...

Still, she had a job to do, so she suppressed her unease and placed her best professional smile as she addressed Max.

"customer, I came to lead you to your VIP room. Your earlier purchases are already there."

"huh? Well, that's convenient."

Max enjoyed privacy, so he didn't reject the offer and stood up, his wings flapping a little.

He couldn't deny that his new wings made for the most comfortable chair cushion.

"lead the way."

Amanda nodded, dismissed the receptionist with one glance and started walking in front of Max, and he followed.

Soon they were inside a luxury room, and Max took his seat as he asked.

"is that all your stock? I am looking for shadow skills, are any available? "

...

Amanda sat in front of Max and shook her head. "that's indeed our entire stock, still you can leave your contact information, and once anything of sort shows up, we'll contact you. "

"there's no need."

Responded Max, as Amanda nodded, then took out a few mags and handed them to Max.

"this is?". Asked Max

"6 mags, each carrying 10 bullets, they come with the guns you bought earlier.

One thing I need to inform you about is that the bullets that gun uses aren't common. You either make them yourself or order some to be made. "

As she spoke, she also handed Max a piece of paper.

Max read the content. It was the method of making this specific type of bullets; it was quite simple, just slightly different from normal bullets.

Max can make them himself with Lucy's help.

Max took out the pistols and reloaded them, since they were empty earlier.

Click! Clang!.

Looking at Max holding the two pistols like it was nothing, she was speechless.

You have to understand that they were a Shady organization. How can they lack people with low morals?

And this equipment is quite useful even for B-ranks because of its skills, but none of them can use it.

Even she, who thought herself to be quite low, felt a burning sting every time she held those guns.

Still, as a professional business woman she hid her displeasure as she spoke.

"if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them."

Max just nodded and went back to shopping.

He didn't scroll much before finding something interesting for Lucy.

Although this skill was actually useless in her mountain form, it would increase her survivability inside the simulation world.

[fairy escape] : ( exclusive to fairy type pets.)

Grade : blue

Price : 1.5m

Description : envelop yourself with fairy light, increasing your speed by 100%. And your defense slightly.

No duration.

In this state, you cannot use any other skills or abilities.

The description from the shop might be a little deceiving, because the skill will obviously stop working on exhaustion.

Still, Max bought it without hesitation, since 100% shouldn't be the limit of this skill.

Max started scrolling again, but it didn't take him long before stopping again. This time, genuinely surprised.

[world of mirrors] : ( exclusive to pets with the mirror attributes. Can be learned by either feline, mammals, birds.)

Grade : blue

Price : 850k

Description : cast a world of mirrors.

Although the description was too vague, Max bought it without hesitation.

After all, before the birth of his crows, he didn't even know that this attribute existed.

Who knows when will he gets his hands on another mirror skill?

Amanda was scrolling on her own iPad, checking business.

Since Max didn't seem to need her, it's better to do something productive.

"hey, this skill, I want to buy the information about it's source, is it possible? "

Amanda was startled for a moment, but she recollected herself and examined the skill, just to be stunned after.

That skill was judged as useless because there was nothing like a mirror attribute, or at least it wasn't recorded before.

The only reason they were willing to sell it in the shop is because of its blue grade.

Still being professional, she spoke.

"well that skill doesn't belong to the shop. It's a skill that belongs to a card holder like yourself. We are just the middleman.

Still, I can contact him and see if he is willing to sell you the information. "

"Please do."

Amanda got busy on her iPad and soon she called someone.

"Hello mister red Mask, I called to inform you that the blue skill you placed has been sold. "

The voice on the other line choked for a moment. "really!! That's great. "

"well, the deal isn't done yet, so don't be too happy. The buyer is asking to purchase information about the source of the skill as well. "

"huh? Let me talk to him."

Amanda glanced at Max, and he nodded.

Without further ado, she placed the iPad in front of Max with video chat on.

The person on the other side was in his late 30s.

He wanted to shout the biggest price in his mind from the start, but the moment he looked at Max, who was smiling amicably, he changed his mind completely.

That amicable smile gave him the chills.

"ah hello, first I have other similar skills to that one. Are you interested?"

Neither this guy nor Amanda were stupid.

Since Max was interested in this skill, he most probably had a use for it, likely a pet with the mirror attribute.

But so what, contracted pets were completely useless to other people, still if Max looked like a pushover they would be interested in seeing that pet or maybe take it for experiment.

But just looking at Max's strange eyes that seem to not look at you but see you anyway, we'll let's say that idea didn't cross their minds.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"I am. What's the grade and price? "

Of course Max wouldn't reject.

"2 skill of the green grade, let's say market price 80k each, and 100k for the information."

Max thought for a moment, then nodded readily. "deal."

The man smiled immediately. "I am busy, but I can send the skills to the shop with my pet. It's pretty fast, so it would be there in less than 20 minutes

As for the information, it isn't some big secrets, so if it is good for you, I can tell you now. "

Max felt his passive's grip on this guy and nodded.

"that's good for me."

The man felt relieved. He didn't like the idea of meeting this guy in person.

"alright it actually from a dungeon in Ancunn-city.

Let me tell you the story from the start.

I used to be active around there, but dungeons got a little harder, which caused my previous team to disband.

I was lucky enough to find a new team much stronger with 2 B-rank experts leading.

The team was new, and we had to coordinate our teamwork, so we decided to go inside a C-rank dungeon just to practice. "

"2 B-ranks in a C-rank dungeon?". interrupted Max in confusion.

Normally B-rank powerhouse can enter C-rank dungeons but they'd have to do it solo, this was the rules.

"ah, about that, they used some special consumable for all the team to be allowed in.

I don't know the details. "

Max nodded.

He didn't know that there were such items, still he wasn't frustrated.

The simulator just had too much knowledge, and he might not be able to digest all it in a lifetime.

"so as I was saying, we entered the dungeon to practice teamwork, and we got wiped out.

That dungeon was weird and dangerous. I still remember the nonsense we had to deal with, and it gives me the creeps.

Among 10 C-ranks and 2 B-ranks, I am the only survivor, mostly by dumb luck.

At first I thought I hit the jackpot getting all the rewards from this dangerous dungeon, and indeed it was valuable because there was a blue skill among them.

But after checking the attributes I was struck dumb man, those three skills are the only rewards I got, and the shop even refused to sell the green ones.

Anyway, after I got out of the dungeon, I found that some dangerous dungeons with strange enemies started appearing, although it was just one or two from time to time.

But the most annoying thing was the rewards of these dungeons being too unpredictable, some of them even dangerous.

I even heard about someone who got a statue that cursed him with bad luck till he died.

So I decided to move all the way here. And that's it. "

"alright thank you for your time."

"no problem. So about the money, do I give you my account? "

Max smiled. "well I only have cash. "

"what are you, a kidnapper? ". joked the guy, to lighten the mood.

"how can that be? I am a law-Abiding Citizen. As for your money, I'd leave it with the shop if that's okay for you. "

Amanda, on the side, nodded.

Working as a middleman between card holders was a part of their job anyway.

"no problem."

As the deal was finalized, Max closed the call and handed the iPad to Armande.

"Thanks." after giving a meaningless thanks, Max went back to his browsing.

He didn't find anything interesting, and bought 10 sets of common skills for birds.

[wind flight] : (passive) (exclusive to bird type pets)

Grade : white

Price : 19k

Description : increase flying speed and maneuverability.

[ enhanced feathers] : (passive) (exclusive to bird type pets)

Grade : white

Price : 15k

Description : strengthen feathers defense.

[air strike] : (exclusive to bird type pets)

Grade : white.

Price : 14k

Description : use flight momentum to strengthen claw and beak strikes

It's not that Max didn't want to pick green or blue skills of such type for the crows, but he didn't find any.

Bird type pets are quite popular, so the good skills are bought immediately once placed on shop.

By the time Max was done browsing skills, a worker walked in holding all of Max's current purchases. Among them were the two mirror skills that were just delivered.

All skills were in the form of scrolls other than the mirror types, which were in the form of a skill book.

This didn't surprise Max much. Skill items comes in different shapes based on the dungeon they came from, with the scroll being the most common.

Max checked the details.

[ mirror image] :

Grade : green.

Description : create a physical mirror image of oneself.

[ mirror prison] :

Grade: green

Description : on touch, imprison a target within a mirror

The shop took the effort to add the description, although it was quite vague. What's more frustrating is that the simulator gave the same description.

Of course, the simulator was using the basic scan.

Anyway, if it was dangerous, it would have informed him, so he didn't worry much.

Amanda on the side spoke.

"it's our experts who added those descriptions. It's not that they are incompetent.

But that's all what there is to decipher from those skill books. "

Max nodded and started checking the other wears from miscellaneous to consumables, potions and equipment.

He bought two books, not skill books but normal books.

[Basics in Alchemy] & [Basics in forging] worth 1 million each. He wanted to buy more advanced knowledge, but none were for sale.

Such knowledge was not treaded easily enough, though they can be copied, they considered a special resource to not be traded with outsiders.

And other than that, He didn't find much, but one single equipment caught his eyes.

It was an old telescope quite similar to the Spy glasses used by pirates and Marine in history.

But the problem was that it wasn't for sale like some other items.

"I want to buy this," spoke Max as he showed his iPad to Amanda.

"well I am afraid you have to wait till the auction. It's placed there just for publicity. " spoke Amanda apologetically.

"huh? And when is that?"

"well the date isn't confirmed yet. It usually happens when we have enough wears for it. An approximate date is from 2 to 4 months from now.

but as long as you provide your contact information, we can inform you immediately once a date is set."

"hmm. Alright, I'd like to check out."

"the two guns are 1.6m and with everything else comes to.

19.594 million make it 19.5 m. "

"huh?" Max didn't think he was bad with math, but something was wrong.

"wait a second. Did you add 2 million? "

"ah about that, yes we did. It's the fee for buying two telekinesis skills at the same time.

After all, it's a strategic resource. "

"if that's the case, then why don't I buy one now and the other? Let's say 5 minutes from now. " asked Max, not feeling ashamed or anything.

After all, it was two million we are talking about, and Max still needs the money because he had more purchases to do.

Amanda wanted to laugh, but nevertheless, she answered professionally.

" it doesn't work like that. Once you buy one, the price will increase for you specifically by 2 million for the second purchase. "

Max sighed even though he can somewhat understand.

After all, blue skills are powerful enough to be considered a secondary profession for common people.

And top notch ones like telekinesis were highly valued, to the point that without the card he might of not gotten it any time soon even if he payed more.

After all, even back on Earth, countries won't sell weaponry to enemies, only to allies or possible allies.

Max considered giving up one but he couldn't.

One was for himself or for mok to learn to be exact, and the other was for Lucy.

Telekinesis was one of the skills that are as strong as your stats, or just the spirituality attributes in this case.

And Lucy receives a huge state bonus in her mountain form.

Max shook his head, and waved his hand expressionlessly, and 19.5 million appeared on the table, without any more nonsense.

He took all the skills inside his space ring and stood up, planning to leave.

" Wait, customer, we have a new stock that might be useful to you. Are you interested in shooting skills? "

"huh? There's such a thing. Why didn't I see it on the list? "

"well we still didn't publicize it yet, mostly because it's still being tested.

But results show its safety, and soon it will hit the market, and not just ours. "

"you got my attention. "

"It's nothing special, simply it's a new type of skill items from new dungeons.

It holds new interesting skills. "

As she spoke, she handed Max a tiny green tech chip.

Max took it curiously.

"how do I use this thing? "

"It's called M1-chip. It's a biological chip.

It's used with another type of equipment that you have to wear, then place the chip inside.

And you'd gain the skill over a period of time. "

'simulator is this thing safe?'

[Ding, scanning…

Report, the item will cuz significant harm if used.

Please do not use this type of incomplete technology.]

"hmm, I'd just wait for them to be available for the masses. "

Amanda nodded, respecting Max's decision.

"nice doing business with you. If you need to buy anything else, please come again."

"Will do, farewell." responded Max half heartedly.

Next time he'd be back here, will be when the Oubach visits, and he won't be buying.

..... 8

Max left the shop with 2 thirds of his wealth gone, feeling dispirited.

"well at least, I got those mirror skills. "

Next, he needs to go buy special enhancements for the crow.