A single paragraph kept flashing in front of Arnold's eyes.

___

REMARK: A rare reward which can be gained only through random rewards. This box contains a rare material which can be used to as a forging material to make a weapon of the lesser gods. When opened one of the following materials can be gained:

• Adamantine (2% chance)

• Celestial Platinum (8% chance)

• Celestial Gold (20% chance)

• Celestial Silver (30% chance)

• Celestial Copper (40% chance)

___

"Is there a secret luck stat hidden within the other stats?" His awestricken eyes were fixated on the small container, that seemed nothing less than a mini treasure chest, "All these metals... it's the first time I've read about them..."

He had heard about Adamantine somewhere in his Greek mythology¹ class back when he was in high school, but he had never heard anything about celestial elements, but going by their names, they did seem to be unique.

Moreover, the brackets next to their names probably suggested the probability of obtaining those materials from the box. Going by the probability of the materials, obtaining Adamantine was the most difficult one, while the probability of increasing celestial copper was the highest. (Author's note: In Greek mythology, Cronus castrated his father Uranus using an adamantine sickle given to him by his mother Gaia. An adamantine sickle or sword was also used by the hero Perseus to decapitate Medusa while she slept.)

"It's like a lucky box event from some MMORPG games..." Arnold murmured.

Back when he was in China and living a stress-free life he used to play a lot of such games hell, he even spent thousands of dollars on them in hopes of getting a 'rare' weapon or material, but his luck was absolutely terrible. He was never able to obtain any rare items from those boxes, but whatever that was happening right now wasn't a game, it was reality. He couldn't spend his money to increase his chances of winning. His eyes once again fell on the box.

The only thing which had been stopping him from making a potential 'relic', was now in his hands. He kept looking at the black wooden box that was no bigger than a ring jewellery box, as he kept glaring at the box, another notification popped up on his interface.

___

Would you like to open the [Rank A Forging material box]

Yes/No?

___

At this point, he was thinking about a lot of things simultaneously. Considering the size of the box, the amount of material it contained was next to nothing; could he make a weapon with so little material. No, could anyone make a fully functional weapon from a material that was about the size of a sugar cube?

Let's say he was successful in making a weapon but would it even be classified as a relic? What if the material could be used only once and couldn't be recycled? Was there anything that he could do to prevent that scenario? Was he even eligible to use a material that he earned through a rare source?

"What am I even thinking about," Arnold shook his head, "I'm a creationist who had successfully made a variety of weapons and gears using weirdest materials. And opening the box would give me a type of metal, for god's sake, it is by far the easiest material to work on!"

But there were some doubts still in his mind despite the reassurance he gave himself, no matter what he thought, the small quantity of the material did bother him somewhat, in the end, he decided not to open the box at the moment and kept it in his inventory, as much as he would like to open the box up right now he had other important matter to attend, like apologising to Nicole for trying to make her realise her weakness.

After closing the interface, he ran out of the room as fast as he could do that he could catch up to them which he soon did, they weren't far. Nina and Nicole were chatting with each other in a secluded corner of the corridor. He slowly approached them, as he didn't want to startle them, not knowing what hurtful thing he was about to hear.

"Sometimes I wish he never came back..." Nicole murmured, her voice was heavy like she had been crying, "He left me all alone, and now when I... try to talk to him, he just lectures me? I'm stronger than him and I'm not a kid anymore who has to seek validation from him for whatever I do. I'm a SS ranked warrior and he's only a Section Chief that no one even knows about!"

"Nicole... I know you're upset but you don't need to say such harsh things about him-" Nina tried to defend Arnold and his words but Nicole wasn't having any of it.

"See! Even you're supporting him!"

"I'm not supporting him, Nicole, I'm just trying to-"

"No need to defend anyone, anymore Nina." This time Arnold was the one who interrupted her.

He quietly approached Nicole, who was shocked and embarrassed about what she had just said, his hands behind his back. He had never thought Nicole, someone for whom he wasted years of his life to take care of, put his life on the line for more times than he could remember and tolerated all the humiliation for being a Porter, would think so lowly of him.

At that moment, Nina knew the situation was about to get out of hands and tried to diffuse it but Arnold stopped her. He was hurt by what Nicole said, he would've forgiven her if she wasn't an adult, but as she had said, she wasn't a kid anymore and adults have to face the consequences of what comes out of their mouths.

"Is there anything else an SS ranked warrior would like to say to a useless Section Chief of one of the many zones?" All thoughts about apologising to Nicole were thrown out of his mind. If that's how she felt about him then he simply didn't care about her feelings anymore.

"..."

Arnold's words pierced Nicole's heart, she had blurted out a lot of things she didn't mean but it was too late to apologise for her mistake now.

"You're awfully quiet for a SS ranked warrior, don't you think?"

"Arnold, that's enough. Both of you are overreacting-" Nina once again tried to intervene but Arnold's mind was set.

"I think my work here is done. Please inform Nathan that I will make the gears he had requested for." He turned his back towards Nicole who was on the verge of tears, "I don't think I have any reason to continue the hunt in the swamps anymore, but still if he or you wants to see me, you're more than welcome to visit me at the Alpha base as it is clear that my visits are not appreciated here."

He took the pass which allowed him to freely enter or leave the regions of West America, from his inventory and gave it to Nina. He knew he was overreacting but he needed to cool himself off and being there wouldn't have helped him in the slightest.

"In the meantime, I'll try to make as many gears as I can from the materials I have now, thank you and good night."

After saying that, Arnold opened up a Travel Portal and jumped through it before anyone could stop him.