The path towards the mystery merchant was a peaceful one.
Ray didn't meet any monsters or hostile creatures. It was very quiet.
The experience of a peaceful journey was also a welcome one.
Despite how Ray looks, the previous fights still took some of his stamina, especially when he used the Bullet Time skill.
After a while of walking, Ray finally saw a lake in front of him.
There was a narrow wooden bridge in front leading a path further towards the lake's center.
Ray silently walk through the path, taking the beautiful view around into his eyes.
The lake was also peaceful, a lot of beautiful white lilies could be seen everywhere on its surface.
Seeing the stillness, there doesn't seem to be anything living in the lake. Everything was almost as still as a picture if it wasn't for the occasional soft breezes that would push the lilies a little.
After a while of enjoying the surrounding's view into his eyes, Ray finally arrived at the lake's center at what appears to be a square platform.
On it, he could see a squatting shadowy person wearing several chains.
[Mystery Merchant???]
Inspecting the individual, Ray only managed to read such words.
'It doesn't appear to be hostile'
Ray then squatted in front of the individual.
As he had done so, he then received a few words.
__________________________
[Mystery Merchant???]
[Food] [Items] [Special Skills]
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He doesn't even talk, he's like a typical NPC you would find in games.
At first, Ray tried to see if he could sell things since if he could, he doesn't mind returning from the grassland before to take back the short swords. But he found out to disappointment that he couldn't do so. It seems that he could only buy things.
Ray then skim through the categories and found out that the foods are expensive.
[Steam Bun (10 small souls)]
[Meat Balls (10 small souls)]
[Hamburger (10 small souls)]
Ray somewhat finds the fantasy-like mystery merchant selling steam buns and hamburgers out of place.
As Ray skim further on the food category, he even found [steak (20 small souls)] and [ice cream (10 small souls)].
He had also found out how much a nutrition pill was worth for.
[Nutrition Pill (150 small souls)]
It seems that a single one of it is equivalent to all the zombies' souls that he had killed.
After skimming through the food, Ray then proceeds to check on to the item category.
There were lots of varieties of weapons and equipment. But it seems to be the only things the mystery merchant was selling, skimming through them, all of them are either at F or E-quality.
No stat fragments, no golden apples, and no T1 syringes, only equipment.
Still it was better than nothing, he had always been interested in getting a heavy sword.
However,
[F Quality Heavy Sword (400 souls)]
[E Quality Heavy Sword (2000 souls)]
Very expensive...
Ray exited the shop temporarily.
Ray then checked how much souls he had.
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[Small Soul]
---------------------------
Use for various rituals
Current small souls: 583
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Thinking about souls, Ray thought about his sacred crest.
Upgrading it should upgrade his storage, and right now, he was somewhat relying on it heavily.
Even though Ray wanted a bigger and heavier sword, Ray knows that his group storage probably isn't big enough for one. So, he at least needed to upgrade his crest once to be convenient.
Bringing a big sword around at all times seems oddly impractical considering that he has storage.
Regarding the number of souls, Ray thought that the monsters probably give off souls. Later, he would try to see if he could manage to gather a thousand souls.
As Ray's thoughts were on his sacred crest, he remembered the number of sacred blood and the divine blood he had received.
It seems he had forgotten about it.
Looking around, this seems to be a safe place.
Thinking so, Ray then took out a sacred blood...
...
Currently on Ray's hand was a silver grail, on it was a red liquid.
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[Sacred Blood]
Type: Special Item
Consume to gain a random sacred crest Perk.
___________________________
'Do I need to personally drink this thing?' Not seeing the consume option, Ray pondered.
"What's stopping me" With these final words, Ray chug down the liquid from the grail like one does with a beer mug.
The liquid tastes like strong wine.
'Is this alcohol?'
There was a lasting grapelike aftertaste and aroma on his lips as Ray savored the drink.
!?
Suddenly Ray felt feverish like his body was on fire.
Ray then received a notice.
[Sacred Blood successfully consumed!]
[Sacred Blessing (Blessing) gained!]
[Blood's Vigor (Perk) gained!]
'Successfully consumed? does this mean drinking this could fail?" Seeing the words 'Successfully' made Ray think about the possibility of failure.
Ray then checked the changes of his sacred crest.
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[Level 1 Sacred Crest]
Type: Blood Bound
---------------------------
Contractor: Ray
---------------------------
Member slots: 0/1
[+] Perks, etc
---------------------------
Sacred crest level-up condition:
1,000 small souls.
___________________________
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[Perks]
Status share (Unique Passive): The contractor gain 1% of each active member's Status. Members gain 10% of the Contractor's Status.
Call (System Active): Enable Long Distance communication for all.
Level 1 Group Storage (System Passive)A shared storage for the group, conditions can be edited by the contractor.
Current limit: 1 cubic meter.
Blood's Vigor (Passive): Passively increase the vitality of all people with the mark by 5%.
[Blessings]
Sacred Blessing Lvl 1 (Passive): Increase all stats of the people with the mark by 1%
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Checking his crest, Ray found out that besides gaining a new perk, there was a new option named [Blessings].
This time, the perk and the blessing he had received benefited him immediately, giving him an immediate increase in stats.
Ray never thought it could help him like this, at first, he thought that this would only give him skills that needed a group to work.
But it seems it wasn't like that; his strength has increased despite being alone.
Seeing this, Ray then consumed the 2 remaining sacred blood without further ado.
[Sacred Blood successfully consumed!]
[Sacred Blessing has leveled up!]
[Elite (Rare Perk) gained!]
[Sacred Blood successfully consumed!]
[Sacred Blessing has leveled up!]
[Copper Skin (Perk) gained!]
Afterward, Ray then checked the changes.
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[Perks]
Status share (Unique Passive): The contractor gain 1% of each active member's Status. Members gain 10% of the Contractor's Status.
Call (System Active): Enable Long Distance communication for all.
Level 1 Group Storage (System Passive) A shared storage for the group, conditions can be edited by the contractor.
Current limit: 1 cubic meter.
Blood's Vigor (Passive): Passively increase the vitality of all people with the mark by 5%.
Copper Skin (Active): Make the skin as hard as copper for 15 minutes (CD 30 minutes)
Elite (Rare Passive): Select at most, 10 people with the mark anytime, and increase all stats by 10%.
[Blessings]
Sacred Blessing Lvl 3 (Passive): Increase all stats of the people with the mark by 3%
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The changes are great, especially the [Elite] perk he had received. Ray put his thought into this perk and put himself on one of the 10 slots of the perk.
[You have been picked as an Elite!]
[Elite (Passive Skill) Received!]
'So, it works like this?" Ray then checked his skills, and he could see the additional skill on it.
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[Skills]
Divine Strike (Passive Unique Skill) - Each attack deals an additional 50% True Damage upon impact
Inspect (System Skill) - Examine object/ person's status.
Bullet Time (Active Awakening Skill) - x5 time perception for 10 seconds. (CD: 2 hours)
Elite (Rare Passive Skill) - All stats + 10%
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Feeling the changes in his body, Ray stood up and then did a series of punches and kicks.
*Fshhh! *Fshhh! *Fshhh!...
Speed, power, there was a significant increase in his overall capabilities.
As he grew accustomed to the increase, Ray then took the last item out of his storage.
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[Divine Blood]
Type: Special Item
Consume to gain a random Divine rank sacred crest Perk.
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