The Scumbag's Guide To Heroism novel Chapter 187

Chapter 187: 187 | Corruption Complete [PS BONUS]

I made it three steps down the hallway before the notification hit.

〘 MILESTONE ACHIEVED 〙

〘 Heroine Corruption Complete: Sloane Fitzgerald 〙

〘 Temptation Gauge: 100% 〙

〘 Stage: Enthralled (Maximum) 〙

I stopped walking.

The interface expanded in my vision, taking up more real estate than it usually did for standard notifications. Gold borders. Animated particles that looked like they’d been borrowed from a gacha game’s SSR pull animation. The System was putting on a show.

〘 Analysis: Subject Sloane Fitzgerald has achieved complete psychological and emotional investment in the Host. Her sense of self, happiness, and life trajectory are now fundamentally intertwined with Lukas Belmont. This bond transcends logic, circumstance, and external influence. The corruption is absolute. 〙

My stomach did something complicated. Not quite nausea. Not quite triumph. Something in between that I didn’t have a word for.

Sloane loved me. She’d said it out loud. She’d meant it.

And the System had just reduced that love to a percentage and a completion notification. Quantified it. Filed it. Turned something that had felt raw and real in that room into data points and reward tiers.

〘 Reward Processing... 〙

The interface didn’t pause. Didn’t wait for me to catch up. It just kept going, line after line, like it was reading off a shopping receipt.

〘 Primary Reward: 3,000 System Points 〙

〘 Secondary Reward: Platinum Gacha Pull x3 〙

〘 Tertiary Reward: Unique Passive Trait Unlock 〙

〘 Quaternary Reward: Heroine Bond Resonance (Sloane Fitzgerald) 〙

〘 Quinary Reward: +1 Active and Passive slot 〙

〘 Distributing rewards now. 〙

Three thousand points. Three Platinum pulls. A passive trait that sounded like it would do something permanent. Something called Bond Resonance that I didn’t have context for yet.

The System was paying out like I’d just hit max payout on a slot machine after feeding it coins for six straight hours. Which, from its perspective, I probably had. First heroine maxed out. Proof of concept established. The Scumbag’s Path officially validated by measurable, repeatable results.

I should have felt victorious. Should have felt like I’d won something.

Instead I felt like I needed to sit down and put my head between my knees before the hallway started spinning.

〘 Host appears to be experiencing an emotional response to the reward distribution. This is noted but not relevant to the payout structure. Shall I proceed with the Gacha interface? 〙

"Give me a second."

〘 The Gacha interface does not operate on a time-delay protocol. However, I will display the passive trait unlock first, as it requires no user input. 〙

A new window materialized.

〘 UNIQUE PASSIVE TRAIT UNLOCKED 〙

〘 Devotion’s Echo 〙

〘 Legendary · Passive 〙

〘 Description: When a Heroine reaches 100% Temptation Gauge (Enthralled), the Host gains a permanent resonance with that Heroine’s emotional state. The Host will be able to sense the Heroine’s general emotional condition regardless of distance, receiving intuitive awareness of distress, joy, desire, and other significant emotional shifts. 〙

〘 Additionally, the Host gains a minor but permanent boost to all physical stats when in proximity to the Enthralled Heroine. The proximity requirement is defined as within 50 feet of the bonded individual. 〙

〘 Current Resonance Active: Sloane Fitzgerald 〙

〘 Proximity Bonus: +5% to all physical stats when within range 〙

〘 The Host seems troubled by this development. I would like to note that Devotion’s Echo is considered one of the most valuable passive traits in the Scumbag System’s reward architecture. Many Hosts would consider this payout exceptional. 〙

〘 The terminology is clinical. The bond is genuine. These facts are not mutually exclusive. 〙

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