Chương 37: Chapter Thirty-Seven: Spending Spree

THIRTY-SEVEN Tyler darted out of the saferoom with her newfound amulet in hand and a large crate of glassware. When he'd told her what was going on she had bought it all without hesitation, running as fast as she could. Roan had never seen the woman smile before and he wished he still hadn't. It unsettled him." She has access to the association funds. To buy things without having to run it by Darren or Taoya. Must be part of their little Pact."

Roan didn't let that thought linger as he found a relatively isolated hilltop as he sat down on it, resting as he opened up the marketplace and started to look at common-grade items to buy." What do I need? Armor would be nice. I have a decent weapon, but a secondary more compact weapon would be good. Something like the axe or a good dagger. Or utility? Fuck! Get a spatial bag!" Roan's thoughts came to a screeching halt as he brought up the long line of spatial storage gear.

His worst fear had been that a common-grade wouldn't be a high enough rarity for a spatial item, but that wasn't the problem. COMMON SPATIAL RING-BONDED 5, 000 CREDITS SQUARE FOOT OF ISOLATED STORAGE SPACE COMMON SPATIAL BAG-UNBONDED 5, 000 CREDITS TWO SQUARE FEET OF ISOLATED STORAGE SPACE" That's decent, but is it worth the full token? Will it help me continue to leverage my advantages?" With a pained sigh he looked through the lists. There were plenty of common-grade weapons that looked fine.

Similar to the weapons that everyone had walked into the tower with, the ones they had received as their starting weapon." Did we all get a common-grade item to enter the tower with? Did I trade in a common grade item for three questions?" That sent a bolt of irritation through him as he made a note to investigate that. He started to dig through supply items. Camping tents, beds, blankets, water canteens. He stopped at the canteens and looked them over. COMMON CANTEEN 5, 000 CREDITS SPATIALLY CONDENSED CONTAINER.

HOLDS TWO GALLONS OF LIQUID AT ORIGINAL TEMPERATURE COMMON MANA-TO-WATER CANTEEN 5, 000 CREDITS ENCHANTED CANTEEN THAT PASSIVELY TRANSFORMS AMBIENT MANA INTO WATER. 1 QUART PER HOUR" Be practical. How much have you already spent on water? An active adult will drink a gallon a day without a problem and you're very active. A water ration is seventy-five credits. I'm going through at least two a day. At a quart an hour that's eight hours of charging but would save me a minimum of a hundred-fifty credits a day.

In a little over a month it pays itself back." Roan argued with himself as he stared at the canteen to purchase. Stolen novel; please report. It didn't excite him. It wasn't something that would allow him to quickly scale the tower, but it was one of the small cost saving items that would allow him to buy skills at a faster rate than anyone else. That'd be five skill manuals he'd be able to buy from just the savings he'd generate from not buying water in a month. That was enough for him to use the token.

A metal canteen popped into existence with a nice, thick, strap on it that he immediately wrapped around his neck and shoulder. It was also empty at the moment. LEARN TIER 1 SKILL 15, 000 CREDITS POTENTIAL: TIER 10 INCREASE YOUR LEARNING EFFICIENCY FLOOR 1. 01 UNIQUE SKILL: 1/1 LEARNING MANUAL: N/A SKILL SHAPING TIER 1 SKILL 10, 000 CREDITS POTENTIAL: TIER 8 SHAPE AND CHANGE BOUGHT SKILLS FLOOR 1.

01 UNIQUE SKILL: 2/5 LEARNING MANUAL: 1, 000 CREDITS MANUALS REMAINING: 19/50 BODY TEMPERING TIER 1 SKILL 8, 000 CREDITS POTENTIAL: TIER 8 TEMPERS THE BODY TO INCREASE PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES FLOOR 1. 01 UNIQUE SKILL: 42/75 LEARNING MANUAL: 800 CREDITS MANUALS REMAINING 498/750 Roan bought Learn before it could be stolen from him. He felt a sense of satisfaction flood him as he clicked the buy option. A sense of accomplishment filled him as he waited to see what would happen.

LEARN IS INTEGRATING INCREASE INTELLIGENCE AND KNOWLEDGE STATS TO INCREASE SKILL TIER BASE. USE AND REFINE SKILL TO INCREASE SKILL TIER ALLOWS FOR A FASTER AND MORE EFFICIENT UNDERSTANDING OF LEARNING. CURRENT TIER: 1 CURRENT EFFICIENCY INCREASE: 10% Pain started in the center of his skull and expanded until his entire head felt like it was on the verge of splitting. Roan let out a surprised gasp as he clutched at the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes tightly, trying to will away the pain.

He lost track of time as he fought through the pain. It eventually began to fade away as he sat there until it finally regressed completely. Roan slowly opened his eyes and looked around the saferoom. People milled about, over a hundred of them. As he glanced over them he felt a tug on his memory, as if he should know one or another, their faces familiar where just moments before they'd just been nameless blurs. He remembered who had been in his saferoom and the few survivors from Tyler's.

"Interesting," Roan muttered as he looked at his bank balance and winced. After working so hard to push it forward, to see it slide back that far and fast made him want to cry. S KILL SHAPING LEARNING MANUAL A MANUSCRIPT FILLED WITH THEOREMS ON HOW TO SHAPE SKILLS EARN SKILL SHAPING SKILL: MANIPULATE OR SHAPE A SKILL BEYOND ITS ORIGINAL PURPOSE: 0/65 A two finger thick book appeared out of thin air and flopped down to the ground next to him.

When he pulled the book open he groaned as he saw the tightly packed words that filled each page like a black sea. He flipped through it and saw there were more than that, diagrams including detailed bodies and other things that didn't make sense to Roan. Yet.

"You'll get there. Now, how do I get the last three hundred credits I need for body tempering?" Roan asked himself as he stood up and brushed his pants off. His stomach rumbled as well, reminding himself he needed to eat. He grabbed his canteen and was happy to feel there was a bit of heft to it as he swallowed a long drink. It didn't help the hunger but cut some of the thirst. He looked around the area until he realized people were missing.

Not just the dickhead, Nash, but some of the others who had said they didn't want to be part of the association." What was that girl's name? Billie? Could see if she's willing to help out. Maybe there's a few coffins that haven't been sold? Or crypts that haven't been cleared?" Roan thought through what he could do to pad his account before the time ended on this level. From what he understood all of the skeletons were gone, the anomalies were killed, there were no more mobs to farm."

Could always find Nash and end that threat before it begins. I'm tired though. Hungry, sore, and dehydrated. If he's been just resting and waiting for someone it could turn bad. But, everyone else is busy with the mushroom," Roan mulled it over as he walked out of the saferoom. LEVEL 1 CLEAR RATE: 91% LEVEL 2 OPENING IN: 9 HOURS CURRENT BALANCE: 558 CREDITS