Cosmic Peak

"Hey, Aalgur. This guest wants to buy some skills. He is a special guest, so be sure to give him some discount," Trion said to the store manager.

Makren looked at Aren and was also surprised to see Aren, "Hey bro, you are from our world, right?"

"Yeah," Aren nodded and said before thinking, 'this guy looks like he is in his late twenties. Hmm, he should be on the world leaderboard considering his status. His path also sounds powerful but don't know what it can do from its name alone.'

"Oh, so you are an otherworlder?" Trion said in surprise while looking at Aren, "we have no problem with otherworlder, but some people don't like them, so be careful. Anyway, you can tell the manager about what rank of skill you want. I'll be waiting outside now since I have no business here."

"Sure," Aren nodded as he saw Trion leaving. He then turned to the manager and said with a cough, "Ahem, I might not be able to afford the skill right now, but I still want to look at S-rank skills. More specifically, I want concealment-type skills."

The manager nodded with a smile as he went inside the store to get S rank skill stones.

"Hey bro, wh-"

"Aren," Aren smiled and said, "you can call me Aren."

"Aren, hahaha. You can call me Makren," Makren said with a laugh before he grinned, "by the way, my nickname is Asura, and I am currently ranked 9th on the World leaderboard. What about you?"

Aren shook his head with a weak smile and said, "I am not that strong. My name is not in the top 100 of the world leaderboard."

"By the way, is your path power about controlling things?" Makren said as he pointed at the sword and chakram, "they look different than normal weapons. They are more like sci-fi weapons, hahaha."

"Yeah, what about your path's power? If you don't mind telling me," Aren nodded and asked with curiosity.

Makren said with a confident smile, "my path is called Elzardic Asunder. Hehe, watch me."

After he finished speaking, Makren transformed as a red and black aura covered him. His entire body was filled with red and black vein-like patterns.

A second later, Aren saw a devilish pair of black-red wings appearing behind Makren's back, two curved black-red horns grew on his head, and demonic armor with black and red patterns coated his body. There were also demonic shoulder plates with two holes that lit up black-red flames along with the patterns on his armor.

"This is the first form, Darkin Elzard. I get different skills in this form, and my normal skills are also enhanced with Darkin Elzard's power. I get access to unique energy as well. Recently when I leveled up my path to level 8, I unlocked my second form with talent point as well, and it's called Qeutza Elzard, " Makren spoke with a grin.

Looking at that, Aren couldn't help but envy him because he looked so DAMN COOL and powerful as well.

"That's...some powerful path you got right there," Aren said as his lips twitched a bit. Internally, he thought, 'my path is powerful as well. Mhmm, it is. I can make gears, and I can make a cool full body armor gear in the future.'

"By the way, If you want to earn gold fast, you should go to the Guildhall here and accept some quests. I grind out for gold here to buy skills, and now I am going to a dungeon that's twenty kilometers from here," Makren said as he patted Aren's shoulder.

"Hahaha, I am a solo-type of guy, and that dungeon is really dangerous, so I can't carry you there; otherwise I would," Makren said with a laugh before he spoke with confidence, "anyway, we can definitely save our world from despair, so let's work hard. Alright, see you later if there's a chance."

Aren nodded as he saw Makren leaving the store.

"Optimistic guy. Well, that's good as long as he remains cautious as well," Aren muttered and waited for two more minutes before the store manager arrived with three boxes.

He put the box on the table and said, "I have only three S rank concealment-type skills."

"This first one is <Reflection Bend> skill, and it's the most expensive one, at 15,600 gold. It will make you invisible to the naked eye, but it only works in the day and places with bright lights. " the store manager pointed at the first box.

He then pointed at the second box and said, "the second one is <Nature's Breath> skill. It can conceal your presence and change the pigments of your skin to blend in with the surroundings. It only works in the jungle and places filled with nature like mountains, caves, rivers, etc. Naturally, you can't move while this is active, or it will have a weird effect. So this skill is best used when you want to spy while staying at one place or hunt preys in the jungle. This skill cost 13,200 gold coins."

Afterward, the store manager pointed at the third box and said, "the third skill is <Oblivion Presence>. Its price is 12,400 gold coins. It doesn't make you invisible to the naked eye but entirely erases your presence and any kind of energy readings from your body. However, if you use skills with spirit energy, the effect will be deactivated."

Aren smiled with a bit of helplessness and said, "Well, I only have 1000 gold coins right now, but I want to book that <Nature's Breath> skill if possible. After I collect enough gold coins, I will come to buy it."

The store manager thought for a moment and nodded with a smile, "I don't want gold coins in advance, but I will book it for ten days. Today is Axel 11th date, so the deadline will be Axel 22th. If someone comes to buy that skill stone, I will tell them about the deadline as well."

"Thanks. I will definitely buy it before the deadline," Aren said with a smile before he left the shop.

After leaving the shop, he approached Trion and said, "can you give me access to that tower over there? I want to watch the battle happening at the corners of this capital town."

Trion looked at the tower before he spoke with some speechlessness, "no offense, but from your aura, you are a mortal lifeform, and I doubt you can observe the corners from the town with your current eyesight."

Aren looked at the Trion and smiled as his eyes pulsed with a blue glow, "my eyes are a bit special. All corners from this central tower are approx 6 kilometers long, which is also the limit of my eyesight."

As long as it was within 6 kilometers, Aren could see everything clearly and even zoom in on specific parts by focusing.

"Alright, follow me," Trion said as he led Aren towards the central tower, which was also the tallest tower in this town.

While walking, Aren sighed in disappointment at not receiving any quest about the ongoing war, 'maybe it didn't appear since I am not involved in it, or not near the front-line? However, I can't risk going to the front lines. I almost died just recently, and it was a terrible feeling.'

'Anyway, I can do other things while observing the battle.. Also, since I informed Cerity and others about this war, then if the kingdom successfully defended itself, I might get some kind of reward as well.'