After the elder granted Daniel access to the upper levels, he turned to him and asked:
“Esteemed guest, your access to the upper levels has now been granted. You may go up at any time.”
“Will I still be able to come to the lower levels afterward?” Daniel asked.
“Of course. However, a switch will be required… When the time comes, you’ll be able to…”
“Alright, I understand,” Daniel interrupted.
In other words, from now on, when Daniel enters this virtual world, he would automatically arrive in the upper levels by default.
This was simply for convenience, because who would want to visit the lower levels if they had unrestricted access to the upper levels?
The lower levels resembled a bustling marketplace—no real experience to speak of.
After pondering this for a moment, Daniel decided to open several shops.
These were the same ones where he had purchased other special items from the Mortal Realm previously.
He selected everything and made the purchase.
Within moments, the shops were completely emptied.
Even the shopkeepers were caught off guard.
They stared, dumbfounded by the suddenness of it all.
The elder from the Godlink Consortium, too, was left speechless.
This was… incredible.
Once Daniel cleared out the shops, his name on the consumption leaderboard surged upwards like a rocket.
In no time, he had made it into the top ten.
Daniel’s reasoning was simple: since switching between the upper and lower levels would be troublesome in the future, why not take this opportunity to clear everything out?
That way, there would be no need to worry about it later.
He handed the items to Elise and left her to handle them.
Following the instructions, Daniel switched to the upper levels of the virtual world.
The upper levels were an entirely different world compared to the lower ones.
Gone were the chaotic and noisy marketplace environments.
The surroundings now looked refined and elegant.
Pavilions, towers, and pleasant scenery greeted his eyes, creating a serene atmosphere that put the mind at ease.
“This is your exclusive area. You can modify it as you see fit. You may design it however you wish,” the elder explained.
“There is also a public area in the upper levels where you can interact with others. However, the public area cannot be modified, though if you have any specific requests, you may direct them to our Godlink Consortium, and we will consider them on a case-by-case basis.”
Daniel nodded in acknowledgment, then opened his personal holographic screen.
He navigated to the “supreme artifact” section.
Indeed, the upper levels were far superior to the lower ones.
Daniel even filtered for supreme artifacts that came with complete rules. As expected, he was able to find relevant items.
As the elder had mentioned, very few of these artifacts had prices listed—most just had “details to be discussed” written instead.
Daniel did find a few items that were clearly priced, though.
The first was a bracelet, priced at four hundred thousand divine stones.
The second item resembled the 5-Element Treasures that the Lord of 5 Elements had sent to the Void Realm—an ornate bowl filled with water.
It was priced at six hundred thousand divine stones.
The third item consisted of several withered plants.
Though they appeared to be near death, they didn’t seem to have any special properties.
The price for these plants was three hundred thousand divine stones per piece, totaling three million for the lot.
“Do these items match their value?” Daniel asked the elder.
“Of course,” the elder replied. “These treasures have been authenticated by the powerful figures of our Godlink Consortium.”
“You see, the first two—the bracelet and the bowl of water—are appropriately priced.”
“As for the last one…” He hesitated. “These plants exude an ancient aura, one that can be traced back to the ancient God Realm. However, their appearance and the life force contained within them are insufficient. As a result, the pricing may be somewhat skewed.”
In other words, even the Godlink Consortium couldn’t provide a specific value for these plants, so they had simply listed them at a rough price.
It could either be a loss or a great bargain.
The Godlink Consortium maintained very strict standards for the items they sold on their platform, ensuring that there were no discrepancies between the goods and their prices.
As for the plants themselves, they did indeed have an ancient aura and some embedded rules, but their appearance made it hard to believe they still had any value.
Daniel understood after hearing the elder’s explanation.
As for their specific use, Daniel didn’t care much—what mattered to him were the rules inscribed on them.
He just wondered whether Big White would be willing to consume these.
With that, Daniel purchased all three items.
“By the way, guest, would you like to sell that supreme artifact sword? In the upper levels, you can sell it freely,” the elder asked.
Daniel thought for a moment. At this point, he no longer felt the need to sell the sword.
The price for supreme artifacts had already reached a plateau.
His initial intention had simply been to test the waters, but now that he’d discovered the upper levels of the virtual world, he decided to hold onto the sword.
After all, there was no need to sell it. Having more divine stones didn’t necessarily mean he could spend them all.
“No, I’m not planning to sell it at the moment.”
“Understood. If you ever need anything, please don’t hesitate to contact me,” the elder said. Stay connected with empire
With that, Daniel left the virtual world.
However, by this point, his name had already soared to the top of the consumption leaderboard.
Indeed, because of the purchases he’d made earlier—emptying out several shops and acquiring these divine artifacts—Daniel now stood at the very top of the leaderboard.
This shocked many people in the upper levels’ public area.
“Wait a minute… He really did make it to the top spot?”
The young man who had been paying attention to Daniel’s progress earlier couldn’t hide his disbelief.
“This guy, Daniel, who is he? How can he afford so many divine stones? In just a few minutes, he shot up to the top of the list?”
Most people in the leaderboard were familiar with each other.
After all, they all lived in the 5-Element God Realm, and they frequently interacted.
They all knew each other’s names.
When Daniel first appeared on the leaderboard, someone had already noticed. It was the young man from before.
But after that, he saw Daniel’s rank rise almost like a rocket, leaping thousands of spots at once.
He knew this person was extraordinary.
Soon, Daniel had shot straight into the top ten.
At this point, everyone in the public area took notice of the name “Daniel.”
“Yumia, is this Daniel from your 5-Element Temple? It looks like he just took your top spot. Aren’t you going to do something about it?” someone asked.
Yumia had been in the lead of the consumption list until now. She was also a prominent figure in the Lord of 5 Elements’ temple, ranked among the top ten.
So, when Yumia was at the top, no one thought anything of it.
But now, her spot had been snatched by someone she’d never heard of.
And yet, Yumia seemed completely unfazed.
“Top spot? It’s no big deal. I haven’t had any need to purchase anything recently, so it doesn’t matter to me,” she replied indifferently.
What Yumia didn’t say was that recently, the temple had been spending a lot of divine stones, so she had been trying to conserve her resources.
…
Just after Daniel left the virtual world, Big White darted into his arms, burying its head in his clothes, clearly too shy to look up.
Daniel couldn’t help but laugh and sigh at the sight.
When did this little one become so timid? Despite his repeated reassurances, Big White still seemed frightened.
Well, maybe it would get used to it eventually.
Originally, Daniel had intended to see how the purchased items would be delivered, but just then, he received an unexpected message from the Lord of 5 Elements.
“Lord Daniel, have you… arrived in God Realm?” The Lord’s voice sounded a bit pale.
“Yes, I just got here not long ago,” Daniel replied.
“Aha! You’ve reached God Realm, and you didn’t tell me? I should have prepared a grand welcome for you!”