In the cultivation world of Aonia, where strength ruled supreme, a boy was born with crippled meridians. His parents called him a cursed child and abandoned him in front of an orphanage. It was a known fact that a person with crippled meridians could never cultivate qi, which was a fate worse than death in a family of cultivators. Many years passed and the young boy suffered endless humiliations and mockery because he was a cripple, but the boy’s will never faltered. He decided to overcome his destiny with his own hands and chose a path which any sane person will not dare to choose- Body cultivation. This was an ancient cultivation path which nobody practiced because of the inhumane pain one had to go through in order to make any progress in it.
He got countless jeers and many tried discouraging him, telling him he was walking the path towards his death but the boy’s will was indomitable and he diligently pursued the torturous path of body cultivation. Perhaps fate was finally moved by his efforts, the young boy obtained a peerless body cultivation technique in a secluded cave during his journey, but sadly it was incomplete. However the boy was not disheartened and tried gaining insights from the technique. While everyone in his generation was climbing the ranks of cultivation and living a lavish life, he trained his body in the harshest of ways possible to achieve his dreams.
Thousands of years later, in the world of Aonia, a new legend was born. A single man annihilated the Asura Sect, which was one of the four supreme Holy Sects of Aonia who reigned over the world. The most shocking news was that the young man was not a qi cultivator, but a body cultivator. With his body’s strength alone, he massacred countless immortals like chickens and dogs and produced a river of blood.
It was this day that the world realized the true strength of body cultivation, it was this day that a few cultivators had a horrified look as they realized the face of this peerless man matched with the cripple they used to mock in their younger days, it was this day that the legend of Alvin was born.
[Present]
A handsome young man was standing atop a mountain looking at the scenery below him. If anybody saw him, he would appear as a perfectly mortal man but once they got close they’ll feel the oppressive and majestic aura radiating from the body.
‘*Sigh* It’s been 500 years since I annihilated Asura Sect and now I have nothing else to do. Rose, I have already fulfilled my promise to you and became the strongest in the world. I hope you are happy, wherever you are.’ Alvin thought as he recalled the face of a beautiful young woman. Rose was a little girl when he met her during one his adventures. He was 15 back then and saw her fainted body in the middle of the jungle covered in blood. Later he found out that her parents were killed when a group of evil cultivators attacked her village and she somehow managed to survive. Feeling bad for her, Alvin adopted the little girl as his sister and they became companions.
Hundreds of years later, Alvin held the same girl, now a beautiful young woman in his arms as she breathed her last. She was killed by the son of the Sect Master of Asura Sect because she refused to be his concubine. The Asura Sect was notorious for committing many grave sins and its disciples were all horny bastards who loved playing with women. The young master of Asura Sect was particularly infamous for having countless women in his harem against their will and raping married women. Due to the might of the Asura Sect, nobody could oppose his will and he did whatever he pleased. When he had seen Rose, his lustful heart couldn’t let her go and he gave her an ultimatum to either be his concubine willingly or he’ll force her to be. Rose chose the third option and fought back with all her strength. Realising that the woman in front of him was stubborn to the core, the young master of Asura Sect ordered to kill her with the thought ‘If she can’t be mine, then she won’t be anybody else’s’.
Her last wish was for Alvin to be happy and someday stand at the peak of the world with his strength. That day, Alvin had sworn he will massacre Asura Sect and give a life worse than death to those people who harmed his only sister. And one day, he finally achieved his goal. He had especially prepared the Netherworld Flower of Despair, a legendary grade plant which could torture the soul of its victim for eternity, for the young master of Asura Sect. The cries of the bastard’s agony when his soul was ripped apart and absorbed by the flower for endless torture was the most melodious sound Alvin heard in his life as he massacred the sect.
He had already reached the peak of Body Cultivation and had gone beyond that. He had trained his body to such an extent that nothing in this world could even put a scratch on his body. If he gave it all, he could turn more than half of Aonia to dust with a punch. As Alvin was leisurely reminiscing about the past:
“Hello child”
Suddenly an ancient voice resounded in Alvin’s head. For the first time in many hundred years, Alvin became alert and tensed. He did not sense anybody around him and yet somebody was clearly speaking to him. He had already trained his will beyond the highest point so mental attacks did not work on him yet somebody had managed to directly speak into his mind without his consent.
“Who are you?” Alvin said out loud after he realized the other party was perhaps stronger than him which shouldn’t be possible.
“*Chuckle* No need to get so tense child, I won’t harm you. As for who I am, you could call me the Creator.”
“Heh, you sure know how to joke around. You are telling me that you have created everything in this world? A God or something? I have seen countless arrogant Gods proclaiming themselves as the Kings of Universe or something similar yet they ultimately perished in my hands.” Alvin calmly replied. Though he was denying it, he had a hunch that the ancient voice was speaking the truth.
“Well whether you believe it or not is upto you. The reason I contacted you is to offer you a deal.”
“What kind of deal?” Alvin was curious.
“I’ll give you chance to experience a new world. A world where people don’t cultivate, where the source of energy is not qi but something called mana. It is a world of magic. A world where races other than humans exist. In return, you’ll have to do something for me.”
Alvin was surprised. This mysterious ancient voice was saying there was another world out there? A world of magic? What was magic? Different races? But despite all that, Alvin’s interest was piqued. He had been doing nothing but roaming around the world guiding a few newbie cultivators in disguise but honestly he was getting bored. Now that someone was telling him there was another world to explore, he couldn’t help but get excited.
“What do you need me to do in return?” Alvin finally asked after calming down. He didn’t know if this mysterious voice was playing with him but he did know that it was stronger than him and if it really wanted to harm him, it would have been quite easy.
“You need to kill a few Gods. They have strayed from their responsibilities and have grown an evil heart. They have been creating chaos in that world for several hundred years. I can’t directly intervene with the happenings of the Universe so I can only arrange for someone to do it in my stead. And I believe you’ll be the perfect candidate. Plus, you have quite the experience in killing Gods don’t you?”
When Alvin heard the job he needed to do, he relaxed. Thankfully, it was not something crazy. And he indeed loved smacking the faces of arrogant Gods who did nothing but misuse their powers and do more harm than good.
“Fine. I agree. I really want to see how you are going to bring me to another world.” Alvin replied with a mocking tone.
Alvin knew that the other remaining three Holy Sects were quite warry of him and may attack him any other day. Alvin didn’t want to fight them since they were not evil like the Asura Sect, they just didn’t like someone standing above them. Plus those 3 sects maintained the law and order of the world and if they disappeared then the whole Aonia will fall into chaos. Leaving was probably the best course of action as of right now.
“Like this” the ancient voice said and Alvin’s vision turned dark.
Alvin slowly opened his eyes and looking at the giant trees above his head, he was confused. Then he remembered his conversation with the mysterious ancient voice and sprang to his feet. Looking around, he realized that he was in an unknown place. Alvin suddenly spotted a rabbit a few metres in front of him, yet on closer inspection it had a horn on its head. Alvin was pretty sure Aonia didn’t have any species of that kind.
“Am I already in a different world?” Alvin murmured as he realized that perhaps that voice really belonged to the Creator. He started walking in a random direction since he had no idea where he was. Due to his crippled meridians, Alvin could never use qi. His body automatically absorbed qi and strengthened itself thanks to his body cultivation technique but he was not a genuine cultivator. That is why he couldn’t use convenient powers like Divine Sense to scan his surroundings like other cultivators. Though he never needed to since his reflexes were already inhumanely fast and no one could catch him off-guard. ‘Except that mysterious voice’ Alvin smirked.
After walking for 3 hours, his ears suddenly twitched. He heard some noises coming from a few kilometres ahead. Alvin leisurely continued walking, but this time a bit faster and covered a few kilometres in a few seconds. He saw a wide road and a wooden carriage with the mark of a phoenix with dozens of horses surrounding it. A group of people in in purple clothes were fighting a pack of wolves. Alvin’s gaze landed on a bewitching girl dressed in fiery red robes with dark red hair and golden eyes. She was constantly firing small orbs of fire which looked weak but when they came in contact with the skin of the wolves, they exploded and caused quite the damage. Alvin was amazed by the flashy display. Alvin couldn’t sense any qi in his surroundings which meant the mysterious voice was saying the truth. This world truly didn’t have any qi, but an alternate source of energy called mana and the red-haired girl was clearly using this mana to create that fire. Alvin was curious regarding how people here used mana and what kind of power could they achieve with it.
Alvin suddenly sensed a new pack of wolves heading towards the group from the forests and if they joined he battle, the red-haired girl’s group will definitely be killed. Since they were his first human contact, Alvin decided to help them and maybe gather some information from them. He walked into the clearing where the battle was happening and a few men from the girl’s group noticed him. They couldn’t sense any mana fluctuation around him which meant he was a mortal, or that’s what they assumed.
“Hey Kid, are you blind or something? Do you have a death wish?” A man shouted as he noticed Alvin walking towards the wolves. The red-haired girl also noticed the suicidal boy walking towards his death. He was fairly handsome with pitch black hair and icy blue eyes. He was dressed in white coloured clothes, the likes of which she had never seen before. But before she could say anything the boy simple waved his hand and the wolf closest to him froze. Slowly a red line appeared on its neck and its head toppled down followed by its lifeless body. The battle suddenly froze as everyone stared at the boy in shock.
Alvin ignored them and resumed waiving his hand as leisurely beheaded the wolves. He had already reached an unfathomable level in Sword Mastery, so producing sword light from the wave of his hands was an easy feat for him. Suddenly a new pack of wolves arrived on the scene, but when they saw the headless corpses of their kin, their eyes turned bloodshot and all of them pounced on Alvin at once.
“Careful!!” the red-haired girl couldn’t help but scream. Yet, her worries were for nothing as the young man easily evaded their attacks like he was playing with toys and one by one beheaded them all. After every single wolf was dead, the young man dusted off his hands and smiled in their direction. It was then that the entire group realized there was not a single speck of blood on the young man’s body, not even his hands were bloodied. Suddenly Alvin’s charming smile appeared extremely terrifying to the group.
“Who are you mister?” the red haired girl mustered up the courage and asked.
“I am Alvin. I was just passing by when I discovered your group needed some help.” Alvin said with a smile. Detecting no malice or ill intentions in his eyes, the red-haired girl relaxed and so did the others. She signalled with her hands and the whole group ignored Alvin and started helping the injured. The red haired girl walked upto Alvin and bowed.
“Thank you so much for helping us. I, Aria Raven from the house of Raven express my sincerest gratitude.”
“It’s alright, anybody would have helped. By the way, Miss Aria I am quite new to this land and honestly I had lost my way in the forest. Would you be kind enough to tell me where I am right now?” Alvin asked innocently.
“Ahh…” Aria was surprised. The young man in front of her seemed to be of her age and was already quite strong. The strangest thing was that she couldn’t sense any mana fluctuation from him which meant he was neither a mage nor a warrior, yet he was strong enough to defeat a pack of C-ranked monsters with ease? And now he was saying he was lost?
“Umm…right now we are at the periphery of Grand Forest in the Goldheart Province of Olympia Kingdom. We were moving towards the Royal Capital, which is two provinces away from this place when we were ambushed by a pack of Ask wolves.” Aria replied.
Alvin nodded and confirmed in his heart that this was definitely not his old world. He knew pretty much everything regarding Aonia and had never heard of any Olympia Kingdom there. Alvin then recalled what the mysterious voice had said: ‘Enjoy the new world and do as you wish’ but he also had to kill a few Gods who were causing trouble.
‘I wonder if I can use this thing called mana with my crippled meridians’ Alvin thought as a he made a new goal for himself: Explore the World and learn how to use mana.
“Umm…Mr. Alvin, I see that you are travelling alone. If you don’t mind, we can give you a lift to the nearest town.” Aria said with a smile. Since Alvin didn’t know where to go, he nodded and decided he might as well follow them to a town and decide things from there. While Alvin was walking towards the carriage, he noticed that a few people were staring at his clothes with weird gazes and he realized that the dressing sense of people here was different. His Daoist clothes really stood out here. Alvin also realized that Aria must be an important figure to be carrying so many guards with her on her travel. Soon, everybody was ready and the group departed from the area. With Aria’s insistence, Alvin was sitting inside the carriage and observing this new world from the window.
“So Mr. Alvin, where are you from?” Aria curiously asked. She wanted to know how a perfectly mortal kid could kill C-ranked monsters so easily without using any mana.
“Just Alvin is fine. I have come from a very away land in thirst of adventure. I want to explore new lands and gain new experiences. This is my first time to the Kingdom of Olympia.” Alvin said the truth, omitting a few facts here and there.
“Alvin, I have a question if you don’t mind asking.”
“Sure”
“You clearly can’t use mana but still defeated a pack of C-rank monsters. How did you do that?”
Alvin deduced that the ‘C-ranked’ had something to do with the strength of the monsters. He also realized that people of this world could sense whether someone could use mana or not.
“No Miss Aria, I can’t use mana. The thing is, I don’t know how to. You see, the land where I came from did not have any kind of information regarding mana and we only dedicated our lives to combat. I have high achievements in swords and I can use parts of my body to produce sword light. That is why I could kill those monsters.” Alvin spoke some bullshit but the later part was true.
‘He is probably talking about Malpine Islands. Father had said that the people there are primitive and don’t have knowledge about magic but are very skilled when it comes to combat’ Aria thought as she listened to Alvin’s reply. But then she suddenly remembered something he said and froze. “Sword Light? As in Sword Force?” Aria asked with a shocked voice. She was aware of what Sword Force was. It was a mysterious power which only those who had gained a certain mastery over swords could produce. It required many long years of constant training for someone to reach that level and even in her prestigious family, there were only three people who could manifest Sword Force. She couldn’t believe that a boy of her age could use Sword Force as well, yet the truth laid in front of her eyes. Other than Sword Force, there really was no way to explain how he could kill those wolves.
“Umm….Yeah”
‘Sword Light is probably called Sword Force here’ Alvin concluded. There was a lot he wasn’t aware about this world which might be considered common sense here. Alvin wanted to find a Library or something similar as soon as he could.
A few hours passed in silence when Alvin suddenly spoke “So Miss Aria, why are you travelling to the Royal Palace?” Alvin decided to make some light conversation with this girl so he could obtain more information from their conversation.
“Oh, just Aria is fine. As for why I am travelling to the Royal Capital, it is to attend the Xyrus Academy.” Aria briefly replied but noticing the look of confusion on Alvin’s face, she explained “The Human race is ruled by 4 Kingdoms and the Olympia Kingdom is one of them. Xyrus Academy was established by the rulers of the 4 Kingdoms many centuries back during the time of Grand War to train the young human talents and produce strong warriors/mages who could help humanity fight against the demons. After hundreds of years, the Academy has now become the Holy ground for mages and warriors alike and has become the gathering place of all elites of humanity. It accepts only the best and most talented students through a series of tests every year and this year’s test is scheduled a week from now. I aspire to be a powerful mage one day and thus it is a must that I get admitted into Xyrus Academy. The Academy is located in a secret place and can only be accessed through space gates in the capital of each kingdom. That is why I am travelling to the Royal Capital.”
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“Is that so?” Alvin replied as he absorbed the information revealed by Aria. According to what she said, it was indeed true that races other than humans truly existed in this world. Alvin was interested in this place called ‘Xyrus Academy’. It was one of his goals to try out this mysterious mana and this academy seemed to be the ideal place for it, but he had to gather more information before he could decide anything. He was also curious about ‘Space gates’ that Aria mentioned.
“What kind of tests does this Entrance Examination consists of? And what qualifications does one need to attend it?” Alvin asked in a genuinely curious voice. If this entrance test was the only way to get access into this academy, then he would have to find a way to successfully clear it.
“The First round always consists of testing someone’s mana pool and affinity. A person must have a sufficiently large mana pool and high-affinity for atleast one of the elements to pass the first round. The details about the Second and Third round is always kept a secret and they keep on changing every year so nobody knows what they might consist of. As for the qualifications, a participant must be younger than 20. There aren’t any kind of strict restrictions to be a participant and thus 90% of youth after graduating from their schools try their hand in the Entrance examinations every year. Ofcourse, more than 90% of them get eliminated in the first round itself.” Aria explained patiently. Suspicious or not, the young man sitting in front of her had saved her life and since he did not seemed to be knowing about a lot of things, she didn’t mind explaining a few to him.
“Is that so? Well, I wish you all the best for your test then Aria” Alvin said with a smile. He wanted to ask her what ‘mana pool’ and ‘affinity for elements’ implied, but he had a hunch that it was something any resident of this world was aware of and if he really asked such a question, they might start suspecting him too be real. He could always quench his curiosity in a library when he found one so he wasn’t impatient.
After a day full of constant travel with short breaks to eat lunch or dinner, they finally arrived in front of the gates of the Royal Capital. Alvin observed the tall erect walls reaching upto 200 metres high in the air and then at the massive golden gate which was the entrance to city. ‘These cities do not look much different from those in my world’. There was a long line of people waiting to enter the city but instead of lining after them, Aria’s entourage bypassed them and directly headed towards the gates. A lot of people made displeased expressions but as soon as they saw the insignia of phoenix on the carriage, their expressions changed and all of them bowed as the carriage passed by them. Seeing their behaviour, Alvin was sure that Aria was definitely not a normal girl.
As they approached the guarded entrance, the golden armoured guards noticed the carriage and all of them kneeled on one knee and shouted “Greeting Miss Aria”. Aria opened the window of the carriage and greeted them back as they passed through the gates and entered the bustling city. The carriage stopped and Alvin stood to take his leave.
“Thank you Aria for giving me this ride. May we meet again, farewell.” Before Aria could reply, Alvin’s figure blurred and he was already long gone from the carriage. Aria looked around the carriage but couldn’t find a shadow of the mysterious young man who had piques her interest.
“I would really like to meet you again Alvin” Aria murmured as she resumed her journey towards the Imperial Palace. She had noticed Alvin’s curiosity when she talked about Xyrus Academy and she had a hunch that he will appear again in the Entrance Examination. Given how strong he was, so long as he passes the first round, he will surely pass the other tests since they primarily focused on combat abilities. She blushed as she remembered his heroic appearance as he leisurely slaughtered the wolves.
Far away from the carriage, Alvin was walking through the streets of the Royal Capital looking at the shops and pedestrians with shining eyes. He had noticed a lot of cultural differences between the people of this world and his old one. The most striking difference was their clothing sense. These people liked to wear tight fitting light clothes and light armours, especially the women who wore much more revealing clothes than the women of his world. He spotted many shops selling things he has never heard of before like ‘Magic Pets’, ‘Monster Cores’, ‘Magic Weapons and Enchantments’, etc.
After walking around for a bit, Alvin suddenly spotted a large building with an insignia of a sword upon a shield atop it. A lot of heavily armed men and women were walking in and out of the building. Alvin was curious and decided to follow the crowd and entered the building. Upon entering he noticed that the building was lavishly decorated from inside and a lot of people were making inquiries in front of a line of counters at the centre of the hall. He also noticed a few people standing in front of a huge board and ripping out pieces of paper stuck on it.
As Alvin was looking around like he was visiting this place for the first time, someone pushed him from behind, or rather tried pushing him and fell down backwards. Alvin turned around and saw a purple haired girl down rubbing her head with teary eyes.
“I am sorry mister, I…..I was in a hurry and not looking ahead….” The girl said in an apologetic tone as she stood up.
“No, it’s alright. Are you hurt?” Alvin asked with a smile. Seeing as how the young man was not angry and was being nice to her, the purple-haired girl smiled and nodded. She had heard that most of the adventurers have a high temper and they love causing trouble for newbies like her, but it looked like the boy in front of him was also a newbie. Also his weird clothing didn’t exactly fir the image of an adventurer.
“Miss, what is this place?” Alvin suddenly asked. The purple-haired girl was surprised by his question wondering if he was playing some kind of prank with her.
“This….This is the Adventurer’s Guild ofcourse. Why?” she replied nonetheless.
“Ohh….I see. I am Alvin by the way. Nice to meet you.” The young boy said with a smile and the purple-haired girl was momentarily dazed by his smiling face. Alvin was a very handsome fellow to begin with so it was not surprising.
“Umm…Hello” Alvin waved his hand in front of the girl’s eyes noticing he lack of response. The girl got out of her stupor and her cheeks turned red.
“I am Cilicia. N…Nice to meet you too.” Cilicia said and with a curt bow ran away. Alvin scratched his head wondering if he did something to upset her. Shaking his head, he chose a random counter and stood in line like everybody else. A lot of people gave him odd glares, probably due to his clothing. After some time his turn came and a beautiful young woman greeted him with a smile.
“Welcome to the Adventurer’s Guild. How may I help you?”
Alvin deduced that this place was a lot similar to the Mission Plaza of large sects back in his world and probably performed the same function.
“Umm…how do I accept a mission?” Alvin asked awkwardly.
“Oh, a newbie? You’ll need to register as an Adventurer first young man. Would you like to?” the young woman replied with a smile. Normally she would be irritated listening to such questions, but Alvin’s appearance made it impossible for her to not be charmed.
“Yes. I would.” Alvin answered in a heartbeat.
“Very well. Please fill in this form first.” The woman said as she handed Alvin a form. Alvin suddenly realized that he could somehow understand the language of this world even though it was different from the one in his old world. ‘Probably the work of that Creator’ Alvin concluded as he accepted the form and realized he could indeed read it with no trouble. He filled out whatever he could and gave it back to the woman behind the counter. After a few minutes, she gave him a grey card with his basic information written on it.
“This is your Mission Card or in other words your ID. Be sure to keep it safe since all your achievements regarding the missions are recorded in it. If you lose it, then replacing it may cost you heavily. Adventurers are ranked from F-SSS Rank and as you keep completing missions, your rank will keep on rising. Remember, the higher your rank, more dangerous the mission but the rewards will be high as well. You can only choose missions corresponding to your rank, for example as an F-ranked Adventurer you can only choose F-ranked missions. Upon the failure of a mission, you’ll be fined double the amount of money promised in the rewards or in severe cases your rank will drop by one so choose your missions carefully. There are also some special missions which could be attempted by any adventurer regardless of the rank but most of the time they are quite dangerous but they also come with heavy rewards. The Mission board over there contains all the available missions and if want to select one, just tear the page containing the mission and submit it to any receptionist here. Best of Luck Alvin” the young woman explained patiently all the details regarding an adventurer. Alvin thanked her and proceeded towards the mission board to select his first mission.
Alvin had never joined a sect in his old world since nobody in their right mind would accept a cripple as a disciple. Thus, he never experienced what it was like to do a mission. Now that he was getting a chance, he was happy to try it out. Reaching the Mission Board, he searched for any interesting F-ranked mission but was disappointed. All the mission either had mediocre tasks like finding some lost pet or collecting some herbs. Alvin had no interest in wasting his time doing pointless stuff. Just as he was going to turn around, he noticed a particular mission at the corner of the board. ‘Special Mission’ was written on top of it. It consisted of finding the cause behind the disappearance of adventurers around the Bloodfiend Forests. Since it was unknown what level of threat might be responsible for the disappearances, it was ranked ‘special’. Alvin’s interest was piqued and he tore the special mission from the board to accept it. When he went to the same young woman who had registered him as an adventurer to accept the mission, she was shocked speechless looking at the mission in Alvin’s hand.
“Do you know what the word ‘special’ implies? Everything about this mission is unknown. There might be an A-ranked monster out there who is responsible for the disappearances. A newbie like you accepting a mission of this kind has less than 5% of survivability rate. Are you sure you want to risk it?” she asked. Since she was the one to register Alvin, the young woman felt it was necessary to advice the young man to not walk the path of death. Yet, Alvin didn’t seem to care and just nodded. The young woman shook her head and did her job.
She asked for Alvin’s mission card and after a few seconds, returned it back.
“Your mission has been registered. There is no time limit for this mission. Best of Luck.”
Alvin thanked the receptionist and walked out of the Guild.
‘Now what?’ Alvin pondered but suddenly he remembered he didn’t have any money. He was not sure if the money he had in his soul storage will work here since it was from his old world. To test things out, Alvin started noticing monetary exchanges as he passed through various food stalls. He noticed that people here usually dealt with brown and silver coloured coins which looked similar to the copper and silver coins from his old world. Alvin decided to test waters himself and bought a dish called ‘Fried Chicken’ from a nearby stall. It tasted delicious and reminded Alvin of Purple-feathered Hens from his world. When it came to payment, Alvin produced a silver coin and the stall-owner happily accepted it and returned the change.
Alvin’s soul storage was actually obtained from the ‘Book of Mysteries’ which Alvin had stolen from the Temple of the Ancient God. Though he made an enemy out of the Ancient God and had to kill him later on in a life and death duel, the rewards he got were worth it. Alvin was always envious of the storage rings the cultivators used to store their belongings in an inter-dimensional pocket. It could only be used through qi and Alvin couldn’t use it. But the Book of Mysteries, being one of the legendary scriptures of Aonia explained a way to create a storage space using the soul among many other things. But the process was quite a painful one and that is probably why nobody tried using it. But it was different for Alvin. The level of pain he had experienced in his body cultivation was many times greater than the pain he felt when creating the soul storage and he became the first human to successfully create one.
Alvin sighed in relief to know that atleast some of the money he had could still be used in this world, but it was still unknown whether the gold and platinum coins he had would work or not.
‘I need to know the currency system of this world’ Alvin thought as he asked a few people nearby for the directions to a Library. Fortunately there did exist a ‘Public Library’ in this city and Alvin headed straight towards it according to the directions he received. Soon he was standing in front of a dome shaped building with ‘Public Library’ written atop it in golden letters. The interior was quite similar to the libraries of Aonia. He went to the ‘General’ section of the Library and started going through every book which talked about this world as a whole and some general information. After 6 hours of searching and reading, Alvin finally had a general idea about this world.
Apparently this world was more than 10 times smaller than Aonia in terms of size which Alvin found quite odd. It was divided into 3 continents: Raga, Yggdrasil and Devildom. The continent of Raga was inhabited by humans as well as another race called Beastmen. This particular race looked much like humans but had animal features like tail, furry ears, sharp fangs, etc. Their physical features depended on the type of beast blood they inherited for example a beastmen of tiger lineage will have tiger like physical features. Alvin was excited to meet such interesting creatures in future. Next was the continent of Yggdrasil, which was inhabited by elves, dwarves and fairies. Elves too looked like humans with the only exception being their long pointy ears. All elves were exceptionally beautiful creatures and were deemed as children of nature. Dwarves were humanoid in appearance but short heighted. Their maximum size could only reach half the size of a normal human. Apparently they were skilled blacksmiths and all the top tier weapons and machinery were normally made by dwarves. The last but not the least were the mysterious fairies. They were actually the thing of legends and nobody had ever seen a fairy with their own eyes, but it was recorded in many ancient texts that they do exist. They are palm sized humanoid looking creatures with wings. Not much detail was available about them.
Then there was the Continent of Devildom. It was a land mainly inhabited by demons. According to the books Alvin read, demons were bloodthirsty and cruel creatures who loved to massacre other races. There were many sub-races among the demons with myriad of appearances but it was observed that the more high-ranking a demon is, the closer they are to humans in appearance. Alvin found that hundreds of years ago, the demons had launched large scale war on other races and it was called the Grand War. A lot of innocents had died in that war but the combination of humans, beastmen, elves and dwarves had managed to drive them back. There hadn’t been any major attacks as of last three hundred years but it was unknown when the demons will attack again.
And finally Alvin managed to find some information on mana. Mana was described as the essence of the world which flows through every living being in this world. Only a limited number of people could sense mana and had the ability to control it. There were two paths to traverse once someone gains the ability to sense and control their mana: The path of a mage and the path of a warrior. Mages could use their mana through something called spells to alter the laws of the world around them and held terrific destructive powers in their hands. Warriors on the other hand focused on using mana in hand-to-hand combat through something called battle skills and amplify their weapon’s attack power. Both path held equal advantages and disadvantages but since the number of mages were far lower than those of warriors, a mage received much more respect than a warrior.
The strength system of a mage/warrior was divided into: Apprentice Alvin also learned about the existences called monsters. They were pretty much the same as the spirit beasts of Aonia. They had the innate ability to absorb mana into their bodies and grow stronger. Some could even cast terrific spells of mass destruction. These monsters had crystal cores in their bodies which they use to store mana and upon their death, this particular crystal could be sold for money along with their carcass. They were also ranked the same way as the mages/warriors. But monsters also had a certain hierarchy based on the quality of their blood and were divided into: Common Alvin was quite satisfied with the information he obtained and left the library in a happy mood. It was already dark outside so he looked for an inn to stay. Luckily this world also had an inn system. He found one quickly, an inn called ‘Tiger’s Den’ and went in. It was a fairly lavish inn with rich decoration and high quality furniture. Alvin could also see a dining hall adjacent to the reception area where a lot of guests wearing fancy clothings were sitting. Alvin walked upto the reception where he was greeted by the smile of a lovely young girl. “Welcome esteemed guest.” “I would like to book a room for one.” Alvin said. The girl nodded “Very well. That will cost you 1 gold coin per night with meals and bath included.” Alvin put his hands inside his pocket and pretended to take out money while he grabbed 7 gold coins from his soul storage. In the library, he was delighted to find that the monetary structure of this world was same upto platinum coins. Above platinum was something called mythril which didn’t exist in Aonia. ‘I am probably one of the richest man alive in this world’ Alvin though as he handed the money and booked a room for a week. He was then guided to his room on the 1st floor by a maid. As Alvin laid on his bed, he started thinking about his future plans: * Buy clothes and other accessories which he may need in this world. * Complete the special mission of the Adventurer’s Guild as soon as possible. * Try to pass the Entrance Examination of Xyrus Academy and get admitted. After he was done formulating his plans, Alvin closed his eyes and slept after a very long time. The next day. After eating some light breakfast, Alvin walked towards the area where he had seen various cloth shops yesterday. The food of this world was not much different from Aonia much to Alvin’s disappointed. ‘Maybe they don’t sell the good ones here?’ Alvin though as he arrived in front of the largest cloth shop he had seen in the city. Walking in, he saw women dressed in highly lavish and noble attire going through various dresses on display. A young girl wearing what looked like a uniform approached Alvin. “Welcome Sir to Murphy’s World. What would you like to buy?” “Bring me clothes that’s fit me, the best you have. Oh, no flashy ones please.” Alvin calmly said and sat down in a nearby sofa. The girl nodded and went inside the store. After a few minutes, she returned with three pieces of clothings. “These are the best ones we have. They are magically enchanted and have special properties. They can auto-adjust their size according to the size of the wearer and can alter your body temperature according to your will. They also have self-repairing and many defensive enchantments as well.” The young girl politely explained. The three pieces were brown, purple and blue in colour respectively. Since Alvin liked light colours, he chose the blue one. Alvin had seen a person in the Adventurer’s Guild wearing a dress of similar fashion albeit of lower quality. Unknown to Alvin, only high-ranked mages wore dresses of this kind. “That would be 310 gold coins” the young girl said with a slightly nervous tone. From Alvin’s appearance, it didn’t look like a noble and it was highly doubtful whether he had much money, but the girl’s intuition told her that he was not a normal fellow so she had shown him the three luxury pieces of clothings which only the VIP members of the shop were allowed to be shown. If Alvin didn’t purchase any one of the three, the girl will surely lose her job for disobeying her superior’s command. Alvin nodded calmly and took out four platinum coins from his pocket and handed them over to the shocked girl. “Keep the change” Alvin said as he waved his hand and the blue dress disappeared. As Alvin was turning around to leave, the girl gained her wits as she hastily said “Esteemed Sir, please wait a second.” Saying that she quickly ran inside and presented a golden coloured card to Alvin upon her return. “This is the VIP membership card of our shop. We have many branches throughout the human empire. By showing this card, esteemed sir can get 20% discount on any item you purchase from this shop and will become eligible to view certain special goods which non-members can’t view.” The girl said in a very respectful tone. Someone who could take out 5 gold coins and had a space ring ought to have a terrifying background. The girl failed to notice that there was no ring on Alvin’s fingers, otherwise she would have been more shocked. Alvin thanked her and walked towards the City gates to head towards the outskirts of the city where Bloodfiend Forest was located. He had received a map from the young receptionist yesterday and it was very helpful for someone like him who didn’t have a clue about his location.