58 58 - Invitation

However, before Noah could develop that thought further, his cell phone started to ring. The number of people who had his phone number was very few, so Noah was curious to know who was calling him.

When he looked at the phone screen, he saw that Jasper was calling him. Noah remembered that Jasper said he was going to talk to the people in his invasion group about asking Noah to join the invasion team.

Noah had fun playing Valorwatch, but he knew that the most important thing was to become stronger: invade Fortresses, get exp, evolve, become stronger, and of course, survive. He knew that joining an invasion group could even be a little slower in terms of how much EXP he would earn, but that was a price he was willing to pay for the security he would have when working with a powerful group. But of course, it's not like he was going to be with the group all the time, as he might as well do a "field recon" and get away from the group for a few hours sometimes. The group, being very experienced, was able to cope very well against small clusters of monsters; the difficulty they had was in fighting the boss was what Jasper had said.

Answering the phone, Noah heard Jasper speak on the other end.

[Noah? How are you?]

"Hey Jasper, I'm spending time with my family. Did you talk to the guys in the group?" Noah responded again with the monotone he had, so as not to show what he was thinking to other people.

When Maggy saw the way her brother was acting, she felt guilty again, thinking that because of her, without her brother realizing it, he was slowly becoming that way, instead of just using that tone as a mask to hide what he thought.

[This is good; staying with the family is a good thing. I spoke around. The other people were interested in you after I talked about your Blessing and your contribution in the Fortress, but they didn't give any definitive answer about whether or not to let you join, so we want to invade a Rank E Fortress tomorrow to see what the synergy will be like, team up with you. How about it?]

Hearing Jasper's proposal, Noah was satisfied. "This is exactly what I expected. This is good. For me, this date is fine. Will you invite me to the group on the GBC app?"

[Yes, that is the idea. Send me your username and I'll add you.]

After hanging up, Noah texted his username on the government dungeon search app to Jasper. Maggy asked several questions about the Fortress, about Valorwatch, about Noah's Blessing, and so the two spent the rest of the day talking quietly in the hospital room until the end of visiting hours.

In the group he saw 14 more people besides himself. Noah's profile noted that they were all Blessed Rank E in strength. There were no Blessed with Rank D strength, but some had Rank D and Rank C Blessings and the group leader had a Rank B Blessing.

This surprised Noah. The higher the level of the Blessing, the more likely the Blessing the person received would be more useful, as well as being easier to train and develop new skills in addition to those that already came with the Blessing. However, most of the Blessed did not do this, just accepting the ability that came with the Blessing and using that as their only strength.

Noah's profile said that he had a Rank F Blessing and a Rank F in strength, which would only change after he invaded more Rank E Fortresses and proved his worth.

When Noah joined the group, two members opened a private chat window and started chatting about the new member who joined their team temporarily - something they always did when someone new showed up.

[Spark: Has the newbie arrived?]

[BigBull: Apparently so, but he really is a Blessed Rank F. Jasper wasn't lying when he said it was his first Rank E Fortress.]

[Spark: Maybe he just increased his strength level to E Rank, so his rank is still F. That's understandable. Now, what I'm in doubt about is whether he's as capable as Jasper said.]

[BigBull: That's true. If he moved up from Rank F to Rank E just now, why on his profile does it say he has a Rank F Blessing?]

[Spark: Wait... what? In his profile it says that he has a Rank F Blessing!?!? Did something go wrong? That doesn't make sense; Jasper said he was very powerful.]

[BigBull: I remember what Jasper said, but this seems strange to me. Maybe Jasper was overreacting? After all, even if a person with a Rank F Blessing achieves Rank E strength, in the end, it is very difficult for the person to be as strong as one Blessed with a higher rank Blessing. This is surely his limit.]

[Spark: You're right. I just hope this guy doesn't delay us, because the boy that Pixie introduced is no longer enough.]

[BigBull: I trust Jasper a lot, but it will be difficult to trust this boy after seeing his level of Blessing.]

[Spark: That's true, but we also can't discredit what Jasper said. I'll keep a step back from this kid to see what he'll do inside the Fortress. I will not make fun of him, but I will not risk anything.]

[BigBull: I will do the same. At least I will take what Jasper said into consideration, but I can no longer guarantee what the rest of the group will do; you know that.]

[Spark: I just hope they don't get too hard on the boy, because I doubt the boy will survive if they don't really like him.]

While the members talked about Noah, he had already turned off his cell phone screen and was enjoying the rest of the bus ride while looking out the window and enjoying the view. Since the last time he did this he discovered interesting things like Valorwatch, now Noah had decided to do it more often.

Little by little he started to change his own vision. For someone who previously only cared for his sister and nothing else, he now was starting to enjoy life's pleasures more. Not only did he care about the destination he had defined before, but he also started to enjoy the route.

These changes were only possible because of the system he received. If he were not chosen as Lucifer's Descendant, Noah would still have to focus entirely on making money, because if he didn't do that, he would have long since died in a Fortress since he had no power to defend himself. But now it was different. He was no longer a helpless Blessed One; he was now a Blessed One with practically infinite potential. Achieving Rank S was no longer impossible for Noah. From what he saw, it was just a matter of time. Even if he might need more time in the future, that would not mean that he would stop progressing, and that was exactly what Noah yearned to accomplish.

The way back home was peaceful. Nothing extraordinary was happening outside the window, but just staring through the glass, Noah managed to see things he had long ago ignored like a mother walking with her children on the sidewalk, children playing soccer on the edge of the street and using shoes as the goal posts. It was a scene that Noah would have missed before.

The city he lived in, even though it was fairly modern for its day, was not immune to inequality and poverty. His family, after the death of his father entered this poverty group, while his uncle's family was in the wealthy group but still continued to abuse his family.

'Just wait, uncle. Your time to pay the bills will come...'