Time seemed to stop at that moment.
It almost seemed like everything was frozen—locked in a single frame. Luke was tempted to observe his blurry surroundings, but his gaze remained fixed on a single point.
… The System Shop!
Right before his eyes, a golden tab flashed with brilliant light, revealing a series of information that he consumed at lightning speed.
[System Shop]
{Welcome, Player! You can use your accumulated S Points to make any purchases in the Shop}
What would you like to purchase?
Skills
Items
SP Balance: 95
[Note: Some items will be locked until the Player meets the required criteria—be it Level, Synchronization Rate, or a specific Class]
After scanning through the information, Luke decided to use the
And, to get that money, he required the System's Pay Card.
Not long after typing out his search, he found a couple of results from the System Tab. There were a few options: from Bronze, to Silver, to Black, to Gold, and then Platinum Cards.
Each Card had an effect, but to conduct basic transactions one only needed the Bronze Card. He could always upgrade his card in the future anyway, so Luke didn't even bother looking at the other Cards and their effects.
Their prices were enough to scare him.
'A Bronze Pay Card is only 5 SP… I can live with that.' He smiled, quickly making up his mind and completing his first ever purchase.
[System Notice!]
Purchase of Bronze Pay Card successful!
Please select how much SP you wish to add to your card so it can become usable
[SP Balance: 90]
'According to the forum, the transaction rate for SP is 1 to 100 dollars, which means the fact that I have 90 SP means I will get 9,000 dollars. It's enough for my rent and a few other things I need at the moment.' He smiled, choosing to put all of his SP into the Bronze Pay Card.
As a result, his SP Balance fell to 0, and his Pay Card was stocked with money.
Luke felt a little bad that he had to spend almost all the wealth he accrued on debt, not even enjoying a bit of the money for himself, but he couldn't complain about it. This was life, and he had long realized how it could screw a person over.
Even after paying the debt for his rent, he still had to figure out how to pay the rest of his father's medical bills.
'I just can't catch a break, huh?' He sighed, bringing out the Bronze Pay Card that had suddenly appeared in his pocket.
It looked just like an ordinary Debit Card, coated in bronze hue while having the logo of Nexus Co—the company that went bankrupt making the Hunters & Dragons game. Luke hoped this wouldn't cause any problems for him, but without any choice, he could only rely on the card to help him.
"Y-you—!" The landlord yelled out, his deep glare dripping with caution as he slowly backed away from Luke.
It was clear that he was scared of Luke, considering the fact that his bodyguards suddenly collapsed and Luke had suddenly appeared in front of him. A lot of thoughts were surging in his mind, but they were clouded by anxiety.
However, much to his surprise, Luke didn't even pay him much mind.
Everything that happened with the System Shop might have taken a few minutes in Luke's perception, but only some seconds had passed in reality. As such, despite Luke already being calm about the whole incident, tension was still heavy in the air.
"There's no need to be so worried. I have your money with me." Luke flaunted his card, a confident smile forming on his face.
"I owe you just a little over 5 thousand, right? I'll pay you three months advance as well, so that'll round up to approximately 7 thousand dollars." Luke brought out his phone—brand new, and moderately expensive.
All of this shocked the landlord, who had thought Luke was dirt broke.
'No wait… if he has a VR Pod in his house, that means he's not as poor as I previously thought…' The man was slightly confused. 'Why would he delay payment for so long, though? Just moments ago, it seemed like he didn't have the money to pay.'
Then, a thought flashed in the landlord's mind.
'What if he's bluffing?'
Bringing out a mysterious card, and flashing out a phone… what if it was just meant to make the landlord back off? It was possible that Luke didn't actually have the money.
"H-how can I trust you?"
"One sec…" Luke raised a finger, his eyes fully concentrated on the screen of his phone. He was trying to see if he could sync the Bronze Pay Card with his payment app.
Thankfully, he could!
'Nice!' Luke beamed, slowly raising his gaze so he could observe the suspicious expression of his landlord. He could guess what the man was thinking, but that didn't matter to him in the slightest.
"Tell me your details. I'll send your money right this instant."
The Landlord was still skeptical, but he did as Luke said and told him his bank details. Much to his surprise, just a few seconds after, he heard a ping from his phone.
Upon checking, he found a lump sum of 7,000 dollars in his bank account.
"G-good! You did well!" The Landlord, still reeling with shock, managed to croak some words out. However, the moment he looked at Luke, he realized something.
The young man looked even more shocked!
He was astonished!
His eyes were bloodshot, almost as if they would pop out of their sockets at any moment. He nearly drooled, and snot was about to flow from his nostrils.
Was it that Luke wasn't expecting the transaction to go so smoothly?
No, that wasn't it!
He trusted the System and the words of everyone on the forum, so he expected no issues whatsoever with the transfer.
What shocked him was the Debit Notice that came afterwards.
[Debit Notice]
<5 Dollars deducted as Transfer Charges>
[Pay Card Balance: 82,995]
'W-what is happening here? How do I have so much left?'
According to his estimation, he was supposed to have 9,000 dollars after converting all of his S Points to dollars, and after paying the Landlord, he would have about 3,000 dollars left.
But this?
How did something like this happen?!
'A-ahh! Could it be—!' Luke's eyes widened in revelation, his memories surging like violent tides as he recollected something he had read on the forum.
'The Value of S Points change from time to time, but the current rate is 1 S Point to 100 Dollars…'
It was clear that the value had changed.
From a projected sum of 9,000 dollars, Luke had actually gained 90,000 dollars!
'The value is no longer 100 Dollars, but 1,000 instead?' Luke gawked in shock, reeling from the shock, even after the Landlord and his goons left Luke to enjoy the peace of his tiny room.
Even after several minutes had passed, Luke still couldn't believe it.
'I-I'm actually rich!'