A look of shock and confusion appeared on Rufus's face as he realized Victor was telling the truth, and the strange phenomenon disappeared as quickly as it came.
"So you really weren't lying, huh?" Rufus revealed an apologetic look. "Sorry about that. People keep trying to play me, so I have a short temper when it comes to situations like that. Looks like I jumped the gun this time. First time it's happened. So how did you manage to lose 2 shards that quickly? Those are quite precious, you know?"
In response, Victor just silently glared at Rufus from the floor, not even bothering to respond.
'Why were all these transfer students so violent?' Victor lampooned.
When Rufus realized Victor was planning on staying silent, he opened his mouth again, seemingly feeling bad.
"You're probably wondering what the deal is with all us transfer students, and as a form of apology, I'll explain. As you know, all of us transfers were born on other planets. In fact, most of us have never seen each other before today, and we were sourced from all over the Velron Alliance. These nursery planets happen to be the best environment for us to advance our abilities to the next rank."
"Here?" Victor couldn't help but question before he instantly regretted it, causing a sharp pain in his chest. But he was quite curious about the situation off-planet, and who better to ask than someone from beyond the stars?
"Wait, I have something to help you." Rufus said as he handed over some painkillers in the form of pills, which Victor downed. He could feel the pain in his chest fade, making it much easier to walk and talk.
"We still have to get you healed, though, so I'll explain things while we walk." Rufus explained this while giving Victor a strange look as he led the way to the treatment center. "Haven't you heard you should never take pills from strangers?"
"No?" Victor tilted his head in confusion, causing Rufus to just stare at him blankly. "Most of us here all just awakened our abilities yesterday. It's probably going to take another month for most of us to gather enough white shards and saturate our components. Is that really considered fast?"
Rufus scoffed in response. "You think that isn't fast? Transfers like us have worked our entire lives, and we still haven't reached the second rank. Even I still haven't reached 300. But here, they give away white shards like candy. Honestly, five shards a day is ludicrous."
"What? How many shards do you need to advance to the next level?" Victor asked in confusion.
"No one really knows, but the general consensus seems to be around 500 shards to guarantee evolution. There are two steps. Usually the first half of shards is made of free shards for saturating your components, while the second half is for attuned shards to choose the direction of your evolution. Most people have to gather attuned ability shards that match their inclinations, which is difficult in and of itself."
At this point the gears in Victor's head started turning. "So, if five shards per day is a lot, why would they give us so many for free?"
At this point Rufus started to look a little annoyed. "If you stopped interrupting, I'd explain everything."
"Why are you receiving shards for free? It's because all of us in here are a type of investment. The members of the Velron Alliance are all collectively looking for talents to keep up with their rivals. But white-rank ability users are protected by the system's rules, so they can only be recruited when they advance to the next rank. Due to those same rules, white-rank users can only face those of the same level in any type of game. Yet the white-rank population holds the least amount of shards, so oftentimes you can win without earning any reward. In the end, White rankers must earn shards by completing single-player games. Those refer to events that often involve the person reaching a personal milestone or accomplishing a difficult goal."
"However, where I come from such achievements are usually never celebrated unless you want to have a target on your back. Earning shards was so infrequent that most people rarely had more than two free shards at a time unless they had managed to saturate their abilities, which usually happens at around 16 years old. When you reach that stage, it is even more difficult to find resources to advance, mostly because people often apply to head to the nurseries the moment their components are saturated, and there aren't that many people left she can trade attuned shards with, much less ones that you want. Fun fact: almost everybody above the age of 20 is at the yellow rank at least."
"Fortunately, this place was specifically built as a sort of tutorial zone for white ranks in our star nation. With an abundance of shards, all donated from the Velron Great 8, and a great number of people with a variety of abilities, almost everyone has the potential to launch themselves to the heavens if they play their cards right."
The Velron Great 8 were the eight largest organizations that basically ran the alliance. Hearing them mentioned, Victor couldn't help but interrupt. "Wait, so you had your ability basically since you were born, and you were training it since? Could they not have donated the white shards directly to you and allowed you guys to rank up earlier?"
Rufus paused for a second. "Yes and no. They aren't able to give us shards directly. Only a parent or a donor can transfer an ability shard to a white rank. And only the lowest-level shards. It is entirely possible that shards could be sent to my parents, who could then transfer them to me. However, there are several reasons why the Great 8 typically avoid doing this. The primary reason is that it is more advantageous for them if we come here."
"How does that make sense?" Victor asked.
"Well, the goal of this planet is to create talents. But they don't want the type of people who are useless and will crack under pressure. So that's where we come in. The delinquents and bad apples from the streets of the alliance are all brought here. With so many dregs brought here, chaos is bound to erupt, and you all either deal with that... or we deal with you."
Rufus shrugged. "At least, that's how it's supposed to go."
Victor shuddered. Now he understood why, on the first day, Doak and Kera dared to cause trouble and why, despite being right outside the classroom, Miss Mallor seemed not to hear any of the fighting that happened. It was because everyone besides them was in on this secret.
"The dregs are brought here? What about the other people?"
Rufus scoffed. "Don't worry about it. Needless to say, they got other safer options where they don't need to take risks like this."
Sensing Rufus didn't want to talk about it, Victor then asked another question he was curious about. "Why didn't they let us know abilities exist until yesterday?"
It was then that shock appeared on Rufus's face for the first time. "They didn't tell you until yesterday? That is so surreal to me. I always heard rumors about the strange culture of those raised here. But everyone I asked has no idea why it was made this way."
It appears that the way they were raised and how their abilities were awakened is considered strange and completely foreign, yet no one could tell him the reason behind it. Victor felt something strange was going on, but he had no answers.
Although he was unsatisfied with that answer, Victor really could only move on. "Why did Doak give up so easily? It seemed like he had a trump card."
"He was trying to hide his ability." Rufus answered nonchalantly.
"Wait, wasn't his skin so hard because he activated his ability?"
"He has body-hardening tattoos. One thing you will learn soon is that a powerful ability is not the only path to strength in this world." Rufus said mysteriously. "Most of the transfer students each have their own special little tricks."
At this point the pair had almost reached the medical center, so Rufus decided it was time to wrap up their conversation.
"You still owe me two shards, but here's the deal. I'll give you another option to pay off your debt. Just answer a couple of my questions about this school, and as long as you tell the truth, your debt will be clear. Consider it an info exchange."
A menu then appeared in front of Victor's eyes.
[Clear Debts]
[Description: Rufus has offered a chance to exchange his entitled rewards for another option.]
[Price: A Truthful Answer]
[Rewards: Removing 1 White Ability Promotion Shard from your debt]
'Huh so you can use a game like this...' Upon seeing the menu in front of him, Victor was tempted to reject the offer. However, remembering how friendly Rufus had been since they met, he decided that accepting it would be an easy and low-cost way to clear his debt. It was not like he had any secrets.
Victor quickly accepted the offer, prompting Rufus to flash a smile.
"So, how did you get rid of two white shards so fast?"
In that moment Victor realized he made a mistake. He did, in fact, have a secret. Actually, every student simultaneously gained one yesterday.
'Ah shit, he's asking about my ability.'