When I arrived back at the Awakener Market, I walked with a new, unshakeable confidence. I was Level 25, had a permanent strength buff, and two Level 120 bodyguards I could summon at any time.
I went straight to the City Official Trade Hall. The same appraiser, the one who had given me the VIP card, was at her desk. She saw my starter-robe-clad form approaching, and a flicker of professional recognition crossed her face.
"Mr. Arkwright," she said, her voice smooth but her eyes sharp. "Back. So soon."
"Just here to sell," I said.
She nodded, her "party gopher" theory from this morning clearly solidifying in her mind. I was just the delivery boy for a high-level party. It was the only thing that made sense.
"Place the items in the scanner, please."
I opened my inventory. I dumped the junk from the hour-long grind—dozens of Ogre hides, troll tusks, and other miscellaneous parts. Her console chimed. [Total: 154,500 Credits]
Then, I deposited the boss loot. [4x Wyvern Scale (Rare)] [1x Ogre Chieftain's Axe (Rare)] [5x Troll Blood (Uncommon)]
The console screamed, flashing a priority alert. The appraiser's professional mask cracked. Her jaw went slack. "Four... four more scales? And... a Chieftain's Axe? A Rare-grade weapon drop?"
She looked at me, her eyes wide with a mix of awe and terror. "Your... your party... they cleared a Monster Pack?"
"Just sell the items, please," I said.
She fumbled with her console, her hands shaking. "Y-yes, sir. Of course, sir. The... the scales are all high-grade, just like the first one. We can offer... 1.8 million each. The Troll's Blood is 50,000 for the lot. The Ogre Chieftain's Axe... our weapons guild will pay 1.5 million credits for it. Right now."
I did the math. (4 x 1.8M) + 50k + 1.5M + 154.5k. "That's 8,904,500 credits," I stated.
"Yes!" she said, nodding frantically. "Eight million, nine hundred and four thousand, five hundred credits. Exactly! Processing... processing now!"
The transaction cleared.
[Ding! 8,904,500 Credits received.] [New Balance: 11,809,000 Credits]
"Is there... anything else, sir?" she asked, her voice small. "Yes. Where do I use this?" I held up the black VIP card.
The VIP Exchange was a different world. It was a silent, lavishly decorated lounge on the top floor. A sharply dressed man with a "Trade Manager" badge greeted me.
"Good afternoon, sir. How may we assist our VIP clients today?"
"I need to buy skill scrolls," I said. "Basic-Grade."
He didn't even blink. "A wise choice, sir. The foundation is everything. What did you have in mind?"
I had a list ready. "Two Fire." "One Wind." "Two Earth." "One Lightning." "And two Summoning. One for beasts, one for spirits."
He nodded, tapping on a tablet. "An excellent selection. For Fire, I recommend [Homing Flame] and [Magma Armor]. For Wind, [Silence] is a popular utility choice. For Earth, [Stone Skin] and [Impaling Spikes]. For Lightning, the classic [Lightning Bolt]. And for Summoning... [Summon Wolf] and [Summon Wisp]. All Basic-Grade."
"How much?"
"For a VIP client, the total for all eight scrolls comes to 48,000 Credits."
I tapped my credit chip. [Payment Complete]. The manager handed me a small, protected case with the eight scrolls. He was a professional, but I could see the bafflement in his eyes. This kid, with an 11.8-million-credit balance, just spent 48,TEST to buy a handful of the most common scrolls in the world.
My common sense was warping, and it seemed I was warping theirs, too.
I got home. My parents and sisters were out, probably at the park. The house was quiet. I went to my room, locked the door, and sat on my bed.
I laid out all eight scrolls. "Okay. Let's build the arsenal."
I picked up [Lightning Bolt] first. I crushed the scroll.
[Ding! You have learned [Basic Lightning Bolt (T1)]!] [New element (Lightning) detected! New Skill Tree created!] [Ding! [Transcendor] Title is applying 100% discount to Grade upgrade!] [Skill Tree [Lightning Bolt] has been upgraded to Transcendent-Rank! (Cost: 0 SP)] [You have acquired all intermediary skills (Basic, Int, Adv, Transcendent) for this tree!]
My mind reeled as a new library of information—the theory of electrical magic—unlocked in my head.
Next, [Summon Wolf].
[Ding! You have learned [Basic Summon Wolf (T1)]!] [New skill type (Summoning) detected! New Skill Tree created!] [Ding! [Transcendor] Title is applying 100% discount to Grade upgrade!] [Skill Tree [Beast-Summoning] has been upgraded to Transcendent-Rank! (Cost: 0 SP)] [T1 Skill [Summon Wolf] has been upgraded to [Summon Dire Wolf (???-Rank, T1)]!]
Next, [Summon Wisp].
[Ding! You have learned [Basic Summon Wisp (T1)]!] [New skill type (Summoning) detected! New Skill Tree created!] [Ding! [Transcendor] Title is applying 100% discount to Grade upgrade!] [Skill Tree [Spirit-Summoning] has been upgraded to Transcendent-Rank! (Cost: 0 SP)] [T1 Skill [Summon Wisp] has been upgraded to [Summon Storm-Wisp (???-Rank, T1)]!]
Three new Skill Trees. For free.
Now, for the ones I already had. I crushed [Magma Armor].
[Ding! You have learned [Basic Magma Armor (T1)]!] [Skill has been added to the [Fireball] Skill Tree as a new T1 Branch!] [Upgrading skill branch to Transcendent-Rank... Cost: 0 SP!] [You have acquired [Magma Armor (Transcendent-Rank, T1)]!]
I learned the remaining four scrolls—[Homing Flame], [Silence], [Stone Skin], and [Impaling Spikes]—with the same result. Each one created a new branch on my existing Fire, Wind, and Earth trees, all instantly upgraded to Transcendent-Rank for free.
I opened my status. It was... getting crowded.
[10x Multiplier System Window]
Name: Luke Arkwright
Occupation: ???mage???
Level: 25
Title: [Transcendor]
SP: [Still rising...]
Passives: [Colossal Strength (???-Rank)], [Undying (???-Rank)], [Sky-Walk (???-Rank)]
Skill Trees (All Transcenden-Rank):
▼ [Fireball]
(T1-T8) [Fireball -> Solar Flare]
(T1) [Magma Armor]
(T1) [Homing Flame]
▼ [Gale Slicer]
(T1-T7) [Gale Slicer -> Tornado]
(T1) [Void-Ripper]
(T1) [Silence]
▼ [Earthen Bastion]
(T1-T6) [Earthen Bastion -> Earth Golem]
(T1) [Stone Skin]
(T1) [Impaling Spikes]
▼ [Lightning Bolt]
(T1) [Lightning Bolt]
▼ [Beast-Summoning]
(TRequest) [Summon Dire Wolf]
▼ [Spirit-Summoning]
(T1) [Summon Storm-Wisp]
▼ [All-Seeing Eye]
(T1-T5) [Appraisal -> Clairvoyance]
I now had Six different magic systems at my disposal. I looked at my SP bank, which had been regenerating this whole time and was now well over 100 million. I had a lot of Tiers to unlock.
A/N: Thanks for reading, and if you like it, plzz add it in your collection.