Grabbing a machete from my pouch, I start harvesting the thick skin from the demon remains. Cutting them into small pieces and shoving all of them into my pouch. I only take a small chunk since my inventory isn't big enough to store all of it.
After putting away all the stuff, I open the interface and check out the notification.
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- Congratulations on clearing [ The Warden - Straxious ] - Following rewards have been added -
Reward:
> 3000 IC ( First clear )
> Title [ Elite demon hunter ] - ( Requirements: fight and win a demon that is 30 levels are higher than you ) add passive effect: 20% stats boost when facing the demon, 25% resistance to demon curse. + 3000 IC
> Title [ The one who faces the impossible ] - ( Kill something 50 levels ahead of you while being level 1) - passive effect: when facing an enemy 10 levels higher, 30% stats boost. + 9000 IC
- New spell (skill) has been created based on your performance -
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Warhead enchanter
Classified: pyromancer spell
Current Rank: D
Max Rank upon mastered: A
Mana consumption: Medium
Cooldown: none
Description: infusing the fireball spell into an object, can be ignited upon snapping the casting hand. The spell will ignite, and the magnitude of the explosion increase as the mana accumulated when cast increase.
The spell was created by Steve Ashton, a novice pyromancer from Lordran.
_____________________
'Hmmm, so this is what it told me about the ability to create new skills huh, not bad. They even write down my name in the description, not like anyone gonna know about it besides me but still, nice.'
Also, damn that is a lot of credit, I don't know what I can get with it but those numbers sure look good.
Opening the shop interface, I was quite happy with the money I accumulated. Time to finally get something good.
_____________________
- SHOP -
Current balance: 17000 IC
***
! SPECIAL OFFER! [ updated ]
Category:
- Weapons
- Armors
- Weapon arts
- Potion
- Class skills
- Foods
- Materials
-...
Service
- Smithing
- Alchemy
- Runecraft
- ....
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'Huh..., the special offer updated? Great! If it wasn't for the beginner pack, I probably would die by now. And I have to say, 200 IC was quite cheap for such goods.'
Without any delay, I open the special offer tab, and upon seeing the content, my jaw dropped.
_______________________
- SPECIAL OFFER -
- Maxwell predecessor - pack
Requirement: [ The one who faces the impossible ]
Price: 15000 IC
Content:
- Maxwell's mayhem Swordart [ tier 5 ]
- Maxwell's ring
- 2x Claymore
- 10 tier 3 health potion
- 10 tier 3 stamina potion
- 10 tier 3 mana potion
_______________________
'Oh, my donut, a tier 5 sword art! Damn I love this shop'
After the creation of the super system and the discovery of mana, swordart become the game-changer. With the addition of mana, swordart now can create destructive moves, and combinations of attacks to maximize the ability of the new weapon.
Guns were useless against the demon, the only thing that works is swords, any type of melee weapon. And not any kind, it must have the ability to use mana, or else the best it would do is a massage to the demons. e
Sword art range from tier 1 to 5 with the highest being 5. As higher they are, the more they will cost. Tier 1 is commonly sold and taught everywhere in the human domain. Even though it is a tier-one but upon mastered, even a civilian can fight equal ground to a low-level demon.
Tier 2 is can be bought anywhere but the price is much higher, in return upon mastered, a warrior can easily win a low-level demon.
Tier 3 however is a different story, from tier 3 their price is ridiculously high, and it is impossible for a civilian to a ford. It is also a requirement to become a mid-level warrior. Upon mastery, a warrior can finally fight equal ground with mid-level demons, possibly killing them if they are good enough.
Tier 4 is like diamonds, the only way to obtain it is either given by the high-rank guilds of the domain or through an auction with the price that you can live the rest of your life through 3 generations and still have a lot left. And with it, killing a high-level demon isn't an impossible feat anymore.
Tier 5 is to be considered legends, created by legendary heroes who kill high-level demons with a single strike. It considered being impossible to get this swordart since some have been lost and some belong to the top guilds and only available for the guild master or their successor. Not only that, there are only around 20 tier 5 swordart that are remains.
Looking at the interface again, I couldn't even believe in my eyes anymore, I bought it right away.
Right after purchase, a sudden surge of information flooded into my brain, and an intense headache hit me. I weakly sat down, my head hurt like someone hitting it with a hammer. I start losing consciousness, a flash of bright light covered my vision.
Soon after, the bright light start to dim, then a man appeared in my vision. He was wearing priest clothes, holding two huge crosses, he hack and slash, dominating his opponent. One cross Pierce through the demon, lock down the demon and without any delay, he slashes the other cross horizontally, chopping its head off. Black liquid floods out of the demon corpse, shoot out like a fountain with tiny droplets falling like rain.
Letting go of his cross, the blood rain finally stops and the sunlight shines down on the man, I finally have a clear look at him.
He was a middle-aged pale white man with white short hair and an extended goatee beard with bits of black dots from the demon's blood still stuck on his face. His eyes were iridescence like yellow Sapphire, with a slight flow of mana on, making them glow. He has a wide shoulder tall and muscular, despite his clothes trying their best to cover it, they still fail. If one looks from the distance, one might think of him as a bodybuilder instead of a priest.
Looking at him for a bit, I realized he was standing on a pile of demon corpses. Everywhere I can see is just piles and piles of demons corps, chopped and sliced into pieces. Black blood forms into small rivers, travel through piles after piles, joins rivers after rivers, and forms an endless sea of blood. No matter how hard I tried, I still see no sign of civilization, just piles of demons stacked on each other with weapons and banners piercing through them.
The priest then sits down, taking out a small picture, and a slight smile appears on his face. The man that just slaughter all these demons under his feet, the man with intense killing intent just a moment ago. Now smiling, all the killing intent all gone instantly and replaced with the kindness of a friendly neighborhood priest.
In the picture, there was him standing with little children. Some tall, some short, they all holding hands, smiling. From the look of it, those kids might be orphans that the church is taking care of. And then he is the priest that takes care of them.
Not long after that, the space around him starts to be distorted, and cracks appear. Hundred and thousands of portals open, and an endless sea of demons flood out. They are all equipped with a giant sword and wear heavy Demonite armor. Heavy metal collided with each other, and all the demons are looking at him with a bloodlust aura.
Despite being surrounded by them, the priest doesn't care at all. His face was still calm, he slowly put away the photo. Pick up his two crosses, and the calm and warm smile change instantly into a cold emotionless aura. An overwhelming pressure erupted from him, instantly pushing off the weak demons. In response to his pressure, all the demon leaders did the same. The pressure of a dozen S rank demons surrounding the priest.
The demons then let out a deafening scream, holding the weapon tight, they all rush straight into the priest.
The priest then kneels, taking his cross necklace hidden in his shirt. Then he starts to whisper something, the cross light up, and overwhelming mana erupts. A glowing armor made of mana appears on the priest, his cross becomes a hilt, the tip of the cross extending out a huge long blade made of mana. Then he pushes mana into his foot and stomps down, pile of demon corpses under him turns into mashed potato, he dashes straight into the sea of demons.
Hold tight to his swords, with every swing he made, thousand of demons got cut in half. Despite wielding two greatswords, he swings it left to right like swinging a toothpick. Combine with his swordsmanship, he easily overwhelmed dozen of S rank demons. It takes two of them to finally push off his slash, but even so, they still got flung away by the impact slightly.
But then something unexpected happens, a giant portal opens, and all the demons suddenly stop attacking, slowly back off. Then from the portal, a giant hand reaches out, then hands start coming out of it. From the middle of it, a human-size figure flies out.
I try to zoom in and take a look at the figure, but then cracks appear, and corrupted dots flood my view, totally covering the figure. My vision then slowly blackouts, but not for long, my vision starts to clear up again.
This time, however, I found myself sitting on a sofa inside a room. Looking around, the room was a classic living room with a sofa and a fireplace. The walls and the floor are made of dark brown wood, with many picture frames hanging on them.
Then the door opened, a man with a white beard, wearing priest clothes holding a tray with two coffee cups. Slowly walking towards me with a slight warm smile, he asks.
" Would you like some coffee"
"Yes... Yes... Please"
The man lightly hands me a cup of coffee, then he slowly walks to the sofa opposite me and sits down.
He then look at me and said.
"My name is Maxwell and as you see, I'm a priest."
Taking a slight sip of coffee, he then continues.
" I know you have many questions, but I'm afraid we don't have time for that. Anyway, let's get straight to the point, do you want to learn my swordart?"
Unlike the calm and warm voice before, his tone was serious, looking straight into my eyes.
In response, I answer without hesitation.
"Yes, yes I do, please teach me it"
Maxwell smiled, his tone becoming softer as he speaks.
" You probably saw a bit about my past before, and so do I. Your past is quite a tragic one, slowly seeing your family and friend murdered by demons, yet you still move on. And once a chance to fight back appear. Without hesitation, you take it and fight till your last breath. Remind me of my old comrades..."
A slight sorrow forms on his face, he stops for a bit before continuing.
"My world is like yours, used to be filled with sunshine, children play and smile all they want. But then the demons invade, and those days are replaced with despair and deaths. But unlike your world, we already have mana. We managed to fight them off, but as you already saw in my last fight, in the end, we still lose."
Take another sip of coffee, he continues with a serious tone.
"I died because I wasn't strong enough, my straight hit the bottleneck, despite all my efforts, SS rank is my best. But what I saw in your potential is limitless, it was like a tower that goes through the clouds as it rises to the infinite. Maybe if you train and stay alive till them, SSS or maybe even above that is possible to you. Damn, I'm jealous of you."
With a bitter smile, he sips more coffee and continues.
"Even though I died, the hatred I had for those damn demons never extinguished. So I want you to learn my swordart and help me slay that bastard.
So what do you say pal, shall we work to get her ?"
Raise his hand out, without hesitation, I grab his hand. Shaking his tightly, I smile.
"Much oblige"
(This take longer than I expected, probably because of my laziness, but oh well, can't change that)