The Incomplete Spell

"What is it, Daisy?" she asked in a drawn out manner.

"These newcomers are here to purchase their first item. They need permission to access the first floor."

"Yeah, sure sure. If that's all, I'll be going back to my nap."

Just as she said she would, after accepting Daisy's request, the woman leaned back in her chair, placed the book over her face and began snoring once more. Daisy sighed in exasperation, but he knew that this wasn't the time to try and scold her.

Shui thought that there was no point to him waking her up in the first place, but then he heard a sound similar to the click of a lock. He immediately looked around to find the source, but it was to no avail. Noticing his response, Daisy nodded and said, "That's right, you're familiar with arrays, aren't you?"

"Yes. Is there an array here?" Shui asked.

"Didn't you hear what Sir said? If you want to know that then you'll have to pay for it."

Shui was disgruntled by this answer, especially since he was curious about this array that could evade his senses, but he already had a few clues as to what it was thanks to his ever-growing knowledge, so he moved on. Daisy then explained the shop system to them, and outlined the main rules that they had to follow.

Firstly, they weren't allowed to touch any items without paying for them. In order to learn about the item, they must refer to the shop icon on their IDs. Even if this storage room wasn't here, it would still be possible to use the shop, but one would have to go to the nearest underground guild branch to collect their purchase and of course, there was a delivery fee. Here, there was no delivery fee, and there were also no refunds.

Secondly, one must swear not to utilise anything bought at the shop for anyone else. In other words, if you bought it, then only you could use it; whether 'it' be items or information. It wasn't impossible to share the goods, but you had to pay for that privilege and the price would increase based on what you were trying to share.

Thirdly, one may bring in items or information to exchange for contribution points, but they must be verified before the transaction can be completed. If whatever you bring in is deemed invalid, you get a warning, if it happens again then you're suspended from using the shop for a month, and if it happens a fourth time then you're not allowed to use the shop for a year and you no longer have the right to bring in anything else.

There were other rules, but these were main ones that Daisy explained. The rest could be seen in the rulebook that could be purchased for ten contribution points. Killing someone in the Earth Realm would garner at least five contribution points, so the book was worth the life of two cultivators in that realm. And even more outrageous was the fact that the opportunity to take the A-rank exam cost fifty thousand contribution points, which was the equivalent of killing five peak Masters.

'Well, I don't have to worry about that for now. Best to start shopping.'

Once the rules were explained, Daisy left them to carry out their business. Considering how valuable contribution points were, it would make sense to save the ones he had, but once you were exposed to the extensive line-up of goods available, it was hard to leave without picking at least one item.

If he searched using his ID, it would be almost guaranteed that he could find anything he wanted, but he didn't want to pay a delivery fee so he stuck to what was available in the room.

On several occasions, he spotted items that interested him, but nothing that really grabbed his eyes. This was no surprise considering what was in his storage ring. Shui decided that if he couldn't find something that he sincerely wanted, he would just buy some information either on the Black Dog Bandits or on the ancient array master whose inheritance he would be searching for after leaving the city.

Seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours, but since he had to go to the Blacksmith Union, Shui was about to give up. However, he felt a strange prick of heat as he was walking through the storage. When he looked to find the source, he spotted a battered scroll that was placed at the same height as his chest.

At the moment his eyes landed on the scroll, he felt a mysterious pull. He unconsciously reached out to touch it, but then he remembered the rules and stopped himself before checking it on his ID. Fortunately, there was a detection system in it, so once he waved the ID in front of the scroll, it's information popped up.

[Flames of the Six Cycles

An incomplete fire-based corna. For more information - 10 CP

Cost: 1000 CP]

As he was only given the most basic details, Shui felt pressured to buy more information, but he only had barely enough to purchase the scroll and they were warned not to kill so it was doubtful that he could do a task anytime soon.

Shui wanted to buy the scroll, but he wasn't certain that it was worth it, so he asked for advice from his mentor in the way of fire laws.

"Alia, what do you think?"

Alia had been napping in his pocket, so she rubbed her eyes and floated up lazily when he called her via telepathy. She no longer needed to sleep as much after regaining a portion of her powers using the elemental crystal deposit at Black Rocky Plains, but it still aided her in conserving her energy so she did it anyways.

"What is it?"

"This spell, what do you think about it?"

It was unknown whether or not Alia would be able to touch the scroll without being caught, but Shui knew that she didn't need to make contact. With just the aura that leaked from the scroll, Alia could tell what the corna was about.

"It looks to be a mixture between fire and death laws, so depending on your comprehension you should be able to make your heavenly flame more effective against soul-type entities."

"Really?"

Although his heart flame could already be used to attack the soul, it didn't do as much direct damage to the soul as it did to the body. It was enough to handle normal opponents, but if he ran into a strong wraith or spectre then tjhings could be troublesome.

"That's right. It does seem incomplete, but the foundation is there so you can build the rest of the technique yourself."

"Hmm. Okay, I've made up my mind."

With Alia's encouragement, Shui purchased the scroll and picked it up. Maha had already chosen something for herself, so Daisy then brought the two back to the first floor and they left.