What?

  He’d never even heard of an [Upgrade Roulette] before. Shane shifted his eyes to claim the reward.

  A new window appeared.

  Two large... wheels?

  A gaudy, casino-style interface exploded into view, which was completely jarring aginst the dark dungeon chamber. The massive wheels hummed with the sound of a slot machine that only he could hear, with lightbulbs that decorated the edges blinking obnoxiously.

  Before he could even read what was written on the slots, they started spinning rapidly.

  It was a whirl of white, with a couple green ones mixed in. Just minor buffs you could tack onto your skills. Useless fluff versus slightly better fluff.

  With zero expectations, Shane watched the wheels begin to slow.

  The needles ticked over the last few slots and settled.

  Ding, ding, ding!

  A small bell at the top went off, and the bulbs around the wheels flashed like a cheap slot machine.

  Shane shifted the cigarette between his lips, narrowing his eyes as the bitter smoke curled past the glaring lights.

  The first wheel’s needle was pointing to a white segment.

  [Reward: Play Dead (Skill Potential)]

  When [Curse Immunity] is activated, the user automatically looks dead to others.

  Duration: 1 minute.

  Shane felt a grimace tug at his lips. He would’ve rolled his eyes if [Behavior Lock] had let him; instead, he just gave a slow blink as he exhaled a cloud of gray haze.

  This was what he got for saving five people?

  An ability to play dead?

  It wasn’t like he could control when [Curse Immunity] was activated. This was useless.

  The disappointing result came as no surprise. His luck with roulette wheels was nonexistent, to the point he secretly believed the game was rigged.

  But the wave of resignation he felt proved he’d been stupid enough to cling to a sliver of hope.

  He flicked the ash onto the dungeon floor, watching the embers die out.

  What was the next reward going to be?

  Make his mana glitter in the dark?

  Hoping to get it over with soon, he brought the cigarette up for another drag while scanning the second wheel, but his hand stopped mid-air.

  His gaze locked on the needle pointing at a green wedge this time.

  [Reward: Daily Quest Skip Pass!]

  When activated, skips the daily quest and grants only the reward.

  Lasts for 30 days, single use.

  Wait a minute.

  Was this a visual bug?

  Shane’s eyes widened—or tried to. The Lock caught his movement instantly. The cigarette trembling between his fingers suddenly held perfectly steady as his body went rigid, suppressing his burst of excitement.

  The grin fought to break out, failed miserably, and settled into a subtle, dangerous smirk.

  Henry flinched, taking a jerky half-step back, which Shane promptly ignored.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  The [Skip Pass] was the most useful thing on the board.

  If he was lucky, he’d get tedious missions to kill a certain number of monsters as he progressed in the game. A way to bypass that grind would be extremely helpful in the long run.

  [Please choose one of the rewards you wish to claim.]

  Shane claimed the [Skip Pass] and checked that it had been added to his status menu. He’d use it the moment a daily quest popped up.

  [Dungeon Raid Reward Loading]

  [Progress: 90%]

  This was dragging on longer than he thought. He brought the filter to his lips, letting out a sigh that blew a thick cloud of smoke into the damp air.

  All he wanted now was to lie down in bed. Because he’d glitched into a disabled dungeon, the reward was taking forever to load.

  He wished the System would just kick him out of the dungeon already.

  The Wynn guild NPCs he was stuck with certainly weren't worth learning about, either. If he recognized their faces, it meant he knew their whole deal; if he didn’t, they were nothing but unimportant background characters.

  Of course, if the Vice Guildmaster, the number two rookie was here, that would’ve been a different story.

  It hit him that he was going to have to see that adrenaline junkie’s face again soon.

  And not just him, but also the number one rookie hunter too, the guy who was basically the player’s main rival. Players had to fight alongside those two prodigies often, so he remembered their skills down to the last detail.

  With his stats this low, he’d have to make good use of those guys to stop the First Cataclysm.

  [Progress: 100%]

  [You can now claim your reward!]

  About time. With this, even his squishy F-rank body could put up a fight in a real dungeon.

  In the center of the boss room, particles of light began to congeal around the treasure chest.

  All the hunters rushed over.

  “Thank god! I’m going home!” One of them shouted, pumping a fist.

  Another teammate yelped at that statement.

  “Oh, crap! Sorry, Hunter Miller! Before we came in, I messaged the Vice Guildmaster that you went inside an S-rank dungeon!”

  The awe on Josh’s face cracked at the shout.

  “What? Why?”

  “You told us to message him if you died!”

  “Yes, so?”

  “So?”

  “Well, let’s see… do I look dead to you?”

  “Um, no, sir.”

  Shane almost laughed. The adrenaline junkie was going to flip when he heard his guild members tackled an S-rank raid without him.

  Wait a second. His thoughts screeched to a halt.

  His agenda had him heading to the dungeon where the number two rookie, Troy Winter, was supposed to be. Back then he’d always skipped it just to steer clear of the guy. How could he have forgotten that?

  Shane felt a headache creeping in.

  Okay, change of plan.

  He’d take the other option, then. That dungeon paid out better anyway. He only ignored it because he didn’t want to watch “people” get slaughtered.

  Oh, well. Between being stalked by an adrenaline junkie and watching NPCs getting massacred, he chose the latter.

  “This is my first time seeing an S-rank reward in person. I’m so psyched!”

  “I know, right?”

  The others were still swarming the chest. Shane couldn’t even squeeze near the thing.

  “Everyone, let’s give the man some space so he can check his loot,” said Josh.

  The group immediately shuffled backward, some rubbing their necks in collective embarrassment as they awkwardly looked at each other.

  Usually, items just went straight to your inventory. But for high-tier dungeons, they sometimes made you open a physical container. Its design changed depending on the dungeon’s specific rank.

  It was merely a way to get players all competitive, since everyone got a different-looking box based on their contribution score.

  “I’ve never seen a purple reward chest before!”

  “Rumor has it the one from that SS-rank dungeon breach was solid gold.”

  “Whoa, for real?”

  “Must be nice.”

  Shane caught flickers of jealousy in their voices. In this world, you rarely achieved anything beyond your rank. They were trying to keep the mood light with jokes, but their expressions were a little strained.

  If this wasn’t a post-cleared dungeon, every second of this would be recorded for the public to watch and pick apart.

  It was only a game, so he could ignore the streaming and recording aspect of dungeon crawling. But if this were real life, it would’ve been hellishly annoying.

  Josh shot Shane a smile. Figuring another recruitment pitch was coming, Shane pretended he didn’t notice and simply walked toward the chest.

  Why did they update the AI to be so damn… human?

  He knew he was thinking this the hundredth time, but the situation was too awkward. He was really starting to forget these people weren’t real.

  He placed his hand on the treasure chest.

  The lock clicked open. It was filled to the brim with glittering weapons and artifacts.

  Through his peripheral vision, Shane spotted a younger hunter’s Adam’s apple bob, his eyes tracing the curve of a sword like he was undressing a lover.

  One of the C-ranks actually twitched his hand forward, before his friend elbowed him in the ribs.

  If this wasn’t his friend’s work, the developer who’d coded the ‘envy’ algorithm deserved a raise.

  Shane wondered whether their reactions were procedurally generated based on the loot value. He could only imagine the hysteria if he pulled a legendary artifact. Would they start weeping?

  He felt awkward, like he was trying to type a password with someone hovering over his shoulder.

  In truth, all the items inside were garbage.

  The hunters’ feet stayed glued to the spot Josh had designated, but their upper bodies leaned in at impossible angles, necks craning to peer inside the shiny treasure chest.

  But the moment Shane openly shifted his gaze away from the chest, the sea of eyes instantly scattered, and suddenly, the floor and their own boots became the most interesting things in the world.

  These NPCs needed to get a grip.

  Did they not have any dignity coded in? They were basically no different from dogs waiting for scraps.

  With one hand, Shane grabbed the rim of the heavy chest. It was solid oak reinforced with iron and packed with steel weaponry, meaning it would’ve been a two-man job for a normal human.

  But even an F-rank Awakened was stronger than the best athletes, so to Shane, it felt like lifting a cardboard box.

  He effortlessly hefted the container upward and turned it completely upside down, dumping everything onto the stone floor with a loud crash.