Chapter 76: Shopping

  He ascended the stairs upward for a few minutes. Each step sent jolts of pain up and down his body, but it was manageable. His final healing potion had patched him back together enough to stave off death. It didn’t remove the lingering pain and stress though. He climbed the steps in silence for awhile, it took an hour for Alex to finally see the top of the stairwell.

  It can teleport me in, but I have to actually climb back out? Alex was back to being annoyed by The System’s shenanigans.

  “It’s exercise, aren’t you always wanting to increase your stats? ”

  Alex ignored Obby’s quip and focused on his ascent.

  At the end of the stairs lay a stone archway. Beyond was a circular room of smooth clean stone. Unlike the rest of the dungeon’s grim aesthetic, this room almost felt sterile. There was no dust and no smell of death. Inside was a hovering interface gently spinning at its center like a slowly turning crystal wheel.

  As Alex stepped forward into the room, The System finally acknowledged him.

  “About time,” Alex muttered, brushing a trickle of dried blood from his mouth. “Please tell me there’s a vending machine.”

  Obby chuckled in his mind. “ Technically, this is a magical interface housing a metaphysical representation of transactional reward mechanics. But yes, a vending machine. ”

  Alex stepped forward and touched the floating crystal with the tips of his fingers. It reacted to him instantly, the crystal interface expanded in his vision with a chime. Panels unfolded like blooming petals, each displaying a category: [Weapons and Armor], [Potion, Elixirs, Pills], [Martial Styles], [Spells], [Utility], [Artifacts], [Miscellaneous].

  “Obby, what can you tell me about this shop?” Alex tapped through the categories, finding an impossibly long list of items, many were named in green text in the display, but many more were in red. “I’m guessing red means I can’t buy it?”

  He pulled up a section of the shop for a closer view, it was under the Spells tab. The list was rather extensive. It covered every element all the way to Third Tier spells. All of the Third Tier spells were red. The same went for most of the Adept Tier options.

  “Dungeon Shops are the rewards that The System uses to entice people to enter them. As I said, dungeons are basically tests and experiments that the Heavenly System is running. It wants people to enter, so the dungeon points and dungeon shops are the reward for risking your life to do so. Points are attached to you uniquely, and can be saved up to spend in other dungeons after completing more and more of them. ” Obby started his explanation in his bored voice but became more animated as time went on. “ The red ones are items locked based on your points, number of dungeon completions, and total experience earned over your lifetime. No nuclear bombs for the children. Not if The System can help it.”

  “Why restrict the shop on so many factors? Wouldn’t the point cost suffice?”

  “No, no, it wouldn’t. Think about it this way; what if big sects or kingdoms carry people through dungeons, having weaklings build up huge numbers of points and then force them to buy things the kingdom wants? The System does not like exploits. ”

  Alex understood now. “If large empires just funneled groups of slaves into dungeons to be carried through by one or two powerful mages, they can use those slaves to farm dungeon points. The System recognized the potential and had restrictions in place to stop it. Makes sense.”

  “You will have access to basic Mortal or Adept Tier spells, a few Martial Styles, weapons and so on. You won’t even be able to see really big ticket items, Supreme Aegis or Celestial Tier rewards are way beyond your Mortal Tier meatsack. They would be in the hundreds of thousands, to even millions of DP. ”

  Alex just nodded and continued to scroll through the items he could see. It was hundreds and hundreds of options. Every tab in the dungeon store contained more than Alex had time to read over. Eventually he sighed and rubbed at his temples.

  “Alright Obby, where can I find those essence fragments we talked about? Then lets try to find some cultivation and stat boosters, restoration and healing items maybe. Things that I can’t just stumble upon outside the dungeon.”

  “Okay, now we are talking. Welcome to Dungeon-mart, I’ll be your shopping guide today.”

  ***

  It took a couple hours, and a lot of arguing, but eventually Alex sorted through all the items he wanted to purchase.

  First he got an essence fragment for everyone back at the kobold village. For Allie, Garret and Cole it was difficult since they were all dual-element attuned. Light and Dark for Allie, Fire and Earth for Garret, Water and Light for Cole. He went for the main element he assumed would be harder to cultivate for each of them. It was an expensive endevour. Each fragment was at a large cost of 1,000 dungeon points. Spending so much meant Alex had already cut his earned dungeon points nearly in half.

  Next was the Martial Styles. Alex himself didn’t have use for these options, as he already had a Martial Style, and apparently someone could have only one at a time. Switching styles was possible, but unless there was high compatibility between the old and new one, usually someone lost all progress in their old Martial Style when changing them.

  Regardless, Alex knew how much of a boost a true Martial Style could be, and the basic ones were rather cheap for the power they provided. Alex chose a few to buy and would let everyone else decide to use them or wait for a lucky opportunity to acquire a stronger one later.

  Spells was also a huge headache for Alex. The number of options open to him was immense given that he was uniquely situated with not being restricted to one or two elements. He could potentially learn any spell, but his form of the spell would be different. Anything that he cast would be with pure aether instead of the element the spell was designed for.

  Obby insisted this was a huge boon for Alex, and he had to agree. There were downsides though, as any spell would be designed specifically for an element. Its aether pattern and intent would be geared towards that energy type, Alex’s version of any given spell would be weaker. He could overcome this with lots of practice and tweaking the spell intent when he cast it, such as with his [Wave Shield] spell, or what he did against the Grave-Tyrant. But that still put him far behind the curve compared to other mages. Doubly so with Alex’s reduced aether pool on account of him still lacking a mage core.

  In the end, Alex decided on only one spell. An earth element spell called [Chain Bind] for only 550 dungeon points. He had already decided that focusing on learning and mastering a small number of spells would be his best path to power, just as Celeste and Sylvaris had taught him. The [Chain Bind] spell was a ranged crowd control, creating… well chains, which held a target in place. It only lasted a few seconds, but a lot can happen in seconds while in a battle.

  Cultivation items, potions, pills and elixirs was a tab Obby had to carry Alex through. It turned out Alchemy was huge in this world. The skill helped refine natural treasures into cultivation tools. Sometimes even the natural treasure in its raw form were sold at unbelievable prices.

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  There were items that increased Aether gathering rates, potions that boosted elemental attunement or stat progression. Pills that gave unique body constitutions, and so on. Limitless possibilities that Alex wanted, and some he found useless. Many of the items were shown in red, a disappointment for certain, but he did find some that were rather promising.

  Each item had a specific effect Alex was interested in.

  The Three-Cycle pill seemed to match amazingly well with his aptly renamed [Three-Fold Condensing Spiral]. Given the right conditions, Alex was certain he would skyrocket his cultivation with the pill.

  The Mistral Elixir was a meditative tool and could help Alex boost his mental stats. He still had his own essence fragment to absorb which also did that, but the elixir was an item that only focused on stat progression. Unlike the essence fragment which also helped in aether gathering. Alex assumed the elixir’s effect would be for more powerful when it came to increasing his wisdom, which Obby was very happy about.

  The Hollow Seraph Dust was a consumable that Obby described as ‘... helping to overcome stat threshold tribulations up to a stat of 30 ’. He didn’t explain much more, only saying Alex would most definitely want to buy it and mix a pinch into some tea before crossing thresholds from now on.

  Lastly was the Coiling Dragon Pill. This one interested Alex most of all. It had multiple potential uses, depending on the situation of when the person ate it. It could act as a temporary boosting item, like a beserker pill, boosting Alex’s strength and speed for a short time. But if he ate the pill and cultivated while the pill’s energy worked on his body, he might be able to permanently increase those stats instead. If he was super lucky, he might even gain a unique body constitution as well. Something akin to a bloodline or arcane beast ability.

  “Again, that’s assuming you even survive the pill. I told you it will try to eat your fleshy bits from the inside out. Its called ‘Coiling Dragon Pill’, not ‘Gentle Mother’s Hug Pill’, so don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Obby reiterated in his mind.

  “I understand, okay. I will take my chances.”

  The last few items Alex bought were all utility items.

  The first one was just for fun. The item seemed to be a joke put in by The System itself. A small dice that had a random effect when rolled. What would happen if Alex rolled it? No one knew. So of course Alex had to get it.

  The Ashen Phoenix Feather was an item Alex thought to be a useless purchase at first. It was a one-time use healing item. If gravely injured, it could be used to heal someone by flooding their body with light aether and a strong healing intent.

  “So its a healing potion, which I can buy in the shop for a hundred points instead?” Alex shook his head as Obby insisted he buy it.

  “You notice how even after drinking one of those potions it, focuses on healing the big wounds but afterward your still injured? ” Obby explained slowly. “ Because those little vials only hold so much healing power. They only have so much ‘oomph’ so to speak. They work handily for now, but your body is getting stronger and far more aether greedy as you progress. Once your vitality crosses the next threshold, those potions will have an even more reduced effect. Eventually, they will barely help with cuts and scrapes. ”

  “Seriously?” Alex thought back to when he used the potions in the dungeon. He did notice that he wasn’t fully restored to peak condition every time. It saved his life, but it wasn’t a total cure-all.

  “Yes, ” the pebble nodded sagely through their mental connection, giving Alex the impression of an old person stroking their beard.

  How do I know he’s doing a wise-man routine? He doesn’t have a face! Alex thought to himself. He brushed the question away and focused on Obby’s explanation instead.

  “This item here has for more oomph-juice than your puny potion. It can regrow and mend your brain if you somehow manage to use it after getting that thing squished. Or it can regrow limbs even. It will be a life saver all the way in your rise through Adept Tier, should you ever get there. ” Obby’s voice grew more serious suddenly. “ I know it’s a one-time use thing, but it could save your ass. I vote yes. Because I live in your mind now and I like being alive. ”

  Alex didn’t need much more convincing and added the feather to his purchases. He very much doubted Obby’s last reason for the item though, as he was pretty sure the sentient rock wouldn’t die even if Alex did. He didn’t die when Doudra was killed and he was bonded to her at the time.

  He did get reset though, as Alex’s wisdom was much lower than the kobold’s apparently.

  Maybe each bond with a new person creates a new Obby? A new iteration of its personality and consciousness? That would be a scary existence if that was my life. Alex began to look at the little rock a bit more sympathetically all of a sudden. Poor little granite bastard.

  The last two items were for Alex’s glyphcrafting skill. The stylus was simply a better enchanted version of the item he already had. But the new one had a movement correcting function, fixing mistakes Alex might make due to a trembling hand or muscle spasm. Smoother enchantment work meant a stronger overall product, so it was worth the investment.

  The Echo Lens was special, a round glyph-etched glass in a metal cage of sorts that would store and ‘memorize’ glyphs when held up to them for viewing.

  “It will be your glyph library, ” Obby explained. “ You can take snapshots of glyphs that the lens can help analyze and then store the schematics to look back at later. It can hold thousands and thousands of glyphs, so you don’t have to memorize them all. Its a great tool to help decipher arrays and sigils, and also a reference tool for your own works. ”

  “Sounds like the best item we have seen so far, hell yes. Bought.”

  Alex looked over his final purchase choices.

  He mentally confirmed his choices and the items all appeared in front of Alex sitting on a stone table where the shop crystal had just been floating. It was an instant transition that Alex would have missed had he blinked his eyes.

  He quickly began storing and sorting items in his dimensional bracelet. It was getting full at this point and Alex wished he could have purchased a larger one from the Dungeon Shop. They did sell such items, but even the smaller ones started at a price tag of 5,000 dungeon points. Larger ones were way beyond Alex. It seemed he had lucked out rather well with the reward when he got his bracelet after all.

  Once he was finished packing away his new loot, Alex could see a new portal appear at the far end of the room. Unlike all the others in the dungeon before, this one was white. Gentle energy flowed around and inside it like a soft breeze.

  He knew this portal would take him back outside the dungeon, back near the Kobold Village and thus to his friends once more. He was excited to finally be out of this hell hole, but also he was worried.

  Will the kobolds really keep their word? Would they be angry I tossed away their cursed dagger? Will my friends even be alive when I get back there, and if they are, what next? Alex thought through all of these worries in rapid succession.

  His eyes flickered up and to the corner of his vision. He brought up the quest screen for the System Trial that everyone had been given when they first came to Aetherios. The Trial that counted down the minutes to their eventual possible execution.

  Nearly one month, he realized. We’ve been in this world for nearly one month. So far things aren’t looking good. We’ve been captured multiple times, failed even more, and took out just one threat; the badgers. I’d say so far we are not passing this trial. We need to step it up.

  ‘You’re afraid.’ Adam’s voice flashed through his mind once more.

  Alex remembered what the hallucination of his brother had told him, and he remembered what he said back to it. Both were the truth. He was afraid, but he just had to keep pushing forward.

  Alex stepped towards the portal with a quiet confidence.

  He had a bunch of items to help him and everyone else to get stronger now. A lot of experience points to spend, and a bunch of new ideas for his skills. If the goal of The System was to push them to be stronger, Alex would provide.

  “You ready meat-boy? ” Obby chuckled happily in his soulspace.

  “No,” Alex said, “But I will be.”

  He took one more step and passed through the portal.

  ***