episode_0003

Academy City.

The academy is where the characters in the game live together in one space.

Afterwards, they would join the military and become active, but the main setting was always the academy, perhaps because it was the first place they gathered to develop their characters.

That’s why I chose Academy as the city to retire and settle down.

‘This is the only place.’

There’s something I’ve thought about every time I look at a store window.

Why on earth!!

‘Is the most important character draw in the game locked?’

I tried everything, but I couldn’t get into the window where I could summon the character.

It was firmly locked in the shape of a padlock and showed no sign of being opened no matter how much money was in it.

At some point, I started to think that blindly saving money might not be the answer.

“If we come here and don’t get an answer, let’s just give up.”

I was worried about whether this world would be fine without characters being chosen, but what could I do?

It’s impossible to even get close to it.

This is my last struggle and hope.

An academy city built around Tringer Academy.

I was finally able to arrive 30 years after my reincarnation.

“Please show some reaction.”

In my head, this was the only place where I could unlock the summoning.

The problem is that even if I knew about this a long time ago, I couldn’t come to Tringer Academy city.

Would I not have wanted to come back until I was 30?

‘Academy City. A place where no one can enter.’

Commoners have to go through many procedures to enter here.

Of course, differences in birth exist here as well.

If the parents are commoners but live within the Academy City, their child can enter the Academy City without any formalities.

But I, who was born into an ordinary commoner family, could not receive such benefits.

So, we had to prepare to enter Academy City.

What commoners need to enter Academy City.

First of all, a clear identity.

Here, there are also levels of status.

Commoners with a criminal record are lowered in status.

And how much financial power you have also affects your status level.

‘If I were to explain it in a roughly similar way, it would be something like a credit rating.’

And there was one more thing needed to enter the city.

‘It may seem absurd, but you have to have a neat appearance.’

A neat appearance.

A guy who lived a rough mercenary life needs to look good.

The good news is that neat appearance does not mean appearance.

Think about it.

How will the common people survive in a situation where 60% of their land is lost due to pollution?

Nobles live in their mansions as far away from polluted areas as possible.

Commoners live differently depending on their family circumstances; usually, the more difficult their lives are, the closer they are to polluted areas.

‘In commoner villages close to the contaminated area, starving corpses are left unattended, and the smell of sewage emanates from the surrounding area.’

The rich get richer and the poor get poorer

The rich become richer, and the poor become poorer.

In this world, the differences were very clear.

To be honest, living as a commoner was much harder than being born as a dirt spoon on Earth.

Isn’t it a situation where 60% of the land has been lost to polluted areas, and more than a few billion people are living in disparity on only 40% of the land?

There were many criminals and many slums.

The center of the world was tightly controlled by a small number of nobles, monopolizing wealth and fame.

‘But I have no right to say that to commoners.’

The reason commoners can breathe is because nobles are sacrificing themselves to fight against polluted areas.

Most nobles have a high chance of becoming ‘awakened’ through their lineage.

The probability is such that it can be said that all nobles are awakened.

And nobles who became ‘awakened’ had special abilities, and were required to attend an academy and train them.

What if you graduate from the academy like that?

You will be enlisted in the military for 10 years and have the obligation to prevent contamination of contaminated areas.

In the past, it was said that conscription was for 20 years, but as the contamination rate stabilized at 60:40, it gradually decreased and was fixed at 10 years.

‘You’re risking your life to fight a war for 10 years, so it’s natural that wealth and honor will follow.’

Thanks to them, we were able to make a living.

Thanks to this, commoners were afraid of nobles to the point of trembling, but they also had respect for them.

In that respect, it was very unfortunate that I was reincarnated as a boy from a commoner background.

‘I wish I were a nobleman. Still, I have this ability.’

I have this ability to use the ‘store’.

In the beginning, I was excited because I thought I was awakened, but unfortunately I was told that I was not an awakened person, so what could I do?

I have no choice but to adapt and live.

Even though I couldn’t summon, as long as I had an item draw, I didn’t have to live like a normal commoner.

Isn’t there a way to fraudulently increase specs in the original game by paying for it?

‘The problem was the seed money. ‘It was so hard to make money.’

In fact, he even died twice.

With the money I had saved, I was now going through a screening process to enter Academy City.

“Hmm.”

The civil servant in charge of screening looks at my face after checking the documents I submitted.

“What is the purpose of your visit to the city?”

“I came here to retire and start a business.”

“Business… . The price of a merchant’s license must be quite high, but you must have made quite a bit of money. Oh, he’s a mercenary who catches monsters. “You were a patriot.”

Among mercenaries, mercenaries who catch monsters are treated as crazy, but the perception among nobles is not that bad.

Dealing with monsters that have escaped the contaminated area.

For us, it’s a nerve-wracking job that requires risking our lives, but for nobles, it’s a very annoying and cumbersome job.

It would be a waste of time to move around to catch a weak monster.

However, since mercenaries do that work, you don’t have to do anything that is cumbersome and troublesome.

That is why the word patriot came out of the mouth of a public official.

The weak ones do the amazing job of hunting monsters for the country.

‘The atmosphere doesn’t seem too bad, but it’s more somber than I thought.’

I had some hopes that he was a mercenary hunting monsters, but the official’s expression was not very favorable.

‘Fuck you, it’s so bullshit to be neat about your appearance.’

If you don’t like the public official in charge of the review, you can be rejected using the excuse that you don’t look neat.

The surest way is to bribe.

‘I was hoping I could just move on.’

Feeling that I had no choice, I placed the bag containing the bribe in front of the government official.

The civil servant who checked the pocket raised a Han Chinese eyebrow.

And after a while.

thud!

A red stamp was placed on the document containing my information.

“Pass. “Welcome to Tringer Academy City.”

The civil servant put his money in his pocket and declared that it would pass.

And at the same time.

[Hero summoning has been unlocked.]

The character summoning that I had been waiting for for 14 years has been unlocked.

“!!!!”

It was a moment when the bribe extorted by a public official was not worth the slightest bit.

＊ ＊ ＊

I was very excited that the character was unlocked, but the store window was updated, as if they were planning to make me run away with joy.

(199:53:02)

[Recommended Products] [Package Shop]

[General Store] [Season Limited]

[VIP mileage]

A special package has appeared.

In fact, there were times when it was better not to purchase it because it was a special price package and the components were not that good.

However, this time it was a package that must be purchased.

‘This is a purchase.’

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could buy more packages?

However, this special package can only be purchased once per account.

I understand that it has to be that way because the components make so little sense.

‘It’s finally in my hands again, the Resurrection Stone!! There are as many as three of them. ‘Isn’t this a loss of balance?’

The other package products weren’t bad, but you won’t be able to show off your courage in front of an item called Resurrection Stone.

Even after retirement, it is advantageous to always have the Resurrection Stone.

Isn’t it an extra life?

‘Now let’s just walk on the real flower path.’

Forget the difficult life of a mercenary and only walk the flowery path after retirement.

However, as the character summoning I had been longing for was unlocked, I started to think a bit more.

‘Should I do this?’

In order to prevent this world from being destroyed, it is safer to summon characters.

Why did you feel uncomfortable until now and why did you try to force yourself into Academy City?

‘Once the main scenario begins, there will be no place more stable than here. Also, I need to sell the consumables that I have collected through the item draw to earn a share. You can eat well and live well with the money you earn. ‘Not envious of nobles.’

In order to enjoy a peaceful post-retirement life as I had planned, stabilization of polluted areas is necessary.

The 60:40 ratio will be helplessly broken from the moment the main scenario begins.

Will it be possible to complete the main scenario with just nobles rather than SSR characters?

‘We’ve been enjoying a lot of prosperity, but what’s the use if the world is destroyed?’

Yes, I think it would be a good idea to summon a hero.

As a result, the red crystals I had accumulated would be used up, but it was unavoidable.

For reference, red crystal here is a currency used when summoning heroes and items.

Money exchanged as monster by-products is used to purchase red crystals.

Newly opened character draw.

Even before I could get used to Academy City, it kept getting on my nerves.

‘Shall we just have a taste?’

Aren’t you curious about what will happen if you summon a hero?

‘Plus, it was SSR-specific equipment that there was no way to deal with. If you pick up the SSR, you will be able to sell it to them.’

Unique equipment was equipment that only SSR characters could use, and was a must-have item for raising children’s stats to SSS.