Tsukuru's eyes almost bugged out of his face upon seeing the cost of the Minotaur Summon Race.
'60 BP?!' he thought incredulously.
He'd have to blitz through around thirty Waves without spending a SINGLE BP just to afford that!
Tsukuru narrowed his eyes.
'Looks like it's going to be quite a while before I can unlock HER,' Tsukuru thought.
Tsukuru then turned his attention back up towards the previous three items.
The Amulet was essentially useless to him.
He already possessed a full set of Beast Gear, some of it being at Intermediate-Tier. Additionally, it said that it was "equivalent" to Beast Gear. Not that it wasBeast Gear. That meant that the "ethereal armor" most likely didn't provide Stat Boosts.
However, looking at the quiver, Layla immediately came to his mind.
'If I got that for her, she'd never run out of arrows in fights,' he thought.
And seeing as how they were heading out on their Portal Expedition next week, it would be great if she had that before they left.
Tsukuru's gaze drifted down from the new items available in the "Exchange Corner"to the small rectangle in the lower-right corner of the screen, which read "BP: 9".
He already almost had half the required BP to buy either of the two items which both cost 20 BP, so rather than spending all his current BP on Stat-Boosting Pills, it actually made more sense to just hold on to his current BP for now.
Even if he only fought his way to this current wave on each of his return trips, he would still earn 23 BP.
That meant that, assuming that he spent at least a few hours in the Battle Arena both tomorrow as well as over the weekend, he should have no problem earning the 40 BP he needed for both the quiver and the ring.
Especially with him already having a nearly 10 BP headstart.
Tsukuru then looked away from the "Exchange Corner" screen, and back to the set of four System Messages that were still in front of him.
He zeroed in on the "Level Up" screen.
He noticed that this time around, he had gotten two Summon Points instead of one.
This was another of the effects of the "Video Emperor" Title that Tsukuru had received at Level 10, which gave him an extra Summon Point with every Level-Up.
And seeing as how everything except for his "Haunted Knight" cost multiple Summon Points, Tsukuru appreciated this immensely.
Tsukuru also had finally gained a Skill Point that he could use to upgrade his Skills. But unfortunately, there wasn't much that he could really do with it.
Even his cheapest Skill, Stasis Shift, cost 3 Skill Points to Level Up.
Tsukuru thought about placing his newly-acquired Stat Point into his Agility, and a new System message popped up in front of him.
[A Stat Point has been allocated to Agility.
+1 Agility. Agility: 16 [+4] ]
Tsukuru dismissed all of the System screens, causing them to break apart into square pixels.
As the System screen for the Exchange Corner disappeared, a new System message took its place.
[Wave 11 will now begin. Would you like to continue?
[Continue] [Retire] ]
Tsukuru's eyes tightened as he saw the new message.
All things considered, this was probably a good place to call it quits for now. He had already reached Wave 10. And while Tsukuru was unaware of just how Waves there were in this Battle Arena, given the fact that he had gained a higher amount of BP and Gold for completing it, as well as 1000 XP, it was safe to say that it was a significant milestone.
On top of that, he had also gained a new Summon, and had finally Leveled Up.
He really didn't have any complaints.
Tsukuru reached out, and tapped the "Retire" option.
It lit up brightly, and an electronic "beep" was heard.
A new, slightly smaller System message appeared, overlaying the first in its lower-right corner.
[Would you like to abandon your Challenge Run?
[Yes] [No] ]
This time, when Tsukuru reached out his hand, he pressed the "Yes" option.
The two previous System messages disappeared, and were replaced with a new one.
[Your Challenge Run has ended. You will now regain consciousness.]
This was significantly different than the normal System message Tsukuru received when he chose to end his Challenge Run.
Usually, it gave him the option to be transferred to the "Power Fighters" server.
But since the VR Headset he was currently using wasn't even connected to that, it wasn't really an option here.
Tsukuru's body took on the form of a light-blue hologram, as if he were in the process of using his Video Glitch Skill.
Then, his body broke apart into pixels.
***
Back in the real world, Logan was still staring at Tsukuru's body.
He brought his wristwatch up to his face, and took a quick glance down at it.
It currently read "19:52" in the upper-right corner, informing him that it was almost 8 pm.
He then caught a slight twitch of Tsukuru's fingers out of the corner of his eye.
Instantly, his gaze snapped back to him.
Logan saw the square lights on the left temple of the VR Headset slowly fade, and the visor stopped glowing.
Due to this, Logan could then see Tsukuru's eyes fluttering awake through the transparent visor.
With the groggy slowness of someone who had just woken up, Tsukuru reached up, and removed the VR Headset.
He swiveled his body around so he was facing the side of the bed, and lifted his torso up.
Logan gave Tsukuru an analyzing look, as he sat on the side of his bed, the VR Headset in his lap.
"Oh, thank god," Logan muttered. "For a second there, I was worried that I wired one of the connections wrong, and fried your brain!"
An amused smirk crept across Tsukuru's face.
"Nah," he replied, holding up the VR Headset to his face, and turning it around so he could look at it. "It worked just like a charm. Now I don't have to waste Credits renting out a Pod in the VR Room."
Tsukuru's eyes then narrowed, and he looked up at Logan.
"Still doesn't make your highway robbery not leave a sour taste in my mouth," he replied.
Tsukuru saw the corner of Logan's lip curve up slightly, the boy's version of an amused smirk.
Tsukuru thought about placing the helmet into his System's Inventory, and the helmet took on the likeness of a translucent hologram, before then breaking apart into pixels.
Within seconds it was gone, as if it had never even been there.
Logan continued staring at Tsukuru with an analytic eye.
"You were in there for pretty much the whole afternoon," he replied. "I take it you at least have something to show for all of those hours down the drain?"
Tsukuru looked up at Logan with a smug smirk on his face.
It was the kind of look that said "watch this" without Tsukuru needing to say anything.
Tsukuru held out his hand in front of him.
"Summon," he replied.
The sound of electronic interference filled the room, and pixels began to form a few feet in front of the two boys.
Like with all of Tsukuru's Summons, the pixels clustered together into a humanoid shape.
However, she was unlike any of the Summons Logan had ever seen before.
She had large bat wings sprouting from her back, as well as a thick tail. She also had horns sprouting from the sides of her head, and her fingers were sharpened into claws.
Honestly, the shape reminded Logan of images he had seen of the rare Dalki who possessed wings.
There was a bright flash of light, and Tsukuru's new Gargoylefully manifested.
With the sole exception of the Minotaur, she was Tsukuru's largest Summon by far. Standing at a staggering height of 6'7, and Logan theorized that if she spread her wings all the way out, she would likely have a wingspan of fifteen feet or more.
The Gargoyle bowed down in front of Tsukuru, crouching on her right knee while her left knee was on the ground. Additionally, her right hand was laying flat on her right knee while her left hand was pressed on the ground.
Her tail wrapped around her waist like a belt, and her two bat wings folded in on themselves, the "knuckles" of her wings essentially holding hands as they clasped together in front of the center of her sternum, looking like a makeshift cape.
"Greetings, My Liege," she replied, looking at the floor. "How may I be of service?"
As Tsukuru looked at her, his System's "Scan" Skill automatically activated.
The System's "vector" appeared on the center of her face, with a line extending out to the left of it. The line then went upwards, leading to a square with an up-close image of the Gargoyle's face in it.
Underneath, there was text displayed.
[Race: Gargoyle
Rank: Infantry
Grade: Pawn
Pawn Points: 0/5]