The next morning, Almond and Lily woke up, and by now, they were completely recovered in both body and mind…of course, since they had a few hours of passionate fun last night before sleeping.
Everyone had arrived by noon since the party start time was that, though many had already arrived earlier.
But it officially began right at noon as everyone cheered with glasses filled to the brim with cocktails. Nobody took Marcus for a cocktail maker, but the guy turned out to be a bartender and a fairly skilled one at that, even though he wasn’t at a pro level.
Everyone sat at the big table and talked about things regarding their guilds’ reactions and other stuff.
A bit after that, Almond rang his glass and infused mana in the waves, attracting everyone’s attention, “Now, I’m thinking of talking about something important.”
“But before that, let’s open the rewards,” Almond grinned and took out the 5th Floor Heroic Floor Boss Slaying Chest!
Just looking at its ancient dark golden design with futuristic colored patterns and its size made everyone’s anticipation rise high while surging a passive excitement within them.
Almond opened the chest without further ado.
— 1 billion Gold coins.
— Legendary rank gear set (High tier)
— Legendary rank gear set (Medium tier)
— 1 x Mystery Box (SSS)
— Random Artifact Box (Tier-3)
— 1 x Universal skill upgrade card.
— 5 x Random Legendary Consumable item boxes.
— 10 x Random resource boxes.
— 15 x Insight Stones.
“Holy grail in smokes!” Ron uttered with a dumbfounded expression.
“Crazy fucking rewards as always,” Maya nodded calmly, but she was full-on excited like everyone else.
“Damn…”
“If I can get that universal skill upgrade card-” Amir licked his lips.
“Dream on,” Lily rolled her eyes.”It belongs to only one among us, and everyone knows who.”
“Of course, of course. I was just joking. A peasant can still dream,” Amir weakly smiled.
While everyone was still reeling in the shock and excitement of seeing the rewards, Almond directly opened the party chest as everyone heard a notification in their mind with a detail panel.
[Congratulations, every member of the party has acquired the following items:
— 1 x Advanced Skill Scroll.
— 1 x Assortments of Supreme-quality Potions.
— 1000 Heroic Points. ( To spend on Grimworld Heroic Shop that will be available after every completion of Heroic Challenge).
— 1 x Random Mystery Box.
“Damn, there’s a Heroic Shop opening next?” Marcus exclaimed. “There has to be fucking awesome items in there!”
“For sure,” Noah nodded with a grin. “And we got Advanced skill scroll.”
“Yeah, I am super stoked to learn the skill I got from my Advanced scroll,” Talia laughed. “From the name, it sounds awesome already.”
“Yeah, if we can get it to SS-rank or SSS-rank like Marcus and Amir, we’ll get an awesome skill that can grow faster than our other skills since it’s growth type.”
“True, but frankly, I want passive-type skills since it also has a chance to give that.”
“Same. I want a passive skill.” Explore hidden tales at empire
‘Holy crap…’ Jian internally felt waves as he got the rewards, though he didn’t speak or show much on the outside.
“I already opened my MVP Reward box, but let’s just say that I don’t want its content to show to everyone,” Almond grinned, “Though I don’t mind showing it next, and on that note, I have an announcement to make.”
Everyone quickly turned silent and looked at him as Almond’s eyes narrowed and his lips arched with a certain sharpness. Seeing his smile, they felt a strange pressure.
“First, is there anyone who would like to leave the party?” Seeing them looking at him, Almond started with a question but followed up immediately as he added. “Because from now on, we are going to be a proper party with some rules that I absolutely want everyone to obey.”
Everyone’s eyes glinted differently upon hearing his words.
“Listen to the rules first and then make your decision,” Almond waved his hand as a dreamy blue chart with condensed golden words appeared, the rules that he had already made beforehand.
“The first rule is that everyone will sign a spirit contract.”
Spirit Contract was something Almond spent the morning to noon creating based on the research of his primary class, the powers of his specialized class, and the knowledge he acquired from Subtle Art of Memory Grafting.
“The contract is very simple. Anything that you see, hear, feel, or learn, any information I deem to be kept secret while you are with me, must not be disclosed to anyone other than the party members of Grim Breakers.”
“The price of breaking this contract is a steep one, as breaking this contract means you have betrayed me,” Almond narrowed his eyes, having a certain iciness in them that everyone could feel. “If anyone breaks the rules, including the details or mention of the contract to anyone, your memories will be jumbled forcefully, some memories of your time with Grim Breakers’ party will be deleted, and your mind will be greatly affected…including your life because I will not see kindly to this betrayal.”
Some gulped, some felt a chill, some were shocked, and some remained calm, like Julian, Marcus, Maya, Natalia, and Lily, who already knew about the contract and had signed it.
Of course, Almond didn’t plan to ever reveal his cards to any of them, nor use them during Heroic Boss fights, as he wanted to make sure he and his party slayed them properly and calculatively at the fastest speed possible.
“The rules are as follows,” Almond continued, “The first is signing the contract, and the second is that distribution of items belongs solely to me. You may keep the rewards you get from contribution ranking and party chest, but everything else is decided by me. This means I may reward some particular party members for their exceptional performance or growth.”
“The third one applies to me, which is that I provide my spirit items to everyone in the party and maintain them. As such, everyone in the party of Grim Breakers will always have the best possible equipment of the highest tier, like Legendary-rank gear sets of high quality, as you already know my capability in this regard.”
“The fourth rule is to work hard and improve alongside everyone! If I deem you not worthy of being in the party, I will remove the memories of some important things neatly and send you away.”
“That’s all.”
Naturally, Almond didn’t need to remove any memories. In fact, he would rather leave them with the memories so that they could act as a false mirage of his capabilities when, in fact, he had more.
But he put this as a kind of intimidating factor and a resolve checker. If they felt doubts regarding themselves, his rules, his contract, or him and lacked the resolve to pursue power with him, he didn’t need them.
“I’ll sign the contract. Give me one,” Emma said, snapping everyone out of their reveries as their eyes shifted from the rule board toward her.
“I want to get powerful, and these rules don’t bother me because I have no reason to betray you,” Emma said, her eyes fiery. “I’ll sign it.”
*Snap*
Almond snapped his finger, consuming his Mana as a spirit contract conjured before her. “Infuse your mana. You will feel a rune and magic formation appearing in your source space, which I’m sure you all are able to see now with your current Perception and Focus.”
Emma signed without hesitation and felt something as she peeked into her source space.
“Done.”
“I’ve already signed, but give me one. We’ll sign it again together,” Marcus said with a grin.
“Yeah,” Maya nodded.
“Yep, that’s better,” Natalia chuckled as she glanced at others. “Ya’ll better think carefully, alright?”
Almond faintly smiled.
*Snap*
A contract appeared in front of Julian, Marcus, Maya, Natalia, and Lily, and they quickly signed it by infusing their Mana inside.
“Now, you unpolished gems of adventurers,” Almond said as he rested his chin on his hands, his eyes sweeping across their faces. “Make your decision and set your path.”