Devourer System : Infinite Paths

"All the items have their prices written on tags attached to them, so when you have what you want, you can bring it to me," The man said, pointing his hand to the open chamber.

It took Nero just a single try to use the space ring, but he did end up taking out a hundred and six gold coins, and since he was feeling great after his success, he decided to give the extra gold to the attendant, saving himself from some embarrassment.

She was so grateful for his generosity that she told him to prioritize buying the weapons, whose handles had been marked with a broken hammer, because those weapons were forged by a dwarven blacksmith who, while new, was said to be one of the best craftsman-grade Blacksmiths.

After confirming his payment, she took him to the fifth floor, handing the gold to the gruff-looking man guarding an iron door before taking her leave.

Nero entered the well-lit room stretching for at least a hundred meters, which was an anomaly in itself, but it was not very surprising since he had seen each floor seemingly getting larger than the last, confirming some sort of magic was at play.

The chamber was filled with racks upon racks of weapons, each category separated into a different line, and each weapon had a tag on its handle that listed its price, grade, and other details.

There were enough weapons to arm thousands of people, as even the walls were covered in weapons. After every rack that stretched for four meters or so, there were a few feet of empty space, and at its center, to the right, a black-and-white stand occupied the place.

Each stand displayed a weapon, making each one stand out. The entire room did not have more than thirty display pillars, marking those weapons truly special.

Nero moved toward the closest display stand, paying no attention to the filled weapons racks, but stopped a few feet away, his eyes narrowing as he read the tag.

The weapon was a long bow nearly as tall as Nero, forged from a sleek grayish-dark metal with red streaks running across its body. But what really caught his attention was a small white crystal placed atop a small stand, with a tag beneath it describing its nature.

'Appraisal Crystal,' 

'What does this crystal do?' Nero asked after seeing that every stand had one such crystal placed next to a weapon.

'They are man-made crystals that come in various forms, each programmed to check the status of specific objects,' Draven explained, making Nero frown, grasping the weight of their implications.

'Does that mean they can check the status of an individual, like systems,' Nero asked, flabbergasted by the mere possibility.

'They can to a limited extent, but not only they can not accurately guess the grade of an individual system and attributes, but it is also easy to fool even the best of Appraisal devices,' Draven clarified, but it only raised more questions in Nero's mind.

'So, these Appraisal devices can check the attributes of an individual and the nature of his system, so does that not mean we could get in trouble,' Nero asked, feeling worried about his future.

'The Appraisal crystals you see before you are created specifically for each weapon, and the ones that could check an individual's details are giant devices, very few in number,' 

'You do not have to worry about getting found out since it's easy for me to hide our secrets from any means of detection,' Draven said, and seeing his confidence, Nero felt no need to push for more answers.

'How do I use it?' Nero asked, interested in seeing how it worked and what details it could give other than the ones already written on the tag of the bow.

'You just have to channel your mana into the crystal and then touch the bow with the crystal,' Draven explained, and with a silent nod, Nero moved forward to test it.

He picked up the crystal and began to focus, but this time without closing his eyes. While a bit slow, he quickly felt the energy flowing through his body and began to direct it toward his right hand and out into the crystal.

The crystal began to glow, and after a few seconds of contact with the bow, the light it released began to coalesce, creating a square window, bright words quickly filling it.

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Name: Fireweaver

Type: Long Bow

Grade: Rare

Condition: Pristine 

Inscriptions:

[Inferno's Embrace] The bow draws on the essence of fire, igniting arrows with a blazing aura. (Active)

[Phoenix's Breath] The more the bow is used, the more rejuvenating fire will be released by it, engulfing the wielder in a corona of fire that grants a minor boost to vitality and stamina regeneration. (Passive)

[Ember Sight] The bow grants heightened senses and improved precision when aiming. (Active)

[Blazing Charge Shot] A charged shot that unleashes the bow's full fiery potential in a devastating burst. (Active)

Description: A long bow forged from star metal by the skilled hands of Sir Carlo Swail, being lightweight and incredibly resilient, each shot capable of incinerating armor and flesh alike.

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'The only difference seems to be the description, but I guess it's more believable to see the details on a magical window rather than a simple paper, and one could also keep track of the condition of a weapon,'

'The inscriptions look good, but I am not so sure about the price,' Nero thought, still not very comfortable with spending thousands of gold coins on things.

Nero placed the crystal back in its place and moved to the second stand, reading the details of each weapon even though he was planning to pick a good sword.

It was fascinating to read the various unique inscriptions on each weapon and see their designs, which alone screamed special. If he had not been worried about getting into trouble, he would surely have tried checking a few of the weapons.

Nero also checked weapons placed in the racks, but they were mostly uncommon, with a number of them of rare quality. While both the weapons in the racks and on stands were of rare quality, there was a clear distinction between them.

The ones placed atop the stands were not only of much better quality but also offered many more inscriptions, with the best rare weapons he could find in the racks having three basic inscriptions.

As Nero moved deeper into the room, he found his first Epic weapon, a weapon only a grade lower than the Unique grade, and its status fully showed it.

The Warhammer was of earth nature and had five inscriptions, three of which were active, offering skills of both offense and defense. The passive skills were also great, but all its perks came at a steep price of seventy-six thousand gold coins.

Draven also told him that while the weapon was of Epic quality, it was at the bottom of the barrel, barely better than a decent rare-grade item. He also told him to look for a weapon with self-repair and mana conductivity inscription.

After looking through all the weapons on the stands, Nero found nothing that matched the demands of Draven, so he began searching through the racks, aiming to find a long sword.

After some digging, he finally found a dual-edged long sword of great beauty with the inscriptions he wanted. Its handle was made of a darker shade of gray metal with a hint of darkness, covered in small ridges that provided a better grip.

Its guard was unique as the right side was designed like a bird's wing with a curved edge, while the left side was smooth, with the metal blending into the long white blade attached to it.

The blade itself was also special, as it gave the appearance of being forged from a cloudy white crystal but in reality, it was a metal, that gave a slight sheen of crimson.

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Name: Requiem

Type: Long Sword

Grade: Rare

Condition: Hindered 

Inscriptions:

[Arcane Recovery] As long as mana is fed to the sword, it can slowly repair to pristine condition. (Active)

[Mana Conduit] High mana conductivity and storage capacity allows the user to unleash great strength without resisting. (Passive)

[Essence Leech] Drains a small portion of life and Mana energy from each hit to the target, restoring the user's health and mana. (Passive)

[Blood Rite] As the blade drinks the target's blood, it reeks a corrosive aura that intensifies each consecutive hit, causing a stacking bleed effect. (Passive)

Description: A sword forged by an unknown master in the memory of a loved one.

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The weapons conditions were divided into four stages, Pristine, Battle-Worn, Hindered, and Shattered, so the sword being at hindered quality was very bad, but since Draven liked the sword, Nero had no choice but to buy it.

The good thing was that since its inscriptions were fine, the sword could be repaired back to its original pristine condition just by using it, and how long it would take was yet to be seen.