**Payment Declined**
Inside the store, there was utter silence. Tiffany's face became ugly, and she signaled to security at the door. At that moment, Zed's phone rang, and he answered.
"Hello, am I speaking to Zed Atlas?" A woman on the other side of the call said.
"Yes, I am. Who is it?" Zed said with suspicion in his voice. While Zed was trying to have a conversation with the person calling him, Tiffany had already brought the security and noticed her manager. Two bulky men were standing right next to Tiffany, while there was a woman with perfect beauty standing a little in front of them, waiting patiently for Zed's call to end.
"Hello, Mr. Atlas, I am currently calling you from Prosperity Bank, and we have detected suspicious activity on your debit card. There was an attempt to spend $400,000 at the Sartoré branch of City Coral located inside the Coral Shopping Center," she said over the phone, and Zed understood what happened.
"Ah, yes, that's me. Can you please authorize the payment?" Zed said nonchalantly. The person on the other side froze for a few seconds before speaking again.
"I can do that, Mr. Atlas, but I don't see enough balance in your account to make that payment," she said with a normal tone, but in reality, she had a mocking face. Someone with such a low income wants to make a purchase of $400,000?
"Well, if you authorize the payment, there will be enough balance in it, so please," Zed said, rolling his eyes.
"Okay, Mr. Atlas, I'll revoke the limitations on your account. As I said before, our conversations have been recorded and will be used in any case of inconvenience between the bank and Mr. Atlas. Have a great day, sir," she said. Zed replied to her and put down his phone.
"Alright, I'm not a fraud. It's just my bank thought this wasn't looking like a purchasing I would do, so they marked it as suspicious activity. I talked on the phone, and they authorized the payment, so there should be no problem," Zed said while scratching his head. Even though he was ready to get humiliation, Zed wasn't ready for his payment to fail.
Tiffany, upon hearing Zed, looked at her manager. She nodded, and her manager signaled her to try it again. Tiffany complied and walked forward with the POS in her hand. Zed swiped the card once more while praying inside.
**Payment Successful**
The voice echoed inside the store, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The store staff were basically relieved that there wasn't going to be any troublesome tidying, while the manager was relieved that the purchase was completed. On the other hand, securities weren't that happy, as there weren't many opportunities for them to step up.
Putting the card back in his wallet, Zed turned around to continue his shopping spree. After an hour later, Zed stopped and made a total payment of $2,528,000. After successfully swiping his card, Zed received a membership card from the manager.
"Sir, this is our diamond membership card. You can use this card when making reservations at famous restaurants, booking a flight, and many more," the manager handed the card to him. Taking it, Zed inspected it carefully. The card had a simple black color with diamond-colored chains interlocking each other while going downwards to the end of the card. At the middle was the company's name, which was the owner of the Sartoré brand, Sinclair International Conglomerate. The name itself could create many opportunities; now think how it would be with a diamond membership card.
After receiving the membership card, the manager also offered him the delivery service for free, which he accepted without thinking. After giving the address of his new mansion, Zed walked out of the store and went to buy himself a few watches.
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After a few minutes of walking, Zed stopped in front of the Majestique store. Majestique was also one of the luxury brands in the world, second only to Claîre brand, which is a women's watch brand.
Walking inside the store, Zed this time was greeted by a crowded store. Even though Majestique was a luxurious brand, it was affordable for middle-end income people, contrary to Sartoré, which was only affordable by rich people.
Looking around for a few minutes, Zed chose a total of five watches, which were worth $500,000. Everyone watched the young man with awe and jealousy. Swiping his card, he made another successful purchase and left the store, asking them to deliver five watches to the Sartoré store.
After leaving Majestique store, Zed continued his shopping spree. He went to a variety of stores and bought the things he liked. While he was having fun with his infinite amount of money, some people were watching him from the shadows, waiting for a chance. It's not always a good idea to be high-profile, especially with that amount of spending.
At the end of his shopping spree, Zed had already spent 25 million dollars and was invited by the manager of the shopping mall. They had a casual conversation, but the manager never stopped flattering Zed, which he was sick of, resulting in him leaving. Before leaving, the manager also gave him a membership card, which was pitch black with nothing on it except a chip covered in diamond. Zed was flabbergasted by how many membership cards he got that day. Including this one, he had a total of 15 membership cards, and each one of them had good benefits for him. Although he was rich, he wouldn't say no to free stuff.
After taking the membership card, the manager also arranged delivery of his goods with the best care, as he had better transportation vehicles and professional personnel.
Getting down to the parking lot, Zed saw a few people around his bike but didn't care at first. Later, when he got close enough, they looked at him, and a few of them walked forward. Feeling the danger, Zed tried to turn around and run, but two men showed up right behind him and grabbed his arms, dragging him towards the bike.
Zed couldn't understand what was happening and was trying his best to get away, but he wasn't powerful enough. Then something hit him; he had the system shop and had spent quite a sum of money. Deciding on his next step, Zed quickly opened the system and switched to the shopping tab. Then he saw his coin balance, 250 as a result of his spending. Quickly opening the Martial Arts section, Zed browsed through until he found something fitting for him.
After buying it, Zed used it quickly and then started browsing for a weapon to use against these people.
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Obsidian Shade Arts:
Power of Elements: Shadow, Darkness
Rank: A+
Required Energy: Shadow Nearby. Darkness.
Chanting: Thinking.
As the Lord of Darkness fell into the hands of the Archangel, it used the last strength in its soul to spread the Martial Arts it created. Obsidian Shade Martial Arts is a combination of two powers, darkness and shadow.
Cost: 100 Coin
Tips: This martial art has been created for silent but deadly attacks. It's advised that the user shouldn't be facing directly to Martial Arts users.
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After buying it, Zed quickly used it and then started browsing for a weapon to use against these people.
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Shadowblade:
Power of Elements: Shadow.
Rank: B+
Passive Effects: Inflicting poison on the shadow of a person attacked by this weapon.
(The poison inside the shadow could be used to kill that person instantly or it can be used as a way to torture and kill slowly.)
Blade of a renowned Reaper. The only reaper who had the ability of traveling and using the shadows forged himself a blade fitting with his Element of power. But accidentally he dropped a few droplets of the death poison making it completely trash for him. After completing the forging, he threw the blade away never to look back again.
Cost: 50 Coin
Tips: The user can use the poison on the blade to threaten and force people to get on his side.
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Zed also needed to enhance his body as it was completely weak.
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Umbral Eclipse Enchantment:
Power of Elements: Light, Shadow, Darkness
Rank: A-
Passive Effects: The user of the enchanted body will be immune to poisons and disease.
Once used against the demons led by traitor humans, lost in history books remained an unknown ancient technique for millennia.
Cost: 100 Coin
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After buying and using his Martial art and body enchantment, Zed started sweating profusely. Then a pain hit him, making him scream his lungs out. Shocked by his scream, two men dragging Zed backed away, making Zed fall to the ground.
The men waiting for Zed were shocked at what they were seeing, and some of them started laughing, thinking he was doing that to escape. But there was someone who wasn't laughing at it.
"This boy is advancing rapidly. I need to finish him before it's too late," the middle-aged man standing behind the younglings said as he pulled out a dagger and rushed towards Zed in the blink of an eye, but it was too late.
The middle-aged man tried stabbing with the dagger using all of his strength and speed, but the boy in front of him suddenly disappeared into the shadow. Sensing the danger, the middle-aged man turned around and screamed.
"Young master, duck!" he said towards the young man sitting on Zed's bike. His instincts kicking in, he quickly ducked, later he heard the dagger's sound of cutting the air.
"Oh, you're fast. But I won't miss the second," Zed said with only his head sticking out of the shadow at the pillar. His voice had changed. It was giving the feeling of darkness and death. Hearing Zed's voice, the young master trembled and fell down from the bike.
Then the middle-aged man rushed and tried stabbing at Zed one more time, but he disappeared once again.
"Don't blame me; you guys were the first one to attack. I'm just using my right of self-defense," Zed said inside the shadows, his voice echoing through the parking area.
"Let the fun begin."