The invitation

'Impatience. I despaired and didn't follow my instinct.' After reflecting for a few seconds, he already had the answer. The secretary let the boy reflect while the girl left. As soon as the girl disappeared up the stairs she came in, she turned to Kayden.

"That was a good fight, kid. She was at the peak of the 5th realm. Try your luck again in 3 months." She walked closer as she spoke. "I think you dropped this here during the fight."

The woman slid a small envelope over to Kayden. The boy was sure it wasn't his and tried to give it back to the woman, but she started pushing him and stopping him from talking. When Kayden was already on the first step to leave, the woman stopped talking motivational nonsense and lowered her tone.

"Open it when you are alone. I promise it will help you." The boy finally understood what was happening. The envelope was given to him on purpose. His curiosity was piqued.

"What is that?" He asked her directly. His response was a smile and an expression of disagreement.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Please remove yourself from this floor, candidate." With one last push at Kayden, she returned to her desk. Kayden stood still for a few seconds. This was very suspicious.

Snapping out of his stupor, he began to climb the flights of stairs. It went like a rocket through the floors. As soon as he reached the ground, he headed towards the bathroom. It was the only place he could have some genuine privacy.

He went as far away from the classroom as possible. He checked that no one was there and entered one of the cabins.

'It doesn't hurt to be cautious, does it?' The boy thought as he opened the envelope. His eyes fell on a folded paper. As he unfolded its contents, he felt his vision go black for a moment and his head throb.

As soon as he regained consciousness, he saw that the paper was filled with words. As he read, his expression of pain turned to surprise. He never imagined this was possible.

'Supported by the government? What the fuck? This is just too gigantic to hide.' His blood boiled in anticipation. He left the bathroom and headed home. Unfortunately, it wasn't time to participate yet. He would have to wait for the weekend.

It was still only Wednesday. As soon as he returned home, the boy waited for Heimer, maybe the boy could give some answers to his questions. As soon as Heimer arrived in the orphanage's living room, he found himself being pulled out of the house by Kayden.

"Hey, calm down, what do you want, Kayden? Why this urgency?" Regardless of the boy's protests, Kayden continued taking him away from the house. After a few minutes, Kayden stopped and turned to Heimer.

"I have a few questions, but this should stay between us, okay?" His tone was as serious as possible and made Heimer put aside any tantrum he had. The genius nodded and waited for Kayden to continue:

"Have you ever heard of a contract automatically forced when seen by someone?" This question would confirm the authorship that the person who said she had written the letter was herself.

"Yes, but normally only the government has access to this. A few centuries ago there were cases of enslavement using this means. Since then, the authorities have been the only ones with the means of manufacturing. Even noble families are not free from execution if they are caught."

This confirmed Kayden's suspicions. The government had a hand in this, probably after profits. Something this size must generate a lot of money. His anxiety increased over the weekend.

"Have you ever received an unusual offer from an envelope?" Kayden was unable to provide more information because of the contract he signed against his will. He appreciated that his heart sank every time he tried to put into words what happened.

"No, why? You're being weird today, Kayden. Has something happened that you need my help?" Heimer was suspicious of his friend's specific questions. Kayden quickly diverted the topic.

"It was nothing, Heimer, just my paranoia. Now that you've cleared my doubts, I know it's nothing to worry about." Kayden disguised himself and began to lead the boy to other matters.

After a while, Heimer no longer paid attention to what happened and Kayden was able to return home. Even if there was no chance of Heimer finding out something, he didn't want to risk his life on it.

Kayden headed to his room and began cultivating on his bed.

"This will be a good opportunity to earn some money and experience." The boy was excited for the weekend, but first, he needed to study economics.

It seemed silly, but Kayden had no idea about the value or what money was used in this world. The old man always paid with a card, so the boy never had experience with money.

The next day, Kayden woke up early and headed to one of the city's large swap markets. He could ask the old man or Heimer about money, but he didn't want to give any kind of hint about his new opportunity.

Kayden arrived at the market very early. It was a street with several stores selling different common items. From clothes to technological gadgets, it almost seemed like there was no magic. Kayden began to circle the vendors.

Over time, it became simple for him to get a sense of the value of things and which currencies were used. It was different from his previous world. In this, they used ancient connotations of bronze, silver, and gold.

The lowest was bronze and the highest was gold. Most things were purchased using silver coins, but foods and things considered cheap were purchased with bronze coins.

A hundred bronze coins formed one silver coin. The model was the same for silver to gold coins. Kayden didn't even see a gold coin as he watched. It was probably a very high monetary range.

The contract said that Kayden could earn 1 to 10 silvers depending on his performance. And over time, it could reach higher values. There was nothing the boy wanted to buy at the moment, but saving money never hurt.

There will probably be spells in the future that would need money to purchase or upgrade your katana. He couldn't use low-rank weapons forever.

Kayden went about his day normally. He went to train at school and then returned home to a farm in isolation. Slowly, the weekend arrived. Kayden woke up on a normal day and went to school.

This was the meeting point the letter mentioned. Kayden got there around 9 a.m. and waited on a random bench on the street. It took about 1 hour and there was no one there.

Kayden decided to wait until noon, during that time the boy simply continued cultivating without worrying, this was a good opportunity for him, patience was a virtue.