Once everyone proceeded to walk toward one location, a few players were also spotted going to the same place.
Which made sense since the system's notification would be sent to everybody without missing a single person.
While Alaine, HwanGi, JoonChul, including his friends were slowly but surely going to their destination, they were starting a conversation with each other.
Except HwanGi and Alaine were the only ones who kept quiet since they couldn't join in on JoonChul and his friends's conversation.
Eventually, Alaine couldn't handle the silence anymore which led to Alaine asking HwanGi a question. "What do you think this is all about, HwanGi?"
Although Alaine wanted to ask JoonChul, she concluded that it wouldn't be great to interrupt JoonChul's conversation with his comrades.
Beside Alaine knew that even if JoonChul, the man who oddly knows stuff about this world and system won't answer her questions because he's busy, it would be better to conversate with HwanGi.
Soon, HwanGi answered Alaine's question after thinking carefully. "It most likely about Stage #10's reward."
"Oh yeah! The 'Helpers' didn't compensate us, saying that they need further assistance or whatnot."
"But I don't think so." HwanGi said after further consideration, making his expression a bit serious.
"Hm? What is it?"
"I'm not certain but.. Don't the rewards usually be sent to us immediately? So the notification might not just be about our reward."
It took Alaine some time to understand what HwanGi was saying but soon, she realized what he meant.
"Ah! I get it. The previous stages gave the rewards to us instantly after we completed it. But now we received a notification instead of acquiring our rewards!"
HwanGi nodded toward Alaine's response. "The 'Helpers' said that they need further clarification.. but why?"
"Not that this matters but I even remember what expression the 'Helpers' had at the end. It looks like they didn't expect the boss to appear and.. I think it was somewhat like they were shocked at the boss being dead..? I guess."
"Could it be that they expected us to died because the Stage #10's boss was so powerful?"
"If so, then I would be mad! If they think they can underestimate us like that, I'll show them what I got and slash them into pieces!"
HwanGi flinched at how eerie Alaine sounded just then and almost thought that he shouldn't anger Alaine from now on.
By then, an apple appeared in front of Alaine, she looked to find JoonChul handing her two apples.
"I don't know if you had breakfast, so just take these." JoonChul said while pulling out more apples from his inventory, although in Alaine's perspective, it looked as if apples appeared in thin air.
"Oh uh.. Thank you!" Alaine responded with joy, knowing she got free food.
"Share it with HwanGi-ssi."
"Hmp. Alright."
JoonChul glanced toward his friends, giving his comrades the apples after he heard Alaine's response.
Alaine caught a glimpse of a serious expression on JoonChul's face when she was going to give HwanGi the apples she just received.
She didn't care much since she was more focused on the apples instead of JoonChul.
After giving an apple to HwanGi, all of them went on walking toward the fountain, munching on their own apples.
Everyone ate it slowly to savour the taste because none of them had their breakfast yet.
..And then there was Raiden who ate the apple so lightning fast that Alaine was amazed when she watched him.
Alaine was wondering why JoonChul wasn't even surprised by that, but not just that, he was tossing more apples to Raiden for him to keep eating.
'He's so lucky to eat that many..' Alaine whimpered.
———
Upon arriving next to the fountain, I looked up into the sky to locate wherever the 'Helpers' were.
After observing the sky, I eventually paused and examined my surroundings closely to spot anyone suspicious.
As everyone continued to arrive near the fountain, it was getting increasingly crowded, leaving little space for everybody.
But for our group, no one dared to approach us nor set foot close enough to us. It was as though they were afraid of us while some had some kind of delight mixed with fear.
I couldn't blame them. Everyone here witnessed our powers while we fought and defeated the Boss of Stage #10.
Obviously, they would think that we were the kind of people they shouldn't mess with.
'Less people to deal with, great.' I thought with a smile, knowing I wouldn't have any nuisances popping up in an attempt to assassinate me or my friends.
Be that as it may, I bet everyone is feeling good that they didn't have to fight the boss and instead dealt with the small pests created by the Nature Dragon.
"Everyone is staring at us..!" Alaine suddenly spoke as she stared back at the crowd.
I exhaled a sigh, trying to ignore Alaine as much as possible because I needed to think.
"JoonChul-ssi.. Did we perhaps upset these people?" HwanGi, who I didn't expect to ask me, exceeded my expectations.
And so, I answered his question, avoiding the eyes of Alaine who was angry at me for ignoring her but made an exception for HwanGi.
"...No one would be in their right mind to come up and start a conversation with a group of people who defeated the Nature Dragon."
"Oh.. oh! I see. I understand now. Thank you, JoonChul-ssi."
Out of the blue, a person walked up to us confidently, talking without a stutter of a word. "Hello there."
The moment I noticed her black and white mask, I already recognized who this female was.
'..Asher Kim.' I thought, being cautious over her every movement despite having knowledge that the place we were in, was a safe zone.
"Greeting to you too. May I know why you came to us?" Showing a little hostility toward Asher, HwanGi still managed to talk without sounding rude.
"Ohh. It's nice to see you again, 'First' player."
Alaine intruded. "Excuse me, but he has a name y'know."
When I sensed how Asher grinned toward Alaine's sudden intrusion, I was amazed by how Asher's aura seemed as though one may mistaken her for an innocent girl instead of the hidden reaper behind that mask.
"Greeting to all the players!" But without giving us time to have a proper conversation, the 'Helpers' have arrived, speaking in a humble manner.
The 'Helpers' who came here were the three sisters, Turquoise, Tanzanite and Zircon.
Immediately after they greeted us, they began to bow, expressing their humble apology gracefully. "We are sorry on the behalf of Ruby and Sapphire for a mistake they had done in Stage #9 and #Stage 10."
"So as our apology, we will be giving you all 1000 coins, 10 of small MP and HP potions."
"Please accept our sincere apologies."
The three sisters lifted their heads up, directing their right hands toward the sky to make a giant sphere.
With magic injecting to the sphere, it processed to grow rapidly until it bursted into tiny sparks of the sphere.
The sparks floated toward everyone, landing onto everybody's head or hands before disappearing upon contact.
I, myself also got a spark that dropped onto my head. Once it disappeared, the system's messages emerged in front of me to display what was given to me.
[You have received 1000 coins, 10 small MP and HP potions.]
[You gained access to the 'Shop'.]
Once I had read the second message, I was greatly baffled by how sincere the 'Helpers' really were.
Usually, to get access to the 'Shop', you needed to wait until Stage #13 to finally receive it.
'Why did the 'Helpers' do this?' I mused, opening the 'Shop' instantly to check if this was true.
And surprisingly, the 'Shop' appeared in a panel, unveiling many potions, food and beverages being shown inside the store.
Even though there were some categories that were locked and required you to enter higher Stages to unlock them, it was still great either way to have easy access to potions.
But my question remained the same. 'Why did the 'Helpers' do something like this..?'
"Sensei.. this is.."
With stunned expressions on their faces, I knew I wasn't the only one who was shocked by this.
In spite of how dumbfounded the whole situation was, Frostina still kept herself calm with a casual expression etched on her beautiful face. "This is unprecedented."
And as for Behemoth, nothing could wake him up even if it was the system message or a loud speaker playing music into his ears. "..meow~"
"JoonChul-ssi, what does this mean?" HwanGi asked, looking rather curious about the 'Shop' after seeing me and my comrades's expression.
Alaine joined in after HwanGi finished asking. "I wanna know too! Please explain to me what it is!"
"With this, I hope that everyone will be able to stay alive much longer in the future stages." Zircon couldn't even give me time to answer HwanGi's and Alaine's question when she began to speak in an elegant manner.
"I presume everyone is being nosy about what the 'Shop' does, but before my sisters explain." Tanzanite, being the cheerful sister of the three sisters, happily clapped to get everyone's attention.
"It's time to hand you all the Stage #10's reward! Sorry for the inconveniences!"