How much?
30 million Valis?
The moment Lady Hephaestus finished speaking, Ronan's brain froze. His eyes went dull.
But a moment later, he snapped out of it. Using quick mental math, he immediately calculated how far that enormous amount of money could take him.
30 million Valis meant 30 chances to break his potential limits.
Among his five basic abilities, excluding Magic, the other four needed to reach 900+ points. To do that, each one needed 7 breakthroughs. 4 abilities × 7 = 28 times. His Magic already had a higher base, so it only needed 5 breakthroughs to reach 900+.
Total: 28 + 5 = 33 times!
In other words, he needed 33 million Valis to push all his potential limits to 900+!
Seeing Ronan's expression keep changing while he stayed silent, Hephaestus thought he was dissatisfied with the price.
"40 million Valis."
"?"
The Goddess spoke casually, but her words hit him like a heavy hammer. He felt dizzy and completely lost the ability to think.
"Let's make it 45 million."
The Goddess of Forging sounded as calm as if she were talking about the weather.
"I don't care about a small amount of money like this. Since it's a rare research material, that price should be fair. What do you think?"
Ronan still did not react. Tsubaki, who knew him well by now, sighed and covered her face. This guy had clearly been stunned by the money bomb her Goddess had just dropped on him.
"Tch!" She stepped forward and stomped hard on Ronan's foot.
"Ow!" The sharp pain made Ronan gasp. He immediately came back to his senses.
He looked up at the Goddess and nodded frantically. His voice cracked with excitement. "45 million! I'm satisfied! Very satisfied!"
"Heh, then it's a pleasure doing business with you," Hephaestus said with a small nod.
"A pleasure!" Ronan's voice was still shaking.
With the deal settled, Hephaestus chatted with them for a moment, then quickly headed back to headquarters. She did not waste time. To her, a 45-million-Valis deal was as ordinary as a normal person buying bread.
Ronan watched the back of the incredibly rich Goddess disappear at the end of the alley. Only then did he feel like he was waking up from a dream.
"As expected of Lady Hephaestus. Just a little from her hand is enough to make me rich."
"Hey! What are you mumbling about, kid?" Tsubaki cut in rudely. "Now that we're done, get out of here. Don't just stand there blocking the way!"
"..."
Ronan carefully tucked the check worth an absurd amount of money close to his body. He walked out of the workshop with light steps, completely ignoring Tsubaki trying to throw him out.
"I'll be back in a few days to pick up my armor! See you!"
On the way home, Ronan did his best to keep a straight face. He did not want to show any weakness. On the surface, he still looked like an ordinary low-level adventurer who had a bit of luck in the Dungeon.
However, the wild pounding in his chest showed how excited he really was.
It was not until he stepped into his own yard and locked the door behind him that he finally felt safe. Back in his own private space, he let out a long, shaky breath.
Gulp, gulp...
He sat down on the stone bench, grabbed a cup of ice water, and drank it all in one go, trying to cool off his excitement.
Then he could not wait any longer and called up his Status panel.
"45 million Valis, plus the 12,000 EXP I saved from six months of hard work..."
"Activate my unique talent!"
"System, show me your limit!"
"Add points!"
As soon as he shouted that, Ronan's finger blurred. He tapped the plus sign again and again like a madman. His savings and EXP bar dropped at a terrifying speed. In only a short moment, he reached his goal.
After spending 33 million Valis and 3,300 EXP, his Status section had changed completely.
Status:
Strength: G223 | Potential Limit: S923
Endurance: G266 | Potential Limit: S966
Dexterity: G278 | Potential Limit: S978
Agility: G258 | Potential Limit: S958
Magic: E489 | Potential Limit: S989
At a glance, all his potential limits had broken through their old chains and reached the S rank.
Breaking the bottleneck meant the door to the future had been thrown wide open. His abilities now had enormous room to grow. It was completely possible for him to reach the peak of this stage.
Of course, potential was only potential. Not everyone could turn 100% of their potential into real stats.
Turning 70% to 80% of it into actual stats already made someone a rare genius.
Those who could turn 100% into real stats were monsters. People like that had insane talent, worked brutally hard, had terrifying willpower, and followed clear goals without wavering.
Ronan did not think he was that kind of person. He did not have some obsession that made him want to give up everything and throw himself at a single goal no matter the cost.
"Luckily, I have a cheat."
"Awesome!"
Ronan jumped up in excitement and punched the air three times.
"I used 3,300 EXP, so I still have about 8,600 left. I'll stop here for now."
"As for the stats..."
He thought for a moment, then shook his head.
"I won't waste my remaining EXP and money on adding points directly."
"My current ability scores are still low. I can raise them naturally and quickly through training and real combat. Plus, I still have the help of Sharp Mind..."
"When my numbers get close to the limit and natural growth slows down, I'll use my precious EXP and money to fill in the rest. That's the smartest way to use my resources."
"This will save me a huge amount of money."
After these two tests, Ronan had finally figured out the system's formula for adding points:
Breaking Potential Limits (per 100 points of potential): costs 100 EXP + 1 million Valis. Increasing Ability Scores Directly (per 1 point): costs 1 EXP + 10,000 Valis.
With his current potential limits, if he wanted to max out all his stats immediately, he would need to spend another 3,300 EXP and 33 million Valis.
Ronan simply could not afford a cost like that.
EXP and money were his most important resources. Even Development Abilities could be upgraded this way.
But the price of 10,000 EXP and 100 million Valis per level was enough to make him stop and think.
"I'm really lucky I ran into Lady Hephaestus..." Ronan thought with a shiver. "If I had taken this to some random merchant or a Guild appraiser, they would have cheated me dry."
This was the power of knowledge, judgment, and connections. Ronan understood that very clearly. Besides exploring the Dungeon to survive and get stronger, he had never stopped studying.
But in the end, he was still only a Level 1 low-level adventurer. There was a lot of higher-level information and hidden knowledge he still could not reach.
"It looks like... I need to spend more time at the Babel library and the Guild archives. This time was a real lesson," he warned himself.
After spending a huge amount of money for this upgrade, Ronan's excited thoughts finally calmed down a little.
He finished the remaining water in his cup and forced himself to cool off. Then he stood up, went back inside, spread all his remaining assets across the table, and began counting:
"The drop items sold for 150,000. After taking out 30,000 for the armor repairs, that leaves 120,000."
"Yesterday's income was 6,700. I paid 5,000 for Airmid's treatment, so that's 1,700 Valis."
"My previous savings were 1,500 Valis."
"Plus the 12 million I kept in reserve after giving the rest to the system..."
"Total assets: 12,123,200 Valis."
As he played with the coins in his hand, Ronan began thinking about his next move.
"Now that I can use magic, my combat style is shifting from that of a swordsman to that of a mage. My old short sword is ruined too. I already have the blueprint for a staff, and I also have that Great Holy Tree Branch. I'll use part of my savings to commission a custom staff."
All resources existed to make him stronger.
"Tch, plans really do change."
Originally, commissioning a custom staff had not even been part of his plan for this period.
He had never expected to become this rich out of nowhere. It had completely caught him off guard.
"If I have a good staff, then against monsters with the same level of threat as a War Shadow, my Burn spell could fire at full power right away. I wouldn't need to charge it for a third of a second just to increase the damage."
"Then that's the plan. But for a custom staff..."
A real problem appeared, and Ronan's face stiffened.
"I need to find a mage. I don't have any connections in that area."
"Sigh... what a pain."
Feeling limited, Ronan ran his fingers through his hair until it became messy. The frustration was obvious on his face.
This was one of the biggest weaknesses of not having a large Familia behind him.
In an old, powerful Familia, you had connections, logistics, experienced seniors to guide you, broader vision, and access to hidden information. Small Familias simply could not compare.
"I have no choice. I have to go to the Wheat Hall."
"I need to find that woman."