Daniel began to internally take count of what kind of items he would need, and what questions he still needed to ask Steve about. Before he really got to looking for items in the shop he turned to Steve. “I did some research in the wiki while you were gone, and I think there is one more type of item we should be looking for.”
“Oh, what is it?”
“I think we should also be on the lookout for general skill guides and skill gems.”
Steve let out a thoughtful hum before responding, “With the knowledge I gained through being a class trainer I know what skill gems are, but I’m not exactly sure what skill guides are. Could you explain what those are to me.”
“It's honestly pretty simple. Is basically a normal book that lists instructions on how to gain some basic general skills without the need of using one of your skill gem slots. General skills like ‘Running’ or ‘Climbing’ should be general skills, but I for one haven't gained it as a general skill.”
“You're right. Any skill we can gain and level on our own would be a boon, so I understand why you would be interested in skill guides, but why skill gems?”
“This has to do with the second thing I wanted to talk with you about. I was hoping that with your system granted knowledge, and your help you could help me find what I need. We talked before about me not being able to choose my Tier 5 class because I need to finish my psionic awakening. Based on my research there should be some skill gems out there that could finish that process. This really needs to be a priority because I am close to reaching my next class threshold. I don’t know what will happen if I reach the next threshold without choosing my previous specialization.”
“I don’t have any knowledge of any such skills, but I will be on the lookout for such skills or items that may be able to help as I go through the shop.”
“That's all I'm asking for.” Daniel said and nodded to Steve as he turned back to his own shop's interface. He had already purchased some armor before he had first entered the solo dungeon. It was decent, and Daniel didn't think he would need to replace it right now. One thing Daniel was missing however was a backup weapon. Currently Daniel only had his maul which was a good weapon, but if the team dungeon put them in a tight or enclosed space that they had to fight in ‘Ice Fang’ wouldn't be the best weapon for that situation. Daniel searched through the shop and eventually found a sword similar to a gladeos or short sword. He also went for a leg knife and sheath as a just in case.
With that taken care of, it was time for equipment. He began to scroll through the option in the shop before he came across an interesting option. It was labeled as an Adventure Pack. opening up the option he looked over the contents of the bag, and with each line he read he grew more and more excited. This would work nicely. It had everything they would need already packed in a bag including food, water, and camping gear just to name a few of the items.
Next he looked at what kind of alchemical potions there were and was intrigued at the option for sale. Temporary stat increases potions, healing, mana, stamina, alchemical fire, cure potions for all kinds of poisons and diseases. A lot of them were actually quite affordable, so he decided to purchase a few. It was then he found something more interesting. It was a strip of leather with little loops where potion vials would be inserted. Apparently potion vials sizes were standardized, because every single potion he saw came in the same test tube like vial.
The item Daniel had found was enchanted to adhere to any surface, your armor or bag, and it was also enchanted to make any vial stored in the loops to be almost indestructible so long as they remain within the loops.
The basic version of the item only had three loops, and when Daniel looked up to see if he could buy the same item with more looks he was astounded at the prices he saw. The Basic version with only three loops sold for only about 500 coins, but with each additional loop added the price doubled then after 5 loops the price increased exponentially before finally capping at ten total loops. He saw no other items with more loops than ten and wondered if such items existed or if ten was the cap.
The only downside of these items Daniel could find was that you could only have one on your physical person at a time. You could also have one inside of a bag to store extra vials that weren't on your person. Daniel decided to buy two of them, one to keep on him and one for his bag for 1,000 coins. He then bought three health potions and three vials of alchemical fire. He probably wouldn't need the health potions for himself because of his ‘Troll Regeneration,’ but he was still concerned for Kota and Steve. Thinking of Kota could he buy any armor for his pupper.
He had just given the new claw weapons to Kota for clearing the fifth floor of the solo dungeon, but could he buy other gear for him as well. Daniel looked through the shop he saw that he could in fact could buy armor for Kota. He looked through the options and made his decision. Daniel didn’t want metal armor for Kota as he feared it would be too restrictive for him, and make too much noise. His mutation ‘Shadow Prowler’ reduced all noise he produced which Daniel hoped would also include his armor. Daniel found some leather armor for Kota that had a minor enchantment to adjust to the wearer's size. The Armor cost Daniel another 5,000 coins.
The last thing Daniel looked through the shop for was skill books and gems. Daniel found several items that intrigued him. Daniel held off purchasing anything now, but he did write down the name of the skill books and gems that he wanted to purchase. Now with his shopping now officially done he turned to Steve. “Find anything interesting?”
“A couple of things actually. Come here let us compare everything." They looked over each of their lists together. Steve had also found the adventure pack while shopping, and they decided it would be a good idea for each of them to purchase one since they not only came with the basic supplies they need but also items that might prove useful in a dungeon-like caltrops and ball bearings. It was then that Steve pointed out that Daniel hadn't gotten any supplies for Kota. Daniel quickly fixed this problem, and they continued on.
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They went over what Steve had selected first. There was some additional armor, and a backup weapon in case the monster got too close and he couldn't use his spells. Steve had a few potions as well, and Daniel quickly pointed out that he didn't have any of the vial cases he had found on his shopping list. Steve quickly saw how useful such an enchanted item would be, and just like Daniel purchases two of them. Though Steve did opt to spend an additional 500 coins to get a vial holder with an additional slot.
After that, they had went over Daniel's choices. It was time to look at what Steve had found. "I was looking over some of the enchanted items in the shop, and found these.” Steve gestured and directed Daniel attention to another screen that had the name of several more items. “Most of these items we can’t afford now, but they will be must have items in the future once we have more coins.”
“There are three right now that we can probably afford. The first we don't need now, but will in the future is ‘the bottle of ever refilling water.’ As the name would imply the bottle endlessly fills up with water. We can bring water with us, but it's heavy and we will have a limited supply.”
“Definitely useful, but I do agree that it's not something we need right now.” Daniel said. “What’s the next item we can afford?”
“Next, is a retractable ten-foot pole. This is one of those things you see in tabletop games, but this is a lot more convenient than carrying around an actual ten-foot-long stick everywhere you go and it's really cheap, at only 110 coins.” Daniel just nodded allowing Steve to continue onto the last item. “The last is an illumination stone. It will provide illumination for up to four hours before needing to be recharged from our personal mana. It's also fairly cheap at 260 coins. There is another variation of the stone that can absorb ambient mana instead, but it's quite a bit more expensive.”
"Those are good items and I can definitely see their utility, but I do agree we can definitely forgo buying the endless water bottle for now. With the adventure pack providing water at least for this dive we wouldn't need it."
"Okay, that's settled then. I did also look for skill guides and gems, but I have yet to find something that will help with your situation."
“I also found a couple of skill guides that looked promising, but no skill gems. The psionic skill gems I found all required that you were already psionically awakened.”
“I ran into a similar problem myself. After we get back from the team dungeon we will need to look into this subject some more.”
Daniel nodded his agreement. “Now, let's see if we have the coins to purchase all of this stuff.” They were able to buy all of the items they needed.. As they had bought and gone through their new gear they had kept bringing up other problems they could run into. Like what if they got sent to the desert or arctic. This line of thought had prompted them into buying two heating and cooling stones as well as cold weather gear.
Eventually a pile of gear laid at Steve's and Daniels feet. “There is no way we can carry all of this stuff with us without it becoming a burden.” Daniel said with an exasperated note in his voice.
"Well, that brings me to one of the other enchanted items I found. We can't afford it yet, but for 10,000 coins we can get what's called a storage ring. The ring contains an extra dimensional space that can house items. The space is only about the size of a small closet about five cubic feet in all dimensions. You can get rings that contain even more space, but of course it's going to cost around 10,000 coins for every five cubic feet of space.”
“That does sound like a handy item, but I think that at least for now we are too low on coins to purchase such items. If we are to get any more items however we need to buy such a storage item.” With all of the purchases finally made Daniel was left with only 5,234 coins.
Daniel then picked up the new leather armor he had purchased for Kota and helped his companion put it on. Like the claws Daniel had a lot of trial and error needed to figure out how to put on the armor. “It would have been great if this armor came with an instruction manual.” Daniel muttered to himself after struggling with little success for another five minutes. After that was finally done putting on Kota’s armor he turned to his own gear.
Daniel picked up one of the vial protectors and attached it to his belt where his new short sword was hanging from his left side to be able to draw it with his right hand. He filled two of the loops with health Potions, and the last loop with a vial of alchemical fire. Then he opened up his new adventurer's bag and put the second vial case he had purchased on the interior of the bag, and filled it with his last health potion and the two cure potions he had bought.
Next, Daniel started to pack his new bag with several of the other items he and Steve had bought. He put Kota's dry food he had purchased into the bag. He then put the heating and cooling stone in his bag as well as his cold weather gear.
The only items Daniel was left with was the illumination stone and ten-foot pole when fully retracted was only 3 inches long. He wanted to keep these two items on his person, but had no way to attach them to his belt. He decided to look back at the shop to try and find something that could solve his problem.
He managed to find an item called the adaptive belt for 1,100 coins; its description said that any item placed against the belt would have a case custom made to hold it. Daniel could easily see the utility of such an item and purchased it further reducing his already low coin reserve. The purchased belt appeared on the counter in front of Daniel. He removed his old belt and put on the new one.
Not exactly sure how to use the belt Daniel picked up the illumination orb and pressed it against the belt. A second later a leather pocket appeared to perfectly hold the item. The belt was just as useful as he hoped it would be. Next, he put the retracted ten-foot pole up against it, and just like with the orb it made a leather container to hold it. He then reapplied the vial case, and his short-sword to his new belt before he knelt down to strapped his back-up knife onto his right calf. With that Daniel was ready. “I’m ready Steve, what about you?”
“I am. Let's go.”
Daniel gave Steve a quick once over. He was wearing his new armor, almost all brown leather except his chest plate which was steel plate armor. He had his pack strapped to his back, and Daniel saw that the bag had a quick-release function to quickly drop the pack to the ground in an emergency just like his own bag. A function like that was a must have in case they suddenly got ambushed and quickly needed ready to fight.
Steve had his wand in a weird sheath on his belt and his short sword like Daniels on his other hip. Steve did look ready. Daniel Hefted his own pack onto his back and adjusted the straps to better balance out the load. He nodded to Steve and together they walked back to the entrance of the Team dungeon.
Daniel once again pressed his palm to the entrance portal of the Team Dungeon and the same prompt as before appeared in his vision asking how many people would be entering the dungeon. Daniel chose two still thinking that Kota would count as a part of himself similar to the Solo Dungeon.
Daniel confirmed his selection and this time a portal came to life in the previously empty frame of the Team Dungeon. They stood there at the entrance for a long moment. Daniel looked down at Kota who just looked at him with his tongue lolling out his mouth. Then he looked at Steve who nodded at him solemnly. They were as ready as they would ever be. Striding forward the three of them together passed through the entrance of the Team Dungeon and into the unknown.