With the boss grievously wounded, Andrew and his teammates easily finished it off and cleared the dungeon.
Outside the rift, Andrew disbanded the party and checked the Player Market, typing [Fire Bullet Diagram] in the search box.
He saw five pieces listed and immediately bought another one.
Seeing the diagram in his inventory gave him a sense of security.
'This diagram is so powerful. Was it a boss drop?'
Andrew wondered.
He returned to his apartment, eager to receive his reward.
Meanwhile, Dean woke up refreshed. He took his time lying in the bed. A feeling of liberation embraced him, as soft and warm as the [Warm Slime
Pillow].
Now he truly felt what it feels like to live. There was no urgency, no deadline, and there were abundant game coins.
Feeling pleased, he checked his Player Market dashboard and immediately saw that his Fire Bullet Diagrams were all sold.
Double the happiness, double the sleepiness. He slept for a little while and woke up nearly noon.
During dinner, he confidently spoke to his parents,
"Dad, mom, I'm rich."
Silence fell. Both couples continued eating as usual as though they heard nothing. The two children watched curiously.
Dean, while chewing a beef steak, took something out of his inventory and playfully rolled it on the table.
His mom seeing what it was, widened her eyes in astonishment.
His father, after a brief pause, recognized the object and showed the same look of astonishment as his wife.
"T-thats...is that a Mana core?"
His father asked with a shaking voice.
"Yes," Dean replied calmly.
His mother regained composure, took another look at the Mana core, and said,
"Is this what you meant by becoming rich? Though expensive, that mana core alone is not enough for you to boast of becoming " rich"
Dean grinned,
"Exactly, one Mana Core is not enough, but I can't exactly throw my game coins around, however, your son is now a Formation Master! I sell Spell Diagrams in the Player marketplace.
Just now, I just made an equivalent to 3 Mana Cores. And I am confident I can keep this up indefinitely."
In his thoughts, he added,
'Even if It doesn't sell well, I can just farm a slime, return, and live like an aristocrat for life.'
Silence pervaded the dining room again, and his dad spoke in an uncharacteristically serious voice.
"Son, you shouldn't be joking about such a matter."
'Are you serious? Please don't get my hopes high in vain.'
Dean gave him a reassuring look.
"It's true Dad."
His father's face looked relieved, and then look him in the eyes and spoke in a heavy tone.
"In that case, son, there is something you need to know..."
"...What is it?"
Dean fixed his posture, sitting upright on the chair.
"You, see, there is a new Mech King Model that was just released last month. It's called the Butterfly God Ultra, one of the strongest in the Mech King series..."
Dark lines appeared on Dean's head and he raised his hand,
" I get it, I'll buy that. I'll also leave some for Mom."
His father, with eyes almost tearing up spoke emotionally, sending shivers down Dean's spine.
" My son, when you were born, I knew you were destined to be great..."
" Stop it."
That's right, his father was a hardcore otaku. The basement was filled with collections of his favorite series, some of which could be traced back to his childhood days. Though old, they looked well-maintained.
He guarded that place with vigilance, not giving his two troublemakers a chance to approach it.
After dinner, Dean "extracted" game coins from his inventory.
Game coins cannot be physically brought to reality, it only interacts with the game world.
However, players could create something similar to a gift voucher, transforming the game Coins into a physical object containing rights of usage to a certain amount of game coins owned by the giver.
This is how the game economy seamlessly integrates with the real-world economy.
Dean returned to his room, another idea to modify the fireball spell in another aspect.
The firebullet maximized its heat.
He planned to do the opposite this time. Increasing the fireball's range and allowing its shapes to be altered.
The advantage? Fireball with a unique aesthetic. Practically speaking, it's a waste of time, but to Dean, it was an educational venture.
Whether useless or not, is not the point, but solving the problems encountered in the process of turning his idea into reality, was valuable.
As Dean was busy working in his interface, inside a huge office, a team of professionals gathered on a table. A middle-aged man presented a formation pattern before them.
That diagram was the new Firebullet diagram that had appeared in the market.
As for why they were meticulously examining this particular diagram, the reason was because of the middle-aged man before them.
A renowned expert in the field of Formation studies, Dr Sanders. He was the one who formulated 90% of the modern theories regarding formations.
His theories helped shape today's understanding of formations.
"... As you can see, this diagram did not resemble any of the current frameworks used in formations. It was made completely with a different framework."
As Dr Sanders exclaimed in amazement, everyone in the office room closely examined the diagram.
Indeed, as he had said, it seemed to have been made with a principle that was different from the conventional paradigm.
To them, these arrays looked messy and filled with unnecessary strokes, and yet it worked. The problem was that they did not know why. Their current frameworks could not explain it.
And that's why Dr Sanders convened them, the top in the field, to study this formation together. For every new spell Diagram that appears in the market, they have to thoroughly study it and update their frameworks to make it infinitely close to reality.
"Some lines are crooked, how does it transfer mana properly?"
"Not only that, but it does seem to have redundant lines. It feels like the work of a peer, not a game world loot or reward."
Some spell Diagrams were conjured directly by the game world, such as rewards or drops from a dungeon. This was the origin of most formations.
Formation masters such as themselves would then take these diagrams from the game world, study them, and decipher the principles in them, forming their conjectures, testing them, and creating a framework.
Dr Sanders smiled,
"You are right, this is probably the work of a peer. Moreover, if you do a comparison of this and the fireball diagram, you could spot 70% similarities.
If I'm not wrong, this diagram was modified by the formation master from the fireball spell diagram."
One of them nodded,
"Such a talent. It seems he made a discovery and created his framework."
Discovering a new framework was not uncommon, however, those willing to share their knowledge with others are even rarer.
Their organization of formation masters was among those who promoted shared development and knowledge.
While others concealed their knowledge, they worked to spread theirs to the world. They remain at the top of the industry in terms of formation studies.
Their funding comes from all over the world, donations from various sources, individuals, the government, and even from private organizations, both big and small.