[FLOOR 1: COMPLETE]
[SURVIVAL RATE: 21.2%]
[TIME UNTIL FLOOR 2 OPENS: 30:00:00]
Thirty hours.
Enough time to shape fate.
Arthur rolled his neck once and opened the construction interface.
A massive blueprint unfolded in the air.
Arthur spoke aloud, his voice calm.
"Let's make this floor about teamwork."
He flagged a core restriction.
Solo clears: DISABLED.
Survival would now depend on others.
Arthur swiped the menu aside.
"Terrain," he said. "Jungle."
A dense green map unfolded.
Area locked: 1 × 1 kilometer.
Humidity spiked instantly.
Towering trees overlapped like walls, blocking the sky.
Underbrush thickened.
Paths vanished.
Sound carried badly.
Arthur nodded once.
"Perfect."
Arthur tapped another setting.
"Team size: three."
"Enemy count " he added calmly. "Five Tutorial goblins."
Arthur adjusted the behavior settings.
"Enemy AI: pack mode."
The goblin icons merged, moving as one.
"Spawn points," he added. "Randomized."
A thin smile crossed his face.
Arthur paused, then added one more rule.
"Entry condition: teams of three."
A new line appeared.
[SOLO ENTRIES: MATCHMAKING ENABLED]
"Come together," he murmured, "or be forced to trust strangers."
"System," he said, "recommended rewards for Floor 2?"
A window slid open, numbers already calculating.
[CALCULATING DIFFICULTY RATING...] [Rating: E-Rank (coordination-focused)]
[RECOMMENDED REWARD POOL]
XP: 150 per Survivor.
Currency: 50 Player Point per Survivor.
Bonus Drop: [Basic Skill Book (Common)] - 100% Drop Rate.
Arthur stared at the rewards and said"150XP per survivor is not fair i have seen it before many will just run away and let others clear the floor so reward should be based on contribution"
Arthur stared at the rewards and shook his head.
"150 XP per survivor? Absolutely not."
He walked through the holographic projection of the jungle, kicking a virtual fern.
"I've seen this happen a thousand times in games. One person does all the work—takes the hits, deals the damage—while the other two hide in a bush praying to their ancestors."
He turned back to the System window, his eyes cold.
"If the guy hiding in the bush gets the same 150 XP as the guy bleeding on the front lines, I'm not building a team. I'm building parasites."
Arthur pointed a finger at the blue screen.
"Change it. The reward shouldn't be a handout. It should be a paycheck."
[CALCULATING REQUEST...] [Do you wish to switch to 'Merit-Based' Distribution?]
"Yes," Arthur commanded. "Track everything. Damage Dealt. Damage Mitigated. Healing Provided. Crowd Control duration."
"Set a Total XP Pool for the floor clearing (450 XP per team). But don't split it evenly."
[NEW REWARD PROTOCOL: CONTRIBUTION SCALING]
MVP (Highest Contribution): Receives 50% of Pool (225 XP).
2nd Place: Receives 30% of Pool (135 XP).
3rd Place: Receives 20% of Pool (90 XP).
Arthur nodded, but he wasn't done.
"One more thing," he added, his voice dropping to a whisper. "Add a Minimum Threshold."
"If a player's contribution to the fight is less than 5%... if they just stand there and watch..."
[SYSTEM QUERY: Penalty for <5% Contribution?]
"0 XP." Arthur said ruthlessly. "And No Item Drop."
[PROTOCOL UPDATED.] [Floor 2 Rules: TEAMWORK REQUIRED / CONTRIBUTION MANDATORY.]
Arthur smirked. He had just turned a cooperative mission into a competitive one. They had to work together to survive, but they had to out-perform each other to thrive.
"Perfect balance," he whispered.
Arthur blinked, leaning closer to the floating blue window.
[NOTICE: SYSTEM POLICY] [From Floor 1 onward, higher-order entities designated as CONSTELLATIONS will be granted LIMITED OBSERVATION RIGHTS.]
He checked the timestamp. 04:00 AM.
"I was asleep," Arthur realized, rubbing his temples. "I was so exhausted from the Tutorial launch that I passed out right here on the floor. I missed the most important patch note of the update."
He read the list again. Blessings. Contracts. Sponsorships.
Here is the scene where Arthur processes this new variable.
Arthur blinked, leaning closer to the floating blue window.
[NOTICE: SYSTEM POLICY] [From Floor 1 onward, higher-order entities designated as CONSTELLATIONS will be granted LIMITED OBSERVATION RIGHTS.]
He checked the timestamp. 04:00 AM.
"I was asleep," Arthur realized, rubbing his temples. "I was so exhausted from the Tutorial launch that I passed out right here on the floor. I missed the most important patch note of the update."
He read the list again. Blessings. Contracts. Sponsorships.
In the web novels he used to read, Constellations were cool. They were gods who gave the protagonist overpowered skills.
But Arthur wasn't a protagonist anymore. He was the Manager. And to a Manager, Constellations weren't "gods."
"They are Stream Snipers," Arthur hissed.
He stood up and began pacing the small concrete room.
"Think about it. I just spent hours calculating the perfect XP curve. I designed a Jungle Floor where teamwork is mandatory. I set up a delicate ecosystem."
"And now? Some bored 'God of War' might decide he likes a random player and gift him a +50 Strength Sword just for entertainment."
"It ruins my balance. It ruins my difficulty curve. It turns my carefully designed exam into a pay-to-win circus."
Arthur stopped pacing and looked up at the System.
"System," he asked sharply. "Define 'Limited Observation Rights'. Can they interfere directly? Can they kill my monsters with a thought?"
[NEGATIVE.] [Constellations cannot physically manifest on Lower Floors.] [Interference is limited to:]
Sponsorship: Donating Coins to Players.
Blessing: Granting a fraction of their power (Subject to Probability).
Chat: Sending indirect messages (Costs Coins).
Arthur's eyes narrowed at the word 'Coins'.
"They have to pay to talk? And they have to pay to send gifts?"
[AFFIRMATIVE. All interventions require 'Coins'.]
"System," he asked, his voice smooth. "When a Constellation spends Coins on my floor... to sponsor a player in my dungeon... where do those transaction fees go?"
[CALCULATING...] [Standard Protocol: 70% to Central System, 30% to Floor Manager.]
Arthur laughed. It was a dry, corporate laugh.
"30% commission? I can work with that."
He looked at the message again. He no longer saw them as annoying streamers. He saw them as investors.
He swiped the window away.
"Let them watch," Arthur decided. "Let them bet. If they give a player a sword, I'll use their tax money to buy a bigger Goblin."
Arthur tapped his chin, looking at the dense green jungle map floating in the air.
"The Constellations are watching now," he muttered. "And if there is one thing I know about streamers, it's that they get bored watching the same 'Hack and Slash' gameplay over and over."
He walked over to a corner of the virtual map where the underbrush was thickest.
"We need content for the thinkers. For the explorers. For the people who realized that this is a world, not just an arena."
"System," Arthur commanded. "Let's prepare some Hidden Quests."
"These won't appear in the standard quest log. They will only trigger if a player stumbles upon the specific condition. It's an Easter Egg hunt... with high stakes."
He leaned forward, his fingers dancing over the projection, placing invisible triggers deep within the virtual jungle.
"One for the thinkers. One for the ghosts. And one for the greedy."
Arthur straightened his tie, a satisfied smirk playing on his lips.
"Save Hidden Scenarios."
[HIDDEN QUESTS INTEGRATED.] [FLOOR 2 READY FOR DEPLOYMENT.]
Arthur dusted off his hands.
"The stage is set, the traps are laid, and the cameras are rolling."