Chapter 30: Crystals for Cash?

  Surprises often catch us off guard.

  Alex could swear he never expected to discover a brand-new method of in-game purchases—oh no, crystal purchases—at this pd in this manner.

  In hindsight, it made sense. Since arriving in this world, Alex had essentially given up on in-game purchases.

  The reason was simple: while he had desighe game framework with in-game purchase options, it required a payment processing ptform for direct transas.

  After all, mobile games thrive on venience, and no mobile game makes its purchase process needlessly plex. Most aim for instant transas with minimal hassle.

  But in this world, Alex had transmigrated, not just been transported. He didn't even have his phoh him, so how could he make purchases?

  Hence, he hadn't paid attention to the in-game purchase feature. Yet, uedly, by casually colleg a handful of soul crystals, he had triggered his in-game purchase system.

  Had he known this earlier, he wouldn't have risked infiltrating the Holy Temple!

  Alex felt a bit ret. If he had known that soul crystals could be used for purchases, he wouldn't have feared the Holy Temple's pursuit.

  He could have hidden in the wilderness, hunted down hundreds of magical beasts, collected crystals, and made purchases like crazy, gathering soul stones.

  Then he could have taken on the Holy Temple directly and bee a demon lord... well, maybe not that far.

  This thought quickly passed through Alex's mind and was dismissed. The Holy Temple owerful force, and fag them head-on was not a good idea.

  Besides, Alex had no real grudge against the Holy Temple. Although the Temple had killed his current body's parents, those two had itted enough heinous acts to deserve it.

  Acc to rad's memories, his parents' crimes of human sacrifices were monstrous. Alex felt they deserved worse than a swift execution—they should have been bur the stake.

  So, Alex felt no aowards the Holy Temple for killing his body's parents. He wouldn't throw himself into a losing battle for a couple of deranged cultists.

  All things sidered, maintaining good retions with the Holy Temple was the safer route.

  "Thank you."

  Having these thoughts, Alex's expression remained unged. He smiled and thanked Malt while putting away the soul crystals. Alex, Malt nodded inwardly. As a grand knight, Malt was a good judge of character.

  Seeing Alex's high level of skill and his calm, posed demeanor at such a young age impressed him.

  Malt had been prepared for Alex to be difficult, as many talented individuals often had personality fws.

  Malt had seen many such cases. He had even asked Knight about Alex before approag him.

  But Alex turned out to be powerful and remarkably poised, showing nahis bination was rare.

  One could attribute great strength to natural talent, even a peasant might gain dragon-like power through a fortunate enter.

  But a person's dud speech required deep-seated refi and experience, indicators of their true css and upbringing.

  This made Malt appreciate Alex even more and also puzzled him. As a grand knight, Malt was well-acquainted with the nobility of the Holy Church's nation but had never heard of such a remarkable young person.

  If there were someone like Alex among the nobility, he would be the talk of every ba.

  "Mr. Alex, are you a citizen of the Holy Church's nation? I don't recall ever meeting you before..."

  "I'm from the Silver Principality."

  Alex anticipated questions about his ins. Since disc his "Rule Resonance," he had been thinking of ways to address his background. Luckily, he found something useful in rad's memories—rad's father had lived in the Silver Principality for some time.

  He was a notorious womanizer, engaging with many women there. Being a bold cultist, he even hosted grandiose parties.

  This caused quite a sdal among the nobility, with many ed. rad's father eventually fled, but many women he seduced faced severe sequences, some imprisoned or exiled by their families, others simply disappeared.

  Upon his return, rad's father boasted about his exploits to his son, emphasizing how he had quered many noblewomen and reveled in the chaos he caused as a cultist.

  This insight into the cultists' twisted values uedly provided Alex with a cover.

  After transmigrating to this world and iing this troublesome body and identity, Alex pondered how to differentiate himself from rad.

  And now, he finally thought of a good solution.

  Alex chose the Silver Principality initially as a vague cept, but as time went on, his idea became clearer.

  In this world, Alex had two issues to address.

  First, why did he look so much like rad? It seemed like a cruel joke of fate that rad's appearance resembled Alex's by seventy hty pert, making Alex somewhat familiar with the face he saw in the mirror.

  Maybe it was because they looked alike that he transmigrated into this troublesome body?

  The sed issue was the blood retionship. From rad's memories, Alex khat this world's magical civilization was highly advanced, capable of determiniionships through bloodline.

  If someone suspected Alex's appearance, he would iably face scrutiny to expin his ins and his e to the rad family.

  So, Alex devised a version of his background story, using rad's father's past.

  In this version, Alex came from the Silver Principality. He was the child of a noblewoman exiled due to rad's father.

  Unaware of his heritage, Alex grew up with his mother. She retly passed arompting Alex to e to the Holy Church's nation with their remaining assets...

  This story addressed both major s. Being half-brothers expihe resembnd the blood retion.

  Of course, this identity might provoke some dissatisfa, but Alex didn't care. His primary was to dissociate himself from being beled a cultist.

  As long as he wasn't on the Holy Temple's wanted list, being rad's half-brother table.

  The rest was unimportant.

  Naturally, Alex didn't share these details with Malt. Acc to his "background," Alex himself was unaware of his heritage, so he only briefly exged a few words.

  Learning that Alex was from the Silver Principality, Malt nodded knowingly without further inquiry and began discussing their steps.

  This left Alex somewhat frustrated. The inal pn was to find the temple knights with Grand Knight Stone and Miss M, and thehem out.

  Now, he had found the knights, but Stone and Miss M were missing. Without Miss M's Star Path, they had no way out of the sealed Shadow Ge.

  They faced two options: find Stone and Miss M to use the Star Path for escape or walk out the way they came in.

  But Malt proposed a third option.

  "tinue forward?"

  Alex frow Malt's suggestion.

  "Isn't that very dangerous?"

  "Indeed, Mr. Alex, it is dangerous, but we ot leave just yet."

  Malt's expression was solemn as he expined.

  "Although we were ambushed by the li Shadow yon, we did learn something. We're not sure if this lich is the one we seek, but we discovered that it is plotting something. The lich seems to be dug an evil and sacrilegious dark ritual in the ge!"

  "What?"

  Alex was taken aback.

  "A dark ritual?"

  "Yes. The lich set this ambush to use the blood and souls of our temple knights for its ritual. We've lost many rades already. It may have gathered enough blood and souls. We must stop its evil pn before it pletes the ritual!"

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