Chapter 3 Grades of Items

Victor watched as more souls flew towards the sky. After the last soul left, the corpse of Greatest Evil • Devil of Catastrophe turned into stone. Cracks covered it entirely like spider web and crumbled down. The pieces rolled on the ground as the wind swept it all away as dusts.

He took a deep breath to stabilize his mind. What happened had taken a toll on his body and mind. What he did had truly surpassed the limits of his body. Only when he felt that the danger was gone did his fatigue came over him. If he hadn't level up multiple times, which revitalized his body and mind, he would have had fallen unconscious the moment he stepped down on the ground.

Taking out a golden ring out of the his Magic Storage Bag, Victor suspected it to be out of ordinary as his Analysis couldn't identify the golden ring.

Examining it closely from all sides, it was smooth and slick, and so large that not even his thumb could fit inside.

He heard from Amellia that all items excavated from ruins of ancient era could only be used after dropping a bit of blood on it. This process was called, Blood Binding. Thus, he didn't hesitated for a second.

Pricking his thumb, he squeezed the wound and let his blood dripped onto the golden ring, when suddenly...

[Name: Universe Ring]

[Grade: Unique]

[Info: An indestructible ring forged by a Phantasm Tier Item Maker that created Excalibur and other historically well known Holy Items that scattered around the world after his death. Coincidently, obtained by one of the greatest Space-Time Wizard of Source Ahk Era. And then, was turned into a marvelous item, engraved with the the Secret Runes of Space and Secret Runes of Time.]

[Special Ability: Indestructible | Appraisal Nullification | Independent Dimension | External Transformation]

[Bound User: Victor Marcus]

"Whoa! What Amellia said are true!" Victor exclaimed in realization. "Eh? So that's why I can't identify it. It nullified my skill."

The space inside the Magic Storage Bag couldn't be compared to the Universe Ring. The former was an ant and the latter was a world. How many ant could a world contain? Innumerable!

Intimately rubbing the ring as though it was his lover, he muttered in his heart. "My precious..."

The space of Universe Ring was infinitely large, but it was completely empty. He took out all the things he stored in his Magic Storage Bag and put them inside the Universe Ring, while he wore the Magic Storage Bag over his shoulder.

Priceless treasures attracted robbers like swarms of bees attracted to honey. In other to be inconspicuous, he changed the color of the ring from golden to silver. Gold was blinding and bewitching to many people, it attracted both good and evil, but silver was holy to all beings and commonly used by commoners.

Thus, if people found him wearing a silver ring, they would thought of it as Common Grade or Rare Grade Item. Only bandits would have interest in his ring. And if it was too ugly, it might only attract suspicions.

Cleaning the glittering golds that littered the ground, Victor happily picked up the all the gold coins as he thought back to the words the soul of a pretty lady had said.

He looked outside, and saw the sun moving towards west, he decided to leave nothing and take everything with him. With the Universe Ring, he wasn't worried about not being able to carry many treasures and that it might hindered his travel. If possible, he would take the whole Phantom City with him.

Going to the basement behind the staircase on the hall, Victor lifted several large rocks barehanded and tossing them out of his way. He had truly became stronger. If it was before, the highest weight he could lift was at least over a hundred pounds. And it took him years to increase his strength that much without leveling up.

Clenching his fist, muffling sound reverberated as his knuckles crackled. He could not help but smile. "With my strength, killing the Demonic Asura Bear won't be a problem. But I can't hunt that guy since it blocked the monsters on this part of Luqane Forest from coming to the village."

The Demonic Asura Bear was aggressive and territorial. It would never allow another monster as strong as it was to exist within its territory, while ignoring the weaker monsters and feeding on them.

Victor scrutinized the floor and found a hidden door knob. It was very hard for someone to notice if not examined closely, for it was embedded downwards and must be pulled out.

Turning it counter clockwise like other door knobs, the thick and heavy floor split open, revealing a long narrow staircase leading downwards.

There was no light, however, he had his Low Light Sight and newly acquired Dark Vision, thus didn't hindered his vision and he could see the end of it.

Victor sensed no traps on every corner, and so bravely stepped on the stairs. At the end, he arrived in a chamber after over thirty steps with only two large chest in his field of vision.

Not knowing what was hidden inside, he opened it to see for himself. As he lifted up the lid, what he saw weren't glittering gold coins, but a worn-out bow. Using Analysis Skill he easily identified it.

[Name: Star Fall]

[Grade: National Treasure]

[Stats: Power +250 | Dexterity + 300 | Spirit +150]

[Info: A bow created from the bones of Star Beast that eat stars. No one knows who created it and how it was created. But anyone who must use it shall defeat the Soul of the Star Beast that possessed it.]

[Special Abilities: Arrow Materialization | Arrow Storm | Void Shot | Star Bombardment]

[Bound User: None]

Victor's heart beat quickened as he saw the bow's Info. He rubbed it with his trembling hands and got his finger wounded as the blood trickled on the bow.

'National Treasure Grade Items were only for the strong'. This words were spoke truth, for kingdoms would wage war just to obtain such item.

As powerful as it was, kingdoms would do everything for the National Treasure Grade Item. If the owner wasn't strong enough to possess it, to deter others from taking it away from him/her, then he/she would likely got himself/herself killed.

Most people that had found a National Treasure Grade Item would choose to either conceal it and only use it in a hopeless situation or use it as a chip to become part of a powerful organization.

Item Grade started from lowest to highest. Ordinary Grade, Rare Grade, Epic Grade, Legendary Grade, National Treasure Grade, Myth Grade, Phantasm Grade and Celestial Grade. Items were graded not in terms of durability and materials they were made of, but their whole destructive power.

If National Treasure Grade was enough to turn the tide of war, then Myth Grade Items were enough to decided the winner, while Phantasm Grade could destroy a kingdom in one fell swoop.

Celestial Grade Items were more of legends and no one had ever seen such thing. However, Celestial Grade wasn't the end. There was also the World End Grade, enough to destroy a world. But like the Celestial Grade it was also only known to be stories and made of fictions.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

The moment his blood was absorbed by the bow, Victor heard a world shaking roar in his head. When he turned around, he saw a colossal beast that looked like a dragon, but not, looked like a turtle, but not. It was the Star Beast. From its perspectives, Victor was only an ant.

Surprisingly for Victor, he felt no fear. It must be due to the Star Beast not being as intimidating and fearful than the Greatest Evil • Devil of Catastrophe.

[A Soul has been detected. Do you want to collect it? Collecting the Soul of the Star Beast from the National Treasure Grade Item - Star Fall will affect the power of the item and will be downgraded to Legendary Grade, losing one Special Ability.]

[Absorbing the soul of star beast will not affect you.]

[Yes | No]

Victor grinned at the Star Beast as he inspected his newly acquired Unique Skill.

[Unique Skill: Soul Collector]

[Grade: World End]

[Info: Allow you to control souls, communicate with souls and collect the souls of enemies you slay. The souls you collected can help you in many possible ways.]

Seeing the Info of the Unique Skill: Soul Collector, Victor gasped. "Control souls?"

He looked up at the Star Beast and spoke. "Hey! Big guy! I advice you to surrender to me now or disappear!"

A hot and strong wind swept down as the Star Beast snorted. "Ant! I not surrender! I eat you!"

Victor smirked. "Really a nut head? I no longer want to eat him."

"I not nut head!" The Star Beast roared in anger.

Controlling the soul of the Star Beast, Victor made it smaller than him. How was that possible? It was a soul of a Star Beast after all, but it had been weakened tremendously by time. As it was weaker than Victor's, he could control it without any problems.

The so called Soul Battle was, in fact, a battle of consciousness. However, Victor could control souls, and consequently had absolute control over the soul's consciousness and could do everything he liked to it. Thus, before even the Soul Battle started, he had already won.

"I surrender! I surrender!" The little Star Beast shouted in a cute and tiny voice.

The dark space that surrounded them shattered as Victor came back to the hidden basement. Immediately, Victor stored the Star Fall in his ring as well as the unopened large chest, and hurriedly ran outside the huge castle.

Victor's face paled as he noticed that the sun was about to set. There were only a sixty seconds before the sun disappear. Without giving much thought, he run as fast as he could before the last light of the sun in the sky left. While running, he noticed that the shadows were moving and chasing after him as though they were alive.

Terrified by the thought of turning into a Devil and being imprisoned in the Phantom City for eternity, he kicked the ground and propelled him towards the exit. When he landed outside the entrance, his left foot was still within the archway and the shadows had already clutched onto his left foot.

Seeing his left foot turned black, Victor decisively cut off his left foot and pathetically crawled away. Breathing heavily, he looked back at the entrance of Phantom City and saw how his foot transformed into a Dark Figure with countless blinking bloodshot eyes and laughing maws. Cold sweat trickled down his heart as he saw the Dark Figure smile at him.

A sinister smile that when directed at someone, even the most courageous would feel fear in his heart. In Victor's case, he was extremely horrified that he couldn't lift a finger!

"Kukuku! Kekeke! Buahahaha!" A series of wicked laughter echoed throughout the forest that all monsters that heard it were terrified to death, some fainted and some fell in nightmarish sleep.

As the last light of the sun in the horizon disappeared and darkness arrived, the Phantom City slowly turned ethereal and returned into being a normal noisy forest. It was now nowhere to be seen like it never appeared on this place.

Everything seemed like a nightmare for Victor, but the pain on his cut off left foot and blood stains reminded him that everything was real.

"Fuck! That's fucking scary I almost peed my pants!" He cursed loudly letting out some steam.

Had Victor didn't sacrificed his left foot, he would definitely turn into a Devil and forever be trapped in Phantom City. To anyone, such fate was no different than death.

Drinking five vials of Health Potion and Recovery Potion, his wound healed, but his left foot was no more. This depressed him. However, Victor knew that there was no impossible in this world, only how, he consoled himself to rejoice that he was still alive at least.

"As long as I'm alive, I can still recover my left foot..."He sighed and sat up. He gnashed his teeth as he take out the large chest from his ring. "Let's see what's inside the other large chest, there should better be something I needed!"

Taking a peek inside, Victor's eyes almost popped out at what he saw. Hundreds of glowing golden crystals silently sat inside. Victor was terrified and immediately closed the lid. Slapping himself, he found that he wasn't dreaming as he felt pain.

He fully opened the lid of the large chest and saw the glowing golden crystals. "Oh my goodness! S-So many Skill Crystals! How many Boss Class Monsters have they killed for all these?!"

Grabbing one and examining it, he exclaimed. "Holy ghost mother earth! T-This is Legend Grade Skill Crystals! This one is Hero Grade! Epic Grade! Mystic Grade!"

He closed the lid and inhaled and breathed deeply three times to calm himself. "I think I won't be able to sleep tonight..."

Recalling something at the back of his head, he felt a vague feeling of forgetting something. "Hmm? That's right! I forgot to take the Sun Obelisk!"

He laughed helplessly as he looked at the place where the Phantom City once stood. "Haha... I won't go back in there anymore. With that Dark Figure within the Phantom City, going back is no different to suicide. I'll just treat this memories of mine as a dream..."

Grinning to himself, he nodded. "Right! A good nightmare!"

Opening the large chest again, he happily counted them. "One... twelve... Thirty-one... Fifty-nine... Ninety-nine... One hundred five. One hundred five Skill Crystals."

He put his hand under his chin and muttered. "If I'm going to sort them by grades, Epic Grade Skill Crystals are 70, Legend Grade Skill Crystals are 20, Hero Grade Skill Crystals are 10 and Mystic Grade Skill Crystals are 5."

"Right! There must be something here that can recover my left foot!" Using his Analysis Skill, he grabbed one Skill Crystal.

[Active Skill: Burning Sky]

[Grade: Mystic]

[Info: Summoning large amount of Fire Spirits to burn the sky. ]

"Not this... Not this as well... No, not this..." After identifying most of the Skill Crystals, Victor finally found what he was looking for. "This is it! This is the right thing!"

[Passive Skill: High Speed Regeneration]

[Grade: Hero]

[Info: Regenerates fatal wounds, cut of limbs, high degree burns, smashed internal organs, and even if half of the body from the waist is sliced.]

"Such a good skill. With this skill, I'm no different from an Immortal." Without hesitation, Victor ate the Skill Crystal as he felt it melted into a liquid when it entered his mouth.

Immediately, his cut off left foot ached like ants were gnawing on it and started growing back. After two seconds, he had recovered his left foot.

He shed tears of joy as she moved and touched his newly grown left foot. "Finally, your back. We won't separate ever again, lefty.... I know, you too righty."

He took a pair of black boots in his ring and used his Analysis Skill.

[Name: Dark Storm Boots]

[Grade: Legendary]

[Stats: Magic +100 | Dexterity + 200 | Spirit +110]

[Info: A pair of boots created from the skin of Boss Class Monster - Dark Storm Beast. Imbued with Secret Runes of Speed by a well known Grand Magi.]

[Special Abilities: High Haste | Cloud Walking | Featherlight Weight]

[Bound User: None]

"A beautiful pair of boots." He took off the boots on his right feet and sighed softly. "This Wind Wolf Boots accompanied me for several years. I didn't know that this time will arrive so quickly... I'll keep it as memento of my father."

Wearing the Dark Storm Boots, Victor felt his body lightened as though he would be blown away by the breeze. Tapping the front of his right boots on the ground, he set off. He stored the large chest in his ring and left swiftly as the wind.

Meanwhile, within the vast and arid land of Monoore Kingdom, through the mostly used route towards the Oasis of Jaiga, the largest city in the kingdom, a ruin of a city emerged out from the dry sands. The traveling merchants saw the silhouette of the ruin of a city from afar, even if it was being covered by the sand storm, it was strangely stood out.

The night had descended and the people and mounts were tired from the long journey, thus they decided to rest in the ruins for the night. As they entered through the archway, the sand storm strangely disappeared.

Unknown to them, a Dark Figure was watching them with delight. No, it was not alone, another ten Dark Figures emerged from the shadows and giggled like a children that found their toys....

[Name: Victor Marcus | Age: 25]

[Gender: Male | Race: Human]

[Level: 31 | EXP: 67%]

[Job: Hunter]

[Power: 309 | Dexterity: 275(+200) | Spirit: 336(+110)]

[Physique: 368 | Vitality: 265 | Magic: 219(+100)]

[Active Skill: Analysis | Screw Stab | Critical Strike | Triple Shot | Power Shot | Trap Search | Trap Make | Trap Disarming | Tracking | Stealth | Earth Collapse | Destruction Strike | Catastrophe | Armageddon]

[Passive Skill: Enhance Hearing | Low Light Sight | High Olfactory Sense | Shooting Accuracy | Nimble Hands | Ambidextrous | Sneaky Feet | Titan Strength | Darkness Immunity | All-ailments Resistance | Dark Vision | High Speed Regeneration]

[Unique Skill: Hero's Gift from the Devil | Soul Collector]