Chapter 209 — Breaking Free

Chapter 209: Chapter 209 — Breaking Free

Chapter 209 — Breaking Free

The next day, Victor was in the middle of cultivating when a scream suddenly filled the apartment.

"VICTOR!"

His concentration shattered.

Victor’s eyes snapped open, immediately finding Lyra.

For a split second, panic hit him.

Had something gone wrong with her cultivation?

But before he could even stand, the scream turned into excited squeals.

"Victor! Victor! Victor!"

Lyra was practically bouncing in place.

Her purple eyes were bright, and the smile on her face was wider than Victor had seen in a long time.

"What?" Victor asked.

"The curse!"

Victor froze.

"It’s gone!" Lyra yelled. "It’s broken! We actually did it!"

She looked down at herself as though she could hardly believe what she was feeling.

"The curse is gone. Completely gone."

Victor immediately stood.

Lyra’s excitement only grew.

"I can feel it, Victor. The ceiling isn’t there anymore. If I tried to break through right now, I think I could do it."

"Wait!"

Lyra stopped.

"Don’t do it in the apartment."

She stared at him in confusion.

Victor was extremely grateful she hadn’t already tried.

He walked over to her.

"Remember what happened when I broke through to Spirit Gathering?"

Some of the excitement faded from Lyra’s face.

Of course she remembered.

Victor’s breakthrough had nearly killed him.

"I’m worried yours might be similar," Victor continued. "We’re Soul Bonded. There’s a chance the World Law will notice something unusual when you break through and give you a tribulation too."

Lyra’s expression slowly became more serious.

She clearly hadn’t considered that.

For her entire life, reaching Beast Soldier had been impossible. The curse had stopped her before she ever needed to worry about what came afterward.

Now, for the first time, there was no wall in front of her.

And neither of them knew what waited on the other side.

A little hesitation appeared in her eyes.

"Don’t worry."

Lyra looked at him.

"We’ll prepare first. We’ll go to the market and get everything we can that might help. Protective treasures, healing artifacts, anything useful."

She stared at him for a moment before nodding.

"Yeah. Let’s do it."

There wasn’t even a hint of doubt in her voice.

Victor smiled.

Everything he’d planned to do over the next day or two was going to have to wait.

This was more important.

"We shouldn’t do the breakthrough inside the Tower either," Victor said. "We’ll go into Basement Level Five. Probably a few regions deep where we can find somewhere isolated."

"Okay."

Lyra’s excitement immediately started returning.

"When do we leave?"

Victor laughed.

"Right now. I know you’ve been waiting forever to finally become a Beast Soldier."

Lyra’s smile became enormous.

"Yeah."

She almost couldn’t stand still.

"Who would’ve thought I’d be the first Shadow Fox in over seven thousand years to finally break through?"

The words came out excitedly, but her voice softened near the end.

Seven thousand years.

Generation after generation of Shadow Foxes had lived beneath the same ceiling.

Lyra looked at Victor.

"Honestly... without you, this would’ve been impossible."

Victor became quiet.

They still didn’t completely understand why the curse had weakened around him, or why their Soul Bond had allowed it to slowly disappear.

Maybe one day they would.

Lyra smiled at him.

"I’m really glad I met you."

For a moment, neither of them said anything.

Victor looked into her purple eyes.

They had come a long way from the two people who could barely stand being trapped together by the Soul Bond.

Then he smiled.

"I’m really glad I met you too."

He let the moment sit for another second before stepping back.

"Now let’s get this taken care of."

A black blur suddenly flew across the apartment.

"Chirp!"

Nala flew straight into Lyra.

Lyra caught her against her chest and laughed.

"Yeah! Can you believe it?"

"Chirp! Chirp, chirp!"

Nala rubbed against her happily.

At this point, Nala seemed to see Lyra as an older sister. She was always randomly climbing onto her or snuggling against her whenever she got the chance.

And right now, she seemed just as excited as Lyra.

Victor smiled at the two of them.

"All right. Let’s go."

They quickly gathered everything they needed and left the apartment.

Victor had a feeling he was about to spend the entire day shopping and haggling.

And somehow, he doubted this was going to be cheap.

They reached the market in record time.

Mostly because Lyra practically pushed Victor along the entire way.

"Lyra, relax."

"I am relaxed."

"No, you’re not."

"I’m completely relaxed."

Victor stared at her.

She was walking so quickly that he had to increase his pace to keep up.

"I’ve told you five times already. We’re going to get everything today."

"I know."

"Then slow down."

"Okay."

She slowed down.

For about ten seconds.

Then she started speeding up again.

Victor shook his head.

It was like everything he said went in one ear and out the other.

The moment the curse disappeared, Lyra had somehow turned into an impatient toddler.

He couldn’t really blame her.

Before they started shopping, Victor took care of something important.

Money.

He wasn’t nearly as worried about showing some of his wealth anymore. He still had to be careful, but there was no reason to keep everything hidden when Lyra’s safety was on the line.

Victor sold off roughly twenty percent of the assets he’d collected.

His balance immediately skyrocketed.

Over 200,000 credits.

Victor stared at the number for a moment.

He was prepared to spend most of it if necessary.

But that didn’t mean he was going to let himself get robbed.

A knowing smile appeared on his face.

Back on Earth, Victor had spent hours watching videos of people traveling through places like the Philippines and haggling with merchants.

Somehow, all those hours of watching people argue over prices were finally going to be useful.

Today, Victor Ashcroft was going to become a haggling monster.

He was getting his money’s worth.

Their first stop was a store called Artifact Treasures.

The moment Victor and Lyra entered, the man behind the counter looked them over.

The shop was fairly high-class. Polished display cases lined the walls, each holding bracelets, pendants, rings, and other artifacts that probably cost more than most ordinary Tower citizens made in months.

Victor could tell from the merchant’s expression that he was trying to figure out whether two teenagers could actually afford anything inside.

His eyes briefly moved toward their wrists.

No slave bracelets.

Then he noticed Victor’s clothing.

The Elite Alchemy Class coat changed his expression slightly.

"So," the merchant said, "what can I do for you today?"

Victor walked toward the counter.

"We need protective treasures. Preferably anything that’s effective against lightning."

The merchant gave him a strange look.

"Lightning?"

Victor nodded.

The man was clearly curious, but he didn’t ask.

There were plenty of dangerous areas and situations throughout the Tower where lightning resistance could be useful.

If the boy had money, that was all that mattered.

The merchant turned and began pulling several artifacts from behind the counter.

The first was a bracelet.

"This reduces damage from lightning-based attacks by approximately twenty-five percent."

As the merchant continued bringing things out, Victor spoke again.

"I also need high-grade healing artifacts. And protective treasures that can create barriers against Spiritual Energy attacks."

The merchant stopped.

He looked at Victor again.

This time, his gaze lingered a little longer.

Then he began reaching for the more expensive items.

Several artifacts offered different levels of lightning resistance. Another group could create temporary barriers around the wearer when struck by powerful Spiritual Energy attacks.

Then the merchant brought out one that immediately caught Victor’s attention.

It was designed to activate when the wearer’s life force dropped below roughly half its normal level.

Once activated, it would massively increase the person’s natural recovery for a short period.

Victor picked it up.

His expression became more serious.

He remembered lying beneath the tribulation lightning.

His flesh burning.

His body breaking apart faster than it could recover.

That artifact went into the pile.

Victor stared at everything spread across the counter.

This was exactly what he wanted.

Then he heard the total.

"Two hundred and forty thousand credits."

Victor nearly flinched.

That was more than he currently had.

A lot more.

But he wanted all of it.

He wasn’t going to let Lyra face something like that unprepared.

Victor looked at the merchant.

"I’ll give you one hundred and eighty thousand for everything."

The man blinked.

For a second, he seemed more surprised that Victor could casually offer that much money than by the offer itself.

Then his eyes narrowed slightly.

Victor almost saw the calculation happening behind them.

He would still make a profit at one hundred and eighty thousand.

But if this kid had that much money...

Maybe he could squeeze out a little more.

Victor smiled.

"I know for a fact there are other stores in this market selling similar artifacts."

The merchant stopped.

"So if you want my business, don’t even think about trying to get more out of me."

The merchant stared at the fourteen-year-old standing across from him.

Victor stared right back.

For several seconds, neither of them spoke.

Then the merchant sighed and shook his head.

"Fine."

Victor’s smile widened.

A few minutes later, he walked out of Artifact Treasures with his storage ring considerably fuller.

Lyra walked beside him, glancing toward the ring every few seconds.

Victor looked at the two of them.

"Before we head into Basement Level Five, let’s get something to eat."

Lyra immediately smiled.

Nala’s head shot up.

"Chirp!"

Victor laughed.

"Yeah. I figured you’d agree."

With their preparations finished, the three headed off to find food.