Divine Convenience Store

Chieftain Borok stared at the can of [Heavenly Dew Soda] in his hand. It was a foreign thing to him. It looked like a container with a peculiar design. Furthermore, its surface was impossibly smooth, the painted characters foreign yet strangely alluring. It was cold to the touch, like it had been hidden from a frozen lake.

His warriors hesitated, warning him with their war cries as they watched their leader, the strongest warrior of their tribe, look at a small, cylindrical object with utter confusion.

"What trickery is this, little man?" Borok growled, his eyes narrowing with suspicion. Depending on Lin Mo, he'd be offended by it. "Do you mock the Stormhowl with a child's toy?"

"It's a refreshment, dear customer." Lin Mo answered in a calm yet amplified voice, enough to echo towards the sky where the other tribe warriors were still sitting on their drakes, hovering right there. "Dealing with a 'pestilence' is thirsty work, wouldn't you agree? That's the most popular drink in the establishment I manage."

A few of the Red Lotus Academy professors looked at Lin Mo as if he had lost his mind.

Grandmaster Lian, however, simply watched, a faint, knowing smile touching her lips. She had seen this before. Many times over. In fact, she was also lured into the Divine Convenience Store like this. She was one of those who were unhappy with its existence. But one visit to the store and everything was overturned.

She accepted that her talismans couldn't hold a candle to anything sold in the store. Her title as the youngest Talisman Grandmaster sounded like a joke when she couldn't produce something even to the level of the Basic Card Talismans. Not to mention, the whole new path that was opened by the Celestial Duel Platform. All those cards were practically talismans, yet they seemed to be completely tied into a system that defies any of the talismans she had encountered before.

Summoning something that can fight for you? There are summoning talismans, but none of those can replicate what the Celestial Duel Summons could do. Most of the time, they're not even worth using because the summoned entity was either too weak or too strong that the spiritual energy needed would drain one's body.

After rolling the can in his hand, Borok scoffed. Still, his curiosity got the better of him.

He was a creature of instinct. He had crushed lightning-forged iron in his bare hands but this strange object felt different. It was perfectly made, with no seams or flaws. He squeezed it and it immediately caved in as if the container was too thin.

When he tried to pour his spiritual energy inside, he was shocked to find out there was nothing but some kind of liquid inside.

With a grunt of frustration, he followed the simple instruction from one of the professors whose heart was aching from seeing the can getting squeezed.

Bork put his thumb on the tab and pulled.

Pssshk-fizz!

A sharp hiss erupted, followed by a spray of cool mist that smelled faintly of sweet mountain dew and a hint of spiritual energy.

Borok flinched back, startled by the sudden sound. His warriors immediately dove down, their axes raised, thinking it was an attack.

"It is... alive?" One of them muttered in confusion.

Borok cautiously sniffed the opening. The sweet, invigorating aroma filled his nostrils.

It wasn't poisonous.

His instincts, honed by a lifetime of surviving in the wild, told him this was... good. A drink. Just like what the little man before him said.

With a shrug that communicated 'what's the worst that can happen?' he raised the can to his lips and took a large gulp.

The effect was instantaneous.

The cold, sweet, carbonated liquid was a shock to his system. It was unlike the slightly salty water from mountain streams or the harsh, fermented beast-milk liquor of his tribe. The [Heavenly Dew Soda] offered to him by Lin Mo was crisp, refreshing and carried a tiny, pleasant jolt of spiritual energy that soothed his battle-worn meridians. It was... delicious but too sweet for his taste.

Nevertheless, it was something like a luxury. Something he probably couldn't taste a second time. Or could he?

His eyes, previously narrowed in fury, widened in an unadulterated surprise. He lowered the can, looked at it again, and then downed the rest of it in three massive gulps.

"Ahhhh..." A deep, satisfied sigh escaped his lips. The tension in his shoulders eased slightly. He felt... better.

The entire valley was silent, watching the barbarian chieftain's first-ever encounter with a divine soda.

"Now then," Lin Mo said, seizing the moment. "About that tactical report. I can project it for you, right here, right now. All you have to do is land your wyverns and listen."

Borok wiped his mouth and erased the trace of pleasure from his expression as his gaze fixed on Lin Mo with a new kind of intensity. Apart from aggression, a newfound grudging respect mixed with a powerful curiosity lit up in his eyes.

This 'little man' had given him a drink more satisfying than any victory brew.

"Words are still just words," Borok grunted. "Show me. Show me this 'data' you speak of."

"Very well," Lin Mo replied. He gestured to the academy's main stage. "Headmaster Feng, with your permission?"

Headmaster Feng, who had been watching the entire exchange with a look of utter bewilderment, finally found his voice. "Uh... yes, of course, Shopkeeper. The stage is yours."

Lin Mo nodded. He accessed the system through the Store Token, pulling up the data that had been extracted from the Anchor in the Abyssal Forest. Since the creature was practically from the same species, the information was directly applicable.

Soon, a massive holographic projection flickered to life above the stage, visible to everyone in the valley. It displayed a detailed, rotating 3D model of a Decrint Tribe Skirmisher. Not the winged one, though.

[Species: Decrint Tribe Skirmisher]

[Origin: Highland Realm (Outer Realm)]

[Threat Assessment: Low-Tier Annoyance, High-Tier Swarming Ambusher.]

The Stormhowl riders gasped. They were looking at a perfect, moving image of their enemy. Even though it didn't have a wing, they'd all seen that kind of variant before.

Lin Mo didn't stop there. Like giving a lecture about an otherworld species, he continued, "The Decrint are not demonic beasts. That much is clear. They are an enslaved warrior race from another realm. Their strength is not in individual combat, but in swarm tactics and ambushes."

The projection shifted, highlighting weak points on the creature's model in glowing red.

[Primary Weaknesses:

-Joints: Unarmored joints at the base of the wings (if there were any) and neck are highly susceptible to piercing attacks.

-Sensory Organs: Large eyes offer a wide field of vision but are a critical vulnerability.

-Spiritual Core: A small, fragile core located in the upper torso. A direct hit causes instant incapacitation.

"Your axes are powerful," Lin Mo continued, "And this kind is just one of their weakest warriors. Nevertheless, they were numerous. Brute force will be inefficient against them unless you can hack them in two at once. Aim for the joints. A single, well-placed spear or arrow is more effective than a dozen wild swings."

The projection changed again, now showing a tactical map of the Graypeak Mountains, with a large, pulsating red circle indicating the most likely location of the breached Anchor based on the skirmisher's flight path and energy signature. This one was clearly generated by the system itself after processing the information that it had just been fed.

[Suspected Nest Location (Anchor Breach): The Sunken Caverns of Mount Grol.]

[Recommendation: Do not engage the swarm in open air. Lure them into narrow ravines to negate their numerical advantage. Target the 'Nest', also known as the Anchor, to stop the source. You must venture inside and reset or destroy the core.]

Chieftain Borok and his warriors stared, mesmerized. In minutes, this strange little man had given them more actionable intelligence than they had gathered in weeks of bloody fighting. He had shown them where to strike, how to strike, and where their true enemy lay – even if it's still just a suspected location.

The chieftain slowly lowered his axe. He looked at the empty can in his hand, then at the detailed tactical map. He glanced at his warriors, who were murmuring amongst themselves with a new sense of hope and clarity. Naturally, they could also be tired of fighting. And since their tribe didn't want to ask for help from the scholarly cultivators of the Red Lotus Academy or the royal army at the northern border, they could only persevere against the seemingly never-ending swarm of Decrint Tribe.

He had come here for a head. A trophy. But now, he was being offered a possible victory.

"Little man... Shopkeeper," Borok said. "You have shown the Stormhowl Tribe a new path. A... convenient path. We will test your 'data'. If it proves true, the Stormhowl Tribe will owe you a great debt."

He turned to his riders. "We withdraw! To Mount Grol!"

With a unified roar, one filled not with fury, but with purpose, the Stormhowl Tribe wheeled their wyverns around and soared into the sky, heading towards the Graypeak Mountains.

They had already forgotten about the injured winged Decrint Tribe Skirmisher.