Just as Ke Minglang reached out to grab a standard Greatsword, his hand suddenly froze in mid-air.

  "Two hundred... two hundred Spirit Crystals?!"

  "Manager, are you back to your old tricks? Falling back into your 'Black Shop' habits, are we?"

  "Excuse me?" Kael leaned against the counter, his eyes narrowing slightly, his expression as unreadable as ever.

  "This is a... a total rip-off!" Ke Minglang’s voice cracked.

  Two hundred crystals for a single weapon. That was the kind of price reserved for magic staves embedded with powerful mana gems—the kind of legendary treasures that were exceptionally rare. Furthermore, such staves required immense magical power just to control. In this world, while divine artifacts chose their masters, if the master was too weak, they would be devoured by the artifact’s own power.

  "Try it and find out."

  Kael shrugged, gesturing for Ke Minglang to take his chosen weapon off the shelf.

  The shelves provided by the System weren't just for display; their primary function was Containment. Much like how the potency of the pills remained sealed within the vials, the true power of the weapons was suppressed while they sat on the shelf. If it weren't for this feature, the faint, natural Draconic Aura leaking from the Dragon-Vein Greataxe Kael had pulled earlier would be enough to terrify most customers from even entering the shop.

  "You’re not going to force me to buy this, right?" Ke Minglang gave Kael a suspicious look.

  Nevertheless, he followed the suggestion and pulled the Blazing Greatsword from the rack. The moment his fingers closed around the hilt, a wave of intense heat surged from the grip into his palm. Strangely, it didn't burn.

  "What... what is this?" Ke Minglang gasped, his heart leaping in his chest as he stared at the blade in amazement. This scorching aura felt like fire magic, but upon closer inspection, it was something else entirely. Yet, instinctively, a fragment of information surfaced in his mind—the blade's unique effect.

  "A Blazing Greatsword with a permanent 'Flame Scorch' enchantment. How does it feel?" Kael explained the weapon's ability in a flat, leisurely tone, as if he were describing a common scrap of iron.

  SHING—! WHOOSH!

  Ke Minglang drew the sword in a flash. As the blade cut through the air, it shimmered with a radiant, searing light. The temperature inside the shop spiked the instant the steel left its scabbard.

  "What a blade!"

  Ke Minglang’s gaze was completely captivated. He realized that every weapon he had ever used in his life was garbage compared to this—no, not even worthy of being called garbage.

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  Forging a sword like this would require at least one Fire-element Monster Core. However, the art of enchanting weapons with monster cores was a lost craft; enchantment masters had vanished from history nearly two thousand years ago.

  After all, using a core to forge a weapon was vastly different from crafting a mage's staff. A Mage could use their own mana to trigger the core in a staff to amplify their spells. A Warrior, however, used Battle Qi, which was incapable of resonating with the power within a monster core. Therefore, using cores for weapons was usually a wasted effort, used only to slightly improve durability or act as a clunky storage device for spells.

  But the weapons in this shop had done the impossible: they had activated the core's power and permanently bonded it to the steel. It was more than just enchantment; it was as if a Mage’s spell had been captured and made to last forever without a mana gem. It defied all known laws of magical theory.

  This little shop was a never-ending fountain of surprises that shattered common sense.

  Even though Ke Minglang was short on funds after buying the Body-Forging Pill, he had only one thought: At two hundred crystals, this thing is an absolute steal!

  "Brothers, you..." Ke Minglang turned around, intending to ask his three companions for a loan to secure the sword.

  But when he turned, he saw the other three staring at the weapon with bulging eyes. The aura radiating from the blade since it left the shelf had already ensnared their attention. To them, this weapon was beyond shocking—it was world-shaking.

  "Brothers?" Ke Minglang waved a hand in front of their faces.

  "BUY IT!"

  The three shouted in unison, their eyes practically burning with fire. That fire meant one thing: go back to the Cloud Mist Forest, slaughter every beast in sight, earn Spirit Crystals, and come back to this shop for gear. This Blazing Greatsword was the first, but it certainly wouldn't be the last!

  Hearing that single word "Buy," Ke Minglang was moved to tears.

  The four of them pooled every last crystal they had and walked away with four weapons: one Blazing Greatsword, two Sharpened Greatswords, and one Sharpened Knight’s Sword.

  The total came to two hundred and thirty Spirit Crystals. They simply didn't have enough left to buy a second Superior-grade weapon; otherwise, that Frost-Crystal Knight’s Sword on the shelf wouldn't have survived the day.

  "Thank you for your patronage. Come back soon," Kael called out.

  The haul this time was three hundred and ten Spirit Crystals. After the System took its cut, Kael was left with fifteen Spirit Crystals and fifty gold coins.

  "Judging by their reaction, I should probably stock up on more weapons," Kael mused, rubbing his chin.

  Currently, the shop only provided weapons and pills. But in reality, the "Superior-grade" stock was still far too low. Relying on ten-pulls to gamble for Superior items wasn't a sustainable strategy.

  But... wait... a thought suddenly occurred to him.

  "A ten-pull guarantees an item of a higher tier, but the cost difference between the Standard Weapon Gacha and the Superior Weapon Gacha is fifty-fold. That means I could just..."

  But right on cue, a voice popped up to douse his excitement.

  [System: Host, the current cost of the Standard Gacha is merely a 'Newbie Benefit.' Once the trial period ends, costs will revert to their standard rates.]

  "What’s that supposed to mean?" Kael asked, having grown accustomed to the System’s sudden interruptions.

  [System: Standard Gacha will revert to ten Gold Coins per pull.]

  "..."

  "I knew it. There’s no way you’d leave a loophole that big for me," Kael chuckled dryly.

  He could guess the reason. A Level 1 Manager's commission was pitifully small, so the newbie benefits were there to keep him afloat. More importantly, while Standard-grade weapons were better crafted than those of master blacksmiths, they didn't have any extraordinary effects.

  Superior-grade weapons, however, were a different breed entirely.