The shop that he wanted to go to was right in front of him. Most of the students walking around the shop were ignoring 'Oxyiel's materials' as they passed by, having no need to buy anything there.
The factory had a big rectangular steel door with half a sphere on the top. Its sides were filled with bolts and screws, fully protected from any intruder and apparently any customer too.
Hugh started banging on the door and the sound of metal clanking entered his ears and the students walking near him. They stopped for a second, confused at the fat student banging on the door. After their curiosity was satiated, they went on to their merry way.
"Hello?"
Hugh started to bang on the metal door harder, creating louder sounds that he was sure the people working inside could hear. He knew it wasn't empty due to the sounds of metal banging on metal rhythmically, like an old-fashioned drum.
'Are they ignoring me?'
He continued to introduce his presence to the whole shop, wanting to complete his daily missions sooner. He wanted to improve his Desire so he could fight for himself without using his transformation. He would do whatever it takes.
As he continued to knock on the metal door, a face suddenly appeared right in front of him which made him flinch backward. The head phased through the metal door and coupled with the sunken eyes, it looked eery. The face looked down and stared at Hugh with knitted eyebrows.
"What."
"Uh...I would like to buy something."
"....."
"....."
After a few seconds of them staring at each other, the floating head attached to the door sunk back into the steel door. Hugh frowned, not knowing what's up with the weirdo sho ignored him. He just wanted to buy raw materials and he got ignored. He wanted to know what kind of shop ignores their customers?
After a minute of Hugh standing there speechless, the door opened inwards and a lanky man who wore overalls came out from a dark room. His long hands reached out to Hugh, which made Hugh flinch backward. The man quickly took his hands back after seeing Hugh's reaction.
The man looked malnourished, the complete opposite of Hugh. After gaining his composure, Hugh stepped forward and offered his hand. The lanky man looked at Hugh's hand and reciprocated the gesture. They introduced themselves while giving each other a handshake.
"Hello sir, I am Hugh."
"Van."
"Okay....can I buy some stuff from you?"
"Yeah. Sure."
Van went back inside the door and closed it after himself, not letting Hugh inside. Hugh's jaw was on the ground. He was speechless at the strange behavior of Van. Van said he can buy from him but he closed the door on him.
"Hello!!!!!"
Hugh knocked on the door harder than he ever did as he almost used his armor to knock on the door. Hugh's eyebrows were knitted together as sweat poured down his uniform. He had been standing behind the door for almost ten minutes which caught the attention of the students walking nearby. Bang assumed that they must have thought that he was a weird stalker that pursued a woman to her house.
Hugh was tongue-tied when he heard metals clanging on metals opposite the door. That meant only one thing; Van was back doing his work and forgot about Hugh. Frustrated, Hugh decided to leave the place and try his luck again later but he suddenly heard Van speak.
"What are you doing, aren't you buying."
Van's floating head appeared from the door and spoke to Hugh without any intonation. Hugh wouldn't have known he was asking a question if not for the context clue behind it.
"Yeah, but you closed the door on me!"
He shouted at Van, letting his anger take over him. Van widened his eyes and looked up.
"Oh! I always forget people can't phase-shift like me."
Van opened the door and finally let Hugh inside the factory. Inside, rows and rows of shelves filled the whole place. It contained everything inside like, wood, rocks, metals, pearls, gems, and everything that can be forged into something better.
He followed Van throughout the room, walking through the shelves and seeing new materials that he had never seen before. There were also some materials Hugh had only seen in books and the internet due to their rarity. These rare materials like the 'symphonic cotton' only harvested from planet Dendro once every 100 years. These costs millions of gold coins yet it was just displayed here on the shelves without any protection.
The shelves here were like a junkyard of common to very rare materials. Hugh did not dare to steal anything from here due, not only his morals, but because of the strength of shopkeepers here in the central area. Most of these shop owners were at least at the 4th stage of advancement.
Van suddenly stopped in front of a shelf, seemingly at random. He turned around and faced Hugh as he spoke.
"What do you want to buy."
"Uhhh...do you have any wood."
"Yes"
"....."
"....."
"Can I buy some?"
"Sure."
Van started walking again, traversing through the shelves without any patterns. Sometimes he would trace back his steps and go back to where he came from. He would also turn in another direction only to collide with the shelves. Thankfully, the shelves seemed sturdy and any force put upon them was absorbed.
They walked around for at least 10 minutes until Van suddenly turned around to face Hugh. His eyebrows knitted together like he was frustrated with something.
"Why are you following me."
"What?!?! I want to buy wood!"
"Then buy it."
"How? I don't even know where it is!"
"Oh! It's right here then."
Hugh was speechless once again as Van started walking towards a direction. He wondered to himself if all the shopkeepers were like this or maybe Van was just an isolated occurrence.
He followed Van and finally reached into part of the shelves where it was lined with all kinds of wood. The wood was arranged based on its colors from black to every color to white.
"These are high-quality wood imported from all around the galaxy."
Hugh had a theory about how to improve his armor. When he completed the mission, he only ate wood from the Travek forest which was arguably a low ranking quality. If he was to improve his armor, he needed to consume higher quality wood or maybe eat a larger quantity per type of wood.
"What's the highest quality wood?"
"Neodiamond wood from planet Braxton."
"Do you have that?"
"No"
"...."
"...."
"Do you know where to buy that?"
"Yeah, here."
"...."
"...."
"Then why don't you have it?"
"It's already sold."
"Who did you sell it to?"
"To the blacksmith."
"When is it available? Can you tell me so I can buy it?"
"No"
"Why?"
"Its policy. Fourth years have dibs on everything so the blacksmith buys the highest quality."
Hugh found it annoying that if he hadn't asked, Van would never answer his questions. He couldn't complain because he may rely on Van for his materials in the future. If they got on the wrong foot, Van may refuse to offer his service to Hugh and he wouldn't know where to gather the resources for his daily mission.
"How much for the second most durable tree?"
"100,000 points."
"What?!?! For one piece of wood?"
"No, that's for bulk order. 10 kilograms."
Hugh couldn't believe how expensive the wood was. Even if he bought only 1 kilogram, that would amount to his entire budget for one month. He couldn't afford to spend that much on just one type of wood.
"How much for the cheapest wood?"
"They very to 1,000 points per kilogram."
Hugh didn't know what to do. Even the cheapest wood here would drain him of his points. He was truly backed into a corner but he wanted to complete his missions. Doing so would allow him to use his armor more consistently.
"Is there a way to earn points in a small amount of time?"
He needed to earn money today or else his daily mission would be over. He couldn't let that opportunity pass by or else he would regret it for the rest of his life.
"The fastest way is to gamble, or could try your luck at that new game called 'Planets&Monsters'."
He didn't know where that was but he was willing to try it. He had to get points fast, with emphasis on the fast.
"Thanks, Van."
Van showed his open-faced palm and his eyes were wide open, displaying surprise. It looked like he had never heard the word 'thanks' before. Hugh didn't wait any longer and walked out of the factory in search of any gambling place or any capsule that played Planets&Monsters.