Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

Chapter 26: Shopping

It's the third week of the month...

Cedric just finished with his day training and was making his way back to his room. Upon arriving there, he brought out some food and started eating while watching some videos online. After that, he freshened up and sat on his bed.

Rubbing his palms together, he summoned the System Shop for a single purpose, and that is to buy equipment for his next Hell Dive.

"It'd be a sin to not spend the Demon Souls I earned from my hard work to make me stronger." He mused as the shop loaded its contents.

Being poor is no longer an excuse for him. He had earned a sizable amount of Demon Souls as a reward for clearing the previous month's mandatory service. With this much on hand, he should be able to secure some decent items for his next run.

The first one he searched for was something to protect his body. He wants armor but he first checked if he could afford a Combat Suit instead.

Combat Suits are a piece of modern equipment that has been made popular these days. They were skintight like spandex suits of old age heroes, meaning that they're lightweight but make no mistake, they are durable. It is said that even those at the lowest tiers were impervious to mortal weapons.

They're weak against blunt damage but that can be remedied by attaching pads here and there. It is also said that these suits are resistant to the harsh environment of Purgatory. They're also flexible, breathable, and easy to clean.

As a result, customers can purchase something lightweight, comfortable, and offers a decent level of protection. Cedric himself had no idea what they're made of but the reviews this product got were overwhelmingly positive and didn't look fake.

Filtering his search to strictly display Combat Suits, the shop window updated and his vision was immediately swarmed by multiple products for him to consider. All of them passed through the standards of the Lifestyle Guild so their quality shouldn't be questioned.

'Ack! There's too many!' Cedric groaned. He then added some more filters for his search to display exactly what he needed and after loading, the list became more manageable.

Cedric strictly searched for Tier 1 Combat Suits. He didn't bother with those at the upper Tiers since he's fairly confident of his ability to dodge the attacks of zombies. He just wanted some measure of protection against them should he be cornered, which was already very unlikely to happen, so for now he doesn't need those super high-end products.

[Violent Wind Combat Suit (T1)]

: Offers a decent level of protection.

: Special Effect - Speed +10%

: Price - 19,999 DS

[Red Power Combat Suit (T1)]

: Offers a decent level of protection.

: Special Effect - Striking Force +10%

: Price - 25,000 DS

[White Crane Combat Suit (T1)]

: Offers a decent level of protection

: Special Effect - Energy Consumption -10%

: Price - 25,000 DS

[Coiling Python Combat Suit (T1)]

: Offers a decent level of protection

: Special Effect - Flexibility +12%

: Price - 21,999 DS

***

Even with the filters he had set, there were still at least 1000 items that were listed on the shop.

Cedric certainly wasn't expecting this many versions of Combat Suits to exist. He also noticed their quirky names and he honestly doesn't know what to feel about those. They had varying prices too which is most likely due to the bonus effects they offered.

In his opinion, these suits are expensive, but this was mostly his prudence talking. He could afford them, but best believe that he would peruse the list as sternly as he could to get his money's worth.

After browsing each item on his list, he eventually decided to pick the best one in his opinion:

[Undead Hunter Combat Suit (T1)]

: Offers a decent level of protection

: Special Effect - (Undead Hater): Against Undead Class Demons, this suit's effectiveness increases by 15%

: Price - 25,000 DS

It's practically tailored for him. This suit would serve him well for a long time, considering that the System wouldn't suddenly change his Mandatory Task. While that's very unlikely to happen, it could still happen.

Still, he's had the same task for years now and it's still the same so this suit should fit his needs the best. Its price was reasonable, especially since the special effect was situational at best, but it's a guarantee for him so he didn't need that long to make a decision.

He added his choice to his cart and continued shopping for more equipment.

[Purgatory Striders (T1)]

: All-terrain combat boots for Hell Dives

: Special Effect - All Terrain Traversal (Purgatory)

: Price - 5,000

The 'Purgatory Striders' are another famous piece of equipment. Its creation even precedes his. When it comes to combat shoes/boots, you can never really go wrong with a pair of these since they're specifically made to make Purgatory traversal much easier.

Of course, Cedric doesn't have that problem anymore. With his 『Footwork』 skill, he could be barefoot and still not have any difficulties going anywhere within the Purgatory.

What he's paying for here is quality in the sense of comfort and durability. Again, the Purgatory Striders were created to traverse all kinds of harsh environmental conditions that the Purgatory could throw at its challenger.

The next thing on his list was a new sword of course. While the Training Sword was still viable, it wasn't created with the actual combat in mind. And since he still has plenty of capital to spend, he wouldn't compromise.

Once again, he was surprised by the sea of choices presented to him. While this wasn't the first time that he perused the list of available swords for his level, it's still overwhelming. Especially since every day, new products would be registered in the shop.

To minimize his list, he refined his filtered search. Displaying products that only came from stores that have at least 4.5 Stars and above reviews, he also entered the same star ratings for the item reviews as well. He even added the 'System's Guarantee' in his filters which further shortened the list available.

After sorting through the filters, he was only left with less than 500 items. It's considerably less than what it was previously but make no mistake, the remaining ones are the cream of the crop.

Cedric inspected the displayed items for sale one by one, carefully making notes about the swords that left an impression on him. Once he saw everything, he weighed his choices and eventually, he made his decision. The addition to his cart was:

[Refined Carrion Longsword (T1)]

: A balanced, durable, and refined longsword, made by the descendant of a renowned Craftsmen Lineage.

: Special Effects - Sharpness +15%, Durability +20%

: Price - 50,000 DS

It was a damn expensive sword. Something that the old Cedric wouldn't even dream of holding.

This item was embedded with the logo of the Carrion Family, a famous lineage of smits that hailed since the beginning of the Cataclysm. They're also one of the founding members of the Lifestyle Guild and held a major political power due to their accumulated merits since the Dawn of the Superhumans.

Just the fact that someone from the Carrion Lineage made this sword, it doesn't even matter if they were from the direct line or not, was already a justification for its price tag. In addition, this sword has the 'System's Guarantee', meaning that the System itself deemed this product a good one, a cut above the rest, which makes it worth it.

Cedric went through the list of swords and already confirmed that this one was the best for his needs, so despite feeling a fine pinch in his wallet, he still added it to his cart.

He also purchased a dagger, protective paddings, headgear, utility belt, shorts, underwear, tank tops, and other miscellaneous things like incendiary bombs, smoke bombs, Molotov cocktails, flashbangs, medic kits, a respirator, and so on.

By the time he was done, the total amount he spent was a little over 470,000 DS.

Cedric wanted to cry because he hadn't spent that much before, even if he combined all of his previous check-outs. Even so, despite feeling hesitant about it, he still bought everything since his safety and security were more important than hoarding this many demon souls.

This just made him even more thankful that he learned things at an accelerated pace. Because without it, he would be more pressed about the amount of demon souls he needed to spend just to make himself stronger.

Once again, the best thing about using the system shop was the speed of the transaction. The moment he paid for everything was also the same moment he received the items he bought.

Of course, Cedric inspected the quality of the items he bought and as expected, every single one was worth their price.

Now that he was done securing his equipment, he would spend the next couple of days training with his new equipment. The faster he gets used to them, the earlier he can complete his preparations for his next Hell Dive.