We left the building with lots of information and a new goal. The search for my uncle could wait until after I made a name for myself. I wasn’t in much of a rush to find him. Considering I broke our promise and ended up coming to Avalon. Part of me was afraid of his reaction to seeing me here.

The night grew dark and I didn’t know my way around well enough to prepare for the monster hunting, so we headed back to the hotel for an early start in the morning. This time I gathered up all of our money from Eris’s suitcase and after our room service breakfast, we left to shop for hunting equipment. Weapons and miscellaneous necessities. Our money equaled roughly over a hundred gold coins. If these things cost anywhere near the price of slaves, we got trouble ahead of ourselves.

There were so many stores and people roaming about within the marketplace.

“New wares in stock. High-quality equipment to keep you safe! Darian’s Workshop is open for business!” A bunch of shop employees shouting to get sales.

Many of the weapon stores were different compared to all the village’s I’ve been to in the past. The items sold here were tailored for monster hunting but also ranged to luxury items one would never find back in the countryside.

I found a store that wasn’t busy and went inside to check prices. Weapons and armor hung along the wall and adorned on mannequins. Stopping at a pair of silver daggers. The name caught my attention, but before I lost myself like a little kid in a toy store, I wanted to check the price.

[Shadowsteel Quickblade] - Expert-Tier 5 stars, Speed and Weight enchantments: 500,000 gold coins.

“Cheap isn’t it? Normally an expert-tier 5 star is worth over one million gold coins minimum. People say the weapon chooses its master, well this one takes it quite literally.” A store employee laughed as he finished talking about the daggers.

“Cheap? What do you mean by it chooses its own master?” I wished I said the first part out loud.

“Just as I said, if you’re able to pick it up, then I’ll even throw in a hundred thousand gold discount.” He immediately offered a discount when I took a step back. I wanted nothing to do with this ludicrously overpriced item, but still played along. As I reached over, I could see a shine along the blade and wasn’t sure if I was seeing things or not. The daggers to my surprise were extremely light. The grip was comfortable, I had to admit that these were amazing.

“Wow, that’s the second time I’ve ever seen someone able to pick up both daggers so easily before! They were meant for you.” Intentionally giving this back-story and flattery made it feel weird like some sales pitch scam. “Since it was meant to be, how’s 350,000 gold coins? The employee lowered the price even further.

“I’ll have to decline that offer. If you’re able to help show us to a full set of armor, one for each of us and a basic pair of daggers, that would work.” Lower than low class. I sighed hoping this dagger would still be here when I got the funds.

“Very well, Sir.” The employee was polite and showed us around until I was able to find some things within our price range.

I bought a basic leather armor set with low-tier 2-star defensive enchantments, plus a like quality pair of steel daggers which enhanced durability. Next, I waited for Eris to find something suitable for herself.

“There’s no need to waste money on me.” Eris looked at me saying she needed nothing.

I figured she never had the opportunity to buy things for herself. So, regardless if she needed it or not, I wanted her to buy something. All of my gear totaled thirty gold coins and I felt bad using that much. “Pick something, safety’s important.”

Eris stopped before a rack full of magician cloaks. She found a scarlet red one with gold designs along the edges. “I want this then, Volatis.”

“Don’t tell me. Go ahead and get it.” I was ready to hand over the coins as she reached to remove it from the hanger, but paused at the amount she needed.

[Scarlet Mage Cloak] - Mid-tier 5 stars, Grants elemental resistances, primarily darkness: 100 gold coins.

Is she trying to say something here? I tried my best not to take it personally and saw the price tag before shaking. “It’s fine if you can’t buy it.” Eris looked up at me knowing it went over our budget.

“Can we get a discount on this cloak?” I cut her off before she could finish.

“Of course, Sir. Half off for our new valued customer. If you ever need any future equipment, please stop by and browse our wares first.” The employee said so and I agreed immediately. “Deal!”

“Thank you for your patronage, Sir. Until next time!”

We left the store with a bit more than twenty gold coins left over. After we bought miscellaneous goods and stored everything into our new rucksack, all that was left were the leftover silver coins saved up from before. Deep down inside part of me was crying at all the expenses and hoped we wouldn’t be forever poor.

Entering into our hotel room I opened up a book we bought, more like an encyclopedia for monsters in the region. This thing took a majority of the silver coins we had so I took my time reading it first then handed it over to Eris to memorize as well. Mainly choosing to memorize details regarding the location and monsters we would encounter.

I retrieved my uncle’s training guidebook and took some time to review it while waiting on Eris. It described and placed everyone into categories. As of now, it’s been two years since my last breakthrough. Entering into ki absorption level three. This was my only way to battle on equal terms and have a chance at beating those with magic.

By following this guide, it focused on increasing ki to enhance every aspect of the body and supposedly allowing energy manipulation eventually. To me, it sounded like magic, but my uncle corrected me stating that magic originated from this concept.

I flipped to the page with my uncle’s notes as I had already memorized the ranking system and all that was provided by the book. Maybe I did something wrong or missed a piece of information that could be useful. My uncle told me not to skip ahead on his notes and to follow it strictly based on the level I was currently at, so I never took the time to read it all at once and couldn’t even if I wanted to. Each section had a seal that prevented me from reading the content by gauging my ki level whenever I held the book.

A new section that wasn’t here before the tournament appeared. What was currently allowed to be read; “Monster cores will give up to a ten percent boost, allowing me to reach level 4 in 4 years instead of 7. Take your time and continue the breathing technique I taught you. Don’t attempt any shortcuts without me around.”

The first part seemed like his notes from the time he was training and the second half was a message solely for me to read. I wanted to get my hands onto some monster cores regardless of his warning, especially now that we might have the chance to run into one today.

I flipped the book shut and set it aside on the bed as I sat cross-legged concentrating on the breathing technique to gather my ki. It was midday by the time Eris finished reading and we departed after our lunch to make some money, I mean monster hunting.