Everything in this world comes at a price.
And like I mentioned before, this world follows a single currency called Union Currency (U).
It’s basically equivalent to the dollar from my old world. I guess the author—my author—wanted to make it easier for readers to understand the value of things. Honestly? That might be the only thoughtful thing he ever did.
Anyway, back to the point.
At Velcrest Academy, everything has a price too. But here’s the catch: money doesn’t buy everything here.
You can’t just walk around with a fat wallet and expect the world to bend for you. The academy was designed specifically to prevent abuse from wealthy families or connected elites. So, even if you’re some noble’s precious heir or the prodigy of a conglomerate, your bank balance won’t help you here.
Instead, the real currency inside Velcrest is something else entirely—Achievement Points.
Yeah. Achievement Points. They’re like gold around here.
Want access to restricted areas in the library? Need rare materials? Customized weapons? Special training courses? Unique dorm upgrades? You’ll need points. And not just a few.
Earning them, though?
They’re awarded only through real accomplishments: high performance in mock battles, missions, special contributions, saving lives—stuff that actually proves your worth. Every point you earn gets recorded directly into the academy system. It’s strict and transparent. No cheating, no loopholes.
And even after taking down a psychotic professor—Ethan, the guy who nearly murdered his students—I was only rewarded 1,000 Achievement Points.
One thousand points for saving lives and uncovering corruption within the academy.
...Which tells you just how damn stingy they are with this stuff.
Still, it’s better than nothing. And now?
Leona and I had been wandering through store after store, checking out items that might be useful for me. To my surprise, Leona was pretty good at this. She pointed out a few things—like a lightweight combat jacket with mana-threaded lining or a rune-inscribed notebook for faster spell casting. Stuff I wouldn’t have even glanced at normally.
As expected of someone as knowledgeable as Leona.
Too bad I’d already made up my mind about what I wanted.
Right now, we were standing in a mid-sized magic supplies shop inside one of the larger malls in the city. The moment we walked in, the shopkeeper’s eyes lit up. He looked at Leona—well, at Leon Harper—and instantly recognized her. Him.
That was part of the reason I brought Leona with me today.
You see, Leon Harper currently ranked third among the first-year cadets, right behind Ryen and Leo. Being in the top five carried weight—not just in the academy, but even in outside businesses. Shop owners and merchants would often offer exclusive, pre-release items to top-ranked cadets, hoping for exposure and maybe some good PR in return.
And now, because I walked in with Leona—someone they clearly respected—the shopkeeper assumed I was a close friend. Which technically wasn’t wrong.
Naturally, he started recommending premium items right away. Things he definitely wouldn’t have offered if I’d come in alone.
"Ah, Mr. Harper! You’re here again! And who’s your friend? I see... I see... Let me show you something special."
The ’special’ recommendations included a Talent Enhancement Potion, a Training Booster, and a Special Fatigue Recovery Potion—items that weren’t normally available to regular cadets.
I currently had 1300 Achievement Points—1000 from the recent reward and the standard 300 the academy gives every student at the start of each term.
The Talent Enhancement Potion cost 700 points. The Trait Enhancement Potion was 500. And the Special Fatigue Recovery Potion? A neat 100 points.
If I bought all three, I’d use up every single point. Clean and simple.
For context, no—these potions wouldn’t suddenly boost your talent rank. If stuff like that existed, everyone in the academy would be walking around with S-rank talents by now.
In reality, they just slightly improved your training efficiency for a limited time.
To most people, these were overpriced rip-offs. In the original story, even if you guzzled a dozen of these, you wouldn’t see a major change unless you kept training like hell. That’s why most of the characters preferred renting good-quality artifacts instead.
But I wasn’t most people.
I knew exactly how to make these work. And every small edge mattered to me.
"Are you sure about this?" Leona asked, glancing at the price tags with a hint of concern. "You won’t have anything left."
"I’m sure," I nodded. "These things might not do much for others... but they’re useful enough for someone like me."
Leona studied me for a second, as if trying to read what I meant by that. But then, with a quiet smile, she nodded.
"Alright. Your points, your call."
I walked over to the counter, placed the three vials on the wooden surface, and handed over my ID.
"All of them," I said.
The shopkeeper beamed. "Excellent choice, sir!"
A few moments later, I walked out of the shop with a bag of high-end potions and exactly zero points to my name.
As we walked down the polished stone hallway of the shopping center, the bag of potions dangling from my hand, I could already feel the sting of my empty point balance.
Leona, of course, couldn’t let it go unmentioned.
"Oof," she muttered with a teasing grin, peeking into the bag. "Three potions, zero points. I’ve seen people go broke in a day, but that might be a new record, Rin."
I sighed. "Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up."
"I mean, don’t get me wrong," she continued, smirking as she strolled beside me. "They’re good choices. But if I didn’t know better, I’d say you were trying to make a statement."
"A statement like ’Hi, I’m Rin, and I like living dangerously’?" she joked, nudging me lightly with her elbow.
I gave her a sideways look. "No. A statement like ’I’m not planning on losing anytime soon.’"
Leona blinked. Then, for a second, the teasing expression faded, replaced by something quieter. "...Right," she said softly. "I get that."
I could tell she did. More than most people ever would.
But just before the moment stretched into awkward territory, she looked at me again and said, "Rin, you don’t have any plans now, right?"
"What? Ah, I was going to use the potions..."
"That’s good. It’s a bit of a shame to part ways so soon day is long, so let’s enjoy it today."
Huh...? Did I say I didn’t have any plans? I didn’t think so. This was strange.
Why she was talking about something like enjoying this day?
This wasn’t her character.
Something was definitely strange here.