A few days have passed since my examination with Sophia in the hospital.

I was back in my loft, looking for any traces of a specific material with a laptop I had bought a few hours after leaving the hospital.

The material that I’m looking for is something that could pretty much fix most, if not all, of my problems.

It was the All-stone.

What does it do, you may ask?

Nothing much really, aside from the fact that it is an invaluable and extremely rare material of pure mana, which was formed and refined over and over again for centuries.

If I can absorb the mana from the All-stone and integrate it into my own, then not only will it solve my mana problem, it could also let me achieve a breakthrough and become a Total Maven.

However, after days of searching, there weren’t any traces of the All-stone, though there were baseless rumors about it, but it’s not what I wanted.

With the program I made awhile back in the internet cafe, I had modified the filtering and searching algorithm a bit so that any information that was on the internet should be revealed to me with roughly 100% accuracy.

So, the fact that no information of the All-stone was found would mean two things: one, the All-stone hadn’t been found yet (which is exactly what I want), and two, it proves just how rare finding the All-stone is.

In fact, it was so rare that if it wasn’t for the fact that I’m the author, then even I wouldn’t have known about it.

However, exactly because I am the author, I know it does, in fact, exist and I even know where to find it.

In my novel, there was a small, insignificant group of treasure hunters who had found it in a dungeon, which is a rift in space that creates a two-way connection between a location in Vanteer and another location in another world.

Yes, there were other worlds, but they weren’t important to the novel. They simply served as a background detail.

Anyway, I only know which dungeon they entered, but I don’t know where specifically since I never wrote that part, since they vanished into thin air (i.e., I killed them off).

Sigh, I hate myself, but there’s no use regretting it now. After all, what matters most is that I know which dungeon they had entered.

I can come up with a few ways to find the specific location of the All-stone.

However, there are two problems that I will be facing: one will be the dangers the lies behind the dungeons, and two will be the risk of having myself exploding from absorbing the All-stone.

For the former, since dungeons are dangerous by itself, because I’ll be traversing through unknown territories, I’ll need to tread carefully and be fully prepared, much less when my strength isn’t up to par with the other Mavens.

Fortunately, I have already thought of a few plans.

Now for the latter, taking in the mana within the All-stone can cause my meridians to rupture and explode, since the power within an All-stone is crazily strong.

For context, just a single kilogram of it can power up your house at full capacity for one day!

…On the best case scenario at least. Worst case scenario is that the house would violently explode.

Why does it happen? Because it got overcharged.

Ironically, the All-stone’s greatest strengths, which is its mana’s strength, is its greatest weaknesses.

Without having the proper medium to control its output, the All-stone would just release everything it has in one go, hence the overcharge.

And, yes, I will be using it to awaken as a Total Maven.

Am I crazy? Possibly, but aren’t all concepts and inventions crazy at first?

Besides, I have a plan to solve that weakness. Until I get to the bottom of the matter, I won’t be dying anytime soon.

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Oops, did I just set out a flag?

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I wish I could just hire a mercenary team go in and retrieve the All-stone for me, but those types of people are naturally greedy, so when they realized just how invaluable the All-stone is, I might lose it. So, I need to act alone in this.

So, what should I do? I could start developing weapons and equipment again, but that could only take me so far.

Sighing, I realized the importance of magic and becoming a Maven altogether. I was arrogant to think that I could survive with just my brains.

What’s worse is that later in the novel, dungeons would be the least of my worries.

Guess it’s a wake-up call, huh?

I heaved a sigh. Fortunately, there are two ways that I know of that could give me superhuman abilities without being a Maven.

The first would be by using Tomes, and the second would be Ikilux Magic.

The origin of Tomes happened when a group of scientists wanted a power equal to that of Mavens, but couldn’t do so, because of their inaptitude. After decades of research, they finally were able to have a working prototype. It was in the form of a book with cryptic codes embedded in it that, when fully comprehended or absorbed, will grant the user its coded ability.

It was a truly an innovative project, until… they realized that the acquired ability cannot effect anything, but the user themselves. What’s even worse is that they can’t even code a useful ability, otherwise it would fail completely!

The only abilities that could be coded were so crappy that it cannot be used by anything but ‘party tricks.’

So, the project was quickly abandoned, but they were still circulating in the market, as they were now being sold as cheap party tricks.

Which is great for me, since it’s exactly what I need.

True, by themselves, they’re next to worthless. However, that is the case only if they were by themselves.

Skill stacking. A concept where, instead of focusing on one skill, you learn a variety of them that, when put together, work perfectly together.

That’s how Tomes can become useful. By combining each Tomes perfectly together and making sure that they work in sync, then I could create an ability, despite me not being a proper Maven, that could enable me to go head-to-head with a real Maven if given the proper setting and resources.

However, each Tomes should perfectly compliment each other, otherwise it would fail, but that’s not a hard thing to accomplish.

Just thinking about it gives me sends a thrill up my spine.

Opening a new tab, I searched for the list of Tomes that is currently in circulation, and as expected, there were a lot of them.

However, what ability should I have?

It should be something that could benefit me both short term and long term, should be something that I could use for both offense and defense, and the end product should only be one skill, so that it won’t put a strain on my body, considering the fact that I may combine countless of Tomes in order to get the skill I want.

After several minutes of thinking, I finally thought of one that fits all the requirements!

With that said, I searched for every possible Tome that is needed for the skill and added it to my cart.

Once finished, the list in my cart reached up to 210 and the price of it was fairly expensive. However, it’ll be worth it.

I pressed the ‘Ship now!’ button and entered my debit card information and address.

After confirming that my package is delivering, the next would be Ikilux magic.

The Ikilux magic was an innovative magic concept that was created accidentally by a normal solider during the war arc of the novel.

It is a light-based magic that lets non-Mavens completely manipulate the mana in nature to create a materialistic illusion.

However, it wasn’t an offensive-type magic, but instead it was more of a utility of sorts because of its fragile nature. However, if I can acquire the All-stone, then I can mix my mana with nature to counter that fragile nature. Then it could become an offensive-type magic.

Stretching my back, it was time to get to work.

Since my order of the Tomes were being delivered, I just need to acquire the Ikilux magic and order a few weapons.

Unfortunately, because I was ‘underage,’ I couldn’t buy it legally. So, I had to resort to buying in the underworld market, which weirdly has a functional, speedy website.

I simply bought a Desert Eagle with a customized variety of bullets and a few retractable body armor, and had it delivered at a scheduled meet-up point.

Unfortunately, since this was the underworld market, their price is much higher than the market price.

With pretty much everything accounted for, I was now left with around 390 thousand UNV. It hasn’t even been a week since I came here and I have already spent 310 thousand UNV.

At this rate, poverty will kill me before the plot can. I need to make some money real quick.

Luckily, as the author, I could always invest in the businesses that will blow up in the near future.

I searched for the most trusted stock broker website, then I signed up for the broker that was on the top of the list using a fake information.

With my account created, I quickly scrolled through the businesses and guilds that has the potential and will rise to the top.

After scrolling through a while, I’ve picked a few that I know will reap me some benefits in a few months and picked another few that will give me serious cash in the long run.

After depositing a couple of thousands UNV into my account, I confirmed my investment and continued to look for more businesses to invest in.

After minutes of scrolling, it looks like some of the top businesses and guilds that were in the novel weren’t yet listed here. Either because they don’t exist yet or because they were just created.

However, I was alright with it, since with the investments I currently have, I should make some decent amount of money in at least six months and the estimated profit could probably last me for about two years at most, but by then, investing would be a side hustle for me.

I took a deep breath as I looked back at the things I’ve done over the past few and it was probably the most work I’ve done in many years.

“Sigh, I miss FRIDAY…” After I retired, I always would have her do my tasks for me. I really am grateful to have her by my side for all these years.

Too bad she’s no longer here.

Wait a minute.

She’s an AI, so who says that I can’t make another FRIDAY?

But only this time, aside from being a simple assistant, the new AI will also help me with combat-related stuff.

“Let’s do it.” With that decided in my mind, I cracked my knuckles and began programming my new AI.