Races: Online

Needless to say, Han Jing barely escaped the older lady's wrath by a hairbreadth. Regardless of his newfound Skills, the man knew it was still trouble to get on the bad side of his landlady, he may have physical enhancements but he was still sure that he didn't have any money in his pockets.

Han Jing wasn't sure why exactly he was heading back home in the first place—just that he needed to get away from Mou Gu's place and consider more about the actual impact of what was happening right now. Once he placed his back against the door of his house, Han Jing flicked the light switch on… and there were no lights.

"Dang, we're behind the electricity bill—it's a good thing that Madam Dongxia didn't chew me out on that." The older lady was strict in regards to this, despite the fact that their own apartment management was lacking. "Anyway… now I feel bad." Han Jing rubbed his face and now understood why his mother was gone.

She was out trying to pay their bills.

"Should have given her the rest of the money in my account." He muttered as he pulled out his phone, and noticed that the Moderator Peach had replied in the RUN messaging app. Han Jing checked the message.

Han: There's mana in the world right?

Peach: Duh!

It was equivalent to 'Of course there's mana in this world dumdum.' Han Jing felt his face twitch at the reply. She wasn't as helpful as he thought she would be right now—although she didn't actually need to do that much? Maybe he was relying on her too hard. "But she's the only one who knows about my situation." Not that it was exactly a good thing. Damn Races: Online tracking all of their Players, it was invasive! But he had already moved past it, instead he decided to see it as a boon.

He didn't need to beat around the bush.

And yet whether she answered briefly or not was something that he did not control. But if there was mana, Han Jing rubbed his chin and thought about it. "Is Mou Gu a Wizard?" He was trying to recreate the same tone as the one he'd seen in that movie and failed. He also needed to consider it seriously.

"Pink hair, green eyes—what if those were natural traits of some kind of 'Witch Boy'." Han Jing said it aloud and then slapped a hand over his face. "A smaller man who defeated me despite me having… 10% efficiency with my Skills?" The number was small but he was pretty sure that it would give him an edge against other regular people.

"Other people? What am I going to be—some kind of hero vigilante? Pfft." He snorted as he thanked the Moderator and asked her about the 'Soul Calibration' and 'Synchronization' thing. "I mean, probably I could be a wrestler or a boxer? Join some kind of underground fighting arena? Maybe I can earn money?" Han Jing was thinking too hard about superheroes right now. "It's not like I have an uncle or something…"

The man thumped himself in the chest at the horrid last part.

The young man stared at his phone screen and waited for a reply… the Moderator seemed busy. Han Jing continued to talk to himself to fill in the silence of his apartment, he doubted that there were any eavesdroppers or that people were even in their own rooms. Most would be studying or at their work.

That was a slight jab in his own part.

"I need to worry about the other Human Players, didn't the Moderator say she was going to try and contact other Moderators so I can talk with them?" Will the Moderator actually keep their word or would they wait until he forgot about it—because he nearly did. Which was bad but there was a worse scenario in his mind. "I wouldn't want to see the news of some 'super-human' caught by authorities since they thought they could do anything and showed off their Skills—heck, I can see some of them as Mages."

Obviously Han Jing wasn't going to do anything stupid like that.

Except he had already sparred with Mou Gu. Han Jing scratched the back of his head and defended his own actions, that guy wouldn't think of it too hard. "I'll probably avoid seeing him too—I mean, it's not suspicious at all. My Skills aren't the flashy kind, it would have freaked the guy out if I tried to use Telepathy. Although I need to work on that more, can't actually tell if it works… wait, Madam Dongxia had that nasty cat in her place."

Han Jing looked up from his phone and focused on his bed, specifically the pillow—for five seconds and stopped. He wasn't sure if he could learn or even train Skills while he was here in his world and not being 'Han'. Should he ask—

"Nope, I already asked her once. What if she gets annoyed with all my questions… maybe I'd ask the Wood Elf once I log in. Wait, I can contact them without free-reign mode." The guy owed him at least this much, he kind of saved his virtual daughter? He had saved Ellynn.

Or both of them helped one another.

Han Jing plugged in his earphones and logged into Races: Online via Mobile Version. The familiar opening sequence appeared in front of him.

'Welcome back, Han the Human. You are currently inside one of the available rooms in Dewrowan Tower. Territory of the Human King Indrus Sargon.'

'Races: Online World Time is 23:17'

His 'Soul Waves' were really helping him a lot in making sure that Han didn't end up getting kicked out of the Academy didn't it? He had questions about what had happened in the secret library when he told the Mage that the other more secret library's entrance was destroyed—but he'd receive the complete memory of it once he logged in via Free-Reign Mode. For now, Han Jing pressed the buttons on his screen and arrived in the Alliance Menu.

He sent the Wood Elf a short message.

'Hey, I already saved your daughter. She's fine now so you can thank me by answering my question: We all have Soul Synchronization that allows us to get the Skills we have in the simulation right? Can we start learning actual Skills in our own lives? Also uh, if you have any other reward for saving your daughter—I'd still accept it, of course. You can almost say I saved a damsel in distress eh?'

He was shameless, but every bit counts. The Wood Elf said he had no weapons to give but what if he had a useful Spell? Han Jing remembered him casting some kind of Final Spell that involved a gigantic wooden spear. Something like that was teachable right? They were in an Alliance so, of course, they needed to mutually benefit from this. Maybe it was something he could learn. If not him then maybe Timothy could—wait, what if this guy had some sort of Ancient Tree which was perfect for wands? 

He wouldn't ask it right now, but he'd probe on it later.

Han Jing waited a bit for their reply and wondered about the time differences between the simulation and the actual place the Wood Elf was living in. What were the chances that this guy actually lived in some kind of forest nearby? He still doubted it, but that was food for the thought. "So I got the Skills, with some kind of restriction or efficiency limit and yet I almost forgot about this—Inventory!"

He reached his hand out.

And grasped thin air.

The man lowered his hand and frowned at his palm, "Maybe they'll add the feature later? I guess we can't have everything all at once." The Skills were amazing no doubt. Heck, if he leveled up some more, who knew what was possible? Han Jing still couldn't believe it, but that Inventory truly would have been a top-notch thing to have. "If I continued my class as a Rogue then I could possibly learn a thieving skill that could bypass security cameras—wait, no. I'm not stealing things." He slapped a hand over his face.

But if he didn't… someone else might do it.

Han Jing frowned, "Might, just might do it. I'm not completely sure about that happening, but I don't know a thing about the other Human Players." He glanced at his phone and wished that either Peach or the Wood Elf replied now. "But how bad could the other Players be? I mean, I managed to get chosen so…"

Okay.

If he got chosen, how worse could the other Players be?

"Dang, the possibility of someone with the chuuni disease is possible, maybe an edgelord? Fuck that, this is every person's wet dream, Jing." He rubbed his forehead. Now he had another thing on his plate besides logging in everyday in Races: Online. The Moderator was hesitant before to provide the information about the other Players—or rather had skipped it til he asked. 

Did they purposely neglect it?

He let out a heavy sigh. Han Jing would have been content to live in the world of Races: Online as Han and have fun with it. The world there was his oyster and he could do it while he was asleep. Now that was a dream. The benefits of gaining the actual Skills in his own world was the cherry on top, but whether he liked it or not—this feature changed the world.

And he wasn't the only one who received this. 

"Man, I feel like I opened the Pandora's Box right now."