Extra's Path: The Eternal Frost Monarch

Noah followed the corridor to the right.

It was shorter than he expected. Maybe thirty steps and he was there.

The trading window was a wide open room connected to the main corridor through a broad archway. It was simpler than the lobby. No polished floors or high ceilings here.

Just plain walls, bright overhead lighting, and a long counter running across the far side of the room divided into several sections, each one its own window.

A few men stood behind the counter, each handling their own section. Some were busy with customers. A couple were sorting through small containers lined up behind them on shelves, each one labeled and organized by rank.

Noah scanned the room.

One of the windows had just freed up. A man was walking away from it, tucking something into his coat pocket. Noah moved over before anyone else did.

The staff member behind that window was an ordinary-looking man. Middle-aged, square jaw, nothing particularly remarkable about him. He was not unfriendly. Or he wasn’t warm either. He was just there, doing his job like normal person.

He looked up as Noah approached.

"What can I do for you, Sir?"

"I’m looking to buy some monster mana cores," Noah said. "Mind if I ask about the prices first?"

"Go ahead."

Noah put both hands on the edge of the counter.

Here was the thing about mana cores. Every monster had one. When a monster died, the core it left behind still held mana inside it was compressed, raw, and dense.

For mana core awakened people at the lower levels, absorbing that mana was one of the most practical ways to push their own core forward.

One didn’t need to train for hours in a mana-thin room. They just needed a core, a quiet space, and enough focus to pull the energy in and cycle it through one’s own.

Though it also time consuming. But its better than normal meditation and absorbing mana from surrounding. It faster than that.

The problem was compatibility.

If the core’s mana density was too low, your body would absorb it and barely feel a thing. Waste of money. If it was too high, it risked destabilizing one’s own core trying to process it. Also a problem, but a much more painful one.

Noah was at Dormant Core, high grade. That put him right at the bottom edge of actually being useful to himself. F rank monster cores, the lowest tier were simply too weak.

The mana packed into an F rank core was thin and scattered. Absorbing one would be like trying to fill a bucket with a damp cloth. Technically something went in, but not enough to matter.

E rank cores were different.

"E rank cores," Noah said. "What’s the price on E-, E, and E+?"

The man reached under the counter and pulled out a tab, sliding it across. Price were written on them. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Noah looked it over.

’E− Core — 50,000 nova points/Zela’

The weakest of the E rank tier. Mana density was low but stable. Good for someone just crossing out of the F range, but for Noah at peak Dormant, they would work. Not efficiently, but they would work. One would need a lot of them.

E Core — 1,00,000 nova points/Zela

Standard E rank. Solid mana density. The kind most lower-level cultivators worked with when they had a proper budget. One of these was worth about two E minus cores in terms of actual usable mana, and the absorption was cleaner.

’E+ Core — 2,00,000 nova points/Zela’

The top of the E rank tier. Dense, concentrated mana. Much better yield per core. These were what serious mana users at his level actually wanted. One E plus core could do the work of two or three standard E cores if absorbed properly.

Noah studied the numbers quietly.

His budget was 500,000 nova. He had gotten them as reward. In Novaris city, nova points and zela were the same thing in practice. One to one, used interchangeably depending on whether a person were dealing with a guild system or a private seller.

500,000 nova sounded like a lot until you were standing in front of a trading window.

"What about D rank?" Noah asked. "Just so I know."

The man tapped a line further down on the sheet.

D− Core — 3,00,000 nova points/zela

D Core — 4,50,000 nova points/zela

D+ Core — 6,00,000 nova points/zela

Noah stared at those numbers for a second.

A single D rank core cost nearly all his entire budget. A D+ cross his budget, everything he had, for one core. One. And while D rank mana would have been significantly more powerful for his core, the gap in price was simply not realistic right now.

He exhaled quietly through his nose.

D rank was out. That was just the reality of it.

He looked back at the E rank section and did the math quickly in his head.

E plus cores were the best value if he wanted quality. At 200000 nova each, his 500,000 would get him two cores with a little left over. That was decent.

He made his decision.

"I’ll two standard E+ rank cores," he said. "Thirty of them."

The man nodded without any particular reaction. He turned to the shelves behind him and began pulling out a container, opening it to reveal rows of small cores lined up inside. Each one was about the size of a tennis ball, slightly translucent, with a faint inner glow that pulsed slowly like a dim heartbeat.

"Two E+ rank cores," the man said, counting them out into a separate carry case. "That comes to 4,00,000 nova points or zela."

Noah took out his mobile and send 4,00,000 nova points in one go.

The man processed it, slid the case across, and handed Noah a small receipt.

"Anything else?"

Noah picked up the case and looked at the cores through the transparent lid for a moment. Thirty of them, sitting there quietly.

"No," he said. "That’s everything."

He tucked the case into his storage ring, folded the receipt, and turned to leave.

Two E+ rank cores.

It wasn’t much. But it was enough to get started.

’With this I can brokethrough. Also I can try taking some mission or visit dungeon once I brokethrough awakened core rank.’