Absolute Shopping Addict

The Griefen"s ability isn"t invincible.

This is because it draws on the user"s strength to determine how well it can hold an enemy down.

Which means that the Griefen only really works on targets that have less strength than its user: in fact, the Skeleritter"s second form was treating the Griefen"s chains as if it was a minor hindrance.

Despite being bound by all of the chains, the monster continued its slow progress towards Jake.

It was one thing he was thankful for: while the chains didn"t stop the monster, it did slow down its movements considerably.

It was a very concerning matter for Jake; he had to keep the chains going, because if he dropped them, the monster would be attacking him in a blink of an eye.

That was the only thing that mattered to Jake right now: escaping safely.

"I"ve seen ghosts that were able to buy the things they wanted before their death look a lot more peaceful than those who didn"t.

If I kicked the bucket before I spent my leftover balance, that would be so sad, so unfair, and a waste of a lot of points."

All of Jake"s worrying ended up for naught, as when he reached the outskirts of Brino, the Skeleritter was suddenly struck with disinterest in pursuit.

Jake did not waste a moment, activated his Haste skill, and high-tailed it out of there immediately.

"This is an impossible fight, that monster had no weaknesses!"

Once his skill wore off, Jake was far away from the town, and was now thinking of a way to defeat the Skeleritter; the problem was, he found himself unable to find weaknesses or things he could exploit.

"All right, then. If I can"t cheese it, I"ll just get as much stats as I can, then overpower it. No weak points? Fine, then. Time to use superior firepower.

The question is, what should I prioritize? Increasing stats? Buying skills? Getting better equipment?"

This problem took him some time to think it through: the quickest way to overpower the latest boss.

Still, though, the very concept of thinking what to buy left Jake in an oddly happy and excited mood.

"I"m racking my brain for ideas on what to get against this monster… so why am I feeling like this?"

For someone who is pathologically obsessed with shopping, the greatest thing in the world is to be able to think about what to buy and not worry about the price.

Sure, buying everything is great and all, but sometimes, looking through your options is ten, no, a hundred times better than just looking and not buying.

"It"s nice to just leaf through the catalog without thinking about expenses… hmm, this is interesting. Dragon"s Tooth Sword?"

It was now that Jake Smithson began to enjoy the act of shopping itself, forgetting the reason he is shopping in the first place. And as he did, his expression began to grow more serious and solemn, because he wanted to get the best results out of his purchase.

He was deep in his thoughts that he didn"t realize that Liam caught up with him.

"What"s on your mind?" he asked cautiously, because Jake"s face looked like he was about to enter a very dangerous situation.

Jake"s reply, however, was the complete opposite of what his face looked like.

"Nothing much, just thinking about how to take that d.a.m.n monster down," Jake answered, his casual tone of voice at odds with his solemn expression.

To Jake"s credit, though, it was the most appropriate answer to give: there were things he needed to buy in order to finish the Skeleritter"s second phase off.

"I see," Liam replied, giving him an equally solemn nod, the answer something he had come to expect.

"This guy"s all business. He"s already thinking of how to take those monsters out."

To Liam, Jake showed both diligence and courage: although he shows off his eccentricity, when it came down to life-or-death matters, Jake didn"t hesitate to step up and fight.

When the Skeleritter began its second phase, he was the only one heading towards the monster while everyone else either panicked or ran away.

"I don"t know what happened to those two guys who the monster run through… but if Jake hadn"t stepped up, more would have been seriously hurt, or worse."

Liam didn"t know if the two adventurers attacked by the monster were a.s.sisted by their companions or even had companions in the first place, so he a.s.sumed the worst and wrote them off as casualties.

The body count would have been much higher had the Skeleritter been allowed to rampage through the adventurers there – it went straight for the kill immediately.

"Yeah, from this point onward, I"ve got this guy"s back. He even looks around the same age as I do," Liam thought, the grudging respect for the man due to his power turning into genuine respect because of his actions.

Despite ending up in a ridiculous environment, Liam did his best to adapt quickly, treat the situation as a serious matter rather than an escape from reality, and always fought courageously at every turn.

It wasn"t easy; it never was, and it was what he had come to expect.

Still, though, as Jake continued his wandering, Liam"s thoughts continued. "What kind of life have you lived to be like that?"

"If there"s anything you need, please feel free to tell me," Liam said, matching Jake"s expression.

Honestly, it was the only thing he could say, given his current troubled thoughts: ask him if he needed any a.s.sistance; someone trying to take back Brino would need all the help he could get.

"In a world like this, this is the only guy I can trust here."

Unfortunately, Jake had a different set of ideas in mind.

"Man, that guy looks at me like I"m some kind of man of respect or something.

Kinda freaky. Never done anything to earn that kind of look.

All my life, people have given me looks like I"m some kind of rabid dog.

But I don"t have time to ask Liam what"s up with that, the clock"s ticking. Need to finish buying my stuff as soon as possible, I don"t have the time to waste."

"Well, what I need is to take a break," Jake answered. "We"re not going to be in any shape to take Brino back if we"re exhausted. Rest a bit then go back to Brino. How"s that sound?"

Jake knew that he needed reinforcements: though he knew that buying the right items would make the Skeleritter fight easier, having someone skillful and strong watching his back would be a huge help.

"Sounds great!" Liam answered as Jake found his way back to the tree near the river.

"He"s not in great shape, but he"s looking forward to another battle again. I should find out how he does it, learn how to be a hero like him."

***

Despite wanting to learn from Jake, the battle of the previous night had taken their toll on Liam"s stamina.

It took him all of five minutes to curl his fatigued form up under the tree and then fall asleep.

Meanwhile, Jake was dealing with a different set of problems other than fatigue.

[You have reached 60 Strength. You can no longer use the Basic Tome of Strength to raise your Strength stat.]

[You have reached 60 Agility. You can no longer use the Basic Tome of Agility to raise your Agility stat.]

"What"s the meaning of this?" Jake asked, bewildered that his idea to buy all the Basic Tomes of Strength and Agility to boost his stats to astronomical levels didn"t quite work.

His plan was to try and get enough tomes to get his strength up to 700 – if he used up his point limit then, even if no discounts were available. That would have been something – 45 strength was already a huge leg up on other adventurers, but 700? He"d rip the Skeleritter apart like a phonebook with no problem.

And then, when he got to 60 strength, the notification showed up, throwing a monkey wrench in that plan of his.

"Well. That"s just great. Now what do I do?"

Fortunately, the Hero Shop had the answer to that question.

[Advanced Tomes of Strength and Agility are available from the Gold Label catalog!]

"Gold Label, huh?"

Two words that instantly piqued Jake"s attention appeared.

"Is this a step up from the Black Label? Interesting! Now, how to be a part of it…"

Predictably, those two words became Jake"s immediate goal as soon as he understood what the implied.

"Take me down to the Gold Label where the backs are green and the tomes are pretty! Oh won"t you please, take me home?"

Even Jake"s thoughts were in song.

"I need this, because I made a promise to unscrew that Skeleritter"s head and s.h.i.t down its neck! There are Gold Labels I need to get to, and I simply do not have time to waste on this c.r.a.p!"

Jake"s goals were set, and the one thing standing in his way was the Skeleritter – every second that thing was still standing was a waste of time to him.

His legs began to tremble; he was so close to the Gold Label; so close that he could almost taste it.

"Come on, Jake! Don"t be a pathetic loser and just settle for the Black Label when you see the Gold Label! Get your act together, you know something better is just around the corner!"

He started thinking about his short-sightedness: it felt like he made his girlfriend wait for hours during a winter day.

"I"m coming, Gold Label. Just hold fast. Your man is going to you. Please wait for me."

He turned towards the other categories quickly; basic stats had reached their limit, and thus he only had one stat left that he could raise.

"Let"s go for Physical Defense."

The advanced stat one needs the most when facing the Skeleritter"s knife-like hands is Physical Defense.

He"d seen it punch through adventurers with one strike, and he also knew how dangerous the wounds its swipes could inflict.

And then he found another notification.

[You have reached 10 Physical Defense. You can no longer use the Basic Tome of Physical Defense to raise your Physical Defense stat.]

"Great."

[Advanced Tomes of Physical Defense are available from the Gold Label catalog.]

"10... that"s it?

At 4,500 points a volume, that"s it?"

Before he turned to the other items he needed, he had to take a moment to allow himself to be disappointed at the rather low upper limit the Physical Defense stat had.

"What a shame.

Well, now it"s time to move on from sheer brute force to combining items for maximum efficiency.

You think you"ve seen just how absolute my mastery of shopping is?

You ain"t seen nothin" yet.

I"m Jake Smithson and I"ve only just begun.

Let"s go!"

***

Athletes often speak of "the world going in slow motion" when they"ve reached a level of awareness and focus that comes from training, experience and talent.

Everything happens according to their predictions.

To them, it"s almost like a sixth sense.

Reading body language, seeing how the wind blows, how a person reacts when struck, taking a mental picture of the playing field and throwing a ball at thin air only for a teammate to catch it at the right time – all of these were how they manifested.

Jake Smithson was no athlete, but he had just the same amount of training, experience, and talent: in his case, this was in the realm of shopping.
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He hadn"t named it yet, but if forced to give a name to it, he"d call it "Shopper"s Instinct".

And right now, he thought it was the best time to bring that skill into the Hero Shop.

"This is my own special ability. Others have theirs, but this is my own.

And this is a special ability that didn"t come with me to this world. It"s all me."

This instinct of his allows him to find the most cost-effective items, the highest value for his money, and subtle things that make one item better than other, despite their similar specifications.

What kind of ability is this?

Everyone should be able to do this if they look at catalogs and items carefully enough, right?

Not. At. All.

It"s never easy to find the smallest of details out in a moment before going to bed, after work, in the daily life of a modern man.

Most shopping these days are done through the internet, but the internet is flooded with similar goods, similar qualities, and similar prices…

"I"m the best at this."

Jake"s instincts were unparalleled: he could find a needle in a haystack in a very short time.

"All right… this, this, no, not this, ah, this works. These have synergy, but these work better – ah, a set bonus. There we go. I"m almost there."

Thanks to his so-called Shopper"s Instinct, he was able to find the best combination of items within the Hero Shop"s Black Label – a catalog containing tens of thousands of items.

He was making progress towards turning from a "rabid dog" into a "dog of war".

***