Absolute Shopping Addict

"Apparently that person was hiding behind the crowd," Jake thought. "The voice was clearly male; it means he doesn"t have the guts to step out and ask me face to face."

"They"re awaiting my answer. Even Liam."

"Do I have proof of my innocence?" Jake asked back. "No… I don"t."

As soon as he answered plainly, the Awakeners who were gathered began whispering amongst themselves.

"I"m pretty sure he killed Seamus and his party…"

"It"s very likely."

"Did you see how he argued with Seamus?"

"He"s also the only one to know where Seamus and his party were before they died."

"Six of them? They could handle those birds no problem."

"Only a person that strong could be able to kill Seamus."

"He was one of the strongest Awakeners here, besides Liam and that guy."

"Plus, he wasn"t alone. He had his party with him."

"Son of a b.i.t.c.h."

"What a waste."

"What would he gain from doing this?"

Their accusations were quickly getting on Jake"s nerves.

"What are you trying to prove by talking s.h.i.t and spreading gossip? Honestly, I have places to go and points to earn. Seriously, if I hadn"t done my grinding earlier for my weapon… you would have literally pilloried me already.

And the reason Liam is talking to me instead of straight-up attacking me is because I can put up a better fight than everybody else here. The search party knows this. They saw me look after them on the trip to and from Mount Mushin.

I wouldn"t blame them for telling Liam and the other stronger Awakeners about what I"ve done.

It would be nice if they told me straight up they think I did this, though."

"You know that the circ.u.mstances surrounding the death of Seamus and his party are painting you in a very bad light," Liam explained, "so are you okay with following our instructions until everything about this is known?"

Jake understood that while there was enough reasonable doubt to stop people from making a judgment, the circ.u.mstances weren"t helping his case.

Not to mention, this wasn"t the real world. There were no police, no judges, no lawyers.

Just like the Wild West back in the day, justice was something you grasped with your own two hands.

"This guy is strong. But even with this happening, he has yet to understand the truth of this world.

And I"m not about to enlighten him, let alone go along with his demands, because there"s a turtle ship waiting for me."

"You"re naive if you think I"m going to do what you and your friends tell me," Jake explained, his voice low as to make sure only Liam heard him clearly.

"I have nothing to do with the death of that knight and his hangers-on, and I have somewhere else to be right now."

"Because there are things I need to buy, and I simply do not have time for this."

Ironically if Jake had said that out loud, his fellow Awakeners would have stopped suspecting him, thinking that he had some kind of mental condition due to his addiction to shopping.

Liam held his stare and saw no hint of deception in the eyes of his fellow Awakener.

Jake turned and left.

"The next unfortunate soul who will give me grief about something I didn"t do will be tied up in bubble wrap, thrown in a box and shipped overseas, I freaking swear."

***

Two predators were currently sizing each other up.

In the gra.s.slands, a man and a leopard were circling each other, waiting for the other to make the first move.

A gust of wind blew the gra.s.s to the side.

It was at that moment the leopard chose to make its move.
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With its legs propelling it forward, it charged, aiming to bring down the prey before it.

In just two seconds, it had closed two-thirds of the gap, and was now pouncing, its clawed front paws extending outward and its fangs bared.

And as it cleared the ground, the morning sun shone on it, revealing its immense size and its l.u.s.trous golden form, the slender muscles on its paws stretching as it lunged.

"Fast."

The man this magnificent beast was lunging at looked like he had been in a war zone.

His shirt had been torn off in strips as makeshift bandages around his arms, and the long-healed scratches along his chest spoke of the many battles he had been in.

Yet, the large sword he was wielding looked like a forged piece of midnight.

"It could swallow me whole in one bite."

Although the leopard was moving towards him with unparalleled speed, the man seemed to hold the weapon almost casually, waiting for the right time to strike, unafraid of the creature"s gaping mouth and sharp fangs.

"But not this time."

It was at the apex of its jump that the man tensed and swung upward, meeting the creature"s jaw with his sword.

A loud clang echoed in the gra.s.slands.

Sparks flew as fang met sword, and with a mighty swing, the sword won out, carving out a chunk of the leopard"s jaw as it pa.s.sed by, its charge rendered useless.

It got back up and made to charge back again with a roar, but found that it couldn"t move.

Cracks began to form around it, and moments later, the metallic animal collapsed in a pile of golden fragments.

The man walked to where the chunk of the jaw was and picked it up off the ground, turning towards the rapidly-disappearing pile of broken metal that was once a gigantic golden leopard.

He took a look at the fragment for a while, as if he was offering his condolence, and oddly gave it a bite.

"Hey, this is real gold!" he said to no one after pushing his teeth down on the chunk, his demeanor completely changed from the calm warrior he was a few moments ago.

It wasn"t condolence that he was showing towards the glimmering pile; he was just trying to figure out whether those scattered metal pieces were actually gold.

"Wait a minute, I should get points for this! Gold is valuable, you know!"

After taking a moment to look around for other monsters, he pulled up his inventory and placed the gold chunk in it.

"Maybe someone here will buy this from me."

And out of the corner of his eye, Jake Smithson could see that the points he had earned for this hunting trip had now come up to 14,500.

"Five hundred more, General Yi. Five hundred more and I"m going to bring back your legend."

***

"Do not inform the enemy of my death…" Jake quoted while on his way to the next part of his mission.

The thought of saving up points just to buy a ship to be able to travel to other places just to hunt was preposterous to most Awakeners.

Jake Smithson wasn"t most Awakeners.

And as usual, he ignored the stares other Awakeners were giving him: either the ones in groups going to various dungeons to hunt, or groups of Awakeners in Brino.

Even he could see that Liam was also in a party with other Awakeners.

At that moment, though, nothing was more important to Jake than getting to the coast, which was about a fifteen-minute walk away from Brino.

There, he pressed the "Purchase" b.u.t.ton that would take him to where he wanted to be.

And as he took his first steps on board the newly-bought Turtle Ship, he could not help but feel that the spirit of the man who made it famous was flowing through him.

He looked to the horizon in antic.i.p.ation, and the ship set off.

As soon as it did, Jake gave the description of the Turtle Ship a good look.

[Turtle Ship:

A replica of the ship made famous by Admiral Yi Sun-shin, Korean naval general. Has its own crew, automatic navigation, and can be placed in your inventory. Travel to any place by sea with speed, comfort, and style. Its luxurious amenities can be compared even to cruise ships. Hop on a Turtle Ship and sail the high seas... fabulously!]

"Well, looks like even the Awakening Store knows about cruise ships," Jake noted as he read the description. "The way they word it makes it worth every point I invested in it."

What Jake didn"t know was that he had gone along with the Awakening Store"s plan for him unwittingly. The time he spent hunting monsters and the points they gave just for purchasing this ship?

It was the Awakening Store"s ploy to appeal to Jake"s vanity, and it worked perfectly (he would have bought the sailboat if didn"t).

Jake was lounging on the deck, sipping on a drink, and had already taken a nap earlier to bring him to his best fighting form upon his arrival on the Island of Delusion.

"Hey nerds, if you could see me now," he sang as he took another sip. "Arms spread wide on the starboard bow, I will fly this boat to the moon, somehow!"

It was a good thing that he was in such a good mood, because his destination was going to wipe the smile off his face – though he didn"t know that, yet.

But something that came to his mind did cause him some concern.

Jake sighed.

"Of all the days for something like that to happen… why today? Also, who killed that sleazy knight and his groupies? I really don"t give a s.h.i.t if people think I did it, but whoever did it and used me as an excuse? What a f.u.c.king loser. I"ll fine-tune that loser"s a.s.s if I ever find out who he or she is.

Like, enough people don"t believe I did it. Or they think so, but they don"t think they can take me out or something.

But if enough of them think I killed Seamus and his party… and they went after me all at once…

…yeah, that would be a waste.

It"s a good thing these Awakeners are still looking after themselves. Would be a waste of perfectly good Awakeners if someone riled a lot of them to go after me simultaneously.

n.o.body"s dumb enough to throw away their lives for that.

Yeah, especially if they think I killed that knight and his pals.

It would be suicide to try.

Still, though.

What the h.e.l.l is the killer thinking?

There"s going to be stronger monsters than the Werecrocodile coming. No matter the reason, it"s an absolute waste to kill strong Awakeners.

What reason could that be, that it would be more important than teaming up against the stronger monsters that are coming? Who stands to gain the most when Seamus and his party are killed?

Not to mention, using me as a scapegoat?

It"s crazy."

"Haha," Jake thought. "Funny I should say that when all I do is kill for points to shop with. But even if they were wounded by the Eagle, it would not have been impossible for them to fight."

"To kill a pack of wounded hyenas, you would need to be…"

He scoured his brain for the answer.

"c.r.a.p," he said out loud. "I don"t know anyone in Brino except Liam and Seamus, RIP in peace."

His shoulders fell.

"Should have bothered to mingle more instead of worrying about where to get my next shopping fix.

Oh well. I"ll leave this loser to his paranoia. I can always go back to finding the killer once I get my hands on the Cherry Blossom Sword Art.

When I do, I"m going to be both very powerful, very stylish – and smelling like flowers every time I wield a sword! Finding the killer won"t matter anymore."

That was when a notification from the ship startled him.

[You have marked your target location as the "Island of Delusion". Do you want to begin the trip? Yes/No]

"c.r.a.p, I forgot to confirm my destination!"

***

Although the death of Seamus and his entourage was a tragedy, it did, however, break the Awakeners from the lull that their stronger fellows would always cover for them.

Now, though? Anyone could die.

Power was the only way to survive in this world.

Seamus"s death only served to hammer home that point to them.

Those who were only content to stay behind friendly lines and not focus on improving their level due to their fear of fighting monsters were now shown the relationship of power and survival.

"It"s coming!"

"Get ready!"

"On my mark… attack!"

Due to this, teams of Awakeners were a.s.sembled, and went forth from the safety of Brino into the wilderness of Nohas itself, hunting in earnest.

If they were not out of the village hunting, these teams were at the village gates, watching for any sign of an incoming attack.

In totality, Seamus" death made the Awakeners of Brino much stronger than if he was alive.

"Blazing Wrath!"

With a single, flaming slash, a monster was carved into two burning pieces, while the monster behind it was incinerated by the fireball generated by the Awakener"s free hand.

The Awakener who performed this otherworldly maneuver stepped back and surveyed the scene.

Liam saw that the party with him was performing admirably.

The Awakeners with him weren"t gawking at his skill but working together themselves against the other monsters in the cavern they were hunting in.

And leading the charge was Liam, who not only learned his second skill, but also mastered it in a short amount of time, owing to his fearless nature and innate fighting skill.

When he learned the skill "Fireball" – exactly what it says in the description, but also had an added effect of stopping a target"s movement on hit – he didn"t rest on his laurels and stick to simply pointing his palms at his enemies and throwing the fireball at them.

But Liam wasn"t the only one gaining power at a high rate.

Another Awakener had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, showing tremendous growth in his abilities.

It was around the time that the teams were announced that he made his appearance: joining a party and not drawing a lot of attention to himself… except when the time to hunt monsters came along.

He lurked behind monsters, quickly eliminating them with stabs to the neck; so sneaky and swift that the monsters fell down without noticing who stabbed their neck.

When his party was fighting monsters, his efficiency at killing grew immensely due to the other Awakeners drawing the monsters" attention.

He had acquired a skill called "Focused Strike", and with it, quickly earned a reputation as a skilled killer of monsters.

The skill of his used magic points to double his attack power, and with his ability to pinpoint where to strike a monster for maximum damage, allowed him to kill nearly every monster with a single strike.

Due to this, his growth as an Awakener was nothing short of remarkable.

"You"re the best!"

"Haha, it"s nothing special," the cloaked man said. "Thanks to all of you drawing their attention, I was able get behind the monsters without a lot of trouble."

And as the gates of Brino loomed upon them, the cloaked man"s party were bouncing up and down with excitement, although they had just finished another hunt.

"What should we cook for dinner today?"

"Would you like to go and pick some fruit together?"

His charisma combined with his refusal to impose himself on other Awakeners like the late Seamus did gave him a sizable following, even from those who were not in his party.

The Awakener wasn"t a show-off with his power, but other Awakeners could feel his strength, and he also volunteered to help the weaker Awakeners hunt monsters.

"That sounds good!" the man said, nodding at another Awakener"s suggestion for dinner. "That tasted pretty good the last time. So, we"ll call it a day?"

"Of course!"

"We"ll get stronger tomorrow."

"When I get some supplies, I"ll be of more help!"

The Awakeners all enthusiastically addressed the man as they entered Brino, agreeing to meet tomorrow for another monster hunt.

As soon as the crowd of Awakeners made it through the front gates, the cloaked man could hear someone call out to him, and when he turned, he could see one of the better-looking female Awakeners flash a dazzling smile at him.

"Wait for me," she shouted, and he slowed down his walk to allow her to catch up, "Emmanuel!"