Chapter Twenty-Five: 1st Slot

Valen strolled through the streets of White Star City, his mind deep in thought. The sudden message from the White River Energised Chamber had caught him off guard.

He had never expected the journey to the Astral Veil to be so rushed. Usually, Energised Chambers always opened on the first day of the month for those who wished to undergo Evolution.

After that, the various universities, also known as Academies, would begin their recruitment 2–5 days after the start of the month.

Then, on the 7th day of the month, the Evolvers ventured into the Astral Veil for twelve hours to seek opportunities before they were forced to return.

In the Astral Veil, the main modes of transport humans from Greenfield used were airships or air shuttles. This was because the lands in the Astral Veil were separated, similar to islands on the sea.

New Evolvers would need to learn the ways to pilot an air shuttle from the Academies or Universities they joined within a few days before they entered the Astral Veil.

While they were taught mech piloting in high school, the various survival lessons and rigorous training were reserved for the Universities.

This was because it wasn’t a given that everyone would evolve. Yet, the President of the Country had pushed forward the date of entering the Astral Veil.

Most new Evolvers hadn’t even gotten accustomed to their powers, but they were already being told to venture into the Astral Veil.

No matter how Valen looked at it, the entire situation seemed incredibly suspicious.

’Perhaps a sudden change had occurred in the Astral Veil?’

Just as Valen was contemplating the true reason behind their summons to the Astral Veil, his System Relay buzzed as he received a system notification.

System: [Translation of data from Beast-Binding Collar completed.]

An odd expression surfaced on Valen’s face. What did it have to do with him if the system was done documenting the beast language?

But the following words of the system left him in shock.

System: [Due to your contribution to the system’s database of Beast Language, you have been granted a special privilege.]

[Privilege: Basic Translation Module. Description: Translates the roars, screeches, and growls of certain monsters into human language. Note: There is a slight chance of inaccurate translations.]

Valen almost leaped for joy at that instant. To think he would be granted such a privilege even after he had already been paid for the data. The system was just too good.

’If I can understand what certain beasts say, I can know if they are calling for backup or planning something insidious when I’m battling them.’ He rubbed his chin, already formulating ways to get the best out of this new privilege.

However, he soon caught onto something.

"System, why is it only at the Basic level? I can understand that some parts of the data were missing, meaning I can only receive translations for certain beasts, but why this?"

System: [Such a module already existed before you submitted your data to the system. Your data merely served to verify and enrich the database, not create it. Hence, the reward.]

Valen was stumped for words. To think that the system already had a collection of beast language beforehand.

How formidable, exactly, had Great General Eustace been to create the Humanity System? And what could’ve killed such a person?

Valen finally realised that this world hid far more secrets than he thought. He shivered at the mere thought of someone or something that could’ve ended Great General Eustace.

Snapping back to his senses, he asked the system in a soft voice: "Then how can I increase the Module to Intermediate or Advanced?"

System: [You can only receive privileges through performing meritorious deeds or meeting certain criterias.]

’Makes sense. My contribution to your database was indeed a meritorious service. It’s a good thing you realise.’

Valen nodded to himself as he entered a System Store across the road. He wanted to quickly retrieve his Inventory Ring. He would also have to hasten his preparations for the Astral Veil by getting a few things.

His unclaimed physical rewards from the system consisted of: 35 black coins, 5 purple coins, 5 pieces of Common Equipment, the manual: {Basic Forgery Guide}, 1 Medical Nanokit, 1 Lv. 10 Common-Rank MK-11 Sniper Rifle, and most importantly, the 30-Slot Inventory Ring.

He walked over to an automated counter on the first floor and inputted his ID. Since his rewards this time weren’t custom-made or too important, he could claim them directly on the first floor and didn’t have to go up.

It was the best of both worlds, since he also didn’t want to go up. Otherwise, the items there would make his over 20,000 points seem inconsequential.

For now, Valen took his rewards and departed the System Store. He didn’t buy anything else, as he first wanted to try out his Inventory Ring.

He found a dark alley and slipped in, dropping the rest of the items to the floor as he cradled the Inventory Ring in his hands.

In this world, there was no magic. No matter how advanced civilisation was, or how many apocalypses struck, humans could never wield elements, or so they were made to believe. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Throughout the history of man, a lot of crazy scientists had carried out genetic restructuring, wanting humans to wield a power far above their pay grade.

And without doubt, all attempts failed. The theory that humans were never meant to encounter the supernatural remained unshaken. But without such a power, could humans push back the Day Walkers?

This was why Dark Worshippers existed. By worshipping the Day Walkers, they could gain insidious powers. Some slaughtered villages and used their blood to perform rituals, praying to the Day Walkers.

Others boiled newborns alive, claiming it was to restore world order. There were even some old fogies who would tie knots and curse someone out of jealousy and pleasure.

Ever since the dawn of the Dark Worshippers, they have been humanity’s greatest enemies. All for power, they sacrificed their own race.

Of course, not all their sorcery was a success. It was more like they weren’t omnipotent. No matter how many people they killed, and how many rituals they carried out, they couldn’t possibly summon rain or shatter mountains.

In fact, not everyone could be cursed by them. It wasn’t that these individuals who couldn’t be cursed were special, but that the Dark Worshippers’ magic was more like petty tricks.

To Valen, he never believed in magic, and he also never believed he could be cursed by fellow humans such as himself. The only thing he had always suspected was that this world was too delicately balanced to be a coincidence.

When the Dark Worshippers joined the fray and attacked humanity, humans were immediately thrust into a desperate struggle for survival.

Just when all hope had been lost, and evacuation plans had been set in place, some strange natural resources began to surface.

One such resource was the Dimensional Gemstone. Within these gemstones were layers of compressed space, sometimes numbering a few layers or reaching the thousands.

Humans immediately thought of several uses for these gemstones, such as transporting war weapons or carrying vast amounts of resources across greater distances.

The problem then became how to access the space within these gemstones. After all, they couldn’t interact with the outside world and vice versa.

After years of research, it was discovered that these gemstones could interact with a unique kind of energy humans named Dimensional Energy (DE).

Humanity mined the Dimensional Gemstones and applied a Resonance Meter to them — a device capable of measuring Dimensional Energy in standardised units known as DEU.

Every layer within a Dimensional Gemstone possessed a different resonance threshold. The deeper the layer, the more DEU required to force open the compressed space layer.

It was discovered that once a certain amount of DEU was poured into a Dimensional Crystal, the first compressed space layer opened and released all its contents. Conversely, if it had no contents, it would pull the nearest object into its compressed space.

Through this, humanity had crafted the first ever Inventory Ring. However, there was a significant flaw: an Inventory Ring could only store one item within each space layer.

Even so, there had been nothing humans could do but gradually look for ways to circumvent this flaw.

Valen didn’t know how much progress they had made in that area, but he had heard from his grandfather that there had been a major breakthrough recently.

The Inventory Ring in his hands was crafted from a Dimensional Gemstone with 30 compressed spaces, so it had 30 slots.

Valen stared at the Inventory Ring in his hands. It was a silver ring with a black stone embedded at its centre. The black stone was the Dimensional Gemstone.

Eager to test it out, he linked it with his Silver Watch ID, just like he had done with his System Relay and System Lenses.

After that, he wore the Inventory Ring and eagerly rubbed it while muttering: "1st Slot."

The ring buzzed as energy was transferred from it into the Dimensional Gemstone.

*Swoosh*

A black ripple gradually surfaced on the gemstone, and Valen pointed it at the MK-11 Sniper Rifle on the floor.

A scene he had only witnessed in videos and TV shows surfaced as the Sniper Rifle was ’devoured’ by the ring. A moment later, it vanished and the ring returned to normal.

His System Relay buzzed as a notification sounded in his ears.

System: [You have stored the Lv. 10 Common-Rank MK-11 Sniper Rifle in the 1st Slot of your Inventory Ring. Remaining Slots: 29.]

His eyes blazed as a crazy thought popped up in his mind.

’Why don’t I buy a powered motorcycle installed with the latest cannons, and capable of flight? Then I’ll store it in my ring incase I need it in the Astral Veil.’

The more he contemplated it, the more feasible it sounded. Motorcycles of this era didn’t need fuel to work. Instead, they relied solely on Solar Energy to function.

As for how much that would cost him? He was rich and didn’t need to worry.