Chapter 279: The Blood Store.

Chapter 279: The Blood Store.

Time passed quickly.

Before Kael knew it, two more waves had already passed. During those waves, he continued testing both methods he had come up with, and while the results were far from perfect, they were already much better than his first attempts.

That was enough.

The problem had been identified, and now all he needed was practice.

Wave after wave of beasts were slaughtered as Kael continued refining his approach to weapon creation. Every time he used Void Absorption, he carefully examined the Corpse Fragments he received, paying more attention to the traits contained within them. Instead of throwing everything together blindly, he began considering which fragments could work together and which ones would only create conflicts.

His understanding of the creation process gradually improved.

But that wasn’t the only thing increasing.

The Blood Crystals he had accumulated were piling up at an absurd rate.

By the time another several waves had passed, Kael’s Blood Crystal stock had already climbed well beyond two hundred thousand.

Then came the twenty-third wave.

By then, Kael had finally mastered the basic process of weapon creation.

The improvement was obvious.

The weapons he created no longer crumbled after only a few attacks. Their durability had increased enough for them to survive multiple waves, and with better control over the traits being combined, Kael had even managed to raise the rank of the weapons he created.

This time, the dagger in his hand had reached E+ Rank.

Kael looked down at it.

The curved blade was covered in faint patterns created by the traits of the fragments he had used. It had already survived the entire wave, enduring countless impacts that would have shattered his earlier creations.

A few seconds later, cracks began spreading across the blade.

The dagger crumbled into pieces of dark dust before disappearing completely.

Kael smiled.

He wasn’t disappointed this time.

The weapon had lasted long enough.

For something he had created from the remains of low-level monsters, its durability was now comparable to what he would expect from a normal weapon of the same rank. More importantly, he had finally figured out how to properly control the creation process.

His experiment had served its purpose.

"Not bad."

Kael stretched his fingers before looking toward the Blood Store.

Since he was done testing his weapon creation, there was no reason to keep waiting.

He opened the store.

A translucent interface appeared before him, instantly filling his vision with rows upon rows of merchandise.

Plenty of cheap items were mixed in alongside more valuable ones, some costing thousands of Blood Crystals, others reaching into the hundreds of thousands.

Kael smiled as he browsed through the selection.

The pricing alone told him quite a bit about how the Tower had designed this trial.

The Blood Store clearly wasn’t meant to hand out valuable rewards easily.

For an ordinary challenger, obtaining enough Blood Crystals to purchase the better items would require surviving wave after wave after wave. Some of the more expensive merchandise would probably require hundreds of waves, if not more.

And surviving that many increasingly powerful beast waves wasn’t something just anyone could accomplish.

But that was a problem for normal people.

Kael had the Infinite Reward Multiplier.

Every Blood Crystal he earned could potentially be multiplied.

While another challenger might need hundreds of waves to accumulate enough Blood Crystals for one of the more expensive items, Kael could potentially reach the same amount in a fraction of the time.

That made the Blood Store considerably more interesting.

Kael continued scrolling.

Quite a few things caught his attention. One of them was an Ogre Heart.

According to its description, the heart could be cooked and consumed directly, allowing the consumer to absorb part of its properties and strengthen their body.

Kael stared at the item for a moment.

Ogres.

He knew about them.

They were powerful giant creatures known for their incredible strength and vitality. Their bodies were valuable materials, especially because of the immense vitality contained within them.

Unfortunately, there was no known Rift in the real world where Ogres appeared as local monsters.

However, items obtained from their bodies occasionally appeared through the Tower.

Those materials were extremely popular among alchemists.

Their vitality could be used to create various pills and potions, many of which were particularly popular among men for their supposed effects on sexual stamina.

Kael wasn’t interested in that aspect.

If he bought the Ogre Heart, he would simply use it for its physical strengthening properties.

Lyra’s body was still too weak compared to what he wanted for her.

Anything that could improve her physical condition was worth considering.

Kael continued browsing.

There were plenty of other interesting items in the store.

Some were materials he recognized, while others were things he’d never heard of. A handful of items even came with descriptions intriguing enough to make him consider buying them purely for future experiments.

Unfortunately, none of them were what he was looking for.

There was nothing particularly useful for Ezra.

Nothing that could help their mother either.

Kael wasn’t surprised.

Items capable of restoring or strengthening things like Vitality, Spirit, or the Soul were extremely rare. Even in the Tower, such treasures weren’t something that could simply be purchased from an ordinary shop.

Still, the Blood Store was impressive.

Kael had to admit that.

He continued scrolling through the merchandise, a faint smile appearing on his face.

Since he had no reason to save his Blood Crystals, he decided that he would buy as much of the store’s merchandise as possible.

If he could afford everything, then he would simply buy everything.

There was no reason to leave useful resources behind.

Just as Kael was about to continue browsing, the timer above the store reached zero.

The interface disappeared.

The Blood Store temporarily closed.

At almost the exact same moment, the ground trembled.

Kael looked toward the horizon.

Another wave had arrived.

The beasts began appearing across the red landscape, their numbers far greater than before. Their auras were also noticeably stronger. Compared to the monsters from the first wave, these creatures were on an entirely different level.

Kael’s expression remained calm.

He had nothing left to test.

There was no reason to hold back anymore.

"Finally."

Kael stepped forward.

The earth beneath his feet cracked as energy surged through his body.

This time, he wasn’t going to experiment with weapons or carefully observe the effects of different Corpse Fragments.

He was going to clear the wave as quickly as possible.

Kael’s body shot forward.

Earth energy swirled around him as he charged straight toward the incoming horde.

The beasts roared and surged toward him from the opposite direction.

The distance between them disappeared in seconds.

Kael met the horde head-on.