After reading everything, Alex decides to take a look at the {Skill Gems} in the store. After looking around for a bit, he finally finds them. It's under the miscellaneous section in the store. With the countless types of items inside the store, he has missed them when he looked at the store in the past. He was only looking for skill books, equipment, and potions. There were other sections such as blueprints, raw materials, miscellaneous, and others that he only took a quick glance.

{Skill Gem - E}

{A gem that was specially crafted to hold skills. Able to store E-ranked skills and below. The number of charges that can be stored depends on the type of skill. One gem can only store one type of skill. To use the stored skill, one must hold this gem and chant the rune-words required for the specific skill stored in the gem. Cost: 500 credits.}

After looking at the description, Alex decides to buy two {Skill Gems}, spending 1,000 credits. He wants to store the {Lightning Strike} and {Ice Dome} inside of these two gems. He confirms his purchase. After waiting for a few seconds, his [Transporter Box] starts to shine. As the light dims down and vanishes, he opens the box to find two transparent gems inside. Each gem is in a flat oval shape with around 10 cm long, 5 cm wide, and 2cm thick.

He takes out these two gems and uses [Observe] to confirm their information. The result of [Observe] matches the description from the store. After getting everything he needs, Alex heads to his training room. He's in no rush to go out into the E-rank area. There are loads of things he needs to do first. The most important thing before he even attempts to learn the newly acquired skill books, he needs to learn more about the ring his father gave him.

Alex uses [Observe] on himself to see if anything has changed compared to before.

>-----Name: Alex Volff

Age: 15

Race: Human

Rank: E*

Credits: 258

>-----Basic Stats:

- Strength: 83

- Speed: 77

- Agility: 79

- Endurance: 88

- Spirit: 150 (+24)

- Mana: 126/126

>-----Skills:

- Energy Manipulation (E)

- Energy Arrow (F)

>-----Kill Count: [318 F]

Achievements: 1

Records: 1

>-----

Alex is surprised to see his spirit stats. It has increased compared to the last time he checked his stats. It increased by 24 points, almost 20% of his previous spirit stats. He starts to be filled with a feeling of anticipation. If he can uncover the secret of the ring, will he be able to increase his spirit indefinitely? How much stronger will his spiritual perception be? Or maybe he will be able to control the natural energy around him using his spirit? His mind is filled with all the potential benefit he might be able to receive in the future if he can figure out how to use this ring again.

But, he soon realizes, to do that he needs to figure out how this ring really works first. He needs to figure out what kind of item this ring really is. Alex starts to calm down. He sits in the usual meditating position and takes off the ring from his finger. He uses [Observe] on the ring to see if the [Magic Chip] can figure out something about this item.

{Undefined Object - ?}

{A mysterious, unidentified object shaped like a ring. Seems like it has something to do with the soul. It's possible to be traded with the system.}

Alex feels disappointed at the result of his [Observe]. It doesn't reveal anything useful to him about this ring. Although, there is one thing he can confirm. The last sentence, "It's possible to be traded with the system", means this ring is something his father found inside the Realm of Defenders. Only items found inside the realm can be traded with the system.

He starts to get curious about the price of this ring. How many credits will he receive if he decides to trade this ring? As far as he knows, there is no other item that is able to increase a Defender's stats inside the store, aside from the {Evolution Potion}. And this ring didn't only increase his spirit stat. He could change that the quality of his spirit itself has changed compared to before. This item must be worth a massive amount of credits, especially if it's able to increase his spirit multiple times.

That being said, Alex has no intention of trading this ring for now. This is a memento of his missing father. There's no way he will trade it away. Plus, he feels that this ring might contain a clue about his father's disappearance.

After deciding to hold onto the ring, he tries to probe the ring once again since he's now inside the Realm of Defenders. He is hoping to get a different result this time. However, he is left feeling disappointed. After trying for a few times, he gets the same result as his previous attempts.

Although, there is another thing that he notices after he spread out his spiritual perception inside this training room. The density of energy in this room seems to be more than the density he could feel in the past. He doesn't know if this is because his spirit has improved or because the amount of natural energy in this place has actually increased.

Another strange thing he notices is the ratio of the different types of natural energy in this place. Every type of natural energy seems to exist in this place and they're all in a state of balance. He never found this condition outside his personal space. This place seems to be artificial in a way. Of course, with all the systems in place, it was a good guess for everyone who was not dense. All these tools inside this place just did not seem natural. But, this discovery of the state of natural energy in this place just strengthened his suspicion.

After a few more tries, Alex still fails to find anything about this ring. He thinks for a while and decides to check out the store once more. Maybe there is an item with similar appearance or similar effect inside the store that will be able to give him a clue. After searching the store, he is left feeling disappointed once more. There are a few ring type accessories inside the store, but none of them has the same appearance. The 3D model he can see in his holographic computers all shown rings with rune-words engraving on them. He's also unable to find an item that deals with spirit or soul.

Unable to find a clue, Alex finally gives up trying to figure out anything about this ring. The last time he discovered this ring's function was an accident anyway. Maybe, he will find out more about this ring in the future. Alex decides it's now time for him to learn the new skills before going out into the new E-rank area.