That day started on a good note. As usual, I woke up at 6 AM, and habitually checked my Notifications in the corner of my eye to see if the night of sleep brought me any surprises. 

Your hard work has paid off! You gain +1 Strength. 

My lips were about to form into a grin, but I instantly reminded myself that there was nothing to be happy about. That increase was only a natural result of my actions. I was only getting one step closer to my limit as an Unblessed, while many Players who put one tenth of my effort had long since left me behind. I checked my Status Screen to make that fact abundantly clear. 

Status

Name: Leroy Cross

Age: 24

Genus: Human

Class: None

Level: 0 (0%)

Rank: E (97/100)

Contribution Points: 100

Status Effects: [Well Rested]

Attributes

Strength: 21+1=22

Agility: 26

Vitality: 17

Magic: 0

Insight: 32

Shards 

Available Slots: 1/2 

Rank Limit: E

Stored: [Flawed Silent Dagger (F, Common)]

Equipped: None

By a normal human standard, I was pretty awesome. If it was fifty years ago, before the Great Breach, I would have had a decent shot at becoming a professional athlete. Nowadays, though, it wouldn’t be at all surprising if a random passersby could kick my ass. After all, almost anyone who bothered to put some effort and risk for a bit could become a Player and thus raise their Attributes to a superhuman degree in a matter of months. The key word here was “almost”, and I was among those exceptions who couldn’t become a Player no matter what they did. Many claimed that such people were Cursed by Fortune, and at some point even I started to consider that possibility. 

It took me half an hour to complete my morning routine that included a bit of exercise, which basically meant a hundred of push-ups, squats and crunches among things like washing my face and taking my supplements. Just normal stuff like fish oil and omega 3, I didn’t have money to spare to buy any decent stuff that Alchemists made using the ingredients found from the Rifts. 

After that, I went down the stairs and found my way into the kitchen. To my surprise, another person was already there, checking the content of the refrigerator.

“Good morning, Uncle Sam,” I greeted the slim middle-aged man who gave me a sleepy nod as he noticed my presence. “It’s unusual for you to wake up so early.” 

“Hey, Roy.” Uncle took a few sips from the bag of milk before returning it back to the refrigerator. Some of the drink remained on his thick ginger mustache, coloring it white. “Who said anything about me getting in the bed in the first place?” 

“Did you pull an all-nighter again, Uncle?” I shook my head in disapproval. “You should really take better care of your health.” 

“What’s the point, my boy?” Uncle smiled wryly as he wiped his mustache with his sleeve. “I’d rather put all the little we have left into trying to do something that could help Mia. I don’t plan to have a long life, anyway. As soon as she’s gone, I’m going to follow her into the grave.”

I frowned at his words. “Don’t let her hear that, Uncle…” 

“I know, I know.” He waved his hand dismissively. At that note, he left upstairs, probably to continue working on his hopeless project in his study. 

I couldn’t blame the man for being so pessimistic. He’d lost many people. He’d lost his beloved wife and his son. He’d lost his cute younger sister, too—my mother. His parents had died even before I was born. He only had two people left—Mia and me. His terminally ill daughter and his nephew who risks his life on a weekly basis.  

I could understand Uncle Sam, for I wasn’t that different from him. We both had lost a lot in the Outbreak eleven years ago—the biggest disaster the American Resistance Union saw since the Second Rift Overdrive. Just like him, I had no one else left—my parents and big sis were among those that had fallen together with New York. And neither of us had given up on curing Mia—the only ray of hope in our colorless lives. Even if our methods were very different. 

I turned on the holographic TV screen on the wall and started to prepare my breakfast—oatmeal with milk—while listening to the news that I’d missed yesterday. My interest was picked when I heard a familiar voice. A certain person was giving an interview. 

“Miss Albright, is this true that you overcame the Level 320 limit in your last Rift delve?!” an enthusiastic reporter asked a beautiful girl, sounding no different from a teenage fangirl who met her idol. It was understandable, considering who she was facing.

“I guess this time is as good as any to make an official statement.” The girl shrugged nonchalantly. Her youthful face was relaxed and her pink eyes held a trace of mischief. It really got to my nerves how laid back she always looked. “Yep, you can say that humanity now has one more Paragon to rely on. Perhaps the greatest of them all, tee-hee!” 

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Paragon. That word made modern people feel awe, reverence… and hope. It signified the pinnacle a Player—a human—can reach. It was reserved for those that reached another stage of power, those achieving both S-Rank and Transcendent Level. Those that were able to clear the most dangerous of Rifts and fight the deadliest monsters and demons that threatened Earth. They were our heroes. And I couldn’t be sure if it was a good thing that she, of all people, became one. 

“As expected of Bright Maiden, you’re really confident and optimistic!” the reporter exclaimed. I looked at their background, it seemed that they were at some sort of… basement? Actually, I guessed where it was. I’d wondered how the humanity’s newest Paragon was caught by a reporter in the first place, but it seemed that this particular reporter was courageous—and strong—enough to descend into the Abyss Labyrinth, a place that held six out of twenty-eight A-Tier Rifts of the North America. No wonder there were only the two of them without a crowd of people that would’ve gathered around them in normal circumstances. 

“My optimism is my real superpower!” exclaimed the girl as she curled her biceps, winking at the camera. Her arm was thin and feminine, but everyone knew that she could easily crush steel with her bare hands despite being a mage. She was wearing a cute pink dress—her famous Shard, actually—that reminded me of magical girls from those Japanese animations that were popular before the Great Breach. 

“Wait, won’t it make Miss Albright the youngest Paragon of all time?!” The reporter hit her palm with her fist as if just realizing this. “Already a Paragon at thirty-one?! Amazing! You’re amazing! You’re our hope, Bright Maiden!”

I wryly smiled. Compared to how news looked before—before that disastrous Outbreak —nowadays they were more entertainment than something serious. Especially when it came to Rankers and Paragons. That was a new policy advances by the Government itself, its attempt to make people forget that we still were at war. I didn’t know if it was for the better. 

“It’s nothing special, really, I’m just someone who found her calling in life!” Bright Maiden turned her face away in embarrassment, her cheeks red. Someone else would’ve assumed that she was acting, but I knew better. After all, I’d seen her in action, on the battlefield. When she saved me ten years ago. When she arrived too late to save the rest. When she just shrugged off at the loss of my family and bathed in the blood of monsters with a cute, innocent smile, as if she was having the time of her life. 

She looked the same. The same curly violet hair, the same pink pupils, the same childish attitude. I knew that I should feel nothing but gratitude towards my savior, but it was really hard to stop myself from blaming her for what had happened. Or from fearing her innocent cruelty. 

“For someone so outstanding, you’re really humble!” the reporter commented with admiration. “Oh, doesn’t it mean that there’s a new number one among Rankers—”

No longer interested, I turned off the TV and started my breakfast in silence. If only I had her power, things would’ve been oh so different. Getting my hands on the Divine Elixir wouldn’t have been just a pipe dream… To distract myself from those depressing thoughts, I focused on eating while, almost by habit, mentally praying to the Human Gods to Bless me with a Class. Then I would at least have a chance… 

After finishing my breakfast, I used a taxi booking app on my phone to call a cab. I’d sold our only car a couple of days ago—Uncle didn’t really care. He left all the spending to me, as long as it didn’t interfere with his research. And as he rarely left his study—let alone the house—it didn’t matter to him if I sold our means of transportation. Especially considering that I needed the received money for something more important. 

The cab arrived soon enough. My destination didn’t surprise the driver in the slightest—the branch office of the Player Association of the ARU. It was probably the most visited place in the entire city, considering that nearly one-third of the population were Players. It was very rare for an Unblessed like me to visit it more often than once or twice per year, though. 

The car took me from the outskirts of Philly where our house was to the center of the city. I admired the sight of the modern city, which didn’t look that much different from how it had been before the Great Breach—if the old photos I’d seen were anything to judge by. The main difference would be military outposts with turrets that could be seen here and there. And also that it was way too uncommon to see armed people—both with firearms and less advanced weapons like swords. If an actual Outbreak happened, the latter would be more helpful, though, at least as long as it was a Shard. Also, most cars were armored nowadays and more luxurious were closer to a battle tank in their design. They served a similar purpose, after all. 

Despite the fact that it wasn’t even 7 AM yet—it was just a few minutes until the Association opened its doors—dozens of people were already waiting before the entrance, ready to enter as soon as allowed. Which they did with astonishing speed when it was exactly 7 AM. I could bet that at least half of them were Initiates—Players between Level 10 and 20—or above. I wasn’t even considered a Novice yet. I could probably beat some of them, that with my stats and battle experience, but still. 

Soon enough, I found my destination at the third floor of the building. It was extremely quiet here, way more so than in an average library. The most boisterous place was usually at the first floor, where people received information about Rifts and gave their own accounts after their Delves. My destination was different—the Player Association’s Shop. Thankfully, there were only eight people before me in the queue. I received my number, sat down on a comfy couch and waited for my turn to enter one of the two rooms, each guarded by two dangerous-looking Players. Yep, they were the reason why people weren’t in the mood to be noisy here. 

Getting to the Association so early, was the right choice, for sure. When almost an hour passed, and it was my turn to enter the Shop, twenty more people took the queue after me already. At that rate, the last of them would need to wait for more than two hours, that was the price for being too slow to wake up. 

A girl around my age greeted me with a polite smile as I took the chair opposite of her desk. Despite it being considered a Shop, there were no showcases with merchandise. Instead, it was just an office with two doors—one the entrance from which I entered and another, a heavy steel door which led to the storage where the actual goods were kept. 

The shop manager—according to the badge on her chest, she was called Cassie—handed me a holographic tablet where I could choose what I wanted. Of course, I already decided on what to buy a long time ago. I needed two items that would increase my chances to survive the dangers of the Rift even without a team. Two items that, perhaps, could help me to get the Blessing. 

Cassie really was a professional, she didn’t wear her business suit for naught. She didn’t ask any inconvenient questions despite knowing my identity as an Unblessed—of course she knew, she had checked my ID even before I had entered. She didn’t ask why I was foolish enough to enter the Rifts over and over again, despite the fact that most people gave up if they didn’t get the Blessing after the first three attempts. She didn’t try to persuade me to give up, or inquired into how I could get a “whopping” one hundred Contribution Points. She just took the money I’d received from selling the only car my family had and the CP I had gathered by surviving a Delve after Delve, and called her assistant to get what I bought from the storage. 

The steel door opened, and a burly dark-skinned man walked in with a metallic briefcase in each of his hands. He handed them over to Cassie and returned to the storage without even acknowledging my presence. I didn’t mind, though—that guy could probably kill me with a wave of his hand. Just to be hired by the Association, you needed to be at least a High Disciple—someone who reached the Level 40 threshold. And to be trusted guarding the storage here—even though there was a more advanced Shop at a higher floor—you should be an Adept, for sure. 

Cassie put both briefcases on the table before me and opened them, showing me their content. One held a pale blue gem with the size of a pebble. As for another… there was a loaded gun with four more magazines at the side, each holding fifteen rounds—for seventy-five shots in total. That was seventy-five chances to survive an otherwise deadly encounter… Well, in practice it would be way less, considering that one bullet wasn’t nearly enough to kill anything that could pose me a challenge. To kill the creatures stronger than any I had faced before. 

“Are you satisfied with the goods, Mister Cross?” Cassie asked, in her gentle but calm tone. She was really cute, but I knew that I had no chances with her even if she was single, which I very doubted. In the modern era, one’s Level was a part of personal status, something even more important than social and financial success. Unfortunately, we were in different leagues as of now. Something I planned to change, and for reasons way more important than getting a girlfriend or two. Though that would’ve been a nice addition to my rather lonely life. 

“Yes, thank you.” I gave her a court bow before taking my leave. With both briefcases, of course. I could swear that I heard a sad sigh when I left the Shop. I only hoped that she wasn’t mourning my death in advance… 

Wait, I could’ve used the gem right there in the Shop, I realized as soon as I left the Association’s building. On another thought, though, Mia would be pissed if I did it without her, so all is good. 

My next destination was close enough for me to reach it on legs. I didn’t consider myself rich enough to pay for a cab when I wasn’t in much of a hurry. Also, it was an opportunity to have my morning run. As for the two briefcases, they were a nice replacement for dumbbells, though the one with the gun was a bit heavier. 

It was time to visit the best little sister in the world.