Reaching his bedroom, Mikael let himself fall onto the bed, landing with a soft fwump as the mattress absorbed his weight, making him bounce slightly.
He placed his hands behind his head, lying on his back as his gaze drifted to the ceiling. His eyes half-closed as he let himself sink into the comfort of his bed, his tense body gradually loosening. He wasn't particularly sleepy—his thoughts were still swirling with everything he had learned—but for now, he simply wanted to rest, to enjoy the feeling of lying still with his eyes closed.
He remained like that for a while. Twenty, maybe thirty minutes? He wasn't sure.
But what he did know was that when he finally opened his eyes again, he felt far more relaxed, the mental weight that had been pressing down on him significantly lighter.
His gaze drifted to the ceiling as he stayed in the same position, still relaxing. But unlike earlier, his thoughts were now more active—he wasn't just lying there doing nothing. No, at this moment, his mind wandered to his Earth, specifically the leaderboard connected to it. He was curious to see how it had changed.
While he kept telling himself he didn't care about it, the truth was that a competitive part of him wanted to see where he stood on Earth's leaderboard.
Since he had time to kill, checking wouldn't hurt. "Records, show me the level leaderboard of Earth Origin World."
[Global Level Leaderboard (Earth Origin World Only)
1: Deus - Spiritual Foundation Realm, 3rd layer
2: Spear Supremacy - Spiritual Foundation Realm, 2nd layer
3: Immortal Fairy - Spiritual Foundation Realm, 2nd layer
4: Luo Chen - Spiritual Foundation Realm, 2nd layer
5: I'm Famous - Spiritual Foundation Realm, 1st layer
6: Anonymous - Spiritual Foundation Realm, 1st layer
7: SaveThePlanet - Spiritual Foundation Realm, 1st layer
8: Anonymous - Spiritual Foundation Realm, 1st layer
9: Alice - Spiritual Foundation Realm, 1st layer
10: Lucas Walker - Spiritual Foundation Realm, 1st layer
…
25870: Mikael Angelini - Tier 2, Level 4]
Seeing his name drop to the 25K+ position, Mikael grimaced. The last time he checked, he had been ranked somewhere between 100 and 200… He couldn't recall the exact number, but it had definitely been in that range.
"25K, huh?" he murmured, clenching his fist as a wave of irritation hit him. His new ranking was trash compared to before. The drastic fall made his fingers twitch with the urge to go kill some monsters and grind levels. Seeing himself drop this low really wasn't a pleasant sensation.
'It wouldn't be a bad idea. It's been a while since I last went hunting, and with my current strength, leveling up should be easy,' he mused, nodding to himself.
The more he thought about it, the more tempting the idea became. "Yeah, let's do this," he said, pushing himself up and leaving the bed behind.
He was about to open the door, his hand mere centimeters from the handle, when he froze.
Realization struck him.
How impulsive was he acting just now?
Sighing, he stepped back and returned to his bed, sitting down with a hazy look in his eyes, clearly lost in thought.
"Yeah, let's not do this. That would be stupid," he muttered, shaking his head as a wave of shame crept up on him. He had nearly let himself get caught in a contest of pride—or rather, if he was being honest with himself, a 'dick-measuring contest.'
After all, while he tried to convince himself that going out to kill monsters was a 'good idea,' deep down, he knew that wasn't really the case. And even if he genuinely wanted to grind levels, now was hardly the right time, especially with a 'meeting' with the girls scheduled in about thirty minutes.
No, the real reason he felt the urge to go out and hunt was plain and simple—pride. Seeing so many people surpass him had stirred a mix of negative emotions, pushing him to retaliate in the most straightforward way possible—by surpassing them in return.
But as he reflected, his thoughts swirling, he quickly realized how stupid and pointless that was.
"Even if they surpass me on the leaderboard… so what?" he murmured to himself.
The words were simple, but as he spoke them, Mikael felt a sense of calm wash over him. The earlier frustration and irritation didn't vanish completely, but they had lost much of their weight.
'Why did I react like this? This isn't like me,' Mikael wondered, a frown forming on his face. Normally, something like this wouldn't have affected him so much.
'Maybe it's because I just got back from a place where I never felt safe, and now that I'm finally relaxing, bad news hits harder?' He pondered the thought but couldn't find a truly satisfying answer.
In the end, the why didn't really matter. What mattered was ensuring it wouldn't happen again.
'Fame and pride over something like this shouldn't affect me. Next time, even if I suddenly drop to the last FUCKING rank, I won't let it get to me!'
As if to prove to himself that he meant it, Mikael turned his gaze back to the leaderboard—this time, not with frustration but with a calm, analytical mindset. Even as his eyes landed on his rank, he remained unfazed.
[Global Level Leaderboard (Earth Origin World Only)
1: Deus - Spiritual Foundation Realm, 3rd layer
2: Spear Supremacy - Spiritual Foundation Realm, 2nd layer
3: Immortal Fairy - Spiritual Foundation Realm, 2nd layer
4: Luo Chen - Spiritual Foundation Realm, 2nd layer
5: I'm Famous - Spiritual Foundation Realm, 1st layer
6: Anonymous - Spiritual Foundation Realm, 1st layer
7: SaveThePlanet - Spiritual Foundation Realm, 1st layer
8: Anonymous - Spiritual Foundation Realm, 1st layer
9: Alice - Spiritual Foundation Realm, 1st layer
10: Lucas Walker - Spiritual Foundation Realm, 1st layer
…
25870: Mikael Angelini - Tier 2, Level 4]
'Up to the sixtieth rank, they've all reached the Spiritual Foundation Realm… Impressive, right?'
'Not really! Now that I think about it, those who have already broken through aren't impressive or strong at all. No, they're just dumb!'
'Accumulation before the Spiritual Foundation Realm determines a cultivator's future potential. The fact that they've already reached it means they didn't maximize their foundation. Their cultivation aptitude is now permanently lower than it could have been if they had been smarter…'
As these thoughts settled in, Mikael lost interest in the Global Level Leaderboard. His gaze wandered across the system interface, moving aimlessly until something caught his eye—the system store.
Since he still had time to kill and had never really explored it in detail, he decided to take a look.
As he browsed through the store, he found plenty of mundane, Earth-like items. However, what really piqued his interest were the ones priced in the thousands—high-value purchases that stood out among the ordinary listings.
Strangely enough, they weren't rare minerals, powerful artifacts, or mystical items. No legendary ores, no enchanted weapons, nothing of the sort.
They were all books.
Aside from the typical everyday items, there wasn't a single supernatural object for sale. Everything was either cheap and ordinary or one of these expensive books.
Each book varied in price and subject matter, but most seemed related in some way to cultivation or, at the very least, to the Akashic Records Universe.
One book, in particular, caught his attention:
[The Do's and Don'ts Before Reaching the Spiritual Foundation Realm
Description: A book written by Careless Immortal that covers many crucial topics for non-natives of the Akashic Records Universe. It provides essential guidance on preparation before breaking through to the Spiritual Foundation Realm.
Note: This book is only visible to individuals who have not yet broken through to the Spiritual Foundation Realm. Once they do, the book will disappear from the system store for the user.
Price: 100K LP]
Mikael found the book interesting, but the price… it was absurdly high, high enough to discourage even the most curious from buying it. 100K LP for a book!?
Only the extremely rich might consider buying it out of curiosity. 100K LP… That was probably more than Mikael had ever accumulated since the very beginning, and all for a single book. Especially considering the note specifying that it was only purchasable by those who hadn't yet reached the Spiritual Foundation Realm. Meaning their LP acquisition speed would be relatively slow, making 100K LP a fortune that would take an enormous amount of grinding to obtain.
Given all that, who in their right mind would buy it!?
And yet… Mikael found himself tempted. From what he knew of the Records, it was fair—not in a kind or generous way, but in its own impartial and pragmatic logic. If a book cost 100K LP and was only available to those for whom that sum was a massive investment, then it likely meant something. It had to be worth its price.
That was his reasoning, at least. And after consulting the Records, the response he received carried an unusual warmth, further convincing him that purchasing the book might not be such a bad idea.
'It's just that I'm too poor…' he thought with a wry smile. Shrugging his shoulders, he made up his mind. 'I'll take on some military missions to earn the required LP.'
Deciding that, he continued browsing the system store.
After all, it had only taken a few minutes of searching to find this 'gem.' Who knew? Maybe, if he kept looking, he'd stumble upon something else just as valuable.
Unfortunately, his search was cut short just tens of minutes later when he received a message from Amelia. She had arrived.
With that, he got out of bed and headed toward the living room, ready to share his experiences in the Akashic Records Universe and everything he had learned there.
***
Author Note:
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