So Poor...

In this world, power meant everything. If you were weak, you were nothing. Simple as that.

There were many ways to become strong—awakening rare talents, inheriting powerful bloodlines, obtaining divine artifacts, or even bonding with a spirit.

Those who had one of these advantages could soar to greatness, while those who didn't… well, they struggled.

But there was one path that even those without talents or bloodlines could take.

The Path of the Weapon Master.

Weapon Masters were warriors who devoted themselves to mastering a single weapon, pushing their bodies and minds to their absolute limits.

They didn't rely on flashy elemental abilities or supernatural tricks. No, their strength came from sheer mastery—honed techniques, powerful physiques, and an unbreakable will.

But their true power came from something else—Intent.

Intent was everywhere. Every law of nature came with its own intent, and every element had it's own intent as well.

By awakening a talent of at least D rank, it was guaranteed to awaken the accompanying intent.

Which means an A rank Lightning talent would also awaken the lightning intent, and if the talent was very strong, they could even receive a special attribute.

For weapon masters, it was even harder to awaken a weapon Intent than an ordinary Intent.

Intent wasn't just skill with a weapon; it was the soul of combat. A sword master who grasped Sword Intent could cut through steel with a rusty blade.

A spear master with Spear Intent could pierce the sky itself with their Spear.

And the strongest among them could wield such force that they didn't even need to swing their weapons—their aura alone could kill.

And at the very top of them all…

Erling Sander.

The man known as the strongest human alive. He didn't have an overpowered talent. He didn't have a divine bloodline. He was simply a Weapon Master.

And yet, he stood above the rest.

Even Creed had to admire his sheer dominance.

Among those with broken talents and overpowered abilities, Erling had reached the pinnacle using only his own two hands.

If he could do it, then Creed could, too.

Besides…

Creed was not the type to rely on someone else completely.

Even if he had Lilith, even if he had the system, even if he had an SSS Rank Summoning Talent—he needed strength of his own.

He wasn't about to become some weak summoner who hid behind his creatures while they fought for him. No chance in hell. A real man didn't just sit back and let others do the fighting.

Creed clenched his fists.

But there was one small, tiny, stupidly annoying problem.

Creed let out a deep sigh and flopped back down onto his bed.

"Why… does everything… always come down to money?!"

His life was like one big joke. Even with all these insane abilities and potential, his biggest enemy was poverty.

He was just too broke.

He stared at the cracked ceiling of his shabby one room apartment, thinking about his next move.

To even start on the path of a Weapon Master, he needed a proper weapon, obviously.

And in this world or any world for that matter, weapons weren't cheap.

Creed reached over, grabbed his ancient, barely functioning phone, and opened the web browser.

His fingers moved quickly as he searched for the cheapest spear available in the local market.

Why the spear?

Because, in all his life, the only weapon Creed was very familiar with using was his trusty 'spear'.

He couldn't see himself using another weapon at all...

Seconds later, the screen refreshed with a listing. His eyes quickly scanned it and found the cheapest option.

[ Quasi Stage 1 - Red Streak Spear ]

Price: 200 Credits

Creed's eye twitched.

"Two hundred?!" He almost threw the phone.

That was basically his entire life savings!

He quickly opened his bank app, and sure enough, staring back at him was a pathetic balance.

[ Account Balance: 211 Credits ]

He let out a hollow laugh.

"Ha… haha… I'm actually so f*cking poor."

Creed stared at the screen for a long moment.

Two hundred credits for the weakest possible spear.

If he bought it, he'd only have eleven credits left. That wasn't even enough to buy food for a week!

"This world is cruel," he muttered, rubbing his temples.

But…

Creed glanced at the spear listing again.

It wasn't like he had another choice.

He had exactly two months before the multiple top academies began holding their entrance examinations.

This meant he had two months to train and increase his strength as much as possible.

He would be competing with the other youths from the thousands of bastions on earth and some of them would even have early awakenings!

This two months was very important.

If he failed to get into a good academy?

His future would be ruined.

The top academies had the best resources, best instructors, best techniques, and best opportunities.

Graduating from one of them practically guaranteed success. It was the difference between living like a king or struggling as a nobody.

And let's be honest—power, status, influence… those things attracted beauties.

Creed wasn't stupid. He hadn't been a normal guy in his past life. He knew exactly how the world worked.

Even if he had the face of a god, looks alone didn't get you far.

Women were attracted to status, power, and influence. If he wanted to build a harem of beauties, he needed money, connections, and prestige.

And that all started with getting into a top academy.

Creed sat up, his mind made up.

He would buy the spear.

Then, he would take Lilith and head to the outskirts of the MoonLake Bastion's Border Forest.

The deeper parts of the forest were suicide, filled with powerful Dimensional Beasts, but the outskirts?

There were weak creatures there—things he could hopefully handle. If he played it smart, he could hunt, sell the materials, and make some real money.

Plus…

It was the perfect chance to test Lilith's strength.

After all, she had eaten him alive last night. It was only fair that she actually did some work.

Creed smirked and stretched his arms.

"Alright," he muttered. "Let's go get rich."

_____

Power stone Goal!

20 PS - 1 Bonus chapter

50 PS - 2 Bonus chapter

100 PS (Quite an achievement as of now) - 3 Bonus chapters.

Castle - 10 Bonus Chapters!