Chapter 12 - Player Starter Pack

Just like a hawk watching its prey, Liam gave the Imperial Garrison enough scrutiny by considering his surroundings.

Liam summoned the system via thought command to open the as he stood in an empty alleyway.

**Ding!**

The translucent screen that Liam was getting accustomed to burst out in his line of vision, together with the system's mechanical voice.

[Inventory]

- Player Starter Pack x1

Currency: 31 bronze coins

The corner of Liam's lips twitched, forming a gentle smirk as he took pride in how he had gained those thirty-one bronze coins during the pre-trial.

But what thrilled him more was the distinct memory of how he had felt while he fired at the Unarmored Clawing Lurkers one after another.

An impressive start but not to a hero whose face was sculpted handsomely in Mount Rushmore as a symbol of many comical things.

"Well, well, well. Would you look at that?" he murmured proudly before the thought that he couldn't buy any valuable item with that amount crossed his mind and instantly killed the joy painted all over his face earlier.

Moving on to see what he has in his inventory, Liam went on to open the Player Starter Pack, the only item in his inventory.

**Ding!**

[You've received a Player Starter Pack]

[You've received a Mana System Scroll]

[You've received a Cultivation System Scroll]

'Hmm, a Mana System and a Cultivation System?' Liam's brows slightly raised after he mused before he proceeded to explore what it was about as his curiosity was getting the better of him.

As an avid novel reader during his early years in high school, various scenarios wonderfully streamed to his mind about such systems, which were too common in fantasy novels.

And as a former Detective in his previous life, curiosity was one out of the many things that Liam was used to.

A case always involves a mystery, puzzling pieces of information, and questions; a boatload of questions that challenges the mind.

It piques one's curiosity.

And that curiosity often leads to satisfying or terrifying discoveries.

The opulent-looking screen continued to flash in Liam's vision, the mechanical voice accompanying it every time.

If Liam had been back on Earth, people would have thought he was crazy talking to no one in particular.

However, Liam was in a different place where each individual has their own system.

This entailed that no one would brand him lunatic, given that everyone around him would often talk to the system and was in the same position as he was from time to time.

Fueled by immense curiosity, he hurriedly checked the succinct descriptions of the system about the scrolls in his .

[Mana System]

- The set of laws that governs how supernatural power functions in the .

[Cultivation System]

- The laws and processes of reinforcing the player's innate capabilities with the aid of Mana which the focal point was to improve the player's health, longevity, strength, mobility, mentality, speed, and more.

By basing on the description, Liam could at least tell that the two systems were connected because of the obvious fact that both functioned because of a vital variable called mana.

Without further ado, he impatiently used the .

**Ding!**

[Congratulations!]

- You've unlocked your !

Inexplicable warmth and soothing feeling instantly enveloped Liam's entire body as if something was changing inside it.

Liam's mouth unintentionally and slightly opened as his pupils unconsciously rolled back a bit because of the warmth's inexplicable pleasure.

The system's mechanical voice, on the other hand, explained what was occurring.

Based on the system, there were two major parts in .

The first part, which was called , consisted of three processes called absorption, fusion, and discharge, which was all about getting the mana into the player's body systems.

The was a process to absorb the present energy in the called mana and sipping it into the body through the usage of millions of pores spread all over the skin as the gateways.

After the energy called mana entered the body, it will pass through mana vessels called that Liam just unlocked when he used the along with the other organs in the .

Once the mana was in the , there were several checkpoints the mana must pass first.

They called the first one which resembled the pressure/acupuncture points on Earth.

And then the or the eight temporary containers distributed in different parts of the body that chiefly regulate the speed of mana flow before the mana finally settled to its first main destination called in the abdomen, where the process would take place.

Once the mana and air from the lungs filled the with equal ratio, the will condense both until the particles successfully integrated which will result in another component called , a mixture of Mana and Air.

Once the finished its job, it will transfer the to the heart in which was called the process in the .

The following part, which was called , consisted of the same processes, absorption, fusion, and discharge, was all about the application of mana in the player's body systems.

From the the heart will absorb the fused component called , which was technically also the process in the .

For the in the , the heart will let the hemoglobin in the blood carry the instead of pure oxygen.

And they now called the blood that was carrying as , blood that carries mana particles to augment the player's innate capabilities.

The heart will pump the throughout the body for the process in the , making the player's potential's ceiling immeasurably higher, higher than anyone in the multiverse can imagine.

The sky's the limit.

By this time once the were delivered successfully to the muscles, they will break the glucose to add up to the mana's complex energy, releasing leaked unusable energies from the muscles back to the pores or gateways in the process and forming an aura called from the player's body.

After the ostentatious translucent screen had disappeared, Liam moved forward, his feet moving on their own.

He heeded the system's advice to explore and landed himself in what appeared to be the Market.

The array of various peculiar-looking items displayed on almost every corner was such a sight to see.

Creatures of every kind crawled the place and the sound of clashing voices reverberated through Liam's amplified hearing.

Liam did not mean to eavesdrop on a certain conversation while he continued to walk, but when he had heard the word 'Floor-Trial', his interest suddenly heightened.

Intentionally or not, Liam knew he needed to hear the rest of the conversation between the goblin, whose unruly hair seemed to tower over his head, and an elf, its pointy ears giving it away as Liam followed closely behind them.

"Are you sure you have heard right?" the goblin's accent almost made it impossible for Liam to understand what it just said. Listening to the tiny creature speak was like listening to a rolling thunder across the sky.

"Yes, I am. In order to pass and move to the next floor, one must complete a quest from either the Light King Paragus or from the Dark Lord Atrox!"

It relieved Liam that the elf did not sound twice as horrible as his goblin friend.

After hearing what he needed to hear, Liam stopped following the two creatures who already moved on to talk about an ugly goblin woman whom the goblin found attractive.

Now left in his own thoughts, Liam found his lips forming another gentle smirk.

'Dark Lord Atrox, huh? Seems interesting.'