Chapter 89

"Fiji, finally, you’re out of the game. What took you so long?" A woman in loungewear sat in a chair next to a personal med-pod.

"Mom, everything’s fine. I’m okay—no seizures, no bleeding, no headaches. All my vitals are normal, and my psyche..." The girl smiled. "...is stable."

Her mother noticed the hesitation and the way she averted her eyes.

"Alright, out with it. What happened in there? Did they ambush you again and demand your armor?"

"No. There was this... interesting candidate during the trial. He surpassed all my expectations, all my assumptions. I still can’t fully analyze him. You understand, Mom—I actually had to think!" She raised an index finger. "Not because he was spouting nonsense, but because he was smarter than me. At level one, he was throwing meteors, and by the end, he was considering soloing a level 500 raid boss! He used blood magic, rituals... I’m sure if he had to, he wouldn’t even shy away from necromancy."

Her mother listened intently, smiling. For the first time in a long while, Fiji was so lively, so eager to talk about the game. But the moment stirred painful memories in the mother’s mind. The girl noticed.

"Mom, it’s okay. Nothing bad happened. I’m fine—and I might’ve even found a good companion. He even managed to awaken the armor. Tomorrow, we’re taking the Hunter trial. Come on, Mom, don’t cry. Everything’s fine. It’ll be okay. I’m alright."

But her mother wept beside the med-pod. Of the four children in the family, only the youngest had been born with a frail body.

"I’m sorry, sweetheart. I wish things had been different..." Her mother cried even harder.

Out of all the children, only her daughter had been born with the body of an ordinary human—one that couldn’t withstand her extraordinary abilities.