“I’m happy for ye,” Rory said after he took another big hit from his pipe. “If I didn’t need the money to reclaim me home, I’d have given you some to buy access to the plane that makes animal companions immortal.”
“The what?” I said, not quite believing what he had just said.
“I’ve never had a dog meself, but I know there’s a quest item for sale every now and then that unlocks a quest like that.”
“A quest that can make Louie immortal?”
“Well, not immortal as in invincible, but his soul will be bound to yers,” the dwarf explained. “So as long as ye’re alive, he sticks with ye.”
I looked at Louie and he was still looking at Rory, his tongue out panting, apparently unfazed by what the dwarf had just said. But then again, Louie—and perhaps all dogs—were like that. They didn’t care about the future, but were focused on living the day. No wonder he didn’t pay this much attention. I, however, most certainly did.
“What’s the name of this item, Rory?” I asked and immediately picked up the DEM tablet.
“I’m not sure. Something with ‘friends’ in the name. Friends forever? Just filter down to quest items and ye’ll find it.”
I tried different combinations of the words, but couldn’t find the one I was looking for. However, I did find a quest item I had already used.
Item: Best friends key
Type: Quest Item
Durability : 1/1
Rarity: B Grade
Weight: 6st.
Description : A key opening the way to a realm of friendship and greater understanding.
Price: $799,999
Seller: Unknown
I couldn’t believe Leo had spent eight hundred thousand dollars on my birthday gift. I would have paid millions to be able to speak with Louie if I knew it was possible, but that was definitely money I didn’t have. And there was absolutely no way I could ever repay him. I knew this amount may have been pocket change for him—especially now that I had an idea how many houses and how much land his family owned—but for me, it was beyond any realm of possibility.
Dreading how much this upgraded version of the quest item might cost, I continued searching through the listings, but couldn’t find the one I was looking for.
“Are you sure that’s what it’s called?” I asked Rory who was lost in his thoughts again. “I can’t find it anywhere.”
“Aye, that’s it. Try widening your search areas.”
I looked at my filters and saw that I had only selected New York State, since I typically searched for materials and I didn’t want high delivery fees. I added neighboring states, but still I got no results. Only when I tapped on USA did I finally got a result on the Dark Energy Marketplace in Montana.
Item: Friends forever key
Type: Quest Item
Durability : 1/1
Rarity: A Grade
Weight: 6st.
Description : A key opening the way to a realm of eternal friendship.
Price: $50,000,000
Seller: Alieria, Messenger of the Fairy Queen
Fifty fucking million dollars? I knew inflation was bad in the Apocosmos, but this was just fucking crazy.
There was no way in hell I’d ever be able to earn that amount of money. On the other hand, if I had the monopoly in New York and sales kept rising…
No, no, no! What am I thinking?
I didn’t even know if this thing was the real deal. Then again, it was the same Alieria who made Louie speak that was selling the quest item.
There’s no way this can happen.
Especially when dangerous people stood in my way. But then what would I say to Louie ten years from now? If he gets sick and his time is nearing? I didn’t even want to think about it.
This was the only way. I was stupid to think I’d be able to make it in the Apocosmos unscathed. It would have to be us or them. And even though I’d normally push everyone away and do this myself, I could see that I was in this shitty situation because I had done exactly that. I was attacked in my house because I kept my trading a secret from Leo. I didn’t know anything about this item that would make Louie immortal until I finally shared why I was saving money with Rory.
I had to get it. I’d rather die today, knowing I did my best to try than face the alternative when the time came. But we weren’t ready. We lacked armor and weapons. And we needed a proper inventory, so I decided to start with the basics.
Item: Minor bag of extra-dimensional space
Type: Magic Item
Durability : 21000/21000
Rarity: E Grade
Weight: 40st.
Description : The opening of this bag leads to a small extra-dimensional space. The capacity of this bag is many times that of its mundane counterpart, while the inventory of the bag loses its weight once in it. Everything within this bag is readily available for the user. This bag can hold up to 250 pounds of weight and its volume can’t exceed 35 cubic feet. However, if it fits through the opening, it fits inside as well, regardless of length.
Price: $5,000
Having seen the prices of some of the items in the Apocosmos, I was actually kind of relieved to see that this bag cost only five thousand dollars. I purchased two of them and immediately started browsing armor for Louie. There was quite a lot of E-grade spellcaster equipment, but I wanted to get him the best, regardless of the cost. So I tapped on the sorting options and ordered the listing by highest Physical Defense.
Browsing the available pieces, it looked like the cost for a complete set for him and myself would be high—nothing we wouldn’t be able to afford, but it would definitely burn a considerable chunk of our savings. Having said that, I’d rather empty my bank account and ensure we’d live to earn it thousandfold rather than reach the day when I’d wish I’d invested in some extra defense points.
Name: Tunic of Integrity
Type: Upper Armor (Robe)
Rarity: E Grade
Physical Defense: 34
MP Increment: 86
Durability : 160/160
Weight: 2080st.
Description : The design of this tunic was created to outfit a sacred order of spellcasters tasked with protecting a place of holiness in the lands of Old Britannia. The death of the order was swift and gory after being attacked by a demon horde, but the ingenious design survived the attack and test of time.
Price: $12,800
Name: Stockings of Integrity
Type: Lower Armor (Robe)
Rarity: E Grade
Physical Defense: 21
MP Increment: 54
Durability : 120/120
Weight: 1030st.
Description : Even though the design of these stockings is nothing special, they’re still a very popular piece of equipment since they were worn by the same group of spellcasters as the upper part of this set.
Price: $9,700
Twenty-two and a half thousand dollars for his body pieces alone would certainly make a dent, but that was just the beginning. He was still missing gloves, boots, and a headpiece but since those would probably be the same for both of us, I thought I’d buy them at the end, twice each.
I also tried to keep in mind the additional 15% I’d have to pay to have the equipment modified for him. I was fortunate enough to have Louie stumble upon this piece of information beforehand, otherwise I’d be stuck with a set of equipment that wouldn’t fit him.
Thankfully the Dark Energy Marketplace provided an option to magically alter the equipment to fit any race other than a humanoid, in such a way that it would retain its original stats. Of course, this service did not come without a cost, but it was absolutely worth it since it also included changing the appearance of the item to look like any other piece of clothing or accessory.
This meant that no matter what kind of helmet he’d get, it could still look like his favorite magician’s hat. The same was true for boots, gloves, and jewelry, m
aking most of them look like small pendants or rings that could be attached to his hat. He couldn’t equip more than any of the rest of us, but wouldn’t be hindered by his appearance either.
Having the basics sorted out for Louie, I tapped on the heavy armor tab of the market and filtered the results to only include E-grade body pieces from New Jersey and New York, sorted by Physical Defense. I glanced at the price differences between the top result and second best before ultimately deciding on buying the best ones for me as well.
Name: Silver Breastplate
Type: Upper Armor (Heavy)
Rarity: E Grade
Physical Defense: 68
MP Increment: 0
Durability : 320/320
Weight: 8920st.
Description : A breastplate worn by low nobility and knights errant. It provides great protection against blunt force while also being able to stop most non-magical piercing attacks.
Price: $11,700
Name: Silver Gaiters
Type: Lower Armor (Heavy)
Rarity: E Grade
Physical Defense: 43
MP Increment: 0
Durability : 280/280
Weight: 3960st.
Description : A pair of gaiters that make a seamless connection with the breastplate. While the gaiters offer similar protection to the breastplate, the joints are connected in such a way that they do not inhibit movement.
Price: $12,100
The fact that the gaiters cost more than the breastplate did strike me as weird, but I was no expert in crafting armor so I didn’t think too much of it. What I did think about, however, was how amazing it would be to wear actual armor—shining silver armor at that too.
Before my head swelled too much though, I realized how out of place I’d look into the armor, so I made a mental note to wear my actual clothes on top of it. With the tally now just a bit below fifty thousand dollars, I looked at the rest of the equipment we needed.
Name: Reinforced Leather Boots
Type: Feet
Rarity: E Grade
Physical Defense: 17
MP Increment: 0
Durability : 165/165
Weight: 1310st.
Description : A pair of boots made with hardened leather and reinforced with thin metal plates. These boots are standard issue for most foot soldiers.
Price: $1,700
Before I continued with the rest of the equipment, a different thought swiftly passed through my mind. These boots provided protection in the Apocosmos, raised the wearer’s Physical Defense, and were crafted by a person specialized in working with leather and metal.
On the other hand, a pair of designer shoes in the Cosmos, which would cost roughly the same, might be able to raise the wearer’s social status, especially if you lived in Los Angeles, but otherwise provided absolutely no protection. Instead, they were rather more difficult to walk in and were probably made in a sweatshop by poor bastards who had no idea that the product would be sold for as much as they’d make in a couple of years.
Having gotten my daily fill of mental vitriol, I continued looking at the available listings.
Name: Reinforced Leather Bracers
Type: Hands
Rarity: E Grade
Physical Defense: 17
MP Increment: 0
Durability : 140/140
Weight: 650st.
Description : A pair of leather straps that wrap around the arm. Each strap is reinforced with thin metal plates, enabling the wearer to use the bracers for deflecting weak attacks or even delivering weak unarmed strikes.
Price: $850
Name: Reinforced Leather Helmet
Type: Head
Rarity: E Grade
Physical Defense: 26
MP Increment: 0
Durability : 220/220
Weight: 640st.
Description : This helmet wraps perfectly around the head of the wearer, while carefully placed holes do not hinder hearing. Additionally, three sleeves on each of its sides enable the wearer to reinforce it with thin metal plates.
Price: $1,350
Having selected all of the armor pieces we were going to wear, I took a look at the amount I’d spent so far—a bit over fifty-eight thousand dollars, including the modifications for Louie. I thought I’d leave the weapons until last, so I switched tabs on the tablet to look at the jewelry, the only way I had found so far to increase our Magic Defense stat. Having run my own research, but also from what Leo had told me, each of us was able to equip two earrings, two rings, and one necklace.
Name: Pearl Earring
Type: Earring
Rarity: E Grade
Magical Defense: 21
Durability : 110/110
Weight: 150st.
Description : An earring that holds a pearl formed in a very rare species of oysters, native to the deep underwater gorges of the city of Atlantis. Whenever a parasite finds its way into one, the oyster will coat it in a layer of mana. After multiple layers, a pearl capable of boosting Magic Defense is created.
Price: $850
Name: Fire Onyx Ring
Type: Ring
Rarity: E Grade
Magical Defense: 14
Durability : 130/130
Weight: 150st.
Description : A ring with a single fire onyx at its head. This stone is mined from the insides of active volcanoes with mana-enhanced pickaxes and drills. During its extraction, a portion of the volcano’s force is infused into the stone.
Price: $1,150
Name: Basilisk Jade Necklace
Type: Necklace
Rarity: E Grade
Magical Defense: 28
Durability : 110/110
Weight: 150st.
Description : A necklace carved out of the shedded skin of a basilisk. Twice per year, as part of a basilisk’s natural growth, its skin sheds. Once completely detached from its body, the skin hardens and morphs into a jadeite mineral that holds some of the basilisk skin’s magical properties.
Price: $1,950
Again, I was surprised at the price differences. Jewelry with real pearls, onyx, and jade would cost much more in any jewelry shop in Manhattan, and yet these ones that also provided defense against spells were much more affordable. I guessed that there was no artificial inflation of prices based on the perceived value and rarity of stones in the Apocosmos. That, or the really valuable materials were just out of my league at the moment.
With the accessories out of the way, I started browsing my favorite listings—the weapons. First, to find the best for Louie, who’d most probably sit back and heal whoever got wounded rather than attack up front.
Name: Novice Arcanist Staff
Type: Big Blunt - Staff
Rarity: E Grade
Physical Attack: 30
Magic Attack: 28
Special Ability: -
Attack Speed: Fast
Durability : 850/850
Weight: 1040st.
Description : A powerful low-grade staff commonly used by practitioners of the arcane. While its mana manipulation and enhancement may not be what experienced spellcasters would prefer, this staff cannot be handled by complete beginners either.
Price: $18,900
Name: Knight’s Longsword * Knight’s Longsword
Type: Dual Swords
Rarity: E Grade
Physical Attack: 38
Magic Attack: 21
Special Ability: -
Attack Speed: Normal
Durability : 1220/1220
Weight: 1940st.
Description : A couple of Knight’s Longswords, perfectly balanced to accommodate the difference in power of the owner’s hands. The swords’ design is as old as the existence of knights. Its long blade is made from a strong and durable alloy, perfect for withstanding extended use during long military campaigns.
/> Price: $22,300
It seemed that the last pieces of our preparation were the ones that would hurt the most financially, but ultimately would be the ones that we’d rely upon the most. After all, the best defense was offense.
It is, isn’t it?
I was happy that I’d managed to find a top-tier staff for Louie that was reasonably priced and had absolute confidence he’d be able to wield it without a problem. Of course, after we transformed it into something more suitable for a dog. As for myself, I briefly considered switching to a different type of weapon, as I wasn’t particularly tied to fighting with dual swords.
Some kind of ranged weapon would keep me safer and closer to Louie, though I couldn’t just sit back and let Rory do all the dirty work. It had to be a melee weapon. I definitely had the physique and enough muscles to carry a war hammer similar to Rory’s, but then I wouldn’t be able to activate any of my skills.
This limited my options to swords and daggers and, given my inexperience with wielding weapons, size did matter for me. Having reached this conclusion, it was a pretty easy decision to go with dual swords instead of a sword and shield or a two-handed greatsword, as I had already fought with duals, and I wanted to be able to move around more easily.
Before placing my order, I took a final look at the damage. $124,887.50. I tried not to think about how long it had taken me to earn this amount of money as I finalized the order. After all, once these bastards were out of the picture, we might reach the point where we’d be able to earn this much in a couple of days. I set the delivery time for the next day and set down the tablet.
Berserker: A LitRPG Urban Fantasy Adventure (Apocosmos Book 1) Page 23