Chapter 106: Map Fragements.
Everyone could see him, but they didn’t show much of a reaction; some even went through his spirit.
Levi wasn’t surprised... his form shimmered as a pale light with no distinct features, no face...just a faint gray spiritual figure with a soft glow where his brain should be.
This showed the soul’s position for his race, as many other races had their spiritual Leywells in different body parts... He even spotted a few of them floating by him.
"You are missing out...I can narrate all day, but being here in spirit isn’t close to the true experience." Ash’Kral said. "You have to smell the city, feel it, hear it. Seeing it is a mere taste."
Levi couldn’t help but agree with him.
He understood that being here in a spiritual form served only the basics of the basics. It facilitated getting things done without needing to access the Boundless Expense, since all services were connected interdimensionally.
While he could see and be seen, the only way to interact with people was through telepathic conversation using one’s seed contract serial number... With no noise or sensation, he felt like he was a ghost spectating a silent memory.
"To enter the city physically, I need its unique Dimensional Key... The only way to obtain it is through either renting a place for more than a decade or purchasing property." Levi shook his head. "I don’t have the necessary funds for either."
Levi had read in the contract that owning a place required a person to be part of the Nocturnal Ring or a descendant of one.
But renting a place was accessible to anyone. Just not in the central main hub... It was exclusive to the Rifters.
Renting needed a currency called Nocrix Credits, while owning required collecting a hundred map fragments of the same territory.
It was like the Boundless Expense was spread out into a massive 2D map, and then had most of its territories split into jigsaw-like puzzle pieces.
The Boundless Expense’s citizens needed to collect the appropriate number of map fragments for each piece of a distinct territory.
In other words, the homeless were hunting to collect a hundred fragments to own their first piece of property, while the Lords, Kings, and Emperors were collecting the right fragments to expand their territories.
This system had separated the map fragments into four types of rarities:
Desolate : The farthest reaches of the realm, where the untouched void stretches to endlessness with no sign of settled life.
Border : The transitional zone punctuated by scattered private territories and dimensional portals marking the edge of organized civilization.
Province : The cultivated heartlands of the realm, filled with nations, kingdoms, and empires.
Citadel : The fortified urban core, map fragments of locations in towns, cities, and capitals.
If a foreigner decided to own a location in the city, they would need a hundred Citadel-rated map fragments...He couldn’t mix in other fragments to make it work.
The same applied to Province and Border-rated territories.
However, if he wanted to own a territory in wastelands within the infinite expanse. The rarity didn’t matter that much...One could mix everything and still purchase a territory.
But that was simply a foolish decision.
After all, it would be considered as wasting high-rated map fragments on a piece of dogshit territory, when it would have been better to sell them and purchase a hundred more Desolate-rated map fragments.
"What a peculiar system... To split almost the entire Boundless Expense into map fragments and put them up for sale, as prizes, and especially as tickets to join the Death Games, has ensured that the entire economic foundation runs on them."
’The Boundless Expense... What a strange realm.’ Levi marveled.
After Levi’s cultural shock began to wane a bit, he remembered why he was here... He needed access to the dimensional network.
It was like the internet, but operated through dimensions and connected them all through the Boundless Expense... Of course, Nocturn was its inventor, and his people operated it.
Although Levi could access contracts and such with a mere thought, he needed the dimensional network if he wanted to join the games, check his profile, and such.
The CRS Platform paid for a free-dimensional network to all of its users without needing to access the Boundless Expense... Spiritually or physically.
But the Nocturnal Ring didn’t offer such an interdimensional service for free unless to homeowners. This forced the newbies to enter the realm spiritually and connect to its services.
Levi wasn’t complaining as he enjoyed being part of this atmosphere, even if he wasn’t hearing or truly seeing anything.
Soon, Levi found an empty bench seat in a breathtaking park with pink grass fields and violet trees, their crescent leaves swept by the breeze.
Meanwhile, Demonic children with ignited horns were playing with an enflamed ball, giggling as they kicked it between each other.
Levi smiled weirdly as he used his imagination to complete the scene. Then, he opened the dimensional network with a thought, appearing as an invisible spiritual screen.
To connect to the network, all one needed to do was have a single nocturnal contract signed... It didn’t matter which type.
The moment a soul payment was processed after the signature, the person’s identity was forever remembered by all operating systems under Nocturn.
If Levi had signed a Rifter contract, he would have gotten access to the dimensional network while still being home.
After the spiritual screen showed up, it presented an online browser, but written in modern IIthorien language. Unlike the physical city which couldn’t be fully captured by his spiritual sight, the browser was spiritual as well.
This meant Levi could see it as it is...Colorwise and everything...This made the dimensional network all-inclusive since there were plenty of races with different types of vision as well.
Levi’s hands shook a bit at the notion of possessing access to an infinite well of knowledge. But he didn’t stray from his purpose.
He went straight to the Nocturnal Ring’s interdimensional page and put in his serial number, plus a password he found in his contract, which could be changed later on.
After he was granted access, Levi was startled to see a page packed with videos, clips, forums, live streams, and such... It was lively with action, but not chaotic.
Still, curiosity got the best of Levi, and he ended up pressing one of the videos on the trending tab... It had more than fifty billion views, leaving Levi sucking in a deep, cold breath.
But he soon understood why.
The video was a mere fifteen-second clip, but it showed a strange human woman with royal violet hair cascading in silky waves to conceal her eyes, nose, cheeks, and framing her full, soft pink lips.
She was holding onto a giant pair of scissors, separating the entire ocean floor with a single snap... Her target? A wounded humanoid whale on the ocean bed, seemingly hiding there to recover.
Alas, as he watched the ocean split apart and the mysterious woman walk towards him, all he could do was beg for mercy.
But the mysterious woman merely waved her hand, and suddenly the giant humanoid whale was sliced up into fine, tiny cubes, resembling sushi rolls...How? Levi failed to know.
Guiltweaver! Guiltweaver! Guiltweaver!...
As the watchers cheered and screamed her name wildly, the clip ended with an up-close image of the woman’s face. Her otherworldly, gleaming pink full lips and sharp fair jawline were enough to display her supreme beauty... A beauty, not only her cascading hair fail to hide, but it added a hint of charm.
"Is she a human too?" Levi stared at her in stunned disbelief, more concerned by her attack than her beauty.
"Yep," Ash’Kral added. "Not any human; she is one of the only humans in the program with a perfect win rate, achieving a Viscount Rank in less than two years."
"She is a Viscount noble... Woaah." Levi was astounded.
Levi had read about the Nocturnal Ring’s rankings and understood just how tough it was for Rifters to climb the ladder.
A Viscount rank was the fourth rank, and one needed a minimum of ten wins and a points range of 840–1,139 to achieve it.
With the Ring’s system rewarding points for victory, achievements, placements, and such, it was also deducting points for defeat, breaking the rules...etc
Thus, the Rifters were constantly winning and losing points, making it extremely difficult to escape from the lower ranks unless they always performed amazingly in each game.
"A Viscount rank is still a dream to me." Levi’s brow twitched after opening his program’s profile and seeing his current rank.
Homeless.
"I can’t believe they named the first rank Homeless." Levi chuckled, finding it amusing.
"Homeless Rifters are at the bottom of the rug in the Boundless Expense. Here, unless you promote to the TeraOwner rank, you will get no respect." Ash’Kral stressed. "Territory is authority, territory is royalty."
Levi nodded in understanding, already sensing this deep social divide between the territory owners and the renters... While he couldn’t hear or see anything, the clues were all there.
"In other words, if I want to get things done here, I need to get promoted, and fast... But first, my appearance needs some changes."
Levi stared at his profile interface with his 3D avatar on it, spinning in place, while the rest of the information was written next to it like this:
Nocturnal Ring Profile Interface:
Profile Name: Three Body Problem.
Current Rank: Homeless
T otal Game Points (GP): – Null
Total Wins: – Null
Total Losses: – Null
Winstreak: – Null
Map Fragments Owned: – 5 (Desolate)
Territory Units (TU): – Null
Games Played: – Null
Privileges Unlocked: – Null
Next Rank Requirements: – 300 GP
Achievements: – Null
Profile Title: – Null
Levi ignored the non-existent profile details and focused on his avatar. Based on the rules, he could change his avatar’s appearence and even his weapon’s cosmetically.
However, he couldn’t modify his size or such pivotal aspects about his real character...Such as his disability.
Levi was certain that Nocturn’s authority was enough to restore his vision even without him possessing his eyes.
One of his goals from this program was to obtain that omnipotent authority and give himself sight...Although he knew it would work only in his Boundless Domain, it was still better than the infinite darkness.
"Hmmm, privacy here is a big thing, so I don’t need to worry that much about being marticilous." Levi held his chin, "All I need is a mask, a cloak, a voice changer, and alter my weapon’s color grades to reduce suspicions."
Levi wouldn’t need to truly change his appearence as he knew that the mask was indestructible...Even if his head was bashed in, the mask would stand strong.
Just like with Lady Stitch...Her face was hidden by her hair, which acted as her mask. Thus, regardless of what happened, her hair would always hide her face...But this would affect her vision, following the laws of reality.
Levi didn’t know much about her, but he did not need a mask that showed any part of his face. Levi went through the options provided in the customization screen, his brows twitching at the sight of the better customs sold expensively.
All he could do was skip them as he owned not a single Nocrix Credit...But soon, it hit him.
"Ash’Kral, can I ask you something?"
"Hmmm?"
"Where is your money?"
"...What money?"