Chapter 5 : Preparation [ 2 ]

3 Days later.. after the fight with Arlen Mesle

'...9'

'..10'

...

'..15'

After finishing his last set of the day, Lo dropped both of the 15 kg dumbbells, 'Haaah.. Haaah, I'm exhausted.. I've been training without a stop these past 3 days. Haaaah..'

Sitting down on the floor, he starts checking his attributes, 'System Attributes'

[ Lo, ???

Rank : 0th(Intermediate) Mortal Rank

Strength : 0th ( 7.86 ) -> 0th ( 9.54 )

Agility : 0th+ ( 11.21 ) -> 0th+ ( 12.26 )

Perception : 0th ( 9.25 ) -> 0th+ ( 10.51 )

Intelligence : 0th ( 7.52 ) -> 0th ( 8.3 )

Mana Capacity : 0th ( 6.76 ) -> 0th ( 7.6 )

**System Review : ( 8.52 ) -> ( 9.64 )**..

]

'Not bad.. the progress is faster than the average person due to my hidden title.. but still not enough..' Lo frowned.

As he recalls the ranks of the characters inside the novel after the start of academy, he recognizes that they are quite formidable. The most powerful characters are at Intermediate 1st Star rank, far beyond his own abilities, while even the weakest insignificant character is at Peak 0th Mortal rank.

"How is this even fair..." Lo sighed dejectedly.

"As expected of an Extra.."

Finishing his rest, Lo moved away from his position. After the fight against Arlen, no one dared to approach him as everyone is scared to provoke a monster like him.

Exiting the public gym, he walk towards what appeared to be a large golden tower-like structure with numerous blue reinforced glass windows. The tower shine brightly during the day, as if only the privileged can enter, and a holographic sign 'Credia' can be seen in the entrance.

'So, this is Credia.. In the novel, most people gather here to sell their mana crystals and the beast corpse. That is only because Credia has the lowest tax rate of any existing company operating within Mesh.'

Entering inside, he saw a big lounge with numerous people waiting in line, while some people sat down comfortably in black chaise couches.

Lo waited patiently in the never-ending line of people.

...

2 Hours later..

'Finally! It's my turn..'

As the person in front of him completed his transaction, Lo moved forward to the counter.

The receptionist questioned politely with a smile, "How may I help you today?"

"I want to sell two intermediate 0th rank Mana Crystal and a peak 0th rank Mana Crystal."

"That would be a total of 3000AC, and we would be taxing you 2% of it, leaving you with only 2940AC; are you willing to accept the transaction?"

"Yes." Lo answered impassively, as he reach his hand out in the hand scanner.

Ting!..

[ Balance : 2942 AC ]

"Thank you for working with you!"

Lo nods his head towards the receptionist and walks out of the building, Upon exiting the building, he heads towards a specific store to see if he can buy something useful.

Coming to an halt, he saw an old shack called, 'Marline's Technique shop' without any hesitation, he walk towards the shop, while deep in thought, 'The reason why I came here is because, in the novel one of the villains has bought a very powerful technique inside this shop but it was never revealed what kind of technique.'

As Lo enters the old shack, he noticed several dusty wooden shelves lined up on the left side of the old shack, and a wooden counter on the right, an old man can be seen slouching at the wooden counter sleeping. He appeared to be in his late 60s, gray hair with an oval face, dressed in an ordinary white shirt.

Lo walked towards the numerous dusty wooden shelves and checks the martial techniques. he picked up a couple of the manuals and tried to understand it. however he frown and thought to himself, 'I cannot properly understand most of these techniques at all..'

Lo ponders to himself and recalls that he possessed a unique skill of his own, [ Appraisal ].

'Does it work against relics, skill books, and techniques books? might be worth a try.'

Using [ Appraisal ] on the book he was currently holding, a holographic window shown right in front of the book.

[ Breaking Rock Style ( ★★ ) -

- Fists coated with another layer of reinforced mana.

- Punches that can break the most sturdy rock at a high understanding

Understanding - ( ★ ) ]

'If I were a brawler, this technique would be very good, But sadly I am not.' Lo shook his head as he continued to [ Appraise ] the books.

[ Flying Dagger Arts ( ★★★ )

- Increases the use of dagger proficiently.

- the user can also control the dagger in the air at will.

- Able to control 3 daggers at will at max understanding.

Understanding - ( ★★★★ ) ]

[ Lighting Sword Arts ( ★★★★ )

- Increases the unsheathe speed.

- The user is able to summon lightning while performing the sword art.

- Lighting mana coats around the sword when performing the sword art.

Understanding - ( ★★★★★ ) ]

[ Ground bre...

[ Sealin..

[ ...

After inspecting all of the martial techniques, Lo thought that these techniques were quite useless to him, Although the techniques in this place can be said to be top tier in the entire Mesh city. These techniques aren't the reason why Lo came here.

However, just as he was about to leave, he noticed a book on an old shelf in the far right corner.

Lo went over to the shelf and picks up the dusty book. he opened the book, and raised furrowed his brows, "Why is it all blanked pages?" he mutters

Lo used [ Appraisal ] on the dusty book.

[ Flowing River Sword Art ( ★★★★★ ) -

- Increases overall sword proficiency.

- Performing the sword art Increase the user's senses

- Performing the sword art in rapid succession increases the attack speed of the sword.

- Sword dance flowing like a river.

- Strikes that can split waterfalls in half.

Understanding - ( ★★★★★★ ) ]

'...'

Silence descended, as he ponders to himself solemnly, usually an 5 star martial technique and above is very difficult to find or obtain, most of these martial techniques can only be acquired by the privileged people living inside the human domain.

'Haaaaaah... and to think I found one here.' Lo sighed inwardly. 'This book, however, has blank pages. It makes sense why people can't identify the technique; even a 7th bloodmoon ranker can't easily identify the contents. Without [ Appraisal ], I would simply see this book as a blank-paged book.'

Deep in thought, Lo remembered [ Lector ], 'Can I ask the system? if I can find a way to understand this technique? Although I still find my system a little bit special compared to others, like [ System Shop ] and [ Lector ] which I never heard of in the novel, I'll need all the help I get.'

Lo walked toward the counter and ask the sleepy old man.

"Store owner, how much for this blank book?" Lo inquired.

"mhmmm.. uhh.. kid, why would you buy a blank-paged book?"

"Nothing, I would just like to have a book to write down."

"You can take it with you for free, it's no use for me after all.. there are countless people asking me what this blank book is, but I also don't know myself. someone just left the book here long ago."

Lo nods his head and gave a bow towards the store owner before leaving the technique store. while walking back towards his apartment. he called out [ Lector ]

[ How may the system help you? ]

"System, can you give me an idea on how I am able to understand the technique?"

[ Analyzing... ]

[ .... ]

Ding!...

[ Would the host willing to spend 1800AC for the information? ]

'Although it's expensive, it's worth it since I doubt that I would have access to any other Five Star Martial Technique any time soon even with [ System Shop ].' Lo pondered.

"Yes."

Ding!...

..

[ Balance : 1142 - AC ]

Ding!..

[ The book contains a strong sealing technique and as a result, the book cannot be understood by anyone unless someone manages to break the sealing technique contained within the book. ]

"And how do I unseal the technique placed within the book?"

[ The sealing technique contained within the book is strangely also a transportation technique, and the system believes that in order to break the sealing technique contained within the book, the host must travel to the location where the transportation technique transports the host. ]

"....."

[...]

"System"

[ Yes? Host ]

"Are you this talkative?"

[...]

"Anyways, I just need to activate the transportation technique right? but how do I activate the transportation technique.."

[ Let me do it host, due to you being The ■■■■■, the system can give you a hidden trial. ]

Ding!..

[ Analyzing... ]

[ ... ]

[ .. ]

Ding!.

[ Calculating... ]

[ ... ]

Ding!..

[ Hidden trial : Akasa's Legacy

- Akasa, one of th..&%#@%!%@%@#%!$#!@%%#@

Difficulty : 1th(intermediate) Star rank or above

Time limit : N/A

Reward : ??? ]

"...."

"System.. Why is the administrator attempting to block the information of the hidden trial? Trial information is extremely important because it means the difference between my life and death!" Lo furiously exclaims towards the system while massaging his temples.

[...]

"Forget it, I might as well take some rest and get ready for tomorrow's admission test."