After spending nearly half of his fortune on clothes, Lucas went to the nearest potion store to buy some mana potions.

"One small instant mana potion will cost 450 dollars. If you want the regular mana potions, they will be 200 dollars each," said the bulky store manager.

"What is the difference?" Lucas asked.

"An instant mana potion will instantly recover your mana points by a certain amount, and the regular mana potions will speed up your mana recovery rate."

"I see…"

Lucas recalled the previous store he went to had charged 500 dollars for a single mana potion. Perhaps that was the instant mana potion.

'However, it's still cheaper here…'

After pondering for a moment, Lucas asked, "How effective are the regular mana potions?"

"They can recover about 100 mana points every 10 minutes, so 10 mana points every minute."

"If I consume two of them at once, does that double the effects?" Lucas couldn't help but ask.

"Hahaha… Of course, not…" The store manager laughed, and he continued, "It will only increase the duration of the mana potions."

"Then can I get 10 regular mana potions? And do you give discounts if I buy them in bulk?" Lucas then asked.

"Discounts, huh? You're a newbie?" The store manager asked him.

"Yes, I entered my first dungeon not long ago." Lucas nodded.

"I can give you an extra regular potion if you buy a bulk of 10— so 11." The manager said a moment later.

"Okay." Lucas immediately agreed.

He then paid 2,000 dollars to the manager.

After accepting the money, the manager handed him a box of 10 regular mana potions alongside an extra one.

"Thank you for your business, and good luck out there. I know how difficult it is for newbies nowadays." The manager said to him.

"Thank you." Lucas left the store shortly after.

'I have only 1,800 dollars left in my Guild Card, but I still have 3,885 dollars in cash. I should also buy a monster encyclopedia to learn more about monsters in general.'

After pondering on a street for a minute, Lucas began making his way to the next store— a bookstore.

Sometime later, Lucas entered the first bookstore he saw since he wasn't familiar with this city.

"Do you have any monster encyclopedias for sale?" Lucas asked the middle-aged woman at the front desk.

"Yes, we do. What levels of monsters are you looking for? We have monster encyclopedias between level 1 to 20, 21 to 40, 41 to 60, and so on."

"Levels 1 to 21 and 21 to 40," Lucas said.

Although he does not expect to be entering intermediate dungeons anytime soon, things usually don't go as planned, and he'd rather be safe than sorry.

"Okay. That will be 100 dollars for both."

Lucas then paid 100 dollars in cash before accepting the two thick books from the woman and putting them inside his backpack.

After leaving the bookstore, Lucas went to a nearby restaurant to fill his stomach before going to the guild and renting out one of their rooms for three days, spending another 150 dollars in total.

"Only 5,435 dollars left, huh… The money leaves as fast if not faster than they come…" Lucas sighed.

He then laid on the bed with the level 1 to 20 monster encyclopedia in his hands, and he proceeded to spend the rest of the day reading through the book.

"Green Goblin… Level 1 to 10. Slow, weak, but dangerous when grouped up. Drops low-quality F grade mana crystals."

"Red Goblin… Rare monster. A type of goblin. Incredible reaction times and strength. Their power level is usually around level 20 to 25. Drops rare F grade mana crystal."

"Hobgoblin… Level 10 to 15… High strength with a durable body. No special attacks. Drops medium-quality F grade mana crystals."

After reading through the level 1 to 20 monster encyclopedia, Lucas decided to read it all over again because he found it very entertaining, and there were even pictures of the monsters.

This reminded him of the picture books his parents read to him when they were still alive.

After spending many hours on the first book that had information on hundreds of monsters, Lucas went onto the second monster encyclopedia about monsters between levels 21 to 40, eventually falling asleep with the book still open.

The following morning, Lucas continued to read the monster encyclopedia, spending another day inside his room just relaxing and reading.

Once he was done with the books, Lucas turned his attention to his character status.

[Level: 10]

[Rank: Hero]

[Title: N/A]

[MP: 250]

[Abilities: Plunder(Lv. 1), Devastate(Lv. 1), Vanishing Steps(Lv. 1), Minor Strength Boost(Lv. Max), Minor Vitality Boost(Lv. Max)]

[Strength: 10(+65)]

[Vitality: 10(+65)]

[Agility: 10(+50)]

[Intelligence: 10(+50)]

[Perception: 10(+50)]

[Available SP: 50]

"I have 50 stat points, but which stat should I put them in? What would benefit me the most?" Lucas pondered.

However, he was unable to come to a conclusion, so he decided to go downstairs to ask the guild staff and see if they had a guide on distributing stat points.

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Author's Note: I will release a bonus chapter for every 50 Golden Ticket this novel receives. You can give them through gifting the novel gifts.