"Let me see it," Keesha said as soon as Zane entered the training room.
"See what? You have to be more specific."
"Your tattoo, idiot. Didn't you get it today?"
"Oh." Zane removed his shirt to show them. Tom and Evans had already seen it, so they weren't interested.
"Ooh, it looks so nice," Keesha commented while touching it.
"Don't touch it," Evelyn warned.
"It's fine," Keesha dismissed her. "The colors are popping. It makes me want to get a new one; maybe redo the ones I have. How much did you say it cost?"
"17 gold coins."
"The price is not bad," Keesha nodded. "Are there any tattoos with cool, magical effects?"
"If you're asking if you can tattoo a spell on your body, then no. If you mean aesthetically, there is an option for an animated tattoo."
"Animated?"
"Yes, it will glow, change color, and even move a bit; it's like tattooing a GIF on your body."
Her eyes lit up. "That sounds cool."
"And expensive," Zane added. "The tattoo alone costs 500 gold coins, and you also must buy a potion to keep the animation every six months, which costs an additional 130 coins."
"A small investment to look cool."
"I guess you could look at it that way."
Evelyn looked at Keesha. "Are you really going to get a new tattoo?"
"I'm thinking about it," she replied without stopping to touch Zane's chest.
"I'm so jealous," Evelyn said while silently removing Keesha's hands. "My parents would never tolerate me having any tattoo."
"You know you now have the means to make your own money; you don't have to rely on them."
"I've been playing the good girl act for so long, and I'm so close to getting my inheritance. How can I give up now?" Evelyn shook her head.
"It's up to you." Keesha shrugged. "Hmm? Zane, I didn't notice you had so many scars before."
Zane's body had at least three scars on the front and more than five on the back, most of them small, but one in the back was a bit knarly-looking.
"I guess," Zane calmly said.
"Where did they come from?"
"I was clumsy as a kid."
"Pfft. Do I look stupid to you? Those are obviously knife scars."
"If you know that, then why are you asking?"
"What I'm asking is why a computer nerd like yourself has so many scars?"
"What can I say: I had a bad boy phase."
"Once again, you're deflecting." Zane ignored her as he returned to his position.
The elite training was intense, but rewarding, as everyone could feel their progress. That was even more true for Tom Nguyen, who had finally secured his first defeat of the orc. Everybody had somewhat expected it since they had noticed Tom's progress: whether it was the fact that he reached fifth place in the last competition or his progress in class, it was clear to everybody how fast he was improving.
So, after congratulating Tom and encouraging Evans, everybody headed for a larger hall to meet with the knights. According to their agreement, they would have this battle training every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. The mages had practicals the rest of the week, and they were usually too tired after the Elite Class to do anything.
The next few days were overall uneventful. Zane made little to no progress in perfecting the [Flow State] method. Still, he did successfully cast the water cantrip spell (Water Condensing Spell) using only Mana Projection and without the assistance of an arcane focus. More importantly, due to how much he had trained the fundamentals of his mana control, he was also making rapid progress in successfully casting a normal 0-ring spell.
Additionally, Zane was making slow and steady progress deciphering the Necromancer Journal. Leon's help proved quite useful on many occasions. However, it will probably take him about a month to finish the entire thing and produce his own translation. Finally, the 48th day arrived, which meant it was another departure day. Unfortunately, it was a Thursday, and also the time for the fourth championship competition. Instructor Seiya had to postpone the tournament for the next day.
As soon as he returned home, Zane texted his mother. Today was August 8th, also a Monday, so she should already be at the hospital. From experience, he knew it would be a while before she responded, so Zane started scrolling online for more information. However, as he checked his email, he received one about late fees for a couple of books he had borrowed from the library before the tower's descent.
"Let's get this out of the way before I forget again," Zane thought. He immediately put on a hoodie, not minding the hot weather. As soon as he opened his door, sunlight hit him and immediately hurt his eyes. "Let's get some sunglasses too." His hazel eyes were light-sensitive; he didn't mind before since he was poor and didn't want to waste a single cent, but now, there was no point in torturing himself. It was only a couple bucks.
The library was only a 25-minute walk from his apartment, which made the trip easy; the only issue was a puddle less than 20 meters from the library, but this was New York City—it's normal for the roads to be terrible. The fine was only a few dollars, which Zane happily paid. The library helped him a lot, and he would do his small part to keep it running. One day, when he's rich, he'll probably donate even more money. Zane was intrigued to see if anything interested him, especially in the neurology department. Sadly, that wasn't the case, so he left.
Ring! Ring!
"That was faster than usual," Zane thought before answering the phone.
"Ma."
"Honey, I only have a few minutes. What do you need?" Countless clutters and sounds echoed from the background.
"I'll be quick then," Zane said. "Anansi talked to me; he asked me to get an altar and worship him. I think he wants to converse with me."
Mama Sarfowa did not reply.
"Hello? Can you hear me?"
A deep sigh rang in Zane's ears. "You have such an affinity with the Abosom that I'm starting to regret not forcing you to practice."
"You think forcefully indoctrinating me into a religion would have gone well?"
"You have a point," Mama Sarfowa nodded. "Anyway, why did he contact you? Were you in danger again?"
"No, I just got a tattoo of him."
"That's indeed a good way to reinforce the connection to the divine. Well, there —"
"Fuck!"
"Pardon me?"
"Sorry, Ma. Some asshole just sped through a puddle and drenched me."
"You're outside? Well, that doesn't matter. Go home and change so you don't get sick. I'll call you back in 10 minutes."
Zane grunted in acknowledgment. Although his mana made him immune to 90% of regular diseases—including the flu— wet clothes were still uncomfortable, so he followed her advice and ran home.
"That asshole is lucky I don't have time to waste on him," Zane grumbled as he walked out of the shower. If he had time to spare, it would be a simple thing to hack the cameras around the neighborhood, find his license plate, and use it to track that asshole.
"I need to stop being cheap and buy that car," Zane said to himself. He hadn't wanted to use the 2 grand before since that was 2 magic crystals, but now he had changed his mind. The more than 30 magic crystals he had exchanged still had 5 left, since he only used them to enhance his meditation. The money from the dark web should be arriving tomorrow or the day after, and Zane decided to get the car from Juan then.
"I wonder if banks provide magic crystal exchange," Zane muttered. Intrigued, he immediately checked online, and they did. Large banks — such as Chase, Bank of America, Citibank — are offering an exchange, and the price is the same: one crystal for 1,000 USD. There is even a gold exchange, and these banks also accept the tower's bank card.
"Wait a moment: the exchange is in US dollars. Is it the same for other countries?" Zane thought. US dollars already dominated the global market, and now, if the tower used them as the standard, the dollar's power would increase drastically. Luckily, the tower was not partial to any country. The price of one crystal was the same in any country: the equivalent of 1000USD, but it could be paid in whatever monetary system a country uses, i.e., yen, yuan, euro, or peso. More importantly, the price never changed: it didn't matter how the stock market changed or how much the power of a country's money fluctuated. This system wasn't perfect since 1000 USD was a lot of money in many countries, but it was still something.
"Lysana told me that this exchange system will not last long, forcing everybody to use gold. Something tells me the cancellation might not take as long as I thought," Zane thought. Earth is already changing its financial institutions to accommodate the tower's existence. And it's also obvious who has the most control in this relationship.
The system existed as a transition point for Earthlings. The ones who can afford to use 100K to exchange for 100 magic crystals can also afford to directly buy gold to trade with the tower. As such, the system is primarily for low- to middle-income people, giving them a chance to acquire resources and keeping the gap between the poor and the extremely wealthy from getting too wide.
"If this system is going to end, it's probably after hunting season when all the recruits can make money," Zane analyzed.