For two hours, Fen spent his time inside the Erudite ranked Scenario, racking up an extra four hundred points to his name, which added to the points he received before, became a healthy sum of five hundred and one points. It hurt to see the extra one added to his total instead of a clean five-hundred, but it couldn't be helped.
And, during his time in the Scenario, he was able to determine his limits with the Flaming Spear spellwork. With the construct, he had a limited range of about twenty-five meters (~82 feet) in which his accuracy would be significantly impacted after that range. It wasn't a long distance using any standard of measurement, but it gave Fen what he wanted, an extra tool that he could use in combat.
He also became much more accustomed to the wilderness that the Scenario created, although he wasn't able to find out if the Scenario space was generated every time he went in or if it was the same one; he couldn't find any of the places he'd been to before, but then again, he never found a 'limit' to the area he could travel to. Maybe an entire world was created every time he entered, different and unique from the last, or maybe it all took place on a single massive planet in which he'd never be able to tell if he was in the same place or not. When he gained more strength, maybe he'd be able to tell.
There were no Lesser Dragons or other monsters that could compare to one (thankfully), and he didn't want to stop and reveal his energy signature in case a larger or more dangerous predator appeared. There weren't any landmarks besides remnants of destroyed cities or towns either, with nature being the only environment that was inhabited with life, the life being monsters and other strange creatures.
The Points Table said that the Scenario space was a recreation based off the planet while monsters still existed on Earth, but because very little survived that period of time, there was no map or system that he could rely on to find where he was.
For some reason, the ruins and settlements that he could find were all empty, be it of human life or monsters. They were avoided by monsters too, apparently the time he was attacked by the fire-breathing lizard in his first Scenario was only caused by his abnormal energy signature. Whenever a monster he was chasing saw a ruin, it ran in the opposite direction with more vigor than before, coming straight for him. Whatever it was that made them avoid the structures, it made them more afraid than they were of him.
Frustrated with the lack of information he had, Fen exited the Scenario for the final time that day to look through the Shop and see the items for sale.
Immediately after he exited the Scenario, the throbbing pain of the Death Mark sent him reeling to the wall of the room. Apparently, every time he exited a portal or reality, excluding Dey's reality, the pain was amplified for a short period of time. Fen stood there for a moment, struggling to remain calm through the pain. After a while it receded back to a level he could handle without too much effort.
Now that the pain was back to being manageable, Fen switched his focus back to the Shop.
There was less than a week left until the start of the first Task. Not knowing what the Task was actually going to be, besides being a deathmatch, he could only try and find something that might be able to help prepare him for the 'task' at hand. Haha, pun.
...Staying so long in the Scenario with nothing else to do made him develop a habit of talking to himself. Sometimes out loud, sometimes just mentally, depending on whether Fen found a monster to practice hunting or not.
You'd be surprised how quickly you can run out of things to talk about with yourself. Eventually, Fen spent a straight hour making puns, with everything he saw.
"Do you want me to spear you? Get it? Because spear sounds like spare... Ah forget it." That poor golden wolf looked more scared of his pun than the short sword penetrating it's chest. His puns couldn't be that bad, right?
Unbeknownst to him, his pun streak had almost made Dey die from laughing too hard. Apparently, having nothing better to do, the God chose to watch over Fen to make sure there were no other incidents that would require his help. It was fortunate, or perhaps unfortunate for the young teen that the only interesting thing to happen was the stream of puns that scared the monsters Fen hunted.
'Ah, I think spending so much time alone broke the poor kid...' The God thought to himself. Even if it was funny, Dey was quite worried about his state of mind. It hasn't even been a month since the youth entered the Program, and yet throughout that time Fen discovered his true nature, experienced pseudo-death, was exploded, faced a Lesser Dragon capable of using magic, and now he was spending hours alone in the Scenarios.
Fen had to become a monster if he wanted to survive, but the God watching over him didn't expect that to occur for at least a few months. If the youth's mind slipped past the breaking point, there'd be very little Deion could do to bring him back.
While he worried, Fen compiled a list of items and Lessons that he thought were the most useful to him, the only thing he needed to do was chose which item he would get. There were a few more days left, and with so many hours in the day, it wouldn't be difficult to acquire a couple more hundred points to buy anything that'd need.
So far, this was what he found in the Shop that looked appealing. Some of the items appeared to have descriptions written by the Narrator, which was a welcome and familiar sight. His annoying personality was refreshing compared to the mentally-addled members of the Foundation.
[Shop]
[Candidate 178-3001: Fen Altairus]
[Points: 501]
[Current Purchasing Level: Opfer]
[10. Dwarven Long Axe. Properties: A fearsome axe originating from the Dwarven Empire before they were corrupted by the Sin's influence. With a one-and-a-half meter (~5 feet) long handle, this weapon can build up a momentum powerful enough to chop weaker monsters into two. The engravings on the head of the axe is engraved with a short history of its creator. Cost: 225]
[21. Destruction Magic Lesson. Description: In the case you don't have the skill or the finesse to control your magical energy, this Lesson's perfect for you. With spellworks such as Void of Doom and Bladed Destruction, you simply need brute magical strength to reign supreme! Though, you should be careful not to be killed by your own spellwork... Though, I managed to get lucky a few times. Cost: 350]
[25. Musculature Enhancing Elixir. Description: Don't fucking take this crap unless you don't plan on living a long time. The basis of this drug is to make your body complete years of training in a single day. Not only is that process extremely painful to endure, but it can also cripple your lifeforce to the point that your Vital energy becomes so diluted that you won't live past a few months. Unless it's your last option, I wouldn't advise taking it. Worst case scenario, you might instantly turn into a monster and kill everyone around you. Cost: 400]
[33. Basic Combat Lesson. Description: Learn from getting your ass kicked repeatedly by an instructor. This Lesson's actually useful, unlike some of the other bullshit the Foundation gives you. It may say 'Basic', but really, the instructor will show more and more skill the longer you last. In any case, this Lesson's perfect for any M's looking for some entertainment. Cost: 350]
[40. Theoredian Armor. Properties: From stripping the hide off a strong monster and processing it, the Theoredian Kingdom created this armor using some of their own developed techniques, giving the material elasticity and powerful defensive capabilities. The armor itself is only a chest piece that covers the entire torso and shoulders, leaving all 4 limbs free to move around while protecting vital points. When carrying this armor, be careful to protect your head as the armor certainly won't. Cost: 500]
Of the five different items in the shop, Fen was most interested in... well, all of them. They all had their pros and cons, so now it was time to see which one suited him the most.
The axe would give him another weapon style to use in combat. While a sword was great, it lacked the brute force that an axe could produce; combined with his own enhanced strength, the power Fen could show would be incredibly fearsome. But, Fen wasn't ambidextrous. He wasn't familiar with using his left hand to wield a pencil, let alone a weapon, and the idea of carrying both weapons with him to the Task only for him to use one at a time wasn't very appealing.
As he read the description for the Destruction Magic Lesson again, his interest faded a little. He already had the Flaming Spear spellwork and the ability to use it, and so while he might purchase the Lesson if he survived past the Task, for now he needed something to help him survive in the 'now.
Like the old saying, a bird in hand was worth two in the bush.
Which was exactly why Fen was interested in the Musculature Enhancing Elixir. If he could gain the strength that he'd get for training for multiple years in a single day... He wouldn't have to worry about fighting a Chosen. It was too bad that there was that 'little' side effect of reducing his lifespan to only a few months.
But, with his nature as a Vitul, would the elixir have an effect on him?
'Hmm. Not worth taking the chance. I'm still part human right now, so the Elixir might still kill me.' Upon second thought, Fen put the item away from his mind.
Speaking of his Vitul nature, how much combat experience would he be able to milk out of the Basic Combat Lesson? The Narrator even mentioned that the longer he could last against an instructor the more he'd benefit.
'Wait, no. Using my own inherent regenerative abilities might give me more time to fight against an instructor, but at what cost? The only person that knows about how I can heal is Raisen- Dey too, but he's already a Vitul so he's not a risk. If I fight against another instructor, I'll pay the price for experience by throwing another variable into the mix.' Dey had advised him to place more trust in the old Knight, but Fen struck lucky with him in the first place. Another instructor might not be as 'friendly' as him. 'It's not that I can't heal, but I won't be able to let loose. Hell, I don't even know if I can control the speed of my regeneration; I've never tried before.'
Overall there were simply too much outside of his control. It'd be much easier to choose an item rather than a Lesson (Partly because he could control an item, and it was much harder to manipulate a person), but they wouldn't give him the boost in power that he wanted. Damn it! Fen was missing too much information; he didn't know what he could and couldn't share about his nature with others.
If Heaven itself destroyed his people's civilization, which he didn't even know what to feel about THAT whole mess, then what would the Foundation do? Would they try to kill him too? Even if they didn't try, their entire goal was the revival of the Fallen races which was supposed to bring back Heaven's Virtues to Earth.
The odds were more than likely that they'd try to kill him. If they found out, that was.
But hiding who he was wasn't that appealing, if Fen was being honest. The Virtues were Gods too, and he still didn't know what exactly a God could and couldn't do; what if they could simply look at him and instantly find out what he was?
...Anyways, of all the items that caught his eye, it looked like the one that'd benefit him the most was the armor piece. With it, he'd get a piece of equipment that he desperately needed. Well, not desperately, even without it he could just heal.
But! That was exactly the point!
He could hide his regeneration by wearing the armor, tricking his opponent into thinking he was getting weaker and weaker over time when in reality, the armor was simply hiding the effects of his regeneration!
It was pretty clever. In the Task it might even save his life if he got paired up against a Chosen, Heaven forbid he was that unlucky.
With that final thought, he confirmed the purchase, watching his points drain all the way back down to one.
'Damn, I knew how much the price was and yet, watching my points go down still hurts my heart...' It was the first time that Fen experienced the pain of watching his hard work drain to pay for a single item. Even when buying the Iberian short sword, he didn't expect much but he was happy with what he got.
For this piece of armor though, he had no idea if it'd be worth the price. Five-hundred points for a single item... He could only hope it was worth it.
Just like before, the glowing interface collapsed into hundreds of golden glowing particles before formulating into the shape of the armor.
It was big. Bigger than what he expected. Fen wasn't a small guy, he had a pretty strong build which combined with his compact muscles gave him the look of a professional wrestler. With his tall height, most large clothing items would fit him pretty well, but the Theoredian armor was like an XXX-large shirt.
It looked like it was made for a giant rather than a regular sized human.
With an audible *pop*, the armor materialized in the air, falling to the floor. The Shop described it pretty well, it was a leather chestpiece with to sleeves reinforced with what looked like scales. The chest was dark brown in color, with silvery metal studs connected the different layers of the armor.
Starting from the shoulders, the leather was exchanged for grey scales, with two metal plates stationed on top of the scales to protect his neck from angled attacks.
There were three straps on each side of the armor, six straps in total, which Fen assumed were for him to tighten around him and loosen to take the armor off.
Overall, it looked like a splendid piece of equipment. If it wasn't for the massive size...
Even on the ground, the armor reached around to his knees. With a look of dismay on his face, Fen lightly tapped the armor with his foot to see if it did anything, not really expecting a reaction. When the entire armor lit up with energy, well, he was more than a little surprised.
The whole armor started glowing with energy, before it shrunk down to a size that might fit him. A spark flew from the armor back into Fen's leg and the equipment stopped shrinking.
"Huh. Useful..." Fen mumbled to himself as he prodded around the armor some more.
Knowing that the equipment would be worn by people of all shapes and sizes, the Foundation prepared their equipment, especially the armor pieces, to be made extra large so they could magically enchant them to shrink to the perfect size when the user touched it. It was a quick and cheap solution, with the only downside being that the armor would remain the same weight and density no matter the size making it hard to move around in for people of weaker natures, but it was a solution nonetheless.
Unexpectedly, the added weight was perfect for Fen who was stronger than the average human; the added weight wasn't a problem for his capable muscles.
Putting it on, Fen fastened the straps on his sides and looked at the interface to see how he looked, using the reflection of the glowing particles to see his own mirror image facing him.
Not to brag or anything, but the armor looked very good on him. The tightfitting leather complimented his compact muscles, and it gave him the reassuring feeling of durability, like the armor was confident of lasting through a couple hits.
It was exactly what he needed. Even if the armor was punctured through, the dark color would hide any opponents from seeing that his wounds were healing.
It would do for the first Task.