"Thank you for waiting. This is your room key. You have been placed in the Star Complex."

A lady at the counter bowed slightly — her movements elegant as if she had practiced this a thousand times — as she handed Verso a sleek black key card.

The card felt heavy in his hand as if made out of some durable material and it was embossed with a shimmering gold phoenix emblem.

This was the key to his new life, or at least his new room.

Thanking the lady with a polite nod, Verso exited the administration building and stepped out into a sprawling, lavish street.

The sheer scale of this place was insane to him.

’I got the key, but where the hell am I supposed to go now...’

Verso looked around, feeling like a small fish that had just been tossed into a very expensive ocean.

A week had passed since he had been brutally annihilated by the Wyrm in the Lost Island realm. In that time, his life had undergone a massive shift. The biggest change being his current location: The Phoenix Summoner Academy.

It was one of the most prestigious and powerful academies in the entire world and standing in the center of its main street, he finally understood why.

"Well, it’s big, that’s for sure," Verso chuckled to himself, tucking the key card into his pocket and starting to walk in a random direction.

The academy wasn’t like the school he had attended back in Meridian City. Phoenix Academy did not just feel like a normal academy as it was as large and populated as a mid sized city.

Unlike Emerald City, which was the nation’s financial heart, Phoenix City was the undisputed Summoner hub of the country. It was the place where the most talented awakened gathered to hone their skills, chase glory and earn the credentials needed to become elite hunters.

The city was built around seven different active dungeons, a fact that made it incredibly dangerous and prone to the occasional dungeon break, yet it remained home to a massive population of non awakened civilians who serviced the elites.

As he walked, the scent of expensive perfumes, mana infused street food and the polished stone of the buildings filled his senses.

The atmosphere was a strange mix of high stakes tension and extreme luxury.

"Moommmm! Can we please get ice cream! Please!"

Verso’s attention was drawn to a small boy standing a few feet ahead of him.

The kid, barely up to his mother’s waist, was pointing frantically at a shop on the corner. The shop looked incredibly fancy, with floor to ceiling glass windows and a crowd of well dressed people flowing in and out.

"No, Adam. That is too expensive. We have ice cream at home," The mother said firmly.

She began to pull the boy by his hand and like a switch had been flipped, the kid instantly burst into tears.

Seeing the scene, a small, genuine smile touched Verso’s lips.

It reminded him of his own childhood, back when life was simple and his biggest problem was convincing his father to buy him a treat after a long day of school.

He was feeling a bit generous — perhaps a side effect of a successful week of hunting in the realm world.

"Hello, Ma’am. If it’s fine with you, I can get him that ice cream." Verso said, stepping toward them.

The mother was taken aback by the offer, her eyes widening as she looked at the teenager with messy black hair and a casual grin. She looked down at her son, who had stopped crying mid sob.

"Which flavor would you like, my friend?" Verso asked the boy.

The kid’s eyes lit up with predatory excitement.

"Oh! Oh! I want the White Truffle!"

Hearing the request, a small vein appeared on Verso’s forehead.

’What the fuck is a white truffle? I thought he was going to say something like chocolate or vanilla...’

He pushed the thought aside, nodding at the boy.

"Sure thing. Wait here."

Verso walked into the shop, his boots tapping on the polished marble floor making an off putting sound.

He did not think much of it. It was just ice cream, after all. Even in a fancy place, how expensive could a frozen dessert be?

He walked up to the counter, where a server in an uniform was already waiting.

"One scoop of White Truffle, please."

"Of course, sir." The lady said, expertly scooping a pale, aromatic cream into a high quality waffle cone. She handed it to him with a professional smile.

"That’ll be twenty thousand credits, Sir."

Verso’s hand froze halfway to the cone. He felt the blood drain from his face as the words echoed in his mind.

’Did she just say twenty thousand? One tenth of the price of a Mutant beast soul?’

He stuttered slightly, his voice cracking. "Uhm... did you say twenty thousand?"

The lady looked at him with a polite, yet slightly judgmental expression, as if his confusion was the weirdest thing she had seen all day. She nodded firmly.

"Yes, sir. Your bill is exactly twenty thousand credits."

Verso felt a wave of dizziness wash over him.

He felt like he was being extorted by the ice cream shop. He bit his lip, his hand trembling slightly as he pulled out his phone and hesitantly tapped it against the billing machine.

Beep.

The sound of the successful transfer felt like a physical blow to his gut.

The lady bowed slightly, thanking him for his purchase, but Verso was already walking out of the store in a daze.

’Why does every good thing I try to do end up biting me in the ass?’

He walked back over to the kid, who was practically vibrating with anticipation. Verso handed him the cone with a grimace that he hoped looked like a smile.

"Thank you, mister!" Adam shouted, grabbing the cone and happily skipping away with his mother.

"You better be thankful, you little rascal." Verso mumbled, watching the twenty thousand credit scoop disappear into the distance.

’Maybe this was why my father never bought my ice cream...’ He thought, slowly pulling up his banking app to look at the remaining balance on his phone.

[Balance: 789,000 Credits]

To a normal citizen in Meridian City, that was a life changing amount of money.

But here, in the heart of the Phoenix Academy, it was barely enough to buy forty scoops of white truffle ice cream.

Verso slumped his shoulders, a cold realization washing over him.

He had not even started his first class yet, and he already knew that his new academy life was going to make him go absolutely broke.

He needed to find a way to make some money, and he needed to find it fast.