Chapter 51: Shopping

Elena and Marcus were eating at a restaurant, thinking about Logan.

"You don’t think... that Logan is that Player L, right?" Elena said it slowly.

"Him?" Marcus scoffed, but his eyes carried clear doubt underneath it, and something else too, like he already had part of an answer.

"You checked the timing?" Elena asked.

"I did." Marcus muttered. "The Floor One leaderboard changed about a minute before we saw him. Like he’d just finished a match right then, and the board updated because of it."

"Then it’s really him." Elena’s eyes glinted.

Marcus frowned. "But how’s that even possible? Most of our classmates had their bases wiped out by Player L’s army of Mythic-rank summons. Nobody even got a look at his face."

"But he didn’t have a Talent. His class was Normal-rank Caretaker." Elena clicked her tongue. "Maybe it’s just a coincidence. Maybe Logan lost his first match early and jumped straight into a second one right after."

"Maybe. Who cares either way." Marcus shook his head. "If he really is Player L, we’ll find out eventually. Nobody that strong stays unknown for long."

---

"You want to be seen as Leon Flanke, since you’re making a public appearance with me." Alice smiled and pulled a pure white mask out of her storage ring.

"I use this a lot to change my appearance. My parents have made some enemies over the years, so I have to be careful."

Logan took it and turned it over once. ’So she has to live hiding too. But with this, she gets to hide in plain sight instead.’

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[ Myriad Appearance Mask (Tier-7/Epic) ]

Change the face, body, height, and everything else according to your desire.

```

"Don’t you want to use it too?" Logan asked. "I’ve got a mask already, but it’s nowhere near this good."

Alice pulled out a second Myriad Appearance Mask and put it on, hair shifting purple and eyes turning gold in the same breath.

"I see." Logan nodded and put his on as well.

An appearance-editing interface opened in his mind the second it settled into place.

"Pick your specs, and save the profile as Leon Flanke."

Logan worked through the options, and the man looking back at him by the end of it had black hair instead of silver-white, a sharper jawline, and honey-colored eyes.

He kept the rest of it exactly the same. Height, weight, everything else.

The muscle underneath had come from five years of actual training. He wasn’t about to fake that part.

"Perfect." Alice looked him over and grinned.

There was no need to change the aircraft either. It was a common enough model among players, sold by one of the bigger companies for fifty Tier Points, nothing that would stand out or trace back to her.

"Here we are."

Nebula City sprawled out beneath them as the aircraft descended, towers of glass and steel packed close together, streets full of players moving between storefronts that sold things Logan had never even considered might be for sale.

The Player Trading Hub sat at the center of it all, a massive open-air market stretching for what looked like several city blocks, stalls and proper storefronts mixed together under a domed ceiling that let real sunlight through.

"Oh, by the way," Alice said it casually, like it wasn’t a big deal at all. "My parents are actually here today too. Some big deal they’re working on."

Logan felt his stomach do a slow drop. "Your parents. Here. Today."

"Relax." Alice patted his arm. "They’re chill. Mostly."

"Mostly," Logan repeated it flatly.

He pushed the thought aside for now and focused on what he’d actually come here to do.

’Five thousand Tier Points. That’s the budget.’

He found what he needed in a shop three stalls down, shelves lined with materials sorted by rank, prices climbing steeply the higher up the shelf his eyes went.

He bought Epic-rank ore first, ten dense grey stones that hummed faintly under his fingers, cheap enough individually that the shopkeeper barely looked up from restocking a shelf.

Then four pieces of Legendary-rank crystal, veins of gold running through something that looked more like frozen light than rock.

Then, carefully, three pieces of something Mythic-rank, small enough to fit in one palm each but priced high enough that the shopkeeper actually paid attention this time.

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[ 4,900 Tier Points spent ]

```

"Synthia’s going to have fun with all that." Alice peered over his shoulder at the haul.

"That’s the plan." Logan grinned, already thinking about what she could make out of it. "And I should be able to make double the amount after selling the products."

They found a coffee shop tucked into a quieter corner of the Hub once the shopping was done, small tables spread out under an awning that kept most of the crowd noise at a comfortable distance.

Alice slid into the seat across from him, stirring something that smelled sweeter than coffee had any business smelling.

"This is going well." She said it with a satisfied little smile. "The date, I mean."

"This is a date?" Logan raised an eyebrow.

"Everything’s a date if I say it is." Alice grinned over the rim of her cup.

She was still grinning when two figures approached the table from across the courtyard, and Logan didn’t need an introduction to guess who they were. One shared the hair colour with Alice, and another shared eyes.

"There she is." Alice’s father dropped into the seat beside his daughter without waiting for an invitation. "And this must be the famous Leon."

Alice’s mother took the last open seat, studying Logan with the same sharp, appraising look she’d had even through a hologram.

"So." Her father leaned forward, entirely too serious for what came out of his mouth next. "You doing alright, son? She hasn’t hurt you yet, has she?"

"Dad." Alice groaned.

"I’m just asking." He held both hands up, entirely too pleased with himself. "She’s got a track record."

"I do not have a track record."

"You absolutely have a track record. Remember that time when you threw cow poop on-"

"Mom!"

Logan sat there, watching the two of them bicker like this was a conversation they’d had a hundred times before, and found himself grinning despite everything.

’Chill people.’ He glanced at Alice, still arguing her case with her father. ’Guess that runs in the family.’