Chapter 46
Chapter 46
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: Dragon Plaque Heist (5)
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A mere second's fleeting moment.
In that instant, Yuli and Theresa crossed paths with lightning and shadow.
At the moment of crossing, golden and crimson eyes locked onto each other.
Time seemed to crawl by unusually slowly during that span.
And finally.
“…….”
“……?!”
The two gazes that had met head-on veered apart.
Boom—.
With a sound like thunder crashing, the two who had vanished reappeared simultaneously.
Theresa Winchester stood where Yuli had been just moments before.
Yuli was on the opposite bank of the stream, where Theresa had first appeared.
The two revealed themselves in places completely swapped.
Clink, clink—.
“……?!”
Theresa whipped around at the sound from behind her.
Spotting Yuli across the stream, her lips parted slightly.
Yuli waved cheerfully at the frozen Theresa.
“See you later, Tessa senior!”
With that brief farewell, Yuli hoisted the wooden box onto her shoulder and turned to flee.
Theresa, who had forgotten even to give chase, just stared blankly at her retreating figure. A small voice slipped from her lips.
“And she even grabbed the box in the middle of it...?”
She had moved first.
That much was certain.
Yet not only had her opponent covered far greater distance, she had even found the leisure to snatch the wooden box midway.
“…….”
Theresa stared silently at the thicket where Yuli had vanished.
The golden eyes they had locked onto for that brief instant were vividly seared into her mind.
* * *
A reserve cadet boy who had been brutally beaten lay crawling on the ground in a pitiful state.
“Urgh…….”
Too drained to move anymore, the boy could only twitch sporadically.
Beside him stood his assailant, Jerry, who had reduced a person to rags.
With his hands in his pockets, Jerry bent down and asked.
“You the one called Eric?”
“Argh…….”
“Judging by your face, that’s a yes.”
Eric’s eyes brimmed with injustice and rage.
“Wh-what the hell do you have against me... to do this!”
Jerry shrugged at the furious outburst.
“No real grudge.”
What grudge could he possibly have against a guy he’d just met today... no, moments ago?
He just had business with him.
“Let’s see, let’s see…….”
Jerry rummaged through Eric’s pockets.
A shabby cloth pouch caught on his hand.
Clink—.
“That bastard didn’t scam me after all.”
A faint smile spread across Jerry’s lips at the hefty weight of the points inside.
Flick—.
The moment the point pouch lightly arced into the air from Jerry’s hand.
A conversation he’d had with a certain madman flowed naturally into his mind.
* * *
“Never mind the Dragon Plaque heist. Tell me more about these points.”
At Yuli’s commanding tone, Jerry sighed inwardly.
‘This jerk’s trying to get it all for free!’
The Cradle was an extremely unforgiving place.
Even gathering and exploiting information was part of the competition and skill.
That’s why first-year cadets struggled the most at the start: the lack of information.
The Cradle’s instructors provided only the bare minimum.
And asking seniors? You were lucky to even see their faces.
No, it was better not to meet seniors.
In the Cradle, cadet rank was both status and position, and upper-year cadets were no different from thugs to juniors.
Crossing paths with them only meant getting fleeced, so lower-year cadets generally avoided seniors.
In such circumstances, new cadets spent a ton of time in the early days gathering info and adapting.
Jerry was no exception.
‘I busted my ass for months figuring that out!’
How could he feel good about some fresh-faced reserve cadet mooching off his hard-earned knowledge?
As Jerry’s face soured, Yuli’s eyes narrowed slyly.
“What? Don’t wanna talk? Pissing you off?”
It was pissing him off.
He really didn’t want to say.
He wanted to jump up and yell it right in that infuriating face.
But what could he do?
He was still buried in the dirt, and that lunatic held a perfect blackmail tool in her hand.
Crunch— crunch—.
Seeing Yuli’s hand squirming over the ant nest, Jerry forced an awkward grin.
“Hahaha, piss me off? What’s the big deal about spilling that! Ask away. What’re you curious about? I’ll explain everything. I swear on my family’s honor to tell only the truth!”
“Oh? Seeing that guy’s skills, he won’t flunk the exam, so feeding some obvious lie to a guy who seems like he’d hold a grudge... could come back to bite me later.”
“…….”
“But spilling every last fact I know would bruise my pride, and since he’s just a reserve cadet who doesn’t know how the Cradle works anyway, better to hand you the questioning reins and just answer whatever you ask vaguely?”
“...This psycho’s got sharp instincts too.”
Rustle—.
Rustle rustle— rustle—.
“Eek! A-ants falling! Phew— phew— phew— phew— phew—! I-I’ll talk! I’ll tell you, so ease up! Phew— phew— phew—!”
Jerry paid the price for grumbling and stoking the madman’s ire.
After blowing so much breath, he was blue in the face from lack of oxygen.
Only then did Yuli set the ant nest aside.
After catching his breath, Jerry let out a deep sigh.
“Haa... Fine. I’ll tell you everything I know. And I’ll cooperate fully with whatever you’re curious about.”
“Then why’d you resist?”
“...This jerk always has to twist the... Anyway, I’ll tell you everything you want... but promise me. You’ll let me go. Otherwise, smash that ant nest or whatever, I won’t say a word.”
“Yeah, sure. Promise.”
Jerry blinked in surprise at the quick agreement.
“...For real?”
“Yeah.”
“...Seriously?”
“Don’t want to?”
“N-no, I do!”
Something felt off, but freedom came first.
He’d worry about later later.
Jerry cleared his throat with a small hum and spoke.
“As I said before, points are both currency and the sole measure of rankings in the Cradle. With two uses, you gotta choose wisely.”
“What choice?”
“Whether to spend my points on living expenses or on boosting my grades.”
“So points used for grades can’t be recovered?”
“Right. Boosting grades falls under ‘point expenditure’ too.”
“What happens if you don’t boost your grades?”
“They do monthly evaluations based on point scores at month’s end. Bottom ranks get penalties.”
“What kind?”
“Varies. Sometimes they pick a few bottom scorers for punishments, or worse... permanent expulsion from the Cradle.”
“Fun.”
“Only tough guys like you can say that. For bottom-dwellers, month-end eval’s basically an execution. Light punishment this month? Or expulsion? And even if expelled, one person or two? The Cradle gives no guarantees.”
“Hmm……?”
“The last week with month-end eval? Bottom guys call it Hell Week.”
“That’s not my problem. Do I really need to care about that crap?”
“Cold-blooded.”
“It’s natural for winners and losers to emerge from competition. You don’t think pitying the ones I crushed to win is contradictory?”
“That’s…….”
Jerry trailed off.
His position in the 49th Cohort was smack in the middle.
Right in the middle of mid-tier.
So he often thought, watching the bottom ranks suffer each month.
If dropouts kept falling from the bottom, wouldn’t he slide down someday?
And get expelled too?
Harboring that anxiety, Jerry felt less pity for the bottom than gratitude and cheer.
Hoping they’d hold out longer.
So his own fall to the bottom wouldn’t come.
Yuli had pierced right to the heart of it, as if reading his mind.
Jerry sighed faintly and admitted.
“Haa... Yeah, you’re right.”
“Good. So how do you earn points?”
“Through quests.”
“Quests?”
“Think of ’em as missions or assignments from the Cradle. Complete one, get rewards—usually points.”
“Points vary by quest difficulty?”
“Obviously. Super tough ones give points plus artifacts. Like... high-quality gear or rare elixirs?”
But standard difficulty quests paid only points, per Jerry.
Yuli stroked her chin.
‘Got a rough sense of how the Cradle runs now.’
Points and quests were the central engine driving the massive Dragon’s Cradle system.
Production and consumption.
Encouraging competition and economic activity.
All funneled through points and quests.
‘I’ll figure out quest formats when I do ’em myself.’
After that, Jerry rattled off miscellaneous point trivia.
Units started at 10 up to 50,000.
Stringing them through the center hole to carry in bundles.
Top 10 in month-end evals got bonus points by rank.
Plus, the Cradle mainland had banks to deposit points.
Once the floodgates opened, the chatter didn’t stop. Jerry spilled everything he knew without Yuli even prodding.
Listening quietly, Yuli was convinced.
‘This guy... always been a motormouth, huh?’
Give him a topic, and he’d yap for an hour or two no problem.
The issue was his stream-of-consciousness tangents midway...
‘Might be better that way.’
Following his thoughts, he might slip hidden info by accident.
So Yuli nodded along enthusiastically.
To keep him hyped and yapping.
Amid the long ramble, what caught Yuli’s interest most was the point shop.
“The Cradle runs a shop?”
“Yeah. Low-years can’t buy much... but to first- and second-years, it’s a desert oasis.”
Per Jerry, first-years could get dried rations, sundries, training clothes, whetstones, oil, etc.
Decent variety, but prices were the killer.
“Dried rations for a day: 1,000 points? That expensive?”
“Cheapest item’s rations... but a low quest takes a day and pays about 1,000? Get the picture?”
“Straight robbery.”
If true, living on rations alone meant earn-for-the-day, eat-for-the-day.
And rations were the cheapest item.
Other stuff would guzzle points, plus spending on grades to avoid bottom ranks.
Now Jerry’s gripes about points made sense.
Yuli nodded, then tilted her head.
“What about Dragon Plaques? You said they sell those too?”
“Oh, that? Special sales.”
“Special sales?”
“Rare stuff you can’t get normally... like elite potions from the Goli tribe, original Eastern martial arts manuals, high-grade elixirs.”
“Oh?”
“Refreshes monthly, sometimes Gold or White Dragon Plaques pop up. Though the prices kill any buying urge...”
Special sale plaques were insanely pricey.
At those rates, who’d buy plaques over elixirs?
Muttering curses, Jerry paused as something occurred to him.
“...Come to think of it, there was this weird rumor.”