Sylas' eyes shone with a bright light when he saw these three listings. He was also taken aback by the 'Secrets' tag on them. It was the first time he had seen such a thing.
In the end, he chose to exchange for [Introduction to Runes, Rune Patterns and Rune Geometry]. Although he could afford to exchange for World of Runes as well, he still wasn't sure if there was anything else he wanted to buy, and he also felt that though he was eager for improvement, biting off more than he could chew wasn't worthwhile.
Part of maximizing wealth was about not allowing it to sit idly. Sylas wasn't much of an economics major, but his parents ran a business, so he had soaked up a few things with his own almost obsessive attention to detail.
The 30 000 coins he saved now by not exchanging for World of Runes just yet would help him to better maximize his funds. Otherwise, who knew how long it would take him to finish going through the Introduction? If it took months, then he would have wasted that 30 000 coins for nothing.
Still, Sylas was satisfied with this purchase. This would teach him a lot about using his new Gene Talent.
What he didn't expect was that the moment he exchanged for it, the small booklet would vanish into motes of light that surged into his body. It was directly imprinted into his mind, and when he tried to pull out the information, it was like he was staring at a long road of locked doors.
That was when Sylas understood.
'It's like an online course… Whenever I want to practice, I can call it up in my mind and it will take me to this world… no wonder it's so expensive…'
After checking out a ton of items, Sylas found that most things in the Bronze Nexus were two to three thousand coins at most, with the vast majority being a few hundred.
Items that were more expensive than that were only in the top few percentile and not even all that easy to find.
It felt like part of the challenge of using the Nexus was actually finding all the items you wanted first.
Having come to this conclusion, Sylas changed gears. He looked through the rest of what he could find in the Professions, trying to see if he could maybe find something about telekinesis.
He had been entirely self-taught until now, and it would be nice if he could find something about it. But in the end, there was nothing.
'I should have expected this, honestly. It seems that my telekinesis only awakened thanks to Madness, which is an FFF Comprehension. Things related to it are unlikely to appear in a Bronze Nexus…'
Still, Sylas decided to give himself five more minutes of looking, and this time, he found something unexpected.
In an offshoot section of the Professions shop, there was the Living Resource section. It sold things like beast pelts, bone, blood, and even bone, presumably to be used in conjunction with a Profession of some kind.
That was when Sylas remembered that Cassarae had been quite eager to gain full beast pelts because of Maya Sinclair, an FF+ Seamstress that she had managed to exchange for.
It seemed that it was possible to exchange for such things in the Nexus as well, though it was very expensive. Sylas saw a few Level 10 beast pelts from rare, hard-to-find creatures being sold for over five figures.
However, what caught Sylas' attention wasn't this at all.
[Level 8 Arctic King Cobra Venom Pouch (Living Resource)] [The Arctic King Cobra is a vicious beast with venom that runs so hot it can no longer be classified as a cold-blooded beast. Forced to migrate because it could no longer stand the heat, it now exists near the tundra line, looming like an almighty overlord. [This venom will both burn and corrode you; handle with caution. It has long surpassed the Realm of normal venom and has become an Aether type of its own, entering the Realm of Mancer. However, when used well, even those Level 10s with awakened Classes will have to run in fear] [Cost: 6000 (F) coins]
Sylas stared at this description for a long while, his mind churning.
Maybe it was a leap, but when he read this description, he couldn't help but remember the bouncer he had fought and the poison he had used in his attack. Then he recalled the Destiny Quest he had and about how he had to defeat a Mancer creature.
Every time he had come across poison users, there seemed to always be a reason for it.
Like when he fought against the gnolls… the reason they had poison-tipped arrows was because their village head had the Dungeon Map. They had gone to try and clear the Zones, only to run into the Spitting Cobras. That was where they had gotten their paralysis poison from.
Would it be that much of a surprise if the bouncer had gotten his poison through similar means?
It also made perfect sense because the description mentioned the tundra, and his current location on the Aether Plane was precisely near this location.
In that case, the Mancer creature that he was looking for was actually nearby. In addition, it was a serpentes creature as well, which would make the load far easier on him.
Sylas made a mental note of this. When he got the chance, he would see if he could find these Arctic Spitting Cobras and take down the Fragmented Quest. Maybe if he was lucky, the chain Quest would allow him to take more advantage of these Spitting Cobras.
As for whether he wanted to follow this Path of Mancy, he didn't really care very much.
If anything, using poison would only help him bridge the gap. Not only would it help immunize him… but he would be able to take down enemies far stronger than himself very soon.