Chapter Three: The System Shop

About five minutes later, Zhou Tian once again emerged from the body of another magical beast, a magic core clamped in his teeth just as before. Then, after confirming that the previous system prompt guaranteed his safety while at level zero, he gritted his teeth and swallowed the core.

Though the two magic cores Zhou Tian had consumed were likely of similar grade, their effects upon ingestion were vastly different. When he swallowed the first core, if luck had not activated the system, he would almost certainly have been destroyed by the rampant energy. With the second core, even knowing the system would protect him, Zhou Tian still braced himself for some suffering. The energy within a magic core was simply too violent; given his current reserves, absorbing it in its entirety without harm would be difficult—even with the system’s protection, it surely wouldn’t be so simple.

Yet, in the end, once Zhou Tian swallowed the magic core, the system automatically absorbed the energy within him. When the energy had completely dissipated, Zhou Tian remained utterly unaffected, to the point where he could scarcely believe he had just consumed a magic core.

“My spiritual energy is now 108. So, the source truly is swallowing magic cores. If that’s the case…” Muttering to himself, Zhou Tian instantly issued a command in his mind: “Open system shop!”

Spiritual energy could be of immense or negligible importance; if the system shop existed, its value was enormous. One could easily imagine the advantage a player would gain from the items for sale, given their willingness to spend. Conversely, without a system shop, spiritual energy would be of limited use.

Now, having confirmed the source of his spiritual energy, Zhou Tian was impatient to see if the system shop had accompanied him to this world. Fortunately, he was not disappointed. Upon issuing the command, a familiar interface appeared before his eyes.

Transformation Pill: 100,000 spiritual energy.
Tribulation Crossing Pill: 200,000 spiritual energy.
Pangu Axe: 100 million spiritual energy.
Slayer of Immortals Sword: 10 million spiritual energy.
Devourer of Heaven and Earth talent: 1 million spiritual energy.
Undying Body talent: 5 million spiritual energy.
Dragon Bloodline: 3 million spiritual energy.
Phoenix Bloodline: 3 million spiritual energy.

Faced with the densely packed lists on the panel, Zhou Tian felt both elated and frustrated. He was delighted that, as he had hoped, the system shop had come with him to this new world. Yet, the astronomical prices made him despair; though he saw countless treasures, he could not afford any of them.

Back on Earth, one yuan could be exchanged for ten thousand spiritual energy; thus, anyone with money could buy a full set of divine gear and crush any opponent. But now, spiritual energy could only be obtained by devouring magic cores. He had no idea what grade the current cores were, but judging from the size of those two magical beasts, the ones he had acquired were not of low quality. Therefore, obtaining spiritual energy would be a far greater challenge.

To see so many treasures within reach, yet be unable to exchange for them, was a torment Zhou Tian could hardly endure. Forcing himself to ignore all the items he could never possibly afford, Zhou Tian gradually shifted his gaze to a few ‘products’ within his means.

One yuan equaled ten thousand spiritual energy, so a hundred spiritual energy was worth only a penny—such cheap items could hardly be anything of quality. Yet, given Zhou Tian’s current circumstances, anything that might improve his chance of survival was not to be missed.

“Poisonous talent, price: ten spiritual energy (upgradeable),” he murmured, repeating the item that caught his eye. Gritting his teeth, he tapped the confirm purchase button on the interface.

The moment Zhou Tian made his choice, a wave of comfort so relaxing it made his entire body go limp swept over him. After about ten seconds, his spiritual energy on the character panel dropped by ten points, and a surge of information flooded his mind, making him marvel at the novelty of it all.

The new information concerned the poisonous talent he had just acquired, including not only its description but also practical experience on how to use it. With this talent, Zhou Tian could immediately put it to use in battle—an astonishing benefit that left him in awe.

After confirming the contents of the information in his mind, Zhou Tian decided to test it. He opened his mouth, and a jet of green liquid shot out. Where the liquid struck the ground, the few remaining blades of grass instantly withered into straw. With such poison, if it struck a target—even one far stronger than Zhou Tian—it might be enough to take them down. Pleased with the demonstration, Zhou Tian nodded in satisfaction at the power of his new talent.

Having confirmed his purchase was worthwhile, Zhou Tian wasted no time channeling all his remaining spiritual energy into upgrading his poisonous talent. Only when his spiritual energy dropped to a single digit did he stop shopping. Tearing a chunk of meat from one of the magical beasts, he hurriedly crawled away in a certain direction.

With Zhou Tian’s departure and the fading auras of the two magical beasts, a long while later, the once-quiet space was visited by another group of ‘guests.’

... ...

The Forest of Magical Beasts: the largest forest on the Moonlit Continent. Across the continent, the Forest of Magical Beasts was always known as a forbidden land for humans, and a paradise for magical beasts. The number of magical beasts within was as countless as the stars. Not only did low-level magical beasts—those fit only to bully commoners—roam the woods, but it was said that in the heart of the forest, numerous sacred beasts dwelled, capable of rivaling human Sword Saints and Grand Archmages.

Few truly understood the full situation within the forest. Yet, thanks to ancient customs and the formidable strength displayed by the magical beasts, even after conquering many other territories, humanity dared not invade the Forest of Magical Beasts.

Of course, this only applied to large-scale invasions of the inner forest. In fact, while the forest was called a forbidden zone for humans, this label truly only applied to its core. In the outskirts, aside from magical beasts themselves, the most common presence was surely the mercenaries seeking fortune within.

Mercenaries hunted magical beasts for their cores; magical beasts killed mercenaries for food. In this peculiar balance, magical beasts and human mercenaries had coexisted for untold years within the forest.