Chapter 6: Perception
Neo was speechless as he looked at the rows upon rows of potions in front of him, but that was not what made him yell out loud. It was the price of these things that made him say that.
[Potion of Regeneration (Restore 25% of health over 10 seconds)—1 stat point
Potion of Speed (+10% movement speed for 30 seconds)—3 stat points
Potion of Invisibility (Become invisible in 60 seconds)—8 stat points
Potion of Fire Resistance (Reduce fire damage taken by 50% for 30 seconds)—10 stat points
Potion of Water Breathing (Breathe underwater for 2 minutes)—5 stat points
Potion of Flight (Allows flight for 1 minute)—20 stat points.]
These were still expensive, but when he saw the temporary boost potion that he had yearned for, on the list, it left him wanting to curse that store manager.
[Low level Berserk Potion- (Increase all stats by 90 for 3 hours with a minor backlash)- 2 stat points.]
Maybe Neo didn't know the value of the stat points. That was why he felt that the store owner cheated them. He increased the duration while lowering the number of attributes gained, but was what he experienced really a minor backlash? Even thinking about it made Neo shudder, but it was definitely not a minor backlash, or his dictionary might be faulty.
Still, he controlled himself and looked further down and found health and mana potions selling in bulk like 100 for a single stat point. He bought them and a bulk of potions landed in front of him.
"How are you going to carry all of this, young man?" Davis asked as he saw the potions appearing. Neo was left to contemplate on that as he didn't know what to do about it.
"Sigh, why am I so kind? Look up for a spell called isolated space creation. Never mind, here."
Davis waved his hand, and a notification appeared in front of Neo.
『 The traveler is trading [Isolated Space Creation] spell for 60 stat points.
Accept Reject.』
Neo looked at him in confusion as he didn't know what this spell does, but Davis didn't leave him hanging and said, "This spell can help you make a storage unit for you. Think of it as a huge backpack on your back, minus the backback."
"Oh, the best thing about it is that the time inside that isolated space will be frozen. Duh, it's named [Isolated] for a reason."
He talked and talked, but Neo was thankful as he tapped [Accept] and information about the spell appeared in his mind. Spells were a different breed from skills, as if the person understood them more, the more powerful they'll be. Sure, one can use them like they are using skills, but it'll be like having a pool but still using a tub to bath.
The spell appeared in a different column with a [Spell] category to it.
"Time is almost running out, young man. Choose something else." Davis didn't give Neo a chance to test the spell as he took out a pocket watch, looking at it. Neo nodded and scrolled through the panel to look for a potion similar to the berserk one but with mild after shock.
And he found what he was looking for.
[Potion of Heroism (Cost: 5 stat points)—Temporarily boost all stats by 30 for 10 minutes.
Elixir of the Dragon (Cost: 10 stat points)—Temporarily boosts all stats by 50 for 20 minutes.
Potion of Titan Strength (Cost: 15 stat points)—Temporarily boosts all stats by 75 for 30 minutes.
Potion of the Divine (Cost: 20 stat points)—Temporarily boosts all stats by 100 for 1 hour.
Potion of Ultimate Power (Cost: 25 stat points)—Temporarily boosts all stats by 150 for 2 hours.
Note: These are only novice level potions.]
Neo eyes twitched as he looked at them and then at the price, and chose 2 of each. And all the potions appeared before him. He then checked how many points were left and found there were still 13 more stat points remaining.
Neo brought two more of the heroism potions and then 2 stat point worth health potions and stat point worth mana potions.
Looking at the huge amount of potions piling in front of him, Neo suddenly felt that he was a lot like a rich tycoon now.
Each of these health potions was worth 100 Skycoins and mana potions was 150 Skycoins and those were the prices for low-rank potions. Neo didn't know which rank these were, as they only said [Health potions].
Just as Neo was about to close the panel, his eyes stopped on the last item, which looked like a tower. He tapped on it to see what it was.
[Name: Unknown
Description: Unknown.
Price: 1 stat point.]
"Umm… what is this?" Neo asked as he looked at this. Davis looked at what he was pointing at and took out that tower from his pocket and tossed it toward Neo.
"A piece of garbage." Davis felt annoyed when he talked about it.
"Some Fu*ker scammed me with this. This should be a grand and mighty item of the cosmos, according to that a**hole. God, don't let me find him, or I'll tear him a new one."
Davis yelled loudly before controlling himself and said, "This item's other half is in a dungeon called [Goblin King's Keep] and according to that bastard, only after joining the two pieces can this relic work."
"Like, I was naïve to believe him and didn't know what [Goblin King's Keep] was. God, it makes me angry when I think about it now."
"That dungeon was itself a trap. Like the first, it appeared randomly, and secondly it had a requirement that levels of the player can't be above 15 and even if they levelled up in the dungeon over 15, they'll be tossed out."
"Even a fool can see it is a scam. How can one not level above 15 after clearing 12 floors filled with monsters several times his/her level? Oh, I forgot to say that it was a solo dungeon to begin with. Only an anomaly would need a void worth of experience to level up."
Davis kept mumbling loudly like he was in hysteria, but his words stunned Neo as he looked at him weirdly while taking all the information in. He shook his head and listened intently to what he was blabbering about as the dungeon Davis was about, the one they were sitting in.
Then Davis got off-topic and started cursing different people. Neo was about to tell him to stay on topic, but before he could utter a word, Davis vanished from his sight and a notification appeared before him.
『 The traveler event is over. The fifth phase of the Goblin King's Keep will start in 5 minutes.』
Neo looked at the notification and then turned to the spell that he learned.
[Name: Isolated Space Creation
Description: A spell that allows the user to create a pocket dimension of space that can store items. Items stored inside will not be affected by external factors, such as weather, temperature, or time.
Note: The space inside depends on the level of mastery of the spell.]
Neo looked at the description and said, "It really is like a bag. Traveller Davis must be using this to store his items."
As Neo started casting the spell, he closed his eyes and focused his mind. He could feel the flow of mana within him, and he concentrated on controlling it. He visualized the space in front of him, and with a wave of his hand, he released the mana.
A shimmering light appeared in front of him, forming into a cube-like structure that slowly expanded outward. As the light dissipated, a small, compact space emerged in front of Neo, no bigger than 3 square meters.
The space was a pocket dimension, separate from the outside world. Neo could see that it was empty, but he could store items inside it. The walls were transparent, allowing him to see through them, and he could enter and exit the space at will.
Neo was satisfied with his creation, and he knew it would be a useful tool on his journey.
『 You have unlocked a new stat: Perception.』
Neo was surprised by this new message and opened his status to check what was happening.
『 Status
Name: Neo Orpheus
Class: None
Level 12 (7,000/198,400)
Title: None
Health: 640/640
Mana: 420/420
Strength: 56 Agility: 48
Stamina: 53 Intelligence: 42
Vitality: 64 Luck: 31+20 (From the Gold equipment)
Perception: 5
Spells: Isolated Space Creation.
Skills: Inspect, Whirlwind, Aether Manipulation.
Equipment Abilities: Dash, Clone, Rune Fury, Dash of the Wind.』
He felt pretty accomplished upon seeing his stats as he could now be a powerhouse among the low rankers, well except for the geniuses and those monsters that can have up to 20 stat points upon each level up.
He was happy with what he had and clicked to see the description of perception attribute.
[Perception
Description: A measure of how aware and observant a person is of his surroundings.
Effects: Improved sensory acuity, Danger sense, Tactical advantage, Enhanced problem-solving.]
"And what did I do to get this?"
Neo said to himself as he felt that the system was playing games with him. He closed the panel and put all the potions and the weird tower in the pocket dimension. He stretched a little as he felt pretty good and the pain that was assaulting him also vanished.
"Let's end this fast." Neo said as the timer hit zero, and got teleported to the last phase of the Goblin King's Keep.
....
Davis, meanwhile, got teleported out of the safe zone near a lake. He looked around before dusting himself off and a disdain appeared on his face as he thought about how to find out how Neo found those essence spheres.
"I shouldn't have told him about it. The contract got in the way, otherwise I would have tortured him to get the answer." Davis mumbled as he thought about it, but as he moved forward, he felt something was missing.
"Eh? What am I doing here?"
He looked around before waving his hand and arriving in the city. He moved in a particular direction, but the uncomfortable feeling wasn't leaving him alone. He shook his head.
"How to find ---"
He stood there with a confused look on his face as he said to himself, "Who was I looking for?"
He racked his mind but couldn't remember. He forgot the time he spent in the safe zone, his conversation with Neo, and the transaction that took place in that safe zone. Even the essence sphere that he got from him magically vanished.
Davis shook his hand as he forgot that he even left the city and went to a shop named [Merchant Emporium] and entered the shop. It was his shop where he sold his things in the tower and this city was on the middle floor of the tower.
But Davis didn't know that he dodged the bullet as he had breached the contract with the tower, but the tower was lax this time and made him forget what happened during the entire process, otherwise he would have lost his head.
Make it because of Neo's high luck or just that the Tower took its contract pretty seriously.