Chapter 196 - Upgrade

The Arcane Store of the Stone Tower is actually not doing well in terms of sales.

"Haa~ How will I get promoted like this if there are no customers..."

Mildred, one of the sales staff of the store, sighed after realizing that this might be another day of zero customers.

Well, the main problem about this is that the people who could enter this Arcane World were so few. Only about 8 to 10 thousand people.

The population of the Awakened in the Human World right now is over a billion so those number was just not enough. There are also two cities here and a few interesting villages. Aside from that, the number of visits here is only about 1 thousand people every day.

After all, most of the people here don't need to visit this world regularly. This is why Mildred wanted to have several good sales in the past few days so she can already request to be transferred elsewhere.

Clang! Clang!

Finally, the store welcome the first couple of customers of the day.

She didn't immediately approach them as most of the people coming here already have Artifacts in their minds.

As expected, the two immediately checked the Magic Armor isle.

This time, she decided to get closer to them and assist them immediately.

"I want this Modified Rank-A Elven Light Armor... However, it says here that it can be bought for 50 million Ains or an equivalent item. May I ask how you guys determine the value if it's worth the same price of this Rank-A Artifact?"

The handsome black-haired man asked politely. Mildred felt glad hearing his polite tone of voice.

From her experience, the people coming here would normally have a rude attitude so she was always being careful and distancing herself from the customers. However, she can tell that a couple of in front of her aren't those kinds of people.

"Of course, I'm willing to explain."

Mildred first explained how valuable the Modified Light Armor was. Apparently, because it was made of Moonstone, it has the natural ability to repel hostile magic, including curses, targeted to the wearer. Aside from that, there is a modification done by a great dwarven smith that can be used to attack.

It is common knowledge that Armors are only used to defend against certain attacks. However, the armor in front of him has the ability called Skirmish Clone where the user can form a dangerous clone that would attack the target.

The Clone can't be controlled at all and would just mindlessly attack the targeted enemy. However, this is already a very useful ability that he could use to surprise his opponent.

"No wonder this is so expensive. It's like I have a couple of Rank-A Artifacts at this point." The young man said after hearing her explanation.

Then, she informed them that the previous owner of this Artifact created a list of items they wanted to have in exchange.

The young man's eyes lit up after checking the list of items that can be exchanged for the light armor.

***

"I have a couple of Dark Monster Figurines. However, the one listed here said that it must be capable of fighting against Second-Class Giants... I haven't fought against them yet and my Monster Figurines haven't been appraised as well. Can you help me?"

Cyril asked as he unconsciously look at Amaris.

The Demoness did not give him exact parameters to measure the strength of each monster in the figurines yet. However, he felt that she should know it already.

'Master… I don't know about the Second-Class Giants she's talking about. All members of the Giant Race are all same to me.' Amaris spoke in his mind as if she could read his mind.

Cyril then looked at staff who seemed glad about his question.

"Of course!" She answered.

She probably felt happy seeing her customers weren't just looking around and were truly planning to buy something within the shop. Cyril could easily tell it from her expression.

Cyril handed over a couple of Dark Monster Figurines to Mildred to be appraised.

"Oh… They look a lot more impressive than the previous ones I've seen. They also look like high-level monsters before. Allow us 5 to 10 minutes to fully appraise these two."

"Go ahead. Take your time."

Cyril answered as he decided to just look around the shop while waiting. Mildred, on the other hand, called a manager to help her with the appraisal… They entered a room with a glass window so Cyril and Amaris can see the appraisal process. It seems that they aren't using an Appraisal Book so it takes a lot of time.

After about 10 minutes, Mildred returned with an excited face.

"Mr. Customer… Congratulations. The two Dark Monsters Figurines are more than enough to face against a Second-Class Giant. The manager even said that you can take a 15% discount on your next purchase if you will use these two for the trade. We just need to get your information to get it done. If you have brought the token of the Union, that should be fine."

The transaction was completed smoothly and Cyril finally have a better Armor. He can either sell his Lycan's Leather Armor or keep it in case of emergency.

Anyway, has a good impression of this place so he decided to spend three more hours visiting the facilities he can enter.

He returned to the human world after and briefed his Aunt about what he had seen in the Union. With this, he can finally leave everything behind and visit the Dragon World...

After a couple of days, Cyril decided to take the risk.

"How long are you going to be away this time? You can't be away at the festival, okay?" Bonnie said after informing her that he was about to explore the High-Class Arcane World in his Crystal Room.

Apparently, it's already December and she wanted to celebrate the festivals together with her nephew. She heard that exploring a High-Class Arcane World takes many weeks to even months so she wanted to hear it from Cyril.

Unfortunately, the young man is also unaware of what he would expect inside that Arcane World.

"I can't really tell, Aunt. However, I will do it as quickly as possible. I also have plans this December in the first place."

Cyril answered and comforted his Aunt that he will be fine. He knows that she's also worried about his safety after all.

As he entered his Crystal Room, he called over his five Demon Servants so he can bring them inside the Arcane World with him.

During the past few days, Cyril allowed these demons to corrupt a few rotten humans. Most of them decided to sneak through prison and other places where evil things could occur like schools and hospitals.

Anyway, Cyril made it clear to them not to overdo it. He wouldn't want them transforming their corrupted human's body into a genuine demon follower after all.

Luckily, they seem to be happy with that and accepted it without any problems at all.

Now, Amaris and the others looked lively.

'Alright, let me see if I can use my Upgrade Stone to my Armor.' Cyril said in his mind as he pulled out his Upgrade Stone from his Dimensional Storage Space.

This is his final preparation before he could confidently face a real Dragon.

Cyril took a deep breath as he took the Elven Light Armor in his left hand while one of the Upgrade Stones was in his right hand.

Then, he repeated the process he did when he upgraded the Identity Shroud Mask to a Rank-A Artifact.

Whoosh~

The stone melted and turned into various light particles before entering the armor. The Artifact started glowing for a while before it finally calmed down.

It was a successful upgrade and he immediately used his Appraisal Book to check whether it has become Rank-S Artifact.

[ Modified Elven's Light Armor ]

[ Rank- A Artifact ]

[ Durability: 100/100 ]

[ Skills: Magic Reflect ( Passive ), Absolute Defense ( Active ), Skirmish Clone ( Active )

Then, the complete description of the spells was noted on the other half of the page.

Cyril was first disappointed since he can't upgrade it to Rank-S. However, he suddenly noticed the improvement of each skill.

The Magic Reflect became stronger, the Absolute Defense's cooldown became shorter and finally, the Skirmish Clone can now create a total of three clones!

With such improvement, he felt a lot more confident entering the Dragon World. However, he still has another Upgrade Stone.

He could even die there so felt that it's much better to maximize the usage of his Upgrade Stone.

With this in mind, he finally decided to upgrade the Armor once again!

Whoosh~

He repeated the same process with bated breath. As the Upgrade Stone melted, it gave a brighter light to the Armor and it took a lot more time.

The Armor even started vibrating which made Cyril freeze!

'No… Is it going to be destroyed?! Did I force it too much?' Cyril started worrying. If the Armor was destroyed because he forcefully upgraded it past its limit, he would've wasted such precious items!