He kept with this lifestyle besides tending to customers that happen to see the shop. One of those customers helped him push his plans faster, as it was a Mexican Drug Lord who was running from his enemies. What he sought for was a way to protect himself from harm as he thought Mark was the devil ready to strike a deal. He said he would pay anything so as long as he is safe from assassins.
Mark then asked for his current riches which he readily gave as what use would money be if he is dead. If he is alive then he would have a chance to earn them again, thus Mark gave him a ring that was received from a bronze chest and a necklace. The ring reacts to ill intent to the user by glowing red and the necklace was a ward to protect him from five lethal attacks. Just some Consumable trinkets that Mark didn't seem find useful as they were only useful against normal attacks but if met with a devastating one it would break instantly.
Because of the mysteriousness of his arrival here as well as the cold unfeeling eyes of Mark he readily believed he was dealing with the devil. He was fearful but so unwilling to die at the hands of his enemies he accepted and believed. This was cemented further when he appeared again in a blink of an eye to where he was hiding with a ring and a necklace that looked like they were of the devil's.
Later he was able to survive and rally his men and kill his enemy. it was then he noticed how his hidden bank accounts were now empty with no traces of whosoever received the money. Thus making him believe more of the shop that was run by the devil. Rumors started to spread of this in the underworld which intrigued certain beings at the rumor. A certain bald lady heard of this and thought Mephisto was on the move again thus a purge of demons in the mortal world was being done. But that is a story for another time.
Meanwhile Mark was staring at the large amount of Gold he received. It was there he realized how rich the man he scammed was. He now has 304,441 gold coins which meant that man has 30 million dollars' worth of money in his name. This would really help him start a large business empire, now Mark focused more on his personal stats as he felt he was still too weak to face the dangers of that world.
Right now from the system ranking he could be considered a D-Class person which could be similar to a soldier or a Martial artist in lethality. He did experiment such as wearing the armor and wielding weapon which made his only at +D-Class. Which was comparable to a Veteran Soldier in lethality, but that was mostly cause he doesn't have that much experience in life and death battles.
His CQC skills alone could be comparable to Black Belt martial artist but that was it, it was just mostly martial arts not aimed for lethal strikes. If he had known he should have studied Krav Maga but it was not yet that late as he still remembered the illustrations of forms and stances in Krav Maga. He practiced and realized his skills started to level up, days passed by as he trained and trained day and night.
He also made some Bows which he recently started to practice, it started at beginner stage but he made it into Intermediate Archery due to his experience in Marksmanship with guns. Speaking of which Mark also tried to make guns which were currently a massive failure. Many trials and errors yet he still couldn't make the gun work due to precision problems.
So he was about to make more until he received the alert of a mission that has been with him for one year now.
[Mission Completed: Peepee too small? Get swole!!!
-The host has small d-energy thus wanted an enhancement of sorts thus must complete the following exercises to gain that Top-G attitude!
:100 push-ups/day
:100sit-ups/day
:100air-squats/day
:10km run/ day
:Complete set for one year in mission world
Remarks: Host need not save on electricity or eat small meals, you might go bald!!
Rewards-(Muscle Enhancement Serumx1)
(Skill Book: Step-mom is tired, she needs a Massage technique)
Mark looked at the blue screen as this reminded him that he has now been here for over one year. He took out the skill book to learn it and just as he thought it was just a skill to induce comfort through massage. Even if the skill name is very misleading but what mattered to Mark was the red vial now in his inventory.
[Enhancement Serum]
[Consume to add 50+ STR, 50+END, 100+AGI, 50+DEX and 25+INT]
[Remarks: A serum similar to the Super Soldier Serum but only weaker in effects as it focuses most on the improving the agility of the User. Can only be used once per person.]
Mark felt this would make him strong enough to face the dangers outside but his logical side made him think of getting the most of this by trying to raise his stats by himself first before consuming this Serum. Thus even if the System didn't give a mission as he thought of doing a Spartan Routine Training, it still gave him another mission.
[Mission Issued]
[Reach +C-Class standard lethality]
[Host will be facing many dangerous beings in the future and to survive the world from its many dangers the host must reach a level of strength that'll call for respect from your enemies.]
[Current Level: D-Class]
[Rewards: Compound-V(Injectable)]
[Time Limit: 3 years]
[Failure: Host won't be able to get superpowers even from other sources. Host would be stuck in self-improvement training forever.]
"Well shit! But the rewards are tempting though." Mark talked to himself as he was now tempted to use the Enhancement Serum but he was not sure if it could make him reach up to +C-Class standard. So it would be better for him to milk the shit out of exercise.
One year passes by yet no notable thing has happened to his situation other than discovering he could use Identify on his customers which gave him the hobby of greeting them by speaking their name before they could ask about where they were. This made most of the customers believe that they are in some Devil's lair while some believed he was an angel which made Mark sneer, angel? He was sure that even if he was not inherently evil he was also no angel much less a saint.
Most of his customers tend to be from the underworld organizations which made Mark confused as to why but they were fat sheep to be slaughtered as Marc sold them some trinkets he made that were utterly useless and charge lots of money for it. Some were rich collectors but somehow when they arrived and hear Mark call out their name correctly they all called him the Devil.
Mark somehow became a rumor passing around the underground world of DC and Marvel, not sure how he should feel because he was sure this would get the attention of a certain handsome individual. Thus he introduced himself as 'The Shop keeper' which lessened the rumors but some still call him the demon.
But since then he was nonstop training, which was noticed by Torgu who also mimicked him as the Giant Child has nothing much to do. The Bastilladon also matured with the other one becoming a juvenile, rabbits now roam the lands in numbers which Mark knew because the System gave him a population chart that could be viewed by him.
He now has at least 63,003 rabbits in the whole Back yard, thankfully the resources regenerate but if this goes on the whole place would be run down by them. The Chickens were only able to go up to 9,026 in two years but this meant that Mark must at least introduce new animals inside here. Wolves would be needed too as well as birds of prey.
Mark really wished he could just buy animal cubs in the shop but it was unavailable. Many things were unavailable in the shop that Mark wished he could buy already. Many sub-shops that handle others thins were lock like the weapons tab, where he could have bought guns already if he could. Another was the bestiary which made the sale of various beast and beings here.
System said he could only unlock the bestiary should he be able to some conditions. One condition that was possible yet it required for him to slay one of the mighty beast in the list alone in battle. But he could unlock the bestiary instantly if he could capture and tame one of these personally.
An Adult Dragon
A Dragon Ogre
A Chaos Giant
A Treeman
A Forest Dragon
An Arachnok
A Hydra
A Manticore
A Megalodon (Yes there are large sharks in the Great Pond)
A Saurian
A Thunder Lizard
A Carnosaur
An Ancient Stegadon
A War Mammoth
A Cygor
…
Mark smiled at the list as he felt this was going to be a challenge, but he sure won't do against some of these because they would put a target on his back. Maybe once he gets the +C-Class strength then he would try to unlock the bestiary. But it has been long since he went out and maybe it won't hurt to wander outside once in a while. It's been two months since he had a customer anyways.