Defiance of the Fall

ost valuable.
It’s value easily surpassed billions of Nexus Coins, and that was even when there were multiple treasures that even the four sky gnomes were unable to figure out the function of.

Zac already knew about some of the treasures since he picked them up himself during the first two weeks, but there were a lot of happy surprises as well.
Most of them seemed to come from Nenothep’s pouch, but gems were also extracted from the chaotic mess that Zac snatched from Salvation.

His eyes turned to a neatly stacked pile of jade boxes.
Inside them were over a hundred Attribute Fruits.
Each of them was only of use at F-Grade and worse quality compared to the ones he bought in the Contribution Store, but it was a huge gain for Zac who had only gotten his hands on two of them so far.

The problem with the fruits wasn’t their price, but their scarcity.
He had a standing order for them at Calrin’s since the start, but the Sky Gnome was completely unable to get his hands on them.
It was truly a mountain of treasure that had fallen into his lap.

’

The huge pile was also proof that the System adjusted the rewards in the hunt.
If he got this many there should have been at least a thousand Attribute Fruits spread throughout the hunt.
It was far more than what a D-Grade sect should have lying around.
Not that they couldn’t afford it, but they would use them on their disciples rather have them lying around.

But what was most curious was that he couldn’t even remember picking up these boxes.
If he knew he had attribute fruits in his possession he would have immediately eaten them rather than left them in his bag.

The only explanation that he could come up with was that the System either added them at the end or made people pick them up but ignore them afterward.
Perhaps the System didn’t want people who were doomed to die to waste the attribute fruits, so it only made them available after the hunt was over.

“A lot of them, but the real prize are these four,” Calrin said and pointed at a few more intricate boxes on the side.
“Two Luck and two all-attribute fruits, one of each mid-grade.
Unsurprisingly, the last four are worth as much as the rest combined.
If you gobble them all up yourself you should reach your limit, though you would a lot of efficiency that way.”

Zac nodded, unable to hide his excitement.
The limit the Sky Gnome referred to was the limit of how many attributes this type of treasures could provide.
There was no strict limit that the system imposed, but the limit was generally 15 to 25 in every attribute.

Some of the differences were based on race, where some races could accommodate more bonus points.
Humans were completely unremarkable in that regard, so they were on the lower end of the spectrum.
But there was also a pretty large component that simply was having good genes.

Being a mortal and not someone possessing special constitutions and bloodlines, Zac suspected that he might be on the lower end of the scale.
Unless his unusual sturdiness also translated into having a higher ceiling for bonus attributes as well.

Unfortunately, it usually didn’t work to eat the same fruit over and over.
You usually only ate one of each type since the following ones had reduced effect.
Eating the same type over and over was extremely extravagant, and something only extremely wealthy scions could afford.

Quite a few of the fruits in the collection were duplicates, so Zac would likely give them to others instead of hoarding them all.
He even briefly considered giving all of them to others, apart from the two special fruits.
A few bonus attributes might do a lot more good for others than himself.

But in the end, he chose to be a bit greedy.
A few points in each attribute might not be a huge boost, but every little bit counted when he was risking his life almost every day.
It might allow him to pass the inheritance, or reach a higher floor in the Tower of Eternity.

“How do you suggest I should allocate these?” Zac asked of Calrin.

’

“Take what you need, and then take a decent amount for your elite.
But you should leave some for the Merit Exchange or the store.
People understand that some of them goes to the elites, but you need to show that hard work is also rewarded,” the Sky Gnome said.

“How do you mean?” Zac asked.
“I expect the treasures here will not be leaked to the public.”

“We’ll keep our word, but no secret stays that way forever, especially if you start handing out treasures to all the elites in Port Atwood.
So you need to find a balance.
Show the population that hard work will be rewarded and that everyone can become a powerhouse with our help if they struggle enough,” Calrin explained.

Zac slowly nodded as it made some sense.
Perhaps it would be optimal to give out all the fruits to the people in his inner circle, but it might sow discontent amongst the army or his craftsmen.
It might create the image that working hard was meaningless since the leadership would keep everything good to themselves.

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Zac wanted a culture where people worked hard to improve themselves, and if putting a few attribute fruits in the Merit Store helped make that happen, it was worth it.
These fruits only gave 1-2 attributes each, after all, and spread out over 10 elites it wouldn’t make all the difference.

Soon they had split up the attribute fruits so that Zac would gain roughly 10 points in each attribute, then an even 50-50 split amongst the remainders.
Zac gave half to Kenzie who would distribute them amongst the warriors.

Kenzie had spent all her time in the Academy lately, so she had a lot better understanding of who was worth nurturing and who wasn’t.
Zac himself had been too busy with so many things that he almost only interacted with a small group at the top.

A decent amount of them were also earmarked for Emily, who he still hadn’t seen since he got back.
He had already invested a Fruit of Ascension to nurture a powerhouse from the ground up, so adding a couple of attribute fruits was nothing odd.
Zac had asked Kenzie about Emily’s situation but she only told him she was fine.

He was curious about her progress during the past month.
Her 16th birthday should have taken place roughly two weeks ago, and he wondered if she had gotten her class yet.
But when Zac asked his sister about it she only smiled and said that Emily wanted to tell him about it herself.