Let's go Spending

Luke ignored the arrogant noble's rampant behavior toward another student as he made his way inside his dorm room, shutting the door behind him. He wasn't in the mood for pointless distractions. Once inside, he exhaled deeply and sat down on the edge of his bed, letting the quiet settle around him.

"System, display my status screen," Luke commanded.

A translucent blue interface appeared in front of him, listing his stats and skills in neat rows.

_________________________________________________

[ STATUS ]

NAME : LUKE

PHYSIQUE : 274

MANA : 221

'CLICKS' - 78,419

SKILLS - FLOWTHREAD - GREAT ACCOMPLISHMENT

 - SERENE FLOW - GREAT ACCOMPLISHMENT

 - AZURE STEPS - GREAT ACCOMPLISHMENT

 - SHIFTING EDGE - GREAT ACCOMPLISHMENT

 - PHYSICAL ENHANCEMENT - GREAT ACCOMPLISHMENT

 - STRIKING TIDE - ADVANCED

 - BELLOWING STEPS - ADVANCED

____________________________________________________________

"I'm feeling real trigger happy with spending right now and I've got a decent amount of mount to do that" Luke said

"System, give me 10 advanced boxes" he instructed.

[ PURCHASING 10 ADVANCED BOXES ]

[ DEDUCTING 10,000 'CLICKS' FROM HOST ]

[ OPENING BOXES ] 

A string of notifications popped up one after the other:

[ CONGRATULATIONS ]

[ GAINED +1 PHYSIQUE ]

[ GAINED STAR SHATTER DAGGER ]

[ GAINED WIND EDGE SHIELD ]

[ GAINED + 2 MANA ]

[ GAINED SKILL FLAME WAVE ]

[ GAINED MOONLIGHT SHORT SWORD ]

[ GAINED + 2 MANA ]

[ GAINED WIND EDGE THROWING KNIVES ]

[ GAINED GRANDMASTER ARNOLD SWORD NOTES ]

[ GAINED NORMAL SHARPENED LONG SWORD ]

Luke reviewed the rewards, unimpressed with most of the items. "Pretty standard stuff, but..." His eyes lingered on one particular item. "These Grandmaster Arnold's Sword Notes... This could really help me with my skill proficiency." He quickly stashed the rest of the gear into his subspace. "I'll save those for later."

A LONG WHILE LATER

Luke stood shirtless in the center of his dorm room, practicing his sword forms with a wooden sword in hand. His body was drenched in sweat, and in his other hand, he clutched the Sword Notes, carefully studying each advice carefully.

"This is perfect," he muttered, wiping the sweat from his brow. "I've already improved Bellowing Steps to Great Accomplishment."

He grinned, satisfied with his progress. "I rarely get these kinds of notes from the system—this is only the third one I've gotten overall"

Feeling accomplished but not done, Luke called out, "System, recommend a new movement technique for me with a budget of 70,000 'clicks.'"

The system interface began scrolling through a list of techniques, each one more impressive than the last. Then, something caught Luke's eye.

"System, stop," he said, narrowing his gaze on a specific option. His eyes widened.

"This... this is OP," he whispered, staring at the ability. It was a Skill Combiner—a rare feature that allowed him to fuse two or more skills into a singular, more powerful technique.

"But 500,000 clicks?" Luke winced, half-shutting his eyes. "That's way too much. Still..." He couldn't help but sneak another glance at it, the allure of the ability too tempting to ignore. "Now I know what I'm going to save for," he said with a smirk.

Shaking his head, he refocused. "Anyway, what was the technique you were going to show me?"

______________________________________

[ DEDUCTING 65,000 'CLICKS' ]

[ PURCHASED SKILL ARCANE STEPS ]