Incident[1]

As I browsed the World Web Store, scanning through countless skills, I suddenly had an idea.

"What if I ask Silia for gold and sell it?"

It was a bit illegal, but who cares? It's not like they could track where I got the gold from. But before doing that, I decided to check out artifacts first.

I switched to the artifact section and scrolled through hundreds of items. Artifacts were special items infused with mana, and their effectiveness depended on the user's rank. I clicked on the A-rank artifacts, knowing that anything higher wouldn't be that useful to me.

After scrolling for a bit, I landed on the neutral artifacts section—artifacts that worked for both offense and defense. Three artifacts stood out to me:

1. Lantern of Void – A small black lantern that absorbs mana from the surroundings and creates a barrier of darkness around the user. The shield lasts for 30 seconds and recharges every hour.

2. Mana Dispenser – A small orb that refuels the user's mana over time, restoring 10% per minute but has a cooldown of 12 hours.

3. Chains of Eclipse – A silver chain weapon that extends up to 10 meters and can be controlled with mental will. It can wrap around enemies or act as a defensive shield.

"These are sick," I thought.

Suddenly, my eyes landed on something even better.

Silentstep Cloak [D-Rank Required]

Effect: Grants invisibility for up to five minutes depending on mana reserves.

Weakness: Doesn't work on people two ranks higher than the user.

Price: 70 Million Credits

I grinned. "Now that I'm D-rank, I can use this!"

I showed it to Silia. "Can you make this for me?"

She stood up, moved her hands in a strange pattern, and within seconds, a black cloak appeared in her hand. It looked identical to the one on the screen.

"Here," she said, handing it to me.

I took it, amazed. "Damn… I underestimated your abilities." What else could I expect from a Godlike-ranked being? I decided to test it later and turned back to the store.

---

Herbs and Their Painful Price

I clicked on the herbs section, even though I knew little about them. As I scrolled, I saw many ranked herbs, each with unique effects. I filtered C-rank breakthrough herbs and found two interesting ones:

1. Moondew Herb – A blue-white flower that helps the user break through to the next rank in a week with less pain than other herbs.

2. Fire Lotus – A red-orange lotus that makes the user resistant to mana attacks of their rank or lower.

"I want these two," I said to Silia.

Without hesitation, she summoned both herbs in her hands.

I grabbed the Moondew Herb first and was about to eat it when Silia stopped me.

"Wait! Herbs are extremely painful because of their immediate effect. Eat one first and wait for it to settle before taking the next."

"Huh? I'll be fine—" I shrugged and swallowed the herb without thinking.

BIG. MISTAKE.

Suddenly, a burning pain spread throughout my body. I collapsed to the ground as my veins bulged, my muscles tightened, and my head pounded like crazy. It felt like my bones were breaking and rebuilding at the same time.

After what felt like forever, the pain finally stopped, leaving my entire body sore.

"This… will happen daily for a week," Silia said with a smirk.

I glared at her. "You could've warned me earlier!"

She shrugged. "You wouldn't have listened."

Damn it. I had to go through this every day for a week then I will take the fire lotus after 1 week.

---

Time for Some Useful Arts

After recovering a bit, I returned to the store.

"Since I'm in pain anyway, I might as well get something useful," I thought.

This time, I clicked on the Arts Section. Unlike skills, arts were techniques that didn't require mana but improved a person's combat ability in different ways.

I saw many types of arts:

Combat Arts (For fighting techniques)

Research Arts (For analysis and learning)

Strength Arts (For physical power)

Brain Arts (For intelligence and memory)

I was tempted to get a combat art, but I was still recovering from the Moondew Herb, so I picked a Research Art instead.

Biometric X-Ray Art [C-Rank]

Effect: Allows the user to see through the opponent's body for one minute.

Cooldown: 1 hour.

This was perfect for battle. With this, I could analyze weaknesses and predict attacks better.

I showed the art to Silia, and without me even saying anything, a circular wooden diary appeared in her hands.

"Use it later," she said, handing it to me.

I nodded. "Damn, I got so many things today."

I now had:

A C-Rank Healing Skill

A C-Rank Speed Burst Skill

A Silentstep Cloak

Two Powerful Herbs

A Biometric X-Ray Art

And in one week, I would reach C-rank and be even stronger.

I grinned to myself.

"Things are finally starting to get interesting."