Succubus World - Start with Incubus System

About an hour or so later, Erik stood before the full-length mirror in the equipment fitting room, looking at the man reflected inside and for a moment not recognizing himself.

On his body was a black combat suit tailored to hug his frame, with a long silver-gray coat draped over the outside. It didn’t look too heavy on the surface, but every thread of the fabric was woven from the silk of the Silver Demon Spider, cut-resistant, fire-resistant, and able to absorb part of any impact force.

Beneath the layer of clothing was also a suit of soft armor assembled from thousands of thin metal scales. Each scale was only about the size of a fingernail, layered over one another yet without hindering movement. According to the female staff member, even if he were struck head-on by a Silver-grade monster, this layer of armor could protect his vital parts.

The combat boots on his feet had the ability to resist slipping, cushion impact, and automatically adjust his center of gravity, and were also engraved with a magic array that helped boost his movement speed for a short period.

The gloves could protect his fingers from toxins and high temperatures.

The belt contained twelve small space compartments, specially used to retrieve potions, food, along with emergency items during combat.

Even the clear glasses worn over Erik’s eyes weren’t decorative items. They could detect heat sources, magnify his field of vision, and issue a warning when a creature bearing malice entered within a twenty-meter range.

It didn’t stop there. By his ear was also a magic communication device that could maintain a connection with Elowen across the entire scope of a beginner Trial Space.

Erik silently looked at himself in the mirror.

He had the feeling that right now, even if he did nothing and just stood still in the forest, the pack of monsters that saw him would have to think about whether they should turn tail and flee.

The female manager standing behind him smiled and asked in a soft voice:

"How do you find it, sir?"

Erik tried raising his arm, then turned his body a few times.

The equipment hugged his body tight yet gave no sense of heaviness at all. On the contrary, each time he moved, the inner layers of material automatically stretched and contracted, making his movements feel lighter.

"Very comfortable."

The female manager immediately lowered her head.

"This is the best equipment currently suited to your body’s condition."

She paused slightly, then explained further:

"Because you still haven’t opened the Heaven Gate and can’t yet circulate mana, higher-grade equipment would create too great a burden. Some equipment also requires the user to supply energy to keep it running."

"This set mainly uses self-operating magic arrays along with pre-installed Energy Crystals. Even without mana, sir, you can still use all of its functions."

Erik nodded.

In other words, this was only a starter set of equipment meant for someone who hadn’t truly stepped onto the path of cultivation yet.

But when he looked at the number displayed on the price tag, the corner of his mouth immediately twitched.

Two hundred and eight million credit points.

The clothing on his body alone had already exceeded two hundred million.

Five years of working without eating or sleeping, and he could only earn about five million credit points. And yet right now, Elowen had spent a little over an hour to drape over him an amount of assets equal to more than two hundred years of labor income.

Erik turned his head to look at her.

Elowen was sitting on a sofa not far away, her legs pressed together, her spine straight, her two hands resting gently on her knees. From beginning to end she still kept that gentle expression, as if two hundred million was just a number not worth mentioning.

Erik lowered his voice and asked:

"Elowen, isn’t this set a bit too expensive?"

"It’s not expensive."

Elowen answered without the slightest hesitation.

"It’s over two hundred million."

"Yes."

"That’s over two hundred million credit points."

"I know."

Erik looked at her calm expression and finally understood that the phrase "not expensive" in the mouth of a rich person was completely different from the "not expensive" he had known.

For Erik, not expensive was a meal with a thirty percent discount.

For Elowen, not expensive seemed to mean not enough to make her pay attention to her account balance.

He lowered his head to look at the equipment once more, comforting himself inside.

They would be entering the Trial Space tomorrow anyway.

The better the equipment, the higher the chance of survival.

With the rank SSS Primordial Incubus talent along with the Incubus System, as long as he could smoothly open the Heaven Gate, his future would surely not be lacking in opportunities to earn money.

This sum could be regarded as an initial investment.

Later on he would definitely pay Elowen back many times over.

Thinking of that, Erik finally reluctantly accepted the equipment on his body.

He was just about to say it was enough when the door to the reception room opened again.

Two female staff members respectfully stepped in.

The one walking in front lifted a long tray with both hands. Spread across the tray was a layer of black velvet, and neatly arranged on top were one hundred small dark red beads.

Each one was only a little larger than a fingertip, its surface glossy like glass. Inside the bead, orange-red sparks continuously circulated, like a small fire trapped inside.

Erik looked at them, and an ominous premonition immediately rose in his heart.

The female staff member set the tray down in front of him and lowered her head.

"Sir, these are one hundred Elite-grade Detonation Beads."

Erik knitted his brows slightly.

"Detonation Beads?"

"That’s right."

The female staff member gently picked one up and carefully introduced it:

"After completing the recognition binding, you only need to transmit a single thought into it, and you can activate it and throw it toward a target."

"Each bead contains power equivalent to a full-force attack from an Elite-grade Mage."

The room suddenly went quiet.

Erik looked at the small bead in her hand.

Then he looked at the remaining hundred on the tray.

Finally, he slowly lifted his head.

"A full-force strike from an Elite grade?"

"That’s right."

"In each one?"

"That’s right."

Erik’s mouth fell open, but for a few seconds he couldn’t produce a single sound.

The Awakened rank system in this world was divided into Black Iron, Bronze, Iron, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Elite, King, and Emperor.

Elite wasn’t the highest rank.

Above it there were still the King grade along with the Emperor grade, existences with enough power to hold down an entire vast region, and even to decide the survival of a city.

But that didn’t mean the Elite grade was weak.

An Awakened who reached that level had already completely surpassed the scope of an ordinary human. As long as they truly erupted with full force, leveling a city block wasn’t a difficult matter.

For an Elite-grade Mage specializing in offense, the strongest move had at least the destructive power equivalent to one-fifth of a standard-scale atomic bomb.

One-fifth of an atomic bomb.

And right now, before Erik, there were one hundred beads.

One hundred!

If he threw all of these Detonation Beads at the same spot, forget about clearing the first Trial Space.

Perhaps the entire Trial Space would be flattened by him before the mission even had time to appear.

Erik stared stiffly at the tray, feeling as if his mind had also stopped working.

Was this preparation to clear a trial?

Or preparation to launch a war on the world inside?

He turned to Elowen, intending to ask her whether she felt this quantity was a bit excessive.

But before Erik could speak up, the door opened once more.

Two other female staff members stepped in, each also carrying a tray.

The first tray was filled with pale yellow talismans. On each talisman were complex, interwoven silver magic lines, and one glance was enough to feel the powerful defensive energy circulating inside.

The female staff member respectfully explained:

"These are one hundred Diamond-grade Defensive Talismans."

"Each one can automatically activate when the user meets danger, with enough power to block the strongest attack from a Diamond-grade monster."

Erik: "..."

The strongest strike from a Diamond-grade monster.

One hundred talismans.

That meant that unless one hundred Diamond-grade monsters lined up and used their strongest moves on him one after another, it would be very hard to break through the entire layer of defense.

And the first Trial Space, meant for those who hadn’t opened the Heaven Gate, forget about Diamond-grade monsters, for a Bronze-grade monster to appear was already something far beyond normal.

Erik felt that the equipment worth over two hundred million on his body suddenly became a lot more ordinary.

The remaining female staff member also set down her tray.

On it were one hundred sky-blue talismans, each one giving off a faint spatial fluctuation.

"These are one hundred Emergency Teleportation Talismans."

"After activation, they can instantly bring the user out of the Trial Space and back to the nearest safe zone."

"The talisman will automatically activate when it detects that the user’s life is in fatal danger. You can also actively activate it with a thought, sir."

Erik looked at the blue talismans before him.

The Trial Space wasn’t a place one could enter and leave as they pleased.

Normally, a participant could only leave after completing a mission, finding an exit gate, or using extremely rare teleportation items.

A single Teleportation Talisman was enough to become a life-saving trump card that countless Awakened fought over.

Many families were willing to sell their homes, take on debt, and even spend an entire lifetime of savings just to buy one for their children before their first entry into a Trial Space.

But here, before Erik, there were one hundred.

They were arranged neatly on the tray like a stack of discount flyers handed out at the entrance of a shopping mall.

Elite-grade Detonation Beads.

Diamond-grade Defensive Talismans.

Emergency Teleportation Talismans.

Any one of these, just casually taking out a single one, was already sky-high in value. For the majority of Awakened, they were all life-saving items they didn’t dare use except in the very final moment.

But Elowen had prepared one hundred of each kind for him.

Erik sat still on the sofa, looking at the three trays in front of him, feeling his worldview being shattered bit by bit by money.

The female manager respectfully asked:

"Miss, is there any other item you’d like to add?"

Elowen didn’t answer right away.

She stood up, walked over beside the three trays, then carefully inspected each type of item.

First the Detonation Beads.

Then the Defensive Talismans.

Finally the Teleportation Talismans.

Her expression was so serious that she looked like a doctor examining medicines before carrying out an important surgery.

Erik looked at her, still holding onto one last shred of hope inside.

Perhaps Elowen would feel that one hundred Detonation Beads was too dangerous.

Or she would realize that one hundred Teleportation Talismans was completely unnecessary.

After all, each entry into the Trial Space only required using one to flee. Unless Erik planned to enter and leave that place a hundred times, bringing that many really was too wasteful.

After finishing her inspection, Elowen gently nodded.

"This should be barely passable."

Erik: "..."

Barely passable?

Equipment worth over two hundred million credit points.

One hundred full-force Elite-grade attacks.

One hundred layers of defense that could resist Diamond-grade monsters.

One hundred chances to instantly teleport out of the Trial Space.

That only counted as barely passable?

Erik really couldn’t comprehend the thinking of rich people.

The female manager seriously continued to ask:

"Do you need to prepare another hundred high-grade recovery potions?"

Elowen thought about it a little.

Erik immediately shot to his feet.

"No need!"

Every gaze in the room focused on him at the same time.

Erik drew in a deep breath, trying to keep his voice calm.

"There really isn’t any need. These things are already enough."

Elowen looked at him, worry surfacing in her eyes.

"But recovery potions are very important."

"I know."

"If you get hurt..."

"I have one hundred Defensive Talismans."

"But something unexpected could still happen."

"I also have one hundred Teleportation Talismans."

"What if the talismans get sealed?"

Erik pointed at the tray of Detonation Beads.

"Then I’ll throw these."

Elowen looked at the one hundred Detonation Beads and silently thought for a few seconds.

Then she gently nodded.

"That’s true too."

Erik finally let out a sigh of relief.

But right after, Elowen turned to the female manager again.

"Still prepare another ten recovery potions."

Erik: "..."

"Just ten bottles." Elowen gently took his hand, softly consoling him: "It won’t cost much money."

Erik looked at her serious face, and in the end no longer had the strength to argue back.

He suddenly understood something.

Ordinary people used money to buy equipment and increase their chances of survival when facing danger.

Elowen, meanwhile, used money to prepare to the point where danger, upon seeing him, would have to go find its own way to stay far away.

Tomorrow, would he really be entering a Trial Space?

Or bringing an entire military arsenal along to bully a bunch of beginner monsters?