Chapter 352 - 348: Aria
A semi-transparent screen opened in front of Ryder, which showed the store of the system.
The Screen had various items listed on it, which ranged from one point to Five Thousand Points.
"Janus, which skill did you talk about that could protect me against the onslaught of those invisible attacks? Tell me the price range where I can find it," Ryder asked Janus as he continues scrolling down. He didn't want to go through the description of all the items to find what item he could use for him.
<It's worth One Thousand Nine Hundred Origin Points, called Protection of Aria>
Janus answered Ryder and didn't ignore him.
"Protection of Aria?" Ryder muttered as he tried to find the skill.
Soon, he found the skill that was called the Protection of Aria.
He opened the description of the skill to understand it better.
[Protection of Aria]
[Description: The Skill of Goddess of Protection, Aria. Once used, it can make the user invulnerable to any harm for Sixty Seconds]
[Usage: The Protection of Aria can only be used once in a day, and its effects can last for sixty seconds]
"Protection of Aria, invulnerable to any harm? This is amazing," Ryder muttered as he smiled.
"Even though it can only last for Sixty Seconds, that's still pretty useful. Sixty Seconds is more than enough. I can use them for my benefits," Ryder let out.
He tapped on the skill and purchased it.
<You have Purchased the Protection of Aria. Do you wish to learn it instantly?>
<Cost of Instant Learning: Fifty Origin Points>
<Yes> <No>
"Fifty? Why is it so expensive? The last skill I learned cost only Five Origin Points? Are you inflating the price instantly because I need to use the skill instantly?" Ryder inquired with a suspicious look on his face.
<The last skill you learned was a low-level skill, so it didn't cost much>
Janus answered Ryder without taking much longer to think.
"Sigh, whatever. Take fifty origin points and give me the skill," Ryder answered in a low voice.
Ryder could feel a vast amount of information entering his brain. He could also feel some change taking place in his body. His blood was heating up. It was even starting to hurt him, but fortunately, it didn't cross his threshold.
Soon, the pain started going down, and his blood started getting cold. Previously it was getting hotter than normal, but now it was getting colder than normal.
With a shivering body, Ryder asked, "Janus, what is happening? Why is this skill making me sick?"
Janus didn't answer him even after a few seconds passed. His face was turning pale because of the freezing cold, but it stopped before it could get too extreme.
His temperature returned to normal slowly.
Finally, his body was feeling normal.
"Did this skill change something inside my body to be able to use it?" Ryder wondered, but he didn't waste any time thinking.
He still had fifty Origin Points remaining from the ones he has received. He decided to use them at the same time and purchased an item that he thought to be useful for him.
After he finished with everything, he started to walk towards the stairs to go down but stopped in his tracks before he could step in front of the stairs as he heard the sound of someone talking.
"This useless lift had to stop working right now. I hate stairs, but I have no choice. Those idiots will be getting a really big scolding for making me go through this."
Ryder heard the words.
Noticing that someone was coming up, he aimed his gun towards the stairs and stepped forward.
"Wha-"
A white-cloaked man was standing on the stairs. He grew shocked at the sight of a masked person suddenly appearing in front of him with a gun in his hand.
He couldn't even get a word out of his mouth before a bullet penetrated his head. His eyes were wide open.
Dropping down to his knees, dead, the man's body was about to roll downstairs, but it was stopped by Ryder, who placed his feet on the body of the man to stop him from falling down.
He picked up the body of the man and carried it up. Placing the body inside a room, he again went downstairs.
Bringing out the second gun from his inventory, he finally stepped on the fifth floor.
As soon as he stepped on the fifth floor, his eyes fell on three guards that were standing in the hallway. Two of the guards were looking away from him, whereas he happened to be in the direct line of view of the third guard.
The guard raised his weapon while opening his mouth to say something, but he appeared to be too slow compared to Ryder.
"Int-"
He had only managed to make a light noise before the bullet entered his head.
Even though the noise was light, this light noise had managed to attract the attention of the guards, but that small moment of lapse proved to be much more to Ryder, who used these few seconds to take aim and fire at one of the guards, leaving only one guard alive.
The last guard saw the dead bodies of his friends before he could see Ryder, which became his biggest mistake. He was overwhelmed at the sight of his dead mates to think of what to do.
His mind couldn't even come to a decision before he died in the eerie silence. Ryder walked over to each of the bodies and placed them in his inventory, leaving no clue here.
"If I was an evil scientist who had taken over this building, where would I keep the bombs. Come on, Ryder, Think. This building should have the same structure as my building, more or less. Where would the bombs be?" Ryder muttered as he looked to the two sides of the hallways, wondering which side to go to.
"Since it needs to be the right decision, let's go to the right first," he continued as he started walking towards the right side of the hallway. He stopped in front of the first room on the side.
"Just where is he? He is wasting my precious time!"
While Ryder stood outside the door, he was able to hear the voice from inside.
'There are people inside," Ryder mumbled as he placed his hand on the doorknob and slowly started opening it.
With a gentle click, the door was open.
He pushed it open and stepped inside the room.
Entering the room, He saw a man sitting on a chair. The man seemed to be old enough to be his grandfather, but he was sitting bare without any clothes covering his chest. Fortunately, he was still wearing pants.
"You're back? You brought the red shirt from my room, right? Next time don't spill a drink on me," the man said as he stood up.
"You even broke my glasses. Sigh, if only I had spare glasses in my room. Come, give me my shirt, it's cold. After that, go buy me some vision glasses." the man said to Ryder as he reached out his hand.
' So he can't see without his glasses? He seems like a harmless old man, but no person working for the uprising is ever harmless,' Ryder thought as he observed the man.
He also looked around the room and found it to be mostly empty. There were no bombs at sight.
"Come on, stop wasting my time, you trash! Give me my clothes!" the man thundered.
With a gentle sigh, Ryder turned back and started to leave.
Before opening the door, he moved his hand back and fired a shot without looking back.
The bullet left the gun, and shockingly it managed to hit the old man right on the head without looking back.
"I'm back, old man."
Just as Ryder opened the door, he saw a man standing on the other side who was holding a shirt in his hand.
"Wrong timing, dude," Ryder muttered as he smiled wryly.
Another bullet left the silent gun, but this time, it hit the heart of the man.
Ryder pulled the man and threw him inside the room before shooting at the head of the man as well. The second bullet was also spot on.
He moved over to the second room in the hallway and opened the door to look inside. The room happens to be entirely empty as well.
He walked over to the third room in the long hallway. He didn't know why, but as he reached close to the third hallway, he could feel his heart beating faster. He could feel a sense of danger from the third room.
He had a feeling that this was the right room. The bombs must be inside, he thought as he stood in front of the room.
He touched the doorknob of the third room and slowly opened the door.