Chapter 13

Being handed the equivalent of my mother's yearly salary was enough to throw me into a tailspin. I still did as my parents asked and logged in via laptop to take control of the account under their supervision. I changed the password and updated my personal profile in the bank's system.

My parents kept their promises by logging in to the Aetherscape parental monitoring app on their phones and deactivating it, giving the game permission to treat me as an adult. Some things would still be off-limits until I turned eighteen, such as turning on the brutality filters, but I could now drink liquor, smoke peace pipes, swear, and trade on the game's official marketplace without receiving a warning or ban.

The freedom weighed heavily on me after seeing my new bank account and realizing its existence was the reason my parents pinched pennies when they could.

I didn't want to touch the money considering how hard my parents had worked to save it, but my parent was adamant I get used to the idea of having it. "It's all about moderation," my mother advised. They actually gave me marching orders before I logged in to Aetherscape. I had to spend half the cash in the checking account—on myself—before I was allowed to log into the game. That meant $250 minimum.

Even worse, they made me swear on my honor that I'd do it. For someone like me who'd been reading about the concept of honor in books since I was very young, breaking such an oath was unfathomable.

So I went shopping. I spent $50 on books with no problem, but it took almost an hour to decide on $50 on a new pair of sneakers and $20 on music. I had no desire to buy anything after that. Out of desperation, I unlocked Aetherscape's paid apps, but that only ate another $10. I still had to spend $120.

I started to understand why my parents often worried about me. Anyone else my age would have had the money spent in seconds.

After another half an hour of searching for an idea, I ordered some high-end protein bars and protein powder to add to my workout routine. That cost $120 by itself. It was something I wanted and it would be beneficial to my health, too. My parents shouldn't complain.

I finally logged in, appearing at the edge of the Cerulean Lagoon starter town in my kelp armor. It acted as if I hadn't been teleported away to attend a Tournament.

Almost immediately, I was bombarded by notifications.

[Title Received: 'Martial Fighter'

Players soar to the heavens to break the sky. Your cultivation speed multiplies by four.]

[Item Received: Martial Tournament Qualifier Participation Prize]

It confused me, because I hadn't added the codes for the Tournament prizes yet. I opened my inventory and retrieved it. It turned out to be a spacial ring called an 'Ouroboros Spacial Ring'. Using it, I would no longer have to physically carry bags to utilize my inventory. Furthermore, the inventory space was weightless, making it even easier for me to pick up interesting things as I explored.

I quickly equipped it and stuffed all of my baggage inside. After some testing, I learned the Ring did register bag spaces hidden in bag spaces. However, there were limits. The inner bag had to be smaller than the outer bag, meaning the bags were essentially sorting tools and not actually adding more space.

I was okay with that, considering the O-Ring by itself provided more inventory space than what I'd started with.

A quick check on the game forums explained where the Participation Prize had come from. It was an apology gift from the developers for taking away the monetary participation prize. The developers explained that, along with gold farmers flooding the Tournament, the sheer amount of gold they would have needed to pay out would have temporarily wrecked the in-game economy. Apparently, some areas had thousands of attendees and, in the case of one particular city, nearly eighty thousand people had shown up. Their Qualifiers were still ongoing.

The prize excited me. I logged out in a flash and raced to find my bag of Tournament goodies. It only took a few seconds to scan the QR codes for the virtual prizes with my phone and apply them to my account. Then I ran back to my capsule again—waving to my parents in passing—and logged in once more.

[Item Received: Summoning Gourd (Kitsune)]

[Item Received: Flying Sword of the Emperor]

[Item Received: Martial Way Fighting Garb]

Pulling the summoning gourd out of my inventory, my lips twitched when I saw the anime-style clouds on the sides. They were really pushing it to give wannabe cultivators everything they needed to feel like they were living the dream.

As I moved to pull out the gourd's cork stopper, a warning message appeared.

[WARNING: The initial element of the Kitsune summon depends on the environment it is summoned in. Due to the frigid conditions of your surroundings, Kitsune will be transformed into Ice Kitsune. Proceed?]

Frigid conditions? I looked around in confusion. The water felt fine to me and there was no ice anywhere in sight. The system had to be confused. The first thing it should have noticed was all the water—not the temperature—unless they aimed to give most players something with a common element like fire.

But that was okay. I'd be happy with an Ice Kitsune.

I reached for the cork again.

[WARNING: The initial element of the Kitsune summon depends on the environment it is summoned in. Due to a large amount of salt in your surroundings, Ice Kitsune will be transformed into Lightning Kitsune. Proceed?]

After some consideration, I supposed that made sense. Salt would melt a creature of ice. But I could already foresee lightning wouldn't work, either. While salt did conduct electricity, the sheer amount of water in the surroundings would dissipate it.

[WARNING: The initial element of the Kitsune summon depends on the environment it is summoned in. Due to a large amount of water in your surroundings, Lightening Kitsune will be transformed into Ice Kitsune. Proceed?]

Just as I thought.

[WARNING: The initial element of the Kitsune summon depends on the environment it is summoned in. Due to an infinite looping cycle during the elemental selection process, Ice Kitsune will be transformed into Chaos Kitsune. Proceed?]

I reached for the cork again. This time, no warning appeared and I could finally summon my new pet. The cork popped out with a silent squeak and a stream of light poured out. It coalesced into a ball of light, then exploded to reveal a three-tailed, chibi-style Kitsune fox with spotted fur like a dalmatian.

I smiled as the spotted Kitsune opened its eyes. The cute little thing seemed surprised to find itself underwater and had some trouble figuring out how to swim. It waved its tiny arms and—

[Chaos Kitsune has drowned.]

What?

WHAT!