"When I took your hand, I had this huge expectation of awakening to psychic power, but nothing change."

"What, are you disappointed that you didn't suddenly transform to a blonde like a certain anime character?"

"...no, that's not what I meant."

Sheila couldn't help but laugh at Luke and his wild imagination, thinking that his imagination was very similar to those with an eighth-grade syndrome. Well, it was mostly her fault for wording it as if he would suddenly acquire a newfound superpower once he agreed to the deal. With a smile on her face, Sheila pulled a blue card out of her pocket before giving it to the confused Luke.

"What is this? Your business card?"

"Hmm, in a way, you can consider it one, but that's not it. Don't look down on it just because there's nothing on its surface because that very card, will be the key to your power."

"The key to my power? This card?"

Luke asked with a doubtful tone. No matter how many times he analyzes the card in his hand, there doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary. It was just a card colored in blue with nothing on either of the surface or the back. It looks too ordinary. 

"That's right! This adventure-experimental-test-card Mk 6-, Cough, I mean, this amazing card will start showing its prowess the moment you drop your blood on it. If you don't believe me, you can give it a try. Seeing it with your own two eyes is more convincing, after all."

Although he was skeptical about it, Luke couldn't hold his curiosity and decided to give it a try. It only needs a single drop of his blood, so there's no harm to him. With that thought in mind, Luke bit his thumb until it started bleeding before stamping it onto the surface of the card without flinching at the fact that he has just injured himself. After what he had experienced, this small piercing pain must have felt nothing in comparison. Just as the masked guy said, the moment he stamped his bleeding thumb onto the card, a hologram-like window along with messages on it, suddenly appeared above the card. Luke was visibly stunned.

『 A drop of unknown blood has been detected! 』

『 Analyzing... 』

『 Analyzing completed! 』

『 Process to binding... 』

『 Binding Successful! 』

『 Welcome, O' Awaken One! 』

During the wall of texts, Luke couldn't be sure but, he offhandedly heard a monotone-like voice whispering inside his mind of the latter part. With so many questions that suddenly arose in his mind, he twisted his neck toward the masked guy like a robot that hasn't been oil for years. 

What he saw, however, was nothing but a teasing smile directing toward him as if making fun of him, or at least, that's how it felt to him. If it wasn't for him being stunned at this very moment, he would surely punch the masked guy right in the face, simply wanting to erase that teasing smile off latter's face.

"That's just the beginning, look at the card now."

Not knowing what to respond to his remark, Luke decided to listen to the masked guy and turned his head back to the hologram-like window. It seemed that the wall of texts from before has long disappeared, which now replaced with a whole new interface, and from what he saw and examine, he wisely judges that the interface looks almost identical to a character status of what one would see in the roleplay games. 

He also couldn't help but began to question whether the reality he saw might be a false one, and the real him is actually asleep within a pod filled with nutritious liquid, watched over by an A.I. Just by thinking about it gives him chills. Luke shook his head to remove the scary thought off his mind. 'If that is true, I'd rather stay ignorant my whole life!'

『 Name: Luke

Level: 1

EXP: 0%

HP: 25/25

MP: 15/15

Strength: 4 

Intelligent: 3

Agility: 3 

Vitality: 5

Attribute Points: 0 』

As a high school student that loves to spend his time playing games more than anything, Luke quickly got the gist of everything shown on the hologram-like interface. 'Is this the legendary, leveling system, that the nerds has been talking about excitingly in the class back then?' thought Luke while at the same time, he noticed his heart start racing, which is a clear sign of his excitement.

"Amazing, right?"

"This...how is it possible? What sort of black technology do you use to make this kind of dream a reality?"

'Black technology, huh? I never consider that one before. Though the system does seem like something out of black technology, I believe that isn't the case. There are a lot of things that she had experienced up until now, which would be impossible for it no matter how advanced technology has become in the future. I'm just a high school student with few bits of knowledge about science, however, I still believe this to be more on the supernatural side instead of science and technology. If the technology in the future is truly so advance that one can awaken to a whole new power by a simple touch to the book, sure as hell I would love to see what kind of world that is.'

"No, although it does look like it, it isn't black technology, but more of magic. To prove my point, why don't you say, 'Access Trial Tower'?"

"Well, alright. Access Trial Tower."

『 You can enter the Trial Tower only three times a day, do you want to process? Yes/No 』

"!!!"

"By the look on your face, you should have heard that monotone voice inside your head, right? This might goes against my point but, just like in a game, the system would alert when you wish to proceed somewhere else with a risk to your character. Well, in this case, it's your life that's at risk. If you agree, you would be sent to an amazing place that would give a bountiful experience for you to level up. At this point, it shouldn't be hard for you to guess the correct answer. What else there is other than slaying monster? That's exactly it."

*Gulp!*

"Monster...exist?"

"Of course! See, no matter how advanced technology is, I don't think they can literally create a living being like some sort of god—no, It's indeed possible, but that's not the case here. You'll understand what sort of monster it is if you go there. Now, to make sure there is no misunderstanding here, the 'monster' there is a literal monster, not a cyborg, or beautiful automaton in your imagination. Why don't you go on ahead and experience it on your own?"

'I have done countless experiments on making sure that the card would work wonderfully as it should be. There are many things that I decided to change so that they won't easily get stronger like the other predecessor(Sara, Anthony, Ria, Sylvia). If I didn't change those couple of things, the people that I recruit might become entitled and stop growing despite having a fast growth in prowess. I have seen and met enough of entitled people on the internet to know how hard it is to handle just a single of them, but what about a huge group of them then? That's a hellish nightmare that I wish to never experience in my entire life.'

"Cough, Cough, I'd rather not, at least not right now."

Luke muttered at low spirit while looking at the bloody corpse on the ground. Sheila nodded her head in an understanding manner before approaching him and giving him a pat on his back.

"I have given you my promise earlier. If you didn't give up and keep up the training, your revenge is not out of reach. I know that it's hard but—"

*Swoosh!*

Luke suddenly shivered as if the surrounding's temperature had gone through a massive shift from that of a hot summer to a frozen cold winter. He didn't know why but that isn't important, the thing that bothered him right now is why did the masked guy suddenly stop speaking? Filled with curiosity, Luke raised his head and was immediately scared shitless upon noticing the air around the masked guy seems to have changed as if someone had pressed on a wrong switch. The moment he started to take notice of this, the world around him went through a massive change from that of reality to what can be considered as hell.

Ugly yet ferocious monsters, all of them have surrounded him with a hungry look in their eyes. Without any way to escape, the only choice left for him is to let himself be eaten by those monstrosities and hope that they would kill him instantly instead of torturing by eating him alive. Just as he thought he was going to die watching the monstrosity slowly creeps closer to him, a calm yet filled with boiling rage voice called him out, breaking him out of his hallucination caused by the thick killing intent radiated from Sheila.

"Sorry, I accidentally let loose of my aura. Evidently, it affected you to a certain extent, but fortunately, you're fine now."

"W-What...happened?"

Luke whispered with his face looking paled than before. Although he is starting to fear him, after all, those aura is much stronger than the dead man on the ground. However, he still wanted to know the reason for the sudden change. Unfortunately for him, Sheila shook her head and instead, urge him to enter the Trial Tower as quickly as possible before leaving him to his device. When there's no one around, she turned off her disguise and quickly change to a different half-mask. It was a black half-mask that only covered her nose and mouth, leaving the eyes free for all to admire.

'The alarm I set up within the 'Protection Charm' necklace on Yuna has been triggered...she must be under attack at this moment. A while back, I had told her to escape with Ria to safety. No one in this entire school could pose a threat to them with Ria being there. Does this mean there's someone else other than the guy that I just beat? Is it one of his affiliates? It's a mistake on my part for thinking he came here by himself. I knew that his action doesn't make sense, yet I never thought deeply into it. I swear to god, whoever is behind this, if I ever get to you, I'll be sure to beat you up beyond recognition before healing you and do it again. Over and over.'

Because she was concentrated on her fight and didn't think too much about it, Sheila didn't spread her awareness to the surrounding, and if she did, she would have taken notice of the event right below her and stop the tragedy from happening. And because of that slight negligence which couldn't be said to be her fault, she was forced to face a situation she wishes never happens in her life. 

"R...Ria?"

"S-Senior?!"

Lay next to a shattered wall, with her whole body covered in blood, there stood a motionless Ria. As if not believing what she had just witnessed with her own eyes, Sheila called out to her once again. However, the latter didn't respond and stood there quietly. Like a broken record, she continues calling out to her, again and again, while slowly walking toward her. 

"Hoh? So you came on your own to me, I'm really lucky today. Maybe I should go and do a few lotteries later on?"

Upon noticing his target for revenge has appeared, Rodrick immediately stopped his previous action of trying to break the barrier protecting Yuna before turning around to face Sheila. However, as if she was in her own world, she completely ignored him and continue calling out to her dear friend. This, of course, didn't go past him unnoticed. 

"Hahahaha! I can't believe that already broke you before I even begin. It's useless! No matter how much you called out to her, she's dead. I make sure to thoroughly beat her up until she stopped moving, well not my fault since I have told her not to resist, but she didn't listen to my warning ahead. That's what she gets for making fun of me in front of my colleagues."

This time it appears his words managed to enter through her ears as she evidently stopped on her track. Without turning around, she said with a calm tone which devoid of any emotion. Rodrick didn't notice this, however, as he was simply too exhilarated of the fact that he broke her. 

"You did what?"

"You didn't hear me? Alright, I don't mind repeating, so I'll say it again, this time loud and clear. I, Rodrick Jayson, have killed her with this fist of mine."