Chapter 40: Path out of misery

[To upgrade the quality of selected beast [Shadow-snake(Umbra)] from its initial quality (Rare) to (Extraordinary) following materials are required.

Tier-2 Mana stone [Darkness] (0/5)

Daylight peony(Common) (0/4)

Blood of a Dragon (0/1 Drop)

[Commence quality upgrade] [Y/N]]

Shane almost collapsed on the ground if Umbra wasn't looking at him with expectations.

"What bulls**t is that?" Shane mumbled to himself, not being able to control himself.

`How can there be such a vast difference between a [Rare] and [Extraordinary] upgrade? It's not like I want Umbra to evolve directly into a full-fledged Dragon!!!!!` Shane cursed in his mind before he researched the price for a Daylight peony which seemed to be the cheapest.

He found only a few shops on the Primordial Shop human section and furrowed his brows deeply.

Seeing the price for a single Daylight peony with a (common) quality couldn't make him happy, it was even worse and turned his last ray of hope into a pathway to hell.

[Daylight peony(Common)] only 25 gold coins/each!!

`F**K this `ONLY`!!`

Looking at the price for small-sized Tier-2 mana stones with a (Trash) quality and a darkness transmutation wasn't helpful either, turning his mood even sourer if that was possible.

[Tier-2 Mana stone(Trash) [Darkness]] only 20 gold coins/each

Fulfilling two out of three requirements to upgrade Umbra's quality from rare to extraordinary was already priced at 200 gold coins minimum without considering the 10% transfer fee.

Alone these two requirements were almost an additional charge of 15 times. From his initial 15 gold coins, he paid for Umbra to reach his current rare quality to more than 220 gold coins to reach ⅔ of the requirements for Umbra's quality upgrade to extraordinary.

This could already be considered a problem but there was something else much more complicated.

'How the hell can I acquire dragon blood with my funds?! Even if it's only a single drop...the price is way too high for me to afford… Why does Umbra need a drop of an existence that is at least at the 5th stage… Isn't that too much SYSTEM?!?' Shane cursed and lamented but the system didn't reply and he gazed at Umbra with a sour expression.

There was nothing Shane could do about it, gathering more than 200 gold for the other two requirements was still feasible and barely acceptable but the dragon-blood drop was not something he would be able to acquire without anyone's help.

Umbra felt Shane's chaotic feelings and he knew that it was his fault or rather that his quality enhancement was extremely expensive.

Umbra wasn't sure how much something was worth, but he began to slowly comprehend that they plucked the Nightshade flowers and risked their lives in order for it to increase its quality.

As such, Umbra knew that Shane wanted to help him become stronger, even if it was for Shane's own good.

Shane gazed at his finances as he noticed that they increased from 45 gold coins to 51 with a few additional silver.

It seemed like the surplus Nightshade flowers had been sold, which was the only favorable fact Shane found in this whole situation.

Thinking about ways to solve his problem, Shane didn't even care about the 220 gold coins he had to accumulate for the peonies and the transmuted mana stones.

Before he would think about collecting gold coins, he had to find a way to procure dragon blood, otherwise, he would only waste his time.

'The system doesn't think I can obtain dragon blood by myself, right?' Shane thought when he read through the panel with Umbra's quality upgrade requirements on it once again.

'[Blood of a Dragon]...What kind of dragon? A true dragon, western, oriental, flood dragon, halfling or is an earth dragon with an extremely low purity already enough?' He asked himself and his mind rattled in order to search for all kinds of ways how to obtain the blood of a dragon, when he remembered something.

'What about wyvern and wyrms? If they can be added to the list, maybe I can get the blood of one of these two?' Shane saw a tiny ray of hope but it was still extremely thin and only barely visible.

However, without him knowing, this thin ray of hope widened and Shane seemed more inspired than before.

His Dad's best friend was a tamer with a magical staged Wyvern as his tamed beast, as such Shane knew quite a bit about wyvern.

More important than the knowledge about wyvern was his knowledge about the beast rankings and their equality to humans ranks.

For the basic dimensions, Wild, Elite, and Awakened stage beasts were allowed while humans at the Mortal, Apprentice, and Expert stage would still be able to enter it.

As for the intermediate dimension, Unblemished, Magical, and Guardian staged beast inhabited them while Master, Squire and Ruler stage of humans could enter them without facing too many problems.

But Shane was unsure how it went on with the advanced dimensions, the only thing he knew was, that the next human rank was the Exalted stage, while beasts at the Overlord stage began to appear there.

Within the intermediate and advanced dimensions, the beasts with a lower rank were always striving around, while the intermediate only allowed beasts at the Guardian stage at most into their dimension, while Shane was unsure about the advanced dimensions limit.

Thinking about Wyverns, Shane began to smile lightly because they were more commonly found than dragons and essentially weaker.

If a dragon at the magical stage with a low bloodline were to fight a magical staged wyvern, the dragon would win almost every time, except if there was an extreme affinity disadvantage from the dragon's side.

As such hunting wyverns and procuring blood was much easier and it was extremely cheap compared to the blood of a real dragon.

To add on, it was extremely rare to find dragons at the magical stage, because they would have an extremely low bloodline, while it was more common for dragons to appear in the advanced dimension, even though humans haven't seen many from them upon closer inspection.

Nevertheless, the system considered both of them as dragons, and Shane became even more sure about his decision to purchase a drop of wyvern blood with enough funds.

But looking at the price, Shane's mood instantly plumed once again.

Wyvern blood was considered as [Blessed-1] ingredient without looking at the quality and Shane knew it would be expensive, but figuring out the price was more devastating than he had thought.

For a single blood drop of a wyvern with a trash quality, Shane would have to pay more than 1 platinum coin, due to its scarcity compared to other races.

For an ingredient, it was extremely expensive, considering that it was a single drop and only [trash] quality, he could only cry in misery

1 platinum coin was worth 1000 gold coins, but to convert gold coins into platinum coins, one had to activate the conversion function within the system.

This happened naturally once one reached the Master stage and compressed a drop of liquefied mana or forcefully by paying the system.

Paying the system was not possible for him, because it was way too expensive, as such Shane would have to pay a much higher price than 1000 gold coins or 1 platinum coin.

Umbra looked at Shane carefully and he could also barely follow his train of thoughts through their connection as he sent Shane a picture of the wyvern Shane imagined when he thought about his dad's best friend.

"What!?" Shane angrily shouted at Umbra who distracted him from finding a way out of the misery.

Umbra was taken aback but he still send Shane the picture of the tamed wyvern once again.

!!!

"How come I couldn't think of that!!! Umbra you're a genius!!" Shane shouted out as he lifted the shadow snake into the air.

Hissing joyfully, Shane opened the system and searched for an account name, before he wrote a message.