CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

  Piled high before him, stacked atop one another or standing in neat rows, sat a varied assortment of priceless treasures—consumables, each and every one of them.

  From the items he was more familiar with—stacks of intricate golden talismans, shimmering scrolls of various make, and even a few iridescent tickets reminiscent of what he’d expect to see at Devil’s Arcadia, if clearly from a far earlier iteration—to items he had absolutely no idea about. Oddly shaped coins, glittering gemstones, and what looked suspiciously like a box of plastic-wrapped candy bars.

  With little stars in his eyes, Richard could’ve sworn, in that very moment, there was no end to the varied assortment of goodies. The real treasures of Shaper’s personal treasury.

  Lining tall shelves built into the vault’s interior, and neatly nestled inside large gilded chests, there were pill bottles, potion stands, body strengthening elixirs and so much more. So many high tiered items, all crammed into one place. It was wonderful. It was glorious!

  It was starting to make his nose bleed.

  The sheer amounts of high tiered mana permeating the air playing havoc with his poor constitution. His abysmal talent, yet again, to blame for the inconvenience. He was certain that, were he beloved by mana, instead of merely tolerated by it—born an Earl, a Duke, or a Prince in terms of peerage ranking—the mana would’ve gently changed its course. Gone out of its way to flow around him, as opposed to straight through him, in fear of causing irreparable harm.

  Clearly, here that hadn’t been the case. Not even in his previous timeline did he receive such treatment. Not till somewhere near the very end, anyway. There were just certain privileges that came with being born “god’s gift to mana” that he simply could not replicate. Not without ample preparation, anyway. In all honesty, Lowly Serf that he was, he should probably be grateful the ambient mana wasn’t outright hostile.

  Annoyed, Richard retreated back a step, then another, then a dozen or so more, until he could no longer feel the ill effects of oncoming mana poisoning.

  Irritating, but I suppose this’ll have to do.

  Spectating the collection from afar wasn’t ideal, though it did have the side effect of zooming out his, until that point, very narrow focus. Ultimately resulting in his eye being drawn to a peculiarly cordoned off section of items. When he caught sight of what the separate section of shelves held, however, he completely understood the distinction.

  Ability cubes!

  Making an immediate b-line for the wealth of shimmering cubes. Eyes only widening further when he took in the glut of high tiered colors winking back at him in the diffuse white light. In terms of ability rarity, each cube had a corresponding color to differentiate it.

  ? [Common Rarity = Light Gray] ?

  ? [Uncommon Rarity = Green] ?

  ? [Rare Rarity = Blue] ?

  ? [Epic Rarity = Purple] ?

  ? [Ancient Rarity = Red] ?

  ? [Legendary Rarity = Gold] ?

  Supposedly their was a rarity grade even higher than Legendary— “Divine”—but considering no one in his previous timeline had ever received such a high grade skill, he couldn’t be certain what the color scheme might be. Or even if such a thing existed at all. As it was, Richard couldn’t, for the life of him, see an ability cube with a rarity grade lower than purple. Red and purple cubes glinted with an inner luster, and he even thought he saw the glint of gold in a few places.

  ?—|-Etherial Hook of Spacial Integration-|—?

  ?[Epic]?

  Pull something that exists outside the river of space-time directly into the physical realm. The effectiveness and longevity are dependent on ability level.

  Then, in red, his Truth Seeker’s Sixth Sense gave him further insight on the nature of the ability.

  This ability does not allow for one to perceive the item, and or entity, until it has fully surfaced into the physical plain. Malignant entities trapped outside of space time for good reason may use this ability to escape their imprisonment.

  ?—|-All-Devouring Obliteration Slash-|—?

  ?[Ancient]?

  Perform a slash, unleashing a crescent wave of pure destruction. Size, range, and destructive power are all dependent on ability level.

  Below in red:

  Due to the nature of obliteration, prolonged use of this ability has the capacity to wear away at the soul. Loss of empathy, an appreciation of familial ties, as well as one’s sense of self, may apply.

  And this right here was why he loved his Truth Seeker’s Sixth Sense.

  And, for that matter, why he appreciated all of his previous class skills. They might not have been the strongest in terms of physical might—not when compared to some of the more combat oriented classes out there—but the advantage just a little bit of extra knowledge granted you was not to be underestimated. Just take that obliteration skill for instance. In another life, he might’ve picked it up without a second thought, not realizing just what an ability like that would cost him.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  It was why he’d evolved his class in such a non-standard direction in the first place. Because, even way earlier on, he’d known that knowledge equated to power. His discovery of Opon’s coin had merely affirmed and enabled his predilection.

  ?—|-Eyes of Empty Domain-|—?

  ?[Legendary]?

  Your eyes are a portal to the Null Domain, reducing anything you lay your eyes upon to null. Peripheral vision increases with ability level.

  Below in red:

  This ability inflicts the user with a severe case of cataracts. One’s eyelids are not immune to the effects of this ability.

  The truth of his lifelong philosophy, that knowledge is power, never more apparent when you actually got to dig deep into the nature of powerful skills like these ones. Wherein the downsides largely outweighed the benefits without a wealth of complimentary abilities to help offset the exorbitant costs. In his timeline, this lesson had to be learned the hard way, and it was only through years worth of trial and error, that ability combinations were developed that could, feasibly, even help to offset the side effects of an undeniably powerful ability like this one.

  A body empowerment ability that targeted the eyelids for instance, coupled with a greater eyesight ability, a powerful sealing ability—likely followed by several others he couldn’t currently name—more than enough to turn this outright liability into a genuine asset, perfect for one’s kit. Just another reminder that rarity wasn’t everything. Without support, even the most powerful abilities were borderline useless.

  Which was ultimately why he wouldn’t be taking any of the ability cubes on offer, no matter how tempting some of them were. It would just be a distraction. He didn’t see anything he truly needed. And considering he’d already mapped out a comprehensive route, a checklist of Elites he’d need to kill in order to create the single most powerful ability for someone in his position, anything extra at this juncture would only waste time.

  And so, it was with a heavy heart that Richard turned away from the wall of glinting cubes, turning his attention back to the wealth of consumables. Already well aware of what he needed to select, merely unsure of which form they would come in. Flashy equipment and abilities were all well and good, but what he needed most in these beginning stages, was to form a solid foundation. It was what would, eventually, place him head and shoulders above the rest.

  After all, he could count on two hands the number of people who managed to gain a level of prestige while still in F Grade, which meant-

  Richards train of thought immediately ground down to a halt. He froze, eyes gone wide.

  Wait…? F Grade…? No. No, that isn’t right…

  The sudden revelation struck like a bolt of lightning. This entire time…? Mother of god. He’d been so stupid! Hands trembling, he hurriedly checked his status page one more time, just to make absolutely sure he hadn’t been hallucinating things.

  -|—Status—|-

  Name: Richard Penn

  Level: 15 [Locked]

  Age: 1 month old

  Class: None [Pending]

  Body Grade: G

  Incredulous, Richard began to laugh out loud. Had he been complaining about his abysmal talent all this time? What a joke! Little did he know, all along, he should’ve been thanking the Goddess Opon for the privilege!

  This… isn’t this kind of overpowered?

  Unsure whether he’d even be allowed to do as he planned, Richard nevertheless set to selecting the items he’d need to carry it out—even more self assured in the course of action he was contemplating than ever before.

  Prestige. Everything comes down to prestige. And with the lowest possible body grade imaginable… my god. The possibilities… they’re limitless.

  +++

  Septimus Preach was not having a particularly good day.

  His collection summarily dismissed. His clever ruse somehow seen through. And now, what?! He was supposed to reward the little ingrate for all the headaches he’d caused? And from the master’s own personal treasury, no less!

  It was almost too much for a devout man to bear!

  So when the little imp sidled up to him with an armful of disposable trash, and not the wealth of irreplaceable gear, artifacts, and legendary ability cubes he’d feared, Septimus didn’t even think to question it.

  “And that’ll be all then? Very nice selections, I must say. Although I hope you weren’t thinking of exploiting the masters generosity by suddenly changing your mind. Unfortunately we operate by a strict, ‘you touch it, you take it’ policy here. No redos! Now then, after you. And don’t even thinkabout helping yourself on the way out. There are security measures for that sort of thing, so keep your grubby little mitts away from the merchandise.”

  The cretin didn’t respond, merely floated on ahead of him, but he’d seen the fear in his eyes. Septimus figured he’d gotten the point across.

  Really, though, he couldn’t help but wonder. No matter how much it irked him to admit it, the brat hadn’t shown himself to be a dullard thus far. So why? Why waste all three of his selections on a box of candy bars?

  Septimus huffed.

  He never would understand children, he decided, as he shut the massive vault door behind him.

  +++

  Back inside the massive cathedral like space—the one with all the creepy statues bordering on not safe for work—Richard and the man were currently engaging in a heated staring contest. After nearly a full minute and a half of locked gazes, the man was the first to break the silence.

  “Well?! Off with you then. You have what you came for, do you not? Begone!”

  Richard didn’t say anything. The man slumped over, as if suddenly forced to bear the weight of the world.

  “Ugh…! What now! I-!” then he paused, eyes going distant as he read something only he could see.

  A transformation came over his face then, weirdly animated, as if he were going through all five stages of grief in an instant, before finally settling on acceptance. Well, a begrudging acceptance, but still.

  “Fine! Take it! You’ve robbed me of everything else! What’s one more?!”

  And so saying, he threw what looked to be a polished black sphere directly at Richard’s face with all the tantrum borne strength the grown man possessed. Richard caught it with the help of the accessibility protocol.

  The man immediately burst into tears. Turning, he ran away with a weirdly bowlegged stride, wrists wildly flailing in the air. Staring uncomprehendingly at the retreating figure, Richard waited for the mad man to turn the corner before scrutinizing the black orb in question.

  ?—|-Shaper’s Legacy-|—?

  ?[Unique]?

  That was it. That was all the system had to offer. Peering more closely, he tried to activate his Truth Seeker’s Sixth Sense, only to find it didn’t come nearly as easily as he was used to. It was an actual struggle, taking real willpower to break past the barrier that’d sprung up out of nowhere. Eventually though, his persistence bore fruit.

  ?—|-Shaper’s Legacy-|—?

  ?[Unique]?

  The accumulation of the Shaper’s grand legacy, condensed into nine consecutive circles of understanding. Acting as his sole will and inheritance, anyone who manages to master all nine of Shaper’s lessons can expect-

  And there the passage ended, tapering off into a garbled jumble of punctuations, numbers, and letters.

  Weird. I’ve never seen my skill glitch out like that before. Though I suppose it should be expected. It is a unique item after all. Only the second such I’ve ever laid my hands on. Who knows what kind of protections these things have.

  Content with it being described as a will and inheritance, Richard slotted the small ball—larger than a marble but smaller than a tennis ball—inside the box of chocolate bars. Satisfied with all he’d gained thus far, he was just beginning to wonder how he was supposed to get back to the tutorial, when the world was summarily consumed by an all white void.