The first place he visited after the cafeteria was the weapon store. It was fairly large and had several dozens of shelves and stands with a wide variety of weapons on them. There were many empty spots where the weapons that other people had already bought used to be, but there were still more than enough left for him to find a weapon of his own.
A tall man in a grey suit stood in front of a wooden counter keeping a close watch on the customers, sometimes walking up to those that looked to require help.
Lane moved around the store, glancing over the prices of the products. The cheapest weapons cost one point; mostly daggers, short swords, and shields. The cost of the majority of the weapons varied between two and four points — although there were some that cost much more. A spear that costs thirty points, for example. Or a broadsword for forty-six points. There were even a couple of weapons for a hundred points. But anything that cost more over five points had an enchantment on them or were magical in nature, which explained the high cost. It was nothing he considered buying anytime soon, at the very least.
He spent a long time examining the weapons in the store and was currently standing in a section where there were several spears.
The sword was still the only weapon he had any true training with, so choosing a sword again just as he'd done before the second test started wasn't a bad idea. But he couldn't discount what happened yesterday, or the level of expertise he'd shown with the spear. Even if he couldn't explain it.
Picking up a spear with a long wooden shaft and thin spearhead much like the one he'd used before, he twirled it around a few times to get a feel for it. He couldn't perform any large swings because—even though it was large—the store was still packed full with rows upon rows of weapons, not leaving him much room to maneuver.
Moving it around, the spear had a similar feeling to the one the shorter variant the kobolds used, although this spear was definitely of better make. He was once again surprised by how easy it was to handle for him — but it was still off somehow.
It had been the same during the fight. He'd gone off of instinct and swung his spear at the hobgoblin's neck like an axe. Not only did he miss the neck, but he'd also been taken aback by it causing nothing more than a cut across its face. Part of it had to do with him not having enough strength, but it was also due to the spearhead not having enough weight behind it and not being designed for such an attack. That spear was mainly a thrusting weapon, after all. It didn't fit with how he instinctually wanted to use it.
He examined the other alternatives in the store. There were other spears; spears with designs that fit better with what he wanted, but Lane ignored those. Instead, he was drawn towards other types of polearms.
Poleaxes, bardiches, glaives; they all fit what he was looking for better than a spear and they felt good when he tried them out. But there was one weapon in particular that caught his interest.
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Its dark wooden shaft was as tall as him, the butt of the spear covered in metal. The axehead jutted out and was shaped like a tear; concave at the bottom and convex at the top. Opposite the axehead was a sharp hook and a spike was mounted on the top of the shaft. The halberd stuck out to Lane immediately.
Gripping it with both his hands, he tried a few quick thrusts and a couple of overhead swings with it. It wasn't of the highest quality and could have been balanced better. Even though he'd never held a halberd before, he could tell. Despite that, he smiled. It was exactly what he was looking for.
He grimaced at the price, though. It was obvious that it would cost more than a dagger or short sword, but paying three points for it didn't leave him much wriggling room for the coming four days. But it was a necessary purchase. Barring any surprises, there shouldn't be a problem. He could afford one meal a day, discounting today. Adding on to that the free meals at the dormitory and he'd be fine for now. He'd survived on less for longer before. His priority now was getting a weapon that he could use. There wasn't anything else that he needed immediately. Even though a new set of clothes would have been nice.
As he looked around for the man in the suit who looked to be the store's manager, he recalled what Lela said about paying in the Colosseum. There wasn't any need for him to find the manager to pay. Glad that he hadn't wasted much time looking, Lane left the store with his new halberd at his side. Bringing up his status, he also confirmed that his points had now gone down to 6.5.
After that, he continued to explore the other stores in the lobby. Even if he didn't have enough points to buy anything, it was still good to get an idea for what was available.
In the armor store, most of the equipment was more expensive than the weapons had been. The cheapest pieces cost around three points, while most pieces cost at least double that. And that was for the armor made to fit all sizes. If you wanted to, you could have the workers in the store fit the pieces specifically to you. But the cost shot up several times with that.
In the end, Lane left the armor store feeling that perhaps it was more reasonable to just not get injured at all, instead of buying a full set of armor. Not to mention his life; his—figurative—wallet couldn't handle it otherwise.
He also visited the shop that was filled with different kinds of oddly-colored flasks, beautiful gems, and weird scents. The flasks—it turned out—were filled with magic potions and the store dealt with magical things in general. Everything there was very expensive too. The cheapest potion he found was a Potion of Minor Strength for four points. Asking one if the store attendants, he learned that its effects only last about five minutes too.
After leaving the magic shop, he only briefly entered the other stores. Most of them only seemed to have miscellaneous items on sale that he didn't have any use for right now. While a backpack was a convenient tool, what did he have that he needed to put in it? And what was he supposed to do with a rope or a lantern?
The only convenient things were stuff like clothes and those wristwatches Summoned used. Some of the watches looked odd and it wasn't clear to him how to read them, but they were without a doubt useful. Shame the cheapest one cost over fifty points. Clothes also cost a point or two, so with his current economy, he'd have to make do with the torn rags that he was currently wearing for a while longer. It wasn't nearly as embarrassing when over half of the other participants wore clothes that were at least as tattered as his.
Instead of continuing to wander around the shops in the lobby, he began exploring the other parts of the Colosseum. His first goal was to find the training facilities.