Exploited

The high fire resistance of his body, and its resilience towards explosions allowed him to survive the impact of two fireballs.

They hit him and exploded, flinging him through the air but he was alive and thankfully had not received any severe injuries. His clothes had received the brunt of the attack and he had two burn marks across the area of impact, which was much less troublesome than he had expected.

Getting up from the ground, his eyes flickered through the bunch of screens that opened up in front of him.

'These fucking bastards are really going to waste my money!' Liam cursed in his mind as he opened the Arcane Shop, which was one of the three special options that could be used the moment the Arcane System was initiated.

The functions were〖Arcane Shop〗, 〖Nine Realm Chat〗and last but not least,〖Missions〗.

Liam opened the Arcane Shop, or the different types of columns to be precise.

He could only take a quick glance at the affordable options which did not leave him with a lot of things to buy.

'A temporary Speed Drug…enhances my Agility to the D-rank for five minutes…for five Arcanium…' Liam found, biting his lip as he did a quick calculation in his mind. There were more than ten Shedim that were making their way toward him right now and a steady influx of more such monsters continued to emerge out of the underground tower.

Since the ancient doors had been opened, the Shedim were unleashed on the hapless humans, creating a Gateway from the Underworld to Haltan. Instead of pouring high-ranked Demons, let alone Great Devils out of the tower, and thereby wasting precious resources, Liam's sister had chosen a different way to bring the Apocalypse to Haltan.

The little rat of a half-sister, from his mother's side, of course, caused lots of trouble to him, even if they were in a completely different realm right now.

Unfortunately, that was not something Liam could give much thought to right now. After some quick calculations in his mind, he swallowed his pride as a warrior.

Not using his Arcanium right now would mean his death, even if he didn't like to acknowledge that.

He was too weak, his Soul had yet to awaken and his mind took longer to adjust to the given situation than expected.

It was annoying but so was life! There was nothing Liam could change about it.

'...weakening state after the drug's effect wears off is five hours…yeah, definitely not…'

[Speed Drug]

[Herculean Drug]

[Vitality Drug]

[Black Iron Saber]

[Ring of Pyroma]

[Boots of Aracnian]

[Ignition Flash]

[Staff of Marli]

"That's all bullshit…not helpful at all…" Liam cursed under his breath. He was forced to keep moving backward as more fireballs were thrown at him.

The number of Shedim was steadily increasing and it was hardly possible for Liam to make out their numbers.

Fighting against all of them was not feasible even if he were to use his small fortune of Arcanium to increase his stats because there were simply too many, swarming at him like cockroaches.

It was possible to stall some more time by killing a few more Shedim in exchange for being grazed by several fireballs but it was only a matter of time before he would be pushed over the edge of the cliff.

He would fall more than ten meters through the air until his fall would be punctured due to the tree branches he was bound to collide on. The entire valley was like a reservoir blessed by nature, teeming with an abundance of flora and fauna. Liam had seen the trees below the cliff before so he knew that increasing his Vitality would be more than enough for him to survive the fall.

However, retreating and jumping down the cliff seemed to be his last and only shot at survival even if his pride took a severe blow.

There was still a chance for him to turn the tides, which Liam noticed the moment he found what he had been looking for…just that it was way too expensive.

'So you're telling me that the Soul Awakening Orb costs 1000 Arcanium…this is such bullshit…' Liam thrashed the system in his mind, or he imagined to do so, at least. However, he knew that he should rather curse his Mother for snatching everything from him.

If their Soultrait had already awoken before, they would emerge on Haltan with their Soultraits unlocked as well. Only a few intelligent lifeforms on Haltan would receive the fortune of awakening their Soultrait the moment they came in touch with Arcane Power.

As for everyone else, they had to pay the price to awaken their Soul artificially, or strive even harder and hope that they would be enlightened all of a sudden.

Liam didn't believe that the latter was possible right now even if his current situation put enough pressure to force him into a state of enlightenment to survive miraculously.

Unfortunately, he didn't really feel like relying on a miracle to survive. He knew that he was on his own, just like always. Thus, he clung to the last straw of hope and shouted out loud.

"System, lend me as much Arcanium as I can borrow with an interest of 10% or less!"

The Arcane System was not something anyone had a lot of information about. It was only known that one could do basically everything with the System.

At least, that was what Liam heard when his siblings had discussed what to do about Haltan. He had been chained down to a chair at that time, forced to listen to their discussions because his mother wanted that, and he could have never believed that it would come in handy someday in his life.

[The Arcane System has analyzed the Host's current situation and is willing to borrow 1000 Arcanium that has to be paid back in five days with an interest rate of 10% per day.]

Liam's upper lip began to twitch and he momentarily forgot about the threat caused by the dozens of Shedims in front of him.

"You son of a Hydra!" He cursed out loud while bursting forward. His right arm thrust forward and the tip of the steel spear cleanly pierced through the head of the closest Shedim.

[Edit: If the Host is unable to pay back, or dies in the following 120 Hours, his Soul will be taken and sold at the new Haeli Auction!]

"Fuck you…" He shouted, just to grit his teeth at the sight of more than 30 incoming fireballs that would turn him into a living torch in a matter of seconds.

"...I agree…"