Chapter 39: Mindblowing News

In the meantime, the violent humming of the interface began to subside. Exactly five seconds had elapsed from the moment he pressed the button to the moment the final particle of violet light solidified into dark, polished metal.

*Five seconds,* Michael noted, his internal clock tracking the precise duration. *An incredibly fast turnaround for a weapon of this caliber. But this is still fundamentally a beginner’s tool in the grand scheme of the System, even if it stands as the absolute apex of Level 5 gear. If a standard shortsword takes five seconds of active materialization, what happens when I attempt to forge a Level 20 item? Or a Level 50 blade? Will it take minutes? Hours? Will the sheer volume of siphoned energy leave me completely vulnerable to attacks?*

It was a critical variable he logged away for future tactical planning.

The weight of the new weapon settled into his palm, instantly drawing him out of his analysis. Michael gripped the hilt, and a wave of pure, tactile satisfaction washed over him. The shortsword was a masterpiece of utilitarian design. Ist blade was forged from a dark, matte-grey alloy. It possessed a perfect, flawless balance; the center of gravity sat precisely a finger’s width above the guard, making the weapon feel like a natural, seamless extension of his forearm.

He made a swipe through the empty air. The blade sliced forward with absolute silence, offering zero aerodynamic resistance. Compared to the clumsy, top-heavy iron spear he had been forced to wield alongside Rashid and Maximilian, this shortsword was a revolution. He could somehow feel the innate structural stability radiating through the hilt—the steel was incredibly dense and highly resistant. It seemed like it would easily cleave through a Level 3 variant without dulling.

More importantly, ist compact frame was perfectly optimized for the instantaneous, jarring shifts of his [Teleportation]. He could now flash behind a target and execute a lethal, deep thrust into a throat or other vital points before the enemy could even register him. It was sharper, more durable, and infinitely more dependable than the basic spear.

Michael’s lips curved into a dark, intense grin. Anyone peering into the shadows of the upper tiers at that moment would have mistaken him for a manic child who had just been handed the most dangerous, exhilarating toy in existence. The sheer surge of personal power humming through his hands was intoxicating. He would have loved nothing more than to test the edge of his new blade immediately, to find a lingering monster and feel the steel glide through bone and sinew.

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Yet, as quickly as the elation arrived, his discipline forcibly suppressed it. He had to satisfy his curiosity first. He had a weapon, yes, but he had also just discovered the true, demanding nature of the System’s manufacturing costs. A massive question mark still lingered over the other sections of the directory.

*If raw physical weapons require such a high concentration of material,* Michael reasoned, his analytical gaze shifting back toward the floating blue screen. *Then what happens when the manufacturing process involves complex, reality-bending enchantments?*

He recalled his earlier inspection of the *Items* section, specifically the accessories—the rings, necklaces, and bracelets that offered multifaceted utility, percentage-based reductions in mana consumption, and passive environmental awareness.

„I hope I am wrong,“ Michael muttered under his breath, his eyes narrowing as he tapped his stained fingers against the pommel of his new blade. „But if stronger items scale purely based on material mass and enchantment complexity… then accessories with active magical effects must be astronomically demanding.“

He navigated back to the accessory list, his heart hardening as the refreshed directory populated his vision.

His darkest tactical fears were instantly, brutally validated.

The pricing column for even the most basic jewelry was staggering. The numbers didn’t start at five or ten crystals. The absolute lowest baseline tier began at a whopping **50 Mana Crystals**, scaling rapidly all the way up to **1,000 Mana Crystals** for the high-end pieces currently visible at his level limit.

Michael immediately clicked on the cheapest available option—a simple, unadorned band listed for 50 crystals. Ist description was laughably basic: *“Equipped body part experiences a minor reduction in gravitational drag, allowing it to move faster and feel lighter.”*

Michael stared at the screen, the cold reality of the new world economy pressing down on his chest with seismic force.

*Fifty crystals,* he calculated, his mind spinning through the brutal logistics. *Fifty different, lethal monster kills just to purchase a passive speed boost on a single wrist or ankle. My entire wealth—the staggering hoard of 180 crystals that I obtained by systematically gutting every single fallen beast across an entire sector of the Audimax—is barely worth anything.*

This realization changed everything. His perceived wealth, accumulated after surviving waves of relentless slaughter, evaporated into nothingness in a matter of seconds. After purchasing his shortsword for 100 crystals, he was left with a meager balance of 80. He could barely afford a single, low-tier ring before completely bankrupting himself. The absolute monopoly he thought he had secured over the local economy was merely a microscopic head start in an endless, hyper-inflationary grind.

The survival paradigm had shifted once again. To fully outfit himself with high-tier, synchronized gear that complemented his spatial magic, he wouldn’t need hundreds of crystals. He would need thousands. He would need tens of thousands. The sheer volume of slaughter required to fuel his ascension meant that he could never afford to stop and never afford to rest. He absolutely needed to hoard many crystals as he could before the masses of survivors down below and in the rest of the world discover the true value of the grotesque shards hidden within the corpses.