[The Host slayed 50 Lesser Demons within the first hour of the Arcane Apocalypse. Achievement『Demon Slayer』has been attained.
[+25 Arcanum has been rewarded!]
Placing his hands on his knees, Liam took a moment to catch his breath and survey his surroundings to assess if there were more Shedim to kill.
Fortunately, that was not the case. His Arcane Power had been drained and the active effect of his Soultrait had worn off as well. Liam's eyes changed back to the bright purple hue and it didn't look like he had a galaxy sealed in his eyes anymore. The hazy hue around his eyes had also dispersed, leaving behind a dead-tired Halfling.
Liam could barely hold the two longswords that he had used to increase his kill count against the small army of Shedim.
Their corpses were littered all over the cliff and they created a trail down to the basalt underground tower. Its massive and ancient gates were still wide open, and Liam entered without any hesitation.
The gloomy atmosphere within the tower was enough to make the hair stand on the back of his neck but Liam was too exhausted to bother about any of that. He took a good look around the ground floor of the underground tower and frowned lightly.
"I didn't expect much…but there is literally nothing of value inside…" He cursed while taking a quick glance at his status screen.
[Arcanium: 73.75]
The achievement rewarded him a considerable amount of Arcanium which was almost as much as he had obtained from the number of Shedims he killed.
Unfortunately, none of that was comparable to the fortune he could obtain from the Shedims' bodies and their steel weapons. Other races would love to pay a small fortune to get their hands on the corpses of Lesser Demons. They would research them, and dissect their bodies in order to find out the most efficient and brutal ways to kill them and what body parts were useful to create Artifacts, potions, and other useful goods.
"If only I had a shop…" Liam grumbled as he had no way to carry the Shedim corpses around. He couldn't even carry a multitude of weapons around because the Arcane Apocalypse had just started and his movements had to be smooth and unrestricted. Carrying a dozen weapons around, no matter how precious or useful, would just kill him instead of saving his life!
That was why he required a Storage Artifact, or a means to sell his war spoils immediately. The former was not cost-efficient right now while the latter was not easy to achieve.
After all, permanent shops were extremely expensive. Even small shops were not easy to build, which Liam clearly realized upon looking at the price for Shop Certificates.
[Temporary Shop Certificate(Lowest-5 Days) – 1000 Arcanium]
"Arcane Shop, can I get another loan?" Liam asked in-between two heavy breaths, not expecting to hear a pleasant answer. Unexpectedly, he received a slap on his face as the Arcane System answered only moments later.
[Analysis completed…Active Loan Contract detected…secondary loan interest rate has been calculated.]
[The Host's secondary loan interest rate has been finalized at a compound interest rate of 50% a day. Tip: Pay back your debt to obtain a better interest rate!]
"...Just tell me if you don't want to give me another loan…" Liam spat vengefully at the Arcane system, but then fell silent. It was not as if he excepted a miracle from the Arcane System.
'It guessed what I want to do and levied such a high-interest rate so as to not get abused…well, that's only logical, I guess.'
He didn't curse the system anymore and instead chose to take a look at the first underground floor of the tower. Liam didn't feel comfortable not knowing what kind of opponents might be walking up the staircase by now.
And, just a short peek showed him a few Lesser Demons that caused his confidence to shatter immediately.
The biggest problem he saw after craning his neck further down below was a larger Shedim. It was a bulky Shedim without too many rotten spots. Its head look like the head of a snake and it had a long neck as well.
'A Mutated Elite Shedim? Well…that's definitely too much for me to handle with those ridiculous stats…' Liam muttered. He was prideful but not delusional, not yet at least.
The Mutated Elite Shedim might not have been at the 1st Circle but its stats were certainly higher than Liam's. That was not exactly hard, considering that the average human was supposed to have average stats between [E] and [F]. As for unranked Devils, even Lesser Devils would have stats at [B], and there was not even the need to start talking about the strength of his Mother and siblings.
Right from the moment they were born, their power was already incomparably higher than the average Lesser Devil, let alone humans.
They couldn't even enter Haltan before the landmass of the planet had been reinforced drastically to sustain their might simply because they were too strong.
That was a good thing because it would take quite a while until the Arcane Power would slowly seep into Haltan and reawaken it completely. Liam was happy about it. He would finally receive the much-needed freedom from his family, those annoying folks who didn't even feel like killing him because they were too disgusted with his powers…
Liam shook his head and focused on resting. He accessed the Arcane Shop and searched for a bunch of things.
For a moment, he reconsidered increasing his Vitality and Stamina stat by using some Arcanium but that thought was quickly ignored. It was necessary for him to be ready to fight or run at any moment but it was not as if he was in immediate danger.
The sounds from the first underground floor were amplified as they bounced off the basalt walls used to construct the underground tower.
Liam considered that someone from the outside might attack them but it didn't really matter. In the worst-case scenario, he could use his Arcanium to tweak his stats and adjust to the opponents that might attack once they got wind of him.
He was more focused on the Arcane Shop where he got his hands on two items of which one was considered a limited edition.
One of the two items he purchased was a potion called [Fortune's Liquor], and it was a limited edition item with only 100 potions in the Arcane System's stock. As for the other item, it was a [Detoxification Bandaid], which was a bandaid that extracts toxins within the body to a certain extent.
The Bandaid was nothing special and it couldn't remove 1st Circle toxins, however, that was not necessary. He was glad that he could buy the Detoxification Bandaid for five Arcanium, which was a lot cheaper than the Fortune's Liquor which was priced at 25 Arcanium.
Liam's fortune was drastically reduced to 43.75 Arcanium but he was perfectly fine with that. In fact, he was overjoyed with the purchase he made because it would elevate his chances of victory drastically.
[『Fortune's Liquor』–Circleless Unique Potion–
Description: The Fortune's Liquor is a special liquor with 89% Arcane alcohol, Dragnal Flower Syrup, Blackwidow Bee Nectar, and 521 more ingredients. One droplet of the Fortune's Liquor is enough to increase a random stat by one sub-rank with the limit being [D+].
Remark: The effect of the Fortune's Liquor decreases subsequently after the first droplet until there won't be an effect anymore!]
The Vial of the Fortune's Liquor was not very large. However, there were more than 30 droplets of viscous liquid inside. That was pretty neat and definitely worth the 25 Arcanium he paid for the potion.
Increasing all of his stats from [G-] to [G] would have cost 3 Arcanium, which was not too expensive but it was only one rank nonetheless! The second increment from [G] to [G+] would cost 6 Arcanium and it would become even more expensive to artificially increase his stats afterward.
It was possible to increase his stats with hard work but that was not something Liam had time for right now. Thus, he unstoppered the vial and closed his eyes as he downed the viscous Fortune's Liquor down his throat.
The moment the liquid made its way down his throat, Liam had to clamp his mouth with his hands as a fierce, burning sensation swept over him. He nearly coughed up and spat out some of the precious liquid that he had swallowed hastily.
Once he was certain that his body wouldn't attempt to vomit everything, Liam carefully put the Detoxification Bandaid on his neck.
Afterward, he just endured and waited for a bunch of notifications to appear right in front of him.
[The Host's Stamina increased.]
[The Host's Will increased.]
[The Host's Vitality increased.]
[The Host's Arcane Power increased.]
[The Host's Agility increased.]
[The Host's Strength increased.]
"Looks like my Arcane Power gained the most…probably because of the high percentage of Arcane alcohol," Liam mumbled to himself when he felt the changes occurring in his body.
Arcane alcohol was alcohol that had been infused with Arcane Power. The percentage in the Fortune's Liquor was so high that the Arcane Power in his body increased tremendously, which was why he couldn't help but look at his status screen in interest.
⌈—-◈Entity Details◈∙—-⌉
[Liam Wandel]
[Halfling] [Devil/Human]
[Rank: Circleless]
[Soultrait:『Devil's Eyes』]
[Arcanium: 43.75]
———-◈Stats◈-———
[Vitality: (G+)]
[Strength: (F-)]
[Agility: (F-)]
[Stamina: (G)]
[Arcane Power: (E)]
[Will: (G)]
⌊___________________⌋
"...pretty good…" Liam simply said even if his words didn't quite carry the conviction. His stats increased drastically but it was not as if they were suddenly comparable to a Mutant Elite Shedim in terms of their average stats.
But he was confident of defeating the Mutant Elite Shedim even with lower stats. His Arcane Power would be the trump to his victory, yet instead of conquering the tower which had been created by one of his siblings, Liam chose a different tactic.
He took a look at the『Mission』function of the Arcane System while trying not to get drunk because of the Fortune's Liquor. The Detoxification Bandaid was actually quite helpful and Liam felt much better than expected as he skimmed through most Missions.
If he had a shop, he would just conquer the underground tower, and sell the Lesser Demon corpses and all the goods he would haul as spoils of war for himself. However, he was too poor to do that for the time being. In fact, he was buried in debt which was also the reason why he was in dire need of a suitable mission.
Unfortunately, he was interrupted in his research for the best mission in the given situation as Liam heard noises from the first underground floor reaching the ground floor.
'I know, I know…don't rush me!' Liam cursed as he fastened two scabbards for the longswords to his belt. He also attached a sling for a battle-axe to his belt.
The holographic screen to his left was still open, showing him a bunch of missions but Liam ignored them for the time being. His focus was on leaving the underground tower, and he rushed outside without any hesitation.
The heavy downpour had decreased considerably, which was barely noted as he walked over the muddy trail of bodies, their skulls and bones crunching under his feet. When he reached the cliff, Liam took a glance around the mountain range and inside the valley.
The fissures in space had closed, indicating the end of the first wave. Earth, also called Haltan, the Interjunction of the Nine Realms, would now have to adjust to the Arcane Power that was forced upon it.
A single glance at the System log was enough for Liam to figure out a few more things that were more or less important to know.
[Permanent low-ranked Rifts have spawned all over Haltan. Monsters and other intelligent lifeforms will emerge on Haltan.]
[Strongest being to have passed through the passage of Space; 『High Elf, 2nd Circle(Advanced)』]
After the last message, one could see detailed statistics about how many beings of each realm had emerged on Haltan, including a clear distribution of their rank.
Only one out of a billion new lifeforms that had emerged on Haltan were at the 2nd Circle, and there were less than ten beings at the 2nd Circle on Haltan as of now.
That not only indicated how ten billion lifeforms had emerged on Haltan since the Arcane Apocalypse had been initiated but also that it was not easy for higher-ranked beings to follow suit. For the time being, the ten beings at the 2nd Circle would be the strongest to infiltrate the planet without many other competitors.
"System show me the customized missions!" Liam ordered loudly in response to the statistics that annoyed him a lot more than expected. He waited impatiently while his gaze turned back to the ominous gate of the underground tower.
[A perfect mission has been created for the host!]
[Mission『Protect the Natives』can now be accessed!]
[『Protect the Natives』–Customized Mission–
「Description」The Natives of Haltan are filled with desperation and the fear of death. More than 250,000,000 Intelligent Lifeforms from Haltan have been killed since the Arcane Apocalypse was initiated.
「Given task」Protect 100 Natives until the storm disperses!
The more Natives the Host protects actively, or passively, the higher the accomplishment rate of the customized mission!
「Reward」Debt Removal
「Possible additional Rewards」Small Shop Certificate(15 Days), (???) Arcanium, Vial of Boundless Vitality(SSS)
Remark: Host has to reach the Natives in the Jula Valley in the next 10 minutes, otherwise, the customized mission will disappear forever!]
"10 minutes…" Liam quietly repeated the time limit before he acted almost instantaneously as he accessed the Arcane Shop to purchase something.
He had almost 44 Arcanium left to use but only spent 0.25 Arcanium to purchase a large camping backpack that was twice as long as an ordinary one.
It had the perfect size to store a large stash of steel spears, which was exactly what he did.
The more Natives he saved the better the rewards would be. It was clearly stated that the Arcane System didn't care whether he actively or passively saved the Natives. Thus, the most efficient way to reap rewards would be to make sure that he could help the Natives to help themselves!
Liam couldn't be certain about that because his knowledge of Haltan was limited, however, the bits he knew about the planet and its inhabitants were enough to tell that not everyone in the city was in possession of a weapon.
Most intelligent lifeforms on Haltan were humans as well. That made things much easier for Liam who purchased a black Devil Mask at the Arcane Shop for 0.5 Arcanium. It was customized to fit his face perfectly, including the thorn that jutted out of his left forehead.
Others would think that the horn was a part of his mask and that he was actually human, some sort of hero who was able to adjust faster than others.
He didn't care about being a human, let alone being considered a hero by them. The only thing that mattered to him was to successfully complete the customized mission, hopefully by receiving each of the three additional rewards.
Liam had never heard about the Vial of Boundless Vitality before but it sounded like something he would need sooner or later.
Thus, the steel spears would hopefully turn into his golden goose, and Liam rushed down the slippery slope of the mountain range once he got his hand on a suitable battle-axe and every single steel spear he could find all around the corpses of the Shedim.
"A good thing that I learned the human language of Haltan and the Overworld before…"
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