(Before Matthew's visit)
Kai placed a towel on his shoulder as he exited the bathroom, the smell of sandalwood and jasmine filling the room.
He glanced at his phone lying beside his grey-colored bed and sighed.
He moved closer to his bed as droplets of water dripped down from his hair onto the tiled floor.
Dropping onto the mattress, he swiped his hand through the air and opened his mission task.
----
MISSION
• Survive in Noctis Academy and come out first place in the Lock League.
• Time Limit: 11 months, 25 weeks, 7 days
• Reward:
- Advancement to Expert Rank
- Core Advancement to Red
- 1 Random Weaved Ability
- 3 Random Vespers
• Dear aspiring mage, best of luck.
---
SUB-MISSION
• One Hundred Push-Ups [100/100]
• One Hundred Sit-Ups [100/100]
• One Hundred Squats [100/100]
• Ten Kilometres Run [10/10]
Warning: If user fails to complete mission in the allocated time, instant death.
Daily Mission Completed. Reward Designated. 30 Ability points earned. 10 Stats points earned.
----
"Alpha, tell me everything about your new upgrade and how it affects my ability."
[That'll be a really long explanation... might take most of your day.]
"Just tell me. I can't be asking what you can do during every fight."
[Ha... alright then.]
Alpha began to explain both her abilities and Kai's. According to her, Kai's ability was relatively simple.
He could use any kind of thread to form constructs related to mana. That included vespers, abilities, and even monsters, though creating anything still required his mana and a drifter core as an anchor.
The stronger he got, the higher the rank of abilities he could weave. Right now, he could barely manage an A-rank ability. Summoning monsters was still far out of reach.
[That brings your total weaved abilities to two for now.]
Despite constant practice, Kai hadn't managed to create any more abilities since weaving Transmission. The process had severely drained his stats, and he wasn't ready to go through it again.
As for Alpha, her capabilities were the same just a bit more advanced. She could now hack and extract information from tech-based sources and analyze magic abilities to create counters, though her efficiency was still limited by Kai's current rank.
[So, for now, you can only use Appraisal, Shadow Glider, and Transmission. If we include the three Shinto blades, I'd say you're close to the strength of an Expert Rank.]
Kai mulled over the information. It was a lot to take in, but he needed to process it quickly. Only by understanding his abilities could he survive the next arc.
"What if we add the Stranger's Sword Dance?"
[No, we can't.]
"Why not?"
[You probably haven't noticed since you've never used mana before, but you can't use the Sword Dance.]
"But..."
[No buts. All you've been doing is using breathing techniques and mimicking what you think the Stranger's Sword Dance is.]
"So I don't have the mana mastery or the sword art foundation yet?"
[Exactly. Which brings us to the next point. You need to find a simpler sword art to learn. You've already dropped the spear arts that the cat-like lady taught you.]
Kai exhaled deeply.
[It's been a week since you entered ICUWSA and you haven't done much. Your account balance is dangerously low.]
"I have an account?"
[Of course you do. How else do you think you paid for transport before enrolling at Noctis?]
"Fair point. But don't worry about income. I already have a plan, three actually."
[...]
Kai then laid out his plan to Alpha and explained why he spent so much time weaving his ability.
Alpha wasn't surprised that Kai knew how to generate income, he had been part of the marketing department in his past life, after all. If there was one thing he understood better than math, it was ICUWSA's plot.
He had already asked Ivy to get him a laptop. He needed it for investing in cryptocurrency and placing strategic bets. He wasn't about to pass on the opportunity for passive income, no matter the risk.
But those methods wouldn't make him rich overnight. The best-paying opportunities were in markets that weren't popular yet, meaning he'd have to wait two or three weeks before seeing any real profit.
That led him to his second method.
Swiping his hand in the air, he summoned his exclusive system store.
After researching prices outside the system, he realized that even though items were bought using mission-earned points, they were absurdly cheap compared to real-world equivalents.
---
SYSTEM STORE
Available Ability Points: 80
Vespers | Potions | Accessories
Abilities | ???????? | ????????
???????? | ???????? | ????????
???????? | ???????? | ????????
---
Kai reached toward the screen and tapped the potion tab. The screen flashed and loaded a new interface.
---
POTIONS (Low Grade)
Mana Potion (Restores 1/4 of user's mana) – 3 Ability Points
Stamina Potion (Restores 1/4 of user's stamina) – 2 Ability Points
Healing Potion (Restores 1/6 of user's health) – 5 Ability Points
Antidote Potion (Negates 90% of poisons below user's rank) – 7 Ability Points
Elixir (Heals 90% of illnesses below user's rank) – 25 Ability Points
Buff Potion (15 seconds duration) – 13 Ability Points
Stealth Potion (10 seconds duration) – 4 Ability Points
Resistance Potion (Poison) – 3 Ability Points
Resistance Potion (Flame) – 3 Ability Points
Enhancement Potion (Berserker) – 10 Ability Points
Note: User cannot access Intermediate Potions at current rank.
------
"If I invest all my points in health potions which are priced at approximately 50,000 Meltons each, that would total around 800,000 Meltons." He placed his fingers thoughtfully on his jaw. "Alpha, what would that amount convert to in won?"
[Korean ramen typically costs around a thousand won, and the closest equivalent I could find here is priced at approximately 0.1M. That would place 800k Meltons at an estimated 8 billion won, or 5.6 million US dollars.]
"What?" Kai froze, staring blankly at the wall in disbelief. "Did you just say one... two... three... then eight billion won?"
[Yes, that's correct.]
"Hahahahahahahaha!"
A thunderous laugh burst from Kai's lips, loud enough to even startle Alpha.
[Why did you react so dramatically?]
Tears welled at the corners of Kai's eyes. "I'm rich, Alpha. I'm rich!"
He jumped to his feet, spinning and dancing in pure elation.
"I was worthless, hopeless, and broke in my past life but now, I'm wealthy."
He gave a satisfied nod before selecting the purchase option, using all his points on health potions.
"All that's left now is to leave the academy the day after tomorrow. It's the weekend, after all."
[The academy might not approve of that.]
"I can teleport, and no one is aware of that yet."
In a surge of excitement, Kai even bought an extra class with his remaining points.
Yes, nothing was going to ruin his perfect day.
Or so he believed until he laid eyes on the last person he wanted to see that morning.
(Back to the present)
"What are you doing here, Matthew?" Kai's tone was sharp, his eyes locking with Matthew's.
"Don't be like that, Kaiser. We're friends, aren't we?" Matthew replied, his smile unwavering.
"Seems like you came here just to ruin my morning."
"Hmm... But I thought we had already reconciled?" Matthew said, tilting his head slightly while rubbing his jawline in confusion.
"What?" Kai's expression twisted in disbelief.
"I meant, we're even now."
"?"
"Oh, don't act so clueless. I know your ability and you know mine. You're an X-rank, right? I still can't believe what you did to Rodri's group..."
In that moment, Kai felt his reality fracture. He'd been so preoccupied with his own issues that he'd forgotten just how overpowered Matthew was, the kind of power that made Kai collapse in despair when Matthew died.
"...Are you even listening, Kaiser? You do know my ability, don't you? Blessing."
Like Kai, Matthew also had a special system. In fact, it was more accurate to say Kai's system was a derivative of Matthew's.
But while Kai's system revolved around purchasing potions, completing missions, weaving abilities, and much more, Matthew's system had a singular, terrifying purpose.
He could borrow powers from the Outer Gods and wield them freely. In essence, he was a walking catastrophe. A king with a countermeasure to everything; Matthew Von Sliver.
"Hey, are you listening?" Matthew stepped closer.
"I don't understand what you mean," Kai replied flatly, closing his door and brushing past him.
'He can't be certain yet.' Kai thought, passing the elegant young man.
"Oi, you're not from this world, are you?" Matthew asked.
Kai turned just in time to avoid the strike from his spear.
"So, ready to talk now?" Matthew asked, tightening his grip on his weapon.
Damn it, this bastard, Kai cursed internally, knowing he had no choice but to fight.
The man standing in front of him was the one who bore the name; Drum of Chaos. Matthew Von Sliver.