Calm Wanderer
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(AKJ)Chapter 72 - Choosing Tier 1 gear
🕑 Added 2024-08-22 11:13:45 +0000 UTCMolvograd, Molkovia, Earth.
Demian's P.O.V.
As the three’s gazes roamed around the vast high-ceiling room, Anna Lirov explained briefly its purpose. “This is where we store the most important resources. On that side...” She pointed toward their left. “... we’ve put every raw material used for Alchemy. Unfortunately, we don’t have our own in-house Tier 1 Alchemist, so we’re forced to outsource our pill production.” With a look of confusion, Adeliya asked. “Tier 1 Alchemist?” Turning her gaze toward the middle-aged redhead, the brunette specified. “Those who make pills for Chi Gathering Cultivators.”
With a ‘So that ‘s what it meant’ look, Adeliya muttered to herself. “So they’re divided into Tiers... Interesting...” Her reaction brought an amused grin to Demian’s face who asked his own question. “That should be pretty expensive, right? Outsourcing, I mean.” His words were followed by Anna’s sigh who then made a light nod. “Very. But we don’t have much choice in the matter. Pills are essential for cultivators, after all. We can only grit our teeth and pay an absurd price for something that only costs a fraction to make.” ‘So, just like in those novels, the Alchemist profession is very lucrative. At least, if you’re good enough.’ He realized before another question came to his mind. “Another question. Aren’t you afraid of defective products? Or maybe someone switching the pills for some poisonous ones?”
Shaking her head, the woman, who seemed to have regained some semblance of emotions as she looked him in the eye, responded. “Not really. The organization we order from has a stellar reputation. If they were to sell defective products, they‘d definitely lose most of their clients.” Pausing for a second, she added. “Of course, that’s only true if they’re found out...” Demian understood what she implied and said. “I’m guessing they’re very powerful?” Nodding her head, the brunette did not go in too much detail. “More than you can think of...”
At that point, she turned toward the right side of the room where rows of cabinets were similarly placed against the wall, and exclaimed. “On the right side, are finished alchemy products, such as pills, potions, paste, etc.” The number of cabinets impressed the other three. Nonetheless, there seemed to be something wrong about the quantity, and Demian was clearly not the only one who spotted the problem. “Are all of them full of Tier 1 alchemy products?” Bryn asked doubtfully.
Her question was met with a simple answer from the other woman. “No.” Probably noticing their curiosity, she added. “Most of our stock is Tier 0 cultivation products. Only a few of them are Tier 1 pills, with the majority of those being Low Tier 1. As I said previously, Tier 1 products are very expensive and, with the number of cultivators under Mr. Yanov, it’s very difficult to supply everyone with what they need.” She paused for a second before adding in a mumble that would have been impossible for someone with weaker senses than Demian to catch. “He does try though...”
The silence lasted only a brief moment before she started walking toward a wooden cabinet close by, opened a few drawers, and, took out a few light green-colored bottle-shaped containers. Interestingly, those same ‘bottles’ instantly disappeared as soon as they touched her hand as if they were never there. “What...?” Adeliya’s confused voice resounded in the room, prompting the brunette to move her gaze toward her. Seeing the redhead’s confusion, the other woman said three words. “Void Storage Bracelet.” Anna then gestured toward the grey-colored bangle she wore on her wrist. “You need to let a drop of your blood fall on it to let it recognize your identity. Then, simply move an object in or out through your Soul sense. Even a child could use it. If he was at the Chi Gathering Rank, that is.”
“That seems very practical. How much can you store inside?” Bryn asked, looking interested in the strange device. Nodding her head, Anna responded. “Very. It’s also very rare and expensive. Only a few high-level cultivators under Mr. Yanov own one.” Pausing for a second as her gaze fell on the bangle and specified. “This one has 1m³ of storage.” She then turned back to grab a last bottle before she started walking away in the door’s direction while gesturing for them to follow. As the group left the room, Bryn continued with her question. “Do you have spare bracelets for us to use?”
Shaking her, Anna retorted. “No, and I’d advise you to give up on the idea of acquiring one.” Undeterred by the brunette’s attitude, the giant redhead continued. “Is it really that expensive?” Lirov’s steps halted, forcing the others to do the same. She then moved her head up to look into Bryn’s eyes and claimed in a subtly condescending tone. “Even if you all sold yourself, you’d still fall short.” Before turning back toward another room guarded by two unknown cultivators.
Despite being someone with great patience, the current look on Brynhild’s face made Demian realize that the ‘short’ brunette was starting to reach the limit of the his cousin’s patience, something that could only end up one way... ‘That woman is definitely in for a beating once Bryn advances a few levels...’ He thought, already relishing the idea of someone else being on the other end of the powerful woman’s fists. Suddenly, the young man’s previous annoyance vanished, leaving only anticipation mixed with a feeling of schadenfreude, something that Adeliya immediately noticed. After briefly staring at him with some light confusion in her eyes, she suddenly sported a ‘Oh! I got it!’ expression on her face before an amused grin appeared on her face, an expression greatly similar to her nephew.
While the Aunt-Nephew duo was silently having fun together, the group entered the second room after being let through by the two guarding cultivators. There, numerous weapons and protective gear were stored, either hanging on racks, set on wooden displays, etc. There was almost every type of lethal object one could use, from hot weapons to cold weapons, and from medieval-looking armor, to modern-looking protective gear. It felt a bit overwhelming to Demian, however, his mind was quickly distracted by the brunette’s next words as she turned toward them. “It should be pretty obvious, but I’ll say it anyway. This is the Armory!” ‘No shit, Sherlock!’ Demian exclaimed inwardly without letting transpire any of his amusement on his face.
Similarly, Adeliya and Bryn kept a neutral face, even if Demian could easily notice their patience getting thinner with the other woman’s attitude. Seemingly not caring that much about how they felt, Anna Lirov continued her explanation in the same emotionless tone she had been using almost the entire time. “The three of you, and Miss Seraphine when she decides to join us, are allowed to choose cold weapons and protective gear for yourself. You’ll also get some standard hot weapons. Here’s the list of all available ones.” She handed a small booklet to each of them after which she resumed talking. “You’re not allowed to touch anything stored in this room without my approval. In any case, the most precious items are behind formations strong enough to easily stop a High Chi Gathering cultivator’s attacks for a while. As for the rest, a Mid Chi Gathering Cultivator can forget breaking through them.”
Indeed, through a quick sweep of his Soul Sense, Demian could feel the strong energy emitting from the light screens covering every cold weapon present around him. However, his instinct told him that those energy barriers may not necessarily hold up against his strength. ‘She’s probably talking about average cultivators, though. Not freaks like me and Bryn.’ He contemplated as his gaze fell on the item list he held. While memorizing every item available, he started pondering over what kind of weapons he needed. ‘I guess the question should be: What kind of fighting style is the most suitable for me?’ There were so many possibilities that, for someone who never held any cold weapon in hand in either of his two lives, choosing the ‘right’ one was incredibly difficult.
Him aside, Brynhild did not have the same problem, as, less than a minute later, the young woman exclaimed firmly to the older brunette. “I‘ve chosen!” Feeling a bit surprised at the speed with which she decided on her weapon, especially for someone who had always fought without one, Demian asked. “What did you pick, Sis?” Without turning to look at him, she pointed toward one of the weapons hung on the wall. Glancing at the item, he questioned doubtfully. “That’s... Are you sure about it?”
His confusion was not baseless since the weapon in question was a massive double-headed Great-axe that seemed almost as tall as he was and with a weight to match, making it impossible for a normal human to lift it, let alone fight with. Even those in the Chi gathering Rank might not be comfortable using such a massive weapon. From its looks alone, it was definitely a cultivator’s weapon made for those who specialized in Body Cultivation. The item’s characteristics that he got from the list quickly surfaced in his mind. ‘Mid Tier 1 Great-axe. Attribute: Can increase its weight with Spiritual Energy. With her ridiculous strength, I guess it’d be like a match made in heaven.’
“It feels just right. I did check the other options, but none of them speaks to me like that Great-axe.” Bryn explained before turning toward Anna and asked while cocking a brow. “I want that axe. It’s in the list you gave us, so it should be possible, right?” Narrowing her eyes slightly at the redhead’s tone, Lirov nonetheless responded calmly. “It is. Nobody else can use it anyway because of its large size and heavy weight.” As soon as those words left her mouth, she went toward the weapon and after Demian felt a slight energy fluctuation, the formation covering it vanished, allowing the group to feel the ‘heavy’ energy coming from the axe.
That done, Anna turned toward Bryn and instructed. “You can take it now.” She did not need to say another word, as the giant woman walked swiftly toward the rack holding the weapon and grabbed it with one hand before lifting it relatively easily as if it weighed no more than a common one-handed axe. From a quick sweep of his Soul Sense, however, he realized instantly that it was the complete opposite. It was simply that Bryn’s physique was out of the norm, something that Lirov began to understand if the surprised expression that briefly appeared on her face when the redhead lifted the Great-axe was any indication.
However, she quickly schooled her face before commenting. “Now that you’re done choosing your weapon, you should focus on the protective gear.” Bryn, who was admiring her new axe with an expression similar to when a child received a Christmas gift, moved her gaze in the shorter woman’s direction. “Do you have anything for my size?” Her question was reasonable, as her height was anything but common, especially for a woman. And indeed, her doubt was warranted as the other woman replied. “We may have a few pieces of armor that would barely fit you, but no complete set.”
With an ‘I knew that’d be the case’ expression, Bryn responded. “I’ll just make do with normal clothes and those pieces you mentioned. Can you show them to me?” After a bit of searching around, the two found a Low Tier 1 brown-colored breastplate which only covered the redhead’s massive bust, if barely, and a Low Tier 1 leather skirt that was so tight on her muscular buttocks and thighs, that it looked more like a sort of barbarian-themed underwear than an actual armor. Thankfully, the inside had an actual pair of underwear hiding anything that would show if Bryn moved too much.
To be honest, the two pieces of gear seemed more useful to hide her ‘modesty’ than to provide any decent protection, something that she did not seem to mind much. “My skin’s very tough, so it’s no big deal.” She replied to his doubts, which made him realize that she was right. Unless the armor was of the High Tier 1, otherwise it might not even provide more protection than her bare skin. ‘Is that why barbarians don’t have much armor in games?’ He wondered before shoving that random thought out of his head and focusing on his own problem.
‘Since I’m not like Sis, I’ll have to be methodical. Let’s think about my strengths... I’m strong, and fast. My stamina is also VERY high... Do I have any weakness? Not that I can think of... I never thought being good in everything could be such a problem...’ He shook his head before resuming his contemplation. ‘If I can’t find what I want, I’ll instead start with what I don’t want.’ Looking in his cousin’s direction, he decided. ‘Alright, no strength-based style. That’d be detrimental to my agility. I also don’t want to use range weapons as my main weapons. What about unconventional weapons like whips, chakrams, etc... No. I’d feel weird using those. Close combat then? That seems much better. Beating up people up close is fun. Staff? Not lethal enough. Spear? It’s strong but it doesn’t feel right... I guess it’s too stiff for my liking. I want something more... Flexible, I guess.’
While letting out a breath, his mind finally ended up on the most suitable weapon for him. ‘I guess it’s got to be a sword then... Can’t be two-handed for obvious reasons. But if it’s a one-handed sword, I’d still have my left hand unused... A shield maybe? It feels like a waste of my regeneration. A second sword maybe? I could use it to defend and attack as needed. Yeah, that’s much better.’ At that point, he started recalling all the swords available in the armory and tried to find the best pairing.
With a much clearer picture of what he was looking for, it only took him a few seconds to find his target. ‘Peak Low Tier 1 Twin Scimitars. Attribute: Increase the wielder’s reaction speed when injected with Spiritual Energy, but only when dual wielding.’ Unlike other weapons whose attributes increased the strength, speed, etc. of cultivators, Demian felt like increasing his reaction speed was the best path for him. After all, his basic attributes were already much higher than normal cultivators at his Level, which means that the only people who posed a threat to him or his loved ones were those cultivators with a higher cultivation base. To be fair, he was not really worried about himself, because of his Perk. However, his loved ones, and particularly his Aunt, were not as lucky, Seraphine being an exception for obvious reasons. His logic was thus: ‘If I can react even slightly faster to an enemy attack, it may be the difference between the people I love being injured or worse, and them being safe.’
Having made his decision, he turned toward the waiting brunette and exclaimed. “I’m also done choosing.” Nodding her head, she attentively listened to his choice before asking. “It’s fine. But are you sure of your choice? Dual wielding is not something that anyone can master.” Maybe due to him being the second person in the group to have made an unconventional choice, she questioned him to make sure of his decision. Nodding his head with a confident grin, he replied. “I may not be the most talented in the world, but I’m pretty sure I can master that fighting style relatively quickly.” ‘After all, I do have that broken physiology Perk.’ He added inwardly.
Despite the doubtful look she had on her face, the brunette nodded. “As you wish.” Before moving toward one of the cabinets close by. After a similar energy fluctuation, the energy barrier vanished, unveiling the Twin Scimitars lying together with their sheathes on the wooden display table. The two weapons were both longer and thicker than normal, their size reaching slightly more than half of his own height. The blades’ curvatures were neither too much nor too little, at least in his untrained eyes. From what he could tell, even piercing attacks could be used if needed, something that not every scimitar was capable of due to their particular shapes.
Similar to Bryn, Demian swiftly grabbed the blades’ hilts and lifted them, noticing that they were heavier than their looks previously implied. That was not a problem for him, though, since, with his superhuman strength, even Bryn’s massive Great-axe was something he could use. As he was about to test the weapon’s attributes, he was interrupted by Anna’s warning. “Before using your new weapons, you need to nurture them for a time with your Inner Energy so their attributes can be used efficiently. Of course, you can use them without Spiritual Energy, but that would be a waste of their potential. It’s your choice, though.”
Realizing he would have to wait before testing his new toy, Demian put the two scimitars back in their respective sheathes before wearing the belt they were attached to. With two well-crafted blades hanging from his waist, he was finally ready to choose some suitable protective gear. After a brief back and forth with Anna, followed by a brief search, Demian ended up with a similar gray suit as the one she was wearing, the piece of clothing having some interesting properties, such as light protection, self-cleaning, and size adjustment. Of course, the last function would not work if the wearer’s size was too different from the suit’s size. There was also one downside to its use, which was the need for Spiritual Energy to activate its functions. The amount was frankly negligible, but that still made it impossible for Body Strengthening Cultivators to use those same functions.
In addition to the suit, he also found a Low Tier 1 black-colored breastplate that reminded him of those Roman Empire-style armors. He also found some Low Tier 1 plated thigh and shin pieces of armor with a similar color pattern as his upper gear. The result made him very satisfied: Well-protected, but still not hindering his movements at all.
Turning toward Adeliya, he remarked with a happy smile on his face. “I’m done now. Did you find something for yourself, Aunty?”
