"It's only 50 merits to create a Membership card."

Merit.

Imagine a world where academic achievement was not just recognized, but also rewarded with a special currency called merit.

Think of merit as sparkling gems that symbolized a student's hard work, dedication, and intellectual prowess.

In this world, in every academy, earning merit points was no easy feat.

It required students to go above and beyond the expectations of their professors and instructors, and prove their academic mettle through various tasks and challenges. From submitting assignments on time to acing difficult exams and various missions, every effort counted towards accumulating this precious currency.

But what made merit truly special was its power to unlock a range of benefits and privileges.

Just like in a game, students could exchange their merit for valuable rewards, such as library membership that granted access to exclusive floors filled with rare books and scrolls containing powerful techniques.

The more merit a student has, the greater the rewards they could earn.

From Bronze Membership to Diamond Membership, each level of library membership offered access to a wider range of resources and knowledge.

But that's not all.

Merit points could also be exchanged for other things such as Cred, Skill Books, Technique Scrolls, and many things.

In short, merit was points that have various benefits and it was awarded to students upon evaluation of the task they completed.

Currently, I have like 343 merit points.

Which I got from various sources. 100 merits from Neophyte Nexus, 150 merits from Practice Hunt; 100 merits for scoring first place in group ranking, and 50 merits for scoring third rank in individual ranking. And 93 merits from academic class; professor's bonus, task & assignments, etc.

If you ever wondered was 343 merit points a lot, then the answer is yes. 343 merit points in the first month of the academic year is a lot.

I could exchange them for 343k Creds. But that won't be necessary as I already had enough money.

Instead, I would use them for a library membership card!

"A silver membership card, please!"

Library Membership Card was one of the essential items to invest your merit points.

With Library Membership Card, you could browse books on a higher floor level. The library's first and second floor was where common and ordinary books were placed. Beyond the second floor was where the rarest books were.

The rarest books included lost literature, information or journal book about ancient sites, and such. There were even skill books and scroll techniques ranging from <F> to <E> rank.

The Library Membership Card had four ranks. Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Diamond.

The bronze card was the basic, students with this card could only access the books from the first floor and second floor. Next, the silver card, with the privilege to access the first floor to the fourth floor. The gold card could access up to the sixth floor. Lastly, the diamond card could access up to the eighth floor.

"300 merits have been deducted from your student ID. Here is your membership card!" said the receptionist while he handed the card with silvery decorations.

I received the card with a smile–A smile that hid a thousand emotions.

The price for a card was no joke. The bronze only cost you 50 merits but the silver card cost 300 merits. And if I remembered correctly, the price for gold and diamond was 1000 and 4500 respectively.

It would be impossible for the first-year to reach that number as there were not many practical lessons and missions given to the first-year students that could serve as mining fields for merit.

I would start getting a bunch of them only after I became a second year, and once I got them, buying a diamond card and high rank skill books and techniques would be a piece of cake.

"Haaa. If only I had a time-skip power.."

Complaining was easy, but it won't make things better.

Looking ahead, I took a deep breath and began to walk upstairs.

I didn't find Ember on the first floor or the second floor. So she was either on the third floor or the fourth floor. The possibility of her being on a higher floor than that was impossible.

Even though she was Nuria's granddaughter, there was no way she would be given that much privilege of bypassing the library's level.

I arrived on the third floor. Looking around, I noticed that this floor's inhabitant was mostly second-year students.

'She's not here either..'

Then, she was probably on the fourth floor.

As I was about to take off from this floor, someone called me. They called me, but it didn't being caught by my ears but my brain. A telepath.

— [Hey, first year!]

There was no other first-year student here other than me, so I was a hundred percent sure that they were calling me.

As much as I wanted to ignore them, I couldn't help myself but turn around and look for the voice's owner.

— ["Right here!"]

I found them. They were sitting on the mid-sized round table for 6 people, but only 5 seats were occupied. One of them was a familiar face, waving at me with an expressive smile.

He was Ember's opponent in the Neophyte Nexus. The second year's first place. Noah Alfonso.

'What does he want from me?'

The other second-year students were sometimes peeking at me as I walked past them. Murmurs began to break the silence in the library, but it was not for long. When I reached Noah's table, the murmur stopped and the third floor went quiet again as everyone's attention was back to their original activities.

"Yo, junior. What are you doing here? Did you just spend 300 merits for library membership in the first month?"

There was no mocking tone in his voice, the other fours too, they kept silent as they..

Wait.

'Are they seriously playing a card game here?!'

Taking notice of my attention to the card on the table, Noah smirked.

"Never mind my question earlier. More importantly, do you want to join us playing poker here?"

On the table, cards were scattered, each with different values and suits.

"What do you think? We also do bet, in case you want to increase your merit back."

I hesitated for a moment, unsure if it was appropriate to play cards in the library. But as I looked around, I noticed that no one seemed to mind.

'I only have like 43 merits left. This would be a good chance to get it without much hard work.'

He would never know. They would never know. I was not sure how this poker worked, and I had always wanted to play it. This could be my chance to learn a thing or two about it.

"Sure, I'll play."

I knew that my chance to win was zero, but I decided to take Noah up on his offer.

"But. This is my first time playing, can we start from the tutorial for new players first?"

"Sure, sure, yeah. Let's do that!"

Everyone said in a cheerful tone yet managed to keep the voice low.

"So you need to put this here.."

"Throw away the card that you don't need.."

"Sort and search.."

As they explained how the game worked, I slowly and surely understood the basic of this game. Then, after a few free rounds, I had already grasped how to play this game.

Before, my chance of winning was zero. Now, it had increased to ten. That was if I played it in a 'right' way.

Did you think that by playing a card game with betting like this, anyone would play it in the 'right' way?

No. They wouldn't. I was a hundred percent sure they were going to cheat.

And so that was what I did too. The ten percent win would increase more to 50%. No. 99% chance with my Clairvoyance!

Noah shuffled the deck and dealt the cards.

"Five-card draw," he said.

I nodded, trying to act as nonchalant as I could.

The game had started, and everyone was focused on their cards.

I looked at my hand and quickly scanned through the other players' cards.

'Now, let's see what they have..'

I activated my Clairvoyance and the object's information began to pop up, filling my vision.

'Hoo.. this will be fun.'

Noah bet 20 merits, and the other players followed.historical

'Hmm, let's raise the bet.'

It was my turn, and I decided to raise it to 40 merits, pretending to have a good hand. The other players hesitated, but eventually, they all followed my bet.

We exchanged cards, and I got lucky (not really) with my draw, getting a full house.

"Flush."

"Three-of-a-Kind.."

"Sh!t!"

As we revealed our cards, I could see the disappointment on the other player's faces as they saw my cards.

"Full house!"

I had won the round.

"Again!"

Someone shouted, and the game continued.

We continued playing, and I kept winning round after round.

"Four of a kind!"

As the game went on.

"Straight flush!!"

My cards would only be getting higher and higher.

"Royal flush!!!"

My Clairvoyance gave me an edge that no one could match.

"Well, that's enough for today, I think."

Noah and the others scratched their hair, looking like they wanted to rip apart those hairs from their heads.

I had won over 800 merits in a few hours. What was even this game?

"Senior, thank you for today. Take this, a fee for teaching me how to play this game."

800 merits. Not in a month, or not even in a week, but in a few hours!

The professors and instructors would obviously be suspicious of me. If they knew I got all of that from gambling and betting with my seniors, I would be dead! They wouldn't even consider that I got them from merit's duel which was an official way to get merit from the other's student if you'd won.

It was better to give some to them back to avoid suspicion.

Just like when one sent money from their bank account, the way merit could be transferred to someone's ID too was the same.

So, at the end of the day, I only brought back 500 merits with me.

I knew that was such a dumb move, but I couldn't help it if I wanted to avoid punishment from the academy.

"Then, excuse me."

"Wait, junior. Where are you heading?"

I paused.

"To the fourth floor."

"I see, good luck with your studies!"

With that, I was back to my original goal.

Looking for Ember.