends for my next refresh attempt."
Why am I explaining myself? And what did he just call me—Arke-chan?
Fenric tilted his head. "So—what did you need?"
She drew a breath. "I heard the system broadcast. Congratulations, Shura—another Super God evaluation. A lot of people are looking for you now."
He winced. "Tell me about it. The system just has to blast my business to the whole Samsara Space. It's hard to get rich quietly when your scoreboard shouts."
He'd wanted to advance low‑key, pile points, gear up unseen. Instead, one Safe Zone SSS, now a Tower SSS known to all—he was a walking headline.
"Shura…" Arke hesitated, then pushed through. "Can I buy your World War Z strategy?"
Fenric shook his head. "Afraid not. That's a Tower copy—different stakes. You couldn't meet my price, and even if you could, selling it might hurt you. Can you absolutely guarantee your real‑world identity won't leak if word gets out you hold that strat?"
Truth: he couldn't re‑enter World War Z anyway. The guide was surplus… but cash wasn't what he wanted. Special items were. And Arke—still Safe Zone noob—likely had none.
"You're right," she admitted. Then, more serious: "Listen. Major powers are already hunting for you. They want Tower strategies—especially early‑floor clears. Tower dungeons don't use the Safe Zone 'first‑clear half reward' rule. Even repeat SSS clears still grant full points—only the unique item drops lock. With enough points, you can boost raw stats fast—turn players in D‑class by batches. If a state locks down your method, they could field whole units."
She met his eyes. "Please don't sell to hostile nations. Or to… bad people."
Fenric smiled. "Thanks for the heads‑up, Arke-chan. I'm not stupid."
"Can you not put 'chan' in my name?"
"Why? You big? Where? Show me."
"…"
Prompt: The other party has ended the call.
Fenric chuckled, closed the window—and opened his Personal Warehouse.
Inside, nestled in system light, waited a gleaming Gold Treasure Chest.