Gunfire, smoke, a gentle face.
In that strange dream, only that small but determined figure protecting him made him feel warmth.
Right then, someone kicked his foot, waking him from the dream.
Returning him to the cruel and cold reality.
He felt the movement of the seawater and heard the sound of the ship docking.
Inside this narrow, filthy cabin filled with all kinds of mixed smells.
A man was speaking, "Listen up, you filthy rats."
"First, congratulations. You've successfully arrived in paradise."
"That's right, the gates of the Federation are now open to you."
"You're about to live good lives now. Happy, huh? Hahaha!"
This man was a smuggler. He was the one who helped the people in the cabin sneak into the Federation.
The smuggler continued, "But don't get too happy yet."
"Although you've entered the Federation, unfortunately, you don't have identification papers."
"If the police catch you, you'll be deported back to your home country."
"But since I'm such a good person, you lucky bastards will each get an ID from me."
"Of course, that doesn't come without conditions."
"You'll need to work for me."
"As long as you work for three years, you'll get an ID card."
"You'll be able to stay legally in this paradise."
"So work hard for me."
"The harder you work, the luckier you get."
At that moment, the cabin door opened, and light shone in from outside.
Several people who looked like gang members were shining flashlights at the stowaways in the cabin.
Then they muttered something in Spanish to the smuggler.
A moment later, the smuggler said, "All of you, go with them."
"They'll arrange places for you to eat, sleep, and bathe."
"Come out now."
"Good days are waiting for you."
The stowaways walked out of the cabin one after another.
He was no exception.
He lowered his baseball cap, but with his Asian face, he was still stopped.
"You, what's your name?", One of the gang members asked.
He adjusted his hat, "Kenji."
The gang member frowned, then said, "Go to that car."
He pointed at a vehicle on the dock.
Kenji nodded and walked over, but after going a short distance, he turned another way.
"Hey, where are you going?"
"Shit, grab him!"
"Catch him!"
Several gang members ran over and pulled out pistols.
Kenji stopped and turned around.
He raised both hands.
The gang members thought he was surrendering, but at that moment, the ship docked at the pier began to shake and groan.
Then the ship rose into the air. Water poured down from it like small waterfalls into the sea.
"What the hell is going on?"
Looking at the floating ship overhead, people shouted in shock.
Then, Kenji swung both hands, and the ship flew over, smashing into those gang members.
Several of them were crushed into pulp on the spot, while one had his arm broken.
At the same time, the ship blocked off the gang members behind it.
By the time the gang members went around the ship, Kenji was already gone.
Everything that happened on the dock was captured by a nearby surveillance camera.
———
[Several Days Later]
Inside Seven Tower, Alex looked through his items.
He now had 239 Proficiency Essence and 13 Multiversal Crystals.
He could strengthen a talent, but first he wanted to see what had refreshed in the shop this time.
With a thought from Alex, the shop interface opened.
A lot of new items had appeared in the shop.
[Darkhold Fragment "Hell Locusts": Necromancy magic. This spell can summon demons from the Gluttony Prison. These monsters from the Gluttony Prison will swarm and devour the target you specify. They can eat anything and will continue until your target has been completely consumed.]
[Price: Skill Essence ×80]
[Note: The Darkhold is a cursed object hated across the multiverse. The more fragments collected, the more expensive they become. Please purchase carefully.]
'Hmm! Another Darkhold fragment refreshed.'
Alex rubbed his chin.
He had seen the "Hell Locusts" spell before. Another universe's Homelander had used it, and it could even devour Doomsday. It was an extremely powerful necromancy spell.
"Darkhold fragments refresh irregularly. If I don't buy it this time, it might not appear again next time."
"Right now, the Darkhold already has several spells, but aside from that forbidden magic, I still lack a strong offensive spell."
"This spell just happens to make up for that weakness."
Alex thought for a moment, gritted his teeth, and spent 80 Skill Essence to buy the spell.
After that, he continued browsing the other items.
[Sorcerer's Eye: After use, a golden eye will appear on the forehead. This eye can release a strange light capable of dispersing all illusions and darkness. It can be used against evil forces from the Dark Dimension, nightmares, and other dark creatures from different dimensions.]
[Price: Multiverse Crystal ×20]
[Casket of Ancient Winters: The Frost Giants' divine artifact. It contains endless frost energy and can instantly turn an area into frozen land.]
[Price: Multiverse Crystal ×25]
[Destroyer: Guardian of Odin's vault. Made from Asgardian uru metal and nearly impossible to destroy. It can destroy all known matter. The Destroyer can act on its own or be controlled by someone else. Its face can fire continuous high-temperature beams capable of melting almost any substance.]
[Price: Multiverse Crystal ×35]
[Gungnir: Weapon of the Allfather. It can fire powerful energy torrents, but because its original form is a spear, its power becomes enormous when thrown, capable of destroying and piercing everything. In addition, Gungnir possesses the ability "Absolute Hit." When "Absolute Hit" is activated, all teleportation abilities and items will be sealed.]
[Price: Multiverse Crystal ×60]
After reading through these items, Alex could not help sighing.
The refreshed items this time were actually all divine artifacts.
Among them, the one that left the deepest impression on him was naturally Odin's Gungnir.
Besides its huge power, the more important thing was that it could seal the multiverse, preventing people from entering or leaving.
If he took this spear to invade another "Homelander" and activated "Absolute Hit," he could disable the opponent's teleportation ability and prevent them from using surrender-type items to withdraw from invasion events.
However, its price was also ridiculously high.
60 Multiverse Crystals.
Alex laughed dryly and closed the shop.
'Poor! Can't afford it!'