There were only two ways to get into the strongholds from the slums. The first was awakening a supernatural ability and turning yourself in. But for the second...
Kaelen pushed open the glass doors of the local bank in the slums.
"Welcome to the bank, sir. How may I help you today?"
Kaelen looked at the teller and smiled.
"I’d like to convert one billion Evolution Points into cash."
"..."
A cold wind immediately swept through the bank as he didn’t bother to keep his voice down, sending the bank’s lobby into an unsettling silence as everyone turned to see who had spoken.
The bank teller looked him up and down, taking in the sight of his messy hair and the torn rags he was wearing before she looked back up at him.
Both the bank teller and every other person in the bank had the same simultaneous thought.
’Who let this crackhead into the bank?’
She quickly recovered from the shock of the initial statement as her hands went under the counter, hovering over the distress button to alert the security guards at a moment’s notice.
"Sorry, I didn’t get you the first time—"
"Oh no, you did. You heard me correctly. I’d like to convert one billion Evolution Points into cash." Kaelen cut her off, and before the bank teller’s expression could turn ugly, he slammed his phone onto her desk, startling her. But when she looked down at the display on the badly cracked screen, her breath hitched.
Her reaction piqued the interest of everyone in the bank’s lobby, who began muttering to themselves, and the security guards stationed around the bank slowly began approaching and closing in on Kaelen.
Then the bank teller suddenly grabbed the telephone by her desk, raising it to her lips as her shaky hand quickly dialed the code.
As soon as the line connected, she didn’t wait for the person on the other end to speak before she screamed into the telephone like her life was on the line.
"Sir, we have a VIP client in the lobby who wants to convert one billion Evolution Points to cash!"
The bank was immediately thrown into chaos upon hearing the bank teller’s words and the urgency in her voice, and the guards froze in their tracks.
Before Kaelen could count down from five, a door swung open with so much force that it nearly came off its hinges, and a middle-aged man charged out with several other bank officials.
He charged straight to the bank teller without a word, the light in his eyes speaking on his behalf.
The lady lifted a shaky finger to point at the completely overlooked Kaelen standing calmly before the counter, and the bank manager turned to look at him as though it were some elaborate joke.
But the bank teller immediately raised the cracked phone like a sacred item to show the man, and when he squinted at the Evolution Online personalized dashboard displaying the amount of Evolution Points the player was in possession of, his brain went numb as he tried to count how many zeros there were.
[Evolution Points Balance]:
3,526,000,000 (EP)
"...Is this account..."
"...real?"
He immediately snatched the phone from the bank teller, turning to Kaelen once more, except this time his eyes were filled with awe and admiration as he made a deep bow, the other bank officials following suit immediately.
"I’m sorry for the inconvenience, sir. You must have had a long journey across the wasteland to come to our stronghold."
"Oh..."
Kaelen was taken aback. They had misinterpreted his dirty rags as the result of crossing the wasteland and fighting through the mutated beast horde outside, arriving unscathed.
"Something like that," he replied. It wasn’t entirely wrong because that was exactly what Kaelen had done when he arrived at that stronghold a decade ago... though he didn’t get to fight for his life because, for some reason, the beasts simply avoided him like the plague.
"We will not waste your time any further. Please come with me," the bank manager said as he led Kaelen through the door they had exited from, leaving the lobby in chaos as everyone began chattering loudly about the unexpected drama and making their own speculations.
Kaelen was quickly led into the bank manager’s office and was ushered to the chair at the head of the table reserved for the manager.
"Sir, would you like to eat something or wash up first?" the bank manager asked respectfully.
"Oh? What about my money?" Kaelen asked with a raised brow.
The bank manager hesitated for a moment.
"Wait... you guys don’t have that much money, do you?" Kaelen asked sharply but smirked internally.
Of course, he knew the local bank in the slums wouldn’t have three billion dollars sitting around in a vault. That was why he had specifically mentioned that amount and requested it in cash.
"Y-You’re not wrong, sir. Only the central bank in the stronghold can make a transaction of such a huge amount."
"Tch. Are you saying I wasted my time coming here after wiping out an entire map of monsters and killing a world-level boss in the wasteland, huh?" Kaelen raised his voice at the bank manager and let his aura leak just enough to send the man shivering.
He wasn’t sure how strong he was compared to the Awakening ranks of the stronghold. But it was working.
"N-Not at all, sir. I’ve already prepared a convoy that will safely take you to the central bank. It might take a few minutes to arrive, and you can use that time to eat something and wash up," the man said respectfully.
"Do me a favor and try to keep this quiet," Kaelen said dismissively as he stood up. "I’ll wash up first."
The man made a curt bow. "Your food will be prepared by the time you’re done," he said and swiftly exited the office.
The office door clicked shut.
Kaelen remained silent for several seconds before the corners of his lips slowly rose.
"...I can’t believe that actually worked."
He leaned back in the chair, finally allowing himself to relax.
One billion Evolution Points...
Three billion dollars...
A laugh escaped his lips.
"Oh shit..."
"I’m about to become a billionaire."