It wasn't just Meow Brother who got a gift as soon as he logged in. Every other Hall of Fame member received a "Heroic Weapon: Chainsword" as a symbol of Transian heroism. The thing had appeared once before in the development materials on the Transia Tavern app, and back then, plenty of people had wondered how they'd be able to get one.
It turned out the developers were straightforward to a fault. They hadn't hidden it at all; the moment the game went live, they'd put this hard-to-handle, clumsy, scientifically unsound weapon—with the sole advantage of being incredibly cool and stylish—into players' hands.
Well.
That made the Hall of Fame members even more valuable.
For certain groups, this thing came with a little extra nostalgia. Take, for instance, veteran auxiliary members of the Imperial Guard, reserve Space Marines, and His Imperial Majesty's most loyal fanboy, Happy Stick.
After logging in from the Maginot Line, he spotted Meliya at once, standing beside him with a weapon case in her hands and a bright smile on her face. Beside this Happy Stick "offspring" was another sealed black box.
"Welcome back to your second home, my master."
Meliya said softly,
"Lord Kudel sent you this terrifying weapon. I guessed you'd like it. Also, someone from Crimson Castle came by yesterday selling these expert-model adventurer assistants. I thought you might want to upgrade your computational orb, so I spent 3,000 gold coins to buy one for you.
I used money from your little stash. I hope you won't be angry."
Happy Stick kept a stern face and said nothing.
He still remembered what this "bad woman" in the blood-red mask had done to him before he logged off.
He took the weapon case. When he saw the chainsword, he couldn't help straightening up, then