The reward list turned the channel into a comment section.
[CHAT]
Player: “These rewards…”
Player: “Not gonna lie, some of those potions look almost as good as the Invisibility one.”
Player: “It’s first place. By definition, it’s not ‘almost.’”
Player: “Depends on the use case. Strength and Spirit buffs are huge… but the Giant Potion is—”
Player: “A prank. It’s a prank.”
Player: “Hey, size-changing can work. You know those stories where everyone overestimates you?”
Player: “I’ve mostly read the… spicier genres.”
Player: “Cool. So you bluff, they panic, and you pray it holds.”
Player: “First place is obviously Player 0067, right?”
Player: “The rich get richer. The strong get stronger.”
A numbered account spoke up—rare, and immediately respected.
[CHAT] Player 0344: “I can access a few things most of you can’t. Let me say this plainly.”
People pounced.
[CHAT]
Player: “0344! Say it, say it.”
[CHAT] Player 0344: “Stop fixating on the rewards and the seven Classes. That’s not the bottleneck.”
[CHAT] Player 0344: “Your real problem is Relics.”
More questions poured in.
[CHAT]
Player: “I bought a Relic on the Exchange. It was annoying, but I got one. So what’s the issue?”
Player: “Yeah, is there a catch?”
[CHAT] Player 0344: “Look at the Relic’s tier. What are you holding?”
[CHAT]
Player: “Tier‑1.”
Player: “Same.”
Player: “Mine’s Tier‑1, Grade I. Cost extra.”
[CHAT] Player 0344: “Exactly. You all saw the system note.”
[CHAT] Player 0344: “Tier‑0 mortal + fully fused Tier‑1 Relic = Tier‑1 Awakened.”
[CHAT] Player 0344: “Then what? Do you just… buy another?”
[CHAT] Player 0344: “The Exchange doesn’t sell higher-tier Relics. At best you’ll find Tier‑1, Grade I or Grade II.”
[CHAT] Player 0344: “And I’m sorry to say it, but Tier‑1 Grade I/II is where most people hit the wall.”
Silence—then panic.
[CHAT]
Player: “Oh… I didn’t think of that.”
Player: “So what do we do?”
Player: “I didn’t get isekai’d to cap out at Tier‑1. I’m trying to become a god.”
[CHAT] Player 0344: “Two options, as far as I know.”
[CHAT] Player 0344: “One: get into Awakened crafts—alchemy, gemcutting, tailoring, that kind of thing.”
[CHAT] Player 0344: “Those people can use Awakened materials to make Relics. It’s still brutally hard.”
[CHAT] Player 0344: “Two: hunt for higher-tier Relics.”
[CHAT] Player 0344: “If you fuse a Tier‑2 Relic and complete it, you jump straight to Tier‑2. You save months of chasing upgrades.”
[CHAT] Player 0344: “But obviously… higher-tier Relics don’t come easy. Keep it in mind. Keep moving.”
[CHAT]
Player: “So it’s basically like old games—go out, take risks, grind.”
[CHAT] Player 0344: “Pretty much.”
Player: “My life only happens once, man.”
Player: “How do you fuse a Relic anyway?”
Player: “Yeah—how?”
[CHAT] Player 0344: “I don’t know the method. I can’t reach that level of detail yet.”
[CHAT] Player 0344: “Different Relics fuse differently. You’ll have to test and adapt.”
That was as close to comfort as anyone was going to get.
Ethan closed the channel and let the room’s silence return.
The gas lamp was turned down low, the church outside asleep. His window was a square of black.
He breathed once, slow, and pulled up his quest screen again.
[QUEST] Awaken.
[QUEST] Available Classes:
• Hunter (eligible to fuse Tier‑2 Relic “Flint”).
• Infiltrator (invitation received: the Stranger in the Shadows).
The system’s note sat beneath it like a grin.
He could walk two paths—without becoming an Abyss Thrall.
All gifts come with a price.
Ethan’s thoughts chased each other in circles.
From the channel, he’d learned what the Exchange was really worth: a Tier‑1 ceiling for anyone who played it safe.
He wasn’t safe. He was already holding a Tier‑2 Relic. If he chose Hunter and finished fusing Flint, he could hit Tier‑2 in one leap.
And Infiltrator?
He wasn’t letting that go—not after everything he’d already seen.
The class description had been honest: Infiltrators didn’t need a Relic. They needed obedience.
The Stranger’s directive was still burned into his memory: grind a shadow into powder… and drink it.
Ethan had no idea how to do that yet.
So Infiltrator was a long game.
Hunter was now.
Still… he stared at the list as if a third option might appear if he looked hard enough.
In the dim light, he asked himself the question he’d been avoiding since the ocean spat him out:
Was he choosing… or was he being chosen?