NOVEL NEXT Chapter 224: The Unchecked Equipment: Ghoul, Soulayer, Trial
"Hah~ Hah~" Stark opened his eyes in the real world, he was sweating all over, his pupils shaking, "Fucking hell…" he quickly got out of his bed and checked out the time on his phone.
It was currently 5:10am, meaning that he had only slept around 9 hours, a record compared to his other times, which often ended in 2-3 days sleep sessions since being in the dream world made it so that time passed... rather quickly.
And strangely enough, his body had recovered completely, and best news of all: the crimson aura had disappeared, meaning he wouldn't scare people anymore by simply going outside, WOOHOO!
Well, not like he really cared about that since when he was in that form, he truly felt invincible, able to one shot all of them, but it would be annoying if he was like that and his identity was revealed as it would SURELY be much more troublesome...
"Lana said she would come today, but when," Stark decided to check out his emails as he did remember Lana telling him he had received an admission letter from the academy as everyone received one when they were accepted.
[To: [email protected]]
[Congratulations on your admission to the 'Rift Conqueror' academy, Stark Heartsouls, your tuition has been paid, and we have received a recommendation from the highly praised 'Archer King', thus allowing you to access our magnificent school.]
'Seems normal,' this did seem like an average admission letter.
But right under that…
[Enjoy your current peaceful life while you can! Because the moment you set foot inside our school… you will officially become a student, and your life will become a living hell until you either complete your first year alive or quit midway, don't give up though!]
'Wow,' this suddenly became violent and more eery, as expected from a school with a 5% chance of passing the first year.
Stark shrugged, all he had to do was survive whatever shit they threw at him, and by the looks of it, it wouldn't be a normal school where you just learn about things.
Plus... didn't Stark already survive two hells by himself? So it didn't make much more of a difference, since whatever they did, it could NEVER, EVER, be as bad as the [Domination] trial, especially the last one with that warden.
Then he moved on to his messages, and he had actually received a new one from Lana right after sleeping.
[Lana Moonless: I'll be coming at exactly 3PM since the train leaves at 4PM, please be ready and have your luggage with everything, we won't be coming back here for a very long time since the capital has EVERYTHING needed.]
This was good.
But this also meant one thing: Stark was finally able to check out everything he wanted to check, since it gave him enough time to do so.
He had 6 pieces of equipment to check: 1 from the Corrupted Ghoul, 2 from Soulayer, and 3 from the trial.
In addition to that, he also had his [Conjoined Warrior's Cloak] and [Mirror Master's Crystal Shard], which he had NEVER used before as they were way too annoying to do so in battle.
The latter could be infused into a ring, so Stark thought he should maybe look into that.
Yet Stark hadn't noticed one thing until now: the fact [Soulbearer's Embrace] had not activated even ONCE during the trial to give him back some of his health.
And the reason was simple: once Stark reached for his neck… the necklace wasn't there anymore.
At some point, probably before the trial even started, he had lost it as it could easily be detached from his neck if the battle became too intense, no wonder it was only from the [Rare] category.
"Fucking hell," Stark sighed, but it didn't matter much to be honest as the amount of health he regained at this point would be so small and insignificant there would be no point in even having it: he needed better equipment/items now.
"Status window," he whispered.
…
[Level:] 60
[Health:] 57000/57000
[Bloodline:] Human
[Classes:] Domination; Alchemist; Exorcist (Absorbed by Domination).
[Talent:] Chosen one
[Attributes:] Strength 3781; Speed 4309; Mind/Soul 4223; Stamina 3956; Defense 3512
…
His HP had indeed gone up by 20000 in addition to the ones he got from leveling up, meaning he was more resistant, which was good.
[Skill Points: 24 Available]
'I should probably wait to upgrade my skills to silver though as to allow them to be upgrade to level 25…' he thought, it would definitely be the smarter option since upgrading [Domination] and the essential skills was definitely the right choice.
So for now… he just needs to check his equipment, then try to go to the trading district to buy everything he needs when he is at the capital, the strongest place of Fellarburg, and also the biggest.
And of course, sell the spare equipment, he still had [Sierra's Crystal Bow] after all since he kept it in case he ended up being an archer, but looks like fate decided otherwise.
"Spatial Inventory," Stark summoned the inventory right above his bed, then thought of all the items before pulling them out one after the other.
Six sparkles were now on his bed, so brilliant in fact it was impossible to see what the item was, increasing the element of surprise.
Stark reached for one of them, it was an actual eyeball the size of Stark's palm, and immediately...
...
[Item:] The Ghoul's Corrupted Eye
[Type:] Arrow Spell
[Class:] Archer
[Tier:] Legendary
[Required Level:] 100
[Quality:] Normal
[Attributes:] +1200 Mind, +1000 HP
[Special Perks:] infuse this eye into a ring or around a necklace, then wear it to be able to cast the [Corruption] spell around your arrows, each time an arrow hit, the enemy will be slightly more corrupted, until eventually unable to even move.
...
'Archer...' Stark thought, basically he couldn't use it, and the fact it was legendary meant even more cash by selling it.
Then he quickly moved to the other sparkles, this time reaching for the dark green ones, which were from Soulayer.
He reached for one of the items, and it was... a sword, a greatsword to be precise, the exact one Soulayer had been wielding when he was fighting him in that rift right before entering the domination trial, so Stark knew that it was pretty powerful just by its looks.
...
[Item:] Soulayer's Greatsword
[Type:] Sword
[Class:] Warrior
[Tier:] Legendary
[Required Level:] 110
[Quality:] Artifact
[Attributes:] +2000 Strength
[Special Perks:] None, it's just a really good sword.
...
And the next item was... something he had actually never gotten until now.
It was but a simple piece of paper, on it was the drawing of three green orbs with creepy faces on them, a text reading [Triple Soul Summon] above.
...
[Item:] Skill Card
[Skill:] Triple Soul Summon
[Class:] Magus, Assassin, Soul Wielder
[Rank:] Epic
[Description:] Summon three souls that aid you in battle, enhancing three of your weapons/skills.
...
It was a downgrade of the real thing as the real skill was [Mythical] and much more powerful than that, but oh well, it could get him good money anyway, so he didn't ask questions, it was already a privilege to be able to earn money like that instead of working a 9-5 like in his previous life.
Stark threw the two items from Soulayer on the bed right next to the bow, ghoul eye and warrior cloak as they were of no use to him, then turned toward the final and most interesting items: the ones granted to him by the [Domination] trial.
He reached for the first one, and it was... a horn, just a single horn, one that looked oddly similar to the ones Warden was wearing.
...
[Item:] Warden's Horn
[Type:] Wearable
[Class:] All
[Tier:] Legendary
[Required Level:] 50
[Quality:] Good
[Special Perk:] Ability for the user to use "Horns Detection", Warden's Skill, when you put this horn on your head (it will automatically stick once you put it against it)
...
Stark noticed that the required level was lower, something he could actually use, as any class could use it as well.
He hadn't really paid attention, but all other pieces of equipment required a level well above 100 since the monsters he had defeated to get those were around that level.
Yet... for the [Domination] items, the level was enough for him to use it, probably since the trial itself knew that this was the level of its winning participants.
But even then...
'Useless,' he threw the horn in the pile of items he would sell.
Why you ask?
Well.... because... [Horns Detection] was simply worse than [Focus], just a downgrade version of the skill, so what would be the point in keeping it.
Moving on to the next item, and it was... a giant fucking hammer.
'Yeah, no,' Stark didn't even bother checking it out, all that he knew was that its name was [Warden's Sculk Hammer] and that it had no special perks.
And then… he turned his eyes toward the last item.
It was his final chance to get something that could actually help him…
"Come on," Stark's aura actually began to appear around him as he reached for it.