The streets were nearly empty and only a few hover-cars drove in this storm. Yan Hao had a smooth ride and arrived soon after at the Spirit Pagoda.
The skyscraper housing the Spirit Pagoda was by far taller than the other skyscrapers nearby. It imitated the typical form of a pagoda, yet it was fully made of glass and metal.
After he parked his hover-car, he turned the engine off and opened the butterfly-like doors. The winds stormed at him and rain slapped into his face. After he left the car, he shut the door, blocked the whipping rain with his hand, and ran towards the entrance of the Spirit Pagoda.
As soon as Yan Hao was before the entrance, the automated door swung open and he rushed into the hall. Raging winds accompanied his entrance and stormed through the hall.
Shortly after Yan Hao entered the room, the doors closed again. Yan Hao stretched his back, wiped the rain from his face, and ran his hand through his flattened, wet hair, stroking it backward.
A red carpet stretched from the entrance forward to two receptions on the other side of the hall. And coincidentally, no one stood in line. With dripping wet clothes and drenched shoes, he walked towards a reception.
The receptionist politely asked, "Hello sir, how can I be of service today?"
"I need a Spirit Bracelet," replied Yan Hao.
"Understood. That would be 499 Yuan."
After making the payment, the receptionist put the bracelet onto Yan Hao's hand. The bracelet shrank rapidly, only stopping when it was skintight.
A sudden pain drilled from the bracelet into Yan Hao's body. His vision got a little fuzzy and he felt like he had a headache. His fingers pressed against his temples and he squinted his eyes.
"There is a teleport station on the top of the Spirit Pagoda. You can use it whenever you like. It will bring you to your desired Spirit Realm," explained the receptionist and stood on standby like a robot, staring into nothingness.
'Weird,' thought Yan Hao and walked towards the elevator.
Arriving before the elevator, the headache already subsided and his vision turned clear again.
Yan Hao pressed the button to call the elevator and looked at which floor it is currently.
'163…' Yan Hao read the number on the display in disbelief.
Below it was written: 01:31; where the seconds dropped from the 31. So it would take around 1 and a half minute for the elevator to arrive.
With nothing other to do, Yan Hao inspected his Spirit Bracelet a little more in detail. All 7 orbs embedded in it were of a dull white without light.
Curiously, he raised his index finger and touched an orb on the bracelet.
[Access to Fifth Spirit Realm is locked.]
The sudden voice startled Yan Hao and he swiftly turned around, but there was nobody. "Was that in my head?"
"..."
"If this orb was the fifth," he thought and moved his finger towards the most left one. "Then this orb must be the First Spirit Realm," he concluded and pressed onto it.
And suddenly, a holographic image popped up before him.
First Spirit Realm: Ordinary Coins: 0/100 | Primitive Coins: 0/100 | Deviant Coins: 0/100 | Ancient Coins: 0/100 | ----------
Next to each row in this category was a coin slot, probably for inserting a coin to raise the stats. And at the bottom of the display was a long, horizontal slit. It didn't look like a place for coins, more like for paper money or cards.
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"What is all this for?" whispered Yan Hao while staring at the display.
[It shows the amount of your invested coins. Once a region is full, you have the right to advance to the next Spirit Realm. The more coins you invested and the more slots you filled, the better your upgrade to the next Spirit Realm will be - think of it as a basis where you build upon. An ancient-coin basis will have better chances to reach higher Spirit Realms than an ordinary-coin basis.]
[You can acquire coins by killing monsters. Ordinary beasts drop ordinary coins and ancient beasts drop ancient coins. Please be aware that once you insert a coin in a slot, you can't use it afterward.]
[After you filled a slot, an upgrade card will be given. The card will be randomly drawn, but it will have the same grade as the filled slot.]
After listening to the explanation from the voice in his head, Yan Hao understood the general concept of the Spirit Realms and how everything worked.
*ding*
With the arrival of the elevator, a notification sound came from it and the doors glided open.
Yan Hao's brows knitted in confusion when he saw the only person in the elevator.
He stood in the corner of the elevator, facing the wall, and showed no intention of getting off the elevator.
He wore a stylish suit vest and his poison-green hair stood on end like a blazing flame, spiking upwards.
"Uhh… What? What's with that guy?" thought Yan Hao and awkwardly entered the elevator, standing in the other corner of the elevator.
Curiously, Yan Hao stole a glance at that guy's face, which he could see a little bit from his current position. The guy looked really handsome, yet he stood there motionless like a puppet.
"Ugh, nevermind," thought Yan Hao and pressed the button to the top floor: 163; and the doors closed with a notification sound.
*din- "DING!!!!!"
As soon as the notification sound from the elevator sounded out, the strange guy mimicked it by shouted it out loud.
"Ahmm… You okay?" asked Yan Hao with a raised eyebrow.
The guy turned around and set up a wide grin. "Well, hello there. You can call me Pixel," he said and enforced a handshake with Yan Hao, shaking his hand vividly.
"I'm Yan Hao. You can call me Hao."
"Okay, Good. Do you know today's date by the way?"
"Ah, yes. 21st July of 2360."
"Thank you. Let me just note that down for later," replied Pixel and pressed the following buttons on the elevator: 21, 7, 23, 60.
Yan Hao stared in disbelief at Pixel. 'Did he really just press the floor numbers on the elevator?!' he thought and became a little agitated.
But luckily, the elevator was already at floor 67 and wouldn't stop therefore at those floors.
Suddenly, a pen fell from Pixel's pocket. He seemed to have noticed it and stared at the pen lying on the floor.
Seconds flew by and he didn't show the least intention of picking it up. He… He just stared at it…
*sigh~~*
Yan Hao sighed heavily and thought, "You really want me to pick it up for you?"
As Yan Hao bent down to pick it up, Pixel stepped on the pen, shot his head upwards facing the ceiling, and howled, "THAT'S MINE!!"
"I just wanted to pick it up for you," said Yan Hao somewhat irritated and annoyed by Pixel while standing back up.
"Ohhhh. That's so thoughtful~~. Elevator Group Hug!!" he called out and forced himself on Yan Hao, hugging him with all his strength.
"Why do I always have to meet weird people at elevators?" thought Yan Hao annoyed and added, "Next time I will use the stairs for sure. I don't care if I have to climb 163 floors."
The elevator slowed down, arriving at the top of the Spirit Pagoda, and opened with the notification sound.
*din- "DING!!!"
And again, Pixel blasted out the mimicking word and left the hug.
Feeling relieved to leave the elevator and Pixel, Yan Hao hurried out of the elevator and stepped onto the roof of the Spirit Pagoda.
The winds howled and slashed at his face, and rain blasted into his face, making his already wet clothes even wetter.
The sky was still covered by thick, black clouds. It was grumbling and rumbling as deep as ever. Multiple golden bolts of lightning whipped down from the clouds, lashing at skyscrapers and tearing dozens of golden scars into the air.
It looked like a calamity was near.
The roof of the Spirit Pagoda was made of a marble floor. And a differently colored path led to the middle of the roof where a metallic platform stood - probably the teleportation platform.