Second status!

[Jack Heltros]

Age : 26

Immortal Cultivation : Qi Sensing Realm (Qi Sensing)

Immortal Title : None

HP | ⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿ | (1.00 / 1.00)

DT | ⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿ | (1.00 / 1.00)

STR : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F-

SPD : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F-

END : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F-

SEN : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F-

SOUL : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F-

WISD : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ F-

FATE : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ ?? (LOCKED)

Skill : Tech Eye - lv.2 [+]

MY STATS!!!

First status!

[Jack Heltros]

Age : 26

Class : Immortal

Title : Immortal Initiate

HP | ⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿ | (100 / 100)

MP | ⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿⦿ | (100 / 100)

STR (H) : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰

SPD (H) : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰

END (H) : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰

MND (H) : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰

LCK (E) : ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰

Skill : Tech Eye - lv.2 [+]

What the fuck happened?! How did I lose so much!? My near five hundred mana! My almost three hundred health! I was already weak, but this is just awful! Where are my middle of the pack ranks?? I'm basically a normal human that's a little bit more fit now!

The harder I think about this situation, the more I forget it all. Because, more importantly than anything, I'm tired. It's not a luxurious place, but it'll do. So clearing my head, I do what I do best and postpone everything to tomorrow before collapsing, immediately falling sound asleep.

.

.

.

Tomorrow comes, and it's not pretty. I'm woken up and brought out of the ugly cell, made to sit upstairs on a random chair by the bleached wall. To my right, two young officers are talking pretty loud, clearly unbothered by my presence.

"Hey have you looked him up or what?" Facing the desk, a slightly older man speaks up first.

"Yeah, yeah. But it says here he's dead or somethin'." The partner for this conversation is obviously not very professional, sitting half-assed on the chair, checking the database.

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"Dead? Looks pretty darn alive to me! He probably lied to us let me-"

"Nah bro, he's good, the picture matches. And it says here like, it's a temporary thing?"

"Temporary?"

"Come on bro, don't look at me like that, I don't know myself. This shit's ass bro, stupid interface man, I play games with a better UI."

"Oh yeah, that's true... though a bit sad."

"By the way bro, have you heard about the recent shit that's been going on?"

"What? How that clown of an actor raped those chicks?"

"Wh- Nah what the fuck bro? I'm talking about the dungeons!"

"Oh~! My bad, my bad. About how they changed or something?"

"Yeah, they got so much harder bro that's insane. Remember that one in Busan?"

"Busan?"

"Tsk, fucking Asian Complex! Where south Korea or whatever was before."

"Oh~ That one! Yeah, I see. And?"

"Well, apparently it jumped so many ranks, they still can't determine how difficult it is! Can you believe this? Like... it was barely B-Rank before..."

"Don't act like you could clear it."

"Shut up, I already know that, thanks for reminding me mister G-Rank."

"Well I may be G-Rank but-"

"So what do we do with this clown over there?"

Interrupted, the slightly older man now stares at me. "The usual I guess."

"Alright, alright. Let me see..." Bending over, the younger man reaches under the desk to grab a stack of paper. "So." Flipping them, he soon stops on one. "Okay, for drinking out of the fountain he gets... roll of the drums... a fine of thirty thousand big old dollars! Damn, did the old man up the price? Wasn't it ten grand before?"

"Thirty?!"

Thirty?!

"Holy, that kid is fucked. Thirty grand because he drank from what should be a public fountain... That's got to hurt."

"No shit... but yeah damn... let me check the date... there isn't my coffee stain on the paper... yeah, it's brand new! Man that old decrepit thing is really enjoying life... that's the life of a high ranker for you..."

I've got to pay what???

"Damn bro! Look at his face hahahaha! It's like he's seen a ghost or some'."

"Well... I would look the same... like holy man... I don't think I even have that much on hand... Hey kid, you got the cash?"

First of all I'm older than you two kids, and how the fuck am I supposed to spit out thirty grand when I was supposed to be dead?!

"Hum... not really... no."

"Oof..."

As one makes a pained face, the other sips on cold air. "Sorry to say but... you might have to follow us to the old man's mines."

"I don't want to sound ignorant officers... but shouldn't the fountain be public domain?"

"Ah~ you're new here, aren't you? Do I explain or you do it?"

"Nah bro, I'm signing up for a new gacha I found."

"Alright- Wait, don't use this computer for it! Anyway, as for the fountain, basically the entire plaza and some streets around are owned by the Dusk Baron. He's a B-Ranker associated with the city's S-Rank overlord Maria Senguivo. She's a pretty tough nut to crack, so you're pretty much fucked, just so you know. Most citizens know about this area, which is why they avoid it like the plague, but when fresh blood comes in here, you best believe they will be milked dry of all their value."

"Is that even legal!?" The moment I end my outburst, I hear a laugh from behind the desk.

"Legal? Legal?! Hahaha! Kid you're too clueless it's insane. There aren't laws in here besides the one they made up! If the baron says something, you agree. Simple as that."

At this point, I contemplated escaping the precinct. Now as to whether or not I should have at the time, I'm still unsure.

.

.

.

Waking up, dampness clogs my surroundings. Brown earth as far as I'm allowed to see, sighing as I hold a familiar object. A good old pickaxe artifact. This time however, I don't have chains around me, but I certainly do have legal chains all over my body.

In only three days, I was cuffed and sent here. I've not even met the damn baron yet! Looking around, there are only two other people. A few questions answered earlier gave me the ups and downs of this place.

Before, when the fine was only a third of what I have to pay, most people could average a thousand to a thousand and a half each month. With that in mind, the lowest earners on that average spectrum were looking at ten months locked up in here. Me? I have to pull out triple the amount. Now that I think about it, the young lady who's probably underage right in front of me must pay the same. As for the tall brown man a little further back, he got a little luckier, and got caught when the price had just rose to twenty grand.

Watching over us is a bunch of cameras and some guards carrying our meals and such commodities. At least I have a proper bed this time, seems like the baron wasn't fond of going overboard and finding out what would happen.

Also, which does not surprise me, only people below D-Rank are held up here. Now, with my good old status reset like this, which I began to feel on top of the weakening after I failed the challenge, did not help me in this situation.

The upside, if we can call it that, is that I was forced to read and think more about the system. After going to bed a few days ago, I had clearly forgotten my thoughts. I'm not the brightest already, but trying to remember something minutes before I pass out into a coma called sleep, is quite the ask.

In short, I have to mine for probably years before recovering financial freedom. Sounds familiar...

Taking another peek at the prompts I already read a few times, I munch on fresh bread they bake for us.

Main Quest - Aspirations (1)

First Step - 01

>Objective : Grasp the greater will and focus on potential. Attain the Qi Refining Realm.

>Difficulty : Fated

>Mission Difficulty : Fated

>Mission Failure Penalty : None.

Once again, it did not say how. No matter, I'll have to figure it out at some point. Especially since it has become quite literally impossible to beat that hell damned puppet now!

"Grrr..." I grumble under my breath and take another bite. It's honestly pretty good. With it comes some fresh bottled water, we either reuse the bottle or we can give it back to them. They aren't very strict, and I haven't heard of interest rates. Well, I did. But in the form of good news. We also get appliances and proper hygiene care such as tooth brushes and toothpaste. Which is a godsent to be honest.

Of course, all these appliances and qualities of life aren't free. It's all being deducted, whether it's our pay or by raising the debt. At first, I thought about when I should run, but the longer I stay here, which has only been a few days, the more comfortable I feel. It's pretty peaceful, and the only issue is a lack of direct fresh air, though I am used to that already.

I have plenty of extra time to train and prepare myself. I also got something from the previous main quest.

Lost Spiritual Fragment (??)

>A white octahedron crystal pulsing with colorful, mesmerizing lights. It contains a sealed space only available through the mind.

>Can be used by anyone.

How do I use this... Since receiving it, I haven't really succeeded in utilizing it. Well, I wasn't surprised by this since I haven't even tried to begin with.