[Disguise Mask]

Leaving the Oasis, he returned to the spot where old Ryan had died.

After looking around for a while, he spotted the mage's Staff he had overlooked.

It stood embedded in the Desert, its luster gone.

Only the gemstone at the tip of the Staff still gave off a faint glow.

The rest had been scorched by An Kai's Fireball until it resembled charcoal, ready to crumble at a touch.

Because the Staff was in such terrible shape, no description of it appeared before An Kai's eyes...

Silently lamenting the loss, he removed the gemstone from the tip of the Staff.

Once the gemstone was removed, a gust of wind scattered the Staff into a pile of debris.

Putting the gemstone away, An Kai moved to one side.

First, he used Freezing Spell to create an ice platform more than three meters long and two meters wide.

Then he sat on it and took all his spoils out of the [Storage Ring No. 1] on his hand...

Two Storage Rings and a grayish-white mask.

One ring came from Sally Bukelin, the other from old Ryan of the Bounty Tower.

Looking at the Storage Rings before him, An Kai felt as though he were about to open mystery boxes.

Excitement surged through him...

After hesitating for a few seconds, An Kai decided to open Sally Bukelin's Storage Ring first.

Sally Bukelin's Storage Ring held roughly six cubic meters of space.

As with other mages, books on magical analysis took up a large portion of the Storage Ring's space.

There were also books examining cultural curiosities and similar subjects.

An Kai rummaged through them. Just as he was growing bored, his eyes suddenly lit up!

"Analysis of Continental Languages"!

He hurriedly opened the book and finally found the answer he wanted on page 67!

"The Shak Language is used extremely frequently within the Shak Kingdom. Under its influence, some duchies under its jurisdiction have also chosen the Shak Language as their primary national language..."

Below this passage was an excerpt written in the Shak Language.

The writing in this excerpt of the Shak Language had the same feel as the text in the books An Kai had obtained in the Mage Tower!

An Kai had seen two characters from this passage in those books in the Mage Tower, where they had served as a title!

According to the explanation below, those two characters meant "Slaughter!"

He kept turning the pages, but the introduction to the Shak Language ended, giving way to another language.

"Not bad..." An Kai muttered with a smile.

Now that he had a target, he knew how to search.

It was far better than looking for a needle in a haystack.

An Kai put "Analysis of Continental Languages" into [Storage Ring No. 1], feeling that it might prove useful again someday.

After going through the books, he continued inspecting Sally Bukelin's Storage Ring. There was no money whatsoever.

He did, however, find thirty-eight Lower-grade Magic Stones.

Apart from those, there were only some of Sally Bukelin's personal clothes...

Some were underwear, others outerwear.

"Oh, so she wore lace!"

An Kai clicked his tongue, then left the clothes in the Storage Ring.

He moved the books into [Storage Ring No. 1].

Once he had put them inside, An Kai's [Storage Ring No. 1] was packed with all kinds of books.

Among them was the book he had obtained at the very beginning, which he had been unable to open no matter what he tried.

He suspected that the method for opening it lay with either Will-Bukelin or Sally Bukelin.

After all, he had obtained it from the mayor of the Nameless Town.

That fellow had ties to the Booklin royal family!

But he was in no hurry to open it. Until he determined the dead mayor's identity, An Kai would not reveal these things.

After sorting through Sally Bukelin's Storage Ring, An Kai clicked his tongue.

The emptiness inside the Storage Ring only further demonstrated how far Princess Sally Bukelin had fallen...

Though he had suspected as much, Sally Bukelin's poverty had still taught him a lesson.

Fortunately, he had learned [Summoning], a spell with sustainable returns, which made up for much of his loss.

At one use per day, [Summoning] would bring in around 3,000 gold coins in roughly nine years. Beyond that, its returns would exceed the bounty on Sally Bukelin herself.

For someone immortal like An Kai, [Summoning] was well worth it!

With that thought, An Kai exchanged his thirty-eight newly acquired Lower-grade Magic Stones for skill points, then invested them in [Summoning]!

[Skill points -38]

[Summoning proficiency +38]

[Summoning Lv5 "58/60"]

After checking, he confirmed that his pet-summoning level had also risen to Lv5.

An Kai was very satisfied.

At this rate, it would not take long to reach Lv11, the second tier.

Then he would be earning two skill points a day!

That would feel great!

Little did An Kai know just how enormous the difference was between his [Summoning] and everyone else's...

With all that done, An Kai opened the Storage Ring belonging to Ryan of the Bounty Tower.

It contained only about three cubic meters of space.

The moment he opened it, An Kai's face fell!

The Storage Ring was completely empty!

There was nothing inside!

This made it perfectly clear that the old bastard Ryan had intended to rob him from the outset!

He had deserved his death!

Fortunately for Ryan, his corpse had been burned to ashes. Had it remained, An Kai would certainly have beaten it a few times to vent his anger!

He put Ryan's Storage Ring away. Besides the [Storage Ring No. 1] he wore, An Kai now had five Storage Rings lying quietly inside it.

Those Storage Rings alone would fetch a decent price...

Having finished opening his mystery boxes, An Kai picked up the grayish-white mask from the ground...

[Disguise Mask: Lv1]

[Quality: ordinary]

[Requirements: endurance 80, stamina 80.]

[Note: put it on, and you will gain a brand-new life!]

The system description made An Kai's eyes light up!

A mask of [ordinary] quality could already be considered a "treasure" in the Desert!

The Staff that old bastard Dong Lin had treasured was of [ordinary] quality.

Beyond its quality, An Kai cared even more about its effects!

It had dropped from Ryan's body, and even his Fireball had failed to melt it.

That alone demonstrated how resistant its material was.

In his hand, it was as light as a delicate wing and slightly cool to the touch.

After careful consideration, An Kai put it on his face.

Once he had it on, the instructions for using the [Disguise Mask] appeared in An Kai's mind...

With a thought, the face of a middle-aged man with a full beard appeared over An Kai's own...

He cast [Freezing Spell], shaping the ice into a round mirror according to his wishes...

An Kai looked at his face...

"Haha! Looking at my face alone, Widow Wang would never be able to tell me apart from Hanks!"

The [Disguise Mask] lifted An Kai's spirits.

This mask had arrived at just the right time, meeting his needs perfectly...

"The Bounty Tower really is full of good people!"

"Will did a great job!"

After muttering those two remarks, An Kai headed toward the Oasis with a smile...

He had only taken one step when a notification suddenly appeared...

[Attribute points +1]

An Kai grinned. That fellow Will was even better than he had thought!

Thanks to Book Title 13733 for the tip, and thanks to Rice Eater for the monthly vote.