Chapter 244 Store

[Ace POV],

I got out of the shower after taking a bath and washing clean and turned to look at the bathroom before shaking my head.

Since I had just taken a bath, I considered using the hot tub but decided against it because there were so many other things I could be doing right now that would be more productive.

As I was considering this, I took one of the towers that Anna had acquired for me at the mall in our old world and used it to clean myself. Then, I went to the location where clothes are supposed to be placed and dried it there.

After all of this was finished, I pulled out a few sets of mediaeval clothing to wear outside, but after giving it some thought, I decided to wear something more casual. I pulled out another set of clothing that Anna had acquired for me from the mall we had looted, and after donning it, I made my way out of the bathroom and into my lab, where I sat on the chair in the center of the tables.

My posture made it clear that I wanted to lie down on the chair because the bath I just took was unquestionably the best I'd ever had since the start of the apocalypse.

I continued to push the chair back and forth with the wheels under it as I sat back in the chair and relaxed while thinking about a few things.

A day had already passed out of the ten days the dwarven king had given Emma, so there were still nine days until the race rulers were unsealed.

In the same way as the other members of my team, I was able to encounter a race, and aside from Emma and Chris' encounter, it's likely that the majority of the races that were emerging were not peaceful and didn't want to be peaceful.

These races seemed to have a lot of experience with the issues we were facing, in contrast to us ignorant humans. This had already given them the upper hand over us.

Perhaps this is what the Primordial Chronicle meant when it said that we should be aware of those who have experienced what we were experiencing, and since the majority of humans in the true world and even before we came here experienced the apocalypse, does that imply that these races have also gone through this?

Unfortunately, there was no way for me to obtain the answer to this question. However, I did know that the true world would not be peaceful in the upcoming nine days and that if I wanted to stop living as a piece of disposable corner fodder whose life could end at any time without having any control over what would happen, I would need to evolve during those nine days.

I had no other ideas for how to build strength quickly besides this.

Perhaps the exercises and manuals we received as part of the primordial chronicle quest rewards could make me far stronger than I was now, but no matter how fast I was, it would take a long time to practise them to a usable level.

Furthermore, was practising this really sufficient to compete with ranked species?

If I came across a species or even another human with an epic or legendary job, what would happen? Perhaps it would work well again with monsters and the most common grade jobs and a few rare grade jobs.

But can I really close the gap between our power levels by practising a few exercises and manuals?

I may not have experienced the full power of an epic or legendary grade job, but I don't have a delusional belief that they were just slightly more powerful than a rare grade job.

Even the human I was up against had a rare grade job and was also severely injured at the time, as well as the fact that his job was not a combat type once more, Emma and I still had to work together to defeat him.

Another consideration was what would happen if the other members of the race—those who weren't rank one—became ranked creatures before the nine days. It was not in my control to avoid being apprehended if I came across a group like this.

I needed power, but it was unfortunate that it couldn't be rushed, but everything was fine because I wasn't far from evolving.

Although I could have fulfilled my job requirements without going to the earth den, that was the only place I could do so quickly.

As I was considering this, I called out the Primordial Chronicle in my head and went to the store section to look for items I could prepare beforehand. However, before I could choose the general sub-option of the store, I realised that aside from the general, knowledge, item, and exchange sub-options, I haven't used the other two and I was quite curious as to how it was now from the last time I opened them.

...…

[Store],

[General], [Knowledge], [Item], [Exchange], [Shop], [Auction],

......

The general sub-option basically consisted of a combination of knowledge, things, and a few other things that are generally not imaginable to most people. Additionally, the general sub-option had a separate sub-option.

The knowledge sub-option basically served as a place to purchase knowledge about anything, and the items were identified as its primary focus was on items.

The exchange suboption is where I traded my items for coins with the primordial chronicle.

Apart from the curious glance, I gave them when the store first appeared, the only two sub-options I haven't interacted with for the second time.

Their names alone were sufficient to indicate what they did, but because I was also interested, I finally chose to look into these two sub-options.

I began at the shop.

...

[Shop],

[Explore, [Sell],

...…

I immediately understood the [Sell] sub-option's purpose after reading the text that appeared as soon as I chose the shop sub-option because it was so obvious to me when I first checked it that one must be in a shop to either buy or sell. So, without giving it much more thought, I selected the [Explore] sub-option as another panel appeared in front of me.

...

[Seller: Bruce Rock],

[Job: Rank 1 Martial Artist]

[Item for sale: Rare Grade Fist Manual],

[Price: 230 Gold Coins],

[Description:......]

.....