Miguel—known in-game as Stellar Mist—barely noticed the flashing icon on his message channel until the battlefield quieted. When he finally glanced at it, more than eighty new notifications filled the log.
Ding! Your teammate Stellar Mist has slain [Lemur (Normal)]. You gained 8 EXP.
The messages kept scrolling. In just five minutes, he'd raked in over 500 experience points without breaking a sweat.
Only a couple thousand more and he'd hit Level 6.
"Stellar, you're insane," Thunderblade—a cocky swordsman with a perpetual smirk—whistled low. "You're way faster than me. Way faster."
Miguel just stared at him.
There was nothing wrong with what Thunderblade had said, but… something about his tone felt off. Like there was a hidden joke in there somewhere.
"Oh, right," Thunderblade added, leaning in with a curious look. "These monster corpses? They only stick around for ten minutes. Why are you keeping them? Don't tell me you've got… some special hobby?"
He took a deliberate step back, his eyes narrowing in mock suspicion.
Miguel's patience snapped.
"You say one more thing, and I'll send you straight back to town."
The dangerous glint in Miguel's eyes made Thunderblade chuckle awkwardly. "Heh… yeah, okay. Shutting up."
Then Miguel froze. His gaze locked on something behind Thunderblade—something faint, but definitely there.
From inside a clump of tall grass, a soft silver gleam winked at him.
"…Could it be?"
His eyes lit up. Without another word, Miguel strode forward, pushing through the grass.
Thunderblade, thinking he was still mad, hurried after him. "Hey—Stellar! Don't be pissed, alright? I'm just a big mouth, that's all. I'll shut up. Promise!"
Miguel didn't even hear him. The silver glimmer had his full attention.
Which only made Thunderblade panic more. He tried again, this time pulling out the big guns. "Okay, okay! How about this? I'll let you see Hesse."
Miguel's foot caught mid-step, and he nearly face-planted into the dirt.
Seeing the reaction, Thunderblade's eyes gleamed. "Not just Hesse—there's Blanca, Reese… I've even got—" He lowered his voice conspiratorially. "—nude ones, mesh stockings, school uniforms. You name it, I've got it."
He reached out to help Miguel up.
But Miguel scrambled backward like he'd just seen a ghost.
"Don't come near me!" Miguel's voice was sharp now. "I'm not into men, I don't have… those tendencies. Spare me, man—I'll call you 'uncle' if that's what it takes!"
Thunderblade blinked, then went red. "The hell?! You're the one with weird tastes! I was talking about my sister!"
"…Your sister?" Miguel's face twisted with suspicion.
"Yeah!" Thunderblade's jaw twitched. "Drop-dead gorgeous, too. Guys trip over themselves to—" He stopped, glancing at Miguel's face… that ridiculously symmetrical face. "Okay… maybe not you, but still."
In front of Miguel, even Thunderblade himself looked average.
With a sigh of defeat, Thunderblade muttered, "Anyone else called me ugly, I'd fight 'em. But you… yeah, you win."
He straightened. "Anyway, my sister is the kind of beauty they write ballads about. Stunning."
Miguel just snorted and kept walking.
"How about I show you her picture? That'll prove it. You'll forgive me, right?"
"Forgiven, forgiven," Miguel said absently—because at that moment, he shoved the grass aside to reveal a gleaming silver chest sitting there in plain sight.
"A Silver Chest?!" Thunderblade's jaw dropped.
Now it all made sense—why Stellar Mist had been ignoring him, why he'd moved so fast.
Miguel's heart raced. Ten points of Luck and I find a silver chest already? Luck really is king.
"Sell it to me!" Thunderblade blurted. "I'll pay a hundred thousand Flame Nation credits! No—two hundred!"
Miguel glanced at him like he'd just asked to buy the moon. "One million and I might consider it."
Thunderblade's mouth twitched. "Yeah, right. Only an idiot would…" he muttered under his breath.
Miguel ignored him and knelt before the chest.
[You have opened a Silver Chest.]
[Rewards: EXP × 200,000; Skill Chest × 1.]
The silver dissolved into motes of light, vanishing into the air.
Two hundred thousand EXP.
Twin golden beams shot down onto Miguel's body.
Ding! Level Up! Current Level: 8. All attributes +1, Free Attribute Points +2.
Ding! Level Up! Current Level: 9. All attributes +1, Free Attribute Points +2.
It had taken only 120,000 EXP to go from Level 7 to Level 9, leaving him with 80,000—just 20,000 short of hitting Level 10.
Thunderblade's eyes were practically burning holes in his back. "Stellar… how much EXP did you just get?"
"Two hundred thousand. Why?" Miguel replied casually.
Thunderblade gawked at him. "Two hundred—?! The highest anyone's posted on the forums is fifty thousand! How…?"
Miguel's grin was pure smugness. "Ever heard of the phrase 'God's Favorite'? That's me. And this was my second Silver Chest. The first one? Also gave me two hundred thousand EXP. Oh, and that pure-steel sword you're using? Yeah, that came from my last Silver Chest too."
Thunderblade's thoughts boiled down to one truth: If opening chests isn't for showing off, what's the point?
Miguel clapped him on the shoulder, his smile dazzling. "Jealous? Good. You should be."
Thunderblade wanted nothing more than to punch that smile straight off his face.