Living

The cashier was happy with the way Magnus handled everything. From making sure to look decent to keeping a formal attitude the entire time, it was all a passing grade.

Especially the fruits he brought him.

"Is this why you were absent from the finals?" He asked the young man before him and witnessed him stumble for a moment.

"...Do you recognize me, Sir?" Magnus' tone suddenly changed.

"This store is under the Interstellar Trinity. As the Gravity Fairy, surely my faction is interested in you. I had to do my research." He laughed at the awkward expression on Magnus' face, "Call me Hughe. I'm a simple cashier."

"Magnus. Magnus Avary."

The two shook hands.

"Back to business," Hughe nodded, "I can sell these to you for quite the price. The only thing I want back is consistency."

"Consistency?" Magnus echoed out, not knowing what exactly he implied.

"Yes. I need a batch of these kinds of fruits every month. We can have a contract written down, and you can only sell these to my store."

"...Hm," Magnus pondered for a moment, "That sounds fair. How much are you offering per batch?"

"How does 5 thousand sound?" Hughe asked with a big smile, "Pretty good, no? That's a few years of pay already for people at the 1-star level like you."

"5 thousand..." Magnus deliberated, "Make it 6. There's something I need to pay for, after all."

"6 thousand it is!" Hughe then grabbed a pre-made contract from beneath his desk and began filling in the necessary details.

Magnus furtively glanced at the scroll-looking contract. It seemed to be some reward from the Trials that he was unaware of because all the necessary details to be an Otherworld Trials Scroll was present.

In fact, the top text read,

[[ Contract Scroll ]]

[[ A blank Scroll made to assist in human contracts. Everything written on the page will become true and must be obeyed once signed by all parties. ]]

The rest of the text was clearly handwritten, and on it were the details of the contract. There were blank spaces here and there as Hughe began filling them in. He put his name, and his signature before then handing it to Magnus.

Magnus read through the contract and checked for any fine print. When he deemed it safe, he signed it.

He would receive a fine whenever he missed a delivery batch, but at the same time, he would also receive most of the profit from the fruits he sells. He would essentially be paying the store a small commissioning fee to sell his goods.

It was an excellent tradeoff, which Magnus found interesting.

'Is this Hughe's way of starting pleasant relations?' Magnus thought, and he was more or less on the mark.

This deal was a mark of friendship. One with the Hughe and whoever the rumoured backer Magnus had was.

When it was all over, Magnus exited the shop with a smile on his face and cash in his pockets as he disappeared from any prying eyes.

'I can finally live like a relatively normal person now,' He inwardly sighed in contentment.

A scroll suddenly appeared in front of his face just then, startling Magnus to no end. He was a cat right now! It was suspicious for a scroll to appear in front of a cat!

He scampered hurriedly into hiding before unfurling the scroll.

[[ Milestone Notification ]]

[[ You have achieved a milestone in integrating with Thare's society. Your reward grade has been boosted to 2-stars. ]]

'Could it be because of the contract?' Magnus thought to himself.

By agreeing to the consistency clause, he was basically working a job. It was in line with The Jester's instructions.

'A pleasant surprise,' Magnus' mood was boosted even further.

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.

.

As Magnus had been absent from Thare for the past four days, he missed the tournament he was supposedly going to attend before applying to Archaeon University.

As such, he was now rushing for the entrance exams with an almost empty history and unreliable record.

He did a little bit of research beforehand on what he needed to do, and the first thing he needed was a proper identity.

He got away with being Fighter 262, Magnus Avary, in the tournament because it was just a show and all they cared about was one's age, beauty, and skills. They did not care where you came from nor who you were, just as long as you had a face at all.

'That reminds me,' Magnus thought to himself, 'I still need to get my reward for placing in the Top 10.'

And so he did that, earning himself an extra 1000 dollars. There were a few malicious eyes this time he showed himself, and he was followed quite deeply into the alleys of Quarteridge.

Luckily, he had the cat form, otherwise, there was no way for Magnus to lose his pursuers.

"I probably angered someone, right?" Magnus thought in annoyance, "Sending your men to what? Beat me up? Kill me? Capture me?"

He realised why heroes had to talk to villains in most stories. It was for discerning intent. Something he had forgotten he could do.

"I should've asked them for what they want."

After receiving his reward, Magnus went over to an orphanage and, using a 'small donation' of 500 dollars, registered himself there. He got an ID with a picture and an address.

'Good enough,' Magnus thought to himself. His research before the Trials began had paid off.

The books he read were useful and it was surprisingly informative. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been sure of how to get an identity after having none.

He then headed to the post office and mailed his application form. He was going to be enrolling into the school at the supposed end of the year, but Archaeon's system of education was pretty special.

They could easily accommodate new students at this time.

In fact, after the real Restiel won the Starry-Eyed Bout, as well as the subsequent full-combat tournament, the Blood Debt, afterwards, he was primed to enrol. He just had to graduate from high school first though.

That was a limitation that Magnus did not experience.

Though, he wasn't able to fully participate in one of the said tournaments and was absent in the other. It was an unfortunate event. Those were the end-of-the-year tournaments, after all.

Without having a good record in those tournaments, students would find it hard to get into the schools they want.

"I can only hope that my fame helps me gain their favour," Magnus had muttered to himself as his application went into the hands of the postal service. "That, and it seems like being a 1-star threat at my age is quite rare. I could've steamrolled my opponents in the Blood Debt... save for someone like Restiel."

Speak of the devil and he shall come.

Restiel, with his heavenly wings and whatnot, walked into the same post office that Magnus used. Magnus' eye twitched as he braced himself for some burns but then realised,

"Hm? I don't feel pain?" He wondered aloud, drawing Restiel's attention to himself.

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.

.

"Pain?" Restiel echoed out a word as his eyes flitted towards a boy, younger than he was.

This boy had orange hair and cyan eyes, with an athletic physique and a sharp expression. Restiel found this face familiar.

"...Fighter 262?" Restiel blurted out.

To which he heard a cough, "It's Magnus. Magnus Avary, Mr Restiel."

"Pleasure to meet you." Magnus held his hand out.

Restiel met the handshake only to hear Magnus flinch.

"Ow!" Magnus pulled his hand back, "Sorry, Divine Energy doesn't go well with me. So if you'll excuse me, I'll have to leave."

Magnus instantly backed away and escaped through the gaps in the crowd, leaving behind a confused Restiel.

"What did he mean by not going well with Divine Energy?" He murmured his confusion.

At first, Restiel didn't have too much of an impression of the Gravity Fairy called Fighter 262. It was only now that memories of all the people talking about him and Magnus popped up. It turned out that Magnus was his supposed rival. A 1-star threat at age 17.

Even stronger than he was.

Restiel didn't believe he had the abilities to reliably beat a 1-star threat. At least before he graduated and began going to Pocket Worlds on a regular basis, he didn't.

He had faith in his ability to catch up.

"Hello, Miss, is it alright if I ask about that young man from earlier?" Restiel couldn't help but ask the clerk about Magnus.

The clerk was originally about to say no, but one furtive glance at the 2-star guards that accompanied Restiel made her reconsider.

"He was here to send an application form to Archaeon University... Sir."

"I-I see." Restiel scratched his head as he realised how scary it might be for the lady before him.

He still couldn't get used to having guards protect him 24/7. Their auras always changed the way people behaved.

'So we're both trying to go to the same college...' At the same time, he registered what the clerk had just said. 'I hope we both get in,'

Archaeon University. The same one he was applying for today.

What a coincidence.

"Then, thank you. Here's what I wish to mail today..." Restiel said as he handed the clerk his own application.

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.

After that brief encounter with Restiel, Magnus thought about what had happened. He wondered why he was only burned upon contact instead of simply being in the vicinity of the angel.

'Is it the magnitude of amassed Divine Energy that burns me? ...That makes sense,'

The real Restiel hadn't experienced the skeleton horde in Tyrm. He likely had yet to condense some kind of Divine Energy weapon from his kills.

Magnus knew this since the real Restiel was weaker than him, although only slightly. The Restiel in the Hivemind currently was almost a 2-star threat.

It was a big difference.

And it was a difference made only by a single weapon.

Shaking his head, Magnus threw those thoughts aside and continued with his plans. After switching with Javelin, Magnus circled back and watched as the real Restiel exited the post office.

There was something Magnus found interesting in the young man's possession. He just wanted to confirm something.