Kanuka, now a shimmering ghost, sprinted back toward town.
He hadn’t left immediately—who would, after all?—not when he had ringside seats to the first killing of a Shadow Wolf Alpha.
And right as he was hovering there, a booming world announcement shook the sky three times:
[WORLD ANNOUNCEMENT: Congratulations to Ren Varrow, Lyla Quinn, Drek Korr, Mara Vane, Jax Hollow, and Tern Vos for achieving the First Kill of the Shadow Wolf Alpha!]
[WORLD ANNOUNCEMENT: Congratulations to Ren Varrow, Lyla Quinn, Drek Korr, Mara Vane, Jax Hollow, and Tern Vos for achieving the First Kill of the Shadow Wolf Alpha!]
[WORLD ANNOUNCEMENT: Congratulations to Ren Varrow, Lyla Quinn, Drek Korr, Mara Vane, Jax Hollow, and Tern Vos for achieving the First Kill of the Shadow Wolf Alpha!]
Kanuka blinked as the words flashed in the sky.
‘Holy shit,’ he thought, watching in awe. ‘They actually announced it.’
Everyone in the entire game saw it.
Their names.
Etched into history.
And the rewards?
Massive XP bonus.
Double loot drops.
A unique title—Wolf Bane.
Wolf Bane gave a permanent +10% bonus damage against all wolf monsters.
But it also pulled +20% more aggro from wolves.
A classic Towerbound trade-off.
Above each surviving party member’s head now floated their name… and under it, a fresh silver-lined [Wolf Bane] title.
Everyone—except Kanuka.
Because he hadn’t been in the official party at the moment the Alpha fell, he didn’t get the XP, the loot rights, or the title.
“So annoying,’ Kanuka muttered, floating faster.
Still, he couldn’t feel too bad.
Without him dragging that monster back in the first place, the kill would’ve never happened. And he knew that Ren knew that too.
Back on the rocky ledge, the party was practically buzzing, giddy over the loot piled around the Alpha’s massive corpse.
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The randoms who had been grumbling about wasting their time on a “dumb cleric quest” were now practically bowing at Ren’s feet.
But Ren just crossed his arms.
“We’re waiting for Kanuka,” he said firmly. Ren knew Kanuka was on his way back, and he’d definitely want to see all the loot. After all, Kanuka’s sacrifice had made this world-first clear possible. There was no way Ren was going to rob him of the satisfaction of opening it up. That just wouldn’t be fair.
Some of the players glanced at each other. Technically, they didn’t have to wait.
Technically, they could have started rolling for loot right now.
But after what Kanuka had done, none of them wanted to look like an asshole.
No Kanuka, no bait.
No bait, no Alpha kill.
So they waited. Surrounding the corpse.
Weapons drawn, eyes scanning for respawns, as Kanuka’s ghost sprinted back to his body.
Because whether he had loot rights or not—
Kanuka had earned his place at the table.
When they saw him, they picked up all the loot immediately.
In Towerbound, anyone could pick up dropped loot—even if they weren’t part of the party.
And the last thing anybody wanted was some random thief or a roaming group of assholes swooping in to steal everything.
That much, at least, everyone agreed on.
Ren, though?
Ren had a big problem.
A huge problem.
He had promised everybody equal shares.
And he wasn’t going to go back on that.
In a normal pickup group, loot distribution was simple.
You only rolled for things you could actually use.
A cleric wouldn’t roll for a bow.
A ranger wouldn’t roll for a healing skill book.
Everyone trusted everyone else to be reasonable… well, mostly.
But Ren hadn’t formed this group to make the world’s strongest pickup team.
He hadn’t even formed it to make friends.
He had formed it to make money.
Real money.
Credits that would go back to their slum guild.
Credits that would pay for better lives.
Credits that would, eventually, buy his cheese mountain.
And right now?
Despite the first clear.
Despite the title.
Despite all the glory.
They still hadn’t earned a single credit.
Hour 15 was ticking by fast.
And if they wrapped up this third shift without anything to show for it—
not only would morale back in the dorm crater back at the dorm, but the others’ belief in him would start to collapse too.
And if that happened?
Well, it was game over for their whole plan before it even properly began.
Ren’s mind raced.
‘How the hell do I fix this?’ he thought, scanning the loot pile.
The pile was good.
It wasn’t weapons or jewelry like you’d get from humanoid enemies—
in Towerbound, monsters like wolves only dropped ingredients.
Even bosses.
But ingredients from a boss?
Those were different.
Those were valuable.
The Shadow Wolf Alpha had dropped top-tier crafting materials.
There was the Alpha’s Fang, which could be crafted into a rare bleeding dagger.
There was the Alpha Wolf Hide, tough and sleek, usable for a rare medium armor set that boosted agility.
There was a small silver locket infused with a faint enchantment, something the System labeled Shadow-Linked Cloak Material, capable of granting a five percent dodge bonus if properly crafted.
There was a thick-boned Wolfbone Charm, a pure strength booster once reforged into an amulet—straight +3 strength, no strings attached.
And best of all, tucked away inside a random corpse pile, was the prize Ren hadn’t even hoped for: a Ring of Loping Winds.
A +2% movement speed bonus—absolutely gold at this level. This was one of those random drops that wasn’t supposed to happen. A bonus for the first kill.
And speaking of gold, there was nearly a full gold coin’s worth of silver scattered among the remains.
They had enough loot here to make a real difference.
If they played it right.
If they split it wrong?
The slum guild would lose their shot at a real beginning.
Ren clenched his jaw.
‘There’s no way I’m letting this slip away,’ he thought grimly.
He needed a plan.
Fast. Even if the pickup group felt screwed.
