Chương 25

On his way to Delver's Association HQ, Alex saw a silenced notification on his lockscreen—an Ark of Sky friend texted him, asking him if he'd be online this weekend. It felt like a message from another life. He texted back that he'd be busy, with apologies—and to be fair, he was. He'd likely be dueling some of Stark City's best Guild F-rank talents this weekend. A prospect which felt a lot less intimidating after last night's duel. He was looking forward to it, if anything.

It was three days from now, meaning the next time he faced a Guild talent, he'd go into it with twice the training. Maybe I can put in a slightly better performance? He recalled something. He checked an Ark of Sky messaging server, which he had muted, and realized he'd been pinged several dozen times in the past few days. Several times as a joke, with messages like ' arcs you alive,' then'arcs' 'arcs' 'arcs' followed by repeated @'s. Wow, I've been out of it. His first year at college had been perfectly fine.

He'd had a few friends, but mostly friends of convenience, for that class only, pretty much. He'd describe his closer friends as online, spread across a few games. But he really only talked to them in the context of the game; it was incredibly easy to fall out of touch. He'd barely given Ark of Sky a single thought in three days, which should've been shocking. Or any other game, for that matter. It was as though the part of his brain that was obsessed with gaming had been 100% replaced by his Awakened activities.

Is my brain treating real life like a game? The idea felt… somewhat concerning. But he didn't think it was quite true—it still felt very much like his life. Certainly feeling a very real punch to the face, and very cold steel going through his neck, helped remind him there were genuine consequences; even in v-Dueling settings, it all felt incredibly real. Maybe it was true the Level ups and the Skill evolutions worked on similar brain chemistry as a traditional game, but he didn't really mind.

It felt like a plus, if anything. He texted back, promising he'd hop on next week, but he felt kind of bad; he felt zero compulsion to play pretty much any game right now. Half his brain was replaying F-rank rift livestreams. He checked a few more chat servers and discovered in this new world, several franchises of fighting games no longer existed—replaced by games featuring Awakened dueling. The most popular, Ultimate League '26, licensed the likenesses of real-life Awakened.

The thought of being the cover of this world's far more popular equivalent of FIFA, or the 2K series, was vaguely amusing, but once he actually thought about it the appeal evaporated. Of course there was the fact it likely took insane achievements to get there, but even leaving that aside—the level of publicity involved— yeah, no. It wasn't that he disliked the idea of being famous, at least the positives associated with it.

It just seemed like it made daily life incredibly annoying, and while he very much enjoyed watching Awakened content, actually producing it… from what he saw the degree to which it infiltrated your life was absurd, especially if you were a top Duelist or Duelist talent. The degree of access some of these cameras got into Guild talents' lives felt almost reality TV level; it felt voyeuristic at times. If I ever were to reach that level, all I'd want would be to be left alone. Like, just let me work on my Skills.

He felt amused. I mean, it's pretty unlikely any of this is ever a concern. His ride pulled to a stop in front of Delver's Association HQ, and he got off. Alex went through the front doors, saw a few nervous-looking guys and girls with envelopes in hand—would-be Awakened, he assumed. It was hard to believe he was in the same position less than 72 hours ago. In seconds he was on the 11 th floor, at the Delver's Exchange. He braced himself as he walked in. It was time to see what about 6, 000 USD could buy.

He had to admit, he didn't feel incredibly optimistic.

"So?" said the receptionist girl.

"Any thoughts?" Alex Identified the gleaming sword in his hand. Iron Sword [Common] The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. A longsword suitable for beginners. It wasn't the most impressive sword he'd ever seen. It felt almost exactly the same as the six other options on the desk, and the description was the same as well, with minor variations. Slightly weightier than the default practice sword in a v-station, and slightly better, the receptionist assured him.

"It should be able to handle anything up to peak F-rank," she said.

"That's Level 9 to 10," she clarified a second later. They were all priced similarly, so he picked a relatively cheap blade which was also one of the longer ones.

"Excellent choice," she said brightly, which he appreciated, even if he was pretty sure she would've said it regardless which sword he picked. That's 2700, gone like that. He was in mild pain. He wasn't clear on precisely what made it several thousand dollars better than a non-treasure sword, but it was. He studied the blade, turning it around. It was basic but it seemed well-made, at least. You'd better give a proper return on investment tomorrow, he warned it.

"Are you ready to see the rings?" she said.

"I'll package the sword and whatever else you pick once you're finished."

"Sure, bring them out."

"Awesome." She returned with a few options. Steel-banded rings with gemstones embedded. Ruby Ring [Common] A ring that grants a small boost to the wielder's Constitution, which affects robustness, vitality, and health. +3 Constitution Sapphire Ring [Common] A ring that grants a small boost to the wielder's Wisdom, which primarily affects maximum mana, mana regeneration, and the aspects of willpower related to soul potency. +3 Wisdom There were three separate Sapphire Rings, all of which seemed very similar.

Emerald Ring [Common] A ring that ring grants a small boost to the wielder's Intelligence, which primarily affects processing speed and the aspects of willpower related to Skill usage. +3 Intelligence There were also rings for Perception and Endurance, with a purple and a yellow gemstone, respectively. He picked up a Sapphire ring; they were all priced the same, so he picked the one that looked the nicest—the Sapphire rings were all visually slightly different. He was a little more excited for this.

"Can I try them on?" he asked, and received a confirmation.

"You'll have to bind it first." She walked him through how to do it—injecting his mana into the object. It took him less than ten seconds; she seemed surprised how quickly he managed it. He tried on the Ruby Ring and it was felt like his heart pumped harder for a second, before adjusting. A warm rush of energy flowed into his body. The sensation vanished, and his body felt slightly changed. His Constitution was 8. 6, meaning it, and his overall health, increased about 30%.

He had to unbind the ring afterward, also a simple process, although it took a few seconds longer.

"The item descriptions do get a little more interesting as you get higher up," said the receptionist, apologetically.

"We're good," he said.

"Really." He was fascinated. He tried on a few other rings—the Emerald Ring, and the Amethyst, perception-related one. But he suspected he knew what he wanted. When he tried on the Sapphire Ring, the energies flowed mostly to his soul. His Wisdom stat was currently 12. 9, meaning it'd grant him almost a 25% boost in maximum mana. He felt his capacity increase; there was instantly a band of extra capacity in the 'river' of mana around his soulspace.

Wisdom affected a number other soul-related attributes, but that maximum mana and mana regeneration boost felt priceless. As it was, the Sapphire ring was priced at 2. 5 Credits—about 3500 USD. Also about the maximum he could afford at the moment. He'd been concerned his card would decline. She returned a few minutes later with a ring marked with a Delver's Association logo. Interspatial Ring [Common] An Interspatial Ring approximately 4x4x4 cubic feet in volume, made for use in commercial transactions.

"Wait, do I have to buy the ring?" he said, instantly worried.

"It's free of charge," she said, like she was trying not to smile.

"You have a good one." He went back on the bus, a ring with his new sword and sapphire ring in tow—with the state of his finances he was starting to be worried about if he had enough to make it to the rift. Maybe taking that Uber earlier wasn't such a good idea? It should be fine, I think.

Back at home he spent a quarter hour finishing off what was remained of the essence in his freebie essence stone. He was pretty sure there was enough in his soul for another Class Level, but given a single stone was well over 1k… This rift had better be lucrative, I swear. It'd have to be to sustain him even the rest of this week, he was realizing—but there was also the future beyond to consider. Once he hit Level 10, which at his rate could be in a few weeks?

He'd need an E-rank Class Card to replace his current F-rank starter card. He'd have a few options there, but regardless what he chose, he'd have to face the price. A standard Class Card averaged, as he'd seen, a quarter of a million USD. But standard Class Cards gave fewer stats per Level than the better, higher-rarity Class Cards. The figures he was seeing ranged between 1 and 1. 5 million. Which he had absolutely zero clue how he'd get in a few weeks' time. Again, I could just join a Guild.

It felt like the more he found out about them, the less he wanted to be involved in one. All the other drawbacks aside, he liked having the freedom to do as he pleased. A freedom that, granted, did seem a privilege reserved for a rich few. Let me just get through this first week first, he decided. We'll see. He couldn't deny he was starting to feel squeezed in various directions, but he also kind of liked a bit of pressure. Okay, maybe financial pressure's a little less fun than other kinds of pressure. But still.

I'll find a way. On that front, he felt strangely confident.

He slept at a reasonable time and had an excellent night's sleep. He woke up bright and early, made his breakfast, decided he wouldn't overthink like with past duels. The fact that it was real life, with real consequences, did make him slightly nervous—wish he'd somehow discovered enough money for a chestplate, but it was what it was. His recovery day idea had worked about as well as he could've hoped; he felt ready. He was the fourth person, of their five person group, to arrive at the rift's location.

It was an Evaluation Rift—the final round of the prestigious Aegis Guild's evaluation process, he recalled. Three people were already there. Two nervous-looking potential Guilders, decked head-to-toe in gear, and also the person who'd be evaluating the finalists. A person he realized he recognized, if only in passing. She was in a set of silver, expensive-looking armor, with pink and red highlights. He'd only seen her once, the very first time he'd set foot in the Lake District Training Center.

Isn't she the younger sister of that Olympic Duelist—Adrian St. Clair? It took him a second to recall her name. Clarissa St. Clair.