Money.

The universally sought out tool used to exchange goods. If you talk about money, you also need to talk about currency, the generally accepted system of money used in a country or state. Currency could come in many forms as seen through history such as rock, metal, or paper. Currently the accepted form of money is an electronic currency known as credits.

And Seth’s bank account was 500 credits less starting from today.

Seth’s heart was breaking at the purchase. When he had bought his phone to the store to check, the clerk that he had met had announced the phone was useless. Apparently, the electricity that Mr. White had released had fried everything in the phone, making it inoperable. Thankfully most of the information on Seth’s phone was backed on the net.

Unfortunately, he had to buy a completely new phone so that information he wanted to restore had a place to go.

There goes a year of saving. Seth sigh as he walks out of the store and headed towards the park. His parents gave him allowance, but it wasn’t much, and he saved what he could. Seth had looked for a few part-time jobs but was unsuccessful. His town was small and open part-time jobs were taken quickly.

After ten minutes of walking, Seth quickly made his way to the familiar hills of the park where his master hid. They looked lonely as ever, his master aura scaring away anyone passing by. According to his Master, people would feel a sense of unease the closer they are toward the hills. Even during a weekend when the park is teeming with people, the hills were desolate and left alone. As long as no one saw him enter the rift from afar, nobody would be able to find Seth’s Master hid.

…

“...and that’s what happened. What do you think Master?”

“... You were lucky,” Master said when Seth explained what happened the night before.

“What do you mean by ‘lucky’? What could I have done Master?” Seth asked, currently sat with his kneels folded. “Everything I tried was useless against Mr. White. “

“Everything? Obviously, you have not tried everything. If you had, you would not have been knocked around so easily. At the least you could have escape without him too much effort. Allowing yourself to be captured so easily was your first mistake. You were caught off guard too easily and I taught you better than that. If this ‘Mr. White’ had wanted to kill you, he could have on the first move instead of ambushing your opponent. In fact, he could have easily dealt with both of you on the first blow at the same time and both of you would be dead without knowing why.”

“Second you didn’t bother on trying to escape. You could have used the monkey as bait and run away. If you had ran back to the arena, you would have more people to aid you. If you had avoided capture, you would have more tools on hand to aid you.”

Third, if you were trying to blind him, then you should have thrown dirt at his eyes. You had a golden opportunity and you wasted it. That was the only chance you had of taking your opponent down and it was wasted... “

Seth could only sit in silence and let his master's words sink in. His master analysis of options was quite cold hearted. The explanation of Seth’s failures was continuing, but his Master must have thought it was pointless to keep listing his mistakes.

“There’s more to comment about all your blunders, but do you know what your biggest mistake was? It was when you let him have the first move. You were dead the moment you were grabbed. How long did he hold you?”

“I don’t know... probably ten seconds, give or take?”

“And in those ten seconds, he could have killed you over ten times. It takes less than a second to kill a person. He led you by the nose all along.

Seth could only sit in silence, deciding It was best to stay quiet and accept all the criticism Master gave. He didn’t want to increase the tongue lashing his Master was giving. In the end, it was decided that Seth needed to go back to the basics.

...

It was only after hours of training that his master criticism ended, and Seth was released from his grueling training. When he had just left the park, his newly updated phone began ringing. The caller ID was unknown. It did not look like a spam call, so Seth answered.

“Hi, am I speaking to Seth Colls?” A female voice came through.

“Yes..um..who is this?” asked a bewildered Seth.

“ My name is Sheila and I work for the Federation. I am making this call in regard to scheduling an appointment for you. Would Monday at four be convenient for you?”

“Uhh. Sorry, I’m not sure I know what you mean? I don’t remember anything about setting up an appointment with the Federation.” Seth mind whirled at the words. Interview? Federation?

“My apologies. I was told to schedule this call due to a certain person. This is for the interview for an internship with the Federation. I was told if I mention ’Mr. White’ that would clarify matters.”

Seth mind snap to attention. If Mr. White was truly part of the Federation, then there was really only one answer he could give. "Yes, Monday at four is good for me.”

“Excellent. Your interview has been scheduled. Please wear attire that you will be comfortable with for combat purposes. If you have a preferred weapon of choice, please bring it along. Thank you for your time and have a wonderful day.”

Immediately after the call ended, Seth did a U-turn, right back to the park to consult with his master.