The next three days were painful.
Not life-threatening painful.
Not Verona-training painful.
Just the uniquely irritating kind of painful that came from discovering you had been fighting incorrectly your entire life.
“Again.”
Verona’s voice echoed across the training grounds.
I sighed.
Then I swung my sword.
The result was terrible.
Verona immediately smacked me on the head with a wooden training blade.
“Ow!”
“Again.”
“I feel like we’re not addressing the violence here.”
“Again.”
I hated this woman.
The System appeared.
[The host has once again failed to understand the concept of swordsmanship.]
‘I understand swordsmanship.’
[The host attempted to incorporate Blink into a basic sword stance.]
‘Innovation.’
[Stupidity.]
‘Harsh.’
Unfortunately…
The System wasn’t wrong.
My problem wasn’t learning sword techniques.
My problem was that every instinct I possessed screamed at me to use Space Affinity.
Why walk normally when I could Blink?
Why swing once when I could appear behind someone?
Why learn proper footwork when reality itself could become my footwork?
Verona had quickly identified this issue.
Which was why she kept forcing me to practice.
Again.
And again.
And again.
For three consecutive days.
At one point I genuinely considered faking my own death.
Sadly, Verona could probably detect lies.
And corpses.
Meanwhile Lyra’s situation looked completely different.
Every morning she disappeared into one of the estate’s training halls.
Every evening she emerged stronger.
It was honestly disturbing.
The mastery of Echo Fall increased visibly each day.
Her movements became smoother.
The transitions between forms became faster.
More natural.
More dangerous.
By the third day she was creating enough afterimages that even I occasionally lost track of the real one.
Verona looked pleased.
Which was terrifying.
Because Verona’s standards were ridiculous.
The woman could probably watch a meteor destroy a city and complain about inefficient trajectory control.
Still…
Despite the suffering.
Despite the bruises.
Despite the emotional damage.
I was improving.
Slowly.
Very slowly.
Painfully slowly.
But improving nonetheless.
I was beginning to understand what Verona had been trying to teach me.
A sword wasn’t just a weapon.
It was a language.
A way of moving.
A way of thinking.
Every strike connected to the next.
Every motion flowed into another.
A complete system.
The same thing Lyra had.
The same thing Verona possessed.
A foundation.
Something I had never truly built before.
Unfortunately…
Building foundations was boring.
Money was much more exciting.
Which was why I was currently sprinting toward Verona’s office after receiving a summons.
The System appeared.
[The host has become energetic.]
‘Money might be involved.’
[Ah.]
The office door opened.
Verona sat behind her desk.
Elegant.
Calm.
Terrifying.
As always.
Lyra stood nearby.
I immediately noticed something important.
Verona looked amused.
That was dangerous.
Very dangerous.
“Why do you look happy?” I asked suspiciously.
Verona’s smile widened slightly.
“Because I have good news.”
My heart skipped a beat.
“Money?”
“Money.”
I gasped.
The System appeared.
[The host has detected currency.]
“Ignore it.”
[The host cannot.]
“True.”
Verona reached into her desk.
Then placed a small stack of documents onto the table.
“The auction listing was approved.”
I froze.
“What?”
“The Spatial Rings.”
My eyes widened.
“The auction house accepted them?”
“Not only accepted them.”
A faint smile appeared.
“They’re causing quite a bit of excitement.”
I sat down immediately.
This was important.
Extremely important.
Possibly the most important conversation of my life.
Verona continued.
“The concept itself isn’t new.”
I nodded.
That made sense.
There was already a Space Affinity Awakener who had created storage rings years ago.
The problem was capacity.
His creations were limited.
Small.
Expensive.
And difficult to produce.
Mine were different.
Much larger.
Much more stable.
And significantly easier to mass-produce.
Verona leaned back slightly.
“The number of interested buyers has exceeded expectations.”
I almost cried.
Finally.
Recognition.
Justice.
Validation.
Money.
Mostly money.
The System appeared.
[Mostly money.]
‘Entirely money.’
[I know.]
Life was beautiful.
Unfortunately Verona wasn’t finished.
“The Academy Entrance Exams begin in one week.”
My smile immediately weakened.
A tragedy.
Verona folded her hands.
“Your talent is absurd.”
I brightened slightly.
“Thank you.”
“You are also horribly unrefined.”
My smile vanished.
“That felt unnecessary.”
“It was necessary.”
Lyra nodded.
Traitor.
Verona continued.
“Both of you possess talent beyond most Awakener candidates.”
“See?”
I pointed at Lyra.
“She gets it.”
Verona ignored me.
“However, talent alone means very little.”
Her expression became serious.
“There will be candidates possessing bloodline advantages.”
My attention sharpened.
That something I knew much about.
The novel had a variety of races, I wasn’t surprised.
Verona continued.
“Ancient families.”
“Hereditary traits.”
“Soul mutations.”
“Affinity inheritance.”
“Generational cultivation.”
“They’ve spent centuries creating monsters.”
That sounded unpleasant.
Very unpleasant.
“The Academy gathers the greatest talents in the world.”
Her gaze shifted between Lyra and me.
“If you underestimate them, you’ll regret it.”
For once…
Neither Lyra nor I joked.
Because Verona wasn’t someone who exaggerated.
If she said dangerous opponents existed…
Dangerous opponents existed.
“So train.”
Verona said simply.
“One week.”
The dismissal was obvious.
Lyra immediately left.
I followed.
The suffering resumed.
Three more days passed.
Three extremely painful days.
Lyra’s mastery continued climbing.
My swordsmanship continued improving.
Very slowly.
Very painfully.
Then…
Everything changed.
I was halfway through training when a servant arrived.
“Lady Verona requests your presence.”
I immediately lowered my sword.
“Money?”
The servant blinked.
“I…
don’t know.”
“Probably money.”
The System appeared.
[The host can smell wealth.]
‘I absolutely can.’
I arrived at Verona’s office in record time.
Verona looked up.
“You got here quickly.”
“I sensed destiny.”
“You sensed money.”
“Same thing.”
Verona sighed.
Then reached into her desk.
My breathing stopped.
A black card appeared.
Elegant.
Luxurious.
Dangerous.
Beautiful.
She placed it on the table.
I stared.
Then stared some more.
Then stared a little longer.
My voice emerged as a whisper.
“…Is that mine?”
“Yes.”
I grabbed it immediately.
Like someone trying to steal treasure before reality changed its mind.
“How much?”
My eyes sparkled.
Actually sparkled.
Verona answered calmly.
“Two hundred million Aurels.”
Silence.
My brain stopped functioning.
Two hundred million.
Two.
Hundred.
Million.
For several seconds I simply sat there.
Processing.
Calculating.
Dreaming.
Planning.
The System appeared.
[The host has ascended.]
‘I’M RICH.’
[The host is rich.]
‘I’M ACTUALLY RICH.’
[Please stop shouting.]
‘I CAN BUY THINGS NOW.’
The System sighed.
[Truly inspiring.]
I looked back at Verona.
“Wait.”
Something felt wrong.
Very wrong.
I narrowed my eyes.
“Only two hundred million?”
Verona blinked.
“Only?”
“Six rings sold.”
I began counting.
“Six!”
I pointed dramatically.
“These are revolutionary.”
“They are.”
“They should be worth more.”
“They are.”
“Then where’s the rest?”
Verona smiled.
That smile was dangerous.
Very dangerous.
“I already took my payment.”
I froze.
“…What?”
“You asked me to handle everything.”
My stomach dropped.
“The negotiations.”
“The auction house.”
“The buyers.”
“The security.”
“The logistics.”
“The legal contracts.”
Her smile widened.
“I charged accordingly.”
My soul left my body.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Verona.”
“Amir.”
“How much did you take?”
Verona casually named the number.
I nearly died.
“THAT’S ROBBERY!”
“It’s a service fee.”
“THAT’S EXTORTION!”
“It’s business.”
“I’VE BEEN SCAMMED!”
The System appeared.
[The host has discovered taxes.]
‘THIS IS WORSE THAN TAXES.’
[The host is learning about middlemen.]
‘TELL THEM TO GIVE IT BACK.’
[No.]
I collapsed into the chair.
Heartbroken.
Emotionally devastated.
Financially successful.
Which somehow made it worse.
Verona looked completely unbothered.
“The remaining rings will sell eventually.”
I immediately revived.
“There’s more?”
“Of course.”
Hope returned.
Life returned.
The future returned.
Maybe Verona wasn’t evil after all.
Only slightly evil.
I hugged the black card protectively.
My precious.
My beautiful precious.
Verona watched me for several seconds.
Then sighed.
“You truly have no dignity.”
“Dignity doesn’t generate interest.”
“Money isn’t everything.”
I looked at the card.
Then looked back at her.
“We clearly have different religions.”
Lyra entered the office at that exact moment.
Her gaze landed on the card.
Then on my face.
Then back to the card.
“…You got paid.”
“I got paid.”
“…”
“…”
“I hate you.”
“Understandable.”
The System appeared one final time.
[Current Host Status:]
[Combat Skill: Mediocre]
[Swordsmanship: Barely Acceptable]
[Financial Status: Annoyingly Successful]
[Overall Assessment:]
[Unfortunately Thriving]
I smiled.
For the first time in days.
The Academy Entrance Exams were only four days away.
Stronger opponents.
Ancient bloodlines.
Geniuses from around the world.
A chance to earn a Sword Art.
A Soul Weapon.
And apparently…
A growing fortune.
Things were finally starting to look good.
Which probably meant disaster was coming.
That was usually how my life worked.
Uh sorry for not uploading for the past week.
You see I was really sick.
Let me tell you the story.
So I was coming home from school right, then this thunderstorm started and my house was pretty far.
I don’t know what came over me but I ran…
under the rain.
The wind was howling at me my clothes were soaked and by the time I got home, I was dripping.
So two days after that it started from just little sneeze to full blown shivering and headache and fever too.
I couldn’t get up for for a few days…
Hope that explains it.
I’m getting better now though so don’t worry.