Shunya woke up to a loud knocking on the door. He had spent most of the last night looking up weapon recipes and easy ways to kill someone. The best thing about having access to every webpage imaginable was that it included sites normally locked behind paywalls and even dark web forums, giving him plenty of information to use.

He got up and opened the door; it was the old lady who was running the shop from where he got the lighter fluid. She had a tray with a loaf of bread and a bowl of soup. “Drusus told me to wake you up,” she said, setting the tray down on his table.

“Do I need to pay you?” Shunya said as he reached for his bag of coins. “No, this one is on the house,” she smiled as she walked out of the door “Enjoy your meal Shunya.” She winked.

Shunya sat down to eat his breakfast and then froze.

How did she know his real name?

Shunya stopped himself from rushing to the shop and demanding an answer. He sat on his bed, head in his hands. Well, if she knows my name, it’s possible that Estelle sent her here he thought Or maybe she’s a spy for the other god, Darius, or maybe she’s a mind reader? He scratched his head, sweating.

Well, if she was Darius’s spy, she would have probably killed me discreetly already. He dipped his loaf of bread in soup and tore at it.

After finishing his breakfast, he took his tray to the cafeteria. “Hey Caleb!” Drusus yelled. “Oh, hey Drusus,” Shunya said. “You still look a bit under the weather” Drusus observed, looking at the sweat beads on his forehead “You sure you’ll be able to work tomorrow?”. “Hopefully” Shunya said, sitting down. “Maybe go out for a walk or something, you’ve been in that room ever since Damien left.” Drusus laughed as he pat Shunya on the back. “Well, I need to supervise the kids, so get well soon”. Drusus got up and left the banquet hall. Seeing Drusus leave, Shunya walked up to the shop. “We need to talk,” he told the old woman. “I suppose we do,” the woman sighed as she opened the gate and ushered him in.

Shunya entered the dusty shop and closed the gate behind him. “Well?” Shunya asked, “I’m a high priest of the Science goddess Estelle,” the old lady said. Shunya frowned “I thought this was Darius’s domain?” “It is” she explained “they worship Darius as the chief god while Aria and Estelle are two minor goddesses.”

“Are there any other minor gods?” Shunya asked, “Yes, actually. While they’re exclusive to this realm, there are 3 minor deities.”

Shunya felt a hollow feeling in his stomach “So to destroy this realm, will I have to kill these deities too?”. The lady gave him a pitying look “It seems to be that way.” “But how? Can gods even be killed? Estelle never mentioned this!” Shunya protested. The lady shrugged “I’m new to this reality too sweetie, the only reason I came here was because of the extra pay.” “You’re getting PAID?!” “Ignoring all of that, I’m here to help you get your mana level up.”

“Great! I need 25 mana potions,” Shunya said. The lady sighed “Well, it isn’t that simple. I still need to run this shop profitably to avoid suspicion.” Shunya looked disappointed “Don’t worry though” she said “I have some things you might be interested in buying,” she said as she waved open a gate revealing a cupboard full of modern items like blasting caps, glassware, and a variety of guns.

Shunya looked at the items , fascinated, “How much for the Ruger?” He asked, pointing at a black pistol. “50 coins and 10 coins for 6 bullets”. “Could you throw in the bullets for free?” Shunya pleaded. “Fine” She tossed him the gun and gave him a pouch with 6 bullets. Shunya counted 50 coins and gave them to the lady.

“What do you plan to do with the gun?” The lady asked as she counted the coins and put them in a large pouch.

Shunya smiled evilly “I’m planning on killing rich noble children and taking their gold,” “That is an incredibly risky plan” she frowned “and you would also make an enemy of the noble’s family.”

Shunya laughed, “Theres no way a proud noble family would suspect a peasant child with no mana of killing their superior son”.

“A gunshot is extremely loud, and I don’t have any silencers in stock right now,” the lady said. “That’s where I’m going to need your help,” Shunya said “I need 2 teleportation scrolls. I’m going to camp near a road that leads here, kill a noble and take his loot, then teleport back to my room. ““I’ll learn teleportation as soon as I get my mana up,” he reassured her.

The lady gave him two scrolls. “Well, I wish you luck,” she said as she shooed him out of his store.

Shunya gripped his scroll and teleported away.

………………

“Young master Dominic!” an old man called “at least take a carriage and a driver with you!”. “Quiet, Alastair,” a young mustached man, about 19, snarled back “I’m fine with just the horse,” “Its dark master, what if you tripped on a pothole? The refinery doesn’t have the best roads.” Dominic glared at his butler. “Illuminate.” He pointed his palm towards himself, increasing his vision. “Are you happy now?” He said as he mounted his horse. The butler looked down at his feet. “I’m just worried for you, master.” “Keep your worries to yourself, they are nothing but a burden to me.” The young Lord snapped as he rode his horse away.

Father always sends me to do his menial tasks for him. He thought to himself .Why should I care about his stupid brewery? He’s been on edge ever since James died

He continued riding his horse and reached the dark, abandoned path his butler had warned him about. Fortunately, because of his advanced vision, he wasn’t afraid. How hard would it be for Father to fill up the potholes here? He grumbled as his horse dodged another one.

From the corner of his eye, he spotted a boy who looked 12 lying in the grass. He was wearing filthy rags as clothes and had messy, unkempt hair. The sight nearly made Dominic recoil in revulsion. Well, a little sport never hurt anyone Dominic thought as he got off his horse and drew his sword.

“You, boy!” He called out “What are you doing here at this hour? Don’t you know it is past your curfew” The boy looked at him with a blank expression “Apologies my liege, I was just passing by” He seemed to be gripping something in his pocket, but since The young Lord detected no mana from him, he ignored it. “No! You are definitely a foreign spy!” He leered at the boy. The boy didn’t respond, and drew out what looked like a short hammer. “You attempt to defend yourself?” Dominic scoffed as he pointed his sword at him “You seem to have misread th-”

BANG! Dominic reeled back in pain. His horse neighed and galloped away. He touched his chest and felt it soaked with blood. “H-How?” he choked “Are you a dark mage? Have you been sent here to assassinate me?” He spat out blood and shivered.

The boy smiled blankly at him and pointed his hammer towards him “It seems that YOU have misread the situation my liege.” The young Lord opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by another loud noise. He fell to the ground, dead.

The boy emptied the man’s pockets, finding a bunch of gold coins and a watch.

Pocketing them, he then turned his attention to the bag. Opening the bag, he found a few blue crystals and a bunch of mana potions.

Smiling to himself, Shunya gathered his loot in the bag and gripped his scroll hard, vanishing from the area.

He teleported into his room. Putting the bag on his table, he counted 8 mana potions, 6 crystals, and 210 gold.

With this much, I have already surpassed a B tier mage he thought as he grabbed a mana potion bottle. It was made of glass and looked golden. He uncorked it and drank it all in one go. It tasted sweet and metallic. He felt warmth spread from his chest to the rest of his body. Suddenly, a blue status screen appeared before him. ‘New skill unlocked: Element manipulation’ was written on it in white text.

Element manipulation? That could come in handy he thought as he drank the rest of the potions, getting progressively warmer.

Now… what to do about these crystals? Shunya thought as he picked up one. The status screen in front of him changed. ‘Would you like to put this item in your inventory?’ it said. Shunya put the stone inside the blue screen, watching it vanish.

Now the screen said inventory, with only one item below it. ‘power stone, multiplies your power levels by a factor of 1.5 (stackable)’

Shunya made a quick calculation in his head and gasped If I use six of them on my mana, it would increase my mana by a factor of 11.4! He quickly added 3 power stones, to his mana but a dialogue box popped up.

‘Max multiplier achieved for mana’ I’ll put the rest in physical strength Shunya thought as he did just that.

Shunya grabbed his bed and lifted it up with one hand, albeit with some difficulty. Well, my strength wasn’t that great to begin with, multiplying it probably won’t do that much.

He put it down. Shunya then concentrated heat into his hand. “Inferno,” he said. Suddenly, a huge fireball launched from his hand onto his table. Oh god no Shunya thought as he tried to fire a water ball at the table. A status box appeared ‘Your skill level is not high enough for dual wielding.’

Shunya gritted his teeth Well, there’s only one thing I can do now. He grabbed his gold and put it in his inventory. “Drusus!” he yelled, running out of the door

………………