Chapter 58: A-rank Item
Alex smiled faintly. His spell had skipped an entire level and advanced twice at once, making it the first genuinely good news he had received since returning.
He stopped recording the video, set his phone aside, and sat back down on the bed.
Opening his laptop again, he prepared to upload the recording beneath his original post as proof. Before he could do that, however, several new posts immediately caught his attention.
One of them had already climbed to the top of the trending page.
[Holy Shit! What was that in the sky!?]
[See this!]
[(Attached Video)]
Alex opened the video and watched it from beginning to end. Someone had been recording a group of flying monsters when the camera accidentally captured the two blazing Fire Bullets crossing the sky before hitting the pteranodons.
From that angle, the explosion looked even larger than it had from his apartment.
The comment section beneath the video had already descended into chaos.
[Is that the military? What kind of missiles were those?]
[It’s not military. I zoomed in frame by frame. Those were burning projectiles.]
[What the hell? Then was that an ascendant?]
[This is insane.]
[Fake. There’s no way this is true.]
[Which Class do you think could do something like that?]
[Probably a Rogue. They must’ve gotten an High-rank skill from a Reward Box. I’m so jealous!]
[The person who uploaded this video, please go to the location where those projectiles came from. If you help us identify the attacker, we will pay you $100,000. I am a CIA Special Service Agent. My ID is attached.]
[Holy shit! That’s actually a real CIA agent.]
[$100,000 won’t matter if civilization collapses.]
[Use your brain. If he gets in touch with the CIA, he’ll probably receive military protection.]
Alex quickly scanned the discussion before closing the post. The video had already become the number one trending topic on San Francisco’s Dwitter.
He returned to his own post, attached his recording, and pinned it to the top of the comments.
Only a few seconds passed before notifications flooded his screen. New comments appeared so quickly that they almost pushed each other off the page.
[Holy shit! This guy was telling the truth!]
[Those things hit harder than grenades, and he can create them whenever he wants? That’s insane.]
[So this is what a Spell can do?]
[Are all Hell Difficulty ascendants monsters like this guy?]
[He must’ve already evolved his Class.]
[Who said Mages are weak? Come say that again!]
[It’s only been four hours since the summoning happened. How is someone already this strong?]
[Alex, do you want a girlfriend? I’m a six-foot-one beauty.]
[Sir Alex, please accept me as your student.]
His inbox became even busier than the comment section. Mage James had sent another message, but this time dozens of other Mages were also asking him to teach them.
Requests for advice, invitations to form parties, and countless other messages poured in one after another.
He even noticed a message from the person claiming to be the CIA Special Service Agent.
Alex was just about to open one of the messages when the alarm on his phone rang. Ten minutes had already passed, reminding him that he had something more important to do.
He closed the laptop without reading any of the inbox messages. He had already proven that he was genuine, and sooner or later the Hell Difficulty ascendants he wanted to reach would find his post.
He picked up his phone and immediately dialed his sister’s number.
The call rang briefly before the automated voice answered, "The caller you are trying to reach cannot be connected."
Alex called again, then a third time, but the exact same message greeted him each time.
He lowered the phone without saying anything.
He increased the output of Battle Instinct Spell once more. He had already reached the limit of uniformly compressing the mana inside the spell, so the additional mana became unstable and unevenly distributed.
The strain on his mind immediately increased, but Alex didn’t care. He continued pushing the spell higher because he wasn’t sure what he might do if he let his anger take over instead.
Taking a slow breath, he opened his contacts and called his parents. The phone rang briefly before the same recorded voice answered him.
He called again, then one final time, but nothing changed.
"The caller you are trying to reach cannot be connected."
Alex locked the phone and slipped it into his pocket after making sure it was fully charged, set to silent mode, and had vibration enabled.
If his parents or sister managed to call later, he wanted to be certain he would notice it immediately. Until then, there was nothing more he could do.
He forced himself to stay calm. Panicking would not help his family, nor would it make him any stronger. Right now, the only thing he could control was his own progress.
Alex shifted his attention to the unopened Reward Boxes. At his command, seven chests appeared inside the apartment.
Three golden chests floated above while four bronze chests lined up beneath them, and the bronze ones opened first.
[Energy Bar (F Rank) gained.]
[Comfortable Shoes (F Rank) gained.]
[Pet Collar (A Rank) gained.]
[Renaissance Oil Portrait (Trash Rank) gained.]
The four rewards materialized on the floor in front of him. Alex picked up the energy bar first, tore open one corner, and took a small bite before storing the rest inside his Inventory.
A faint warmth spread over his body.
It was F Rank instead of the previous Trash Rank version, and it could restore stamina much faster, making it one of the most useful items to have.
He preferred carrying important supplies like Energy Bar inside the Inventory whenever possible. If he was ever forced to abandon his backpack during a fight, those items would remain with him.
As the energy bar disappeared into the Inventory, he noticed the familiar mental pressure was slightly stronger than before.
"It really does depend on the item’s rank," Alex muttered.
..
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