chapter 3
chapter 3
Money Ghost (2)
The Academy City.
The place where the game’s characters gathered and lived together was the academy.
Later, they would enlist in the military and make their mark, but since the academy was where characters first gathered to grow, it was always the main setting.
That was why I chose the academy city as the place to settle after retirement.
‘There’s nowhere else.’
Every time I looked at the shop window, there was something I kept thinking.
Why in the world—
‘Is the most important feature in the game, character summoning, locked?’
I had tried everything, but I couldn’t access the window to summon characters.
It was firmly sealed with a lock icon, and no matter how much money I had, it showed no sign of opening.
At some point, I started to think that blindly saving money might not be the answer.
“If I can’t find the answer even after coming here, I’ll just give up.”
I was worried whether this world could remain intact without summoning characters, but what could I do?
I couldn’t even get close to it.
This was my last struggle and hope.
The academy city built around Trigger Academy.
I had finally arrived after thirty years since reincarnating.
“Please, just show some reaction.”
As far as I could tell, this was the only place where the summoning lock could be released.
The problem was, even if I had known this earlier, I wouldn’t have been able to come here.
Did I not want to come before turning thirty?
‘Academy city. A place not just anyone can enter.’
For a commoner to enter here, they had to go through many procedures.
Of course, even here, there were differences in birth.
If your parents were commoners but lived in the academy city, their children could enter without procedures.
But as someone born into an ordinary commoner family, I couldn’t receive such benefits.
So I had to prepare to enter the academy city.
What a commoner needed to enter the academy city.
First, a solid identity.
Even identities had rankings here.
A commoner with a criminal record would have a lower identity rank.
And financial capability also affected that rank.
‘To put it simply, it’s like a credit rating.’
And there was one more requirement to enter the city.
‘Ridiculous as it sounds, you have to have a neat appearance.’
Neat appearance.
For someone who lived a rough mercenary life, they were asking for neatness.
Fortunately, it didn’t actually mean physical attractiveness.
Think about it.
With 60% of the land lost to contamination, how would commoners live?
Nobles lived as far away from the contaminated zones as possible, in their estates.
Commoners’ living conditions depended on their circumstances, but generally, the poorer they were, the closer they lived to the contaminated zones.
‘In villages near the contaminated zones, corpses of those who starved were left unattended, and filth rotted in the surroundings.’
The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer.
The gap in this world was stark.
Honestly, living as a commoner here was far harder than being born poor on Earth.
After losing 60% of the land, tens of billions of people struggled to survive on the remaining 40%.
There were many criminals and many slums.
A small number of nobles held the center of the world, monopolizing wealth and honor.
‘But commoners don’t have the right to complain about that.’
Commoners could breathe because nobles sacrificed themselves to fight in the contaminated zones.
Nobles had a high probability of becoming Awakeners due to their bloodlines.
It was almost safe to assume all nobles would awaken.
And those nobles who awakened possessed special abilities and were required to train at the academy.
After graduating?
They were obligated to enlist for ten years to prevent the spread of contamination.
In the past, it used to be twenty years of forced service, but as the contamination ratio stabilized at 60:40, it gradually decreased and settled at ten years.
‘They risk their lives for ten years in war, so it’s only natural they gain wealth and honor.’
It was thanks to them that we could survive.
Because of that, commoners both feared and respected nobles.
In that sense, it was quite unfortunate that I had been reincarnated as a commoner boy.
‘It would’ve been nice to be a noble. Still, I have my own ability.’
I had the ability to use the ‘shop.’
At first, I thought I might have awakened, but since I was told I wasn’t, what could I do?
I had no choice but to accept it.
Even if I couldn’t summon characters, as long as I could draw items, I didn’t need to struggle like an ordinary commoner.
In the game, there was no more broken way to grow stronger than spending money.
‘The problem was the seed money. Making money was so hard it nearly killed me.’
In fact, I had died twice.
With the money I gathered like that, I was now undergoing the screening to enter the academy city.
“Hmm.”
The official in charge of the screening checked my documents and stared at my face.
“What is your purpose for visiting the city?”
“I came to retire and start a business.”
“A business… The merchant license isn’t cheap. Looks like you’ve handled quite a bit of money. Oh? A mercenary who hunts monsters. A patriot, I see.”
Among mercenaries, those who hunted monsters were treated like lunatics, but among nobles, they weren’t viewed so badly.
Dealing with monsters that escaped the contaminated zones.
For us, it was a life-threatening task, but for nobles, it was just bothersome.
Traveling just to deal with weak monsters was a waste of time for them.
But since mercenaries handled it, they didn’t have to bother.
That’s why the official called me a patriot.
Weaklings doing a commendable job for the country by hunting monsters.
‘The atmosphere doesn’t seem too bad, but he’s more indifferent than I expected.’
I had some hope because I was a monster-hunting mercenary, but the official’s expression wasn’t particularly favorable.
‘This whole “neat appearance” thing is complete nonsense.’
If the official didn’t like you, they could reject you under the excuse that you lacked a neat appearance.
The most reliable method was bribery.
‘I was hoping I wouldn’t have to do this.’
Left with no choice, I placed a pouch filled with a bribe in front of him.
The official raised one eyebrow after checking it.
And then—
Thud!
A red stamp was pressed onto my documents.
“Approved. Welcome to Trigger Academy City.”
The official pocketed the money and declared my acceptance.
And at that very moment—
[Hero Summon Lock has been released.]
The summoning lock I had longed to open for fourteen years was finally lifted.
“!!!!”
At that moment, the bribe I had just lost didn’t feel like a waste at all.
＊ ＊ ＊
I was already excited that the character lock had been released, but as if to drive me mad with joy, the shop window updated as well.
(199:53:02)
[Recommended Products] [Package Shop]
[General Shop] [Season Limited]
[VIP Mileage]
A special package had appeared.
Although it was called a special package, there were often times when it wasn’t worth buying due to poor contents.
But this time, it was absolutely worth purchasing.
‘This is an instant buy.’
If only I could buy more of it.
Unfortunately, this package could only be purchased once per account.
Given how absurdly good the contents were, it made sense.
‘Finally back in my hands… resurrection stones!! And three of them at that. Isn’t this completely broken?’
Other package items weren’t bad, but nothing could compare to resurrection stones.
Even though I had retired, having resurrection stones was always beneficial.
They were extra lives.
‘Now I can finally walk the flower path.’
I would forget my harsh mercenary life and live a peaceful, prosperous retirement.
However, now that the long-awaited character summon lock had been released, I had a lot to think about.
‘Should I actually do it?’
If this world was to avoid destruction, summoning characters would be the safest option.
Why had I been so fixated on coming to the academy city?
‘Because once the main scenario begins, there’s no place safer than here. And I’ll sell the consumables I’ve collected from item draws and make a fortune. Then I’ll live well without envying nobles.’
To enjoy the peaceful retirement I had planned, the contaminated zones needed to remain stable.
The 60:40 balance would collapse helplessly once the main scenario began.
Could nobles alone, without SSR characters, really handle it?
‘I finally have the chance to live comfortably—what’s the point if the world ends?’
Yeah, it would be better to summon heroes.
It would consume the red crystals I had saved up, but it couldn’t be helped.
For reference, red crystals were the currency used for summoning heroes and items.
You exchanged monster byproducts for money, then converted that into red crystals.
The newly unlocked character summoning.
Even before I had time to settle into the academy city, it kept poking at my mind.
‘Should I just try it once?’
Wasn’t I curious about what would happen if I summoned a hero?
‘Besides, those SSR-exclusive items I couldn’t deal with—if I summon SSRs, I can sell them those items.’
Exclusive equipment could only be used by SSR characters and was essential for raising their stats to SSS.