The upper floor of Alfa Station was nothing like the bustling decks below.
As Ery passed through the transition gate, the air itself seed to change—lighter, crisper, tinged with the faint hum of regulated formations. Before him stretched an entire suspended city, carved into the crown of the massive station. Hundreds of towers rose skyward, so disappearing into the glittering veil of the do, their surfaces alive with cascading arrays of neon light. Wide avenues sparkled with rivers of suspended vehicles and footbridges woven like threads of silver, while holographic banners blood across the skyline, advertising everything from rare entertainnt houses to luxurious arenas.
To Ery, who had once wandered this place forty years ago, it felt almost nostalgic.
At the very center of the crown city lood a massive do that dwarfed even the tallest towers. Its surface shimred with a lattice of starlight, constantly shifting like the galaxy itself. This was his destination: The Alfa Stellar Imperium, the most prestigious store in the station.
Without pause, Ery soared directly toward the do. The mont he stepped into its boundaries, a figure approached with graceful precision, her smile practiced, her tone polite.
"Welco to Alfa Stellar Store. Thank you for your visit today. I am Xiana 52, and I will serve you for the day. How may I assist you?"
The woman’s appearance was flawless—pale skin without blemish, hair gleaming with a tallic sheen, her uniform pristine white trimd with gold. Even the cadence of her voice felt engineered.
"I’d like to see your most exclusive collection."
At once, Xiana’s expression shifted. A subtle change crossed her pupils—sothing chanical, scanning, analyzing. Her tone softened, yet a trace of authority threaded through it as another figure approached. This second woman was nearly identical, only slightly older in her features, her uniform marked by a different crest.
"Mister Ambrose," she said, her voice smooth as glass. "I am Xiana-3. Please allow to personally escort you."
It beca clear what Ery was dealing with. These attendants were not ordinary employees—they were advanced cybernetic clones, embedded with high-grade artificial intelligence. The one before him had not only identified his face but cross-referenced his records in seconds.
How much had she uncovered? His na, his apothecary certification, perhaps even fragnts of his purchase history. The thought left a faint unease, though he masked it behind a nod.
"Lead the way."
They moved together into a cylindrical tube that carried them upward in silence. When the capsule doors opened, Ery found himself in front of a massive gate guarded by two figures. Both radiated the presence of Grand Magus—though only at an early stage of one cosmos, their bearing was unshakable. Formations layered the floor and walls like invisible chains. Even a Supre Magus would think twice before misbehaving here.
With a flick of her hand, Xiana 3 commanded the gate to open. The doors parted, revealing a vast hall bathed in pale light.
Rows of transparent displays stretched across the chamber, each one sealed behind layers of enchanted glass and formation locks. Ery’s eyes swept the room, and for a heartbeat, he was reminded of Karat’s golden vault. None of the treasures were below tier 6. Materials of strange hues shimred beside relics and tos bound in unknown scripts.
Ery began to walk, his gaze scanning. A few caught his eye.
[Iron Will Puppet — Tier 6, Top Grade — 180 million spirit stones]
The construct stood motionless, its body carved from dense blacksteel alloy. Compact yet heavy, the fra was built for endurance, while its chest contained a core of shifting silver gears that ticked with chanical precision. A single command could unleash a warrior that fought tirelessly, its strength rivaling that of a cosmos-realm fighter. Though a grand magus–level puppet held little personal use for Ery, he still considered its worth. A guardian of this caliber could serve as another powerful defender for Earth.
[Chromacircle Rings — Tier 6, Top Grade — 200 million spirit stones]
Four slender bands of rainbow-forged tal spun slowly within their seal, glimring like liquid prisms. Each ring resonated with a different elental force. Wielded separately, they functioned as potent spirit weapons. Combined, they ford a restrictive array capable of binding enemies in multicolored chains of elental energy.
There were several worthy blades on display—so rivaling his Emberfla or his newfound Frostveil—but Ery had little interest in acquiring another tier-6 sword. He had yet to fully grasp the combined strength of the two he already possessed, and adding another would only distract from mastering them.
Instead, his attention shifted to two more unusual items. The first was a quiver of arrows.
[Wyrmheart Teeth — Tier 6, Top Grade — 150 million spirit stones]
There were only five arrows within, yet each radiated a dreadful aura that prickled against his skin. Their shafts seed to whisper with ancient malice, for sealed within them were fragnts of wyrm souls—the lingering consciousness of godly beasts from primordial bloodlines. Drawn to a bow and released, even a single arrow carried the destructive might of a tier-8 strike, its trajectory guided by the bound wyrm’s will. Such weapons were more than arrows; they were calamities given form.
The second was a unique looking staff.
[Stormcaller — Tier 6, Top Grade —200 million spirit stones]
Even contained within the glass case, the weapon exhaled a faint static hum. Tiny arcs of lightning crawled across the silver engravings carved into its shaft, their glow hinting at the power within. What caught Ery’s attention most was not the staff power but the inheritance sealed inside—a legacy of insights into the Law of Lightning. That knowledge alone made it priceless, inflating its worth far beyond what its craftsmanship might otherwise demand.
These last two items were not ant for him, Ery decided, but for his companions back on Earth. Chumo and Klea.
Fortunately, top-grade items drew less competition, and their prices had not surged as sharply.
Ery let out a quiet breath. The profits from selling pills in Tartarus had brought him billions, though much of it had already been reinvested in rare materials unseen in the Magus Universe. Combined with what he had stripped from Kronos’s vault, his fortune now stood at a staggering 2,4 billion spirit stones.
Enough to easily claim all four treasures before him.
And yet... caution whispered at the back of his mind. He could not recklessly pour all the hard-earned wealth of Earth into tier-6 artifacts, no matter how enticing.
Resolving to asure his next steps carefully, Ery turned toward the attendant.
"Show your tier-7 collection."
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