Chapter 5: The VIP Karmic Account and the Pal Who Raids Wealth Across Lifetimes
[ Countdown: 150 hours 05 minutes before dimensional convergence is complete ]
12:05 a.m., along Bueng Kaen Nakhon
After the Nila-Scaled Water Wraith's head went flying from its shoulders, Bing stood wiping the black blood from the 'rust-encrusted ritual knife' with a blade of grass. But at that very moment, something strange happened.
The thick layer of rust that had eaten away at the blade for ages began to chip and fall off on its own, like an eggshell hatching. Beneath it was jet-black metal radiating a bone-chilling aura. Ancient Khmer characters on the wooden handle flashed blood red, their pulses perfectly synchronized with Bing's heartbeat... as if the knife were thrilled to be back in the hands of its true owner.
And the instant the young man's palm touched the metal directly, the Heavenly System's holographic screen—which normally did nothing but announce stupid quests—went haywire. The red screen flickered into brilliant gold, strange characters streaming across it like rain before resolving into Thai text that made Bing draw his brows together.
[ Ding... Ding! ] [ Detected 'Divine-Tier Hardware Key'... initiating connection ] [ Verification code: spiritual-frequency match 99.99% ] [ Logging in: 'Old Karmic Merit Account' data vault (Karmic Cloud Storage) ] [ Welcome back, sir... Master. The system has successfully transferred VIP privileges and installed the Hero System in advance (Early Access) ]
The young man's eyes, freshly boosted until his Intelligence stat had gone through the roof, narrowed as if he were reading a financial statement with suspicious irregularities.
"Old Karmic Merit Account? VIP privileges? Early access?" Bing muttered. His genius-level brain rapidly connected the terms. "So this damn Heavenly System... didn't randomly choose me because I'm a good person or some kind of Chosen One. It installed me seven whole days before everyone else just because I had this knife plugged into my old-merit server?"
Before Bing could curse Heaven over its class inequality, the golden holographic screen began blinking rapidly, as if some information had leaked from deep within the database.
[ Central server warning: Prepare to force-install the 'Humanity Awakening' patch in 150 hours ] [ Awakening conditions: Based on each individual's amount of 'old merit' ] [ Resource damage assessment: Humanity will lose 2 in 6 of its population (approximately 33.33%) ] [ Cause of account suspension (death): Body disintegrates from being unable to withstand the influx of old merit 15% / Devoured by monsters during the interruption 18.33% ] [ Heavenly note: Losses are considered a process for screening out souls of insufficient quality according to standards... ]
The message vanished, and the System returned to its normal red screen, as if an admin had just realized they'd accidentally sent a confidential document to a user.
But for Bing... the whole world had just stopped spinning for a moment.
The figure 33.33% wasn't just a statistic on a page. It meant that seven days from now, when the sky collapsed and the dimensions split apart, the Heavenly System wasn't coming to save anyone. It was going to forcibly shove power into everyone on Earth... Those with plenty of merit would survive. Those whose bodies couldn't handle it would burst and die. Or they'd be carried off and eaten by monsters while the patch was loading!
The only fear that shot straight into Bing's heart wasn't the world's final hour... It was the face of the heavyset woman who liked to scream at him at four in the morning.
"Mae Wilit..."
Bing clenched the ritual knife's handle until his knuckles turned white. In the darkness beside Bueng Kaen Nakhon, the young man didn't see himself as some mighty VIP. All he saw was the System's vile judgment, reducing his mother's life to nothing more than a 'soul awaiting screening.'
"That old bastard Grandpa Phoeng... You definitely know more than you've told me."
6:30 a.m., beneath a rain tree beside the lake
"Ow! Hot, hot, hot! Are you trying to scald my throat, you little shit?!"
Grandpa Phoeng jolted upright, hollering as he slapped away the piping-hot bag of soy milk Bing had deliberately pressed against his cheek to wake him. Bing stood with his arms folded, brows knotted, staring at the vagrant as he sat up and scratched his head vigorously.
"Good, you're awake... Spill everything, Grandpa." Bing got straight to the point without any introduction. He drew the enchanted ritual knife, its blade now jet black and free of rust, and held it before the old man's face. "The damn Heavenly System let everything slip last night. It said this knife belongs to me and that it's what connects me to my old-merit account. It also said that when Hell breaks loose, two in six people will die from the forced awakening... Who the hell are you, Grandpa?"
Grandpa Phoeng froze, the soy milk bag in his hand going still. The old man let out a long sigh. The playful, lunatic glint in his eyes faded, replaced by a razor-sharp gaze filled with thousands of years of memories. He straightened his ragged clothes before sitting up straight.
"Since the magic has recognized its master, I have no reason to keep hiding it..." Grandpa Phoeng spoke in a deep, powerful voice, like an ancient warrior. "Yes, that knife belongs to you... and I am the guardian who has watched over it for all eternity."
The old man pointed at Bing. "You and I... We are fellow travelers bound by fate, fighting our way through the hell realms and crossing the cycle of rebirth together across many lifetimes! You once stood at the very pinnacle, but after you exhausted all your 'karmic merit' in the last battle, you fell and were reborn as an ordinary human. So I cast aside my dignity, endured the sun and rain as a vagrant, and waited for my beloved friend to take up his signature weapon once more!"
The air around Grandpa Phoeng grew grand and magnificent, as though an orchestral soundtrack were swelling behind the scene. Morning sunlight poured over his wrinkled face, weathered yet radiant with honor.
Bing stood motionless until the speech ended. He blinked several times, his genius-level brain processing the entire epic tale. Then he let out a long, drawn-out sigh, pulled out the slingshot he carried, and fired a pebble into Grandpa Phoeng's shin with a solid thunk!
"Ow! Why'd you shoot me, you little punk, Bing?!" The grandeur collapsed in an instant.
"Fellow travelers bound by fate across multiple lifetimes, my ass!" Bing pointed at him and unleashed a tirade. "So you've been mooching off me since our last life and all the way into this one, huh, Grandpa? No wonder I was born without a penny in savings this time around. You blew through my assets back in the Ayutthaya era, didn't you? And now you've got the nerve to come eat free curry and rice every morning! Give me back my mixed-in basil pork, you parasitic old bastard!"
"You little shit! I was building up a touching, legendary moment, and you had to start calculating the cost of your curry and rice?!" Grandpa Phoeng rubbed his shin gingerly. "I watched over your knife for you! Don't you see my sacrifice?!"
"What bullshit sacrifice? If I was so great in my last life, with enough karmic merit to fill the sky, why didn't you whisper in my ear before I died to leave myself a stock portfolio, some bonds, or a prime piece of land along Mittraphap Road?! All I got was a black knife for chopping pork... Don't you know old merit can't scan a QR code to pay the electric bill?!"
Grandpa Phoeng's mouth fell open. He had no answer to his old friend's dead-eyed capitalist logic.
Bing shook his head, lowered the knife, and changed to a serious expression. The young man's gaze turned so cold that even Grandpa Phoeng secretly got goosebumps.
"Forget the past lives. I don't care who I used to be..." Bing looked straight into Grandpa Phoeng's eyes. "But the part about two in six people dying... My mom isn't going to be one of those shitty statistics, is she?"
Grandpa Phoeng was silent for a moment before answering grimly. "The Heavenly System evaluates people according to their 'capital,' Bing... Your mother is just an ordinary curry-and-rice vendor. She doesn't have a magical bloodline or ancient karmic merit like you do. When the sky collapses and those bastards up above forcibly shove power into everyone in the world... your mother's body might not be able to withstand the impact."
"Then I need to prepare." Bing cut in immediately, without a trace of hesitation. "I've got seven days, and this early VIP System gives me an advantage over everyone else... I'm going to wipe out every monster around Khon Kaen. I'll collect their drops and magic items, then inscribe modifications into the curry-and-rice shop and turn it into the strongest fortress there is."
Bing turned and walked back toward the curry-and-rice shop, leaving Grandpa Phoeng watching him with a faint smile.
"If Heaven's going to be that damn greedy, I'll use this brain of mine... I'll outsmart God and protect my mom's curry pots myself."