Aiden soon arrived at Hostess Of Fertility and there was the brown-haired cat-girl Anya on the front doorstep.
"Hello Anya-san!" Aiden called Anya.
"Oh Kurogane-nya~. Welcome-nya~ Syr-nya waiting you nya~."
Anya said and then took Aiden inside and led him to the bar table right in front of Mia.
"Welcome back, boy. Have you been in the dungeon till now? I hope you've gained something good." Mia said.
"Thanks Mia-san and I think I did really well this time."
"How much did you get?"
"I killed 1,110 goblins and they had to open an account."
"You've hunted so many in such a short time. Well, feed yourself well tonight. What are you gonna do tomorrow, buy some equipment?"
"No, I need to earn more before I buy equipment and I want to buy a proper one."
"Is that so okay." So Mia left and Syr came right after.
"Welcome Aiden-san."
"Thanks Syr-san. I earned well this time, so is there any food you can recommend me? By the way, I don't eat fish and pork."
"Is that so then I can recommend today's special."
"Okay if you say so then I'll take that."
"Okkay~." Syr took the order and headed for the kitchen.
Soon she came back with many plates of food.
'I think she added extra stuff when I said I was earning well, but it's better. Even though [Status Recovery] removes the feeling of hunger, it doesn't take away hunger, you just don't feel it and I'm really hungry because I haven't eaten since this morning.' Aiden thought.
Syr actually did it as a tease, but Aiden soon devoured all the food.
"May I take seconds." Aiden said.
"Y-Yeah right away." Syr said and immediately brought the same food again but with more portions.
Aiden was fine with it and continued eating and soon towers of empty plates began to form in front of Aiden. Soon dessert arrived and Aiden was finally full.
"Thanks for the meal! Huh-!" Aiden was so busy eating that he didn't notice his surroundings, but when he finished eating, he looked around and realized that a huge crowd was watching him.
"Um is there a problem?" Aiden asked.
"Where the hell did all that food go! He can't have eaten all that food with that body!" One of the crowds said.
Aiden wasn't short or skinny, in fact he was athletic and of good height, six feet tall, but he still ate enough to make it obvious that he couldn't fit in his body. So Aiden actually ate 6 servings of the day's special meal on his own, with dessert and drinks.
"Can I have the check, please?" Aiden said.
Mia came and wrote the bill on a piece of paper and put it in front of Aiden. The people around approached to look at the bill and couldn't believe their eyes when they saw the bill. It was just over 10,000 Valis. 10,587 Valis to be exact.
"This boy has just eaten 2.5 people's one-day salary out of 25,000 Valis, the daily earnings of a party of 5 people!" One of the crowds said.
Aiden quickly pulled out a ledger. Adventurers always carried this ledger with them because they could pay with it. Since they couldn't carry hundreds of thousands of Valis in their pockets, they would use this ledger and write the amount they would pay for their purchases like a check, and the business owner would receive the payment from the adventurer's guild. Of course, if unknowing new adventurers spent more than they had in their accounts, the guild would pay, but the person would be charged. In other words, the magic crystals, dropped items, etc. that the person collected from the dungeon afterwards would be spent directly on the debt to the guild. If the person died, the guild would send the debt information to their Familia and demand payment as soon as possible. This is why many Familias didn't take on new adventurers right away, because if the number of people spending in this way increased, it was normal for the Familia to get into debt and go bankrupt.
Afterwards, Aiden decided to return to the inn after receiving the check and Syr accompanied Aiden to the door.
"Good night Syr-san."
"Yeah, good night, Aiden-san."
"By the way, it was the best meal I've ever had. Especially from the second one." Although Aiden didn't seem to pay attention, the taste had changed a bit after the first plate and Syr's arrival time had increased, and Aiden had an idea that Syr went straight to the kitchen after taking Aiden's order and didn't visit other tables.
"I'll send your thanks to the kitchen."
"Is that so? Anyway, I'm sure the person who cooked that meal will make a great wife in the future." Aiden said for Syr to hear as he started to go to the inn.
Syr's face turned red and he hurried back to the kitchen.
"Syr-chan, I guess that boy's left since there's no new order. So how was he?" May named Chef said.
"He knew."
"?"
"He knew I was the one who made the food from second."
"Wow! Did he said something bad?"
"N-No."
Seeing Syr's expression, May understood, but before she could say anything, a voice rose.
"Stop slacking off!"
Everyone went back to work and Aiden soon reached the inn.
He quickly went up to his room and sat on the bed and opened the next place he needed to check in the system. Store.
[Store:
[Potions & Elixirs]
[Equipment]
[Skill Scrolls]
[Consumables]
[Enchantments]
[Special Offers]
[Current: 3,410 Gold]
"Wow store is pretty good. I have 3,410 gold right now. I got 3,110 from title's quest and 300 from that monkey's fur."
Aiden started browsing the system store. The ranks of each product went from F to SSS rank, so there was an F-rank health potion, but there was also a SSS rank health potion. The F-rank health potion only improved health by 5%, but for SSS it was an incredible potion, words cannot describe it.
While Aiden looked at all the products as much as possible, one was particularly interesting.
[Name: Shadow Mana]
[Rank: Special] (Depends on the user)
[Description: Second Mana. ???]
[Price: 1,500 Gold]
'What is this description? There is almost no information, they just wrote (second mana). Hm a second source of mana wouldn't hurt, maybe.' Aiden thought and bought it.
[Thank you for your purchase!]
[You've obtained [Shadow Mana]!]
[The Shadow Mana organ is being created.]
As soon as the message came out, an etheric heart started to form right behind Aiden's heart. The heart was beating exactly at the same time as Aiden's heart and it was as if the shadow of the heart had materialized.
[The mana veins in the body are being strengthened and expanded...]
The flow of mana in Aiden's body became much more smooth and powerful.
[Shadow mana is linked to the INT stat!]
[Removing impurities in the body!]
[Warning!]
[This will be a painful process, please bear it!]
"Ugh!!!" Suddenly an unbearable pain shot through Aiden's body. It was as if his veins were being enlarged with a fucking jack.
Aiden's veins were becoming more and more prominent on his body and they were showing through his skin all over his body, as if the veins could burst at any moment.
In the meantime, the system was progressing in percentages. And even though the progress was fast, it was still not fast enough.
Aiden's skin would suddenly start to stretch and every time it returned to normal a black liquid would come out of his pores and the pain was incredible.
Aiden clenched his teeth with all his might to keep from screaming in pain and all he could do was watch the progress.
.
.
.
[%100]
[The body has been mostly cleansed.]
[Further cleansing of the body cannot be automatic by the system.]
[The body can be made impurity-free using a store-bought body cleansing method.]
[STR increased by 3]
[AGI increased by 4]
[VIT increased by 7]
[INT increased by 8]
[Sense increased by 2]
"Huff huff..."
Even though the pain had passed, Aiden took a breath and tried to calm down because of the terrible effects.
"My VIT and INT have increased the most and my sense has increased the least."
Aiden closed his eyes and tried to feel the shadow mana. Soon blue mana began to flow in one hand, while a shadowy dark mana circulated in the other.
'Normal mana is easier to use, but shadow mana is more brutal and aggressive.' Aiden thought as he looked at the shadow mana.
But this shadow mana would actually benefit Aiden a lot in the future.
Afterwards, Aiden first cleaned the floor and took a shower then wandered around the system store, both looking for what that cleanse might be and finding another skill that interested him.
"So this body cleansing is actually one of those manhua things where people who grow up in manhua develop their bodies by going into strange liquids or using strange treasure class things. I wonder if I can use a body cleansing method that I have in my memory. Let's try it." Aiden took out a notebook and began to write down in as much detail as he could a method of cleansing that he remembered most clearly and, of course, the ingredients were relatively easy.
It took a couple of hours, but he finally managed to write down the technique with what was left in his mind, and suddenly a system message appeared.
[A body cleansing technique has been detected.]
[Would you like to refurbish and debug this technique compared to its equivalent in the system store?]
[Y]/[N]
"Does the system have such a feature, then yes."
[Searching...]
[Found!]
[Name: Fire Of The Eight Trigrams Urn]
[Rank: S]
[Description: The forgotten sacred fire of legend, Fire Of The Eight Trigrams Urn, embodies the essence of rebirth and purification. When ignited, it envelops the user in a radiant bluish-golden flame, providing unparalleled restoration and enhancement. Fire Of The Eight Trigrams Urn is a catalyst for regeneration, eradicating toxins, fortifying the body, and infusing the magic circuit with newfound strength.]
"That's it!" The notebook Aiden was writing in began to glow and then turned into a much more neatly made book.
'Well as I remember this method was very helpful but the problem was that it was extremely painful, well the materials are a bit of a problem but I will try to find it in time, now let's look at this skill.' Aiden thought and opened the skill page he wanted.
[Name: Sixth Sense]
[Rank: C]
(Description: Opening your 6th sense and feel the unsensible.]
[Price: 0]
"This skill is free? If that's so then..."
[Notice!]
[You've bought the passive [Sixth Sense] skill.]
[Error!]
[You've already have this skill.]
[Skills]
Passive skills:
– Tenacity Lv. 2
– Sixth Senses Lv. Max
Active skills:
– Dash Lv. 2
– Hour Of The Genius Lv. 1
"I'm sure the sixth sense skill wasn't there the last time I checked!"
[Skill is evolving...]
[The skill [Sixth Senses Lv. Max] has evolved to [Inspiration Lv. 1] skill.]
"Show me the skill's details."
[Name: Inspiration]
[Rank: S]
(Description: Sixth senses have transcended, evolving into a profound state of inspiration that enhances cognitive abilities.)
[Effects: The user gains intuitive insights and flashes of inspiration, leading to innovative solutions and ideas.]
[Effects: Increased mental fortitude and resilience against psychological stress and distractions.]
[Effects: Enhanced ability to detect and locate hidden pieces/treasures within dungeons, increasing the chances of discovery.]
"Wow that's so good. Specially last one. Wait a minute, maybe it was because of 6th sense that I followed my gut feeling in the last dungeon. Also, the skill didn't manifest itself until I decided to buy it in the store. Could it be that I already have more skills?" Afterwards, Aiden felt mentally tired and decided to postpone the research and rested without sleeping.
================================
Dear readers, I know that I have been neglecting this place for a while, my reason is that I am looking for a job. That's why I'm actually posting a patreon link. I publish the novel for free, whether donations are made or not, but it takes a really long time and effort to write, and in return for this time and effort, I expect donations from those who can at least, after all, I have to survive.
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