Evolving Classes In The Apocalypse-Chapter 39: Shopping

Many vestiges shimmered before my eyes. I clicked on the recommendation section, filtered by vestiges that were mostly used. There were also filters by rank, creator, and category.

[Name: Ashthread Binding Wrap

Rank: Common

Category: Armament

Cost: 4,000

Creator: White Fire]

[Name: Vein of Dulled Ache

Rank: Common

Category: Catalyst

Cost: 1,500

Creator: White Fire]

[Name: Qadir’s Steady Fang

Rank: Common

Category: Armament

Cost: 4,500

Creator: Qadir]

[Name: Pale Root Salve

Rank: Common

Category: Catalyst

Cost: 2,000

Creator: White Fire]

[Name: Ironbark Crest

Rank: Common

Category: Armament

Cost: 4,780

Creator: White Fire]

[Name: Threadbare Meridian Loop

Rank: Rare

Category: Foundation

Cost: 9,000

Creator: White Fire]

[Name: Splinter of Waking Breath

Rank: Common

Category: Catalyst

Cost: 3,100

Creator: Karreth]

[Name: Qadir’s Second Skin

Rank: Rare

Category: Armament

Cost: 7,000

Creator: Qadir]

[Name: Chipped Fang of the Tenth Attempt

Rank: Rare Category: Armament

Cost: 8,999

Creator: White Fire]

The first thing I noticed was how this White Fire person’s merchandise flooded the store. Seven out of nine listings. Most of them Common rank, and yet the prices made me scroll back up to check if I’d misread something.

’What are these prices?’

There was hardly a single vestige that cost lower than one thousand Defined Essence.

"I take it you don’t like what you’re seeing?"

Marcel’s voice pulled me back. He was watching me with that half-lidded gaze of his, standing lazily with his arms loosely folded. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Hmm..."

I looked down at the dimensional store again, scrolling through the numbers one more time.

"Things here are annoyingly expensive. The good part is that they seem credible if they’re the most recommended."

Marcel continued watching me in that same unhurried way, and it took me a moment to realize he wasn’t following. He didn’t know what any of these filters meant. That was why he kept looking at me like that, waiting for me to fill in the gap.

"Ah, most recommended just means I filtered the market by what Defineds mostly buy."

"Hm, so like popular?"

I opened my mouth, then closed it. The Academy’s knowledge stirred in my head, the precise distinction between popularity and dimensional recommendation algorithms, and for a moment I nearly corrected him. Then I caught myself.

"Yeah... I guess, sort of." I sighed.

"Then whatever we get won’t be special."

Marcel said it flatly.

"We can’t afford special right now. Efficiency will do."

I glanced at him.

"Unless you’re already thinking about a future where you want to fight other Defineds instead of Undefined."

Marcel stared at me for a moment, then sighed and stood right.

"You’re right. Efficiency then. So what do you have and what’s the price?"

I scrolled further, but my attention kept drifting back to him.

A question sat in my chest like a stone I couldn’t swallow. His rank. I wanted to know his rank so badly it almost ached, but asking felt like tearing open something neither of us was ready for. So I circled around it instead.

"So... what rank of armament should I get you? You know we can’t use vestiges beyond our ranks, right?"

Marcel’s eyes widened then his brow furrowed.

"That’s so restrictive. Don’t we have enough restrictions already?"

I shrugged and kept scrolling.

"I’ll get any rank you get," he said after a pause.

I turned to him briefly, searching his expression for anything that might betray the answer I wanted but found nothing. His face gave me exactly what it always gave me. That calm, unbothered surface.

I exhaled and went back to searching. And at last, I found something.

[Name: Skulltide Cradle

Rank: Rare

Category: Armament (with ammunition)

Cost: 3,999

Creator: White Fire]

[Name: Woven Tide

Rank: Rare

Category: Armament

Cost: 6,499

Creator: White Fire]

The Skulltide Cradle was cheap for a Rare vestige, number one because I couldn’t afford to spend heavy on weapons right now. A sling with affordable ammunition made more sense. I could supplement it with a dagger later.

I knew that whatever my weapon choice ended up being, it was going to be deadly regardless, thanks to my sub class.

And for Marcel, I could have chosen something of a higher rank just to test whether he was truly an Adept or simply a Novice like me.

’There’s no way he’s a Novice...’

But if I did that and he turned out to be a lower rank, the backlash from using the weapon could cripple him. Could even kill him. Too risky a gamble for the sake of my own curiosity. I would find out eventually. Possibly in this very battle.

Simply with touch, Marcel transferred six thousand four hundred and ninety-nine Defined Essence to me. I purchased both vestiges on behalf of the two of us.

As the essence point was deducted, I felt something trickle into my soul, settling like a warm thread behind my ribs. I reached inward, willing it to come forward.

A long-hafted spear crafted from cold silver metal appeared in my hand. The weight of it pulled at my wrist, real and solid. With touch, I transferred the ownership to Marcel.

He took the spear, and for a moment, the laid-back expression cracked. Something bright lit behind his eyes as he turned the weapon over in his hands.

Then he reached for the scarf around his neck, tore a strip from it, and tied it to the edge where the blade met the haft. A personal touch. He swung the spear in a wide arc around him, and staggered slightly backward. His movement was off, too loose, too unbalanced, and a flicker of concern passed through me.

He pulled his attention from the weapon and looked at me.

"What did you get?"

I manifested a braided sling of cured sinew and blackened leather. It coiled in my palm like something alive.

Marcel looked at it. Then at me. His brow creased.

"What... what is that?"

I looked at the sling in my hand, then back at Marcel.

’He truly doesn’t know what a sling is?’

"This is a sling."

Marcel’s lips shaped into a silent ’O.’

"How does that work?"

He was looking at me with so much curiosity and genuine astonishment that I nearly burst out laughing. I chuckled.

"You’ll find out soon enough, won’t you?"

The curiosity drained from Marcel’s face like water through sand. He stood straight, both hands settling on the spear’s haft. He lowered into a stance, legs slightly bent, body turned sideways, and his eyes fixed on me.

Then he smiled like a venomous serpent.

"Alright then. We’ve kept this waiting long enough."

For a moment, the shift in his air froze me in place. The laid-back Marcel from seconds ago had vanished, replaced by something sharp and threatening. My chest tightened and my heart began to hammer.

’Come to think of it, I’ve always looked forward to a moment like this...’

A time where I would be a Defined fighting another Defined without any threat of death. Both of us simply trying to test each other.