An original weapons

Liam wrestled with his inner thoughts. He wasn't afraid of Blake, at least not after meeting Harry, but the Mist Forest was a perilous place, and he didn't want his new friends to risk their lives.

He gritted his teeth but, after long consideration, came to a decision and said, "I will accept your challenge if the elders judge our competition."

He was pleased with his clever idea. With the elders overseeing the competition, there would be fewer chances for life-and-death situations, and Blake wouldn't be able to use underhanded tricks.

"I have no problem with your suggestion. Besides, you won't be able to deny your loss," Blake said, laughing.

Liam chuckled and walked past Blake while Harry and the others followed closely.

After putting a considerable distance between them and Blake, the other three bombarded Liam with questions. "Is he the one competing with you?" "What is the Mist Forest?" "Where is the Mist Forest?"

"Wait, wait, I will tell you," Liam assured them.

"He is Blake Alphonso, who is competing with me. We were good friends at one time, but our families' rivalry created differences," Liam explained.

Tyler ignored the last part and asked, "Can you tell us about the Mist Forest? You said even elites think twice before entering."

"Oh, that..." Only two words came out of Liam's mouth before he started looking off into the sky. The others thought maybe he was organizing his thoughts or that the topic was too traumatic to talk about.

After a while, he started talking. "I was wondering how I should explain, but now thinking of it, I should be honest. The Mist Forest is not dangerous because of the beasts, though they are tougher compared to outside beasts, but not enough to make elites shiver."

"At first, many people went into the forest to hunt because of the abundant number of beasts, and there were frequent cases of people going missing. We ignored it because it's normal to die while hunting. But one day, a person from a higher city came here. He had a higher level than an elemental master."

At this point in the story, everyone's jaws dropped because they had never heard of a level beyond elemental master. Harry made a mental note to ask the system about all the cultivation levels.

Liam continued, ignoring his companions' reactions. "That person entered the Mist Forest. According to rumors, he was here to seek some type of treasure, but till now, he has never come back.

Then we started noticing that people mostly go missing there instead of dying. Sometimes, even members of elite teams go missing without a trace. No one has ever found where these people go."

Harry raised his eyebrows when he heard that someone beyond an elemental master went missing.

"Although it's rare for someone to go missing, there is always a chance that if it's your bad day, you can vanish without exception," Liam concluded.

"Why would a high-level cultivator come to this city?" Harry asked, not expecting an answer, but to his surprise, Liam responded with something that made Harry even more curious.

"There are rumors of a tomb of a god-level cultivator. Everyone who goes missing is believed to be chosen to take the test to inherit the lineage of that cultivator but failed in the task. Who knows if it's true or not," Liam replied.

"Then there should be many people trying to go missing in hopes of getting rewards from the god-level cultivator," Meru commented.

The other three gave her a weird look because they couldn't imagine anyone wanting to die based on rumors.

"So, what do you all think?" Liam eventually asked. The others were confused by the sudden question, so they all said in unison, "About what?"

"About whether you want to go to the Mist Forest or not. Now you know there is always a chance of death, although there will be elders," Liam clarified.

They looked at each other because none of them had even considered backing out.

Liam had already helped them more than anyone could, so they were more than happy to repay him. The next moment, they put their hands on each other's. Seeing such a childish gesture, Liam hesitated but eventually joined them.

"Then let's start preparing," Liam said. They followed Liam because he wanted to buy things from the market.

"Krish, can you tell me about the different levels?" Harry asked.

["I can certainly do that. The starting point is 'Foundation Building'. They are not fully cultivators and don't have a vast difference in power compared to normal humans.

Then there is 'Elemental Master' who can control element. After that, there is 'Spiritual Sage' who can control spiritual energy around them and can also fly, although they have some restrictions.

Following that is 'Celestial Sage' who can fly freely without any restrictions and can also control energy on a vast level. There are more levels, but this should be enough for now."]

Harry nodded, excited at the thought of flying. He also felt like a frog unaware of the outer world.

He took a deep breath and decided that he would enter the 'Philosophers Academy'.

There were many benefits to entering the academy, like a chance to go to high-tier cities where he suspected his father and Maria to be. But mostly, he wanted to become powerful and learn about different cultivators.

"Can anyone take the entrance test for the Philosophers Academy?" Harry asked in a questioning tone.

Liam was confused about why Harry brought this topic up but didn't think too much and replied, "Yes, anyone can take the entrance test. They mostly look at your talent, so there is no certain level required."

"See, I am planning to take the entrance test, so can you tell me more about it?" Harry said.

"They assess your talent considering the environment you grew up in. For example, in this city's environment, if you achieve level 6 in your 20s, you have decent talent to enter the academy.

But considering you recently awakened and are at level 6, you could easily pass the test," Liam explained.l

Harry didn't reveal that he was now at level 7 and had no intention of doing so, even for the entrance test.

because it was already too much for a recently awakened person to reach level 6 in just two days. He didn't want to draw too much attention to himself, at least not until he enters the academy.

They entered the same shop as before and took a body tempering serum for Tyler so he could level up. Unfortunately, there was no serum for Meru to level up. Then they came to a big shop which, according to Liam, was the Star Association official shop.

"I was saving some money for this day since I can't get help from my family," Liam said.

The other three understood the meaning behind Liam's words because they had entered a weapon shop with several weapons.

"Since you will help me, at least we can assure our safety by getting better weapons. I have enough money to buy you all an intermediate-level weapon. You can choose your favorite weapons."

There were weapons hanging on the wall, divided into categories based on their tier. Harry was confused when he used his inspect skill because all basic tier weapons had different skills, as he had seen previously.

But with intermediate weapons, some did not have any skill listed. Instead, they were only shown as intermediate weapons.

The most surprising thing was in the advanced tier weapons because almost none of them had any skill listed and were differentiated into foundation building level 7, 8, and 9.

'Is it because the system is unable to see what skill they possess?' Harry thought to himself.

But then it didn't explain why it could show the skills of other same-level weapons. He wanted to confirm it, so he asked Liam, pointing to one of the intermediate weapons that the system couldn't show any skill for, "What skill does this weapon possess?"

When Liam saw the weapon, he asked the shop manager about it and came back, "It's an 'original.'"