Lord of the Karmic Fate

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• Currency: 101 Astral Core

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"Currency? Astral Core?" Raven's brow was raised and he wished to think of answers but only to no avail.

"That is correct indeed." the deep voice began to talk once again, "Within my Realm Shop one can pay with either an item for an another with equivalent price or use Astral Cores which, if my memory won't fail me, is something similar to your race's currency known as Novas."

"That... is correct." Raven nodded but soon his brows were lowered into a deep frown and he asked, "Did you just say 'your' Realm Shop?"

"Oh my, it seems I have forgotten to introduce myself. I sincerely apologize." the voice cleared his throat somewhat awkwardly before continuing, "My name is Dinas, a lonely merchant who owns this shop known as Realm Shop and wants nothing but to get rich."

'Another weird name.' Raven narrowed his eyes, not saying Dinas' name out loud on purpose.

"You seem to be pretty cautious, huh?" Dinas asked with a slight chuckle before saying, "But don't worry. I am not her, my name holds no curse within so you can say it with free will."

Raven, however, just remained silent without any sign of wanting to mention Dinas' name out loud.

"I see. Well, whatever. With time you will realize I mean no harm and only wish to help. For a little wealth of course, hehe."

Raven rolled his eyes and after pondering for a second he asked, "So, you told me you will explain why I have been summoned here, right? Let's hear it then."

"You are right, where should I start then... Right! Because you have been among the first few that reached Rank 1 from your kind, you have been given my permission to get access to the first floor of my shop."

"So does this mean there are others here?" Raven asked calmly while looking left and right. However, unfortunately, he found no sign of anyone in the shop, not even a shadow.

"If you wish to find others, you are just wasting your time."

"Why? Didn't you just say others also had been given permission to enter this place?"

"Yes, I did, but this is not that easy." Dinas explained before a complicated sigh escaped his mouth, "How should I put it. While others have indeed been permitted to enter the floor you are currently on, when they enter through the door just as you did they will get teleported into another space which is not this one but a completely different one with the room being the exact same one like this!"

"So numerous separate spaces with duplicate rooms within in akin to this one?" Raven asked as he had the gist of what Dinas was talking about.

"Yes! Bingo! Haha! I am glad you were able to get the gist of it so fast. Sigh... If you would know just how many times did I have to explain to a single individual how things work in my shop because they failed to understand for the first time. Do you know just how time-consuming that was?"

"I can imagine, yeah." Raven nodded as he could remember how once he needed half an hour to explain to one of his old friends how the mechanics of a video game worked.

Of course, he needed half an hour not because the mechanics were hard to learn or because he couldn't explain properly but because his friend was just that stupid.

"Anyways, what matters is that you are in the first one hundred and one humans who succeeded in first reaching Rank 1, hence why you have been given this reward!" Dinas said as if he was a proud father before his son.

"First one hundred and one?"

"Yes, and funnily enough, you were the 101st. You happened to qualify just at the last moment. You are pretty lucky if I want to be honest."

'Lucky?' Raven almost laughed at that statement as he was everything but lucky.

Just in less than a day he experienced so many downs that he was surprised how he was still alive. Starting from his whole lower body turning into meat paste through his blood syringe getting broken all the way until the moment he was swallowed by a snake while still alive, Raven knew he was not lucky at all!

He even was busted when he wished to take a few cookies away with him from the Star Palace while he at least stumbled several times on small objects on the ground, including his own feet!

"Anyways, what matters is that you are currently among the top 101 strongest beings among your kind and that is why you were given 101 Astral Cores for free and will be allowed to spend it here in my shop!" Dinas explained with excitement.

Raven could even swear he would happen to see Dinas' face, the sign of money would undoubtedly be in his eyes.

"So I can buy... anything from here?" Raven asked as he stepped in front of a small item that was a weapon, a dagger with an azure blade and abyss black handle.

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[Weapon: Azure Wave Dagger]

• Rarity: Common

• Description: A rather interesting dagger crafted by a talented novice blacksmith out of fun. Wielding this dagger grants the holder 10 points of Strength and a special technique 'Wave Dance'!

<Pouring water onto the blade the strength of 'Wave Dance' doubles!>

<Cooldown: Can be activated for 150 Mystique Points for 5 minutes!>

~~~

° Wave Dance: Your Speed and Dexterity increase by 10 extra points!

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"C-Cough! Cough! Cough! T-Ten points of Strength, Speed, and Dexterity from which the latter two will double if one pours water on it?!" Raven almost choked on his own saliva and needed a few seconds to calm down.

"For how much?" asking that question Raven lowered his gaze where the price was but he regretted it doing so.

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• Price: 250 Astral Core

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'So is this how it feels to be poor and be unable to buy what you want?' Raven thought bitterly in his heart.

"Hey! Heads up! Why the long face?" Dinas quickly tried to raise Raven's spirit and said, "Look, I will quickly do a slight change around you, that will definitely help you to regain your joy."

Whoosh!

In that instant, several hundreds of items vanished from around Raven while only a few remained such as bottles, small items, books, scrolls, and weapons that looked rusty and old.

"What did you do?" upon seeing the sudden changes Raven was surprised and immediately raised his guard.

In the end, he still was in an unknown domain hence seeing that things suddenly started to appear and vanish still made him feel unease.

"Relax. I just helped you. I made the items that you can't afford vanish while I kept the ones you can afford to buy."

And to prove he indeed did what said, a small item that seemed to be an Avatar Flask but at the same time not beside Raven lit up while a magic panel appeared above it too.

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[Avatar Flask: Mixed Traits]

• Description: By drinking the fluid from within this bottle your Dexterity, Constitution, and Mystique increase by 4 points each!

• Price: 75 Astral Core

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