Three weeks were left of my stay in Martial Citadel, reflecting back to the state I was in, compared to when I first arrived, the difference was like night and day.

I was happy and content with all the progress I had made, and the victories I had achieved in my journey as an Expert.

All of a sudden I felt a lot more at peace, as I was aware, and had accepted the kind of power, position, and ability that I had.

I was a genuine Ranker and the respect that I received was that of a Ranker.

Even though I still had an urge to accomplish more, and rise to new heights, I decided to slightly slow down that compulsion until the day of departure arrived.

I was able to enjoy the City's specialties, appreciate my surroundings, and just enjoy the beauty of life, and nature so much more than any time before.

Not having to worry about my next meal or expense on a constant basis, probably aided me in my new found serenity, but I also observed myself becoming much more mature than before.

Life was good and it was good to enjoy it.

Even in my state of delight, I still had a couple of matters I had to settle, before I was ready to set out.

My equipment and weapon inventory was fully prepared, but I still had my money and normal inventory to organize.

I had already deposited most of my common money in the 4 Bank branches, but it turned out that it was a lot more than I had anticipated.

The profit I had made off of my shop was not small.

I had actually accumulated somewhat of a small fortune, just in gold coins alone I had over three million, that unfortunately I would not be able to take with me on my journey.

I took advantage of my surplus in income, and splurged a little bit on things I had an interest in, and that wouldn’t bring too much of a burden to me.

The biggest things I had spent on were the Inner Energy Universal Adapter, Inner Energy Weapons Adapter, Inner Power Shooter, and Inner Power Pole.

I figured these were all things that were of extreme use to me as they provided me with a solid power up, weapon reliability, and necessary support.

Plus they went well in allowing me to make more efficient use of my Inner Energy abilities during my travels.

The Inner Power Shooter was actually something I struggled to decide on whether to buy or not, since there were few things that were better than my Slingshot in terms of ranged weapons.

But the learning opportunity it offered, and increased range options, was not something I could pass up on.

The Shooter was one of the coolest weapons Dirgen and his crew had come up with.

It was in the form of a medium sized Rifle, because of its rifled Inner Metal tube.

It was created by one of Dirgens’ Master Crafters, knowledgeable in firearms, and projectile weapons.

The outer casing was made out of normal bronze, but the inner casing was made out of Inner Metals.

In the butt of the weapon, was the compartment, where one could insert a Focus Shard to power the weapon.

There was also a trigger, that would cause the weapon to discharge Inner Energy, in the lower handle.

The method with which it discharged the energy, was through energizing, and hitting of an Inner Energy Metal rod within the weapon, that was also constantly being charged.

There was another handle and trigger in the middle of the weapon, that controlled the amount of energy that would be built up, and released.

Towards the end of the bronze cylinder, was a slot compartment where you could insert different cartridges.

There were five different cartridges that could be used on the weapon.

The standard cartridge was a cartridge that further energized and heated the Inner Energy that was going to be released, giving you a powerful Inner Energy shot, equivalent in size to how long the pressure trigger was held on to.

The Inner Energy shot would come out as long as there was Inner Energy within the Shard.

The other cartridges were made out of Inner Energy materials, that would shoot out super energized with Inner Energy, and that increased the range and spread of the weapons capabilities.

There was Inner Grease cartridge, made out of Inner Fat, Inner Rain cartridge made out of Ghost Berry juice and that apparently gave you spiritual damage capabilities and a good spread shot, Inner Resin cartridge that served to immobilize and handicap opponent’s, and Inner Bullet cartridge which shot out a bullet made out of Inner Copper, Iron, or Steel, and gave you more precise and instant killing power.

The weapon was a fearful one, that demanded respect from both the user and the target.

I didn’t think it was as powerful or versatile as my Slingshot, but it was definitely a unique and effective weapon, that any Expert or Ranker would go crazy over.

The weapon had cost me 100,000 gold coins, or its rough equivalent of 100 platinum coins, it was definitely one of Inner Fire’s Companies more expensive items in its recent lineup.

It felt like a big expense, but to have converted that amount of gold coins into platinum coins would’ve given me a big loss, so I figured It was best to use that kind of money here where I could get better value for it.

I'm sure if i would’ve talked to Dirgen, or any of his representatives, I could’ve gotten the weapon for free, but for right now I decided against having too much contact with the old sly Bastard, so I bought it the honest way.

Besides, common currency was not something I lacked, making use of it in a way that aided my Ranker journey was an added benefit.

The Inner Power Pole was much cheaper, only costing me 30,000 gold coins.

I knew many people would spit blood at that prize, but I thought it was worth it.

It offered me an immediate Inner Energy option, if ever I was engaged in combat in my journey by surprise.

It also gave me quality support in all the miles I would have to walk.

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Up until now, or at least until I got more reliable transportation, the amount of walking that I was doing was astronomical.

The Inner Power Pole would be a good help in that.

The Adapters I found useful as support items, and flexible energy accessibility tools, that allowed me to use my Focus Shards as batteries, the new Focus Shard revolution didn't just have to include the Martial Citadel Citizens, I was keen on capitalizing on it as well.

They only cost me 20 and 50 gold coins respectively. I had also bought a couple of the smaller Inner Power weapons, and some of the original old Inner Energy Metal weapons, with the idea that I might be able to sell them at the Ranker Event for some profit.

They were all small since I didn't want them to take up too much space.

I looked at the rest of my inventory, I would carry along with me on my journey.

One set of items I had plenty of were Martial Arts Manuals.

There were quite a bit of them, but when bunched up together, they didn’t take up too much space.

I did want to take the time to study the material, but at the moment I had neither the motivation, or energy to do so except for some sparing moments.

I was still finishing Yupows’ training and I wanted to fully focus on doing so without any more distractions.

I ended up binding them together into a huge book and putting them in a leather bag.

Maybe they would be useful to me later on in some sort of way.

The sad part was now that Focus Shard and Inner Resin had entered the scene, the Martial Arts Manuals had become that much less valuable in the City as a form of currency.

But maybe that wasn’t the case outside the City.

I had managed to sell a good amount of the herbs and plants of value I had gathered, but I still had a good amount left.

I made pouches for the herbs and plants that I knew I would be in need of throughout my journey, and did my best to sell or give away the rest.

I made gift packages that I gave to some of the poor Martial Clubs and Organizations in the Slums, since I knew they might find them useful.

They consisted of herbs and plants that I knew what effect they had, and could be easily used, medicinal herb packages, supplemental herb packages, useful effect herb packages, the small Organizations were delighted to receive my gifts.

I made a similar effort with the beast parts and organs, selling off what I could, and wrapping up the rest of the stuff, and giving it to families in need.

Even though it was beasts that didn’t sell well in the market, the quality of the meat and parts was excellent, and made for great gifts.

Food and Martial Ingredients were always welcome and so in that manner I had no trouble getting rid of my plants and animal parts.

By doing so the reputation I held in the Slum skyrocketed, wherever I went I was always treated with respect.

Many people even tried to give me gifts, but I had to kindly deny most of them, since the last thing I needed was more stuff.

Every so often I would get something of interest, and only then would I accept it for future study purposes.

The basic crafted items I had a harder time getting rid of, as other than the necessary pelts, sacks, pouches, bags, baskets and pots or containers, I really had no use for the rest of the stuff.

I was even having trouble giving it away, as there were only so many baskets people would accept from you.

I had no idea how I had made so many crafting products.

Eventually I started breaking apart some of the crafts and recycling what I could.

Things like beast pelts, skins, and leather I rolled up, or stacked together, after which I took it to another street alley corner, built another wooden box stand with a sign that said “free beast pelts”, shoved the pelts inside and walked away.

I realized doing such a thing was becoming a bad habit of mine, but I didn't think it caused any harm so I did not dwell on it.

What I had left over of the crafting items, I took to my newly owned property, and stashed them there.

After that, I only had my most precious items deriving from super rare Herbs, Megafauna, King Beasts, or Magical Beasts, that I was planning to sell, or barter at the Ranker event.

Those I carefully stored and packaged within the Sled, ready to transport on the day of departure.

All I had left was the money I was going to take to the event.

It was 193 Platinum coins 1,000Gold coins 1,000 Silver and barely any bronze or copper.

I also had some Focus Shards, although I didn't know how valuable those could be, at least for now before they got more popular.

Despite my large sum of money in my Banks I would have no access to it until I reached Will City.

That was where my need for a storage item arised once more, as despite my successful endeavors in the City most of what I had was stuck here.

As I had mentioned before I now had 3 pieces of land, I had no idea what to do with.

Despite owning them, and having already built houses and buildings within them, I still slept over at Yupows’ house as that was what was most convenient due to the training.

When I went to visit them either to stash away things I didn't need at the time, or just check up on them, I drew a blanks on what to do.

I was leaving in a matter of days so there really wasn’t any purpose to them.

I figured the Mayor wouldn’t make me give them back, so I decided to leave the property until another time that I returned, and maybe then I would have a better idea of what to do with them.

The best that I could think to do was to leave a healthy amount of Focus Shards, Inner Energy Resin, Inner Energy Fat the Mayor and his friends would occasionally pass by and gift me, within the storage of the biggest property, since I didn't trust Banks with these kinds of valuables.