Noah saw the unread message and his first thought was: 'That's literally like all these webtoons I've read before'. He decided to click on it and a hologram-like screen appeared.
「1 new Unread Message 」
Topic: Beginner's Gift
He clicked on the [Open] button and the message unfolded before his eyes.
「Automatic Potential Measurement was conducted for all new entities to determine their potential, based on the talent of the individual. Entity Noah: Current Rank Tier: E-, Potential Rank Tier: ~A. Initial Encouragement Reward: 100 Coins. Complete additional achievements to unlock more rewards. 」
There were countless lines with question marks no matter how much Noah tried to scroll down. He clicked on [Collect] and saw that the amount of coins in his Inventory changed.
「0 → 100 Coins」
A coin shower sound effect emerged in Noah's ears. He opened his character profile again and wondered how he could spend his coins. Just when he saw the upgrade button, a notification popped up.
「1 new Unread Message 」
He clicked on it.
Topic: Banquet Invitation
From: President Monroe (Second Tower Island: Cloudy Hill)
[Open]
Greetings, Noah.
Word of your arrival has traveled swiftly — your current potential scan has not gone unnoticed. Though your tier stands at E-, the underlying metrics suggest a projected ceiling of Tier A or higher. That is… rare.
I am President Monroe, currently presiding over Cloudy Hill on the Second Tower Island. I would like to extend a formal invitation to the Banquet of Prospective Entities, scheduled to occur 30 days from now.
Condition for Attendance:
In order to participate, you are required to achieve Rank Tier B within the next 30 days. Consider this not only a challenge — but an opportunity.
Should you accept this offer and sign the accompanying Sponsorship Agreement, you will receive the following:
- Immediate Transfer: 1000 Coins
- Post-Banquet Bonus: 2500 Coins (upon confirmed attendance)
The banquet will host various island leaders, guild elites, and system-registered influencers. I believe your presence could be mutually beneficial.
You may respond to this message by clicking:
[Accept Offer] or [Decline Offer]
A contract preview will follow upon intent confirmation.
The climb begins now, Entity Noah. Let's see how fast you move when the stakes are real.
— President Monroe
Second Tower Island – Cloudy Hill
Noah immediately knew this was a trap. This President was someone really strong from his current point of view but in reality he was most likely a weakling who wanted to take new talented players and bind them by contract to work for him.
[Accept Offer]
「Would you like to see a preview of the offered contract?」
[Yes] [No]
[No]
「By choosing option [No] you will not sign the offered contract, but the invitation will remain active. Offered bonuses will not be received. 」
[Confirm?]
Noah clicked on the button and the contract disappeared just the way it originally appeared. Now it was time to reach the current limit for his stats as fast as possible.
He located the Upgrade section in his character profile and looked at the prices.
– Basic Category –
Strength: 5 [Price: 50 Coins]
MP: – To Unlock –
– Intermediate Category –
Dexterity: 7 [Price: 105 Coins]
Intelligence: 12 [180 Coins]
–Social Category –
Luck: ???? [Level Cap for Phase Reached]
Charisma: 6 [120 Coins]
– Outer Realm Category –
Endurance (Physical/Mental): 3 | 26 (current limit: 20) [90 Coins | Current limit reached]
Perception: 21 (current limit: 20) [Current limit reached]
The prices were expensive, just as he thought. '1000 Coins in this world is nothing haha, cheap b*stard…..', he was exactly right. The stats were even divided into categories and each higher category was even more expensive. The moment Noah saw the prices, he already had the algorithm for the prices in his head. He decided to go for strength since following common logic, basic stats were more useful in the early scenarios.
[Upgrade]
[-50 Coins]
[100 → 150 Coins]
The biggest smile appeared on Noah's face.
[Upgrade]
[-60 Coins]
[150 → 210 Coins]
[Upgrade]
[-70 Coins]
[210 → 280 Coins]
…..
[-190 Coins]
[1710 → 1900 Coins]
Strength: 20 [Current limit reached]
…..
[-300 Coins]
[4435 → 4735 Coins]
Dexterity: 20 [Current limit reached]
…..
[-300 Coins]
[6595 → 6895 Coins]
Intelligence: 20 [Current limit reached]
…..
[-400 Coins]
[10395 → 10795 Coins]
Charisma: 20 [Current limit reached]
…..
[-600 Coins]
[16405 → 17005 Coins]
Endurance (Physical/Mental): 20 | 26 (current limit: 20) [Current limit reached | Current limit reached]
「New Achievement: First to 20」[100 Coins awarded]
「New Achievement: All to 20」[500 Coins awarded]
「New Achievement: First limit in 1 month」[1500 Coins awarded]
「New Achievement: First limit in 1 week」[4500 Coins awarded]
「New Rare Achievement: First limit in 1 day」[10 000 Coins awarded]
「New Achievement: Handful of Coins」[Bronze I membership in The Shop]
「New Achievement: Pouch of Coins」[Bronze II membership in The Shop]
「New Achievement: Small Box of Coins」[Bronze III membership in The Shop]
「New Achievement: School Backpack of Coins」[Silver I membership in The Shop]
「New Achievement: Backpack of Coins」[Silver II membership in The Shop]
「New Achievement: Mountain Backpack of Coins」 [Silver III membership in The Shop]
「New Rare Achievement: The first to reach Bronze」[10 000 Coins awarded]
「New Rare Achievement: The first to reach Silver」 [25 000 Coins awarded]
「New Secret Rare Achievement: Maxed without a fight」 [50 000 Coins awarded]
「New Secret Rare Achievement: Maxed before the first island」 [100 000 Coins awarded]
Noah's Coin Balance was so high now, that he was pretty sure that he was probably the richest player of all. He was curious to see this supposed Shop and looked around the simplified interface of the system. He had definitely seen a lot of badly designed interfaces where a normal person would need a month to memorize. Well, it took him at most 3 days to do it so he was pretty much really familiar with this interface.
「The Shop cannot be accessed, conditions required to unlock」
Conditions: Enter the first tower island (0/1), 10 000 Coins in possession (10 000/10 000), Class: C or higher Equipment obtained (0/1).
So, it wasn't that simple. Someone had obviously thought of such an occurrence. The fact that such achievements existed proved that someone knew someone expected a similar to Noah player to appear. Now, the question was - where is this first island?
He got outside of his home for the first time after the world changed.
The first thing he saw outside was a bunch of other newbie players trying to fight against a monster. The beast was at least 2,5 meters tall and it was pretty fat. It had a bat as a weapon. The moment Noah looked at the monster's face, the beast which was about to roar got an icon under the window with its name.
「Terrorize 」
It started to run away at a pretty fast pace. Noah decided to see if his speed changed with all of the upgrades. He dashed so fast, that even with his vision, he had a hard time keeping up with the moving environment. After just a brief moment he was next to the monster and stretched his fist, ready to attack when just before the impact, a shield appeared which shielded the monster. A strong explosion occurred as the shield broke and Noah flew backward.
"Now that was a strong hit. I didn't believe someone was capable of breaking my shield so easily."
A boy with short, fluffy hair and casual clothes was on top of a nearby broken gas station. He jumped down on the ground as soon as he confirmed that the monster was defeated.
"I'm Brody by the way, what's your name?"
Noah hesitated to reply and just carefully looked at every step the boy took. He analyzed his posture, his speed, how tensed his muscles were. After determining that the boy didn't intend to fight, he spoke.
"I'm Noah. Did you manage to learn what has changed about the world?"
"Ohh, many things actually but we should move on quickly. It's coming."
"What's coming?"
"The Blackout Storm."
They quickly dashed towards the centre of the city and after a couple of minutes passed by, they got to the center area.
"Is it like a Battle Royale?"
"Yes and no. The Lobby Area is a Battle Royale with a certain preparation time."
"How did you manage to learn that?"
Noah knew that many people probably signed a contract, similar to the one Monroe proposed to him but he wanted to be sure.
"You probably think I signed a contract, right?"
Noah's gaze was pretty sharp.
"Haha, I guess you also received a banquet invitation and a contract from Monroe. This weakling apparently sent out a bunch of invitations."
"So, is it not a contract?"
"No, no, I got a Life Quest and obtained a lot of information in exchange for my pledge to complete the quest."
"I see, so, still similar to a contract, just phrased differently."
"You are smart, even besides the Intelligence stat."
Noah thought for a moment. If Brody had received such a quest, even besides the invitation for the banquet, he was a strong player. He needed information at the moment - something that couldn't be bought with Coins. It wasn't only pure stats he needed, he also needed a playground.
"It's almost time to move to the first island. So, before continuing, will you join our team, Noah?"