"Ahhhh... What?! 999,999,999 points?! That's like… a billion!"
For a moment, Sael felt as if his long-time dream of becoming a billionaire had finally come true.
He grinned and laughed like a madman, until the realization hit him hard.
'Wait… what even are these points?'
This was clearly not the kind of currency he had always dreamed about. Heck, he didn't even know what currency this world used.
If this was anything like those games where you walk into a shop, pick what you want, hit "purchase," and that's it, then he would be very disappointed.
But judging from the near-death experiences he'd already gone through, Sael was confident this world was as real as it could get.
'So… maybe it's like in-game currency.'
But the real question was, How much was a billion worth? And how easy was it to earn a billion?
From his guess, if these points were earned by killing that monster earlier, then it might actually be easy to rack up this much.
Though "easy" wasn't exactly the word for nearly dying.
His second guess and the one he was hoping for was that this was a gift from that "Sephiroth" guy mentioned in the first message. It had said something about a gift, after all.
He thought for a long while, recalling all those free financial videos he'd seen on the internet. The number one rule was that people who started spending without knowing the value of their money were always the first to go broke. Spending had to be planned, especially when he didn't even understand its worth yet.
So, he came up with three separate plans depending on whether points were easy to earn, hard to earn, or somewhere in between.
Somehow, making these plans was actually… fun. Having a billion was truly a delightful feeling.
Then he noticed something.
There was a Store option.
And suddenly, he felt very, very stupid.
'Wait… there was a store option this whole time, and I've just been wasting time?'
He coughed, trying to play it off, and selected the option.
The runes before him vanished, then reappeared, this time displaying a variety of items, abilities, ability copy cards, and question cards. Each came in different colors, probably to show their rank or type.
He spent another hour scanning through everything, eyes sharp, not missing a single detail.
Items in the "Store" were ranked from lowest to highest: gray, green, blue, orange, red, purple, gold, white, black, and finally something that shimmered with all seven colors of the rainbow the highest rank.
Gray-ranked abilities cost three-digit amounts. Each rank higher seemed to add another digit to the price.
'Ahhh… with a billion points I can only afford nine white-ranked abilities. I can't even afford black or rainbow rank.'
The feeling of being rich evaporated instantly.
Then he remembered an item at the top of the list, a [Question Card], priced at only 100 points.
'Hmm… should I invest?'
After some hesitation, he bought one. Its description read [Can answer any one question in exchange for points equal to the value of the answer]
His first question was obvious,
"What is Sephiroth?"
[Point requirement for answer: 300,000,000]
[Yes / No]
"What… No, no, no!"
He shouted "No" the instant he saw the price.
After that, his desire for answers almost disappeared, but he knew he still needed information to survive. So he bought two more cards for another 200 points.
'Alright… I'll ask three basic questions. If they cost too much, I'll just go back to good old slow learning process.'
After a long time of careful planning he finally decided on three questions.
What are Points?
How hard is it to earn one Point?
And finally, What is Astra Domain?
Each one only cost him 100 points, so he figured they were basic knowledge.
The first answer he got was,
[Points are the unique currency of equivalent exchange created by the Divine Architect to aid in the journey of Travellers from Beyond]
'Travellers from beyond? That's probably referring to me. And by the sound of it… I'm not the only one.'
Sael sighed. This world was getting more confusing by the minute.
Then the second answer,
[Points can be obtained by killing creatures who possess Astra Domain. Killing something with Astra Stars grants points equal to the number of stars it has. However, as your own Astra Stars increase, the points gained from weaker foes will decrease. At your current level, collecting 1,000 points would take centuries]
'Wait… what again?'
The concept wasn't entirely clear to him.
'Isn't it saying that it gets harder as I grow stronger? Hmm… so a billion points must be insanely hard to get. Better spend carefully.'
And then the last answer,
[Astra Domain is the unique attribute of your Astra Essence. Its strength equals the number of Astra Stars you possess]
That forced him to use another Question Card to ask,
"What is an Astra Star?"
[Astra Stars are the symbols representing the power held by the possessor]
"Hmm..."
In the end, he bought two more question cards to understand the system properly. As he was busy studying the vanishing runes, the sun soon set, and the door to the giant hall opened.
Through the door, children mostly the same age as Sael ran inside, bringing along with them the embodiment of carnage. They screamed and roared for no reason, and Sael immediately found himself with a headache.
He really didn't like these little demons called children.
But fortune had long abandoned him. The children quickly spotted an unknown face among them. Then, curiosity picked them, and they gathered around his bed as if a crew of circus performers had come to their little town.
Sael almost had a heart attack as he saw children of various skin shades circling around his bed like some cultist bastards about to sacrifice him to an evil god.
'Well, at least this world doesn't seem to have discrimination against colour.'
"Hey, where are you from?"
"What's your name?"
Or something similar the children began to asked. But since Sael didn't understand most of it, especially when some toddlers with slipping tongues tried asking him, he remained silent, like he was trying his best to avoid the gaze of a ghost looking at him, but he didn't want the ghost to know he could see it.
And that action clearly pissed some of them off. Especially a kid twice the size of the others.
He clicked his tongue, and the others cleared Sael's bed instantly.
'Looks like this orphanage has a well-established hierarchy.'
***
Before the sun could fully sink behind the mountains, the caretaker lady who had brought him here called out for all the children to come for dinner.
She stood at the doorway, making sure none of them would miss their meal.
She walked at the back of the group as they all headed toward the dining hall. Along the way, Sael spotted a door leading to a dark room. Through the little he could see, rows of books lined a tall bookshelf.
"Do you like books, little one?" the caretaker asked with a gentle smile.
This time, her voice was slow and soft, and Sael understood most of it. He nodded to say yes.
"Oh, good. You know how to read then."
This time, he shook his head horizontally to say no.
"Oh my… then how about I teach you starting tomorrow?"
'Really? Thank you, lady.'
He nodded in agreement, and she laughed softly.
In the dining hall, three long tables remained, ancient and worn, swallowing what little light came from the setting sun and the dim lamps. The food was even worse, something like potatoes boiled with only salt.
'No wonder these brats are all so tiny. Except…'
Sael's eyes fell on the tall kid who seemed to be the boss of the place. Sure enough, he was eating six potato-like lumps while all the other kids had only two.
'Well, none of my business.'
***
Night fell, and all the flaming lamps had gone cold, leaving the asylum in its original haunting state.
All those annoying little brats had finally fallen asleep, after what felt like an eternity of screaming. In the room… that damn single room for all the children, Sael was the only one still awake.
He was studying the vanishing runes. He understood that knowledge, despite all the controversy, was true power. Especially in an unknown world with an unknown language.
His main focus this time was the Astra Domain. It seemed to be the main source of power in this world.
As he studied it, he remembered obtaining something similar after killing that wolf-like creature.
'Wait a second… where is that thing?'
As if answering his question, an option for possessed items appeared in the vanishing runes.
And sure enough, there it was [Astra Key of Beast]
[Notice: Do you wish to use "Astra Key of Beast" for awakening?]
[Yes / No]
'Ahh… I don't know… maybe yes…'
The moment he confirmed, his vision instantly blurred, and he fell into a deep sleep.
[Congratulations. You have awakened Astra Domain of Beast.]