Chapter 1Spatial Magic

When I awakened my Riftweaver class, I became a god in this nightmare of a survival game.

I could tear through the fabric of reality, slipping in and out of the most lethal, high-tier raids as if I were taking a walk in the park. Naturally, whenever a raid team got completely wiped and trapped, I was the first person they called for a rescue.

And being the pragmatist that I am, I hung a massive neon sign in the Nexus Hub.

My price? One thousand Credits per extraction.

I made an absolute killing.

After casually ripping open a portal to drag a few half-dead nobodies out of a death zone, a brand new player suddenly pointed her finger at my face and started screaming.

"Are you serious? You just casually open a door and demand a thousand Credits? Talk about bloodsucking greed!"

She turned to the crowd, puffing out her chest. "If any veteran players need a rescue, you can call me! I am also a Spatial class."

"I don't need your Credits. We are all players trapped in this hellhole. Helping each other is just basic human decency!"

Watching the major guilds, the very same people I had bled to save time and time again, flock to this shiny new saint, I smiled so hard my cheeks ached.

Little did they know, the staggering fortune sitting in my bank account was already enough for me to live like royalty for the rest of my life.

I could finally retire.

* * *

Thud.

My arms burned with exhaustion as I hurled the last player out of the distorted, crackling void rift.

His tactical armor was shredded into metallic confetti. A gruesome claw mark, deep enough to scrape bone, ran across his chest, sizzling with toxic black mist.

I took a slow, deep breath, stabilizing the heavily depleted spatial energy in my core.

"That makes four of you. Invoices have been sent to your HUDs. One thousand Credits each. Settle up."

I wiped a streak of someone else's blood off my cheek, leaning lazily against a glowing obsidian pillar.

Before the survivors could even catch their breath, a shrill, drippingly righteous voice echoed across the crowded Hub.

"A thousand Credits? That is pure extortion!"

I cracked one eye open.

The voice belonged to a girl in a pristine white sundress. She was young, sporting one of those incredibly innocent, harmless faces. Right now, she was biting her lower lip, pointing a trembling finger at me with a look of absolute disgust.

"Look at them! They are half dead, and you are taking advantage of their trauma! Do you have a shred of empathy?"

I let out a dry laugh, tossing a heavy silver coin in the air and catching it.

"And who the hell are you, sweetheart?"

"I risked half my life dragging them out of an SSS-Tier death trap. A thousand is market rate. Do you think opening dimension rifts runs on hopes and prayers? You think stabilization anchors are free? If it is too expensive, next time, you can rot in the abyss."

"We are all human beings! We should be looking out for each other. Demanding money just ruins the solidarity."

The girl in the white dress took a bold step forward, spreading her arms to shield the groaning casualties behind her.

"You clearly have a spatial gift. You can save lives with the snap of your fingers, yet you bleed your own people dry. You are a monster!"

A crowd was forming.

Among the onlookers, I spotted several familiar faces. People whose lives I had saved. They were shifting uncomfortably, avoiding my gaze, and whispering among themselves.

"Honestly... a thousand is pretty steep. I only cleared eight hundred on my last raid."

"Right? Val charged us the same rate back then. It drained everything we had, but we were too scared to complain."

"She could just help out. Why does she have to be so corporate about human lives?"

I stared coldly at this gallery of hypocrites. These were the exact same people who had once crawled on their hands and knees, begging me to save them.

The loudest whisperer was Gideon, the leader of a top-tier guild known as The Vipers. He had hired me multiple times.

He stepped to the front of the crowd, casually spinning a heavy obsidian ring on his thumb.

"Val, the rookie has a point. A thousand Credits is an outrageous premium. We put our lives on the line for every single Credit we earn. We shouldn't be treated like walking ATMs."

Seeing a major guild leader back her up, a flash of pure triumph crossed the white dress girl's eyes.

"Since Val treats human life like a business transaction, I suggest we stop giving her our hard-earned money! Let me introduce myself. I am Daisy, and I awakened a Spatial class today too."

"Starting right now, I am forming the Player Vanguard Alliance! If anyone needs an emergency extraction, I will do it absolutely free! I will not take a single Credit from you!"

The Hub went dead silent for a fraction of a second.

Then, the entire hall erupted into deafening cheers and applause.

"Free! Oh my god, Daisy is an actual angel!"

"Exactly! Not like some people who are infected with the rot of greed!"

I looked at the furious, self-righteous mob, and then at Daisy's face, which was practically glowing with vanity and desperate ambition.

I dusted off my gloves and glanced down at the four bleeding men still groaning on the floor.

"So, is that how you guys feel too?"