"Kill him!" the gunmen roared in fury, raising their weapons and opening fire in unison.

  Marvin rolled with a swift evasive flip and dove behind a nearby building. Countless bullets pelted the ground like a torrential storm, sending dust and debris soaring. Watching the frenzied, empty firing at a blank space, Marvin sighed.

  The most critical aspects for gunmen are choosing the right position and movement, followed by tactical awareness, and only then are their own control and reaction speed important. Yet these shooters charged headlong, with barely any knowledge of positioning or movement; even after their target vanished, they continued to spray the empty area with gunfire, their tactical acumen was basically nonexistent. Facing such feeble opponents, it was akin to a burly man beating up a group of toddlers.

  The enemy was far too weak to instill any challenge!

  While some of the gunmen kept firing at empty space, another group silently split off, intent on flanking and ambushing from behind while their comrades distracted the enemy with a barrage of shots. But when they circled around to the rear of the building, they found nothing.

  As the onlookers stood dumbfounded, a burst of concentrated gunfire erupted, and several of the flanking shooters fell at once.

  "Overhead! He's on the roof!" the gunmen shouted, as soon as they raised their weapons they caught sight of a figure dashing across the rooftop and disappearing behind the eaves.

  "Intercept him! Patrick, what are you doing over there?" the gunmen leader bellowed. Earlier, he had ordered his subordinate Patrick to station three or four men on the other side of the building to prevent the enemy from escaping. Instead, the enemy leapt from the roof in that direction, and not a single shot was heard from Peterick's group.

  "Patrick's men have all been killed!" one gunman, who had rushed over, yelled. "Just now, when he was on the roof!"

  Before the words had barely faded, another shot rang out. The leader fell, a bullet piercing his skull and leaving a dark, gaping hole in his forehead.

  "Our boss is dead too!" the gunmen cried in panic as they charged toward the source of the gunfire. Though their ferocity and bloodlust still spurred them on, without a leader their flanking formation immediately fell into disarray.

  "On the left! Our brothers on the left are down—they're on the left!" someone shouted.

  "No! The bullet came from the right!" another argued.

  "Above! He's run back onto the roof again!" came a cry.

  "Suppress with fire! What are you all doing? Can't you even lock down a single target?"

  Amid the continuous shouts and falling bodies, the remaining gunmen began to waver. From the onset of the engagement until now, the opponent's side had already lost over twenty men, while Marvin had not lost even a single hair. Often, all they caught was a fleeting glimpse of a back, then lost sight of the target altogether. Five or six seconds later, gunfire resumed, and as more of their comrades fell one after another, they finally realized that their elusive foe had already shifted his direction entirely.

  This battle could not go on! It was a case of mice chasing cats—a death wish all around! Soon, the survivors reached a terrifying consensus and scattered off to flee for their lives.

  Marvin, concealed in a shadow at the wall's corner, silently watched as the gunmen fled without pursuing. These trash NPCs had not a speck of an extraordinary trait; killing them was nothing but a waste of bullets.

  Their lives were cheaper than the bullets he purchased.

  He stepped out from his hiding place and surveyed the carnage on the ground, then sighed once more in resignation.

  After that massacre, no one stopped him from leaving the slum district; the city guards did not even show their faces… Everyone knew that slum districts were chaos, and no one was willing to patrol them. Consequently, Marvin returned unobstructed to the ancestral residence where the others had already assembled.

  "Both the Eyes of Shadow Insects and the Thick-Scaled Lithocarpus have been acquired, and so have the Diamond Powder and the Ferrous Oxide Powder—we spent 130 pounds in total," Yvonne reported, passing over a banknote. "Additionally, I bought a set of alchemical equipment for 1 pound… that leaves 419 pounds remaining."

  Marvin, not one to be modest, grabbed the money in return. A set of alchemical equipment costing just 1 pound? Who knows how much Yvonne might have pocketed here, but it did not matter; money was meant to be spent. Especially in the game, spending money never truly stings.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  Seeing his silence, Nova could no longer bear it and stepped forward, saying, "Everyone, the elixirs to become extraordinary are our own concern—it would not be right to dip into Marvin's personal funds, right? I suggest that the money for purchasing materials and formulas should come from our own resources. If we lack liquid cash, Marvin can advance it from our future wages."

  "Hey, using our wages is an excellent idea," Alice agreed.

  "We don't mind that either," Aurora and Yvonne chimed in.

  "Very well," Marvin said with a smile, "the materials I ordered should arrive tomorrow, costing a total of 230 pounds. Adding to that the 130 pounds you spent on procurement and 100 pounds already spent at the gathering, the total cost comes to 460 pounds. According to our contract, the current monthly wage is 2 pounds. If this is averaged out, your wages for the next five years will be wiped out, ha!"

  The girls promptly turned silent. Their mouths dropping.

  "Let's do it this way," Marvin continued, noticing the awkward silence, "the cost of elixir recipe materials is inherently huge—far exceeding your everyday expenses. How about we establish a 'Team Extraordinary Fund,' putting all of the team's profits into this fund. Henceforth, we will no longer increase wages; everyone may withdraw 2 pounds per month from the fund to cover living expenses. As for the costs for elixir materials, those will be deducted from the team fund. We will need an accountant for this..."

  "Then let Nova take the position," Marvin declared, tapping his head decisively.

  "Alright, fine," Nova replied without hesitation. Everyone knew she was very wealthy; though they did not know exactly how much, there was no worry about her embezzling funds.

  "As the founding leader of the team, I will personally invest 520 pounds," Marvin announced. "After accounting for the remaining balance for the materials I ordered, that is all the funds I have left."

  "I can invest 500 pounds as well," Nova said, somewhat sheepishly. In truth, she could easily provide ten times as much, but she must not exceed Marvin's amount, lest the contribution ratio overtake that of the founder, which might lead to a power dispute.

  "I will contribute 200 pounds," Yvonne said matter-of-factly. This came from the intelligence funds embezzled from the Fromentia Empire, so parting with it did not hurt one bit.

  "I have no money," Aurora muttered.

  "And I... I will put in 5 pounds," Alice added, quite ashamed, as that was all the money she possessed.

  "That settles it," Marvin said, clapping his hands to confirm.

  Thus, the small team established its initial treasury, with a starting capital of 1225 pounds. In an era where a company's registered capital required only around 100 pounds, 1225 pounds was already an impressive amount. But in this mysterious world, it could vanish in minutes—even Level I elixir materials would sell for at least 100 pounds per item.

  Yet no one worried about funds because Marvin was about to begin brewing his first elixir.

  "Remember these alchemical principles," Marvin announced as he set up a small crucible on his desk, opened a portable ethanol canister beneath it, and lit a fire. Meanwhile, he tore open the packaging for disposable plastic gloves. "First, Always watch your safety; second, Maintain cleanliness. If your preparation suddenly explodes, take responsibility and clean it up. Third, Secrecy, obviously. You can't go blabbing about recipes, and elixir formulas to just anyone."

  All the girls watched his every move, even Yvonne did—back in the Fromentia Empire, her elixirs used to come directly from the palace as finished products. Ever since she had resolved to defect from that empire, she had to prepare these things on her own.

  Marvin unscrewed the bottle cap and poured in the Strength X elixir first, filling one-third of the crucible's height.

  "Attention: the total volume must not exceed half the height of the crucible, or you will need a larger one," Marvin cautioned. Before long, the elixir began to boil vigorously, bubbles surging upward one by one. As the water gradually evaporated, bright red crystals began to precipitate from the crucible's base.

  "If you already have an elixir, drying it at high temperatures is a common method to retrieve the extraordinary traits contained within," Marvin said carefully as he scraped the crystals and transferred them into a petri dish lined with filter paper. "However, for sequences sensitive to heat—such as Absolute Zero or Duskwalk—you must let the solvent evaporate naturally with a fan. Some solvents, which are oily, require even more advanced methods."

  He replaced the crucible and repeated the process, successfully extracting the extraordinary traits for Intelligence X and Agility X—resulting in beautiful crystals in sea-blue and grass-green respectively. Next, Marvin poured approximately 20 ml of anhydrous ethanol into a new crucible and simultaneously added three doses of extraordinary trait material.

  At room temperature, the anhydrous ethanol began to boil immediately, yet the liquid level did not decline noticeably. The color of the liquid suddenly shifted from red to blue, then blue to green, and once more from green to red. This cycle repeated with increasing speed, until finally the liquid transformed into a uniformly opaque milky white and calmed.

  "If you have a high-level elixir already, spiritual intuition is enough to tell you whether the process has succeeded," Marvin explained as he picked up a beaker and fanned it gently with his hand. "If it fails, the scent will make you dizzy. If it succeeds, you will feel a compelling desire to drink it."

  He tilted his head back and drank the beaker's contents dry. Immediately, he grimaced and began huffing out harsh breaths, "This alcoholic odor is too overwhelming—unbearable."

  "Marvin, your eyes!" Nova exclaimed. In the view of the assembled girls, they saw Marvin's irises begin to turn white. His muscles seemed to swell, straining against the collar and sleeves of his cotton armor. His lips reddened vividly, and the blood vessels in his eyes bulged. Swellings appeared along his neck as if something were surging beneath his skin.

  Gradually, the abnormality subsided. As a normal man who had never before ingested an elixir, Marvin's body handled Prime Frame X with exceptional capacity, and no signs of conflict or uncontrollable behavior emerged.

  It was a success. Marvin slowly savored the burgeoning spiritual energy within him. Prime Frame X had granted him an enormous infusion of extraordinary power and accelerated the conversion of that power into physical and mental strength. His explosive power, muscle control, endurance, reaction speed, as well as his cognitive ability and focused willpower, had all increased markedly. No part of his body remained weak, and he was no longer prone to illness and poisoning.

  He was now a genuine Level 1 extraordinary one.