And with the remaining amount, he purchased two mana potions, each costing one thousand dollars. The delivery was scheduled for the next day, and they arrived within a few hours. He looked at the mana potions—a red liquid with a slight sparkle inside. He wasn't planning to replicate the potions for now and sell them. There was also the option of selling them on Metazon, but after accounting for the commission, he'd only make an additional eight hundred dollars in profit.
It was better to create more money with that cost. It would only be worthwhile if he could replicate the potions inside the tower and sell them outside.
"But wait a second, I don't know if the mana potions I created outside can be brought into the tower." After all, he created them with his power, right? Other alchemists brew potions with their own hands outside the tower. It shouldn't be the same. He would need to test it to see if he could enter the tower with his created potions.
It was a good thing that he was going to enter the second floor soon. From there, he could start exiting at frequent intervals during missions, but missions had to be completed in the given time or he would face penalties. He would need to check the penalty rules. There were also specific rules—he needed to be in a safe zone to exit, and each floor had its own unique set of rules.
But for now, he needed to create more money and buy a few things before heading to the next floor. He ordered dinner since it was already late. His entire day had been spent in the association office and then at the ATM.
He took his dinner and sat on the ground with a one-thousand-dollar note. He replicated one note, which cost him one mana. He started replicating more notes, and the mana consumption gradually decreased. After creating seventeen notes, his mana was exhausted.
He then opened a mana potion and drank the red liquid in one gulp. It tasted like medicine. After grimacing for a few moments, he checked his status. His mana was now at fifteen. If his mana had been thirty, it could have increased to a maximum of thirty.
"Geez, what a loss," he muttered upon seeing this.
He then got back to work. He started creating more money, and when his mana reached four, he created two mana potions. The more complicated the object, the more mana was needed. One potion required two mana. After drinking one of them, he checked his status menu, and everything worked as expected.
The next morning, he got to work early. He finally stopped his work after creating one hundred thousand dollars. Over the course of the last few repetitions, the mana consumption for creating money had become almost negligible. A single potion creation now took only 0.5 mana, which was very little.
Without hesitation, he took out his mobile and went to Metazon. He navigated to the "General Section" for items outside the tower. Last time, when he was checking mana potions, he had taken a quick glance at the weapons section as well. He saw multiple guns there, and he wanted to try recreating them.
He went to the weapons section and browsed through the guns. After some deliberation, he selected the ones he felt most comfortable with.
He selected an M4A1 Carbine with M995 (Armor-Piercing Tungsten Core) bullets, along with accessories like a magnified scope, suppressor, and M203 Standard Grenade Launcher. Everything together cost him about fifteen thousand dollars, plus one hundred dollars for the hard case.
He also selected an Mk22 Advanced Sniper Rifle with accessories such as 7.62mm ammunition, thermal scope, suppressor, bipod & support, stock & chassis, and a hardcover. All of this cost him about forty thousand dollars.
Additionally, he ordered a few M67 Fragmentation Grenades and M84 Flashbang Grenades, costing him one thousand dollars.
After placing the order, he relaxed, hoping he would be able to replicate all of it. His newly created player human ID number was also required for purchasing the weapons, as only players were allowed to buy or sell guns. Non-players were prohibited from such transactions.
However, the number of people who had purchased guns was very small—fewer than two digits—compared to other weapons that exceeded the six-digit mark. He understood that the weapons couldn't be taken into the tower and that they were limited by the mana barrier.
A mana barrier could only be broken with mana, but Sanjay thought, "Then how do arrows in bows work?"
He checked the information online and found the reason. Arrows in bows were created with the archer's skill. But there was no skill to create bullets, as the complexity of creating a bullet, entering the magazine, and firing it was too high. On the other hand, skilled archers could easily create mana arrows using skills like "Lighting Rod," "Fire Stick," or "Water Arrow" if they practiced enough.
And since the arrows were created with mana, they could break through a mana barrier if powered up sufficiently, making them much more powerful than a regular bullet.
Can he do something with the bullets? He started thinking. Could he create mana bullets? He didn't think so, because his skill was replication, not creation. So how could he create mana bullets? Was there a way? Did the scientists in this world easily give up on guns?
He searched the web once again to see if there was any way to create mana bullets. After much searching, he finally found an answer.
Once, a rich kid, madly in love with guns, asked an NPC on the fifth floor. The NPC was very proficient in mana handling. The rich kid gave him lots of tower points, and the NPC crafted a mana bullet for him using multiple materials. Excited, the kid exited the tower and tested the bullet outside with his gun. He uploaded a video.
Sanjay clicked on the video. It started with a lot of story and explanation about how the rich kid acquired the bullet and everything else. Sanjay skipped all of that until he reached the part with the bullet. The bullet shown in the video was silver but with blue artistic designs on it.
The bullet didn't look like it was made from metal; it looked like it was made from a completely different material. The person loaded the bullet into a magazine and put it in a pistol. He aimed at a monster trapped in a case.
He pressed the trigger. The bullet hit the monster in the head, and the head exploded. Sanjay was astonished. The entire head of the monster had been blown off. The person hadn't even used an explosive bullet—he just shot the bullet from a pistol. And the most shocking thing was, the bullet didn't even make any sound.
When any bullet is shot from a gun, the sound of the bullet breaking the sound barrier is usually heard, even if there's a suppressor. A suppressor can only reduce the sound; it can't completely eliminate it like in the movies. But Sanjay didn't hear any sound from the bullet. He replayed the video to check for any subtle sounds, but there was nothing.
He checked the comments section, and he was right. Many people commented that there was no sound. Even the creator replied in one comment, confirming that he didn't edit the video and that there had indeed been no sound, and the monster's head had been blown off by the mana-protected bullet.
Sanjay was very excited, but he wondered why the government didn't monopolize mana bullets or why the guilds didn't focus on them. Then, he decided to replay the video from the beginning, the part he had skipped earlier.
The rich boy explained that creating the entire bullet had cost him around ten thousand tower points—just for a single bullet. He also mentioned that the materials used to make the bullet were extremely scarce, and making one bullet was already his limit.
After a few seconds of reflection, Sanjay realized that the government and guilds hadn't pursued mana bullets because they didn't find it financially beneficial. They could achieve similar results by shooting arrows, which didn't require creating such costly items, and tower points could be used for other things.
Tower points were in high demand but low supply. Each tower point was exchanged at a ratio of one thousand to one in Asian dollars. For one thousand dollars, you could get about one tower point. Even though there was demand, the supply was limited.
Sanjay thought about it. The cost of the bullet was too high. Should he give up on his gun obsession and move toward something similar, like a water jet cutter? It was created with mana, so it should work like other skills. Or he could try archery—maybe that would work as well. But he didn't want to give up on guns.
He decided to leave it for now. There would be no issues with using guns on the first three floors since they only had weak monsters with no mana. After that, he would need to find other options.
Okay, now for the next part of his shopping. He planned to buy some defensive items, like bulletproof vests, tactical gear—such as helmets, gloves, boots, and goggles—clothing, rations, MREs (Meals Ready to Eat), and a shelter. Everything cost him around fifteen thousand dollars.
He also bought military knives, state-of-the-art Japanese swords, and a good bow. Weapons like swords, knives, and bows were more expensive because they were used for training. The knives and swords together cost him around five thousand dollars, and the bow cost him about ten thousand dollars. The bow was a state-of-the-art model made with carbon fiber and Kevlar string.
These items cost a lot less since they couldn't be taken inside the tower. If they could, the cost would easily reach five hundred thousand dollars.
After a long time sitting, he stood up from the floor, started cooking noodles for breakfast, and waited for his parcel to arrive.
A few hours later, the parcel arrived at his house. He paid the delivery driver, as it was cash on delivery, using his newly created notes. He felt depressed—half of his hard work had been spent in seconds.
The parcels were big and heavy. He carried them into his small apartment. He cut open the parcel boxes, and there they were—his guns, which he had missed so much. The guns looked different from those in his previous world, but all guns had the same purpose, so they would work in this world.
He rented a training center available for all players. For the next two days, he did nothing except train—shooting guns during the day and replicating them at night. He started slowly, and after one week of training, the mana required to create guns finally decreased, coming within a limit of ten mana units.
He created hundreds of guns, thousands of bullets, grenades, swords, and everything he could think of that might come in handy. His room was covered in weapons. If someone walked in, they would think he was planning a coup or something. It wasn't normal for a person to buy so many weapons.
He would need to dispose of the weapons—or at least bury them somewhere. He sat down to think, but couldn't come up with a single idea for how to dispose of them. It would be better if he could rent a bigger place or something. Maybe renting a storage unit and storing the weapons there would be the best option for now.
He quickly checked for nearby storage units and rushed to one. He rented a fifty-square-meter unit with good security. He paid the manager a hefty amount, and the manager assured him about the safety. He then rented a truck and moved all the weapons into the storage unit.
For now, he was set. He planned on going to the next floor soon. So, without wasting any time, he went to his bed for a good nap. He was exhausted after spending the entire week working.