Becoming a Monster

Chapter 28 Exploring The Shop

Noah soon ascended the stairs, he didnʼt have to hear a confirmation from the spider when he could tell from the spiderʼs excitement that it agreed. Now all his thoughts were on the hooded man and what he could buy to improve his strength.

As he went up the stairs he felt an odd sensation, it was almost similar to when you go into a room and you could ʼfeelʼ that a T.V was on. It was just that in this case he could really feel that something was touching him. When he reached the door, he looked down towards the lobby floor to check on his spider to witness it wrapping Philʼs body in its webbing that was still attached to its rear end, most likely it will use its webs to bring the body with it to the next floor. ʼApparently the spider did have some intelligence, or maybe all spiders would do something similar.ʼ Noah couldnʼt be sure but he would rather believe that it was due to its intellect.

He opened the door, while his eyes roamed the initial area. The floor would need to be able to contain an influx of students daily and have enough items to cater to their needs so the area was seemingly big to be able to view all of its contents. With the Sun rising, it made it easier to maneuver around. He felt as if he was playing a game of hot and cold.

He didnʼt exactly know where the figure would be, something that he shouldʼve probably asked more in detail, but Henry was a nervous wreck that he didnʼt want to continue to deal with.

Thankfully while he navigated his way through the counters and aisles, he noticed that the sensation grew stronger. The hairs on his body stood up as he felt an instinctual danger. Part of Noah wondered why, with the previous trio personalities, why they didnʼt try to forcefully obtain the items, but after feeling the aura while proceeding, it makes sense why they didnʼt try anything. Even though his body clearly showed signs of fear, he held nothing in his heart besides the curiosity of the sourceʼs strength.

Ironically when he reached the end of the floor where they keep one of the registers, he found the mysterious person behind it. Noah wondered if this was intentional, but when he thought about it, he felt that it might be one of the figuresʼ quirks. Usually in stories with powerful individuals, the people would develop weird hobbies or traits out of sheer boredom.

He proceeded to walk up to the hooded figure, but naturally he still kept his vigilance due to the threatening aura the figure radiated.

ʼYou really canʼt tell what ʼheʼ could be.ʼ Noah thought to himself in wonder.

The hood not only covered its face, but also their entire body, including their hands. Because of the light, he could make out that the hood was made out of some kind of wool, but it appeared to be mystical. It was darkish purple all around and when he tried using his Hunters Sight ability, he noticed the robe held runic symbols that traveled throughout the robe and they released an extremely faint vapor. When he attempted to peer into their face, he only saw darkness, for an instant, Noah felt the figure might actually be some kind of spectra. He quickly shook his head to rid himself of unnecessary thoughts. ʼAs long as they wonʼt refuse me to buy things, I donʼt care what they are.ʼ

After he approached the figure, he waited patiently so they could start their transaction, but as he stood there, he noticed the figure didnʼt show any signs of initiating the transactions.

Coughs* ”Uhh…Iʼm here to buy things?” The unsettling atmosphere caused Noah to be unsure of what was going on, but soon it appeared that his question sufficed.

He saw the head area of the figure angle towards his face more, giving him a clear view of the shadowed face and while doing so it held out its ʼhandʼ that was shrouded in its robe.

At first Noah was confused by the gesture, but then he recalled that you have to make physical contact to transfer gold, he determined that it should be the same to access the shop. He reached out to the figure in return and clasped their ʼhandʼ. Before he was ʼpulledʼ into the shop, he noticed that he didnʼt feel any sensation that what he held wasnʼt a hand at all, all he felt was the sensation of the soft robe that, for some reason, wasnʼt malleable under his touch.

ʼIsnʼt this a little bit too much?ʼ Noah was becoming more astonished as he scrolled through the different categories briefly skimming through the wares.

The shop had a simple concept, but the plethora of list made browsing through it confusing. For instance, if you went to the armor category, it then branched off into different categories of that. There was then Head, torso, leg gear and jewelry and after delving into one of those, it branches even more. It was a very intricate design, but because of the plethora of items to choose from, it just made it that much harder to browse. Especially when he looked into the corner of the shop.

10:42

10:41

ʼWhy does it appear as if itʼs counting down? Does that mean the shop will disappear afterwards? How the hell can anyone go through everything when thereʼs a time limit? There has to be a better way…ʼ

He tried to look for a mini icon resembling a search bar of some kind but didnʼt find one. His mind raced for a solution, thatʼs when he thought about the process to trade money, you have to concentrate on the idea of the amount of money to give. He then considered doing the same process here, but instead concentrated on an item or type of item that he wanted.

He thought about what would benefit him the most right now. He finally has weapons so now he thought of receiving skills, but then he stopped and thought about a necessity that he really needed.

ʼIt worked?ʼ He looked on in disbelief when he saw the items and categories disappeared and was replaced by another screen. The screen was filled with different varieties of holding bags. From pouches, to book bags and even space magic. Thatʼs right, Noah wanted to find a way to carry more items. He didnʼt want to depend on others for food and even then, his bag was mostly being used to hold his weapons that it didnʼt do a good job of holding.

He always had the idea that the shop should have something similar when he noticed that all the chest could carry way more than its size. To him, it was a must have, but there was also a problem when he saw the prices.

ʼI knew it was too good to be true, how many zombies would I have to kill to get a decent bag then? And how much would the skills cost?ʼ

He looked on to see that the prices varied depending on the size it could hold. The cheapest item was a brown sack, or pouch, that held half a cubic meter of space and it was priced at 600 gold.

ʼWait…I made about 300 on my own and I killed TONS of zombies. Does that mean I havenʼt to kill hundreds more just to get a small bag? Or try to fight harder monsters to get more gold and loot? This feels like a pay to win system, but luckily everyone is starting at the same line or this would be unfair.ʼ

He moved on to the bag he felt would be right for him which resembled a book bag. They also had purses, satchels, handbags, duffle bags and more but he would rather go with something that was inconspicuous and also easy to carry. He had a disturbing thought that the bag wouldnʼt negate the weight since it was cheaper than the others. When he looked at some of the more expensive bags, he realized that his earlier doubt was right.

Not only did some of them cost in the millions, but it came with a blood recognition feature, a safety lock, weight negation, a time freeze system, it had everything. Not only was he able to choose a bookbag, he was also able to choose the color and the price came up to 800 gold. He felt himself becoming antsy, all of his hard earned money would be gone with just one purchase. Before he confirmed it, he paused, he felt that he needed to check something else before he did.

He searched for the spells and when he did, he was in for another surprise. The cheapest spells there, were for 1k gold and that was because the spells were for his class so he was given a discount. Otherwise it would be close to 2k, the amount actually doubled!. The spells were the spells he was able to choose from earlier. Now that he actually has a tamed creature, almost all of the spells were quite tempting.

There were ʼbestowalʼ spells for every attribute which increased the individual attribute of his creature for a specific time depending on its level. The analysis skill was there and more importantly, so was the healing spell that could only be used on his tamed monsters, seeing the spell made him feel conflicted.

ʼSigh…Iʼll make this my next goal, for now Iʼll just get the bag. Hopefully I can make it back in time to buy it before the timer is up, who knows when Iʼll find another shop person.ʼ

He went back to buy the book bag of half a meter of cubic space for 800 gold. It only had one internal compartment and two side pockets that werenʼt influenced by the space magic jumbo.

After spending most, if not all of his gold, he finally left the shop to the awkward sight of an empty face ʼstaringʼ back at him, causing him to be startled and quickly letting go of the hooded figures ʼhandʼ. The figure didnʼt seem to mind at all as it returned to its early position and stood there waiting for another customer.

”Ok…Thatʼs a little bit creepy..”

Noah mumbled to himself before he removed his previous bag and arranged the items into his new one. He didnʼt doubt that the bag would do what it was described but he was still pleasantly surprised when he placed the axes into the bag and they seemingly disappeared within it. He noted that he only had four of his protein bars left, a bag of crackers and two bottles of water. But his bars and crackers were crushed to oblivion, the bars were still salvageable but not the crackers which he had to throw out. He didnʼt become upset at this because this was the reason he came to this place in the first place.

His eyes once again roamed around the area before he spotted what he was looking for. The store literally had all their daily necessities, from school supplies, hygienic items and even food. The cafeteria would probably be a better place to check, but it seemed like most of the people were gathered there. He would rather avoid them if he can, but he also needed to find another place to secure for himself. He didnʼt like the idea of this place becoming a fiesta full of people.

Stuffing his bag of whatever dried goods he could find. He found canned meat, such as corn beef and tuna. Even though he wasnʼt a fan of seafood, he would force himself to eat it if he had to. He didnʼt forget to grab any and all energy and protein bars he could find. Added on with a few more bottles of water and a box of salt, he felt he was ready to move on. He could only feel the weight of the bag weighing down on him, he didnʼt want it to get in the way when heʼs fighting.

He started to make his way back to the door leading to the lobby, but while on the way, he could hear a commotion going on in that direction…and a voice he wasnʼt expecting to hear so soon.

”Oh fuck me…”