"The race takes place in one of the newly discovered Star Systems, on planet Rocbach. Participants will use old-style vehicles to go through artificially created obstacle courses," explained Cruz.
"It's a sport that relies purely on driving skill. I remember when we were young, you were quite the driver. After a few months of training, you have a chance of winning."
When he was young, Chris was into street racing in the Philippines and was quite good, garnering a decent reputation. However, after an accident where he almost killed somebody, he quit that lifestyle and decided to improve his life.
"That was a long time ago."
"I know you have the talent. All you need is the proper training to win this race."
"Is it dangerous?"
"For ordinary people, yes. But as long as you have the minimal amount of aura, it's fine."
Chris pondered, deciding what choice to make.
"Is this thing even legal?"
"You don't have to worry about that. You said you needed merit, right? The winner will receive 1000 merit."
"Don't change the subject and answer me directly."
Cruz looked around, checking to see if anyone was near.
"The event is legal and illegal."
"What does that mean?"
"The government is aware of this black market sport. However, some powerful Arcanist is behind the entire thing. So, as long as things proceed smoothly and do not cause trouble, the Empire will close one eye."
Chris analyzed these kinds of black market businesses involved some level of corruption in the government. After all, there is nothing perfect in this world.
Furthermore, other forms of politics are also involved. The Empire cannot put too many restrictions on some powerful Arcanists, forcing them to revolt or fester negative feelings. So, closing one eye on certain things is one way to give them more freedom and placate them.
'1000 merit is a lot. With it, I can buy the potion in only 30 years with the discounts and 48 years without it.'
Chris mulled the situation over, thinking about what to choose. He did not want to get involved with illegal activities. Although Cruz made it sound like things were not that bad, he was smart and had enough wisdom to understand that illegal was illegal, no matter how beautifully it was painted.
At the same time, he could not resist the temptation of the 1000 Merit.
"Why don't you come to watch one show before you decide?" convinced Cruz, and after pondering for a second, he agreed. The next game was this Saturday, so they decided on a meeting spot before leaving, not even ordering coffee or tea. The waitress secretly cursed them for that.
During the remaining week, Chris was on edge, constantly feeling guilty about breaking the law. He often wanted to call and cancel, but his greed for the 1000 merit always stopped him.
When Saturday arrived, he was not in the best shape. After all, he could not sleep a wink even with the Virtual Gaming Cabin. He headed to the location agreed with Cruz, where he saw the latter waiting for him.
The two then headed to an alleyway where a man was wearing a hooded for them. Chris immediately became suspicious, but it was too late at this point.
"Relax," said Cruz before talking to the hooded figure. "He is my referral."
The hooded man looked up and down at Chris before taking out an instrument. Without hesitation, Cruz placed his hand on it, "Your turn."
"What is it? What does it do?"
"Asking too many questions, aren't we?" rebutted the hooded figure.
"Is there a problem with that?" refuted Chris.
"Don't worry. The thing only temporarily blocked the tracking method of your ID Watch."
Most citizens do not like the idea of planting chips inside their bodies. So, the ID Watch served as an alternative. The watch is a computer, a phone, and even serves as Identification for almost everything. Each of them is unique to its owner, and it takes a lot of time and effort to replace them.
After hearing the watch's purpose, Chris became hesitant.
"Don't waste my time," said the hooded figure. "Big Brother Arcane has so many ways to surveil you that this watch is the least of your problem."
In the end, Chris could not resist; he felt he was already in too deep. He placed his hand in the device, and after a few seconds, the hooded figure asked him to remove it; he felt nothing else during the process.
Cruz then led him to a room hidden by mirage magic. More than a dozen people were waiting inside, and they had to wait for others. In total, more than 30 people came.
Finally, the hooded figure also entered with a staff in his hand. He activated a spell, and everyone disappeared, teleporting to an unknown location.
Chris found himself in an ample space with nothing in sight besides a spaceship.
"Is this our transportation?"
"Yes," replied Cruz.
"I thought we would teleport there."
"The Empire's space is strictly controlled and surveilled. Anyone who has a private Warp Portal has to be monitored. And owning an unauthorize one is grounds for imprisonment.
"The world has changed without you knowing. Have you noticed that things like Floo Network, Portkeys, and Vanishing Cabinets which were common in the early days, are now extremely regulated?"
"Now that you mention it, that's true."
The two had to wait online for almost an hour for everyone to board the ship. Subsequently, the ship entered a Conceal State before flying to its destination, Planet Rocbach.
The voyage took longer than he anticipated, as he only arrived more than 2 hours later. The moment he exited the spaceships, he heard loud cheering coming from the distance.
He gazed in its direction, seeing a massive stadium with people entering; he could hear the cacophony of cheers even though he was more than 30 meters away.
"Let's go. I have some decent seats."
Cruz led them to their seats, and Chris immediately knew why the crowd was cheering loudly. In the middle of the stadium was an enormous floating screen displaying highlights of the previous races.
And things were exciting, to say the less. For the next ten minutes, he gathered a basic understanding of this illegal race–including the danger and excitement.
"The person who organized this race must be wealthy."
"The truly rich one is the Empire," replied Cruz.
"Oh, what makes you say that?"
"According to Law, no individual or corporation can own their own planet. However, they can pay to borrow it."
"Borrow? I guess that makes sense if they want to own property or do shady business like this one."
"No, the main use of this method is to mine rare resources. Doing it like this is cheaper than directly buying them from the government. However, the amount of money saved is not even that much after paying taxes."
"It seems the Empire has a tight leash on private enterprises or corporations."
"Indeed, which is a shame."
"Not really," argued Chris. "Unregulated capitalism is a recipe for disaster."
"And so is authoritarianism."
"True. But it has proven to be much better than the previous system."
Chris decided to no longer focus on this conversation. He could tell his friend had changed from what he remembered. Not to mention, he seems to know many things that civilians should not be privy to.
Luckily, the latter appeared not to want to continue this topic, and the host of the next race appeared in the stadium.