Chapter 110 - Store
Viktor chose the [Store], and once he touched it, a message entered his mind.
[Enter?]
"Yes..."
As soon as the word came out of his mouth, a light beamed from the ceiling, completely blinding him. The brightness strangely did not sting his eyes and only made him unable to see, but it still caused him to reflexively close his eyes.
It was only after a few moments that he could open his eyes again. When his sight finally adjusted to his surroundings, Viktor found that he had already moved to another location.
'This is… teleportation?'
He became a little excited at the thought. This was the first time he experienced teleportation, something that was previously only possible in fictional stories.
Viktor was now in a hall, but unlike the previous one, this hall was bright. It was filled with rows of panels with light carvings, and although the decorations were somewhat subtle, he could clearly see that they all had exquisite craftsmanship.
After admiring his surroundings for a short while, Viktor turned to check on his companions. Sure enough, they all had similar expressions of surprise and amazement on their faces.
Like Viktor, Jessie was also observing everyone's expression. Upon seeing how surprised all of them were, she could not help but feel excited as well.
"Welcome to the Apocalypse Super Mall!" Jessie exclaimed to the group with glee, snapping them out of their wonder.
Eva's excited expression quickly turned into a shy smile when she realized that she had let her astonishment slip. Viktor naturally noticed this, but he did not say anything about it and simply smiled.
Seeing that everything was great, Jessie soon began explaining to the group about the place. This "Apocalypse Super Mall" was just like an enormous library, but instead of book cabinets, it had rows of panels with glowing engravings on them.
These rows of panels were even separated into the following categories:
[Melee Weapons], [Ranged Weapons], [Armor], [Consumables], and [Others].
Curious, Viktor walked toward one of the closest rows and checked the markings on it.
[Melee Weapons].
There were multiple engraved writings within the row. This piqued his curiosity even further, but as soon as he touched one of the carvings, the wall panel pushed itself.
Before Viktor could react, a number of images and descriptions suddenly flashed in his mind. He was bewildered at first, but he immediately understood after seeing the images and descriptions of various things.
He walked through a few other panels and swiped through the dozens of different axes with different models in front of his eyes. All of the axes present were interesting in their own ways, but a particular one with a hook behind the ax caught Viktor's eyes.
He pulled it up.
[0311 - Axe - Tier 1]
[Length 70 centimeters, width 16 centimeters, weight 13.5 kilograms.]
He initially thought that the objects around him were in some sort of holographic form, but to his surprise, he could actually touch and feel the ax with his fingers. Not only that, but he even had the chance to swing it a few times before it lit up and dissipated.
While Viktor was rereading the description of the ax, he noticed a number emblazoned at the bottom.
[200 spirit stones]
To tell the truth, he quite liked the axe. Still, he was curious about what other things were available in this place, so he decided to look around more to get the general gist of the item qualities and prices.
Every melee weapon he could imagine was here; spears, knives, axes, clubs, and even those with shapes he had never seen before. Just with a general look, Viktor could tell that there were at least hundreds or perhaps even thousands items stored in this hall.
He then reached another area, and unlike the one just now, this panel area had a different category.
[Protection].
[0582 - Shield - Tier 1]
[Tower shield, weight 25 kilograms.]
[600 spirit stones]
[0029 - Cuirass Set - Heavy armor - Tier 1]
[A set of body armor, weight 33.5 kilograms.]
[Set item - extra damage resistance]
[1,500 spirit stones]
Viktor looked around at a few more different types of armor. Just like what Martha the Arkhangelsk mayor's wife said, the average protection items required more spirit stones than weapons, and this was especially the case for a set of body armor.
He then went ahead to check another section. In the [Ranged Weapons] category, he found the exact weapon the people of Arkhangelsk Town used to defend themselves.
[Energy Gun - Tier 1]
[Length 85 centimeters, weight 22 kilograms.]
[Long-range rifle, requires spirit stones as ammunition.]
[1,000 spirit stones]
In the 15 minutes he looked around, Viktor had gone through numerous different items in those three categories. Although they were all interesting, he noticed that all of them were tier 1. He did not think that those were all this place had and remembered how Jessies said there were other facilities on the 20th and 40th levels of the pillar.
This level one facility must be only shown tier 1 items and to get the better tier he needs to access the one above.
After looking around again for a while longer, he saw an amazing sight of what appeared to be a three-meter-tall robot-like figure made out of stone.
[Stone Golem - Tier 1]
[Height 290 centimeters, weight 310 kilograms.]
[The stone golem can be commanded via telepathy, requires spirit stones as energy.]
[2,000 spirit stones]
Viktor was extremely interested in buying it, but his expression froze when he saw the price.
"2,000 spirit stones, huh? Looks like I really need spirit stones now…" he muttered to himself, a little unhappy he could not afford it.
At that moment, Jessie approached him.
"Oh, a golem!" the girl exclaimed. "It looks pretty terrifying, but it's not worth the price at all."
Jessie turned to look at Viktor after briefly glancing at the golem, and when their eyes met, she quickly noticed his strange expression.
"...Do you want to get anything? Do you need any money? If you want it, I can lend you some," she offered.
Viktor could tell that Jessie made the gesture out of pure kindness, but instead of making him feel touched, it crushed his heart.
It felt like an insult to the Romanov brand.
"No, I am fine," he responded a little stiffly.
The first time Viktor chose to take a look at the [Store], he initially thought that despite having no spirit stones with him, he had to at least know what an alien store looked like. However, now that he finally got a chance to see it first-hand, he regretted coming.
Moreover, his worries multiplied when he noticed that Eva was looking around artifacts that looked like pieces of jewelry.
"It's time to check the other facilities, let's go!" Viktor hurriedly said. He did not want to think about what would happen if they stayed in this place for longer.
His next destination was the [Training Hall].