Chapter 158 - Grandiose Goals

Based on Ryan's calculations, if they don't stop, the survivors alongside Alissa will arrive at the military base in a little more than sixty hours. Although Ryan could reach the place faster than then, he still had to stop and check things with the desert wolf he left guarding another dungeon near Las Vegas. Regardless, Ryan still forced himself to summon a slime and make the monster attack his salamander. When the monster's mana ran out, Ryan bought a potion and poured it over the creature. He did that many times for several hours…

Congratulations! The skill Summon Slime has leveled up.

Summon Slime Lv 1 ➞ Lv 11

Effect: It grants you the power to summon a slime.

Cost: 250 mana

You obtained 01 status point.

"I guess this is enough."

Ryan had to spend twenty thousand coins in mana potions to make the skill reach that level, but at the same time, he also made his salamander learn some elemental resistances and level them up. So, if anything, that had been a good investment. Based on the slime status, Ryan confirmed that the monster's strength was equal to the ordinary slimes spawned by that dungeon. Meaning, his slimes could face level eleven slimes spawned by the dungeon. It wasn't his current goal, but at least that taught Ryan some things.

"Let's see what I can buy with this… not a single weapon here is at the same level of my bow, sword, and spear. This is a pity. Let's see what tomes I can get…"

Unlike the weapons section, the tomes session was quite weird. The tomes sold there were quite expensive. Some of them cost exactly the same amount of coins that he had. That raised some questions in Ryan's head, but he understood one thing. All types of skills could be learned using tomes, as long as he had enough coins to pay for them.

Regardless, even though there were some spells Ryan could learn, he didn't find many that could fit his fighting style. He also confirmed that the Telekinesis tome was very expensive… hopefully, if he saves his coins and adds them with the ones he is probably going to receive by finding his desert wolf, it would be enough. However, was it really worth spending so many coins on a single skill? Ryan's luck hasn't been impressive as of late, but there is always a chance that he might get that tome. After all, he was slaying monsters day and night.

"Speaking of drops, I don't see many of them here…" 

There were some items inside the dungeon, but they weren't that valuable. Still, considering the number of days which his salamander stayed there, Ryan imagined he would find a lot more. Maybe its low luck was the cause of it, or maybe just like some monsters disappear after dying after a while, the items also disappear. That was unreasonable, but complaining won't change anything.

"For some reason, all the monsters that Alissa kills never disappear… is it because they always explode when she attacks?"

Ryan insisted on finding some useful tomes, but most of the ones he found were offensive spells that only would be useful in the hands of those who stupid amounts of mana. Considering the utility of his elemental manipulations, Ryan decided to look for the improved version of those spells, but he didn't find them. It probably would be more costly, but it would be awesome if Ryan could create the elements using his mana alone.

"Not good… I am not finding anything that will be useful for the fighting style I am developing… I guess I just need to keep working hard and hope that eventually, I will find something useful in the shop."

Just when Ryan was about to give up and move on, he found a single tome that would, without a doubt, help him quite a bit. However, the cost was insane. Fortunately, it was a passive skill, so Ryan would be able to level it up without worrying about mana.

Improved Concentration Tome

Effect: Passively increases your dexterity by five points per level.

Price: 300.000 coins

"Oh, well… who cares about this imaginary money," Ryan said. "I can't let something like that get in my way."

Although Ryan said that, he spent several seconds forcing his finger to buy the tome. As expected, Ryan was really greedy, and just having a massive number of coins was enough to make him feel good even though the numbers by themselves didn't have any use aside from buying things.

Ryan left the dungeon and then filled his backpack with mana and stamina potions. It was midnight, and he wanted to arrive in Las Vegas before sunrise. In fact, he wanted to finish all his business there and leave before sunrise since, in that area, he couldn't do anything aside from using Earth Manipulation to hide from dragons.

"I also need to tame two other monsters… harpies don't have much durability, so they are a no. As for the Earthworms… I would rather avoid them. My only options are the desert wolves and salamanders again."

Although Ryan could have reached Las Vegas in time with his speed alone, he didn't because he found several problems along the way… surprisingly enough, he found ten dragons along the way to Las Vegas. Apparently, dragons were also nocturnal creatures. Since they were getting on his nerves by delaying his plans, Ryan considered more than once killing those bastards, but in the end, he controlled his instincts since all those dragons were stronger than the red dragon he faced before.

"Let's steadily build my strength, and then one day, I will kill every single of those fuckers with a single attack."

Now more than ever, Ryan was greedy, but once he recognized that he was that kind of person, that didn't bother him anymore. If anything, it was nice to have those grandiose goals… even though they might lead him to his death one day.