Even though I was a Ranker, I still was pretty much clueless about the Ranker World.

I put it in my mind to find a place where the Rankers gather, to have better chances to acquire items like the money storer and other Ranker gear.

It wasn't a vain desire, having things like that were almost a necessity in the life I was currently living.

After the successful business transaction and a lightening of my load, I decided to go to the shop, Martial Warriors Way.

It was bigger than the Medicine Shop and also had an awesome presence about it.

I eagerly went inside to see what I could find.

To my disappointment at first glance, I didn't spot anything that looked too special or that surprised me.

Everything looked like common goods, I felt like there was more killing power in my hometown's local gun shop than in this store.

Seeing as how it was a Martial Arts City I was expecting powerful and awesome weapons and items.

Nonetheless all I saw was what I was pretty sure was common grade weapons and items.

Although I wasn’t interested in guns or firearms I was surprised to see not even one of them for sale.

It was all blades, staff’s, spears, axes and knives among other things.

It looked like they were all of good quality, but in the end they were still common weapons that any citizen could buy or use.

The magical weapons I made out of bones and wood had more value than these things let alone my blade and sword.

After the initial dísappointment, I decided to lower my expectations and look for something of use to me.

After all this was still the first weapons shop I had been to, not counting the crappie ones in beans village.

The store was big, and there were a lot of young Martial Artists and groups of people looking around, and probably window shopping more than anything.

I saw some cool support weapons like throwing knives, heavy balls, and rope chains that I thought might be useful.

After thinking about it though, I felt like I could make these weapons on my own and even more powerful versions so I held off on buying them.

After some more searching I found a corner of the store I had missed before, this one also had blades and battle items but they looked slightly different.

They were labeled as Inner Energy Weapons.

I had heard that term before, but I didn't remember where, and I had no idea what it meant.

Other than a different hue of color, the weapons didn’t look much different than the other common grade weapons in the shop.

I tried looking around to see if there was more information, but I didn't find anything else other than the weapon labels and the prices.

I found the prices to be ridiculous by the way, from 500 to 3000 gold coins.

My current wealth was 41 platinum coins, and 1350 gold coins, and a couple thousands of the other coins, and a few other valuables.

I had left most of the gold and platinum behind in the room, as it would be too obvious I was carrying a large amount of wealth without my sled.

I currently only had on me 450 gold coins, 350 of which were the voucher I had just just earned in profit from my items, 1000 silver coins, half of what I had, and 250 of both the bronze and copper coins, as I figured I wouldn’t be able to buy much of value with that kind of stuff, but pocket change wasn’t a bad idea.

I opted not to carry the platinum coins with me as I only planned to use it when I found a true Ranker gathering.

But still, even if I had brought all the gold coins I had, I still wouldn’t be able to afford some of the items they were selling here.

I didn’t see what was so special about them, I had seen a good amount of Ranked Weapons by now, and they always had an impressive aura about them, but these weapons looked pretty normal to me.

The blades had no special insignias, and the metals didn’t even feel that special.

Despite the color difference, they felt no different than common steel blades.

There was no sign of advanced technology features either, despite me looking for buttons or screens for a good amount of time.

In the end I decided to move on and look at the other items and armor.

I stayed in the spot I was in, as although I was clueless about the weapons this was probably where their best quality stuff was.

The store wasn't as organized or divided as the medical shop was; weapons, armors, and combat devices were displayed throughout the store in a peculiar manner.

Often put together as if they were a set.

I went over to an area that showed off a variety of clothes and armor.

The armor also disappointed me it was mostly a variety of leather and common metal plated armor with different mobility feature designs.

I figured most Martial Artists prioritized their mobility over a cumbersome defense, so that's how most of the armor designs were made.

But in the end I could probably make better armor than these here, out of some of the beasts I had previously killed, if I had enough of their material.

The weird Inner Energy Metal was on some of these armors as well, but I didn't even dare look at the price tags on those.

After some more digging I finally found something that had more information other than the name label and price.

I had moved on from the plated and fortified armors, as from what I had seen, unless your plating was super top notch quality material, you're better off with only the necessary amount of armor or relying on speed.

I agreed with the Martial Artist design philosophy, but with the quality of their materials, I wouldn't even bother wearing those things.

I started looking for practical combat clothes, since I had run through all the pairs I had brought on the journey, making most of them ruined or dirty.

I was tired of looking like a bum, I'm sure looking a bit more formal wouldn’t hinder me in any way.

I found a pair of robes and pants of a cool light grey color, with black design marks throughout it.

It looked comfortable, and perfect for a Martial Artist, in its mobility and design.

Once I started reading the information I was surprised by what I found.

It was a Martial Warrior Robe designed by an old diseased Guard of the City who was also a tailor.

It was made of three layers of fabric, a combination of Battle Silk in the inside for durability, comfort, and coolness, a middle layer of Practitioners Cotton which was rumored to absorb the user’s essence, and the outer layer of Kinetic Fiber, known for its ability to stop the the penetrating power of most low caliber firearms ammo.

I was instantly interested, I had known about the existence of kinetic fiber; it was something most of the law enforcement groups in cities and towns would wear.

I had also once heard that it was paramount for low level Rankers to have in some form, in order to avoid being one of those sad stories of a Ranker being taken out and replaced by a gun wielding commoner.

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Despite the comedic nature of the saying, I knew guns were nothing to take lightly.

To become even the lowest level Ranker without a gun, you had to be able to consistently counter any such threat, as anyone could wield a gun.

I am almost positive Biras and his friends' armor, probably were made out of some sort of anti-projectile material.

It was just unfortunate for them, my slingshot wasn’t a common projectile weapon.

Had I not had to erase all evidence, I definitely would’ve taken it for my own use.

I knew getting some decent armor was high on my priority list, but being able to acquire it was easier said than done.

I didn’t know if the more expensive armors in this store also had anti-projectile materials, since I knew the thickness of the plates of most of the armors I saw wouldn't stop a common hunter's shot.

But seeing as in the end this was still a civilian store, I definitely knew most of the ones below the price of a couple hundred gold coins probably didn’t.

The clothes I was looking at definitely checked off the box in terms of gun defense, which was a worry I had in the back of my mind.

I was honestly truly fortunate during these last 2 years.

I had become a Ranker with almost no knowledge and preparation, my lack of protective armor was only one of my many deficiencies.

Had I run into someone hostile who wielded a firearm, even if they weren’t a true Expert my chances of dying would’ve been high.

Gun Specialists and Experts, were known even to citizens, to be a nightmare to low level Ranked Experts, because of their long distance combat prowess.

That only further confirmed Kemoro’s words on the truths of combat, long range combat should never be neglected.

After reading the information on the clothes I made up my mind to buy them.

Armor protection wasn’t something I could wait on.

The set wasn’t cheap, it cost 250 Gold coins, definitely not a common item but still cheaper than some of the other stuff.

Overall I thought it was a good deal, though it was definitely a quality item, it had a cool and slick design, and best of all it didn’t break the bank.

I went over to where the store clerk was.

It was a young girl with a Martial Aura about her.

“Welcome dear customer, how can I help you?”

Finally someone with manners.

“Hello, I'm interested in buying Dolo’s Fierce Martial Robes, over by the Inner Energy weapons section, if you would be so kind in helping me out.”

“Of course I can help you, is it the complete set you're interested in buying?”

“ Yes, the complete set will be fine.”

“Very well let me go get it ready for you.”

She left the counter, went to the back and came back out with a fancy box.

She went over to the place where the clothes were, and neatly folded them and put them inside the box.

She came back to the counter and took out a couple papers from her drawer.

“Your total for your purchase will be 250 gold coins, the purchase includes a complementary storage box that protects clothes from damage, as well as warranty valid up to 5 years. I’ll elaborate a bit more on it after your purchase. I will include a document by the tailor who made this set on the best way to clean and maintain the clothes.”

I was surprised it came with a warranty, that actually made the deal a lot sweeter.

“Sounds good, here's a voucher worth 350 gold coins. Do you guys accept these?”

“Of course we do, I'll just run it through the Bank's device and it'll update the value of the voucher automatically, give me one second.”

I was a bit nervous wondering if I had gotten scammed, but as soon as she ran the voucher through the device she smiled at me and handed it back to me.

“Thank you for your patronage dear customer, the transaction has been completed, the warranty that comes with your purchase allows you to bring your Martial Robes back to this shop if ever they get damaged or ruined, and a professional tailor under our employment will fix them for you. The first time you bring them it will be free, afterwards a small fee will be charged in increments depending on the amount of time you’ve brought them to be fixed. Is there anything else I can help you, dear customer?”

“No i'm very pleased with my purchase thank you again for your help.”

“Not a problem sir, have a wonderful day, please come again.”

I left the shop satisfied with my purchase, before going to the other shops, I decided to find a private place and change into my new clothes.

I was tired of looking like a miser.

Once I did I immediately felt like a whole new person.

The Martial Robes felt great, the name they had was appropriate to, I did feel a little bit fiercer.

I had found a hidden spot in an alley next to the shopping squares Main Street; I hadn’t really thought things through but I immediately realized this wasn’t a good place to linger along for too long.

As soon as I was about to exit the alley I heard someone shout.

“Look big brother I knew his face looked familiar. It's the kid who broke my arm and beat up our martial brothers.”

As soon as I heard what the person shouted I knew trouble had come.

Kemoro was full of crap, i’m stupid for believing him, how could I beat people up and not suffer any consequences.

“Hey you in the gray robes. Is what my little brother’s saying true? Did you break his arm?”

I sighed inwardly.

I knew I was screwed.

I wanted to run, but is that what a Ranker would do?

I turned around and faced my opponents.

“Indeed I was the one who broke your brother's arm, but it was while conducting a Martial Duel and he was the one who challenged me.”

“ Is that so? “ he eyed his little brother with a bit of anger and disappointment mixed in; he probably hadn’t told him the truth.

“But in the end, it makes no difference you cannot humiliate someone from the Heavenly Hops School and get away from it. It’s usually not good for the strong to bully the weak, but for the Schools honor i'll take exception. Besides, it'll be in the context of a Martial Duel so there’s no danger.”

“Stranger state your name!”

I knew where this was going, but there seemed to be no reasoning with the guy.

But I couldn't complain this was the whole reason I came to Martial Citadel to begin with, to improve and gain experience in my Martial Arts.

I did a martial bow and introduced myself.

“Im Warrior Guso.”

“So you're an outsider, I don't recognize your name, it matters not, more reason to teach you a lesson, Guso, I Fittino, Head Disciple of the Heavenly Hop School Challenge you to a Martial Duel do you accept?”