— "What?"
— "How do you know Elina?"
Meril looked at him for a brief moment, wondering whether she should tell him that she used to work with Elina in the same factory. She let out a soft sigh, then said with fake calmness, "I met her this morning, and we went to the tunnels together."
Alvin held her gaze for a short while, searching her eyes for any sign that might betray a lie. When he found nothing, he leaned his head back again and stared at the ceiling in silence. Meril breathed slowly and silently, afraid that any sound might draw his attention back to her and prompt him to ask another question.
Silence filled the train waiting room, pressing on Meril's chest and making it hard for her to breathe freely. Among the many thoughts swirling in her mind, she remembered that she had several unassigned experience points. She tapped on the "Home Page" button, then clicked on "Core Strengths."
Suddenly, a tab appeared with the following message: {34 experience points acquired.
You can allocate the points to enhance your core abilities.
Or convert them into currency (every 5 points = 0.003 coin).
◄ [Allocate Points]
◄ [Convert to Currency]
◄ [Postpone Decision]
Warning: Currency conversion is non-reversible!
Instant bonus for allocating within three minutes:
+15% Strength (for 48 hours).
One Hallinor Flower. (Courtesy of 'The Last Minstrel')
}
The Hallinor Flower… Meril kept receiving it as a gift whenever she allocated experience points, but she never really knew what it was for, so she always sent it straight to storage. She sighed sadly as she looked at her experience points—they were far too few.
Every 25 experience points equaled one core ability point, which meant she could only enhance one ability a single time.
At this rate… she would remain at the bottom of the hierarchy, useless… just a burden to herself and to others.
Meril stared wearily at her core abilities:
Strength: 1
Speed: 2
Intelligence: 3
Endurance: 2
Five Senses: 2
Healing Ability: 7
She was incredibly weak, barely able to defend herself, so "Strength is the best choice." But then there was also Speed. Meril was well aware of her weakness—she was slow, and if it weren't for her athletic background and experience in javelin throwing and sniping, she would've died at the very beginning of all this.
— [Increase Strength.]
"Alright," Meril wrote, brushing aside all her thoughts, then tapped on 'Strength' and assigned it one point. Her updated stats now read:
Strength: 2
Speed: 2
Intelligence: 3
Endurance: 2
Five Senses: 2
Healing Ability: 7
"I need to try harder so I can become stronger," she wrote in the floating chat on the left side of the system, while on the right, she saw the reward being added to her inventory.
— [Don't push yourself too hard. I'm with you, and I'll make sure everything will be alright.]
— [Now, take out one Hallinor Flower from your inventory and hold it in your hands.]
Meril nodded, tapped the top of the chat and moved it to the right side, then selected "Inventory," chose the "Flowers" section, and took one out. A small flower, the size of a cherry blossom, with petals shifting from amber to rosy orange, as if it were stealing the colors of a sunset. At its center were soft seeds.
For the first few seconds, Meril felt nothing. But suddenly, a gentle warmth touched her palms, like delicate threads of sunlight.
It sank into her skin and moved straight to her heart. Tranquility—a feeling that hadn't visited Meril's heart in a long time. Warmth, tenderness, and a hint of compassion, along with other emotions Meril couldn't quite explain, fluttered in her chest and forced a smile onto her lips without her realizing it. "What is this?"
— [A small gift from me to you. Whenever you feel unwell, hold one close to your heart.]
— [Be well, Meril.]
"Thank you, Sir Elyor," Meril sent, but the message wasn't read—Elyor had already left the chat. She closed her eyes too and leaned her head back, her breaths gradually settling into a slow rhythm.
She might be alone when she opened her eyes again. Elena and Alvin might not be there. That thought frightened her, but she was far too exhausted—and in need of just a little rest.
And so, the three of them—Elena, Alvin, and Meril—fell asleep within the sealed walls, while outside, the monsters continued to spread, and the cries for help from people grew louder. In some alleys, hunters chased one another, driven by greed for more digital coins.
"Meril!" Elena whispered softly, gently shaking her. Meril groaned before parting her heavy eyelids and seeing who was calling her.
"Elena!" she exclaimed in surprise. "Oh my God, you're okay!"
Elena quickly gestured for her to keep quiet and whispered, "Shh, don't speak too—"
She stopped mid-sentence, her expression tightening at the faint sound of movement behind her—realizing Alvin was already awake.
She looked into Meril's puzzled eyes, then turned around to see Alvin behind her, staring at her with a neutral expression...
Alvin said nothing. He simply gazed into the darkness of her eyes—like a starless night—holding back words that trembled behind his lips.
He remained like that for a long moment, waiting for her to react, to say something, anything. Alvin's eyes were green now—different from the last time Elena had seen him, years ago. And there was that familiar coldness in his gaze too...
Meril couldn't understand the reason behind this heavy silence between them. She had seen with her own eyes how terrified Elena had been for him, how she ran toward him without caring about the monsters around her. And Alvin too—he saved her and got her out of there… so why weren't they talking to each other?
Breaking the silence, Elena turned her gaze back to the confused Meril and asked, nervously, "How are you feeling?"
Meril cleared her throat and made a little space for Elena to sit beside her, then gently said, "I'm fine, thank you for asking. And you? Are you okay?"
Elena nodded, her face grim. "I think the system appeared to me… I mean, a screen popped up asking if I wanted to activate it."
"Really?" Meril said with excitement. Elena gave her a puzzled look at her sudden reaction, prompting Meril to quickly add, "Yes! I got the same message. Most likely, everyone did. Just click 'Accept' so it activates for you!"
Elena sighed as she stared at the screen. She knew this decision would change everything. If she accepted, she'd be forced to fight, to carry responsibility. And if she refused, she might become a burden on Meril and Alvin… or worse.
Without thinking too long, she clicked 'Accept'. The message disappeared, and a new window appeared in its place. She narrowed her eyes, trying to make sense of what she was seeing, her expression puzzled.
Noticing this, Meril asked quietly, "So?"
"A window appeared… called 'Store'… on its own," Elena said softly. She looked at Meril, who now seemed a little tense, then turned her gaze back to the screen and continued, "The store is empty, except for one item."
"What is it?" Meril asked with curiosity.
"It says: Name: Avelorn. Classification: Rare. There are no other details."
Meril fell silent for a few seconds, deep in thought, then whispered, "An ability…"
She raised her head and looked into Elena's eyes, surprised. "You can… see an ability in the store?"
"Yes... is that strange?"
"Elena… real abilities aren't bought, they're granted as a gift from the planets. The ones sold in shops are often fake or temporary."
"So..." Elena looked at the product suspiciously. "Could it be a scam?"
"And how much does it cost?"
Elena sighed as she slowly calculated the numbers, then said, "I think it's priced at a million coins."
Mirel looked at Elena in surprise and whispered, "That's... a very high amount." Then she fell silent.
Elena raised an eyebrow, expecting Mirel to continue, but when she didn't, she asked impatiently, "Well?"
After a moment of hesitation, Mirel said, "I don't know, but you should know something important, Elena. Not everything sold in the shop is real. A lot of the products are just scams or attempts to deceive."
Elena sighed deeply, her thoughts drifting. Should she trust the shop and buy this strange product? Or ignore it? But when she looked at the price again, she suddenly remembered, "Mirel, how do I get coins? I don't have any right now."
Mirel smiled and said, "There are several ways. You can collect coins by killing monsters or humans. And if you become the embodiment of a planet, that planet will grant you coins regularly. There's another way too: when the planets enjoy watching a hunter, they give them coins."
Elena looked at her in surprise. "How do they watch?"
Mirel replied calmly, "You might not have noticed yet, but there are creatures flying in the sky—round in shape, with a large eye in the center. Those are the cameras the planets use to monitor everything."
Elena furrowed her brows, trying to remember if she'd seen anything like that. She hadn't noticed anything flying in the residential area's sky, and as for the commercial zone… she had been too busy running from hunters and monsters to pay attention to what was above.
In any case, there was something more important to think about. She had to kill monsters to earn digital coins… but she was too weak to do that. Weak both mentally and physically!
Mirel said reassuringly as she browsed some products in the store, "Don't worry. It'll be hard at first, but once you start increasing your basic ability stats, you'll become stronger."
After a moment, she rested her hand, and some wrapped biscuits appeared in her palm. She handed one to Elena and kept the other for herself.
That's when Elena remembered she'd left her house in the first place to look for food… and she was starving. She quickly ate the biscuit, trying to suppress her hunger, but it wasn't enough. She was still hungry.
Suddenly, a medium-sized pouch dropped into her lap. She looked up to see Alvin, sitting across from her, gazing at her quietly.
She was the first to break eye contact, then started unwrapping the paper around the pouch to find some meat and vegetables inside… or rather, strange-looking plants. She looked at Mirel and said, "Let's eat."
Mirel was staring at the food in surprise, then shifted her gaze toward Alvin… whose stern expression made him look genuinely intimidating.
At that moment, Elena gently held Mirel's chin and made her look at her, saying firmly, "Let's eat."
Mirel stammered as she responded, "Uh… thank you, but I'm not hungry."
But Elena didn't give her a choice. She took a small piece of meat and forcefully placed it into Mirel's mouth, then said in a stern tone, "Just eat."
Mirel felt a wave of confusion and anxiety over the situation she found herself in. On one hand, Alvin's facial expression was far from reassuring—it looked like he might pounce and kill her at any moment. On the other hand, Elena sat beside her, acting as a protective shield.
In the end, Mirel took a deep breath, adjusted her posture to appear more at ease, and began eating.
Even though Elena and Alvin hadn't exchanged a single word, the situation was becoming clear to Mirel… Alvin cared about her. He had bought food of this quality for her! And as long as she remained behind Elena, he wouldn't harm her.
At least, that's what she convinced herself.
"How much is this meal?" Elena asked while examining a purple-colored plant in surprise, then popped it into her mouth—only for her tongue to be stunned by a flavor that was both salty and sweet.
Mirel replied after a moment of thought, "I've seen it before in the shop… I think it was priced at… 5,000 coins."
Both Mirel and Elena stopped eating at the exact same moment and exchanged shocked looks… Only now did they fully realize what was happening—they were eating luxury food!
Then they both turned their surprised gazes toward Alvin, who remained silent as always, before their eyes returned to staring at the food placed between them on the couch.
Mirel silently moved her lips: "He has a lot of coins!"
Elena nodded after reading her lips, then whispered softly in return: "He's rich!"
Then, without thinking, an idea struck Elena, and she said out loud, "Can't hunters send coins to each other?"
Mirel immediately understood what she meant and shook her head while continuing to chew her food.
"But… maybe that feature will be added to the system later."
Time passed, and the two girls finished their meal. Now that their stomachs were full of delicious meat and vegetables, they were feeling much better.
Mirel began explaining everything Ele
na needed to know about the system—from how to access her personal stats to the ranking of hunters within the three empires.
And now… it was time to leave this room and begin the hunt.