Project Anima : A Virtual Reality / Reincarnated Tale

Chapter 5: Honing Daggers

Shoving past the door, they were instantly greeted with a collection of decent weaponry of all kinds. Swords were arrayed in a rack, and daggers and knuckles were filed on desks. Inside crates were guns and crossbows, while staves and clubs jutted out of barrels. Pinned on the wall were short swords, bows, and polished shields. To the right side of the shop, pieces of armor such as breastplace, helms, greaves, and tassets where held up in stands.

"Look man, they have a good collection today!" Slater said. "How much budget do you have?"

Raiden paused. "Let's see. I got 700 dins from the herb quests, 120 from the Blue Gels, 400 from the alchemist, and 350 from the wolf pelts. That brings to 1570 dins, with a 570 profit since we spent 1000 for bidding." He glanced at his party. "Molsie and you have lesser since the quests aren't your first completion."

Slater scratched his head. "So how much do you have, in total?"

"1570 plus my spare 2000. So about 3570."

"Damn, you're rich!" Slater said. "If only you could send money to me..."

"The game likely placed the restriction on money transfer between players and NPCs so players can't just hoard money by recruiting new bots to party."

Slater opened the menu. "Fair enough. I only got 750. Man, I really am in need of an extra 1500 dins..."

"That'll be sufficient," Raiden said, and turned to the healer. "Molsie, how much do you have?"

The fennica healer brought up her menu and pointed towards it. When Raiden looked over, it displayed: 1085 dins.

"Good," Raiden said. "Let's gear up."

Slater ran over to the rack of swords and took two of them, swinging around with glee. "Maybe I should dual wield!"

"Do you want to die early?" Raiden rubbed his temples. "You must take a one-handed weapon and shield, since you're our only tank and brawler."

"Hah, why worry about me when you'll be wiped out yourself? After all, you're just Lvl 1."

"Don't worry, I've that covered. But you're our most vital party member, so we can't have you dying in battle."

Slater puffed his chest, grinning. "Now you finally recognize my potential. I am the backbone of this party!" He placed the swords back. "Tell me, what equipment would fit such an important hero like me?"

With a confident face, Slater walked over to some hammers and swung it around, nearly knocking over a display.

"Too heavy," Raiden said.

Slater took an axe, and motioned as if splitting a goblin skull.

"Too brittle," Raiden said.

Slater walked over to a club, and spun it around, nearly hitting Molsie. Raiden moved the healer away just in time, who had cringed away and closed her eyes.

"Sorry," Slater scratched his neck.

"Put the club down. The stats are terrible."

"What should I use then?" Slater sighed.

Raiden pointed to a short sword pinned on the wall. "This one."

Slater went over and took the weapon. "Firebite, huh?"

"It has good stats, durability, weight, and reach. You have two damage types with this: either slice or pierce, unlike most weapons that only have one. The bonus elemental damage and burn chance is also nice. For all of those, the price is not bad."

Slater took it and sliced the air. "Man, this does feel easy to wield. Should I take it?"

"Let's check your other options first. You need to budget carefully because your money is limited." Raiden looked at the various shields on the wall, inspecting their attributes.