-Gojo-
Shock.
That was the only thing I was feeling as I stared at the elixir that was on top of the counter. Its pulsing glow and the swirling of the mystical liquid seemed entrancing as I continued to look at it.
I was mesmerized, and the owner said it wasn't even the strongest option that he had. I gulped as I continued to stare at that bottle.
"My eyes are up here you know" said the seller, Thomas, with a smile that seemed to say he knew all that was happening. It wouldn't be surprising for Gojo considering what was on the counter at the moment.
"Sorry" I shook my eyes as I stared back at the shop owner. "You said this was the weakest one you had here?" "Of course, there is the hourai elixir if you want to see that" said Thomas as he retrieved something from under the counter.
What was placed looked like an old wine jar one would see in a museum. The scent from it, which smelled very medicinal, was strong and it seemed to invigorate all that inhaled the medical fumes.
"This is the Hourai Elixir. After three drops, you become absolutely immortal, unkillable unless done by the almighty himself" said Thomas as he opened the jar and a wave of intense smells was released.
I almost reached for it before I retracted my hand. The phrase of having everything was something I always thought was a marketing trick by companies, but I guess it was truly true here. "I have another question" I asked him. "Do you have anything to nullify curse techniques?". He responded by having the most dreaded weapon that was used on me appear withing my sight.
The inverted spear of heaven.
I could remember being stabbed by that very weapon, pierced in my throat and stabbed multiple times in the legs. It was how I was able to gain access to reverse cursed technique, yet it was also the most pain I have ever felt.
"This little baby should be able to do the job" said Thomas as he ran his hand across the blade. It seemed to invoke fear in me as I ran out the door, back into the prison in which I came.
-Thomas-
'That was weird' I thought as I saw my first customer seemingly flee. It wasn't hard to put two and two together on why he ran. The weapon which sat on my counter was put away, and the immortal elixir was also banished back to which it came.
I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to get another customer for a little while so I decided to devote my time to meditation. I sat down in lotus position, began to get the breathing pattern down, and began.
It took a long time, but I was able to actually perceive light blue particles within my body, and I could trace them and make them out in the air.
Beauty.
That was a way to describe the world which seemed dotted with many a color. I then began to enact the next step. I tried to gather the particles into a cohesive shape, a core in my body to draw in magical energy and use it for spells and other things.
The particles were resistant to my touch, and even trying to expert my will over them proved futile as what little I could gather wasn't even enough for a full core. I settled with it, using what little I could gather and dispersed it through out my body, nourishing it with magical power.
I felt my body grow somewhat stronger, yet the strength gained was meager than what I could do with a core. But, I had made some progress I could be satisfied with. Rising from my position, I began to play with the meager amount of mana I had gathered.
My hand was covered in a hazy blue glow, and the mana manifested above my palm in a swirling fashion until it became a haze again and then formed a pair of ethereal wings that soared through the skies until it disipated back into motes of mana, vanishing from sight.
"Magics awesome" I muttered as I saw the blue wings vanish. Magic was quite enjoyable to use and play with. Heh, it makes it ironic that an all powerful cosmic force is being used as a plaything to keep myself busy.
The bell of the shop rung as a girl with waist length black hair came inside the shop. It appears it was raining, considering the state of her clothes and how it clung to her figure tightly. She was wearing a sunflower sunday dress, and was wearing a sun hat, despite the weather indicating she should wear otherwise.
"Hello miss" Thomas greeted kindly as he gestured to the counter that separated the store from the customers.
Her eyes, he concluded, held some miniscule fear in them as she gazed towards the door, and was seemingly scanning for an exit. Her arms were somewhat thin, yet Thomas could see the hidden radiance of energy beneath.
"Hello" she greeted slowly, as if she didn't know how to respond. 'She has a sword strapped to her back' observed Thomas, the sword also radiating magical energy. "My name is Park Salang, and I saw your shop. Do you by chance sell weapons for dungeon exploration?" asked Salang as she gazed around the shop, her eyes widened.
"So you must be looking for magic weapons" I said outloud as the wall behind me began to shift as a hall of weapons was available to me for walking through. I gazed at every sword I could see, I also saw axes, katars, and even whips strangely enough. It took a long time before I settled on a sword with some power.
"Here we are, a sword called the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi. A legendary blade given by the sun goddess to her descendants while they ruled Japan, a neat blade with powers of poison, storms, and sun" I said as I handed the blade over.
"Are you serious? Is this actually the Kusunagi?" Salang said in pure awe, for the place seemed to have her convinced. "Of course, we sell pretty much everything for a price. For this blade though, I am gonna need some hefty payment" I declared to her as she snapped back to earth.
"W-what do you want?" she asked timidly, as if I was gonna ask for the rudest thing possible. "I'm not gonna ask that, just some expensive stones, magic stones preferable, and you know, some power" I said as I touched her hand and power seemingly flowed through me, her mana which I was consuming to fill my own body for later purposes.
"What did you do?" she asked with a tired voice. "Just exacting some payment from a customer, I do have to make something you know" I said exasperated, as if she should have know. This was just an idea I came up with on the spot, having Hana help facilitate the extraction from customers so I don't have to spend hours upon hours on mana core cultivation.
Work, hard work is fine, but work smarter not harder no?
"Anyway, whats your career?" I asked her as she snapped out of what she was currently feeling, unknown to me. "I'm an A-rank hunter for South Korea, I just happened to see your shop next to the hunter association" she said as she clutched the Kusunagi in her hands.
"Oh, sounds like a nice job, hows the rank progression?" I asked her as her face looked like she was about to break some terrible news. "Well besides a rare double-awakening, your pretty much stuck at the rank you awaken at, so its considered a blessing to awaken at rank B and above."
'What terrible job progression, I may be able to exact something from her yet' I grinned as a type of nut appeared in front of me. "Well, I may be able to help you with that. This here is a mysterious nut, a nut that can increase your mana levels, which I find will be very helpful for you" I said with a grin.
She looked shocked at the information. "A way to rank up?" she whispered with caution. "Of course, feel free to test a batch of them. Of course this will require payment, in the form of information and a favor for later" I said slyly. She looked at me with a look that said 'Just that?'.
I could have gotten more, but I need returning customers so greed needs to be somewhat supressed.
"Of course!" she agreed immediately, thinking the price was somewhat cheap. "Alright, make sure to comeback now, and bring some friends!" I shouted to her as I left. 'I have a feeling she might have an interesting world' I thought with a smile as I now looked at the amount of mana I had.
'Okay, lets cultivate that core. This should be enough' I thought as I got back into my meditative position. I began to gather the mana that was accumulating in my body and was drawing it towards my sea of energy and consciousness.
I began to condense it into a sphere, a core to generate and store magical energy for spells and techniques. It took about an hour before the core began to condense into a solid existence, and I felt the warmth of mana beginning to circulate through my body.
'Success'
That was the thought that went through my head as I formed my mana core. I felt the warm energy flowing through my body, the energy flowing along the channels allowing circulation of the magical energy.
Of course, there was phase two of this plan as I gazed upon the mystical food I was about to ingest, the mysterious nut. I smiled as I felt the plan form in my mind as I began to consume them little by little.