"It's okay, sister. Under the demigod mark's guidance, I have a premonition that extraordinary equipment awaits me at a destined place."
Carlos's comfort helped Iris's mood improve somewhat from her disappointment at not being able to provide her brother with sufficiently powerful equipment.
"Thanks to the great demigod!"
"Carlos, let me first teach you how to unlock the sealing array marks.
This way, if you encounter suitable equipment in others' hands later, you can conveniently trade vault equipment for it."
Iris silently added in her heart: After all, there are only the two of us siblings left in the entire Valois family. These spiritual artifacts are ours to dispose of as we wish.
Iris's intention was to completely open the vault to Carlos—take whatever he wanted.
She was undeniably spoiling her brother. Even though Carlos had successfully awakened, he was still a non-tier Psionic. The vault contained plenty of purple and pale gold quality equipment that even high-tier or Control-level Psionics would covet.
"I won't misuse them."
Carlos increasingly felt lucky he'd awakened his past life memories.
In the original timeline, he would have been fooled into becoming a sucker, gifting or selling equipment pieces at low prices to satisfy his vanity.
Hearing this, Iris's evaluation of her brother rose even higher. Suddenly having disposal rights over so many rare spiritual artifacts, yet he remained so composed.
With his photographic memory talent, Carlos smoothly learned how to coordinate with bloodline to unlock sealing arrays.
After learning, Carlos walked to a pedestal and, under Iris's puzzled gaze, took down twelve gleaming great swords displayed there.
[Unknown Legion's Rare Great Sword]
[Quality: Blue]
[Sharpness: 25]
[Equipment Requirements: Spirituality 15, Strength 5]
"Iris, I need these."
"Do you need anything else?"
"Not for now."
Though Iris didn't know why Carlos ignored other precious equipment in favor of twelve ordinary great swords, she didn't ask, assuming it was the demigod's guidance.
Don't let the blue quality fool you—while higher than white and lower than purple, these were rare spiritual equipment. But they had no special enhancements, placing them at the lowest tier among blues.
Carlos was internally excited. These twelve rare great swords were, without exaggeration, the most precious equipment in the vault.
They were just currently dormant. When awakened through special rituals, their quality would reach pale gold with amazing enhancements.
Carlos wouldn't reveal this to anyone for now, not even his sister Iris.
Because revealing it would only satisfy his bragging impulses with no other benefits.
"Alright, remember how to open the vault. Come take what you need later."
"Got it."
Carlos nodded. He was eager to get out and officially start 'leveling,' to make his long-cherished Armored Knight Legion manifest in this world!
Iris changed into fresh silver-white armor and brought Carlos to the reception hall.
"...Carlos, you should know that while Withered Lands monsters have low spirituality without very strong creatures,
only low spirituality people like you can enter. Especially for newly awakened like yourself, only team hunting ensures safety..."
"If you don't want to team with others, you must bring family guards!"
Iris was earnestly persuading him that for Carlos's safety, he had to team up.
Withered Lands was basically like a dungeon instance.
In reality, areas similar to Withered Lands had a collective name: Dark Mist Shrouded Zones.
Monsters were nearly endless. Killing these monsters could strengthen one's spirituality—aka 'leveling.'
"Sister, I must go alone. This is also the demigod's guidance."
Carlos again pushed responsibility onto the demigod, but Iris firmly disagreed due to concern for her brother.
Helplessly, Carlos demonstrated his strength and constitution comparable to spirituality 4 or even 5 levels, which would be more than enough for self-preservation in Withered Lands.
Iris was shocked beyond belief. She'd never seen anyone with such 'powerful' initial strength and was internally overjoyed.
"Since it's the demigod's guidance, I won't stop you.
But you must take this teleportation scroll and these alchemical potions!"
A scroll glowing with purple light and several bundles of alchemical potions floated before Carlos.
[Teleportation Scroll]
[Quality: Purple]
[Can teleport to a designated location.]
The remaining alchemical potions were mostly for healing injuries and restoring psionic energy.
These items were extremely precious.
Teleportation scroll crafting methods had long been lost. Each one was worth a fortune and couldn't be bought anywhere. The entire Ember City had only a few—the best life-saving tools.
Alchemical potions were similarly invaluable, unaffordable for ordinary Psionics and requiring significant expenditure even for the Valois family.
"If there's danger, activate the teleportation scroll immediately!"
The teleportation scroll wasn't from the Valois vault—likely something Iris had obtained by chance but didn't keep for herself, giving it to him instead.
Carlos was deeply moved, solemnly accepting the scroll and potions, storing them in his spiritual space.
Spiritual space, or more accurately spirituality space, was a Psionic's interaction point with another dimensional spirit realm, providing storage effects.
"I will definitely restore the Valois glory!"
"Carlos, sister believes in you."
Seeing Carlos obediently accept everything, Iris felt relieved.
After carefully explaining precautions for Withered Plains and ensuring all supplies were prepared, she finally let Carlos leave home for Withered Lands.
...
Withered Lands was one of the outermost Dark Mist zones, also the closest to Ember City. The ground was cracked and barren, with only giant beetles wandering about.
They were bloodthirsty and crazed, attacking any living thing they spotted.
Their numbers were virtually infinite—or rather, they were spawn of the Dark Mist itself. Unless the source of the Dark Mist was dispelled, these spawn would never stop coming.
"This is it."
A figure in pitch-black armor arrived at a massive strange rock in Withered Lands, joy in his eyes.
This was Carlos, fully armed for 'leveling.' His full-body armor was white spiritual equipment with no special abilities but 1 point of durability, enough to block many attacks from non-tier monsters.
Equipment requirements were simple—just spirituality 1, strength 1.
Using his past life knowledge of Withered Plains terrain, Carlos had avoided all monsters along the way, finally reaching this optimal leveling spot.
This massive rock was very peculiar—three sides were completely smooth, with only one side having a narrow natural 'stone stairway' that allowed only one person or one monster to pass through.
By luring monsters here, there was no risk of being swarmed.
Though most Withered Lands monsters only had spirituality 1-5 with attributes in the 1-3 range, placing Carlos in a crushing advantage position.
But following the principle of caution first, Carlos still came to this easily defendable location to ensure no risk.
Step! Step!
Carlos climbed dozens of steps up the stone stairway, reaching the rock's summit.
After a brief rest, he produced an ordinary longbow and arrows—not spiritual equipment, just for luring monsters.
Not that Carlos lacked spiritual bows. His storage space was well-prepared with various equipment before departure.
This was because Carlos needed to lure monsters over to kill them and use their corpses to summon skeleton soldiers.
Using spiritual equipment would likely kill monsters before they could reach him.
Aiming at a giant beetle in the distance, he drew the bow.
Whoosh!
The wooden arrow shot out. Carlos was skilled with various weapons, his aim decent, hitting a black beetle. The wooden arrow completely failed to penetrate its defense.
The black beetle, attacked but not yet reacting, was hit by another wooden arrow on its shell.
Its blood-red compound eyes looked up, immediately spotting the human figure on the distant rock.
It immediately moved its twelve thick legs, rapidly approaching the rock.
Carlos put down the wooden bow, producing a great sword. This wasn't one of the twelve blue great sword spiritual equipment from the vault since Carlos didn't meet usage requirements—just a white spiritual equipment.
As Carlos predicted, the wooden arrow's weak attack only attracted one black beetle. This large beetle tested around the rock, finally taking Carlos's planned route up the narrow stone stairway, rapidly approaching.