6. Degenerate Creep (3)
"Mom, Dad, good morning," Lucian greeted lightly as he entered the combined kitchen and dining room after washing his face.
"Morning, wait a little bit, breakfast almost ready," Misha, wearing a dark apron, replied from the kitchen.
"Morning," Clive quietly followed. Then, toward Lucian who had just taken a seat at the table, he brought out a black bracelet and wore it on his left wrist.
"Dad, is this?" Lucian was confused, but he also had a little inkling of what that thing was in his hand.
"Now that you've entered elementary school, it's time for you to get what you deserve," Clive said with grandiosity.
"It's… pocket money." He looked like he had just bestowed his son an Excalibur for his journey.
"Hehe." A chuckle quietly came from the kitchen. It was Misha, who stared at her husband endearingly for his silliness.
Lucian unconsciously rolled his eyes.
It's really strange I still don't have younger siblings at this point.
"Here, look at this." Clive then taught Lucian how to control the black bracelet on his hand, then some kind of light, like a hologram, appeared above his wrist. There's 100 W written on it.
"Woah!" Lucian was shocked for real. He had heard of the bracelet's existence, but using it firsthand was a different experience altogether.
"Cool, right? It's electronic currency. If you need to buy things, just scan the bracelet," Clive explained while performing it, so it was very easy to understand. He used his own bracelet and then scanned his own.
[Clive Noe sends 100 W, do you want to receive it?]
[Yes/No]
The words appeared on Lucian's bracelet hologram. Not waiting for Clive's further explanation, he instantly touched the Yes button on the hologram.
Now, his little savings had become 200 W.
"... Yes, that's how you do it," Clive added, not sure what to say. "Also, you can't scan the bracelet if it's not being worn." He also gave a small example with his.
"You can use your pocket money as you like, but don't splurge too much, okay," Misha gently warned as she brought the breakfasts for everyone.
Despite the culture shock, thanks to the pre-knowledge from the internet, it dampened the impact on Lucian. He already knew W stands for World Currency.
He saw the year—it was supposed to be only a few years after his death—and added his current age. But the world had changed so much he almost couldn't recognize it.
Thanks to the creation of World Currency from the World Bank, this kind of transaction was possible.
There must be many hidden strings behind its creation, but its convenience was undeniable.
According to the internet, more than 90% of the world's total population already possessed the W bracelet nowadays.
"Dad, can you show it to me again?" Lucian asked with sparkling eyes. After all, 100 W became 200 W—what would happen if they did it again?
"Haha, aren't you a genius?" Of course, Clive realized what Lucian was trying to achieve.
"Hehehe." Lucian laughed innocently.
In the end…
Lucian checked his bracelet.
250 W appeared on his bracelet's hologram.
***
"I'm going now." Lucian changed into his school uniform. The uniform was like a white and gray suit.
It did look fantastic.
"Are you really okay going alone?" Misha asked again, worried. "We really should've gone with you," she regretted once again.
"It's fine, Mom. Mom and Dad have work to do. I'll do my job."
"Hehe, what job?" Misha let out a chuckle again at his cute reply.
"Studying," he said proudly.
A student's job is to study, after all.
"Besides, I'm going with Kate and Aunt Layla. I'm not alone."
She patted Lucian's head, acknowledging his words.
"Luu, look." Kate showed her left wrist to me. Unlike my black bracelet, hers was soft green, almost the same color as her eyes.
"Oh, cute," Lucian replied honestly.
"Ehehe, we're matched," she replied gleefully in another direction.
We matched with everyone on earth.
Lucian held himself. "Yes, we matched."
….
Overwhelming, that's the correct word to express Lucian's feeling right now.
What the hell!
He looked fine on the outside but was screaming inside the moment they stepped out of the vehicle. They were met with a sky-high building and a wide area of land around it.
For Lucian, who had lived an average life before, this elementary school was too much—it was even bigger than his high school building.
Why do you even need this large area for an elementary school?!
Besides them, there was also a line of imported cars carrying their young masters.
Then Lucian also saw a few students walking to the school; it calmed him down a bit.
"What do you think?" Layla enjoyed the children's surprised expressions. After all, her child and her friend's child had been guarded like birds in a cage all these years to avoid others.
"So many people!" Kate expressed sincerely.
"Kate will make many friends here," Lucian added, cheering for his childhood friend, looking calm despite being more shocked than the others.
"As always, Luu looked very mature," Layla chipped in and unconsciously threw a soft jab at him. "Misha always complained to me Luu can't be spoiled."
"Aha ha ha." He laughed it off awkwardly. "I learned it from the internet." That was the only excuse he could give.
Even for just an elementary school, the principal's speech wasn't something that could be skipped. Just like a certain game, there was no skip button.
Thanks to that, Lucian noticed some blatant discrimination in this school.
Class 1 was for those ultra-rich billionaires or kids of someone influential—Kate was in this class—while Class 2 was for the more normal ones.
It was strange from Lucian's average viewpoint, but for the others, it was quite normal for the real upper class.
After saying goodbye to the reluctant Kate, Lucian entered his own classroom. It was no different from the usual school he knew, other than the usual setup with just a touch of expensiveness, like high-performance tablets on each table or a monitor on the whiteboard.
"Ah, Lucian." A girl with auburn hair and brown eyes quickly recognized the person who had just entered the classroom—Lucian.
"Alice?" Lucian recognized the girl coming toward him too, but the other girl following Alice timidly was unfamiliar. "What a coincidence… or not, you must have lived nearby too."
Alice was one of his and Kate's friends they were able to make in kindergarten. They were in one group. She was a cheerful girl with overflowing energy who liked to play pranks on others.
"??" She tilted her head cutely at his mutterings. "Haha, you always talk about difficult things." She laughed loudly. Her conduct was really no different from boys her age.
"Anyway, Lucian, this is Claudia. We've become friends just now," she added while pushing her friend forward toward Lucian.
"Hello." Lucian flashed her a big handsome smile—or so he thought.
You think I gave up just because I wasn't reincarnated in the magic and swords world? No chance.
Alice's friend, Claudia, jolted as she was caught off guard.
"He, hello," Claudia replied bashfully. She was like a cornered pet.
Cute. I like to be smug with my smile working, but most likely she is just shy in front of others.
"And Dia, this is my old friend Lucian," Alice added nonchalantly.
"D, Dia?!" Claudia was shocked. She had never heard that nickname before.
"As expected of Alice." Lucian tried to soften the impact. "Claudia, right? Nice to meet you."
"Ah, yes, nice to meet you too," Claudia replied timidly.
"I'm sorry, she's always like that. If you didn't like it, I can tell her to stop," Lucian added, looking at her reaction.
"N, no… it's fine. I'm just surprised," she replied, much calmer right now.
"I see. Then can I call you Dia too?"
"Eh… um, it's fine." Of course, the second time didn't have that much impact anymore.
"Just call me whatever you want."
"Then… Lucian," she timidly called.
"Yes," Lucian replied. "How adorable," he muttered.
Maybe not as much as Kate, who had a future of 2D woman, but Alice and Claudia weren't that much different. If Kate is A++, then they were A+ and A, respectively.
"Hey! Stop ignoring me!" Alice finally snapped, no one responding to her.
"Oh, you're here? Sorry, Alice, I forgot," Lucian smiled at her, mockingly teasing her.
"Grr, just you wait, Lucian! Now I have another year to make you succumb to me," she confronted me proudly.
"Haha, just try if you can! I'll show you, you're still 100 years too early to beat me," Lucian smugly looked down on her, acting like a chuunibyou.
I… seriously think this body influences my mind.
"Hmph. We'll see who has the last laugh!"
"Pfft, ahaha," a laugh leaked from the timid Claudia. It seemed she couldn't hold it any longer.
The first day in elementary school had ended quite peacefully.