As soon as the seed of forming his own team took root, Aris's eyes gleamed with a faint light, like the spark of a flicker in the dark.
"With the King's Eye, I can find those with talents that never stood out in my previous life."
For the first time since his return in time, Aris felt a strange hope seeping into his chest, then he turned his gaze back to the system he had obtained after his return.
He had used the "Status Screen" only once, and the "King's Eye" a little.
An idea formed in his mind, and he muttered inwardly:
"Does this system only contain the Status Screen and the King's Eye?"
A question appeared in his mind, for when the Status Screen first appeared he had not examined the system well, especially since his mind had been burdened with so many things at that time.
"Storage."
Aris spoke it just as he did to summon the Status Screen, but nothing appeared.
He furrowed his brows in doubt, muttering:
"Strange… does this mean there is only the Status Screen? Or does the system have another function but I pronounced the name wrong? Maybe instead of (Storage) it should be (Warehouse)…"
Suddenly, a cold blue light burst out before him, and a new screen appeared indicating "Warehouse."
Aris froze in place, his eyes widening, for the warehouse contained a hundred spatial rooms, each one the size of 100×100 cubes.
He swallowed slowly and felt a shiver run through his body, then a rare smile curved on his lips.
"Hahaha… I didn't expect it to work! This makes carrying my belongings so much easier, especially since storage equipment is expensive and rare."
There were many storage tools in this world, but they were extremely rare and exorbitantly priced. In his previous life Aris had never owned a storage tool, nor had he even seen one with his own eyes.
He took a deep breath, the mocking smile never leaving his eyes:
"To be honest, this system seems stupid… why didn't it at least provide an explanation of its functions? If I hadn't discovered the warehouse before I looted the Polar Bear Gang's fortune, I wouldn't have had to travel back and forth several times."
Aris exhaled coldly, casting a dark look at the screens suspended in the air:
"Even after coming back in time… it seems my luck hasn't changed, I'm still dealing with a stupid system."
As if the system had sensed Aris's anger, suddenly several consecutive screens appeared before his eyes, bathed in a cold blue light, and a flood of information began pouring into his mind.
He felt a harsh chill invade his skull, making his body shiver as if icy winds were passing through him.
Only a few seconds passed before that freezing sensation vanished, warmth returning to his limbs and his eyes lighting up with genuine astonishment.
"This… truly amazing."
He discovered that his system currently had three functions: the Status Screen, the Warehouse, and the Map.
Despite their simplicity, what shocked Aris was that the system could be upgraded. The conditions for upgrading were unknown, but what drew him more was that the warehouse could be developed separately through the use of spatial stones or items imbued with spatial magic.
As for the "Map," it was capable of recording any map Aris provided, even refining it to become more accurate, while also retaining locations he had visited or those about which he lacked sufficient information.
Aris decided to stop making the potion he had been preparing, and stored everything inside the system's warehouse. He had obtained a map of Heart City, as well as an underground map.
It did not take long for him to finish everything, then he looked into the void before him with a cold smile.
"Well then… let's try the Map function."
Immediately, a three-dimensional holographic map of Heart City appeared before his eyes.
The details were astonishingly precise—the streets, alleys, and even the simplest buildings, while below appeared underground passages, even the black market areas.
He could display the map in hologram form or as a flat surface, and it had the function of location and route tracking.
His eyes lit with a gleam unseen in him for a long time:
"Man… this is truly amazing."
Aris, the cold man burdened with hatred and sorrow since his return, felt for the first time a flicker of excitement knocking at his heart.
Despite having obtained powerful things before, such as the Dagger of Night, the Shadow Pendant, the Fusion Box, and wealth, all of that had been nothing more than tools to achieve his sole goal.
And now, he felt a different hint of excitement and thrill... with memories and experience from his previous life and a system that would raise him to a nine-star rank and enter the legendary realm that no one had reached before.
Quickly, Aris controlled his emotions and returned to his reality.
"Until that time I must remain calm and develop quietly."
After calming himself he returned his focus to the potion's ingredients.
He quickly took out the mortar and pestle and took a small piece of raw beast meat, and began to use the pestle to crush the meat and turn it into a paste; the beast's meat shone and resembled rubber, and at the same time its texture was tough so it took a few minutes before it turned into a paste. Then he poured a little of the beast's blood, and instead of pounding he pressed and stirred until the meat and blood became a gelatinous substance.
Then he added a blood-flower and a white bone reed and pounded them hard and moved them to mix.
The recipe was easy to prepare and did not require an expert to make it; the purpose of the beast meat and blood was to strengthen the muscle tendons, blood, and internal organs, while the blood-flower was to facilitate blood circulation and purify impurities from the body, and as for the white bone reed it was to strengthen and enhance the skeletal structure to bear the power of the muscles.
It took half an hour to turn these ingredients into a liquid, but its appearance was closer to polluted water of a black color and a suffocating strong smell that choked the nose.
Aris was sweating profusely despite the simplicity of the preparation, as it required full concentration; he did not hastily consume the potion, because it needed an hour of fermentation before it became ready, and the body also had to be suited with food and water.
"Can't a poison be made?"
Aris thought; he wanted to make a poison to control the gang leader he would choose, and because he would be at the academy soon and would not be able to monitor him, it was better that control be through fear. The ingredients were very simple: three double-horned viper venom glands, a toxic core, red thorns, and four common types of toxins available in the market.
"This is a recipe of a Poison Master from the Malice 9 organization."
Aris remembered that the Poison Master once invented a toxin that caused a global catastrophe.
"To be honest I still remember the misery that befell at that time."
In the future this organization would appear, which could be said to be one of the most dangerous things you can imagine, and that to eliminate them Raphael from the Kingdom of Light fought. You could say that this organization is the penultimate level before the coming of the Demon Lord Antares.
When Aris recalled the Malice 9 organization and Raphael and Antares his heart filled with anger and his face contorted from the intensity of the emotion. He let out a long breath and returned his focus to begin making the poison.
The work was simple and dangerous at the same time, and it had one feature: its effect begins after three months. Aris began the work and it was not difficult, and after a quarter of an hour he finished; after that he left it to ferment and went to eat a hearty meal.
The sun had disappeared on the horizon and night had come, and the city's activity had dimmed.
Aris drank the potion in one gulp and it left a bitter taste in his mouth. After seconds the effect began to appear: his skin reddened and his breathing quickened.
To maximize the benefits of the potion one must perform physical exercise while taking it, so Aris immersed himself in physical training.