Division of Rewards and Humans Alike

“So it’ll be you two?” Derrick asked.

Bob and Asa approached the two groups who were waiting at the Abyss Cube’s exit.

“Just for today,” Bob said. “We’ll be rotating among ourselves, so it’ll be a different person tagging along everyday.”

Asa looked at Voidborn and Jimin and gave a small greeting, before covering her head with her trench coat’s hood. She walked right in the centre of the Wordwraiths, standing there awkwardly with a “please don't talk to me unless I talk to you” expression.

“So, what are your plans for the rest of the day?” Bob asked.

“We’ll head to Spellbound’s headquarters first for a reward collection,” Joy said. “Then I guess that's where we'll split off to our own things.”

“You know the way?” Jimin asked.

Joy nodded.

“Yeah, somewhat,” Joy said. “I've been here a few times before.”

“Is it far?” Derrick asked. “Otherwise, I’d prefer to get a ride or something.”

“It's just a twenty minute walk from here,” Bob said. “We can take a bus. I'm tired from the investigation anyway.”

“Sure.”

The group exited the Abyss Cube, walking towards the elevator in lobby.

Voidborn looked around.

The walls were black. The floor tiles were black. There weren't any fancy decoration hanging off the ceiling, nor were there any potted plants or vases lining the corridor.

Apart from a soft glowing monocle embedded in the centre of the elevator buttons, it was as if the entire lobby was engulfed in pitch black darkness.

“Disorienting, isn't it?” Bob said.

“A little,” Chaewon muttered, gagging a little. “It makes me feel sick.”

Robert’s eyes lit up instantly, stuffing his hand into his back pocket. He took out a handkerchief, offering it to Chaewon.

She looked at the neatly folded white fabric, staring at the little cat faces repeated all over it with a disgusted frown.

“I don't like cats.”

She pushed it away.

Still, Robert kept smiling, holding it in his hands, keeping it on standby.

“It's purposeful,” Bob explained, walking forward to push the elevator button. “Absolute darkness works well with Asa's abilities. Most people also don't react well to endless black space. It messes with their sense of direction. It's called aperiophobia.”

“Ah-pee-rho what!?” Jimin gave a confused look.

“Apeirophobia,” Rei repeated. “It's basically the fear of infinity and endlessness.”

“Correct,” Bon continued, watching the number on the elevator’s display slowly ticking up. “This building has been specially designed to maximise the effectiveness of all our abilities, putting any intruders at a disadvantage.”

“Heurk!”

Chaewon gagged again as she looked down at the ground.

Robert rushed forward and pressed the handkerchief right below her chin, stopping her saliva from dripping onto her clothes.

“T-Thanks,” she said, leaning onto his shoulder for support as her legs wobbled slightly.

“Gosh, I’m starting to feel a little dizzy too,” Jimin muttered, fluttering her eyelids as she stumbled towards Elian. “I think I'm going to fall~”

Elian reached forward and grabbed her shoulders, holding her upright.

“You okay?” he asked.

“I think my legs are getting weak..." Jimin swayed dramatically, batting her eyelids. “This apeiro-whatever-phobia is really serious.”

Elian nodded and bent downwards, scooping Jimin up into his embrace. He carried her bridal style, looking deep into her eyes and spoke.

“Hook your arms around my neck so you don't fall down."

Jimin nodded shyly, wrapping her arms gently around his neck. Her face was mere inches from his cheek, and she could smell the fragrant citrusy smell of soap from his body.

“I’m going to fucking vomit.”

Chaewon looked at the scene and gagged even harder, disgusted by the shameless public display of affection.

Robert panicked and mimicked Voidborn’s actions, grabbing on to Chaewon’s shoulders.

“You okay? I can carry you like Voidborn and Jimin there!”

He bent and tried to scoop Chaewon up, but she wrestled him into the ground, locking him into a leg triangle choke. Her thighs were clamped around his neck, his face stuffed into her belly.

“Can you both please not?” Joy said, rolling her eyes at the sight. “The elevator’s here.”

The rest walked into the elevator, their judgemental eyes watching the two slowly untangle themselves in embarrassment. Robert helped Chaewon up, his face still red from the choking. She tried to stand on he own, but her legs were still wobbly.

When the doors slid open on the first floor, Robert walked out of the elevator first, carrying Chaewon in his arms bridal style. The rest followed behind, walking into the building’s reception area which was brightly lit, a stark difference from the absolute darkness earlier. A single woman stood behind a counter, hands placed on her belly as she gave Bob and Asa a deep bow before turning back to face the building’s exit. Although, her eyes snaked to the side, watching the two ladies sitting comfortably in the two men’s embrace with envy.

Elian set Jimin down gently, before kneeling down to straighten her slightly crumpled dress.

“Ahem—” Chaewon coughed, her face red like a tomato, arms wrapped tight around Robert's neck. “You can set me down now, idiot.”

Robert smiled and let her two feet touch the ground, copying Voidborn’s actions and kneeled down. He brushed off the dust and dirt from the scuffle earlier off her pants with his palms.

"Can we please collect our reward before somebody proposes?" Senia rolled her eyes in impatience.

"Why am I surrounded by idiots?” Rei muttered, facepalming internally.

Once the group had finished watching all the two ‘non-couple’s’ shenanigans, Bob led them out of the building.

Voidborn took a good look around as he held Jimin’s hand, walking towards the bus stop nearby.

Vehicles rolled down the road, each one more glamorous than the last. Four-seater carriage-styled cars lined the streets, adorned with extravagant and exaggerated opal-carved roses on gold-melded vines.

“Why does everything around here scream rich…” Dylan complained, looking at the semi-transparent crystallised trash can beside a lamp post.

“You’d think they had better design-awareness,” Senia said. “Why would you want the contents of a trash can be shown out for display? Isn't it quite… unsightly?”

“Seems like they just threw their money wherever they could,” Jimin snorted.

Still, the group watched the affluent absurdity with gaping mouths as they walked till they reached the bus stop.

“Two minutes till arrival,” Bob said, pointing to the display board by the side. “You have any questions so far?”

“I have one,” Chaewon said. “But it's not directed at you only. Why weren't any of you affected by the darkness earlier?”

“Hmm?” Bob raised his eyebrows. “We all were affected. You were just more sensitive. Some of us gained resistance, others simply controlled their gags. You’ll get used to it sooner or later.”

Voidborn and the rest nodded.

“How long does it usually take?”

“It depends. I took about a week? Asa took half a day.”

“Really?” Chaewon looked at her, visibly impressed. “Wow, I wish I could be like you.”

“Yes,” Asa said softly, pulling her hood tighter to hide her blush from the compliment.

“It ain't that much of a surprise,” Bob said. “She's a Shadow after all.”

Just then, the bus arrived. Running on eight large brass wheels, the fifteen meter long vehicle came to a stop, its front door opening with a clunky slide.

“Well, this doesn't seem that extravagant,” Robert said, entering the bus. He tossed a copper shell into the payment machine before grabbing the flimsy piece of paper that was ejected out of the ticketing machine.

“You would think that the public transport would be good, but damn, even the seats look old,” he continued, slapping the cushioned seat before settling down.

Dust was smacked out with loud thuds, highlighting the state of the unmaintained vehicle.

“Public transport mainly serves people from the middle sector,” Bob explained, tossing a shell into the machine. “Very rarely do the rich or poor use them. They either have their own carriages, or they simply walk.”

Elian made his payment and walked down the bus, taking a seat by the window. Jimin followed soon after, sliding in beside him.

She rested her head on his shoulder as the bus roared to life, chugging down the streets in unregulated tremors that made her ears itch.

Three stops later, they were all standing outside Spellbound, looking up at the large symbol of the Scholar faction emblazoned across the building’s front. It depicted a half-opened ancient tome bound by glowing chains shaped like infinity loops, as if the knowledge inside was both contained and eternally flowing.

They entered the building, gazing upon their motto carved into the wall behind the receptionist.

Bound by Spells, Eternal in the Pursuit of Everlasting Knowledge.

Voidborn took in the words, pondering about its profound meaning, but the answer was displayed all for him to see.

Countless shelves of books lined every corner of the reception area. Even the floor and ceiling were covered in them; neatly arranged underneath their feet protected beneath thick panels of glass; rows of book spines hung suspended from above, held in place by a swirling wall of wind.

“You guys wait here. Me and Derrick will settle it,” Joy said, motioning for Derrick to follow her to the receptionist.

The rest walked to the side, crowding around the mini-waiting area. As the others rested in the pillowy couches, Voidborn walked to the shelves by the side, looking at the books pressed flushed to each other on every layer. He walked down the aisle, appreciating the vast and diverse spread of topics that the library wall could offer — basic spell theory, geographical landscapes, culinary cookbooks, beasts and monsters, and even inter-regional politics.

Everything was something he was interested in.

“Would you like to borrow something?” Jimin asked. “Senia told me that you can use the terminal at the corner there to do so.”

Elian nodded.

“Come, let's do it together.”

She placed her hands behind Elian and pushed him forward, approaching the terminal together.

Two rectangular sheets of paper lay flat on an empty square shelf. Elian stepped forward and waved his hand over them, activating the device. A glowing holographic keyboard materialized above the nearer sheet, its keys labelled with floating letters. Beside it, a blank scroll of light slowly unfurled from the second piece of paper.

He pressed a finger on a button and instantly, the corresponding letter appeared on the search bar on the hovering scroll.

“What are you looking for?” Jimin asked.

“History.”

His fingers moved across the keyboard, typing in the related keyword. The moment he pressed the search button, the shelves began to shift, and the segments began to part, forming an empty path across the shelves.

In the far corner, a segment shook and detached from its resting spot, sliding down the zigzagging path towards the empty spot right above the holographic scroll.

Elian looked at the books of different heights and thickness laid across his eyes, each one containing the keyword ‘era’.

The History of the Prehistoric Era, The Era of Culinary Gastronomy, Erasure of Beasts and Monsters…

Each one looked daunting, likely containing a hefty amount of related information. He went down the line of vertically arranged books, before stopping at one that was particularly thin as compared to the rest.

A Brief History of Eras Leading Up to The Revolutionary Era

He reached forward and pulled it out. It was light and looked pristine, almost as if it was just written or archived not long ago. He flipped it open, hoping to catch a rough summary of the book, but what he saw made him frown.

Contrary to its minimal weight and thickness, the pages were filled to the brim with black texts with a font size smaller than a grain of salt. It looked as if the pages were plagued by mini black dots, leaving barely enough black space, otherwise he would have mistaken it for a fully black page.

Squinting to take a closer look, he was even more impressed. Every single letter was handwritten.

“I’d like to borrow this,” Elian said, tucking the book under his arm.

“How are you even going to read that?” Jimin asked.

“I can ask Robert for help. His light magic can help with magnifying the letters through convexity.”

“Right, I understood that,” Jimin chuckled. “Anything else? I wanna borrow a book too.”

“I wonder if there's anything about Diviners here.”

“Maybe? But I don't think we should search that here. The search history may be monitored.”

“It's okay. I can just do this.”

Elian's fingers started typing again, this time keying in the keyword ‘divine’. In a flash, the ‘era segment’ shifted back to its original spot, quickly replaced by a new segment with the associated books.

Jimin read through the vertical book spines, mumbling the titles to herself.

“Divine Authority of the Empire, The Divine Tastes of the World and Otherworldly Cooking Techniques, Divine Positions of Pleasure—what?!” Jimin choked, her face turning red.

“What is it?” Elian asked, reaching out for the book.

Jimin grabbed onto his hand in panic, quickly pointing towards a book in the far corner.

“T-There! I think that one there contains what you need!”

Elian’s attention jumped towards the book, fingers tracing the words along the spine.

“A Theory: Divine Rebirths to Godhood…” he muttered, thinking about what the book could possibly contain.

“Hey!” Derrick shouted. “We’re done, come here and we’ll distribute the rewards!”

Snapped out of his thoughts, he took the book and put it together with the other under his arms.

“I’m done, how about you?”

“I already know what I want,” Jimin said, waving him off. “You can join the rest first, I’ll come in a minute.”

He nodded and left.

Seeing Elian walk away, Jimin reached out and grabbed the book about food and cooking.

“I should learn how to cook better for my husband and kids~” she hummed softly, before turning away.

However, right as the ‘divine segment’ rumbled to life and prepared to shift back to its original position, Jimin turned back, her hands darting out to grab another book. Hiding it under the first book, she quickly shuffled after Elian, both of them joining the rest.

“Oh?” Rei’s eyebrows raised curiously. “You actually borrowed books? What did you get?”

“J-Just some basic children s-storybooks,” Jimin stuttered.

“Pfft. You can't lie to me unnie, I’ve known you since donkey years ago.”

Rei grabbed the two books, trying to sneak a peek at their titles.

“The Divine Tastes of the World and Otherworldly Cooking Techniques,” Rei read. “Huh, so you're trying to be a proper wife. That's nothing to be ashamed about. What's the other?”

She pressed her thumb between the two books, trying to push the top one out of the way.

Jimin tried her best, forcing her fingers and palms in the opposite with all her might, trying to stop Rei.

“Divine Positions of—oh~” Rei smirked playfully at Jimin.

Rei leaned to into her ears at the last word, whispering breathily.

“I didn't know you were that… kinky~”

“Shut up!” Jimin shouted under her breath, giving Rei’s shin a small kick before snatching back the two books.

“I’m just stating an observation, totally not judging at all,” Rei said. “Totally. Big respect though. I’ll be patiently waiting for my chance to be a Godmother.”

Jimin’s ears burned crimson.

“Alright, I’ll be distributing the items based on contribution,” Joy interrupted, walking from the receptionist counter and placing a heavy black sack onto the table between the couches.

She grumbled slightly as she tried to untie the knot at the top, saying something about already telling them not to tie it since she was going to distribute the items there, but they still did it anyway.

With an impatient grunt, she summoned her tome and conjured a wind blade, severing the entire top off as the blade sliced through it cleanly, before dissipating weakly into the air.

“There we go,” she finally smiled, overturning the bag, pouring out the contents.

Several items of different shapes and sizes fell out, scattering across the table in an disorganised fashion. However, a large majority of the items were gold shells.

“I’ve got some good news and bad news,” Joy said. “The good news is that the payment is quite hefty. As you can see, there is a lot of money. They gave us five thousand gold shells, along with some other bonus items.”

“Damn, that's a lot of gold shells,” Jimin said. “Considering that a gold shell can pay for a piece of prime steak [1], that's basically enough to buy and fully pay for two four-room apartments back in Zylos.”

“That’s a lot,” Chaewon said. “But what's the bad news?”

“The bad news is that they gave us a lot of gold shells,” Derrick said.

“Why?” Voidborn asked.

“I’d rather they give us other items like these Rebirth stones here,” Derrick said, picking up the two subtly glowing stones lying atop the mountain of gold shells. Both carried a deep purple haze within, one with a hint of green swirling within, the other with a sky blue whirlpool twisting slowly inside.

“They're both tier 2 Scholar stones,” Joy explained. “Both from dead Spellbound members, one with a wind speciality, the other with a water speciality.”

“I would assume that you’d want both of the stones,” Jimin said, suddenly speaking in a tone of negotiation.

“Yes,” Joy said, subtly surprised by her merchantry demeanor. “I was thinking if we could take a fifth of the gold shells along with the two stones. The rest are yours.”

“No,” Jimin said.

Joy frowned.

“No? Even if its just gold shells, four thousand is a lot. These two stones are definitely worth less than two thousand shells.”

“No,” Jimin insisted. She raised two fingers. “Three reasons. The first being us providing intel that led to the success of the raid. You wouldn't have known how to move without knowing the enemy type, as well as its numbers.”

Bob and Asa stood to the side, raising their eyebrows in admiration.

“Two. Furthermore, Derrick has thinned the goblin numbers by more than half in our fight during the ambush, which meant that the raid’s difficulty was reduced.”

Joy tried to say something, but Jimin continued.

“Three. Robert would have died without Voidborn. I believe your teammate’s life is worth more than five thousand shells. We would be asking for more, but since we couldn't have killed the shaman without your help, we’ll be satisfied with just five thousand shells. Oh and of course, Chaewon herself deserves… seven hundred shells.”

Jimin turned to Chaewon.

“Are you alright with that?”

“H-Huh? Yeah, I mean, yes! Yes! Absolutely!” Chaewon blurted in a rush, flustered at the question. “It’s way more than what I would usually get, so of course I'm alright with that. More than alright.”

“Great. Then I think we have reached a consensus?” Jimin asked, crossing her arms under her chest.

“You've lost this round of negotiations, Joy.” Bob chuckled and gave a playful huff. Asa gave a small nod, agreeing with him. “But she's right. Even if the stones cost less than two thousand shells, there's an inherent unmentioned value of scarcity. Rebirth stones are hard to come by and the effort and time needed to find one can't be made up for by money alone.”

“Alright, alright. I guess I lost. Can we at least request a hundred shells to share amongst us?”

“I’ll be generous and give you two hundred. You can have fifty each.”

Jimin puffed her chest and pushed a pile towards Joy. She sighed in defeat, but she was not unhappy at all.

“You know your stuff,” she complimented.

“Of course I do, I am the Yoo Family Head’s most beautiful daughter after all~” Jimin beamed and gave a small curtsy bow.

“What are you going to do with those stones?” Voidborn asked.

“It's for Robert and Dylan,” Joy said. “These stones are compatible with them and they can use it to advance to the next Rebirth stage. They’ll be doing it here tomorrow morning, fancy popping by to observe?”

“Sure, we don't mind at all,” Jimin said. “Do we have anything on, Derrick?”

“Not in particular. We arrived in Kandar early after all. Some of the activities can be spread across the next few days, so basically, you're free to wander.”

“Then we’ll be here to observe tomorrow,” Jimin said, smiling at Joy warmly.

“So, what now?” Robert asked.

“If you don't mind,” Jimin looked at Asa and Bob. “I would like to tour the city for a bit.”

“Sure,” Bob said. “We can guide you around.”

Bob turned towards Joy who was keeping the two hundred shells in her bag.

“What about you? You joining us?”

“I won't be,” Joy said. “I’ll need to settle some stuff here with the higher ups.”

She turned towards the rest of Wordwraiths and Chaewon.

“If you’d like, you can tag along Derrick’s group. I’ll see you guys back in the Abyss Cube.”

“We won't be joining,” Dylan said, gesturing to both himself and Senia. “I have some stuff to prepare for tomorrow’s Rebirth.”

“Then I guess it's just me then,” Robert said.

“You wanna join?” he looked at Chaewon and asked.

“Okay.”

Back in his room in Black Monocle’s Headquarters, Voidborn was sitting on his bed thinking about the tour earlier.

He closed his eyes and tried to meditate and focus, but scenes of the depreciating view of the city kept surfacing in his mind.

It was just as Jimin and Chaewon had described. Extremely rich in the city centre, abhorrently poor on the outskirts.

Massive mansions and underutilised public facilities were glamorously sculpted by so-called artists that had unlimited budget sponsored by wealthy nobles and merchants in the city core.

In the middle layer, plumes of ash smoke fogged the air of the industrial zones. Working class people scrambled along with their jobs, all giving their best effort to better their lives, yet the fruits of their labour were ultimately channelled towards the affluent.

The outer layer was the worst. Homeless people were stranded everywhere that it felt like the environment itself was home rather than the dilapidated structures that barely counted as shelters. Even the densely clustered high-rise dormitories that were built because of basic protests for minimal mercy were eroding. It felt as if the slightest tremor would cause the impurity-diluted concrete to crumble like shallow waves meeting sandcastles.

However, it was the segmentation itself that made Voidborn feel uneasy.

The people themselves had been segregated and tagged into societal classes according to their purchasing power — High Class citizen, Middle Class citizen, Low Class citizen, Remnants. The titles spoke for themselves, and it left a bad taste in the group's mouths as Bob and Asa introduced and explained.

To enter the middle zone, one had to pay ten copper shells. While it did not seem much to the privileged, that amount was enough to provide a Low Class family with their weekly supply of stale bread. Subtracting that from their meagre salaries, they would be left with only one or two copper shells after paying for their rent and bills.

It was as if they had to pay to get to work.

Even the core zone was not exempted. One would have to pay a silver shell to enter, and the worst thing was that majority of the governmental services were located there. To ensure that one would be able to live in the middle zone, the Empire had enacted a rule that required them to register their state of ‘still being well and alive’. It was called the Living Requirement Act. If there wasn’t any regular registration done, the Empire would send officials to inspect their residences and demote them to Lower Class, effectively kicking them to the outer zone.

Bob said that the situation wasn’t that bad before the enactment of the ridiculous act. After its implementation three months ago, the public had been showing their displeasure towards the Empire. However, as much as how unhappy they were, there was nothing they could do. Not until the announcement of another act.

Under the Population Area Restriction Act, the Empire proposed to set a limit on the number of citizens that could live per unit area. It was meant to address the population density issue in areas outside the core zone, but that seemed to be just a scheme with a hidden agenda. Bob went on to elaborate the possible consequences on how it would drive many people who were barely surviving to become homeless, and they would have no choice but to move to the outer zone. This would allow landlords and property owners to build more buildings and collect more rent with the amount of land they had, and since living spaces were now more precious and coveted, rent and property prices would inflate.

That’s when the public could not take it any longer and they started rioting.

Although the riots had subsided somewhat since their arrival in Kandar, they were still going on. Massive groups gathered outside real estate companies and government buildings, each one holding banners and protest signs in their hands as they shouted for the act’s dissolution. Every person that looked to be dressed well was targeted, with empty cans and crumpled paper balls thrown at them.

Their group weren’t exempted from being targeted as they made their tour through the city, although Bob had kindly summoned a condensed air barrier around them that deflected and blocked any incoming projectiles.

Voidborn opened his eyes and laid back onto the bed, looking at his room’s ceiling.

He had seen that look before. The look of people who worked as hard as they could and still went to bed hungry. He thought of the times when he was living in the rural outskirts of Zylos. It was not much different from the living conditions here, but the governing body of the three ruling factions there wasn’t as absurd and demanding as here.

He thought back to what Mr Yoo said when they visited the vault.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Whilst the situation here was not as straightforward as it seemed, he was at least right about one thing.

Money was power.
Power became greed.
And greed always demanded more.

INFOGRAPHIC