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"Hope there's something good in here…" Riku said as he laid his hand on the bronze chest, eyes gleaming with anticipation.
In an instant, the chest popped open, revealing a glowing orb.
Ding!
Congratulations, you've opened a Bronze Chest and received a Basic Genetic Enhancement Serum.
Ding!Item detected: Basic Genetic Serum. Value: 500 Exchange Points. Recycle?
"A basic gene serum, huh? Not bad," Riku exhaled in relief and replied to the system in his mind, "Don't recycle."
Only an idiot would throw away something that useful.
Following the instructions, he stabbed the sharp injector straight into his heart and pushed the serum in.
Even though the pain was excruciating, Riku just frowned and gritted his teeth—injecting every last drop without making a sound.
When he finally pulled the needle out, his face flushed deep red. The serum, now circulating with the force of his powerful heartbeat, started spreading throughout his body.
The pain was unbearable. He clenched onto a nearby rock, gripping it so hard his knuckles turned white.
Ten agonizing minutes later, the burning sensation finally eased.
Crack! With a casual squeeze, he crushed the rock he was holding. His grip strength had skyrocketed.
Sure, that kind of strength might've been impressive back on Earth. But in this world? It was still weak. Any random demon beast or beastman could easily kill him.
But raw power didn't matter to Riku right now. What mattered was that his body was now strong enough to use Shangri-La properly. That alone made it worth it.
"ROOOOAAARRR—!"
Suddenly, a deep, guttural roar echoed from below, making Riku jump. He looked down to see a hulking, four-meter-tall creature with bulging muscles, razor-sharp teeth, and drool dripping from its jaws stomping toward his horse.
Startled, the horse tied near the rocks whinnied nervously and tried to back away.
"I can't lose the horse." Riku's thoughts raced. Even if it was just a low-tier ogre—one of the weakest types of demon beasts—he still couldn't beat it.
But he needed that horse. If he had to travel on foot, the energy drain would be insane.
"Let's hope there aren't more of them nearby," Riku muttered, narrowing his golden eyes as he crept over to a large, round boulder.
He began calculating in his head, then gave the boulder a firm shove—adjusting his strength just enough to tilt its angle before sending it rolling down the steep slope.
BOOM—RUMBLE—CRASH!
In an instant, the boulder rolled down the slope, crashing with a huge rumble. Carrying massive momentum, it slammed right into the ogre, sending the creature flying. Blue blood splattered everywhere—dead as dead could be.
"Phew, thank god that worked," Riku let out a small sigh of relief. Even though he'd played the whole scene out in his head, it's totally normal for unexpected stuff to happen. Luckily, everything went according to plan. If it hadn't, he would've had to teleport next to the horse and then teleport again to take a different route.
Right after, Riku teleported next to the horse, calmed it down, then walked over to the now-pathetic-looking ogre corpse.
Ding!Ogre-type demon corpse detected. Can be recycled. Recycling will yield 100 exchange points.
The voice in his head made Riku smile a bit. If stuff like knives, clothes, and horses can be recycled, of course an ogre's body can too—no surprise there.
"Recycle," Riku said calmly.
In a flash, the ogre's body vanished without a trace. If it weren't for the bloodstains on the ground, Riku might've thought nothing had even happened here.
"Time to go." He glanced at the bloody ground, shook his head, and mounted his horse again, heading off toward his next destination.
That place held the wreckage of a goblin warship. Coincidentally, it was also the location of the nearest silver treasure chest.
Not long after Riku left, a few more demon-type creatures showed up at the bloodstained spot and let out furious howls toward the sky. Even with their low intelligence, they knew one of their own had been killed.
A week later, after circling around a bit, Riku managed to snag two more bronze treasure chests.
But one of them left him speechless.
One chest… had a pack of premium chewing gum.
The other was slightly better—it gave him a piece of pure starlight-type gear from The Asterisk War, called Celestial Step.
It massively boosts movement speed and even lets you walk in midair.
However, since the original version of this gear runs on Asterisk's unique star power, the system tweaked it a bit. Now, it just consumes stamina instead.
Riku was actually pretty happy with this one. Speed is life, after all—and now he could walk in the sky? That's a major bonus.
As for the fact that pure starlight-type gear usually has a consciousness of its own and demands a price from its user, well... the system just wiped that feature out.
Riku was very satisfied with that. The last thing he needed was some sentient weapon that wouldn't listen. If it won't obey, it's worse than trash.
"....."