Were I a colder human being I could've hidden the existence of the [Inventory]. I could've used a ratty bed sheet from the ship or perhaps a ripped sail to cover the corpse of the marine Mira-jane executed rather than provide a clean one myself. I could've made the abused dehydrated civilian women drink from the filthy brown-tinted water in the kitchens rather than show I have cantines. I could've asked the blind and emaciatedGuilford not to mention the powers he knew I had from when we both were contracted aboard The Marjhan. Do all those plus a few others and I could dive for the sword all day without the marines batting an eye. Other than them thinking I'm insane for willingly going in sea-monster infested waters that is. And what would that all earn me? A 1 in 10,000 chance of even finding the cutlass, combined with the knowledge that I am a horrible person.
So you know, since I'm not a complete shit of a human being, I made use of the [Inventory] quite prolifically. Water, food, fresh shirts for the women and even chains to tie up surrendered pirates whom I had previously ejected overboard. Turns out not everyone prefers drowning to life imprisonment.
As I said earlier though, it's been nearly a full two days. Guilford's under medical care, Yuriko's taken charge of getting the civilians home, the Bloody Jewel has been scuppered by Marine cannons, and I've got a document signed in triplicate that's good to the tune of just under 40 million Beri's. 30 for the Witch, 7.3 for her right hand, and an extra 1.82 that [Observe] found hidden among the lackey's.
It was easy to see that the leading officer of the second Marine vessel, a Lv. 53 Commander, didn't want to sign off on it. Just the idea of authorizing that high a payment to a bounty hunter seemed to stick in his craw something foul. Like a piece of rancid meat he was being forced to chew. Four separate times I saw him question Yuriko if my involvement was indeed 'crucial' and every time that her story remained unchanged his mood further soured.
Eventually though, he signed the paper with a resigned huff, muttered a curse under his breath, and respectfully requested I take my bird and remove myself his ship. Which by that point, I was all too happy to do.
So now here I stroll, with a spring in my step and an all-too-pleased look on my face, up to Petty Officer Abrella's 'BOUNTY' office to receive my payday. The paperwork's good on my end. Mori's taken care of his. And I've made sure to call ahead.
This is the moment my months of grinding have prepared me for. Cashing in a bounty of this size may grant me a little more repute and it's enough capital to buy and stock a mansion if I wanted to, but those aren't the parts that matter.
I have five active [Quests] at the moment. There's the big one, the One Billion Beri [Quest] that's ticking closer million by million, and there's the four smaller ones. The last four the [Game] issued me when I turned in Reggie Polivar so many moons ago. The [Quest]'s to collect bounties worth 20, 30, 40, and 50 million respectively.
And I'm about to cash in two of them at the same time. Abrella accepts my side of the paperwork with a smile, reads it over twice to make sure it's right, and then nods to a second marine waiting behind her post. The man, a fellow Petty Officer named 'Clune' clicks open an empty suitcase and then bends to knee level to start inputting a combination into a steel safe.
"Congratulations Jack." Abrella beams. "This is incredible." she breaths in mild disbelief before turning to help Clune remove stacks of bills from the vault.
'Oh ho ho. You have no idea.'
Ding!
Quest Completed!
Quest: Collect a bounty worth at least 20,000,000 Beri.
Reward: +25 STR, +25 VIT or DEX, and 15,000 Exp.
Ding! Quest Completed!
Quest: Collect a bounty worth at least 30,000,000 Beri.
Reward: +40 STR, +40 VIT or DEX, and 20,000 Exp.
You have reached Lv. 57!
You have reached Lv. 58!
You have reached Lv. 59!
You have reached Lv. 60!
Congratulations! You have reached Lv. 60! Stat points awarded per Lv up increased (25) → (30) You have reached Lv. 61!
You have reached Lv. 62!
You have 265 points to spend!
I had to physically restrain myself from whistling. God damn that is a lot of points. I don't even know where to start. Well that's not wholly true. We start by selecting the 25 from the first [Quest] to go towards VIT and let the 40 from the second one allocate to DEX. Now I don't know where to start.
The only place I'm sure I'm not starting with is STR. With [Natural Growth] building it up by 10 free points a week 'Or 17 after factoring in [Adrenalin Rush]' I really don't see myself putting points in that stat..ever again really..it'd just be wasteful. 'Besides, the stat just got a pretty serious bump off the two [Quest]'s so it's not like I'm actually lacking in that department.'
Which I guess means the other four areas get the 265 all to themselves.
A finger tapped my chin as I internally hummed and pondered over the stats screen 'Okay let's see here, this doesn't have to be hard… we'll put some here...50 more in that...clean this up...let's get INT and WIS matching again...another 50 in that...bump those up by 10...what does that leave us with? 19? Hmmm how about four in there, five in the rest, and I think that just about does it!'
Points to spend (265) → (0) VIT (200) → (305) DEX (307) → (404) INT (123) → (155) WIS (124) → (155) Max Health (4,000) → (6,100) Oh yeah.
This is it.
This is what I needed to beat Eustass. Now we just have to find him.
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