〈Do you want to open Mystery Box?〉
Ekant's eyes narrowed slightly. His lips curved upward.
"…So," he said quietly, "this is my only hope right now."
He raised his hand.
Paused for a millisecond.
Then clicked.
And smiled faintly.
A small box appeared in his hand.
It was… smaller than expected.
A black box, neat and simple, wrapped with a white ribbon tied into a clean bow. It fit perfectly in his palm, light but undeniably real.
"…Quite a small box," Ekant muttered aloud, tilting it slightly, "and a pretty odd color combination too."
Black and white.
Life and death.
Or maybe just questionable aesthetic choices.
He did not feel nervous.
Not really.
At worst, it would just confirm how unlucky he already was.
"I hope something good appears." he said honestly.
Instead of saying open—
which the system probably would've understood—
he instinctively reached for the ribbon.
He forgot.
The situation felt too real.
Too physical.
So he pulled.
The ribbon loosened.
The box opened.
For a brief moment, white and black light burst outward, swirling together like ink dissolving in water.
Then—
A small ring dropped gently into his palm.
The box and ribbon faded away like smoke, dissolving into the air without leaving a trace.
Ekant blinked.
Once.
Twice.
Then instinctively checked its information.
〈Black Spatial Ring〉
[Classification: Item]
[Rank: Earth]
[Capacity: 5 / 1,000,000]
[Description:
A special ring made from Black.
Functions as a spatial storage.
Can store anything except living beings.
Maximum storable size: below a house or a tree.
Capacity refers to number of items.]
"…Huh?" Ekant stared.
Then stared harder.
Then stared like the ring might suddenly change its description if he looked away.
"Earth rank…?"
That alone made his heartbeat skip.
Even though he didn't know how rare spatial rings were, he understood one thing very clearly—
Earth rank was peak quality.
And then there was the capacity.
" Unbelievable …One million items?"
His voice cracked slightly.
"And it already has five inside?"
He swallowed happily.
"Wow," he said honestly. "Earth-rank item… and its capacity is sky-touching."
Emotion welled up unexpectedly.
His stats were, by all measurable standards, garbage.
No bloodline.
No body.
Yet to Unlock strength.
Yet To Unlock defense.
Low Essence.
Though unbeknownst to Ekant the only thing keeping him above rock-level existence was his Essence.
And now—
This.
"Oh—wait," Ekant said suddenly, eyes lighting up. "It already has items in it!"
A smile tugged at his lips. At first, he thought he was dreaming, but then he realized that virtual reality was real here.
"Let's check them," he said with barely contained joy. "I hope they're at least… decent."
The excitement bubbling inside him was so pure it was almost embarrassing.
The kind of joy usually reserved for someone who just got a girlfriend.
Unfortunately, Ekant belonged to the Unofficial No-Girlfriend Sect, a lifelong member.
Also... he still couldn't smile too widely because of his surgery, Without realizing it, he was holding back even in in VR.
Though his smile was at its peak here, in reality he couldn't even force a fake smile because of the surgery.
Reality was cruel like that.
Putting that aside, his curiosity won.
He sat down on the grass in a lotus position.
Not to absorb mana.
Just because it felt right.
And convenient.
With a thought, he dumped everything from the ring onto the ground.
Five items appeared instantly.
Three of them rolled slightly before stopping.
They were identical—
Small, black, perfectly round.
Like tennis balls.
The fourth item was a thin book, so slim it looked like it had never eaten a proper meal in its entire existence.
The cover read:
"Mana Gathering Guide"
The fifth item—
A white key, shaped like a tiny bear.
Ekant tilted his head.
"…Why does a key need to be cute?"
He ignored it for now and picked up one of the black balls.
Information appeared.
〈Black Magic Ball〉
[Rank: Earth]
[Classification: Currency]
[Quality: Peak]
[Description:
Can be used to buy items.
Can also be absorbed to obtain magical energy.]
Ekant froze.
Then slowly inhaled.
"…Oh."
A realization struck him like lightning.
'I don't have to suffer like other newbies.' He didn't say it out loud.
But the relief was overwhelming. He quickly checked the other two balls.
Same description.
Same rank.
Same quality.
Three Earth-rank currency items.
"…This is illegal," Ekant muttered. "There's no way this is normal."
Then he picked up the book.
〈Mana Gathering Guide〉
A beginner guide for novice mages to learn magic and control mana.
Total pages: 11>
No rank.
No quality.
Ekant frowned slightly.
"So… is this good or bad?"
There was no way to tell.
But what Ekant did not know—
What the system did not tell him—
Was that this guide was the third-best mana gathering guide available to players at this stage of the game.
Receiving it at the very beginning meant one thing.
He would not need to work nearly as hard as others to progress.
But for now—
Ekant simply stared at his loot, sitting quietly in the forest for a while.
Now, only the white key with a white bear design was left to check. It was cute enough to charm even Ekant, who had already murmured that it was cute.