Back at the academy, after a good night's sleep, the day looks promising. I intend to go into town to upgrade my equipment. With the gold coins I have, I can afford that. As I think about it, I would like to find a light armor, a second weapon, and maybe some accessories.
As I step out of my room, I run into Pepper in the hallway.
"Good morning, how are you?" I greet her.
"Hey! I'm good, how about you?" she responds cheerfully.
"Just a random question, do you have anything planned for today?" I ask.
"Yeah, I need to go into town to buy some ingredients," she sighs.
"Sad to leave your workshop?" I tease her a bit.
"Yeah, I was just finishing up a levitation potion when I ran out of Surbroue leaves. But it's okay, the last step can be done with a deadline, and the result won't really change," she explains passionately.
I offer to accompany her since I also have some errands to run. She gladly accepts, and we head towards the town together.
We arrived at the herbalist's shortly after. The outside of the shop is filled with brightly colored flowers, and the inside smells like my mother's spice cabinet. An old man greets us, and Pepper buys what she needs. After paying, we leave. I tell her she can go back to the dormitory and continue her potion if she wants, as I might take a while here, and I don't want to hold her back for no reason. Plus, she won't see that I suddenly became rich. That should save me from answering unnecessary questions.
I returned to the Golden Axe Forge where I bought my blade musket. The same young woman from last time greets me. I ask her if she still has firearms available. She cheerfully confirms that she does and leads me to a corner of the building, showing me the models one by one. This time, I have no budget limit, so I explain to her what I am specifically looking for. I am in search of a long-range, highly powerful and accurate weapon, as well as a breath pistol for close combat. After giving her the description of what I'm looking for, she looks at me with a troubled expression and explains that such a weapon may cost much more than a melee weapon. She quickly explains, for example, that a high-quality magic sword can cost up to 500 gold pieces, but for a magical firearm of that type, the price can double or even triple, as it is extremely difficult to construct and rare. I reassure her about the budget and ask her to simply show me the weapons. Surprised by my statement, she composes herself and presents herself in a whole new manner. Her customer service improves drastically, probably due to the fact that I am wealthy. After she gives me descriptions of all the weapons, I finalize my choice on a black musket that was forged by Gnomes. The weapon is covered in spikes and dark in color, usually used by assassins. It has the property of fading when moved. It is engraved with words in an unknown language, and the handle is made of black leather. One of the restrictions of the weapon is that it can only be used by men. The young woman tells me that the runes on the weapon inflict a curse of slowness on the person struck. She explains that the source of its power is darkness, which means that the musket will deal more damage and recharge with my mana more quickly when there is no sunlight or light. As far as she knows, the weapon has been used to kill a suspicious number of people in the Republic of Aluvia. The price is 1300 gold pieces. I nod in agreement and the small dwarf Gimli joins us, all cheerful! I also purchase a breath pistol that can hold six alchemical cartridges, as well as a crate of cartridges and a high-quality dagger. The total comes to an extraordinary sum of 1700 gold pieces. Gimli gives me a gold-colored card with an image of an axe and tells me that I am now a VIP customer in her shop. If I ever need anything, I just need to show my card to receive the best service and priority for purchases. I thank her for her service and head towards the armorer. I purchased a black chainmail that offers some protection against the elements for 50 silver pieces.
I decided to return to the academy and reserve a training room in the Skills Control Pavilion to practice a bit. With my new equipment, I want to practice my combat style. I've noticed that I tend to act like an assassin: attacking from a distance with the musket to deliver a fatal blow and then engaging in close combat afterwards. In case someone shortens the distance, I'll be able to use my dagger and breath pistol. The breath pistol is powerful and very intimidating, which should give me the opportunity to retreat and reload or escape.
With that in mind, I think carrying three weapons, especially a musket, may slow me down, so I decide to train intensively to be able to materialize my weapons through the shop space until I am comfortable in all situations.
The weekend ends, and my expertise in changing weapons without any issues increases rapidly. I am confident that I can fight and use this technique smoothly. Meanwhile, I have finished assimilating the remaining monsters and have acquired new skills:
Name: Heolstor Xel'Mourndor
Level: 10
Profession: Void Merchant (Ordinary)
Talent: Void acquisition
STATS: ● Strength: 10+7
● Agility: 11+6
● Intelligence: 10+4
● Mana: 10+4
● Dexterity: 11+2
● Luck: 10
● Constitution: 10+5
STATS TO DISTRIBUTE: 30
Skills:
● Previous Skills ● Links ●
● Dark vision ● Object animation ●
● Novice close combat ●
● Passive vibration perception ●
● Fabrication ● Damage resistance ●
● Incendiary cloud ●
Void acquisitions:
Acquired (5str/5agi/2int/3mana/2dex/4con) ● ● Arforix (1str/1agi/1mana) ●
● Scrap dogs (1str) ● Umbritusk (1con) ●
● Cliquatus (1int) ● Iron servant (1int) ●
Vibration perception (Passive):
Passive perception of vibrations.
Links (Cost 10 mana):
Magically binds a mechanical golem to oneself. As long as the golem and the spellcaster are in the same plane of existence, the spellcaster can telepathically call the golem to join them and automatically knows the distance and direction of the golem. If the guardian is within 10 meters or less from the spellcaster, half of the damage taken is transferred to the golem.
Fabrication (Cost 3 mana):
You convert raw materials into crafted objects using those materials. For example, you can create a wooden bridge from a few trees, a rope from a hemp patch, and clothes from linen or wool.
Damage resistance (Passive):
Minor resistance to blunt, piercing, and slashing damage from non-magical attacks.
Incendiary cloud (Cost 5 mana):
A swirling cloud of smoke and glowing embers appears in a 15-meter radius sphere centered on a point within range. The cloud moves around corners and is heavily obscured.
I have acquired so many skills and assimilated monsters that the status window has grouped them together. It's nice because my window looks simpler now. However, I can still view the information if I want to.
Since I have acquired new skills, I will need to readjust my fighting style. I would like to emulate Arfovix, but in an assassin version. I will take them out from a distance with a single strike if possible, and if not, I will switch to close combat.
In close combat, I can conjure up incendiary clouds and use Shadow Stealth to silently assassinate them with my dagger. If there are multiple enemies, I can use my breath pistol to set them on fire and escape, reload, and repeat. The obscuring smoke doesn't bother me and is advantageous, as I can sense vibrations and see in the dark. It will even inflict damage over time and slowly drain their resources by burning them.
Furthermore, with my skill in object animation and binding, I have discovered that I can animate a musket and bond with it, allowing me to have a sort of small mechanical golem capable of firing autonomously and almost intelligently. Now that I have acquired new skills, I intend to continue practicing until I have complete control over it.
Satisfied with my game plan, I return to the Void Mall. Loëalun Travia and Minolas have not returned since last time, I hope they are well. But until their next visit, I should have new clients to take care of.