Chapter 30: Race to Level 10 VII

The ghoul had already shown its superiority by taking on a level seven and a level nine player-would-bes in a two-v-one, only barely losing in the end. If it could be subordinated successfully, wouldn’t his overall ability jump up?

This was an opportunity that shouldn’t be missed.

However, when he tried to use [Dominator], an empty DanTian became a hindrance. [Willpower Aura] had sapped all the mana from within, leaving only a few scraps in the DanTian.

“Tch! We have to wait for a while.” He groaned. “I’m out of mana.”

“We can. It can’t.” Gloria hummed. She pinched the bridge of her nose, face scrunching weirdly. After a while, she sighed in defeat, “pay me back for this later.”

She swiped a finger over her war crest as a small flask containing blue-colored tonic of some kind appeared in her hand.

“What’s that?” Teo asked, curious. Her face just broadcasted a roller coaster of emotions, reluctance being the most dominant one. The contents of the bottle must be something extraordinary.

Gloria didn’t answer. She held it over his eyes, leaving him to verify himself.

Mana Restoring Potion

Grade: inferior

Restores 40 Mana upon consumption.

She even has something like that! As expected of someone from a wealthy family. Why am I even surprised?

The tonics that could replenish mana were made from cores extracted from monsters. Not just any monster cores; only those whose level had surpassed fifty and had undergone their [Bloodline Awakening] were chosen. It takes a lot of effort to hunt them and even more to refine their cores into medicines. As such, their prices start from five figures and follow an upward trend from there.

Only higher level [Players] or affluent people could afford them. Not every [Player] was rich and successful, after all. The flask in Gloria’s possession could replenish forty mana in one go, making it one of the top-quality products in the Inferior bracket.

“That looks expensive,” Teo said, feeling apprehensive.

“670 dollars.” Gloria said, “I don’t know how much that converted to in your base camp, though.” She frowned. “How much for a nutrition bar in your area?”

“Two hundred points a dozen,” Teo replied. As a regular consumer of nutrition bars, he kept track of their prices. However, it brought nothing but pain to his heart and wallet as their prices followed an upward stream for the past few months.

“You people use points? How lazy!” Gloria snorted, then shook the bottle in front of his face before continuing, “this flask should be around 53,600 units in your currency.”

“What? That’s… that’s like a few months’ worth of savings for me! So damn expensive.” Teo gasped at the unbelievable price. He heard that they were expensive, but this was just too much.

“What else did you expect? This flask could restore forty points of mana instantly. Forty. Points. Mana. Do you know what you can do with them? You can at least escape a precarious situation. Besides, given how difficult it is to make these, I think the price is quite reasonable.” Gloria argued as she squatted down, opened the cork of the flask, and pushed it into Teo’s mouth. “Now drink. The ghoul’s about to die.”

“Mmph!!” A muffled scream was all the resistance he could put up before his taste buds were overwhelmed with sourness with a hint of minty aftertaste. His throat burned as though he drank potent alcohol directly from the bottle. This burning sensation then quickly gathered around a spot below his navel.

You drank [Mana Restoring Potion]

Mana +40

“Gah! Are you trying to kill me, woman?” Teo threw an accusatory glare at Gloria, who had an impish grin on her face.

“It tasted good, right?” She winked, tucking the bottle away into her personal space. Those were reusable bottles, ones that were hard to make.

“It nearly choked me! What’s with the burn?” Even though he had nothing but complaints, Teo had not forgotten his purpose.

With a thought from him, [Dominator] came to life. Mana surged from the [DanTian] and amplified his willpower, which he directed at the half-dead ghoul. All the monster’s mental defense was broken like a castle made of cards, allowing Teo to grab hold of its subconsciousness.

[You have made Ghoul Level 1 your subordinate]

[-100 Leaderships]

[Duration: 0:59:47]

What? A hundred Leadership! And the effect would only last for an hour?

Teo had his mind blown by the price he had to pay to tame the ghoul. He only had two hundred Leadership at his disposal, but now, half of it was gone to tame this strange monster. However, in the end, he was left with nothing but confusion.

There was still no clear indication of how the Leadership value was calculated. Level ones took ten Leaderships each, and level-twos required double of that number. And now, for a half-dead level one ghoul, more than half of his total Leaderships were gone.

Teo clicked his tongue, annoyed, which got Gloria’s attention. She furrowed her brows and asked in a heavy voice, “failed?”

“No. I succeeded.” Teo said, adjusting his face. “Just thinking about the money we wasted. This ghoul is already knocking on the death’s door; I don’t think it’ll do much.” His disappointment was evident in his tone.

The ghoul was strong. Even at level one, it put up a great fight against them. In fact, Teo even doubted his chances at victory even with [Willpower Aura] if Gloria hadn’t helped. But that was when it was at its peak condition.

“Feed it a level two zombie core. Ghouls have the ability to restore their health by feasting on flesh, bones, and magic. I think one of those cores would do the trick.” Gloria reported.

“How did you know? Did they teach you this at school?” Teo asked, genuinely curious.

“Well, we had an entire semester dedicated to learning about monster behaviors. So, yeah.” Gloria mumbled, scratching her chin.

She had experienced hell trying to pass that semester. Having to remember a book’s worth of information on hundreds of monsters was no easy feat. While she understood why the teachers were so adamant about them, the act itself was harrowing. Like all hot-blooded youths, she wanted to train and get some in-hand experience, not cooped up in her room, trying to memorize like a nerd.

“Must be nice being a student.” Teo sighed, shaking his head.

The knowledge he obtained from countless expeditions as a scavenger unit, playing with his life, was available in the books for them. How covenant.? She was living her life in easy mode. How good it would be if he could go to school.

If only I was a C-grade citizen, I could have gone to school.

Teo shook his head and pushed these thoughts to the back of his head. Being an orphan automatically defaulted him as a D-grade citizen. And since he failed to awaken before fifteen, the status of his citizenship never improved, forever barring him from facilities like schools and free medical coverage.

“Ehhh!? It was annoying. Memorizing was a hassle, and teachers were so bitchy.” Gloria complained from her spot on the floor.

The corners of Teo’s lips twitched as he looked away. Those words were not from someone with a conscience. A person with a full stomach would never understand the pain of the hungry.

What a foul woman. Teo cursed in his heart.