‘That’s… strong.’ Tyr was still taken aback. He was in complete and utter awe.

‘It doesn’t increase my offensive ability in any way, but with these buffs, it doesn’t have to do that… these alone are unimaginably powerful.’

He ran forward, tightening his fist before punching the boulder.

A loud impact sounded, instantly shattering the boulder into several pieces from one point. It crumbled after a second.

“The Ancestral Ability… did nothing?” Malon confusedly said in a slightly joking manner as well.

“Well, it is only his first Ancestral Ability after all… when cultivating Aura Cores, your ability either gets stronger, or you get other abilities. If his first one isn’t offensive, then it must be defensive. Am I right, Tyr?”

Tyr pulled his fist in, “That’s exactly correct.” He smiled from corner to corner, “I am practically invincible!” He thrust his hands into the air.

“Sometimes offense is the best defense. But then again, the defense can be the strongest offense as well.” Hanzo replied.

***

The next day, their journey to the Empire of Rock Saelfine truly began.

Tyr’s main question currently was how he could cultivate his Aura Core.

This was because of the information he had gained through his months in Sub-world. And of course, he knew that to get his first Aura Spell, he had to reach the Adept Rank as GG had pointed out.

Aura cores worked like basins of water. The more water stored, the stronger the person. Of course, this meant you needed taller walls over the basin to store even more water.

At this moment, Tyr had a lot of water stored up from the automatic Aura Stat increase done by GG.

But, he didn’t even have a 1-inch wall over his water basin to store anything inside of it.

If he were to cultivate even a little and create the first layer over his Aura Core, or the first wall over his basin, then the Aura he had stored up would take over from there and create taller walls.

He needed a foundation first before he could store his Aura and let that benefit him.

“So… can I use Beast Cores?” He asked Hanzo.

“Nope. Unless you learn Alchemy and create cultivation pills… you won’t be able to use those Beast Cores by themselves for cultivation. But you don’t have to go down the Beast Core route either.”

As Hanzo said this, Tyr listened with intent to learn.

“There are also Aura Shards. Naturally found materials that can be turned into Aura Stones. Aura Stones are currency in the more developed countries, as they are worth more than simple gold and silver.”

“Oh? How so?”

“Well, if 100 copper coins make 1 silver, and 100 silver makes 1 gold, then…”

“100 gold makes 1 Aura Stone!? That’s 10,000 silver coins!” Tyr interrupted, shocked.

“Mmhm. That is why Aura Stones are so sought after, and also why its hard for smaller countries to make them their legal tender.”

“10,000 silver coins for a single Aura Stone…” Tyr said out loud and then thought inwardly: ‘Comparing things to how they were on Earth, it seems copper is like a cent on this planet. Silver is like 1 dollar, and a single gold is worth what 100 dollars would be on Earth. That means a single Aura Stone is worth what is 10,000 US dollars… it’s absurd.

But when you think about it, we are going to receive what’s worth 3.5 million dollars soon. That makes Aura Stone not seem to be out of reach.’

“Don’t think about it too much.” Hanzo closed his eyes, entering nap-mode. “We still have a long way to go…”

“Right…” Tyr replied.

“Plus, you have the Black Merchant Guild on your tail as well so we won’t be stopping by local towns. They haven’t placed many bases in the isolated kingdom of Mycopolis, but outside they will be waiting for us…”

“I see.”

*

*

*

2 Month’s later…

***

Tyr stepped on top of a pressure plate in the middle of a dungeon accidentally.

He looked down, “Oh… oops.”

Malon and Hanzo were a few feet behind him. They were in the center of an old brown-stone chamber.

Pillars with vines growing all around them surrounded the three.

A few seconds after Tyr stepped on the pressure plate, a blue light flowed through all the seams in the stone floor below.

They conjoined at a single point and suddenly unleashed a blast of energy toward Tyr.

“Fuck…” Tyr exclaimed as the light dispersed. His arms and legs had been completely tied up by some sort of blue seal.

“I can’t move…” Tyr said as both Hanzo and Malon shook their heads in disappointment.

“We entered this dungeon just to explore a bit and you go and put yourself in the worst situation imaginable,” Hanzo said, disappointed.

Even by the next day, Tyr was still completely trapped.

“We had to leave that dungeon early because of you,” Malon said, his palm over his face.

“I know… my bad. Hahaha!” Tyr laughed.

Of course, Malon didn’t take it too seriously.

Nonetheless, it was a drag to have to be stuck in this situation.

“An ancient seal we can’t break no matter what… well, good thing there’s a person in Rock Saelfine that I know who is a specialist in seals. Especially human seals.” Hanzo exclaimed, capturing Tyr’s attention.

“Hm?” He exclaimed in heightened intrigue. “That’s an interesting power…”

***

Another few days passed, Tyr still immobile during each and every second of it.

‘This is truly torture.’ He exclaimed, not able to even eat properly, let alone do other… things…

It had been over a month since they had left Mycopolis and headed northeastwards.

The forests had become lighter and were again formed with trees instead of mushrooms.

In the past few days, they thinned out even more and revealed an open savanna.

And finally, now, the trio noticed their first form of large civilization.

In the far distance, they noticed an enormous glass-like aura dome.

Before they arrived there, however, Hanzo led the group to a small village on the outskirts.

As they arrived, they began to walk on foot. Hanzo took the lead, while Tyr and Malon walked behind with curious eyes.

One by one, kind villagers exited their homes and came to greet them.

“Hanzo!” An old gentleman said, “Long time no see, son!”

“Are these your friends?” A middle-aged woman asked with grace.

“How have you been?”

“Is everything alright?”

More and more caring questions came their way, and soon enough, the Hunter trio was surrounded by the entire village.

They laughed awkwardly as they received all of the warm welcomes.

Suddenly, an abrupt wave of killing intent tore through the crowd, alerting the trio as their heads instantly darted forward.

From the distance came a powerful wave of energy that abruptly grabbed Hanzo and placed him in a bind made of several purple chains of Aura.

Both Tyr and Malon were also pushed back slightly from the force of the blow.

“HANZO!” A feminine voice shouted, seemingly fueled with rage, “You dare enter my village with a slave!?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep