Chapter 292: Broom

Alex smiled when he saw it. It seemed that simply creating runes wasn’t enough to improve the spell, and he needed to use them creatively and actually apply the principles behind them, which explained why the spell had suddenly gained several levels after his experiment.

Alex looked around once more before flying forward. Shockwaves erupted behind him as he accelerated, but Alex quickly adjusted the amount of kinetic energy he released to reduce the unnecessary force.

He wasn’t interested in showing off his new ability. He had another purpose in mind.

He needed to find the Merchants.

Merchants appeared alongside shops that came directly from the Land of Origin, and those shops contained a much higher concentration of Origin Energy than their surroundings. If Alex looked for unusually dense concentrations of Origin Energy from the air, he should be able to locate them much faster.

He began releasing Mana Spheres at high speed while gradually lowering his flying height, allowing the spheres to spread across a wide area and pass through countless buildings.

At the same time, he created Mana Bullets and fired them toward monsters that were attacking survivors. Since Alex could slightly control the direction of his Mana Bullets and already knew the monsters’ positions through his Mana Spheres, every shot found its target without any mistakes.

Alex increased the output of kinetic energy and began flying even faster. He had to reinforce his body heavily to withstand the pressure created by releasing such a large amount of kinetic energy, but his Superior Body Reinforcement Spell allowed him to maintain the speed without suffering serious injuries.

This was fun, and it felt completely different from the first time he had tried flying during his fight against the Kraken. Back then, he had been using his ability in the middle of a dangerous battle, and could only go up and down, but now he could properly control his movement through the air and actually enjoy the experience.

He still couldn’t make sharp turns because changing direction required extremely precise control over the kinetic energy. Whenever he needed to change direction, he had to stop in midair, turn his body, and then begin flying again, which was inconvenient but something he could eventually overcome.

Alex was slowly trying to figure out how to improve his control when he suddenly sensed an enormous concentration of Origin Energy below him. He immediately stopped and looked downward, where he saw a strange building that looked somewhat like a casino.

The building had several large signs above its entrance, although Alex couldn’t understand the writing on them. Bright lights surrounded the entrance, while gold-colored patterns and strange symbols covered the exterior and made it look much more expensive than the surrounding buildings.

Alex flew downward and landed on the road in front of it. Instead of dismissing the Mana Shuriken behind him and wasting the mana contained inside it, he transformed it into a pair of Fire-Mana armor that covered his arms.

He then walked toward the entrance. This could be a Merchant’s shop, but there was also another possibility, since dungeons could contain unusually high concentrations of Origin Energy as well.

Alex reached the door and placed his hand against it before slowly pushing it open.

The inside of the shop was completely different from what Alex had expected after seeing the exterior. Rather than looking like a casino, it resembled an old antique shop filled with countless strange objects. There was also a unique fragrance lingering in the air, and when Alex took a short breath, he immediately felt his mind becoming calmer.

He slowly walked through the shop while looking at the items displayed on the shelves. Some were completely unfamiliar, while others were things he could recognize, such as books and a long metal tube whose purpose he couldn’t figure out. One object caught his attention because it looked like a metal eye that was constantly glowing and pulsing with faint light.

There was also something that looked like an egg, although Alex wasn’t completely sure whether it actually was one. It was egg-shaped, but its entire surface seemed to be made from something resembling grass. He couldn’t tell whether it was an item, a plant, or something completely different.

Alex continued walking and noticed that many of the parchments and books had writing on their covers. Unfortunately, none of the languages were familiar to him, so he couldn’t even guess what most of them contained. There were also several ordinary-looking objects, including a broom and something that appeared to be a pillow.

Alex was certain that all of them were items, yet strangely enough, the System’s status screen wasn’t appearing.

’Looks like it’s possible to suppress the status screen that normally appears automatically when I look at items.’

That discovery made Alex slightly more cautious, since it meant that even the information he normally relied on could be hidden from him.

He continued moving deeper into the shop until he noticed something moving in the corner of the room. A red-skinned alien was sweeping the floor with a broom, and it was only about half as tall as Alex, with a slightly hunched back and three beautiful green eyes. It wore strange clothes that reminded Alex of European suits from the early twentieth century, while two tails extended from behind its body and ended in open arrowhead-like shapes.

An amused smile appeared on Alex’s face as he watched it sweep the floor.

’Aliens also use brooms?’

He found the thought strangely amusing. He cleared his throat to get the alien’s attention.

"Ahem."

The alien almost jumped into the air before spinning around and staring at Alex with all three eyes. It immediately said something that sounded like complete nonsense, "Fnajofnaosfn!"

After a few seconds, it calmed down and pointed toward another part of the shop.

Alex nodded and followed the direction it had indicated. He remained alert as he walked through the store, but he wasn’t particularly worried about the possibility of the Merchants attacking him.

The reason was the System.

Alex believed the System was fair in its own strange way. It had given humanity opportunities to grow stronger while simultaneously putting them through increasingly dangerous trials, so there was probably a reason these shops existed in the first place. If the Merchants were from the Land of Origin and were far stronger than the Ascendants on Earth, Alex doubted they would simply be allowed to attack customers.

At least, that was his theory.

..

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