Getting up early, Vernon first freshened up and took a quick look at his watch, to check if there was something that required his attention.

Finding nothing, he decided to skip breakfast considering that the game also offered fulfilness and immediately logged in.

Opening his eyes, he saw himself back where he left, in the “Three Step Park”. It was completely dark now, and no one could be seen walking.

Glancing around, he noticed nothing amiss and took a quick glance at the menu before checking the reward notifications.

[ Rewards Received- 1x Supreme Upgrade Token]

[ Mana core detected. Please use any identifier artifact to identify your affinity]

[ Mana core detected. Please name your mana core. Alternatively, you can do so later on]

Glancing at the notifications, Vernon smiled as a golden ticket appeared from nothing in front of him and fell into his hand.

Putting it away for now, he first delayed the mana core's naming process and took another glance at the affinity notification, before deciding to head back to the hotel.

'It seems that I need to find a shop that has this kind of artifact.' Taking a small awkward break, he once again started walking.

'The best place to look would be at the center. But, with the experience I've had and the slight possibility of whatever handles this city's security hunting me, it's not really worth it. So that leaves me one choice... that crazy man.'

Sighing, he continued towards the hotel while thinking about the what he would do to ask a question from that guy, without it being extremely disadvantageous for him.

…

Now once again within the confines of his room, he decided to finally check his core.

'System'

[ Home | Magic | Locked]

Smirking, he headed inside the magic tab.

[ Magic

Path: [ Core | Locked | Locked]

Tier: 0]

'Looks like there are other options that can be compounded with the core. Well, no need to dwell on things that will take a long time. We'll deal with them as it comes.'

[ Core

Name: Undecided

Tier: 1

Rating: Epic

Effects-

Capacity: +1500, +10%

Potency: +0.1%

Affinity: To Be Revealed]

'Epic? That must be quite good for a starting one. Well, the benefits are pretty good. It doubles my mana, which still has no use and the potency of mana has also increased.'

Switching the system to head towards the menu screen, he quickly glanced at it and was about to hide the system, when he noticed something at the top.

[ Integration 63:37:15

Game Level: -1.1.4

WT: 02:12

RT: 8:23

Time Dilation: 1:1]

A countdown was now present on the left side. As he watched it, it continued to decrease every second.

'Matching with the time, this definitely refers to the end of the beta. The game level has also increased again. Man, this is going to be extremely weird considering that the level is going even further into negative and then will turn positive.'

Getting off his bed, he decided to grab his bag and head out of the hotel. His destination? The same square where he met the merchant.

Taking a glance at his map, he first walked left towards the junction then took a right , and continued on the same way for the next 6 junctions. Then, he once again turned right, reaching the same place as he had spawned at.

Then, he turned right and finally reached the place where he had first brought the map. He also noticed the technological building, which he had dubbed 'Arrogant People Building'. Ignoring it, he continued to the main junction.

Immediately, he noticed the merchant's stall standing proudly amidst the other stands It was hard not to, covered with colorful items, that strikingly stood out.

The merchant, a short plump figure with a weathered face, spotted Vernon approaching nearly instantly. A smile crept across his lips as he recognized him.

"Back again, my friend? And that too, so early in the morning?" he greeted, his voice carrying a hint of curiosity.

Vernon nodded, only giving a 'hmm' as a response. He stared at the items, finding them different from before.

“I thought you only sold maps? A side business?”

“Hehe, you're fun. No, this isn't a side business. I sell many things, other than maps. This is one of them.”

He pointed towards a small area, which had many leather bound spheres.

“Should I introduce some to you?”

Vernon almost said yes, before he thought that this might just get him in another debt, and decided to skip it.

“No. I'm here for the repayment. So, what is up with your package?”

The merchant turned away from Vernon and went to the back area, picking out a scroll, before facing Vernon again.

“The package eh? It's supposed to be arriving by 4 in the evening. Now then, as you're not buying any thing and it's time for me close up,” he passed the scroll to Vernon as he stepped out of the stall and started locking it in a metal net. “this is all you get. The scroll has everything you need. Now, please get lost.”

Saying so, he turned away and started walking towards the right.

Vernon stood there for a second, staring at the scroll, before sprinting to the man's side.

“Wait! I need to ask you a question.”

The merchant slowed down and turned to face Vernon.

“Make it quick. Not many people roam around at 2 in the morning and those that do... it's better to not meet them.”

“Got it. Now, is there any place one could get an affinity testing artifact?”

The merchant stared at Vernon with a curious look, before he started mulling over the question. His quick expression change, was unfortunately missed by Vernon, or else the poor man would've had some more nightmares about two faced merchants.

“Well, that depends. Affinity testing artifacts come in many types, ranging from the basic to legendary ones. I've got some in the stall, but if you're still dirt poor, there isn't any point in showing you.”

The merchant started walking again, without waiting for Vernon's answer.

“Wait, I have some credits!”

He quickly pulled a 100 credit from his bag as he raised it up for the merchant to look.

The man raised his eyebrows, quickly glancing at the credit, before he smiled and walked back towards the stall.

“Now we're talking. Tell me, which one would you like? 1000 credits can buy you affinity testing ones till intermediate range. Advanced usually cost around 15000 credits and legendary or above? Well, you'll be hard pressed to find one in the entire continent.”

He went through his stall quickly and took 3 artifacts out. One was in the shape of a sphere, one in the form of a necklace and the final one in the form of a giant button.

“Now then, which one do you wish to buy?”

Immediately after his words, three status windows appeared in front of Vernon.

[ Name: Sphere of Arcus

Type: Utility-Affinity Artifact

Classification: Intermediate

When used, reveals intermediate or below ranked affinities of user.]

[ Name: Necklace of Usma

Type: Utility-Affinity Artifact

Classification: Basic

When used, reveals basic ranked affinities of user.]

[ Name: Clustur of Jack

Type: Utility-Affinity Artifact

Classification: Intermediate-High

When used, reveals intermediate and below ranked affinities of user. Small chance of revealing advanced affinity.

Can be upgraded]

Slightly raising his eyebrows, Vernon questioned the three's prices.

“How much for the necklace?”

“400 Credits.”

“What about the Sphere and that Button?”

“900 and 1100”

Deciding to probe the merchant a bit, he questioned the button.

“1100? What's different about this as compared to the necklace?”

“Heh my friend, I wouldn't put a higher price if it was normal. The necklace can reveal any intermediate or below ranked ability and same goes for the button. But, the button also has a small chance of revealing an advanced affinity. An Advanced One!! No matter how far away you come from, you must know the significance of one.”

'I don't actually. The book of magic has an appendix of all intermediate and below affinities with some advanced ones, but I didn't bother to look through it, considering I need one for it to really benefit me.'

Fake smiling, Vernon replied. “Heh, I do realize that. But, it's a small chance. If there was even a 20% chance for it to show advanced affinities, it would've been branded as an advanced one. Considering it's not, the chance to awaken must be less than 10%, even closer to 5%, isn't it?”

The merchant looked as if someone had just pulled a translucent cloth over his head and robbed him.

“Not that low. This was appraised by a Tier 1 artificer and he confirmed that it had a 1 in 8 chance to reveal an advanced affinity. Taking that into account, the price is completely justified.”

Though, he still refused to reduce the cost. Sighing, Vernon pondered for a moment about the artifacts.

'Should I get the button? It's a bit expensive and with the credits I have currently, this will take nearly one tenth of them. But, it would be best to atleast get an intermediate one and the button isn't that far off the price mark of the sphere. Alright, that's decided. Let's try to reduce the price though'.

“That might be, but you yourself know just how rare an advanced affinity is. If I buy the button but don't have an advanced affinity, wouldn't I have wasted 200 credits? How about this, I'm planning to go out hunting. I'll sell you one of my gains, for free. In return, you'll sell me this for 1000 credits. How about?”

The merchant silently stared at Vernon, pondering whether to take the deal or not. Finally, he sighed and spoke.

“Fine. But, 1050 credits is my bottom line. Besides, I don't really think you'll get a good enough monster to really replace the cost of 100 credits.”

Smiling, Vernon reached out to shake his hand, offering the 1000 credit and taking another 50 credit from his bag. “Deal”

The merchant reciprocated and quickly gave him the button and proceeded to put the other ones back and lock the stall. Then, he scurried off to wherever he was headed to, clearly hoping not to be caught by anybody.

Vernon also quickly put the button in his bag and quickly headed towards the hotel. While walking, he decided to open the scroll. It was written in cursive, with some parts having been done in bold. Apparently, pencils and pens didn't exist in a magnetic era, so people still used inks and feather to write letters.

The computer also didn't seem to exist, or at least Vernon hadn't seen one yet.

'Name: Package

Details: Guard a package arriving by ship. The package is of utmost secrecy and all who participate in this mission are hereby to sworn to the pact of secrecy. Any information revealed to those not part of this mission that may result in failure will be punished. Please take care of the package till midnight.

Arrival: 16:15

Appearance: A brown wood box. 1M Cube. Covered in a blue fragile tag and has the brand name Hastings. The package is to be delivered by the ship SS Aisus.

Time: 16:15 – 23:30

Regards
Adventurer Association'

[ Quest Offered

Name: Guard The Package

Difficulty Tier: Common

Level: 0-30

Description: A highly secret package is inbound to Tecklok. You are part of the security consignment for the package. Guard the package till the required time.

Guard The Package- 0/1

Rewards: Repayment of Deal. 'Hidden']

[ Quest forcefully accepted due to deal with merchant]

'What! Well, I suppose that is kind of okay. That hidden rewards intrigues me. Well, we're here'

Putting the scroll in his travel bag, he entered the hotel and quickly repeated his procedures. Once inside, he opened the magic book and navigated to the affinity appendix.

“So, you wish to learn about affinities? Well, here you go. Some basic information first.

Affinities will define what magic path you take. I have heard of people who have evolved their affinities but it is immensely difficult, so you're stuck for a long time with those you started off with.

Affinities are divided into 4 classifications. If there are more above, that I am unsure of. About 500 affinities have been discovered by now, but many more exist, which may not be in this book.

The classification is as follows:

Basic- Basic affinities. Allow manipulation of very little things. Includes Fire, Water, Rock and others.

Intermediate- Slightly advanced affinities. You can manipulate slightly rare concepts. Includes Shadow, Lightning, Storm and others.

Advanced- Quite rare affinities. Allows manipulation of slightly abstract topics. Include Darkness, Light, Nature and others.

Legendary- As per name, Legendary affinities. This is the manipulation of true abstract concepts. Include Death, Life, Gravity, Atmosphere and others.

Note: The rarity of affinities dictates their strength, but also their difficulty in handling. A basic one is many times easier to manipulate than an intermediate one and so on.

List of Affinities- From Basic to Legendary

1.Fire
2.Rock
3.Water
4.Wind
5.Plant
6.Mineral
7.Memory
8.Muscle...”

'Holy crap. This never ends. There are at least 400 affinities in this book.'

Closing the book for now, he took a moment to process his thoughts.

'Alright. The rarer the affinity, the more abstract and broader the topic, harder to manipulate, but stronger as well.'

Exhaling, he took out the upgrade token he had received.

'Now, the question is on what to use it for? Though I think I already have an idea.'

He took out the button and placed it next to the magic book.

“Which one though?” he mumbled, staring at both intently.

'I need information. That much is decided. But, if the beta allows for transfer of items to the main game, then the affinity artifact would be a game changer.'

He debated over both for about 2 minutes, before exhaling and putting the token in the bag

Deciding to deal with this later, he put both artifacts back into the bag as well.

Thinking what to do next, he took a glance at the time.

'There's still about 12 hours before the security consignment. What should I do next? Well, I did say about hunting... yeah, let's go with that.'

Jumping of the bed, he packed his travel bag quickly and proceeded to head out of the hotel.

Following the map, he soon arrived at a weapon shop. Why a weapon shop?

'Well, can't really hunt a bear with my bare hands can I?'