Chapter 31：Sky High Prices

A trickle of blood dripped down Derek's forehead as his body slumped to the ground. He was out cold. The table his head was smashed into had a small indent in its metal surface. Yuki, the culprit of said action, looked at Derek with disdain before sitting back down in her seat and putting her head down. It was as if she had nothing to do with the young man passed out on the floor. For those who were watching, they were all silent. No one spoke a word. Even Trisha looked at Yuki in shock and a bit of amusement. For some reason, Yuki's action reminded her of Ryu. A faint smile formed on her lips that quickly disappeared when she remembered she was in public. But even the girls who would normally be gossiping about what had happened didn't dare make a peep at this time.

"Huh? Didn't Derek say he was going to class? Why is he not here yet?" A young man asked as he looked around the room. This was the same young man who had pulled Derek away the other day.

"Umm…. Derek is on the floor up there..." One of the girls who was standing around Trisha finally spoke up as she pointed towards Yuki.

The young man only facepalmed as he walked on up towards Yuki's seat. When he saw Derek on the floor, he could only let out a long exhausting sounding sigh: "Just the other day, you got your ass kicked by a foreigner, now you come in here to be beaten again."

"Tell your friend when he wakes up, if he bothers me again, I will do more than just knock him out. I will make sure he can't leave the hospital for a few months." Yuki's cold voice entered the young man's ears, causing him to frown.

"Do you need to be so violent?" The young man asked.

"Yes." Yuki replied flatly. "People like him do not learn unless you inflict pain. He needs to be beaten over and over until he learns to pee on the newspaper instead of the carpet. If he still doesn't learn even after that, then it's better to just stuff him in a wooden box and bury him. And as the person who is friends with such an idiot…. Well…" Yuki paused and thought for a moment: "You can fuck off too."

The young man looked at the pretty boy whose eyes were cold as ice and felt a shiver run down his spine. He felt that if Derek really continued to bother this pretty boy, then the pretty boy would definitely do as he has said. Not wanting any more confrontation with the pretty boy, the young man picked up Derek and left the room with his other friends, who had not said a single word. Just seeing this made Yuki feel that real world people were all selfish. They did not want to get into a fight, so instead of trying to stand up for their friend, they stayed quiet the entire time. Such friendships can not be called friendships. Yuki's gaze fell on Trisha, who happened to be looking at her. Trish gave a faint smile and a slight nod of her head. Yuki nodded back before laying her head back down. Her mind went to the day when she hesitated and ended up getting Mary killed. She realized she was no better than those boys just now. But she would not continue like that. She will never hesitate again.

After classes, Yuki did not stick around at all, she hurried to Gamer Heaven. The young man who helped her out last time was standing behind the counter. When he saw Yuki, he smiled and asked: "Everything okay now?"

The young man looked at Yuki a bit surprised but seeing as it was a customer's request, he pulled up the prices on them. "Hmm… The going price for pods that are dedicated to Soul Fusion Online are around 2,000,000 crowns. It seems quite a few businesses have been investing into the game and buying them all up. I heard that there have been companies beginning to pop up that are sponsoring players and making real world sects. Any players with talent are able to join them, and they will pay them a pretty high salary. But that is only if they turn in so many resources a month for the guild to sell then turn into crowns. As Soul Fusion Online is the first game to make use of a player's real world abilities, it is starting to become a second world instead of a game.

"See here?" The young man pointed to his screen that showed an ad for nutrient supplements. "Even the brains of the Evergreen family know when to jump in to make a quick buck. These nutrients allow people to play for days without worrying about their physical condition. Now people can't just go and quit their jobs either since these things are not exactly cheap. It's 500,000 crowns for a single bottle."

Yuki had never thought of making Soul Fusion Online a full time job, but when she thought about how easy she was able to make money, this new thought began to take root. She, of course, would not just drop everything for Soul Fusion Online. She worked too hard to get into college to let it all go to waste. She would decide what to do after she graduates. "How much is the most expensive headset?"

"Umm…" The young man switched pages on his screen and said: "With a sync rate of 98%, you can get the Tranquil Dive headset which is now at 10,000 crowns… Sigh… since the game has been so popular, the prices of things have skyrocketed. Even the headset you bought the other day is now worth almost 400 crowns. You were lucky to get one when you did."

"Do you have any Tranquil Dive headsets in stock?" Yuki asked. She was quite stunned at the new prices for headsets. To her, this was all unexpected. Luckily she had plenty of money on hand and 10,000 crowns was nothing to her now.

"Not on hand, no. We will need to order one, and the waiting list is about a month long. Do you want to put in an order? You will need to pay half the cost upfront." The young man replied. He felt it was funny how this young man was barely able to afford the headset not long ago, but only after a few days, he was back wanting to buy one that was 10,000 crowns.

"Yes, please. Umm… If by chance I get the money for a pod, how long is the waiting list?" Yuki was not sure if she would ever get enough money to cover such a thing, but she figured she would ask.

"Right now, it is on an order basis only. So you only need to order one. Everything is custom fit to your liking. They really went all out on these pods. But there might be a delay as, like I said, there are companies buying them up left and right." The young man replied as he entered Yuki's order. "That's 5,000 crowns down. If you for any reason decide to cancel, you will have the 5,000 returned to you."

"Okay..." Yuki pulled out her card and swiped it. After signing a few things, Yuki left the game store and walked towards her home. But stopped when she passed by a mobile phone store. "I should get one just in case..." Thinking of how she did not have a phone before when the incident the other day happened, Yuki decided she should get one in case of emergencies. The services were free, but the phones were not. Making up her mind, Yuki walked into the store, causing the bell at the top of the door to ring.

"Welcome! What can I get you?"

--AN: Hello All! I want to thank all the people who are reading this novel and those who are voting for this novel. Because of how well this novel is doing, I have decided to begin voting goals for bonus chapters! Voting goals can be found in the synopsis, and the Authors note down below. They may be a bit high, but I am sure we will be able to reach them in the next few weeks. As for daily chapters, Yuki will be 2x daily. Once again, thank you all for reading! Please spread the word about our cute and loveable Yuki!