But Kael wasn’t most Summoners.

He polished a glass with a rag that smelled of burned electronics.

He slid open a reinforced drawer beneath the counter. Inside, nestled on a bed of shredded ISO-8, were seventeen identical 3-Star Groots. Same signature level. Same dupe count. Same pathetic stats.

He tapped the datapad. The first buyer was a Collector’s proxy, a sad, hollow-eyed man who’d lost a bet. He needed a Champion so utterly worthless that his opponent would laugh, get overconfident, and throw a match in the Arena. Kael sold him the Groot for 50,000 gold. The proxy won the bet. The opponent quit the game in shame.