Julius was on the bus heading home, 10,000 credits richer.
But instead of being happy about it, Julius was angry at himself, questioning how he could have been so stupid.
'What a missed opportunity.' He cursed himself in his head as he reviewed the conversation he had with [Rainbow Sword].
Since the first conflict he had at [The Gates], Julius had developed a habit of revisiting the fights in his mind and trying to learn something from his failures. This habit had proven to be very effective, causing Julius to improve at an alarming rate.
Right then, he took advantage of the fact that the bus he was on still had several stops before reaching his destination and decided to use that time for exactly that exercise. But instead of revisiting a fight, he preferred to look back at the conversation he had with [Rainbow Sword].
The more he reflected on the conversation, the more he realized the huge opportunity he had missed.
'I had someone with access to insider information about [The Gates], and I didn't take the chance to squeeze as much information from him!' Julius hated himself for this, since it seemed like the man was willing to say more.
At first, Julius had found the whole situation strange, especially the silver plate, but he hadn't thought much about it at the time because he was too caught up in greed.
'I can't lose control like that again.' He decided to forgive himself this time, as he had been very excited about everything that was happening. It was the first time it seemed like the universe was conspiring in Julius's favor.
Going back to the memories,
'What was that silver plate that changed color? Why did the man seem to change his behavior toward me after noticing that the plate turned violet when I touched it?' Julius relived the memories and realized that the strange look started after [Rainbow Sword] saw the plate change from silver to violet.
He had been cordial and treating Julius well from the beginning, but the eerie look only started after the plate changed color.
'It seemed like I had some sort of treasure...'
Shudder
Shudder
Shudder
Just thinking about that made Julius feel a chill down his spine.
Putting that aside and trying to focus on other topics from the conversation, Julius started to remember what happened afterward.
'He slapped my forehead!' What surprised Julius wasn't the slap, but the distance between the couch he was sitting on and the chair where [Rainbow Sword] was sitting—it was about five meters.
Even though it was a small distance, it should have been enough for Julius to react when he saw the man suddenly jumping toward him, but what happened was the complete opposite.
[Rainbow Sword] moved so quickly that all Julius saw was a blur before he blacked out.
'That speed... I'm not sure I could do something like that even in [The Gates].' For an ordinary human to move that fast... it should be impossible.
Julius doubted that even top-level professional athletes could reach that kind of speed.
'It must be some function of my bracelet... I already know that [The Gates] can read my mind, but maybe it can alter my memories too!?' Trying to find a plausible explanation, Julius decided to blame his number one enemies so far:
'Damn developers!' Once again, the poor programming team was cursed for no reason!
'Maybe they're altering my memories to keep the game balanced.' Julius thought this because he believed the dark dimension he was sent to with the slap had something important about it that couldn't be revealed to the players yet.
'Still, there might be something useful they forgot to alter or remove.' So, Julius decided to keep revisiting his memories, even if some of them might be distorted.
All of this seemed quite frightening, but with everything Julius had seen in [The Gates], he had no doubt that [UNION] had technology capable of altering someone's memories.
'I just hope they keep using this technology only to make the game more realistic...' He prayed that the rulers wouldn't have any funny ideas about using such technology on their populations...
Julius was now convinced that the reason he blacked out had actually been the bracelet he bought to play the game, and the memory he had was implanted to make everything seem more realistic.
'After the "slap," I ended up in a completely dark dimension with only the [Asahah treasure] inside.'
The treasure was probably Julius's biggest regret—he could have gathered so much more information from [Rainbow Sword], but unfortunately, he didn't.
This left Julius with a series of unanswered questions.
What kind of place was that?
Was the treasure the bag or the dark dimension?
How did he get into that dimension?
What was that tree?
Julius could have tried to get answers to all these questions from [Rainbow Sword] earlier, but unfortunately, he didn't, and he would have to live with the mystery.
'At least he gave me the business card. Maybe I can get more information from him if I sell more [Samsara Coins].' Julius stood up from his seat on the bus, got off at the stop near his home, and walked the rest of the way.
The walk from the bus stop to the building he lived in would take about ten minutes, giving him time to clear his thoughts and start forming a plan.
'I have a clear goal in mind: To become a scavenger.' In addition to the goal, he also had an idea of how to achieve it. Julius would have Eleonor record and post to the Hall of Fame to gain followers, but now with [Association], things had changed.
'[Association] allows me to sell [Samsara Coins], [Artifacts], [Paths], and [Physicals] to them at an inflated price. I don't necessarily need to make a name for myself anymore, just focus on the hunts and get as many of these "items" as I can.' Of course, he would continue with the previous plan, but things seemed simpler now.
'After that... Well, I'll think about that when the time comes.' Julius was already entering the apartment when he decided to leave the rest of the planning for later.
He had a duty now.
[Login]
**************************
At the Same Time, in the City of Lights
Eleonor was at medical school. Unfortunately, today was a busy day as she and the rest of her class had to present a seminar.
'Damn! I'll probably be late today for [The Gates]. Mom and Dad will yell at me again.' Frans and Katharina were very strict about time, 'But this time it's not my fault!'
She glared resentfully at the blonde-haired, handsome classmate who was presenting at that moment.
A part of the class, including the teacher, seemed to be very interested in the presentation. 'So interested that they didn't even notice that the 5 minutes we were allowed to present passed 15 minutes ago!!'
"Cough, cough!" A student, who also seemed impatient, coughed to grab the attention of the others. He was sitting near Eleonor and was handsome, though not nearly as good-looking as the blonde man presenting.
"Sorry to interrupt, but it's been 20 minutes since his seminar started. Didn't we each only have 5 minutes?" The boy pointed out something that most of the class, including Eleonor, had been wanting to say for quite a while.
The boy presenting stopped his seminar and looked toward the student who had made the complaint.
"I apologize, I didn't realize I was presenting for this long! Professor, I won't complain about the grade you give me. Regardless of the quality of my presentation, I broke the 5-minute limit." The young blonde man lowered his head in apology to his classmates and was about to leave the stage.
Those who were bothered by the situation just stayed silent and said nothing, looking in a specific direction where a middle-aged woman with striking beauty was seated, holding a notebook.
Almost the entire class was annoyed by the situation, but no one dared to speak up for two reasons.
The first was that Professor Eva seemed to be enjoying the presentation, and she was known across campus as a demon in the form of a woman. Because of this, no one had spoken up so far for fear of their grades being reduced.
The second reason was the female students in the class.
"Hey, no one is stopping you from leaving, just get out, damn it!" One of the girls, sitting at the front of the room, complained angrily about the interruption.
'If we leave before all the presentations are done, the professor will deduct points from our grade!' The boy who had made the complaint rebutted the girl.
'These bitches, just because he's the son of a politician, they all suck up to him!' Eleonor cursed the girl in her thoughts, but she didn't let her irritation show on her face, which caused the boy who was presenting, who had been glancing at her from the corner of his eye, to get the wrong idea.
'Eleonor is really the most beautiful woman on campus; only she deserves to be with me! And she seems to be paying a lot of attention to my presentation, I think I'm starting to win her heart!' The presenting boy slightly adjusted his hair to look even more handsome.
This simple gesture made the girls fall even more for him.
"Yeah, we're here to learn. Don't you realize how valuable the content our classmate is sharing with us!?" Another girl in the front row raised her voice to complain as well.
"Even the professor is listening attentively!"
"If the professor isn't interrupting Henry's presentation, who are you to do it!?"
Coincidentally, all the students sitting in the front rows were girls, and they were all angry about the interruption.
The boys and the other girls who weren't sitting at the front thought the whole situation was ridiculous, including Eleonor.
If it hadn't been for the rules, which clearly stated that students had to wait until the seminar was over to leave, everyone who wasn't sitting in the front rows would have already left the room.
"Enough. The seminars end here." The professor wrote something in her notebook and closed it, then looked directly at Henry.
"Even though I really liked your presentation, I still have to deduct points for going over the time I gave at the beginning. You got 80% of the grade, congratulations." The woman didn't want to seem too biased, so she gave a grade that was still fair, even considering the time issue.
"What!? I only got 40%?"
"You're complaining even though you got that much!?"
"It's not my fault if you're stupid and only got 10%!"
Two students who were close to each other thought the grade given to Henry was unfair, but as they were about to continue their complaint, they noticed the professor staring directly at them.
Slurp
The two swallowed hard when they noticed her lifeless blue eyes staring at them both.
"Any complaints?" The professor asked, adjusting her glasses slightly.
"No, ma'am!" The two replied in unison before quickly leaving the room.
'Idiots!' Eleonor also gathered her things and was about to leave when someone appeared in front of her.
"Hello, Eleonor, would you mind if I walked you to your car?" Henry, who was already in front of her, asked with a charming smile.
'What does this idiot want with me!?'
"Hm? Sure, I don't see why not." Even though she thought the complete opposite, Eleonor didn't want to cause any trouble for herself, and since Henry had influential parents, she decided to keep her thoughts to herself.
The two walked together across the campus, having a casual conversation until they reached a red sports car.
"Thanks for the company, but we already arive. This is my car." Eleonor pulled out the key and unlocked her CyberTaurus.
"What a beautiful car! Hm, before you leave, I'd like to know if you're interested in joining the university guild. I'm one of the captains, and I'd like you to join as a lieutenant. I've heard that your family has experience in this, and it would be great to have someone like you on our side!" When Henry mentioned Eleonor's family, his eyes briefly lit up, but he quickly disguised it and kept his polite smile.
"Hm, I'm not sure yet if I'll continue playing, but I'll let you know if anything changes!" Eleonor responded with a smile, quickly getting into the car and driving off as fast as possible.
Seeing Eleonor leave in a hurry, Henry simply gave a small smile. 'The poor girl's heart probably can't take even a minute more of conversation with me.'
"What a piece of crap car! It only goes up to 220 km/h, at this rate I'll be really late for the game!" While Henry got lost in thought, Eleonor cursed one of the fastest cars on the market for its lack of speed.
She overtook every car she could on the road and almost crashed several times, but Eleonor didn't care about that!
"My golden mine! I can't leave him alone for too long, or some other businessman will steal him from me!" She could even smell the money slipping away as she imagined Julius being managed by someone else.
"As soon as I get in, I'm making him sign the damn contract!"
Once she got home, Eleonor immediately logged into the game and quickly searched for her parents inside the village.
"Sorry for the delay, a damn brat disrupted the whole class today!" As soon as she found them, she apologized to avoid being reprimanded in front of Julius.
"Wait, where's Julius!?" Thinking that someone had stolen her golden mine, Eleonor became furious with the swordsman.
'I'll find him, and I'll charge him for every healing...' Suddenly, she remembered that she had only healed him once. 'Damn monster!!'
"Hoho." Seeing her daughter frantically moving her head from side to side searching for Julius, Katharina couldn't help but chuckle mischievously.
Not understanding her mother's laughter, Eleonor was confused by what was happening.
'Why is she looking at me like that?' Katharina stared at Eleonor and occasionally laughed strangely.
"He hasn't arrived yet." Knowing his wife's behavior, Frans just shook his head and answered his daughter.
"Sorry for the delay…" It was at that moment that Julius also entered [The Gates].
"Hey, you lazy jerk! How dare you be late on your first day of work!?" Eleonor, who had entered a bit earlier, found it outrageous that Julius was late!
'He still dares to say he wants to become a professional player. Tsk, this damn generation!'