Absolute Shopping Addict

"I"ve got money in the bank, Shorty what you drank?"

Among those watching him make his way to the middle of town was not only the fledgling a.s.sa.s.sin Emmanuel, but the man in armor that he ran into earlier while having a meal.

"Nohas got me, Brino got me, I got a big-a.s.s bat, how you gonna stop me?"

Seamus was currently trying to bore holes through him with his eyes, but the shopping addict couldn"t care less and continued to go on his merry way.

"What a b.a.s.t.a.r.d," Seamus thought, gripping his warhammer tighter as he made his way to Jake. "I"m going to have to cut him down to size sometime."

"Liam"s in a cla.s.s all by himself, but I am more than enough to handle this joker. I"ve got equipment, levels and skills that would blow him out of the water, heh heh heh."

It was during the goblin battle that Seamus learned that he had the personal skill called Grand Slam, an effect that stores and releases energy in a huge burst, causing one"s attacks to have fearsome power and cause areof-effect damage at the point of impact.

His choice of weapon and skill had given him a reputation during the battle, and thus was regarded as one of the more powerful Awakeners, being thrust into a leadership role.

Seamus was edging close to Jake, planning to give him a little shoulder check from the side, but at the last moment…

"Why, good day, sir knight," Jake said, turning towards him just as he was about to make his move. "Nice day outside to go adventuring, wouldn"t you say?"

"I see you have been busy," Seamus replied. "But as you can see, there is no more such thing as a free meal in this town."

"I find that part amusing," the Shopping Addict continued, shrugging his shoulders. "So, do you call yourselves the food police of this town now?"

Emmanuel edged closer to the conversation, still unseen and out of either Awakener"s line of sight. A conversation was ongoing – but it had none of the congeniality of ordinary small talk.

Heck, neither the armored man nor the bat-wielder were smiling – they were showing their teeth.

"Threat displays," Emmanuel thought. "Pa.s.sive-aggressive threat displays. I wonder who"s going to give in first?"

The a.s.sa.s.sin considered the situation carefully. Seamus was part of one of the stronger guilds, and he had ama.s.sed quite the following.

"Not just the food police," Seamus replied, and as he raised a gauntleted hand and snapped a steel-clad finger, several other Awakeners emerged.

"You see, my friend, in a new frontier like this, might makes right… and we…" Seamus declared, and the other Awakeners took up spots beside him, "are the mighty."

What was supposed to be an intimidating display had little to no effect on the Shopping Addict, who was just giving them a very bored look.

Several rather awkward moments pa.s.sed before Seamus cleared his throat.

"We"re here to set order in Brino. Like the time with the food."

Jake answered with a polite stretching of the lips.
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"Order, huh?" he asked incredulously.

"That"s right. Order. With everyone here being brought here in this world by who knows what… we have to set a few standards, set a few rules, keep the peace. That sort of thing."

"Fair enough," Jake replied with a disinterested nod before turning and continuing down the main road.

As soon as he turned away, the more urgent problem in his mind returned. "Where in the heck will I earn more points?" he muttered.

Compared to making enough points in enough time to get that sweet package deal, learning the rules these people arbitrarily imposed was a secondary or tertiary concern to him.

Thus, it was to n.o.body"s surprise that the Seamus and his followers quickly went after him, blocking his path.

He almost hit his head on one of the knight"s shields and put up a hand in time to see the guild members looming over him.

"Was there anything else you wanted?" Jake asked, a tic beginning to appear under one of his eyes. "I have places to go and things to do, you know. My time is precious."

"Judging on how you"ve ignored us right when we were about to tell you the rules we"ve made for this town, I don"t think so," Seamus answered, two hands on his warhammer.

"Wait a minute," Jake thought. "Ignored? When? Where?"

He took a glance at the guild members arrayed before him once, and then went to each of them with an appraising eye.

"You look like the type of person who won"t even bother to know what the rules here are, huh?"

"Not really, no," Jake muttered back, carefully reading the body language of the Awakeners blocking his path.

"Are you saying that you will not follow any rules we"ve established?" Seamus asked more aggressively.

Sensing an imminent threat, the Shopping Addict straightened up, seeing that the other Awakeners in the group naturally gravitated to the hammer-wielding man in the middle.

"So, they"ve either been cowed into his service or licking Hammer Boy"s boots. Judging by their body language, it"s more the latter."

"Where"d you get those rules from, anyway?" Jake asked.

As the five guild members got into a hurried whispered conference after Jake"s rather pointed question, he continued to eye them suspiciously, because he knew how group dynamics worked – as it is on the job in the old world, so it is in the new one.

There was a catch, though. The company paid him for his time and effort.

Either the guild could not or would not do so – and due to that, Jake"s course of action was set.

He ignored them. "It"s not like they"ll pay me for working for them, after all. This guy also thinks he"s hot s.h.i.t, just because of that hammer… newbies tend to fight with an att.i.tude."

The Shopping Addict snorted. "He"s confident because he"s strong, and because there are many of them. But don"t these people know that we all started at the same level at the same time? All of us Awakeners here are newbies."

"Several wooden folding chairs proved to be the equalizer when those five wannabe tough guys jumped me after school.

They realized their mistake the moment I cracked the first chair."

The conversation was wrapping up when Jake saw what was going on.

One of the quotes Jake lived by up to that point was "it"s not about the size of the dog in the fight, it"s about the size of the fight in the dog."

Judging by his little feat back in high school, Jake had a lot of fight in him… maybe too much, as he did earn the nickname "Mad Dog" back then.

Meanwhile, Seamus had been sizing this upstart with a bat for quite some time and was quite put out when he saw that the man"s stare had gone from normal to glacial in a few moments.

But they"d talk it over. He needed to know how Brino now operated.

"We made the rules," Seamus answered. "There wasn"t enough time to give every Awakener their say in it."

Jake made his feelings known on that matter with a humorless laugh. "Pull the other one, it"s got bells on it. Why should I follow these rules?"

"Because you will disrupt the order in Brino."

"And YOU people set the order in Brino?" He turned his ice-cold stare onto the armored man as his voice dropped to a low rumble. "I saw the people on the way here. Their eyes are afraid. You going to tell me you got nothing to do with that… sport?"

To Emmanuel, it was like seeing two dogs on a street and seeing someone thoroughly intimidate the other.

"Unbelievable," he thought as he saw the confrontation take place.

"Who do you think I am?" Seamus said, with an added layer of bravado. "Hah! Now you are showing everyone here who you really are."

He hefted his warhammer. "I never liked you from the beginning. You"re not only the type who often thinks he can get too big for his britches, but you"re also the type who causes trouble for others wherever he goes, and I"m going to enjoy putting you in your place."

Despite the stare, Seamus still retained his confidence.

"What harm can someone who hunts goblins with rocks do to him? He had no weapons and no skills."

Except that the moment he went into a stance, Jake laughed, this time with amus.e.m.e.nt.

"What"s so funny?"

"You must think of me so highly," Jake answered after he had worn off his laughing fit, "that you need four other people to, as you say, "put me in my place"."

Emmanuel winced. That was a pretty harsh thing to say.

Seamus turned to his companions.

"This one is mine, and mine alone."

After the four of them nodded and moved off to the side, he decided to attack.

He was about to plant his foot and swing the hammer, but a voice from the heavens stopped the would-be clash cold.

It was then that he saw that his opponent now had a black baseball bat in his hand and was poised to strike as well.

[A Goblin Scouting Party has been spotted! Battle stations, everyone!]

The guild went to turn towards their base, and right before they left, Seamus had to throw in a parting shot.

"This isn"t over."

"I"m so afraid," Jake shot back, sarcasm heavily lining his voice as the five of them departed.

***

People who shop regularly know something.

While shopping isn"t an easy task, people can go over several hours at a certain department looking for a particular item.

Jake was… not like these people.

To him, shopping energized him.

In a way, that was how Jake could endure battling a horde of orcs on his lonesome.

Sure, he knew it was hard.

Again, though. He wanted something worthwhile.

And he knew it never came easy.

"Isn"t this a basic truth to existence? We do our best because that"s how we earn. And we earn through our blood, our sweat and our tears! ...not that I buy all of that, but it"s got me punctuality and attendance awards at work, and friendship awards during official get-togethers with my coworkers!

But now, though, making money has never been simpler. I beat these monsters up and points pour out of them."

He looked up to the sky where the voice seemed to come from, and it continued.

[A Goblin Scouting Party, who was following the trail of the goblins" advance team will soon arrive at Brino. This is not the same group of goblins you"ve encountered. Prepare yourselves properly, and do not let any one of the goblins escape, as if you do, the army of monsters will be at your doorstep before you know it! Beware the boss heading this party, as you will need to cooperate to bring him down.]

Within Brino, while some were still panicking, others were confident.

"It hasn"t even been that long since our previous battle!"

"It"s okay. We are all leveled up and trained, we should be able to handle them!"

"All right!"

"Let"s do it!"

The gathered Awakeners were encouraging the more frightened ones and were trying to raise the overall morale.

One of them, however, had other things in mind.

"Ever since I"ve run into that prima donna with the hammer, I"ve been wanting to beat a few monsters up.

Looks like I don"t have to come to them.

It"s payday."

Jake Smithson grinned.

He turned a glance back towards the guildsmen, who were making faces at him, and he paid them no heed.

"You can"t make money if you"re emotional," he told himself. "Besides, you might even miss the Hidden Stats Feature Event if you don"t earn enough points this time."

"Me, miss a featured event? Not on my life."

He hefted his bat and began walking towards the main gate, first into the breach, just like last time, ignoring the calls from behind him.

"Hey… where do you think you"re going? You!" Seamus called in panic when he saw Jake walking away, but the man with the bat did not look back as he went on his way.

As he slowly made it to the gate, someone followed alongside, like a shadow.

"I don"t know what I just saw a while ago, but if that battle happened, that guild member would have been beaten up badly," Emmanuel thought before making up his mind. "After this fight, I should talk to him."

Emmanuel thought that Jake seemed like someone who would fight for the lower-leveled and lesser-skilled Awakeners, but little did he know that the Shopping Addict was itching for a fight with anyone who got between him and the bounties he was supposed to be earning.

***

The previous battle for Brino was a rout.

So was this one… but on the opposite end.

Screams of pain were heard throughout the battlefield.

Cries of help echoed as well, as the levels of the goblins here were much different.

Not only had their outward appearance changed in size, but they were also armed with weapons more than just spears.

The front line carried swords, and the ones in the rear line wielded bows… which were now sending volleys of arrows towards the gathered Awakeners.

Thanks to their training, the Awakeners were able to power through the first wave. Though difficult, they managed to cut down the first line…

…but they just kept on coming!

Some Awakeners thought to use the front line of goblins as meat shields against the next volley of arrows, to great success – these monsters didn"t care if they were shooting down their own, they just locked the arrow and fired.

With much effort, the Awakeners broke through…

…only to find a troop of armored goblins with even better weapons, the elite of the second advance party.

And when the first knight went down with an arrow to the knee, fear began rippling through the group of Awakeners.

That was when the armored goblins forced their way through.

Their formation terrified the already high-strung Awakeners, and they were about to turn tail and run, when they saw two of their own holding fast and cutting their own swaths through the armored goblins.

One was a familiar Awakener with a flaming cloak which he wielded as a flaming wrap around his sword as he danced around the battlefield, leaving flash-fried armored goblins in his wake.

Liam was finally showing everyone why he was one of the strongest Awakeners in Brino.

He did not have such an easy time like before (honestly, who did), but he was still an efficient goblin-killing machine, his guild members rallying back and forming a wedge to a.s.sist in the counterattack and raising their chances of survival.

On the other end of the battlefield, someone else was leaving behind a trail of goblins with broken necks.

"NICE ARMOR, LET ME p.a.w.n IT!"

Crack.

"Looks like your armor doesn"t protect you when it counts now, does it?"

Smack.

"Give me the big bucks and the chicken dinners, ugly!"

Thunk.

As he was currently trying to achieve seven thousand points for his planned purchase, Jake was in what appeared to be a berserker trance, spouting strange lines as he aimed his black bat at joints and exposed areas of the armored goblins.

Jake did not even have the time to spare a look at Liam, because at that moment, Jake was given the greatest challenge: earn 7,000 points in less than 48 hours.

Without thinking of anything else but that, Jake looked like he was swinging his bat wildly, but the effects of his swings could be seen: every armored goblin he hit couldn"t swing a sword, couldn"t move, or worse, dropped dead from a bat to the back of the neck.

No physics, no thought, just instinct and greed driving him.

He grabbed the bat and thrust it forward like a katana, striking a goblin in the throat.

With a crack and a gurgle, the goblin clutched at its throat and crumpled to the earth, lifeless eyes looking at nothing.

Jake pressed onward. He was still a long way from his goal.

"I"m not leaving here without enough of you killed!"

Smack.

"So do me a favor…"

Smack.

"…and show me the money!"

On and on it went.