Dungeon Shop-2

Arun first thought that the old man from the Dungeon Shop was scamming him, when he asked for 100 coins. But when the old man laid some facts before him, about the leveling system of this world, he was blown away.

In this world, one can only achieve the highest level of 100. The problem lies in the fact that, after one had reached that level, they would not be able to earn any more stat points from their hunts or other activities. And this is where the rocks come in. When absorbing the mana from the rocks, one can increase the value of their attributes. But there was a catch in that as well.

According to the old man, rocks from different beasts and monsters had the ability to influence different attributes. When absorbing the mana, the user has no control over which attributes the rock would influence. All they could do is, pray for the rock to increase the attribute which they want to increase. If that were not useless, then the fact that with every 10 stat increase from rocks, one would level up. 

Hearing this Arun's enthusiasm came crashing down, Solo hunting gets me 8 stat points with every level up. With the rocks, I could get 10 stat points with every level up. But if I am not able to control where I invest the stat point, then this rock is as useless as it comes.

Arun then stared at the old man, "How do we know which mana stone would influence, which attribute,"

The old man with utmost respect said, "Well, one could ascertain the attributes by looking at the monster from which they got the stone. More specifically the way that monster or beast fights. If their attacking style has magic involved, then while absorbing the rock, it is a guarantee that your Arcane would increase."

"Hmm" he mumbled and then asked, "Is there any.. Concrete way to know? Like, is there a book or something like that?"

The old man smiled, and with a snap of his finger made the book appear on the bar table. The book looked old, it was a 12-inch long book, bound with brown leather cover. "This is the book of beasts. This book has comprehensive knowledge about any beasts or monsters that could be found on the first floor. It contains the weakness of the said monsters, as well as the knowledge about what kind of attributes mana stones from these beasts could increase."

He took the book, and on his spine, the number '1' was printed, "What does number 1 mean?"

"This is the first book, of the set of 9 books." The old man said, making him realize that there would be eight other books like this one. He then tried opening it, but he couldnt open the book.

"I am sorry sir," the old man apologized, "You can only open the book when you have purchased it,"

He nodded, and then asked, "What is its price?"

"15,000" The price made him widen his eyes with shock.

"That is just too expensive," he said.

"It is not expensive, considering the kind of information that it provides. The ability to know and learn about every beast or monster or their next evolutionary chain is a privilege, sir. And it could even save your life one day,"

The book was a very tempting thing. He had the money and knew that the book could be of great help to him if he were to use it. It is only after contemplation for a while, that he made a decision. He would first sell some more stuff, buy some things, and only then would he decide whether he would buy the book or not…

Arun then spends the next 3 hours or so, asking the old man questions and buying stuff. With the money he was left with, he bought several inventory slots and quick access slots. This way, he could get access to any weapon that he wanted, whenever he wanted. As far as the spatial pouch was concerned, he simply sold it. It was a hassle to carry that thing around, and he knew well that he would never use it, considering he had his inventory.

He bought a Mana Replenishing potion and the Black Poison cookbooks. He figured that they were useful to him, so he should not hesitate to buy them. Along with the cookbooks, he bought some basic items like a stargazer, which was the fancy name for a telescope. He bought the totem, which generated a field around his camping site, which would not let the monster smell or hear him. But if they were to cross the field, then he would be toast. He also has some gear like new braces, gloves, and clothes. He also brought some black scarves as well, he didnt want to use a curtain mask again in his life. 

As far as his skills were concerned, he bought three new skills.

Arun bought a skill called, Underwater Breathing, which as the name suggests gives the user the ability to breathe underwater. However, the ability was heavily dependent on the mana that the user had. He brought the skill, thinking that it might come in handy when going to the Forbidden Island. 

The second skill that he bought was called, Explosion, it was a skill that let the user change the nature of their mana, by adding explosive properties to their mana.

At first, he was confused about what changing the property meant, and then the old man took some coins and explained it to him, "Think of the raw mana as a blank slate. It doesn't have any nature to it, so nothing would happen when you manifest it in the real world. But with this skill, you would be able to add the explosiveness to your inherited nature of your mana. So if you were to project the mana outside the mana, and use this nature-changing skill, then you would be able to make your mana explode at will or at contact,"

Hearing the explanation from the old man, he bought another called, Mana Projection, it was a magical skill that let their mana manifest outside of their body, and then the user could mend the mana in whichever shape they wanted. He had to test out the skill, but from what he got, he could use this skill to make small balls of exploding mana balls and send them flying. This would work as a great long-range weapon.

The only downside of this was, a player could inherit or have, three mana natures. This sucked as there was much more mana nature in the arsenal of the old man, which he really wanted, but simply couldnt afford.

Following his shopping spree, he was only left with 1,500 coins. He realized that he should save for the future. Thus with that, he ended his shopping spree, and went outside the dungeon