Countries were classified in ranks, one to three, from high to low. So Rank 1 Kingdom, Rank 2 and Rank 3. After that was the Empire, which was huge, and contained several other Kingdoms under its rule. These didn’t have ranks, it’s the best you could have.

Of course, there are others, but you’ll rarely see any.

The one I started in was a Rank 3, the lowest, and it was named Namon. Remember when I was still in captivity and I got that achievement reward that gave me access to the neighboring countries?

I talked about it before, but as a reminder, you only have access to the information from the country you were born in, or started in. You had to buy access to the nearby countries, or they could be given to you. If you went to a new area you would lose access to the former one.

Ok, done.

Turns out I was far, far away. Like, three countries over.

Normally, this wasn’t a problem. Since this planet was huge, teleportation was invented ages ago, meaning you could go from a city to another in a moment (as long as they were big ones). In flight though, it was astonishing.

Anyway, since I didn’t buy access to Namon I was now locked out of it, but could look at the information from the nearby Kingdoms. Weird, I know.

It was a shitty country so I won’t be buying it, thank you very much.

Now about this one; it was actually pretty good. Rank 2, fairly wealthy, people seemed to be happy and its culture was fairly interesting.

It also went well with my plans. Well, sort of.

At first I wanted to go to a Dungeon pretty close, just near Namon, but since I overshot it by a lot, I just left it. It was supposed to be found six months from now, which was a bummer but I thought I’d just make do without.

After that, what I planned to be my focus was another Dungeon, even further away. Guess what? It was just across the mountain, in the sprawling desert.

This particular one wasn’t supposed to be found in another twenty years, meaning I could take my time.

I was getting giddy just thinking about it.

Being on a time limit was the worst. So I decided to have my fun before going.

Which brought me to the current situation, after an hour of waiting I finally got to the gate, where I was verified and let in.

Looking towards the sprawling buildings and the bustling crowd, I took a deep breath, hands wide and looked at the sky.

‘I’m back, baby!’

“Stop standing there, you are embarrassing me!” the invisible stalker said.

“Shut up, they can’t see you”

Hands on my hips, I took another deep breath, looked around and went further in, ignoring the looks I was getting for standing there like an idiot and talking to myself.

“Have you been here before?” he asked.

“No, why?”

“You said you were back.”

“Oh, it’s just a way of saying.“

“Do all humans say that?”

“Not really.”

“So you are the only weird one.”

“Shut up.”

Spotting a restaurant, I went in and ordered the most exotic thing I could, which was a Golden Ant blood soup, with Cloud Monkey meat. Tasted a bit funny, but was all around pretty delicious.

After paying an exorbitant price, I went back to the wide street and made my way through every interesting shop, restaurant or bar. I indulged myself in the most exotic flavors, be it in drinks or food.

I ended up buying some pretty cool gadgets as well, such as an umbrella that floated above you, a lamp that did the same, and a foldable magic table for cooking, equipped with every tool you could think of. Oh, and it cleans itself.

My shopping spree continued until midnight, at a delicious barbecue place, right when night life ended for most citizens, and I bought a hotel room at a hotel in the business district. Since I was a tycoon I of course had to get the biggest room, equipped with everything you can think of. Even a meeting room.

I went to sleep content with my experience until now, leaving my new friend to look melancholically out the window with his hands behind his back.

‘Reminds me of a certain someone,’ I said, and shrugged, letting my head fall on the soft pillow.

G’night!

—------------------

Next morning started with a nice cup of coffee with a lot of sugar while enjoying the view from the floor-to-ceiling window. I mentioned that cities were huge, and I didn’t lie. It was all flat terrain, and I still couldn’t see the end of it.

Most cities kept their traditional medieval feel, with some modernity thrown in there, and this wasn’t any different. The theme seemed to be something eastern, and it was intertwined in almost everything, from food to architecture, to even language. Of course, there was no eastern ‘accent’, but they had a different kind of speech in this area.

The building I was in was similar to ancient structures from Asia, with its slanted roof curving at the end, and the red color on most pillars or decorations. Pardon me if I’m wrong, but this is the way I remembered it, it had been years.

I cooked a delicious breakfast using an egg from some fire bird that everyone recommended, and I gotta say, I needed to start trusting people on some things, this thing was awesome. Besides the fact that the yolk was fucking boiling by itself.

Today was planned to be a calm one, spent in the city relaxing and maybe selling all that stuff I had.

First I stayed in bed until noon, like one does, after which I got dressed in an identical but different robe, and went out. I grabbed a quick lunch from a food truck run by an old couple who wouldn’t shut up about putting some meat on those bones of mine, (it was delicious) and went to a blacksmith.

Closing the door accompanied by the bell that signaled new customers, I looked around the rustic, cozy shop. The interior was all wood, with stands showing all kinds of gorgeous armors and weapons.

“How can I help?” a gruff male voice asked.

I looked up at the counter, spotting a young buff man leaning on the wooden table. He had a bit of a stubble, black hair brushed back, and his muscles were about to burst from under his clothes.

“Are you Danny?” I asked, assuming by the name of the shop, ‘Danny’s smithy’.

“I’m the son, I usually work at the front,” he answered plainly.

“Do you buy stuff?”

“Depends on what you’re selling.”

“Weapons, armor, some artifacts if you care about those. Mostly basic, but some magical.”

“We don’t buy artifacts but I could work something about the others. How many?”

“Enough for a small army.”

He wasn’t surprised, and neither was I about his reaction. Since inventories were such a widespread concept, people carried almost every possession, meaning that most Mages had loads of equipment on them, either for back-up or giving to others. Killing enough people could net you as much as I had, and buyers usually didn't ask too many questions.

Oh, but that wasn’t all.

“Oh, I’m obviously talking about the magical ones. I have much more normal equipment.”

Oh, that perked him up.

“Come with me,” he nodded his head towards the door behind him.

We passed through, not even five meters later entering a door on the right, arriving in a small office, full with the huge bookshelf on the side walls, pairing the desk and the sofas in front.

“Nice furniture. Who made it?” I asked.

“You can tell it’s different?” he asked, surprised.

“Oh, I dabble in a bit of woodworking and I can see it’s made by hand. By someone pretty experienced, no less.”

‘Is this one of your shenanigans again?’ my floating partner asked.

‘Not this time, I actually do have an interest in these kinds of things and this whole room is really well made.’

If they were surprised, neither the invisible man nor the other one showed it.

“My father and I only do blacksmithing but my uncle is a carpenter and he made those,” he pointed at the desk and table. “I can give you his code if you want.”

“It’s fine, maybe next time,” I waved my hand. “Now how about that equipment?”

He became serious again, and brought up a notepad from the System, letting me see it. Probably out of courtesy.

“Go on.”

First I brought out an enchanted longsword, with gray runes etched into the side of the blade, close to the handle.

‘Pathetic,’ my invisible friend said.

‘Oh, what do you know?’ I asked sarcastically.

‘I am known as the God of Runes, I brought this practice where it is today. You mortals would’ve been eaten by Beasts by now if I hadn’t advanced this domain to what it is now..’

‘Uhm… what?’

‘Pfft, of course you don’t believe me. Keep living your boring, simple life,’ he turned around.

‘No, no, not that I don’t believe you. It’s just… wow. Can you teach me?’

‘Keep dreaming’

It was worth a shot.

Back to the real world, mister son of Danny, who I still hadn’t gotten the name of, was inspecting the weapons while looking at his notes once in a while.

“I can give you five Crystals for this. How many do you have?” he asked

No questions asked, I love it.

“Let’s make that six,” I countered

“Depending on the number you have, we’ll see”

“Fifty”

“Deal”

I proceeded to take out every spear, shield, axe, arrow, bow and knife I had, making just over 200 Crystals on everything, since there was a smaller number of each.

Next was the armor, which he inspected, and after a bit haggling we came down to eight Crystals on each set, netting me four hundred on all fifty.

After that we went to the boring part, the normal equipment, all coming up to 5000 gold coins. Pocket change, really.

“Anything else I can do for you?”

“Actually yes. I have some… dangerous merchandise on me,” I squinted my eyes.

“Dangerous in what way?” he leaned closer.

“Well, it’s obviously not gonna blow up, but some people are gonna be really upset if they find out I have it,” I shrugged.

“I’m sorry, we don’t meddle in those kinds of things,” he shook his head.

“Then can you appraise it?”

“If you keep your mouth shut, of course.”

“I could say the same to you,” I smiled.

He made a gesture of zipping his mouth and throwing the key.

“Are you sure this place is safe?” I asked, looking around warily.

“Some of the safest in the city,” he grinned.

I knew they were some of the biggest producers of armor and weapons in the area, sometimes even making some for the royal family, but I didn’t know it was that far. Despite the small looking shop, they supposedly had an entire factory underground working 24/7 to make weapons. It was the shop where most mercenary groups ordered equipment for every member, and it was usually done in a few days.

Having a secure room was an amazing feat, you must know. He could be bluffing, of course, but their reputation might be sullied if proved wrong.

‘I could check someday,’ I smiled in my mind.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Nothing, shut up’

Goddamn dude in my head.

Carefully, I took out a bundle of cloth, put it on the table and carefully unraveled it. Inside was a beautiful silver-colored rapier, inscribed with golden runes all the way to each end.

‘Is this good enough for you?’ I asked the grumpy old man.

‘Better, but not even close’

I usually try to keep an open mind but this guy was making me change that for some reason.

The shopkeeper attempted to reach for it, only to stop and look at me.

“May I?” he asked.

“Sure, go ahead,” I waved my hand.

He gently picked it up, running his fingers along the inscriptions, before taking a deep breath. His hand started to glow blue, and he ran them across the blade again. After a minute he stopped, put it back on the table and sighed.

“It’s beautiful.”

“I’m sure it is. How much?” I quickly asked. I was already getting uncomfortable seeing his expression.

He spoke after another minute.

“Fifty thousand”

“I don’t think you mean coins”

“Obviously not,” he shook his head.

“Holy shit,” I quietly whispered.

Alinna was richer than I thought. Or maybe her dad.

“I suppose people will start asking questions if I try to sell it,” I said.

“Oh, definitely,” he confirmed.

I sighed and put the cloth back on, before storing it.

“Will that be all?” he asked while wiping his hands on his pants, clearly nervous.

“Actually I would love to get a ka-” I quickly stopped.

Oh, I almost fucked up.

You see, right now, from appearance at least, I was still Lukas Clayton, earthling. Fat chance of being recognized but I liked no chances at all.

I planned to make the current me disappear forever, and being seen around with a bunch of weapons bought by my other self wasn’t really optimal. Thus I shut up. I’ll probably come back as the other guy.

“Nevermind, I’m all good, thank you very much,” I extended my hand and he shook it, before guiding me to the door and out to the main street.

Next I went to the general store.

Since ruins and Dungeons were found almost every day, and killing other sentient species in a huge forest wasn’t rare, there were stores everywhere for selling anything you wanted. They bought your loot and sold it forward to a shop for every type of item.

You could also buy anything before they sent it to the specific stores, as they display the items for a while.

‘Loot Dump’ they called it.

Getting out a bit richer, I proceeded to more restaurants and cafes, after which I went back to the hotel, pumped a bit of mana in those bones again, and went to sleep.

—-------------

The next morning was as boring as the last one.

I got lunch at an all you can eat buffet in the hotel, packed everything and handed over the key to the room, before taking a carriage to the center of the city.

Yes, they used carriages, mostly because cars were too expensive to make an infrastructure for, and the beasts they used for the carriages could go supersonic instantly, something undeniably needed in such a massive metropolis.

You needed a permit to drive something like this, as they were very expensive, while crashing into anything at the speed of sound wasn’t exactly enjoyable.

Getting off at a grand structure right in the middle of the plaza, I paid the driver and admired the building. It was akin to a cathedral, made using some stone that literally glowed. The figures of different legendary beasts were carved into the pillars, along with famous Mages in history battling in all kinds of situations.

The norm in this world was fighting against Beasts. Wars between sentient races were indeed not that common, but everyone liked to pretend that it didn’t happen, like the Beasts were the real problem.

I mean they kind of were, you can reason with a vampire, as arrogant as they are, but a bear would just smash you.

I went close to the entrance, past the flourishing garden and the class of kids coming from school to visit, stopping before the sign over the door.

‘Hall of Power’ it said, in amazing calligraphy.

This was an independent faction, spread in all Empires, all over the globe, that encouraged growing in power and fighting beasts “for the greater good”.

They were pretty much a bunch of battle maniacs.

Which I wasn’t, I was here to spend money. You see, this faction had been doing one thing for millennias, and that was renting rooms for meditation.

You rent a room where you can stay for as long as you pay for and they pump Mana in - in who knows what way - to help you grow in level faster.

It was the best way to advance, but also expensive as hell. Each branch set its own price, but I was ready to be wrung dry. Definitely worth it - I didn’t want to die in a Dungeon in the middle of nowhere, only to be discover twenty years later as the loser who couldn’t clear a stupid cave.

Going in, the world literally expanded. Only the reception was at least as big as the whole building, which was ridiculous. As you’ve probably guessed, they used spatial magic.

Don’t ask me how it works, I have no fucking idea, but it makes things bigger on the inside, similar to rings but not really.

The whole room was covered in white, from the marble columns to the ceiling tiles to even the reception desk that went from one end of the chamber to the other, being only manned by one person.

Being a money sucking service, I spotted no customers inside.

Coming up to the counter, I smiled and addressed the lovely young lady with flowing black hair.

“Hello beautiful, lovely day isn’t it?”

“It certainly is, mister Clay,” she smiled as well, showing her pristine white teeth.

“Well, that’s not scary at all,” I said, trying to seem just a bit revolted.

“We certainly keep an eye on special individuals, and appearing in a flash of light certainly is one easy way of being one,” she waved her pen around.

“You scare me,” I narrowed my eyes.

“I’m supposed to,” she did the same.

Snapping back to my happy face a second later, I went down to business.

“Well, I am sorry to disturb your lovely day, but I need to rent one of your rooms”

“That would be amazing, please tell me your preferences,” she smiled.

“Would you please list them for me?”

“Certainly. We have a room for each Stage, the Mana concentration being the maximum one can take at that Stage. You can furnish it with whatever you want. The size differs with the price, but I can assure you it does not compare to what you are paying for the Mana itself.”

Mana concentration was a pretty straightforward term really, higher concentration faster Mana regeneration, thus faster leveling. Now here’s a problem.

If you take in too much at a time, you just blow up. Instantly. So, they made each room for a specific Stage. You can take in the maximum Mana for that stage, so if you are at Level 1 you can still take in as much as a Level 9 could, but the latter could still only take as much as his Level, since they wouldn’t bother to set it up for each person.

Unless you were too weak, or you skipped the Formation Stage, in which case bad luck.

Where I was at though, there were no big differences between Stages, so it wasn’t really a problem, but most played it safe.

Like in everything else, there were outliers, some that could take more than they were supposed to, which I might just be. And I was willing to risk it.

“I’ll take the Apprentice room,” I said.

She narrowed her eyes, looked me up and down a few times, then shook her head.

‘Oh balls, she can see my Level’

“It’s your fate. Just sign this,” she said as a window appeared before me.

It was an “electronic” form, as most things are with the System, stating that whatever happened in that room besides an attack was my fault. So if I blew up it was on me.

One interesting thing about the Hall of Power was that they really cared about their customers (they better do for how much I’m paying). If someone came in to disturb you they would stop them right away, and if you got attacked while in the building they would hunt down the assailant to the ends of the world.

Even if you hadn’t paid yet.

Of course, they’re not stupid, if you come in running from someone you get kicked out, or if you manipulated a person into attacking you get punished and all that.

I rented the room for an hour for now, in case my plan didn’t work and I spent all that money for nothing. No refunds, of course.

I thanked the lady and went to the elevators on the left, admiring the decor while I waited. Even the elevator doors were made from that white marble (bit obnoxious if you ask me) boasting all kinds of carvings depicting epic battles.

With a ‘ding’, they opened and I was pulled out of my reverie.

Going in, I noticed the interior was the same, this time with less carvings. The doors closed with another ‘ding’ and started going to God-knows-where, as I didn’t feel any kind of motion, except a whirring sound so I guessed I was moving.

And I didn’t even push any buttons!

Not even 30 seconds later the doors opened again and I was greeted with a bleak gray room, made out of matte stone. The only light was an orb floating in the middle of the ceiling.

The moment I stepped in the doors snapped shut and I was greeted with a message.

[Please note that the room will be filled with Mana in a minute, so we recommend you get ready. Enjoy your stay! -Hall of Power]

Awesome.

I quickly pulled a bed out of my inventory and sat cross legged on it, trying my best to enter a calm state. It must’ve been the nerves or the excitement about this whole thing, but I calmed down pretty quickly.

Probably the excitement, both about what would happen and about rising in Levels so quickly. I was betting on my Trait to keep me intact, but you could never know.

Will it make me absorb it just enough for my limit? Would it enlarge the veins? The Core? Maybe it would compress the Mana itself?

We’ll see.

There were no holes in the walls, ceiling or floor, but Mana somehow started pouring in, and I imagined a vortex centered around me, sucking it all in. I couldn’t sense if it really turned into what I pictured, but I could indeed feel it entering my system, much faster than in the wilderness before.

Like always, I guided it into the Core, as I’d emptied it before I left the hotel, and started filling it up. Which was a problem, because it was instantly topped up, so I quickly directed the Mana to the bones.

Figuring it was useless to fill the Core anymore, I just took it through and straight to where I actually needed it.

Another problem. The bones were already full of Mana, ready to be changed, but what was still coming in had nowhere to go, so I panicked. I could guide it to the organs, the next step, but it would still be too slow.

I figured stopping the absorption would help even a little bit, so I did just that and the Mana stream stopped.

I stood still for a while, praying that I would be fine. It wasn’t the Mana coming in and bursting the channels or the Core that was the problem, it was the one in the atmosphere pushing through the body by itself and going wherever it wanted.

Every living being absorbed the energy from the atmosphere, whether willingly or not, thus being in a place with a lot of it really wasn’t pretty for someone as weak as me.

Still, after waiting a bit nothing happened, but I did feel a prick everywhere in my body.

Quickly pushing the remaining Mana in the organs, I realized they were just a little fuller than before. A minuscule amount, but still something.

Delighted, I considered the possibilities, and it kind of made sense. Mana went in on its own, wherever it wanted, and since I was just at the Stage where that mattered, it worked in my favor.

I still didn’t know what the Trait did though, since I didn’t do anything different from what any other person would do. So I left it alone.

Heaving a sigh, I calmed down again and picked up where I left. The bones.

Guiding in the last drop of Mana that I needed, I thought of them reconstructing.

I got an idea just before that, about putting some poison into the bones and turning them into something else, more unique, which probably would’ve worked - but I had the feeling that it would've fixed my path to just poison, and I wanted to do so much more.

They slowly fell apart, breaking. The pieces that resulted caused me excruciating pain, as it punched holes in every part of my body, before they quickly disintegrated and crumpled like jelly.

Slowly, I could feel something moving across my insides, starting from the core, making its way up to every part, reconstructing itself until I felt… solid again. It was… weird. I realized just after, that when I was lying down all paralyzed, I felt powerless, fragile, like I could be whisked away any time.

‘No wonder they say it’s a one-in-a-lifetime experience.’

Actually, the head part kind of hurt, since it was probably the only one encapsulated in bone, so the brain felt it the most (there were some other things in there like brain fluid or something, I think).

Anyway, my bones were magical now, so on to the organs.