Chapter 37: Money

"I’m sorry, Frost, but after giving it some thought, we’ve all decided that we agree with Jason."

"Huh?"

Frost was genuinely stunned.

He had sort of expected this. In fact, ever since Harod had come back with the news from his contact inside the city, Frost had known there was a good chance something like this would eventually happen.

But two days had passed since their assessment with Harod, and everything had been normal since.

For Jennifer to suddenly gather everyone up now, only to tell him this...

"Since you don’t have an affinity for any kind of Rune, and taking into account everything Harod told us, we think it’s best for everyone, including you, that you choose your own path," Jennifer said sternly.

Contrary to her own words, she didn’t look sorry in the least.

Frost stared at her for several seconds.

In the end, Harod’s contact inside the city had been quite clear: It was impossible for Frost to use Runes.

Simple as that.

The man had initially assumed Harod had made some sort of mistake when describing Frost’s results, but after receiving the assessment data and looking through it himself, he had come to the same conclusion.

A person without any Rune affinity simply couldn’t resonate with a Rune well enough to learn it, much less manifest its power.

Frost was an anomaly, yes, but apparently not the good kind, so this had been expected.

Still...

’Couldn’t you have fucking told me sooner?’

After saying her piece, Jennifer turned around and walked away, deciding that she had said enough.

The others followed shortly afterwards.

Naomi hesitated for a moment before going after her. Cassie didn’t say anything. Adam, Ryder, and the new guy followed as well.

Jason, naturally, couldn’t leave without getting one last word in. He stopped beside Frost, letting out a condescending snort.

"Don’t get yourself killed, at least. I’d like to watch your pointless efforts go to waste for a little longer."

Frost slowly looked at him and gave him a sharp glare, but once again, he had nothing to say in response.

Jason smirked before looking forward again and walking deeper into the settlement after the others.

Lois was the last to leave.

She walked several steps before glancing back. She did that a few times.

There was obvious reluctance on her face, enough that Frost almost expected her to say something.

She didn’t.

Eventually, she turned around and hurried after the others.

Soon, every one of them disappeared into the chaotic crowds of the slums, leaving Frost standing alone.

"..."

He remained there for several seconds and sighed.

"Judging by the gear they were wearing, they even went behind my back to prepare for the hunting grounds."

That irritated him considerably more than the rejection itself.

They had weapons, basic armour, and small packs. It was clear that they had planned this in advance while keeping him in the dark.

It wasn’t that he suddenly expected them to be nice to him, but he had hope, and now he knew, that it’s the hope that kills you.

Frost ran a hand through his black hair before gripping a fistful and pulling until his scalp hurt.

"Sucks to be me, I guess..." He released his hair. "Aaargghhh!"

Several nearby people looked toward him, but Frost ignored them.

He was disheartened.

There was no point pretending otherwise.

They had acted like everything was normal.

For the past two days, they had eaten every meal together as usual.

Frost had noticed how strangely quiet those meals had become, particularly whenever the subject of Evolution or the hunting grounds came up, but he hadn’t thought much of it.

Now it made considerably more sense.

They’d already been discussing their plans without him.

’Well... fuck you too, I guess.’

Frost exhaled slowly.

"I guess I’m on my own..."

He placed a hand against his waist and looked around. The other three survivors still hadn’t come around.

They barely left their rooms, from what Frost had heard. Considering what they’d witnessed during their first day in this world, he couldn’t exactly blame them.

It was entirely possible that some of them would eventually recover and adapt, but it was equally possible that they wouldn’t.

Either way, Frost wasn’t placing his hopes on them. He needed to figure something out himself.

"What I need is money..."

Fortunately, he’d learned considerably more about Linden and this world over the past two days.

The first thing he’d quickly realised was that money mattered just as much here as it had on Earth.

Probably more.

The slums primarily used small metallic coins with square holes through their centres. They were known as Tabs, and they represented the lowest commonly used denomination of currency.

A single Tab wasn’t completely worthless.

One was enough to buy a nice hot meal in the slums, which was already infinitely preferable to the free insect soup they were being served.

Five Tabs could get someone a decent room in the lower sections of the city for a night, provided they weren’t particularly picky.

The problem was that Tabs became increasingly impractical once someone started dealing with anything actually valuable.

Linden was enormous, and the farther upward one travelled through the city, the wealthier everything became.

There was better housing, better food, better equipment, better services. Basically, better everything, and considerably higher prices.

For expensive transactions, people used a virtual currency called Nexus Coins.

One Nexus Coin was worth a thousand Tabs.

At first, Frost had thought that sounded absurd, but then he learned what things actually cost.

Weapons suitable for Evolvers could easily reach Nexus Coin prices.

Specialised armour was even worse.

Medicines, artefacts, advanced services, Evolution resources... Everything useful cost money.

A fucking lot of it.

But nothing had crushed Frost’s optimism quite as thoroughly as Rune Tomes.

A decent Rune Tome started at around a thousand Nexus Coins.

One thousand Nexus Coins.

Or, if he wanted to look at the number in the most depressing way possible...

...One million Tabs.

Frost’s expression darkened merely thinking about it.

And how much could an inexperienced Evolver expect to earn from a decent trip into the hunting grounds?

Around twenty Tabs.

That was after selling whatever materials the party managed to collect and splitting the earnings between everyone involved.

Twenty!

Frost slowly rubbed his forehead.

"Who designed this fucking economy?"