Chapter 48: Who’s This Stranger?

A notification flashed into existence.

[CNTplayer has sent you a friend request]

A pale hand rose and tapped Decline without hesitation.

The person wore a royal-guard white suit threaded with red velvet designs, a crimson cape draped neatly down their back. Short blond hair framed a silver rabbit mask that covered only the upper half of their face, leaving their sharp blue eyes exposed. Their lips were a rich, almost succulent pink, unmistakably vivid against the cold mask.

The terrain around them was barren and rocky, jagged stone stretching outward in uneven ridges.

They walked calmly, boots crunching against gravel, unhurried and unbothered.

After a while, they stopped.

Then after the pause, they stepped forward again and jumped.

As they ascended, the truth of the land revealed itself.

Calling it gargantuan was an understatement.

The “terrain” was a creature, an enormous being formed entirely of rock, so vast it could be mistaken for a mountain range while lying dormant. As the rabbit-masked figure descended it landed lightly upon its chest, the stone beneath their feet fractured.

Then…

BOOM!

The creature’s chest exploded.

Cracks raced outward like lightning before the entire mass collapsed inward, disintegrating into countless motes of light. A kill, clean and absolute.

​Landing firmly on the earth, the rabbit-masked figure kept their eyes fixed ahead.

They simply continued walking through the falling glow.

“With a name like that,” they said casually, voice calm, and amused, “a person definitely has to be interesting.”

Their blue eyes narrowed slightly.

“It’s been a long time since I saw such an interesting username.”

​A sharp ringing cut through their thoughts, stopping them in their tracks. Moments later, a translucent screen appeared, displaying an incoming call.

Caller: No Fun Sebastian

They stared at it for a moment.

“Tch. I guess fun time is over.”

With a flick of their hand, they summoned their menu. Light folded inward, the world dimmed, and in the next moment, the rabbit masked figure logged out.

****

Adam’s pod opened with a soft hiss.

The first thing he saw was the ceiling of the room he’d logged in from. The other pods were still arranged neatly around him, their interiors dark.

Adam stepped out without a word.

Three hours.

His allotted time had expired. There was no extending it now.

He moved toward the exit of the pod area. The door slid open smoothly, releasing him into the arcade proper, and he paused.

It was empty.

Surprisingly so.

Most of the lights were already dimmed, machines powered down, the lively noise from earlier completely gone. Adam walked to the counter, planning to extend his hours anyway, if only to secure another session.

But the attendant shook his head.

“The arcade’s closing,” the man said, sounding more tired than annoyed. “Honestly, the only reason I’m still here is because you were still logged in.”

Adam stared at the attendant for a beat before exhaling a long, slow sigh.

As he turned away, a thought surfaced, sharp and mildly irritated.

No wonder he had insisted I buy three hours instead of the five I’d planned.

The attendant didn’t want Adam’s session to impede his clocking-out time; instead, he suggested a three-hour “test run” to get a feel for the game.

If Adam liked it, he could always extend his stay. Conveniently though, three hours was exactly when the arcade closed for the night.

Adam shook his head. Played cleanly, but played nonetheless. Still, there was nothing he could do about it now. Tomorrow was always an option.

He left the arcade.

The nightlife outside was still active, but noticeably thinner. Fewer shops were open. Fewer people lingered. It felt like a different place compared to the bustling streets he’d walked through earlier that night.

Adam made it back to the hotel without incident. Even the girls who had called out to him earlier were gone, likely already finding customers for the night.

Before entering his room, he activated his [connect] vision and swept the area.

No one.

Satisfied, Adam pulled his hoodie off, hung it neatly, and lay down on the bed. He stared up at the ceiling, breathing slow and steady.

His mind was clearer now. The game had helped with that.

But the nightmare from before he left still lingered at the edges of his thoughts, an unwelcome presence he couldn’t fully shake. Sleep didn’t come easily.

Adam stared at the ceiling for a while longer.

Then, with a thought, he pulled up his panel.

Adam’s panel hovered in front of his eyes, crisp and familiar.

╭───────────╮

〖Name: Adam〗

〖Rank: None〗

〖Cultivation Talent: G〗

〖Special Talent: Equip ❖ Connect〗

〖SLOT〗

↳ SOUL (2): Rapid E ❖ Poison F

↳ BODY (5): Empty

╰───────────╯

The panel itself was a byproduct of his special talent, Equip. Adam was of the assumption that its interface-like nature came from the game logic embedded in the talent, a systemized way of presenting what his body and soul could currently hold.

But that wasn’t important right now.

His panel hadn’t changed much since he equipped Poison F, and that made sense. His current focus wasn’t stacking more special talents. Not yet. He needed to increase his slot capacity first before even considering that path.

Adam spoke aloud, his voice low in the quiet room.

“But it doesn’t have to be a special talent.”

The implications of that statement ran deep.

Adam knew better than anyone that special talents alone wouldn’t be enough to properly build his strength. They were powerful—yes—but lacked a proper foundation.

What he truly needed was a cultivation talent.

And that was the problem.

He couldn’t just go around killing random martial artists to equip their cultivation talents. Even if he did, most of them weren’t worth it. Finding a corpse with a suitable cultivation talent was rare to the point of being unrealistic.

His thoughts darkened.

Nobody back home has a cultivation talent high enough to even consider.

As grim as that sounded, it was simply the truth.

Adam exhaled slowly.

But the heirs of the martial clans…

That was a different story entirely.

His gaze hardened as the thought settled in, the panel’s glow reflecting faintly in his eyes as his path forward began to take shape.

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