NOVEL NEXT Chapter 42: Rewards
'Shop.'
The familiar blue screen flickered into existence in front of his eyes, its crystalline light a welcome sight.
[SYSTEM STOREFRONT // Points: 51,010 P]
[► Potions | Weapons | Artifacts | Skills | AFFINITIES]
He ignored everything else. His focus was singular. He navigated straight to the last tab, the one that held the key to real power.
The list that appeared made his heart hammer against his ribs.
[AFFINITIES]
Fire Affinity: 10,000 P
Water Affinity: 10,000 P
Wind Affinity: 15,000 P
Lightning Affinity: 20,000 P
Metal Affinity: 20,000 P
Earth Affinity: 30,000 P
Light Affinity: 50,000 P
Darkness Affinity: 50,000 P
[Higher Tiers Currently Locked]
For a moment, he just stared. He could afford any of them. After all the pain, all the beatings and broken bones, he finally had a choice. A real choice to become strong. A wide, genuine grin spread across his face. This was his chance to survive.
His eyes were immediately drawn to the bottom of the list. 'Darkness Affinity.' He had read enough stories in his old life to know that the darkness attribute was almost always the most overpowered one. It was the path of shadows, assassins, and ultimate power.
But he also knew it was a trap. The stories always showed the price. The corruption, the loss of self, the constant struggle against your own power. 'My life is already hard enough,' he thought, dismissing it. 'I don't need my own magic trying to kill me too.'
He looked at the Metal Affinity next. It looked promising. The ability to create weapons, armor, to be an unbreakable wall. It was a perfect affinity for someone focused on pure survival.
He glanced at the price. 20,000 P. A month ago, that would have been an impossible dream. Now?
'Too cheap for me,' he thought with a new, unearned arrogance. He had 50,000 points. He could aim for the top shelf.
His gaze settled on the Light Affinity. This was it. This was the one. A power that was heroic, destructive, and the perfect counter to the dark, demonic forces he knew were coming in the later parts of the story. It was strong, and it didn't come with a side of insanity.
'This is the one. The power of a hero.'
He didn't hesitate. 'Purchase Light Affinity.'
A new window popped up, stark and simple.
[Confirm Purchase: Light Affinity?]
[Cost: 50,000 P]
[YES / NO]
'Yes!' he screamed in his mind, his whole body tense with anticipation.
The points in the top right of his screen vanished.
[Available Balance: 1,010 P]
[Equipping Affinity… Equipping Failed.]
The message was a splash of ice water on his excitement.
[Affinity already present. Returning points.]
His balance shot back up to 51,010 P. He stared at the screen, his mind blank with confusion.
'Wtf?' he thought, the word a simple, perfect summary of his shock. 'System, mind telling me what the hell is going on?'
A new line of text appeared, cold and factual.
[Affinity already present. Another cannot be equipped.]
He felt a surge of pure rage. It was his pathetic Thread Affinity. The useless, laughable power he had gotten from that stupid gamble. It was blocking him. It was holding him back from real power.
'Damn it! System, can you remove my previous affinity?'
[Yes.]
A flicker of hope. 'Do it. Remove it now.'
[Removing Affinity: Threads. Cost: 30,000 P.]
The hope died instantly, replaced by a fury so intense he wanted to scream. Thirty thousand points. It was going to cost him more than half his reward just to get rid of a useless skill he had paid 10,000 for.
"Fuck you, system!" he hissed out loud to the empty room. "With this stupid scam, I will die way before my actual death!"
He knew it was a waste of time to be angry at a machine. He let out a long, frustrated sigh and closed the affinity section. It was a dead end for now.
He sadly browsed through the other tabs. Under [Items], his eyes landed on a familiar entry.
[Aether Stone (Mid Grade)] - 20,000 P.
'I'll come back to you, my gems,' he thought, a new plan already forming. 'I need you.'
He moved to the [Skills] tab. He spent the next ten minutes scrolling through pages of abilities, from simple fireballs to complex barrier spells. Most of them were too expensive or didn't fit his fighting style.
Then he saw it. A skill that seemed like it was made for him. A skill that would perfectly complement his existing talents.
A slow, happy smile spread across his face. The anger from before was gone, replaced by a new sense of purpose.
'I will come back to you,' he promised the glowing text on the screen. 'But first, I need to take care of some things.'
He closed the system interface and pushed himself out of bed. The itching was annoying, but his body felt strong, healed. He got dressed in a simple black tunic and pants and walked out of his room.
The maids and butlers in the hallway bowed as he passed, their faces a mixture of fear and respect.
He stopped one of the maids. "Where is my sister?"
"My lady was informed that you had woken up, my lord," the maid said, keeping her eyes on the floor. "She looked glad, and then she left for an urgent meeting with the council."
'The council of the five families,' he thought. He knew exactly what that was about.
"And Sebastian?" he asked. "Is he with her?"
"Yes, my lord. He went with her as her personal guard."
"Okay. I will be taking my leave."
He walked away, his steps full of purpose. He didn't go to the training grounds. He went deeper into the mansion, to the heavily guarded wing that housed the family's most important assets.
He walked down a long, stone corridor until he stood before a massive, black iron door. A single, heavily armored guard stood beside it, a giant of a man holding a massive haldberd.
The guard recognized him and immediately stood straighter, his hand tightening on his weapon. "My lord. This area is restricted."
Azrael put on his best imitation of the old, arrogant Azrael. He looked down his nose at the guard. "My sister sent me. She said there was something in the treasury she needed me to retrieve for her. It is a direct order."
The guard hesitated for a second. His orders were clear: no one enters without the Matriarch. But this was the Matriarch's brother, giving a direct order in her name. To refuse could mean his death.
The guard's face went pale. He fumbled with a set of large keys and, with a loud, protesting groan of metal, he unlocked and opened the heavy door.
'That's not appropriate,' Azrael thought, feeling a small pang of guilt for lying to the loyal guard. 'But it's important for survival.'
He stepped inside.
The moment the door closed behind him, a strange feeling washed over him. It wasn't fear. It was excitement.
He remembered the original story's timeline perfectly. His pointless rivalry with Kaelen was supposed to escalate after the ranking test. More insults, more foolish plots, until he finally pushed the hero too far.
The final confrontation was meant to happen in the academy halls, a last battle where Kaelen, filled with righteous anger, would finally strike him down. His death at the hero's hand was the trigger, the event that would make his sister, Celestria, unleash her havoc upon the academy in a storm of revenge.
That was his death flag. The most important one.
He looked around the dark, silent treasury. He wasn't at the academy. He was here, in his home, recovering. The plot had been paused. By surviving the test and changing his own actions, he had derailed the story. He had dodged the killing blow.
'I'm safe,' he thought, a wild, giddy laugh bubbling up in his chest. 'For a little while, at least, no one can kill me.'
He turned his attention to the room. It was filled with mountains of gold coins, chests overflowing with jewels, and racks of priceless artifacts. He ignored it all. He was here for one thing only. Power.
He began his search, his eyes scanning the dusty shelves for anything that could help him get stronger. Aether stones. Magic scrolls. Anything.