“Three gold, sixty Silver, and five Copper. Not bad for two hours of extreme grinding.” I said. Thanks to Sams plan we were able to farm much faster than normally. Save the only thing changing is that after an hour we use the special holy aura strat we usually ended up just having Gary buff me and Claire's weapons and then we go wild. Thankfully me and Claire’s damage seemed to aggro the majority of the mob and Sam was able to survive, even earning a skill called [Physical Resistance] which takes a percentage of damage out of an attack since it is passive. Right now it is only Rank 3 at the moment.
“If it were not for your Innate ability Clyde, I would never have taken such a risk.” Sam causally remarks.
“Whatever let’s just get to this shop already. Do you think they sell refreshments?” Gary arrogantly remarks.
“Let’s hope so. Everyone we will take a fifteen minute break then we will continue.” I have to interject before Gary starts up again. Once he starts he doesn’t stop pestering people for answers, even if they don’t have any.
I take this time to level up my [Meditation] skill once. It was easy once I saw how the mana was interacting with my body and I just needed a visual guide.
Once everyone was ready we continued our journey onward. After another hour Sam signaled to stop and be quiet. Because of the hyper realism modern VRMMO games were like, being stealthy actually required to being quiet. Because of this we learned modern day tactical hand signs so we can communicate in complete silence. Some teams never learned this and they were always the ones stuck being a noob. Unfortunately my sister didn’t understand why we three suddenly stopped when Sam threw up the signal. She opened her mouth to speak but was very quickly cut off by Sam who rapidly turned around and held a finger up to his mouth. She got the gist of it really quick and promptly threw her hands to her mouth in a vain but compelling attempt to stop any sound from leaking out.
Wondering what has him so spooked I quietly walked up from behind the group until I could peer into the main street Sam was currently looking at. What I saw took my breath away.
A large building, easily three stories tall stood around a massive pile of rubble. The walls were made of some marble substance and the gold trim showed off an almost regal like deposition towards the building. This was obviously the shop since there is most definitely no other building like this in New York that I have ever seen before. Sam looks at me then points towards the wide double doors that seem to be the classic convenience store doors that automatically open.
The only problem is that there is what appeared to be two people standing around the door, almost like guarding it. I turn to Sam and say in a low whisper.
“Where these people here before?” He returns in an even quieter whisper than mine.
“No, these people were not here when I first saw it. This spells trouble. I mean just look at what they are doing.”
Sure enough, two people start limping towards the guards of the store. A man is princess carrying a woman, the woman seems to be fine but appears to be unconscious while the man has obviously suffered many wounds, with the way his achilles tendon in his right leg partially torn away, leaving a trail of blood. He also seems to have large gashes and scrapes that have pierced through the his skin and is now slowly leaking out a dark red ichor, dying his once white starter clothes a deep crimson. I quickly use my inspect skill on the man
[Mark Matthews- An ordinary construction worker who loves his wife more than anything. When the system was enabled he continued to repeatedly sacrifice himself in order to save his wife.]
[level-3]
[10/200 hp]
[Status effect- Bleeding]
Inspect [Bleeding] I command.
[Bleeding- Target is suffering numerous lacerations, takes 2 hp of damage every five minutes.]
I know for a fact that if he doesn’t receive any immediate treatment then he will die.
******************************************************************************
“Please, you have to let me in, I need to get her help!” The man is now begging to the guards at the store.
“I already told you once, if you don’t have the money then I am not going to let you in!” The guard frustratingly said as he smacked the obviously almost dead man with the pommel of his sword. The man fell backwards at the strike but still somehow managed to keep the woman in his arms from hurting herself.
“Come back when you have the fee.” The guard then stood straight and uncaring.
“How much is it per person?” The guard looked up to see a young man with a piercing gaze staring at him from ten feet away.
“T-t-two silver per person.” The guard stutters. Why am I stuttering? He thought to himself. Then the guard looks towards his partner in crime. There isn’t really an entrance fee, they are just charging people in order to extort money from others. His friend isn’t any help however, his face is completely pale white as he stares at someone. The guard then turns to see what he is so afraid of.
An older woman was giving both of them a look that could rival a medusa. She was standing beside two other people, one of whom was currently using magic on the man who he striked earlier and appears to be able to heal him. The man struggles for a while before his cuts are fully healed then he thanks the man who healed him.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Only that much? In that case here you go, that’s eight silver pieces for me and my team and four for the man and his wife.” The man causally states as he hands me the required money. How did they get so much? The most the zombies have ever dropped was eight copper!
The guard from then on realizes that maybe he and his friend shouldn’t try to scam people anymore if they are powerful enough to gather that much money. He then turns to his friend, quickly coming up with an excuse.
“‘Come on Phil, I just remembered we were supposed to meet up with our group soon.”
His companion just nodded and they both hurried away, away from the eyes of that she-devil.
******************************************************************
Well that was certainly unusual Clyde thought. Now let’s see what this shop has to offer, hopefully the rest of the team can help that man and his wife. Once Clyde saw the man being struck down after begging, he knew he had to act. Thankfully his teammates agreed and actually talked him out of just killing the guards in case they belonged to an actual gang. Clyde was so distraught by the sight he totally forgot he could have just observed them and see if they had an actual gang behind them.
Walking into the store he was immediately taken away by how clean everything seemed. Even with prior apocalyptic standards the shop was very clean. Inside there seems to be only kiosks with no discernable sign indicating what each one sold.
The issue was solved very soon though when I approached one and the screen popped up.
[Accessing Shop...]
[Weapons]
[Armour]
[Skills]
[Classes]
[Information]
[Affinities]
[Items]
Seeing the affinities tab I quickly press on it.
[Affinities are locked, would you like to unlock them? Cost, fifty silver]
[Y/N]
Clicking yes I can feel that some money from my pockets has disappeared.
[Unlocking Affinities...]
[Affinities Unlocked!]
[User has unlocked the following affinites]
[Void]
[Space]
[Time]
[Holy]
Intrigued I click on each affinity.
[Void- Unlocked after using unique innate skill for the first time, the user has begun to understand the inner workings of nothingness. Spells that have a void component or are a Void spell in nature cost less.]
[Space- Unlocked after using unique innate skill for the first time, the user has begun to comprehend the way one can move through space. Spells that have a space component or are a Space spell in nature cost less.]
[Time- Unlocked because of users heritage to ????. Spells consisting of a Time component or is a Time spell in nature cost less.]
[Holy- Unlocked because of users heritage to Arthur Pendragon. Spells consisting of a Holy component or is a Holy spell in nature now cost less.]
Interesting, I seem to have unlocked a lot of affinites simply because of the things I have already had.
I then go and click on the Items tab. Suddenly I am faced with another selection.
[Utilities]
[Consumables]
[Accessories]
Choosing Utilities I find a list that seemed to go on indefinitely and a scroll bar on the right. I then notice a filter tab and filter out everything I cannot currently afford. I then find a search bar and type in [Bag]. I find various selections of bags that add inventory space. It seems we have an inventory as well. Seeing as how I now know of that I finally find what I am looking for.
[Bag of holding- Small]
[Description- Able to store up to 99 of twenty five different items. Upgradeable.]
[Cost- 1 Gold Piece]
Me and my friends have already decided we would buy one of these regardless of the price so I quickly purchase it and get a nice notification.
[Your Inventory is now unlocked! You can find it in the menu.]
Finally with what we needed I quickly look through the other options. A lot of armors are for sale and some very exotic metal such as Meteorite, Mythril, or even Elementium. Not understanding what Elementium is I open it up an Elementium chestplate and see the description.
[Elementium Chestplate]
[Description- Created through the system shop, this chestpiece has some profound effects.]
[+200 Armor, if hit by a magical attack then absorbs 5%of the mana and gives it to the wearer. Able to be repaired with mana.]
[Armor bonus- A full set will allow the wearer to absorb up to 25% of the mana that powered and spell that is harmful to the wearer and gives that much mana to the wearer.]
This...this is incredible. Sam needs to get ahold of this metal. Too bad the chestpiece is five platinum which I can only guess is the equivalent of 500 gold.
Going back to [items] I select the [Accessories] tab and find something useful for Sam.
[Mana Orb]
[Able to be charged with mana and be used at a later date.]
[Mana storage 0/5,000]
[Cost 2 Gold]
Finally something we could use now.
[Would you like to purchase this?]
[Y/N]
Pressing yes I can feel most of our money we acquired draining from my now inventory and inside of that inventory the [Mana Orb] is currently taking up the first slot.
Walking out of the store I see my sister talking with the man who has obviously been crying as well as sam and gary that seem to be playing poker.
“Hey guys I’m back.”
“Oh hey man, what did you figure out? Also wanna play a round? Sam magicked these cards and the chips.” Gary offered.
“Maybe later we probably should leave since this place seems to be a hotspot for people. Let’s go find a nice place for Claire to ward up then we can talk.” They both nod and pack up the cards but leave the chips. Claire gets up and walks to me.
“We need to take these people with us.”
“Sure, they seem pretty indebted to us at the moment. Ever figure out what was up with the girl?”
“Turns out she had some head trauma and it was a status effect that could only be cured by the heal spell or a potion. The man was pleading to get into the store to get the potion with these people for two days until we came along. Gary just kind of waved his hand and poof there we go.”
“Speaking of that I have just enough money left over to get either you or Sam to unlock your affinites. It is fifty silver per person. Who should it be?”
“Let Sam go, he will be the most helpful at the moment.”
“Okay sounds fair.” I then turn around and throw the fifty silver to Sam and he goes in for about 5 minutes before coming out with an unusual grin on his face. Not because it was weird or anything but because Sam never really shows emotion unless he is really happy.
“What did you get?” I ask him.
“Metal, Earth, Fire, and Lightning” He replies.
“How did you get so many?”
“Apparently my innate talent unlocked metal and earth for me. Then it said something about my education allowed me to unlock the “secrets” to lightning. Then it said my heritage unlocked fire for me.”
“Wow, it’s almost like someone is wanting you to be our dedicated crafter.” I grin. He simply nods and accepts my jest. Turning to everyone I say.
“Alright let us now move to a safer location. It has only been a couple of days since the Apocalypse started but in order to survive the dungeon we will be going to later we will need to level up our skills even more than we already have.”
So we set off for a couple blocks until we stumbled upon a vacant hardware store. Claire casted ward and Sam created covers for the windows. We all then decided to give all of us two days to increase our skills and create better weapons then we would try the dungeon. I gave Sam the Mana Orb and sat down to start on my grind fest. I know that the key for my success is to quickly create spells and other things to become useful so for now all of my attention will be divided towards my magic skills.