Emil looked at his balance.
"150 Merit Points."
He cashed out 120 from the Kurmush Mission, plus the 30 leftover he had from lower level missions.
The first thing he did, was to buy three Mana Enhancement Tablets and one Healing Tablet, both Low-Grade and with 100% purity.
That cost him 120 points right from the get go.
The second thing he did was checking out the Merit Shop's other Pellet section.
Pellets:
1-Strength Pellet (boosts body strength)
2-Defense Pellet (boosts body toughness)
3-Resistance Pellet (boosts resistance towards certain elements.)
4-Conduction Pellet (boosts mana conduction which increases casting speed.)
5-Magic Amplification Pellet (amplifies magic power.)
6-Magiadd Pellet (boosts mana capacity)
7-Vaccine Pellet (cures toxins)
8-Energy Pellet (boosts energy levels)
9-Reflex Pellet (boosts reaction speed)
we had two types of pills. Enhancement Pills, or in other words Tablets, with permanent effects, and Combat pills, Pellets, with temporary effects.
so far Emil only used Tablets, but it was about time he stared using Pellets too.
The above Pellets could only be taken once per use, and you had to use them individually. It was possible to take them all at once but that is highly advised against.
Consuming only three at a time was the safe limit, any more than that put a strain on your body and could either inflict injuries, or cause death depending on the severity of the effects.
Each Pellet's effect wore off in 5 minutes typically, and ten minutes if the effects aren't used.
You could take them again but the effects would significantly decrease. A certain time period had to pass for your body to lose resistance against them.
It was still a worthy investment regardless of their restrictions.
They were life-saving pills. If Emil had carried just one of them with him today, he could've had an easier time taking the Kurmushes down. He could've even avoided his injury.
He knew such pills existed, but preferred keeping his Merit Points for Mana Enhancements Tablets instead.
Only now did he realize how grave of a mistake that was, and how crucial Pellets were to a hunter
After some deliberation, Emil purchased a Strength Pellet, a Defense Pellet, and an Energy Pellet, each Low-Grade with the standard purity of 80%, costing him a total of 30 Merit Points.
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His balance was now zero again.
Why them though? Emil's magic was weak, he could've bought a Magic Amplification, a Conduction, or even a Magiadd Pellet instead.
That was precisely the reason why. His magic was weak, far too weak. It didn't make too much difference in his combat power. When he fought, he still mostly relied on his body.
A Strength Pellet could assist him when he found his power lacking, a Defense Pellet could help when his enemy's offense was too deadly, and an Energy Pellet could boost his energy levels, which were always low due to his weak body and the ever-heavier Emerald Reflection.
Satisfied with his purchase, Emil decided to call it a day and go back to his quarters and sleep.
For the next three days, all he did was cultivate, attend classes, and complete lower ranking missions as he waited for his leg to heal.
He used the three Mana Enhancements Tablets, one each day, and also used the Healing Tablet to speed up his recovery process.
That in addition to his nighttime cultivation, which not only increased his cultivation speed significantly but also had healing properties, allowed both his wrist and leg to recover within just three days.
Astonishing recovery speed, if one were to witness it.
At the same time as cultivating, Emil's swordsmanship lessons with Arne continued, propelling his strength forward by leaps each and everyday.
Everyone thought of him as the academy's number one trash, yet his cultivation speed was nothing but marvelous.
If not for the fact that he needed several times more mana than a normal person to progress through each stage, he would've broken through the Second Order by now.
Despite how much Emil's strength was increasing everyday, he knew it was far from enough.
Point at any random student of the academy and they could defeat him using their sheer difference in cultivation alone.
Despite his cultivation speed, his starting point differed greatly from other students. He understood that he still had a long way to go.
Which was what brought his next dilemma to his attention.
He had a good weapon right now, but that's as far as it went.
He needed an armor, as well as more spells to add to his arsenal.
For the time being, his Darkness element was a secret so he couldn't strut into the library and purchase a spell for it.
But his Fire element spells were lacking in variety, hence why he was planning to hunt again.
He needed more Merit Points to get stronger. He wasn't allowed to just sit around.
he felt more confident in hunting now that he had Pellets, and his strnegth increased by a bit.
Emil could be seen standing in front of the mission board.
He studied each and every mission in detail, looking for the most suitable one for himself.
Frankly speaking, doing Group Missions would be a lot more convenient, just like the rest of the academy was doing.
They decreased the risk of every mission and almost guaranteed success.
All Emil could do was settle for solo missions though, no faction was willing to take him in.
His battle with Arthur earned him a bit of fame, but not in the right way. It was infamy more than anything, not that he wasn't infamous enough.
After searching for a while, he finally came across a suitable mission.
"Hunt 4 First-Grade Scarlet Rank Scorching Serpents.
B Rank. Type: Solo. Time Limit: 3 Days.
Reward: 150 Merit Points."
Scorching Serpents. They were a good target for two reasons.
They were small and resilient, magical attacks didn't work on them well. physical attacks worked best, which was what Emil specialized at.
Secondly, they weren't overly powerful, at least in terms of raw strength, like some other Magical Beasts on the mission board such as Water Crocodiles, Earth Bears or Striped Hippos.
Of course, Scorching Serpents too had their own set of abilities which made them difficult to fight. but Emil believed he could deal with them in one way or another.
Having made his decision, he accepted the mission and took off.
He had 50 Merit Points which in addition to the 150 that he'll hopefully get from this mission, would total up to 200. Just about enough for him to buy a High-Grade fire element spell.
Emil headed to the forest after making his preparations.
According to the map, the Scorching Serpents' living habitat was close, just a dozen kilometers away within the Volcanic mountain range.
As the name suggested, the Volcanic Mountain range was full of volcanos, making the Fire mana there rich and dense, giving birth to numerous different Fire element Magical Beasts.
The Scorching Serpent was one such beast, and it was Emil's target today.