The First Store System

Chapter 1001: Reward!

As the sun set and the store turned empty, Aakesh stood up from his chair and closed the gate, bringing an end to a productive day for the store.

[Host, the reward has been provided. Please check!]

The next moment, the system's emotionless, mechanical voice rang inside his head, informing him.

Aakesh smiled and then proceeded toward the room. Earlier, there were four empty shelves inside the room, but that situation had now changed. Now, two of them were filled to the brim with different types of cultivation arts, while three were empty.

Aakesh went to the newly restocked shelf and pulled out one cultivation art.

[Name- The Mountain and Sea Art,

Grade- Higher grade,

Type: Qi-cultivation system,

Details: In the Mountain and Sea Art, the cultivator uses Qi to have the strength of a mountain in their fist while having the agility of crossing the sea in a single jump.

Users: Divine Lord and True God.

Price: 500 higher Sacred stones.]

Aakesh didn't seem surprised when he saw the Mountain and Sea Art. He had already gotten accustomed to the art being it when he checked it.

Aakesh then summoned the virtual book associated with the cultivation art and read some of its contents. Even though Aakesh's cultivation was low, he could still understand much of the concept, courtesy of the system telling him vast knowledge about the world.

Aakesh then placed the page back inside the shelf, and the virtual book disappeared in no time.

"Let's go!" Aakesh said after exiting the room and stepping into the hall.

The next moment, a white light covered him and Lily, who was sitting on his head.

The light disappeared as quickly as it had arrived, and with it, Aakesh and Lily also entered the selection area.

Lily jumped from his head and went to her usual training environment. Aakesh went to the weapon section and closed all his senses. He then randomly picked up a weapon from the area.

After he had the weapon, Aakesh went to the selection section and pressed the switch while selecting the training environment.

The next moment, the space around him cracked into a portal and sucked him inside.

All senses returned to Aakesh as he found himself in the familiar battle arena, with a blue screen popping out in front of him.

Aakesh first looked at the weapon in his hands. It was a Halberd.

The Halberd looked majestic and terrifying at the same time. The blade was made from a black metal that was produced when a Dragon's heart was forged. Its edges gleamed with sharp, ethereal light, announcing to the world that it could cut through even space.

The halberd's shaft was forged from a collection of rare and precious metals. It glistened like gold and made the weapon look more stately. At its pinnacle, the shaft was crowned with a gleaming gem.

All in all, the weapon looked terrifying and majestic at the same time.

Since it was not Aakesh's first time using the halberd, he focused on the blue screen in front of him.

His fingers reflexively acted as he tapped on to start the battle from the first round. The next moment, the screen disappeared while a blue light covered the entire arena.

The following moment, when the light disappeared, it brought a second creature to the arena.

Aakesh looked at the creature and smiled since today's battle was going to be interesting.

Nefarious, a powerful member of the Demon race, was his opponent today. The creature's skin was jet black, its eyes were blazing red, and it sported a single, massive curved horn on its forehead. It was armed with a spear as well. The spear was glowing red like its eyes, creating an eerie atmosphere around it.

The Nefarious looked at Aakesh with a grin while its eyes had an unusual glow as if Aakesh was its prey. Aakesh didn't care about that and waited for the battle to begin.

BELL!

The next moment, a ringing sound rang in the area, announcing the start of the battle for the day.

The sound hadn't even subsided when Aakesh disappeared from his spot and appeared right above the Nefarious with the halberd slashing at it.

The creature's eyes glowed briefly before going dark, and its body fell to the ground, slashed in half vertically.

As for Aakesh, he reappeared in his previous spot, and finally, the sound of the bell completely disappeared.

The next moment, a blue light covered the entire arena while the familiar blue screen popped out in front of him.

Aakesh didn't waste any time and tapped to start the next round, and soon after, the familiar process repeated itself.

When the light disappeared, the Nefarious appeared in the arena. The previous grin was nowhere to be seen on its face, and a brutal expression had taken its place. Its eyes contained anger, and soon, the familiar bell sound rang in the arena.

The outcome repeated itself, as when the echo of the bell completely disappeared, the opponent had died too, announcing another victory for Aakesh.

The Nefarious was a top race of fighters, but unfortunately, the power gap between the current level it and Aakesh were such that no amount of skill, weapon, or talent could help them survive against Aakesh, let alone win or kill him.

Time flew by, and several minutes passed in the blink of an eye.

The battle continued to end instantly until the sixty-eighth round. In the sixty-ninth round, the Nefarious finally succeeded in forcing Aakesh to release more of his strength, and he died in the second strike.

In the seventy-eighth round, the battle ended with the first strike with improved strength.

Till the eighty-ninth round, Aakesh easily won over the opponent, and the opponent could only survive one or two strikes.

In the ninetieth round, the Nefarious was able to defend itself from the strike without getting injured for the first time.

In the ninety-sixth round, the Nefarious, for the first time, landed a strike on Aakesh.

In the ninety-eight round, the Nefarious, for the first time, succeeded in injuring Aakesh, It was even smaller than a cut, but still, it was the first blood drawn by the Nefarious.

In the one-hundredth round, the Nefarious succeeded in forcing Aakesh to release two-thirds of his strength. In the 107th round, the Nefarious managed to critically wound Aakesh with its spear.

The one hundred and tenth round was going on, with Aakesh and the Nefarious fighting it out.

The level still hadn't reached the point where Aakesh would be forced out to reveal his full strength, so he fought calmly.

The Nefarious, on the other hand, fought violently, as every loss was a shame on its race, and it wanted to win as quickly as possible.

Suddenly, the creature activated its ultimate skill, as it could see the previous results repeating if the battle continued.

The red-glowing spear seemed to glow even brighter while a whistling sound was ringing in the arena. It was a shrill sound; if anyone with weak mental strength were to hear it, they would lose themselves.

Since the opponent was using its ultimate skill, Aakesh also had to use one, or he might get injured from the attack.

The next moment, he transferred energy to the halberd, and the gem atop the shaft started glowing, and soon it exploded into a burst of radiant light. Aakesh then swung the weapon in a wide arc, releasing a barrage of destructive white energy, tearing through the arena, and charging at the Nefarious.

At the same time, the Nefarious swung its spear too, releasing a wave of red light.

The scene looked to be an apocalypse as the wave of red and white light clashed.

Even though the skill used by the Nefarious was its ultimate skill for the round, and the one used by Aakesh was only one of many, the white light seemed to be superior of the two.

The Nefarious didn't want to give up, so it pierced the spear right in its chest and swung the spear once again, with drops of jet-black blood melting into the red light, giving it and unprecedented momentum.

The Nefarious seemed to grow weak after that, as its body shook, but when it saw the red light finally eating out the white light, a grin spread across its face.

But the next moment, the grin on its face froze as it found the world turning upside down.

The red energy seemed to grow out of control as it began to raze everything in its path.

Aakesh swung the halberd once again, enforcing the white light.

When the red light disappeared from the arena, a blue light covered the entire battlefield, announcing another victory for Aakesh.

***

A/N: Sorry, only one chapter. It's my mother's birthday.

The mass release will be rescheduled to next Saturday, 18 February, with me adding another two chapters, making it a seven-chapter release.