Arthur booked a room in the town for 10 Silver Coins per hour.
It was a luxurious room containing a source of a special type of energy known as Spirit Energy. Unknown to everyone else, the room was actually a cultivation chamber.
He entered the room and sat cross-legged on the floor. Closing his eyes, he activated his cultivation technique and began absorbing the surrounding Spirit Energy.
The ambient energy slowly rushed toward him, flowing into his body and circulating through every cell. It felt as if the energy was probing his body, testing whether he had reached the limit of his physical potential.
Arthur had already pushed his body to its ultimate limit. As the Spirit Energy continued to circulate, a burning sensation suddenly erupted from the right side of his chest.
"Ahgh!"
A low growl escaped his mouth as the burning sensation intensified.
30 minutes later,
[Ding! You have awakened a Dark Elemental Core.]
Boom!
The instant the notification appeared, violent energy erupted inside his body. Arthur felt as if every part of him was being torn apart and reconstructed at the same time.
An immense amount of Spirit Energy surged into his body. His muscles became denser and stronger, while his bones rapidly hardened. Even his internal organs were undergoing a profound transformation.
After a while, everything finally settled down. Arthur remained seated on the floor, gasping for breath as sweat covered his forehead.
The leap in power was enormous.
He immediately opened his status panel.
[Name: Arthur Miller
Class: Necromancer (Common)
Level: 10
Cultivation Realm: Awakened
Strength: 1010
Agility: 1010
Defence: 1110
Vitality: 1010
Mana: 1010
Talent: Infinite Multiplication
Class Skills: Undead Summoning, Undead Revival
Attribute Points: 0
Summoned Units: 10]
All five of his basic attributes had doubled.
That was equivalent to gaining 2,500 attribute points instantly. The next cultivation realm would triple his basic attributes, making the difference between an ordinary player and a core awakener even more absurd.
That was why people who had awakened both a class and an elemental core were treated almost like royalty. In his previous life, those prodigies were treated almost with same respect as a level 90 saint who was not even a level 50.
"Good. It’s time to leave."
Arthur stood up and stretched his body before continuing, "But before that, I’ll clear the dungeon again and gather some more treasures to sell."
With his current strength and abilities, he knew that he would need at least 10,000 Divine Gold to synchronize his entire power with reality. He currently had only around 5,000 Divine Gold remaining.
After leaving the cultivation room, Arthur tried to move at his normal speed.
Whoosh!
His figure instantly disappeared from his original position.
To Arthur, it felt almost like blinking. With 1,010 Agility, his movement speed had reached approximately 1,010 kilometers per hour, faster than a commercial airplane.
He immediately activated Stealth.
No one could see him, but the players along the road suddenly felt a powerful gust of wind rush past them.
"What was that?"
"Man, I just got a chill down my spine."
The players looked around in confusion, completely unaware that Arthur had already disappeared into the distance.
One hour later, Arthur returned to the guild.
"Sir, you have a total of 24 Legendary-grade items and one Epic-grade item. We can offer you 10,500 Divine Gold for everything. Is that acceptable?"
The receptionist spoke with far more respect than before. For some reason, her attitude toward Arthur had changed completely.
"Of course."
Arthur nodded.
[Ding! You have obtained 10,500 Divine Gold.]
He nodded with satisfaction before leaving the guild.
"It’s time to settle that matter first."
A cold glint flashed across Arthur’s eyes.
He immediately chose to log out.
[Ding! You have logged out. Would you like to bring your in-game abilities into reality?]
"How much would it cost to bring out my entire character’s power?" Arthur asked.
Normally, players could only bring out one ability or attribute at a time. The amount of money generated by the game was still insufficient for most people to transfer everything simultaneously.
[Calculating...]
[Ding! You will need 15,000 Divine Gold to bring out all of your character’s powers.]
Arthur’s mouth twitched violently.
That was equivalent to 150 trillion dollars.
"Buy it."
The moment he gave the command, the same sensation he had experienced inside the game erupted within his real body.
A tremendous amount of power surged through his body as his physical strength, attributes, abilities, and cultivation began synchronizing with reality.
Arthur was still inside his gaming pod when he slowly opened his eyes.
His consciousness had finally returned to the real world.
He pushed open the lid of the gaming pod and stepped outside. The moment he emerged, he noticed Sebas sitting nearby with numerous bottles of nutritional fluid arranged around the pod.
The moment Sebas saw Arthur, he could no longer maintain his usual composure.
He immediately rushed forward and hugged Arthur tightly.
Arthur didn’t resist.
To him, this loyal butler had always been more like a father figure than an employee.
In his previous life, Amelia had even planted doubts in his mind about Sebas, claiming that the old butler looked at her with inappropriate intentions.
Arthur had actually believed her and expelled Sebas from the family.
Yet even after being treated so unfairly, Sebas had never truly abandoned him. One day, he had sacrificed himself to protect Arthur from a sneak attack by a powerful monster.
Arthur gently patted Sebas on the back.
"I’m alright, Sebas. Don’t worry."
Sebas quickly regained his professional composure and stepped back.
"Thank God you’re alright, Young Master. Are you hungry? Would you like something to eat?"
"I’m not hungry."
Arthur paused for a moment before looking at him seriously.
"First, tell me something. The 50 billion dollars I received before entering the game. Was it given to me by the old man?"
Sebas hesitated for a moment before finally nodding.
Arthur sighed.
He wasn’t alone in this world even though both of his parents died.
He had a large family behind him. Actually, the 100-billion-dollar company his father had built was considered Arthur’s personal property.
But the actual Miller Family was an international-level family with assets worth more than five trillion dollars.
Arthur lived separately because his grandfather, Alexander Miller, had once warned him that Amelia wasn’t right for him.
Before that, Arthur had frequently visited the main family.
In his previous life, Alexander had died around this time at the hands of a powerful international underworld organization.
Arthur had been so angry with his grandfather that he hadn’t even shed a tear at the funeral. He had simply attended it and left.
"Did that bitch put some kind of black magic on me or something? How did I never doubt her?"
[Ding! You are currently under the effects of a low-level curse. As a Necromancer and Dark Elemental core awakener, low level curse powers have 0% effect on you. The curse has been broken.]
The system’s voice suddenly echoed inside his mind.
"Damn that whore. She really put a curse on me."
Arthur’s expression darkened.
"How the hell did she even do that? This world really had supernatural phenomena even before the Genesis Realm descended."
He had originally thought that supernatural powers had only appeared after the arrival of the Genesis Realm.
Apparently, he had been wrong.
"Sebas, let’s go to Evergreen Company."
"Young Master, please calm down. Don’t be angry with Master. He didn’t want me to tell you. Please punish me instead."
Sebas spoke hurriedly, clearly worried that Arthur would blame his grandfather.
Arthur simply smiled.
He already knew what the old man was thinking.
"Don’t worry about anything. Just prepare the car. I’ll get ready."
Sebas was surprised by how calm Arthur was.
His young master seemed completely different from the person he had known before, yet somehow, this version of Arthur made him feel more reassured.
He nodded and left the room.
Arthur changed into a black trench coat, black pants, and black shoes.
For some reason, everything black seemed to possess an unusual attraction to him now.
"I’m being affected by my class."
Arthur shook his head with a wry smile.
With his dark hair, six-foot-tall frame, fair skin, and entirely black outfit, he looked almost like a prince from a dark royal family.
In his previous life, countless women had pursued him, but he had rejected every single one because of Amelia.
This time, however, he wasn’t going to make the same mistake.
"I should enjoy my life a little this time."
A faint smile appeared on his face as he walked out of the room.
The maids standing nearby secretly glanced at him, their eyes filled with admiration, but none of them dared to stare directly.
Arthur noticed them and simply smiled before nodding at them.
"Did Young Master just smile at us?"
"Tell me I’m dreaming."
"Pinch me."
"Ouch! Why did you pinch me, you bitch?"
"Didn’t you just ask me to?"
The maids nearly went crazy after seeing that smile on Arthur’s face.
Meanwhile, Arthur had already walked outside.
...
"Evergreen Company, you have only two days to hand over two trillion dollars."
A man dressed in a dark suit stood calmly in the center of the conference room.
"Otherwise, the entire Miller Family will vanish."
The entire upper echelon of the Miller Group was present.
Yet not a single person dared to utter a word.