the grand capital(1)
Riven and Joey were walking back from Sable's office. While walking, Riven held a small white orb in his hand—an Aetherial Orb.
"How can such a small orb hold so much power that I can make an entire portal?" Riven questioned.
"What you should really be asking is how we're going to get 100,000 pieces of pure metal," Joey replied, sweat running down his cheek.
"This is how," Riven said plainly, showing Joey the system shop tab with metal displayed on the screen.
[Pure Metal x5 – Cost: 3 System Points]
"Hmm… if my math is correct, it'll take around 40,000 system points to buy all the required pure metal," Joey deduced. "Hey Riven, did you ever think about the requirements for the other world—like Aurex?"
"No. Truthfully, I don't wanna go over there again… but I'll look into it from time to time. You know—just in case we need to level up faster," Riven responded, opening the door for Joey.
"Fair. So how will we sell stuff when we get there?"
"Well, that depends on how we can set this portal up," Riven replied. As he said this, they entered the training room, where they saw everyone practicing with their Awakening forms.
"Riven!" Jordan yelled as he got in front of the duo. "So what hap—um, what is that?" Jordan cut himself off when he noticed the white glowing orb in Riven's hand.
"This," Riven said with a smile, "is our way to get out of here and back to Earth."
⸻
In a dimly lit room where the only source of light came from a massive TV-like screen, student photos flashed rapidly. Other students were present, but the blackish-purple-haired Vice Principal stood in front of a long table with five chairs—one of which she sat in.
"Okay. After going through all the teachers' reports of the first, second, and third years, and having our own discussion, these are the top ten for each year," Mr. Fallow said as the screen displayed the first-year top ten students:
First Years:
1. Joey Cross
2. Riven Harlow
3. Jordan Harlow
4. Harkel Voss
A sigh of relief was heard in the room—it came from Axle. He didn't have solid confirmation that his brother had made it out of the outing alive, but seeing this list, he knew his brother had survived.
7. Leo Ashvale
6. Wren Fallow
A quiet "Hmm" escaped Ms. Fallow as she read her daughter's name.
"Aren't you proud of her for making it back into the top 10?" Axle asked.
"I'm just glad she's alive," Ms. Fallow muttered under her breath before continuing.
7. Luka Thomas
8. Nico Grey
9. Kira Thomas
10.Tessa Ashvale
"These are the top ten first-years and the most promising we've seen in years. So powerful, in fact, that the Association wants them—especially the top four students who managed to achieve a second awakening… and then a true awakening as well," she said, lowering her head at the last part.
"Hell no!" Axle stood up, glaring at a robed figure in disgust. "I'm not giving my brother to them."
Ms. Fallow waited for Darius to speak, but he remained silent—until finally, he stood.
"We will not give these students to the Dark Association," Darius declared.
"Sir, we shouldn't be saying their name out loud. You know they have spies," said Kacy, the Dean of the Second Years.
Darius gave her a sharp glare, making Kacy quickly back off.
"I'll talk to the Association myself. It's been a long time since I've spoken to those bastards. I'm not as afraid of them as I used to be. Besides, if I'm going to keep this academy on top, we need the first-years." He sat back down, calm as ever.
Ms. Fallow sighed silently in relief. She didn't want her daughter going to those monsters, but she was also afraid of what Darius might do when he did meet them.
Little did the group know, Sable hadn't told them everything about what had happened—like how Riven gained his armor out of nowhere. He also knew what had happened to Ashley and the other wolves, yet chose not to tell them that either. In his mind, there was no point—he believed they were all already dead.
"Now for the top ten students of the Second Years," Ms. Fallow continued:
Second Years:
1 John Carter
2 Emily Brooks
3 Michael Hayes
4 Sarah Bennett
5 David Reed
6 Anna Collins
7 James Chi
8 Laura Mitchell
9 Daniel Ross
10 Grace Turner
"These students are no pushovers either. Some of them have reached the third and even fourth awakening. Not all of them achieved a true awakening form, but their progress is still the biggest improvement we've seen in years."
She then moved on to the third years:
Third Years:
1. Matthew Clark
2. Olivia Morgan
3. Samantha Wright
At the sound of her name, Damien let out a relieved sigh. Samantha was his little sister, and hearing her name lifted a weight off his shoulders.
4 Chloe Adams
5 Ryan Scott
6 Lily Thompson
7 Jacob Foster
8 Ethan Parker
9 Nathan Brooks
10 Julia Evan
"These are the top ten for the third years. Their growth wasn't as significant as last year's, but it's still impressive."
Ms. Fallow sat down. Darius stood in front of the screen, a calm smile on his face as he looked at the students' faces.
"These students will go through evaluation. When they do, we'll see who's ready to join the tournament."
⸻
Riven now stood in front of the group of eleven, his system menu open in front of his face. After spending all the system points needed to buy 100,000 units of metal, he had 20,000 points left. Without the system rewards, he likely wouldn't have been able to afford the portal and new weapons.
"Here," Riven said, distributing cloaks identical to the ones he and Leo had used to conceal their identities while selling items. "These cloaks will mask your voice and face. We obviously can't let anyone identify us—since, y'know, we shouldn't even be there. If they find out we have a portal, and how to make one… who knows what they'd do. So this doesn't leave the group. Got it?"
Everyone nodded.
Riven then clicked Craft Portal in the system.
Suddenly, his vision shifted. Instead of seeing the wall in front of him, he saw a town—people walking around, flying cars and trains soaring through the air.
"Where am I?" Riven muttered, looking around. A system prompt appeared in front of him:
[User is at the Grand Capital]
"The Grand Capital?" Riven choked on air.
"I'm sorry—Grand Capital?" Joey repeated, confused.
Wren looked like she was about to answer, but Nico beat her to it.
"The Grand Capital—it's seen as a haven for some, but for others, it's a whole different story. It's a place where people can buy weapons, potions, gear… and it's also where people get scouted for guilds. If you don't know, a guild usually works under one of the Four Families, either as intelligence gatherers or strike teams. Whatever the family needs—they do it, no questions asked."
"So it's a kind of safe haven—for both Wallborn and Beyonders?" Joey summed up.
Nico nodded. "Exactly."
"But the problem is, the Grand Capital isn't easy to enter," Wren said. "It costs around 20,000 units per person just to get past the walls. My mom took me there once. Inside, there were tons of venues… which means if we're gonna sell weapons, we're going to have competition."
"Then let's not just sell weapons," Jude chimed in, the group still staring at Riven's back. "I looked through the system. We don't have to just sell weapons—we could also sell potions. They all have different effects, so we could split them by rarity and still make a killing. Especially those Awakening Potions—they can go for almost a million units. And the 2x Awakening Potions? Two million units."
Everyone paused, clearly considering Jude's point.
"No—not the 2x potions. Re-read the text. It won't work unless the person's already at the first awakening," Jordan said. "And even then, it won't automatically boost them to the next level. So it's pretty much just a waste of 5,000 system points."
"Hmm. Fair," Jude admitted.
Before anyone could say more, a metal gate appeared in front of them. A swirling black portal emerged in its center.
"Well, I figured out how this thing works," Riven announced so everyone could hear. "I'm going to place the portal on the edge of the wall, where there are still trees and bushes, so we can cover it. No one else can see us go through."
He turned to the group.
"So… what do you say? You guys ready to go to the Grand Capital?" he asked with a wide, excited smile.
Everyone nodded.
Riven was the first to walk through the portal. On the other side, he was met by trees and branches—not nearly as big as the ones on Aurex, but still abnormally large for Earth trees. When everyone else came out of the portal, Riven placed the entrance into his System Storage Space.
After doing that, the group walked out of the forest.
Even though they had hoodies on to cover their faces and change their voices, the way they moved said it all—the group was in awe of what they were seeing.
"Whoa…" they said, looking amazed.
The Grand Capital was unlike anything Riven had ever seen—a sprawling metropolis in the sky and on the earth, suspended in motion and ambition. Towering skyscrapers made of silversteel and glimmerglass stretched toward the clouds, their surfaces reflecting the eternal dance of flying cars and trains zipping through layered air lanes. Massive skybridges connected buildings like threads in a spider's web, each bridge wide enough to hold entire markets on its surface.
The streets below pulsed with life. Diverse crowds of Wallborn, Beyonders, merchants, scouts, guild operatives, and awakened travelers weaved between glowing vendor stalls, digital signs, and rune-powered kiosks selling everything from enchanted blades to bottled storms. Neon-colored banners floated midair, advertising potion auctions and beast-hunting contracts.
"Okay, everyone, snap out of it," Wren said—clearly the only one not stunned, since she'd been here before.
The group shook their heads, regaining focus.
"Wren's right. Time to put our plan in motion. We'll split up," Riven said.