Chapter 644 - Gold star experience

“It looks like the rankings are not moving at all anymore, it should be over soon,” Sofia told the others, staring at the scoreboard.

Sun’s saintess was on her bed polishing a broadsword, she barely turned her head to answer, “It’s been what, about half an hour? I wonder if that’s the fastest this part of the trial’s ever gone.”

“What’s certain is I doubt anyone ever got so many points at once. What are you going to spend your points on?” Kuli asked Mornn.

“I wonder… They said we could buy equipment. Maybe they have a nice sword in there.”

“Something you couldn’t get with your connections? Sounds like a stretch, or are you not really Sun’s saintess?” Kuli said off-handedly as she paced around the room.

“She is not the type to give much of anything for free,” Mornn answered, “all my blades I bought or got made myself. But anyway, when it comes to the points, I’m uncertain what I want to be doing with it really.”

“Same here,” Sofia chimed in, “It sounds like the points are the currency we exchange for both our daily necessities and all of the trial’s rewards. I kind of want to see what the most expensive thing is that we can get, and try to aim for that, whatever it is. If not, a third specialization point would be nice. I also want to try the skill optimization device but well, that will depend on the price and what it does exactly.”

“We would do well to wait until we have all the information on what to do with the points before spending them. Maybe our passing the trail itself has to be bought with them…” Kuli wondered aloud.

“Right, awaken the second stage of our mana heart was it?” Sofia repeated from memory.

“I have some information on that, actually,” Mornn said, leaning back in her bed, “From what I understand, the pre-system way was to consume some sort of alchemical drug before a hard fight, and that stimulates your mana heart into becoming stronger somehow. Notoriously it becomes at lot harder to accomplish the better your mana heart already is, and is apparently a really easy step for people with physikstones or soulstones instead of a mana heart. But I have no idea if the system uses the same awakening techniques.”

Kuli nodded, “Then I might be right, we will probably have to buy the drugs with tournament points.”

It becomes harder the better your mana heart already is?

As if she had forgotten what she had, Sofia pulled up the system Identify of the thing embedded in her torso.

[Transcendent Saintomancer’s heart]: /ULTIMATE tier/

That’s… This is going to become an ‘UTLIMATE tier’ problem, isn’t it?

‘You have completed a quest!’

[The second test of the Ark: COMPLETED]

[Results for team Eternal light: 

Team rank : 1 

Team points : 93680]

[Rewards will be distributed accordingly]

‘You have received rank 1 reward : Ark’s Gold Star Pin *1!’

‘You have received 93680 tournament points!’

‘Current balance : 93680 points’

[Ark shopping & living facilities are now open]

[Combat is now disabled]

[Tournament activities will resume at 6:00 am tomorrow, please enjoy your break exploring the Ark!]

“I got the points!” Mornn said outright, “The whole ninety thousand.”

“We all get the full points, no need to share, that is pretty nice,” Kuli added, nodding, “I’m a bit hungry, I’ll see if I can grab something nice to eat with those.”

“Isn’t that a bit of a waste?” Sofia asked, seeing Kuli already getting ready to leave.

“I want to try to enjoy my time here. If it’s too expensive I won’t buy, but I wouldn’t mind spending a bit of currency if they have interesting food to try out, we have points to spare, compared to everyone else,” the guildmaster justified herself, “by the way, I see we all got the same pin, try to decide on whether you want to wear it or not. See you in the morning!”

Kuli left the room just like that.

“She must have been pretty hungry, huh. I’ll be looking for a weapon shop, what about you Sofia?”

“Well… I’ll check out whether we need to buy those ‘alchemical drugs’ you spoke about I guess. I’ll probably just quickly tour the entire Ark and see what we have at our disposal. Coming with me, Pareth?”

Surprisingly enough, Pareth decided not to accompany Sofia, instead he simply pointed at the skill optimization device.

“Right, since you’ve not been getting any new skills, this is probably the best place for you to spend your points… Well, I don’t think you need me to tell you how to manage your skills, but feel free to ask me if you want a second opinion. You know where to find me. Bookie,” Sofia finished, looking at the book strapped at her waist, “Coming with me or staying with Pareth?”

Bookie summoned himself into the room, “I want to explore!”

“Alright! Let’s not waste any time! New quest: exploring the Ark!” Sofia said, grabbing Bookie and hoisting him up on her shoulders.

Sofia played with the gold star pin in her hand as she leisurely walked through the corridors with rows of numbered rooms. This section’s blue carpets and simplistic decoration reminded her a bit of Richard’s underwater secret base, and Sofia found it actually quite cosy and nice, when she wasn’t fighting any angry fish magician.

[Ark’s Gold Star Pin]:

A gold start pin awarded for securing rank 1 in one of the Ark’s tournaments. Allows you to proudly showcase your achievements.

When worn: 

• Offers a discount on all UNIQUE Ark Shop items of 1% 

• May allow access to certain areas

• All Ark illusory monsters and trialees will be more hostile toward you during events

These effects are cumulative when equipping multiple pins.

If worn, cannot be unequipped without leaving the Ark.

Cannot be traded.

More hostile… Well, no point thinking about it too much. I’m here to break this trial open after all. Can’t do that if I can’t even access every area.

Sofia pinned the small golden start on her bone chestplate.

Alright, now the shops!

Sofia ignored all the people staring at her as she walked through the corridor, and she entered the very first shop she found at the end of the accommodations section. It was clearly a shop, with a sign saying ‘Poya’s potions’ hanging above the door, but for some reason no one else was inside, despite trialees already swarming every other shop near the rooms.

A tall rabbit-eared beastman lady was behind the counter, her tapping on a flat device that Sofia recognized as a system operator terminal like the ones Everelle had summoned in the fairy death game. She was wearing green overalls and had a small pin with her name on her chest, identifying her as Poya, the owner of the shop. A wide array of flasks full of colored liquid was on display on the walls, with the most expensive-looking ones locked away in glass displays behind the counter.

“Hello?” Sofia called out, Identifying the woman.

[Artisan - Lv.300+]

Oh wow. Not just any random shopkeep.

“Fuck off,” the beastwoman answered without even looking up from her terminal, “come back when you have at least a gold star.”

Lovely customer service…

“Like this one?” Sofia asked pointing at the pin she’d just put on a minute before.

Poya finally decided to look up, her eyes following Sofia’s finger and landing on the golden star. “Oh god!” she almost shouted, startled, before breaking down in a frantic apology, “I’m so sorry! Please excuse my earlier words, I tend to have a foul mouth, it’s, I -  I didn’t see that, my bad… You must be from Eternal Radiance then? I’m Poya, I sell potions here on the Ark!”

“Ah, the name is Eternal lights, but yes” Sofia corrected, still trying to act friendly despite the bad first impression she got of the shopkeeper, “do you make the potions yourself?”

“Ahah… Not really not,” the beastwoman answered, “they are based on my own creations for the most part, but there isn’t really any reason to hand-craft them in a fake world, is there?”

“Wait! You’re not an illusion?!”

“Eheh, no, I’m a system employee, I’ve been handling this potion shop for about a decade now! Ah, but I can’t give you any information on the tournament or the other trial takers here, sorry. I only sell potions. I do get a commission if you buy, though, so please feel free.”

“Is every other shop keeper a real person?” Sofia asked.

“No every single one, but most are! It makes the place more lively, and if you take non-unique items out of the trial, we are the actual craftsmen!” Poya answered with pride, “So, want to browse my catalogue?”

“One second, two more questions, if you don’t mind.”

“Go ahead!”

“Alright, so, first of all, does that mean I can take every item I buy here out of the trial?”

“Of course! Even the unique ones! Or you can use them during the trial itself! Ah, if you don’t know yet, unique items were created by the admins, they are one of a kind and there’s no restock. Of course all the cheap ones have been sold since a while ago, but I still have four unique potions in stock!”

“Oh, thank you for the info. And my other question was, do you not sell to people who don’t have a gold star?”

“Not quite, actually, the shop is open to people with a copper star and up, but have to have at least a gold star to buy the unique potions. It’s just… I was playing a game so I didn’t want to…”

A game? What, on that terminal? What game is there to play on this, dice?

“Ah, am I being a bother?” Sofia asked, “I’ll just browse the selection then.”

“No no no! There’s no issue! Please take your time! Here!”

Sofia was half-expecting to just have to identify the displayed potions one by one like she would in any other store, but instead, a system window opened up.

[Welcome to Poya’s Potions!]

[Categories : Healing - Utility - Temporary buff - ★ Permanent buff ★]

Permanent buff?!!!

Sofia tried to open the permanent buff category but the system windows seemed to not be responding to her commands.

“Ah! It must your first time in the Ark’s shops, you have to use your fingers to navigate the shops, just touch what you want to select,” Poya explained from behind her counter.

Touch? The system window?

The system windows were easily controlled by thoughts, but touch control was something that could be done even with the regular system windows. It was simply something almost nobody ever did, as it was slower, and had a tendency of making people look stupid as they touched the air in front of them.

Feeling a bit weird about touching something that she knew only existed in her vision, Sofia used a finger to tap on ‘permanent buff’.

[ ★ Permanent buff potions ★ :

-You currently enjoy a 1% discount on the shown prices!-

★U - First Served brew - Permanently gives a massive boost to Charisma - 1 TP - SOLD OUT

★U - Salubrious brew - Permanently improves Health regeneration by 1%/s - 100 000 TP - SOLD OUT

★U - Ubermensch brew - Permanently improves Stamina regeneration by 1%/s - 100 000 TP - SOLD OUT

★U - Void connection brew - Permanently improves Mana regeneration by 1/s - 100 000 TP - SOLD OUT

-You lack the required gold stars for the following-

★★U - God’s heart potion - Permanently grants + 3 000 000 Health - 1 000 000 TP - SOLD OUT

★★U - Recessed ego potion - Permanently grants + 3 000 000 Stamina - 1 000 000 TP

★★U - Lord’s touch potion - Permanently grants + 1 000 000 Mana - 1 000 000 TP

★★★U - Draconic concoction - Premanently strengthens your signature skill - 10 000 000 TP - SOLD OUT

★★★U - Fae concoction - Permanently widens the range of your aura - 10 000 000 TP

★★★U - Kleptran concoction - Permanently grants immunity to all poisons - 10 000 000 TP]