Chapter 5
Chapter 5
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Silver Dragon
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: Soul Shop Discovery
-----------------------------------------------------------------
That was a pretty bold idea.
With everything wrapping up so neatly, I couldn't help but indulge in some greedy delusions.
I wanted to shake off the lingering tension in my body first. I headed straight for the wooden chair in front of the shop.
Sitting there to rest, I took in the medieval village around me.
Even after the gruesome act of killing three people, the village was eerily serene.
The system had erased all traces of the murders, leaving the surviving killer to savor the sweet solitude he'd earned himself.
I didn't rush off to the hunting grounds.
Sorting out what I'd gained came first.
There would always be time to hunt slimes.
‘Have I checked everything yet? I think I leveled up midway. Oh, and the Soul Shop opened up, right?’
Soul Shop.
Was this shop unique to me? Or did it require certain conditions? Could every killer access it?
I called up the Soul Shop with just a thought, no words needed.
I read through the various explanations in the Soul Shop.
It was a shop that used Soul Origins, and true to the value of that precious resource, it offered some truly unique wares.
Tapping the special sales list said I wasn't qualified.
So I focused on the skills first. The descriptions were surprisingly concise.
There were about twenty skills in total, but these three seemed most relevant to me.
Additionally, the shop noted that items or skills costing more than ten times my current Soul Origins wouldn't appear.
‘Can't buy anything right now. Weak Point Sense, Grasp Complete, Wave Strike... For someone like me who needs to hunt tons of monsters, Grasp Complete fits perfectly. And it's limited too.’
But with no skills of my own, I needed to know what a skill felt like—Wave Strike was important for that.
Weak Point Sense was the cheapest and seemed helpful, but compared to the limited Grasp Complete or the offensive Wave Strike, it made sense to grab it later.
‘Everything marked 1st Grade seems uniform. Like proficiency levels? And the letter next to it is the skill rank?’
Having never seen skill descriptions before, I mulled it over for a good while.
Finally deciding, I resolved to buy Grasp Complete first.
The skills in the Soul Shop were incredibly tempting.
Unless the items were even more irresistible, I wanted to prioritize skills.
Next up: items.
They came in all shapes and sizes, with wildly varied uses.
Even excluding anything over 30 Soul Origins—ten times my current count—there were plenty.
As I scrolled through the item list,
‘What?’
I spotted something astonishing.
100 monsters?
That was the exact number of slimes that spawned daily. An insane amount.
And the price was cheap for a consumable, compared to others.
With 5-6 people showing up daily on average, I could realistically use this every day. Meaning double the experience.
Staring at the summon scroll, all sorts of thoughts raced through my mind.
Would levels even matter? Other items and skills seemed crucial too.
Soul Origins only come from people. Exchanging that rarity for experience...
I kept pondering the monster summon scroll.
Eventually, I decided to check every available item before judging.
But nothing else pulled me in like this one.
‘The Monster Summon Scroll could completely revolutionize my growth. Gotta decide carefully.’
Unable to let go of the dilemma, I checked the next list: quests.
Just two quests on the list.
Most were probably 30+ Soul Origins.
Unclear if these granted instant rewards or started special quests—likely the latter.
Way out of my price range anyway, so I memorized "Anillon" and returned to thinking about the summon scroll.
I sat on the chair agonizing for minutes before reaching a decision.
‘Yeah, I have to get it.’
Once I gathered 5 Soul Origins, the Monster Summon Scroll would be my first buy.
I wasn't sure if the shop's skills were the best available since I'd seen them all.
But the raw power of level-ups? I'd felt that intensity multiple times already.
Doubling my experience gains was the fastest path to strength, I believed.
That settled the Soul Shop for now. Time to start hunting.
But first, my updated status.
Leveled to 6 midway through the fight.
I hadn't felt the usual dizzying rush during combat—good thing, or it would've disrupted me.
Achievement stat boosts were reflected too.
Essentially, I had level 8 stats now.
660 gold on hand, three weapon choice tickets in inventory.
Two potions unused, full-body armor unscratched.
I was ahead of competitors from other dimensions in every way.
A twinge of pride hit me as I closed the status and headed to Zone 1 for slimes.
The hundred slimes welcomed their hunting ground master.
I dispatched them one by one, steadily gaining experience and gold.
The system messages kept updating.
Tedious repetition, but knowing resources were finite made every slime precious.
Before long, that dizzying whole-body growth hit, pushing me to level 7.
I didn't stop, kept slaying slimes.
Then a crucial realization struck.
Wait. Daily quests?
Did they respawn too?
I halted mid-swing and checked my quests.
Sure enough, the daily quest was back—same slime hunt.
Everything reset, quests included.
‘Dodged a bullet. Just 5 EXP and 100 gold, but no way I'd lose it to stupidity.’
Amid murder plots, rewards, and dilemmas, I'd overlooked the basics.
Ordinary folks in other dimensions treasured these quests since slimes were scarce for them. They wouldn't make my mistake.
If I'd wiped the slimes first and realized then...
From now on, no forgetting dailies. I accepted the quest.
Five slimes later, it completed—reward claimed.
Not huge, but stacking daily would add up big.
Back to hunting, etching the blade's feel into my mind.
Some time after hitting 7,
I leveled up again and moved to keep going.
But this level-up was different.
No usual daze.
Instead, a profound shift in my essence, my mind struggling to keep up with my body's changes.
Once settled, something unstoppable welled up from within.
Cold yet hot, heavy yet supportive.
Is this mana?
The body changes were probably Strength, Agility, Stamina, Defense evolving.
This mana surge hit as it crossed 10, I figured—the unidentified stat finally making itself known.
Now I could sense the mana in my body, feeling distinctly stronger.
Sensing it didn't mean controlling it yet.
Something more was needed to wield mana.
More shocking still was the physical leap.
9 to 10 stats wasn't just +1.
Testing movements, it felt like at least +5 stats' difference.
‘Seems like major growth every 10 stats.’
New insight noted, I dove back into hunting.
After so many surprises today, this barely fazed me.
All stats at 10 made slaying swift.
Slimes' sluggishness? I could strike without looking, blade never touching ground.
Long after reaching 8, without hitting 9, today's hunt wrapped up.
A bit more tomorrow should do it—unless EXP requirements spiked.
Heading back to the village, I checked the time.
About two hours since the killings.
‘Wonder how other dimensions are faring?’
Curious about worlds untouched by murder, I opened the community.