A punching bag rocked back and forth, its chains rattling loudly with each hit. The punches and kicks sounded like thunder.
The tanned fist flew through the air and punched the bag. It rocked back and forth, coming to a stop as sweat dripped down the young man's face.
He then combed back his black, curly hair and started throwing jabs at the punching bag.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The door to his dormitory door opened, and immediately afterwards, a buzz-cut-headed man walked in with a stern expression on his face.
He was wearing a suit with a normal brown tie. The shoes were polished to a shine, and the man's muscles seemed to be sharpened to perfection.
Alabaster said as he looked at the tanned-skinned young man striking the punching bag with a force that would have knocked out most people.
"Hahaha! Huff! Hahaha!"
Between the exhausted gasps, Zachary laughed as if he heard something funny. He then stopped punching, grabbed his white towel, and wiped the sweat off his face.
"That bastard Hunter boy? Some worthless loser from a weak-ass school. I laughed when I heard their school burned to the ground."
Alabaster listened to Zachary's words of mocking without changing a single expression on his face. It all sounded like a child throwing a tantrum.
"This Hunter kid will be your greatest rival. Do not underestimate him. In his first year, he was pushing Johan Yeager to the absolute limit."
Zachary said, rolling his eyes in annoyance.
"Johan Yeager that, Johan Yeager this. I don't understand all the hype he was getting. I could've defeated him last year if I had participated."
He went straight to his refrigerator, took a whole bottle of orange juice, and chugged it straight from the bottle.
The orange liquid dripped down his chin, dripped on his chest, and left a sticky mess on the floor.
"Do not antagonize that Hunter kid. I am warning you. It's pointless to defeat him in here. You would only be revealing your trump cards and will give him more motivation to become stronger before the nationals."
Alabaster put a great weight to his words, even though he knew the words went through Zachary's ear and exited through the other.
He had a big problem listening to him.
Zachary said, half-heartedly agreeing. It seemed like Alabaster's words were falling on deaf ears.
Kiernan reached for the ceiling's hooked nail with a punching bag in hand and put it hanging from its chains. He went to retrieve some worn-out punching bag from the dormitory's closet.
Since no one was going to use it, he was allowed to take it. However, he wasn't allowed to use the punching bag past ten p.m.
It wasn't exactly good to be punching a bag that late at night, with all the noise it made.
'I guess my room is ready now.'
Kiernan walked to his door that was still wide open and saw most students visiting their friend's rooms. It was quite a lively atmosphere, with laughter echoing down the hallways.
He closed the door to his room.
'Hmm, right, I should try that. In the bus, I thought about a fantastic plan. It takes me forever to gather the required money to use the lottery wheel of my system, but with this plan, it might be much quicker.'
Kiernan went to sit on the couch that was positioned right next to his desk and took out his phone.
He had forgotten to charge it before he left, so it had only twenty percent battery life remaining.
Kiernan then went to the Martial Order app and dug through his memories, then wrote the lengthy passcode. After a few seconds, the chat app opened, and he saw that the latest message was about twelve hours ago.
The people in the chat weren't the most active kind. It could be completely silent for days until someone had something to say.
They would rarely speak about something that didn't really matter.
'How should I type down my request? Can someone give me 50,000 gold coins? Nah, it sounds like I am some kind of beggar. I am the newest in the chat, so I can't be that bold.
'How can I make someone interested in what I have to offer… without sounding too desperate or needy?'
Kiernan thought deeply and then remembered one person from the chat—Gentle Rose.
'Hmm, I could hit her up for a private chat room. She told me to contact her if there was something to trade for, and I definitely have something…'
Kiernan checked his current gold coin. It was almost 27 thousand gold coins. He then checked the sword that cost 10 thousand gold coins—Sword of Maraketh.
'If this doesn't work, I just wasted 10 thousand gold coins. Just thinking about it makes me want to cry, but I have to try.'
Kiernan purchased the Sword of Maraketh, and it appeared beside him on the couch. It was a saber sword with red leather wrapped around the hilt, and Maraketh name etched into the blade.
'This is an item of the system. I don't think it is something normal.'
Before contacting Gentle Rose, he checked out the newest shop item and hoped that this time around, it would at least be something of worth.
[Frostbite Bow - 10,000 Gold Coins - One-time purchase]
[Frostbite Bow: When shot, arrows leave trails of ice, freezing targets in their tracks]
"Eh, like a magical bow? Not bad, I suppose."
Kiernan then grabbed his phone, took a quick picture of the Sword of Maraketh, added Gentle Rose to a private chat room, and began typing his first message to her.
[Revenant: Hello, Rose, do you know how much this is worth?]
Then he sent the picture of the Sword of Maraketh.
The private chat room stayed quiet for a moment.
At the third-minute mark, he received an answer.
[Gentle Rose: I don't know… Why didn't you ask everyone? I am sure someone would know about it]
'Cursed. She is a disciple, so I should've known that she was lacking knowledge compared to the masters. I am also assuming that she has 50,000 gold coins to throw around while she can be just like me, a student.'
Kiernan frowned and began thinking.