The next morning, I ran to my brother’s room to wake him up. Skipping over the piles of clothing and magazines on the floor, I jumped onto his bed.

 

“Big Brother! Wake up!” shaking up, he groggily woke up.

 

“What is it?”

 

“I need help…” 

 

“Hmm?”

 

“I failed the Spirit Pavilion test!” 

 

“...what to do?! I don’t have enough credits saved up to send you back in or myself.” 

 

“That’s not the problem... the truth is....” I began to tell him about that weird book and the contents that entered into me, “don’t tell anyone okay? I trust Big Brother!”

 

“Mmhmm,” patting my head, “then I’ll take you out. Coincidentally, I have a vacation so we can go for a quick hunt.” 

 

Sending me out the door, he closed it before coming out in a different set of clothing as well as a sword. It was his tier 1 spirit weapon. I think he named it Anna?

 

Taking a public flying car and tapping the bracelet to pay, we flew towards the base’s exit.

 

“Big Brother, they give out free weapons?” Looking at the people lining up on the gates, I realized I overthought things. Why did I tell my brother, ahh!

 

“Yup~, however they have to return it before heading back into the base. They’re not going to let civilians who want to travel outside go empty handed.” while explaining about the complicated procedures that someone had to do he led me out of the base.

 

When I suddenly thought of a problem with what he said before…

 

He can’t even send himself back in? He failed his tier 2 advancement? 

 

However I decided to remain silent for his dignity. 

 

“What monster are we hunting?” 

 

“I guess a dimension boar? Make sure you don’t stray off this path Xi. The perimeter within 500 meters of the walls on both sides are dead zones except these roads.”

 

I nodded, while making sure to stick closer to him. 

 

***

 

Half an hour later after passing through a second wall, we entered the outskirts. Everything was grass and wild fields.

“Wa! So pretty!” The air here was also a lot fresher, different from inside the city. Taking a deep breath, my heart began to be filled with an indescribable sense. 

 

“However it’s also really dangerous Xi. Make sure to stick close to me.” leading me towards a spot, we spotted a wild boar. After extorting me to wait on the spot, he quickly charged towards it. Different from my measly dimensional energy, his easily wrapped around the sword before slashing at the boar. I could barely see their movements when the boar was already down.

 

He signaled me to come closer, while I began to observe it. “What to do now?” 

 

“...” He remained silent for a moment before continuing, “isn’t it for you?”

 

“Nn! But I felt that I should watch Big Brother take care of it first?”

 

He shook his head, “I’m at a bottleneck.”

 

“I see… how much credits do you still need?”

 

“900,000…” feeling awkward he rubbed the back of his head. For each entry regardless of level, you were required 1,000,000 credits. 

 

“Sigh...it’ll be up to me in the future!” Making my resolve, I placed a hand on the boar before moving my symbol forward. It exited my spirit space before traveling through my palm into the boar. Afterwards I felt dimension essence flow into the veins while the boar became transparent. Soon what was left was a crystal.

 

“Wow! Jackpot Xi! A dimension crystal!”

 

“??” 

 

“They can be traded into the Spirit Pavilion for quite a bit of credits. At least 100,000. Of course there is even a better thing to use it for.” taking the core, he placed it away before continuing onwards. However I stopped him. 

 

“Big Brother, I feel full.” 

 

“...??” 

 

“I feel like I can’t absorb anymore for now.” 

 

“Then let’s head back.” taking my hand, he led me back to the base.

 

“How do you increase your dimension energy?” I was curious.

 

“Our spirit weapon absorbs them when we kill the monster, similar to what you did.” 

 

“Oh…” 

 

***

 

When we returned it was evening already.

 

“Dinner’s ready.” grandpa had a table of food out. 

 

We nodded before going to eat dinner, before returning to my room.

 

Locking the door, I took a seat on my bed. I closed my eyes before entering into my spirit space. The symbol inside was currently absorbing a red energy. Perhaps that was my blood?

 

“...” suddenly I began to feel scared. What to do?! Getting up, I didn’t know what to do and began to cry. Am I going to die? But I couldn’t ask Brother or Grandpa, they wouldn’t be able to help…

 

I began to feel a large sense of regret, that I didn’t ask grandpa what that black book was! It wasn’t a parasite or something right? What if it was going to take control of me. 

 

“...”  Hiccuping, I calmed myself down. The symbol was something I made completely by myself with my own energy! As for the book, only information about the symbol entered into my mind, when it suddenly turned to dust and disappeared.

 

It probably isn’t a parasite… Gritting my teeth, I began to wonder if I should search online for stuff like that. However in the end I stopped myself, if I did, tomorrow police uncles will probably be knocking and I’ll be taken to some lab. 

 

I guess I could only walk down this road… Closing my eyes I continued to watch as it absorbed red energy while I cautiously watched out for any weird changes.

 

Suddenly, the sound of my bracelet brought me out of the meditative state.