DD 204 Ch 20

We were about to have to work our asses off to repay the Orkai levied debt, but that didn’t stop the girls from wanting to go out and buy ‘the necessities’ beforehand.

In my own way, I was curious what could be purchased in Star City. Yet, I kept checking the value in my CID and let my mind work the math for how many mana crystals we could farm a day versus the cost of everything.

"Shopping!" Des cheered as our party found the third datapad hub empty.

Ambrosia had been guiding us around the city. The angel with black wings often stared strangely at Des's exuberance for shopping. 

"Is this one suitable?" Ambrosia asked. 

"Yes. We have to have one that is not occupied so we can use the feature you talked about." Des was in her school uniform, which I hadn't seen since we had gotten trapped in the dungeon for the dungeon shuffle. She quickly began swiping the datapad. 

"Ambrosia, can you show us where the feature is on these screens?" Des asked.

The angel quickly navigated through the menus before, tapping a button. Des then poked at the screen and her outfit changed.

I stared at the sudden shift. "What happens to her old clothes?" I asked, far more curious about this new feature than the fashion.

Des was now in fairly low-leveled trousers and a blouse as she spun around giggling. 

"They're held in a temporary storage field. They'll be returned as soon as you exit the setting," Ambrosia replied.

I was fairly sure Des didn’t hear a word. Instead, she spun back around and swiped at the screen, changing her outfit from one to another with a tap. "This is a thousand times better than online shopping." She gestured to another tablet that Ambrosia was quickly setting up and activating.

Penny's clothes disappeared, only for her to suddenly have a full suit of armor on. Penny lifted the visor on the helmet. 

"This is not what I would wear at all." She grumbled.

"That's the whole fun," Des said, suddenly assaulting Penny's tablet and changing her through half a dozen outfits in the blink of an eye. "Now you get to try on everything!" Des continued to tap away before she said, "Oops," 

Suddenly the suit of armor disappeared and Penny was left in a skimpy chainmail bikini. Penny squawked and covered herself up. "Des, change it back, change it back." Penny grew flustered.

"I don't know, that looks pretty good on you, Penny. What do you think, Ken?" Completely without remorse, Des tried to include me in this debauchery.

I could feel my face heat up and I turned away. "I mean, what matters most are the stats, right?" I tried a neutral answer.

"Right, right, of course," Des nodded along. "Why don't you come take a closer look at Penny and tell me about the stats?" Des skipped behind me and turned my head forcibly to look at Penny before whispering in my ear, "Isn't Penny hot?"

I swallowed hard, my eyes roving over her form.

Penny was fitter than Des. The top two sets of her abs were just barely beginning to peek through her skin. Not to mention she had a strangely perfect complexion of soft, creamy skin without a single scar, despite being a tank. She looked quite lovely and there was something about the way she blushed that made her even more tempting. 

When I finally reached up to her eyes, they were full of a certain kind of hope as well as embarrassment. And there was something else in her look. It took me a moment, but I realized there was guilt. This had been calculated.

I grabbed Des. "Did you put Penny up to this?" 

"What?" Des said in the most untruthful way possible. "Me? Convince Penny to wear a chainmail bikini for you? Never." Her tone dripped with sarcasm. "But look, Penny's showing off for you. You should at least keep your eyes on her." Des poked me in the side meaningfully. 

I sighed. "Penny, I think I prefer you a little more clothed." 

"He does enjoy taking clothes off," Charlotte added idly. She had moved herself over to another datapad and was working away at the menu while Felin kept poking it and messing it up. "Besides, if you continue to distract him, how is he going to shop for skills?" 

"Oh, is that what we're here for?" Des stuck out her tongue. "In my opinion, you should strut around in that chainmail bikini the whole time. Flaunt it, Penny, because you've certainly got it." 

Penny bit her lip and didn't back down. "I don't know. It looks good. Don't you think, Ken?" She twisted, giving me a side vantage. Something about the twist made her hips impossibly tiny. 

"You get hit far too much as a tank to jump around in something that skimpy." I shrugged everything off now that I realized it had Des’ hands in it. Somehow I was far more resilient to her being the source of temptation.

Des pouted before Penny tapped on the screen and switched to something far more reasonable. 

"While you two do that shopping, I do think Charlotte's right. We should start looking for skills. Since you don't have it, Penny, you should probably get [Universal Language]. Same with you, Charlotte and Felin." I added.

Felin was looking over Charlotte's shoulder. The two of them were scrolling through the skill books. Des seemed to have given up on trying to entice me with Penny, and the two of them were now seriously looking at clothing options.

"What do you think of this?" Penny asked, holding up a piece of armor.

"Wear what's effective for dungeon diving," I advised, not falling for it. "You can ask Des for lingerie tips later."

"Oh, lingerie tips?" Des teased, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "That would imply she's wearing them for you."

I swatted the temptress away. "We need to get you other hobbies, Des."

She laughed, her eyes sparkling with amusement. "I like this one too much. Now shoo. Go look at your boring skill books. I'll make sure Penny gets what she needs."

Throughout our exchange, Penny had remained silent, a deep blush building on her face. It was hard to take my eyes off her. Part of me wanted to wrap her up in a comforting hug, reassuring her of any worries and that Des' goofing off didn't mean anything. The other part of me wanted to keep her at arm's length, guilt creeping up in my mind, feeling like I was replacing Fayeth too quickly.

So rather than deal with those emotions, I shoved them to the side. Like any good adventurer, I focused on my skills.

"This one's interesting," Charlotte said, swiping on her tablet. A notification popped up on mine. "Shadow Claw," I read aloud, checking the ability. "It looks like it still uses a weapon."

Charlotte pointed out the stat requirements for it were certainly higher than [Shadow Strike], yet it filled the same niche. It was a relatively low cooldown instant strike, but it had almost twice the punch as [Shadow Strike].

"If you want to test the ability, you can do that as well," Ambrosia said, stepping up behind my tablet and making a couple of changes. "Go ahead and use it. Mid-air. Just make sure not to hit anything. You'll have to speak the ability aloud for the system to pick it up."

I pulled out a training blade and said, "Shadow Claw," as I swiped it forward. Darkness pooled off the edge of my blade, forming a three-pronged claw, giving my blade a few more inches of length as I swiped through the air. I thought I'd nicked the wall, but nothing happened.

"It's just a projection," Ambrosia explained. "You can't actually deal damage. It's just giving you a chance to see the effect, so you know exactly what you're buying."

"Well, that's fantastic," I said, flipping my blade around and saying, "Shadow Claw," and swiping in the air again, this time with my other weapon. I was a big fan of this new technology.

Felin started eagerly swiping on Charlotte's tablet. "Make mine do that," she demanded, glancing up at Ambrosia.

The angel adjusted the same settings on Felin's tablet. Felin raised her spear and stabbed it on the ground. “Meteor!” A giant meteor appearing in the distance, hurtling itself down towards me through the roof of the building.

I stared at the illusion that looked so real. I couldn't help but feel my body tense; my heart rate spiked with a little adrenaline. Every part of me wanted to rush away from the meteor. But in the end, it landed on me harmlessly, an explosion consuming the room. 

Felon giggled. "We have to try them all," she said excitedly, and then began stabbing at Charlotte's screen before throwing around giant spells that were so expensive, I doubted we’d afford them in our lifetime.

"I think I'm gonna grab a new one," Charlotte said, moving off to an unoccupied tablet. "Would you like me to adjust yours as well?" Ambrosia asked, stepping up to her.

"No, please. I just need to look at the numbers to find out which heals are most efficient and effective," Charlotte replied, swiping through her options. "It's important as a healer that I have at least one heal that is highly efficient in terms of how much mana it costs and how much healing it delivers. But usually that comes at the price of a much slower cast time or perhaps a conditional effect, like healing over time. And then I should have one that is not mana efficient, but very time efficient so I can effectively heal anyone that needs it in a case of emergency." Charlotte laid out her thoughts and continued to browse her tablet.

I watched as the dark angel moved between the ladies, assisting them. Meanwhile, I returned to testing a few different strikes, focusing on the simple, low cooldown abilities. I pondered whether Shadow Claw would count as three strikes or one, but the tablet offered no clarity. Essentially, it was a direct upgrade otherwise. Technically, I could retain Shadow Strike and use both, but I didn't believe that was the most efficient use of my skills.

Ambrosia returned to my side. "Hesitating?" she asked.

"Just wondering if I really need this one. I have Shadow Strike, and it's definitely better, but is it worth the cost?" I spoke my thoughts out loud.

"Well, what's the difference between selling your Shadow Strike?" she asked.

"Selling Shadow Strike?" I blinked at her in surprise.

"Yes, see here." She tapped several buttons on the tablet, bringing up my skill list. I could remove abilities.

I leaned in closer to the tablet, astonished. If these systems could add abilities, it made sense they would also have a way to remove them.

"Some cannot be removed, however." She pointed at the tablet, indicating that Liminal Speed, my portal ability, and my class abilities were locked.

"Interesting," I said.

"Some of these are core to the way your mana flows," she pointed out, and I nodded in understanding.

"So, ones like my class abilities," I pointed to those, "are core, whereas ones I bought before can be sold."

"Precisely." She hesitated, glancing at several of the abilities that showed in my list. "They're borrowed abilities from my party," I explained, clarifying why I had Charlotte's Revive and Crimson's Eyes of Wisdom.

"Ah, that is unique," she said. Her eyes then glanced at my class and widened. "Oh. You have such a domineering class, I understand now." She nodded along to something that apparently only she understood.

"Ken's class is the best," Des agreed from the side. "So if Ken can get rid of abilities, then he should absolutely upgrade Shadow Strike to Shadow Claw."

I had to agree with Des. Shadow Strike, though a low-level ability, still looked like it would sell for about half the price of Shadow Claw. I went ahead and made the sale first. A strange feeling passed between me and the tablet before it was gone.

I immediately checked my CID to confirm. Sure enough, [Shadow Strike] was no longer listed on the CID.

"Well then." I switched back to the tablet and bought the [Shadow Claw], fairly happy that the prices were fixed and not fluctuating like some sort of fluid market.

"Congratulations on your new ability," Ambrosia smiled and dipped her head.

"Yeah, I had no idea we could sell those." Armed with that information, everyone in the group began spending their money and realigning their skills. I didn't change much. Many of the abilities I commonly used were baked into my class, and there wasn't a good direct upgrade to [Dark Blades] or [Static Swords]. I did find several other multi-attack abilities but didn't pursue them. After all, I still had the debt to the Orkai that I needed to pay.

***

The next two weeks went by quickly. Our party dove to the 46th floor, teeming with zombies, and farmed it to the point of boredom.

We could clear the higher level floors as well, but there was no difference in mana crystal drops between the five floors. And the difference in loot drops was negligible, since everything seemed to have a poor market value. Thus, the faster clearing speed of the 46th floor won out.

In the end, we managed to farm off a good chunk of the debt I owed, but we still had plenty to make up. Only about 60% of our share had been paid. Between draining our own stores and selling off what we had farmed, Crimson would cover a larger portion of it herself. We'd probably have to make up the rest over the coming months. 

But all of that would have to wait a bit longer, because we had just arrived back at Haylon. Class was about to restart.

Crimson strutted into the classroom, sporting a pair of completely unnecessary spectacles on her nose. She dropped a hefty tome on the lectern and took up her position at the front of the class. 

"Unfortunately, several of your classmates have decided not to return for their second semester," she said. I glanced around at a handful of empty seats. "Fayeth Lyntean returned to her people to help them with their own challenges post the dungeon shuffle." 

Students nodded. 

"The healer that had previously been in Felicity's group will no longer be attending with us. She has been recruited by the Arcana." Crimson reported. 

I glanced at Candace. Her mother was a leader of that group.

The blonde shrugged. "She's got family in there. I think she's missing out. But what can I do? She's a higher level than her mother now. And she's been dragged into the business." 

I nodded and looked back at Crimson, who listed off several other names. Meixie, who had been in Candice’s group, was gone as well. It seemed Felicity was going to rotate into Penny's spot and fill out that group. Meanwhile, the tank from their group was going to rotate into Taylor's as Taylor rotated into Candice’s. Finally, the warrior would be spared the constant request to be the tank. The athletic blonde looked beyond excited at her new members. 

Meanwhile, Helen kept a stoic frown on her face as she kept glancing towards Penny, who had changed her seat to join our group. Helen had been distant since her mother threatened to pull her out of Haylon if she didn’t cease her grudge against me.

It appeared the woman was having a hard time seeing Penny go.

Crimson flipped open the tome. "All of you survived deep in the dungeon. Congratulations! However, neither the UG nor Haylon think that your high levels indicate competence. They think that your high level is actually a liability." 

Candice's hand shot into the air.

"Yes, Candice?" Crimson paused. 

"Have we not shown our own capabilities surviving the dungeon shuffle?" She pushed.

Crimson leaned over the lectern. "I think all of you have shown an exemplary ability to survive, and that is incredibly commendable. However, was that luck? Was that skill? Was that due to your knowledge, your general aptitude, or was it luck that you were in an area without many true challenges?" 

Crimson let the glasses slide slightly down her nose as she looked over them at Candice before she straightened up and put them on more firmly. "While we can't easily make a determination, what we can do is ensure that you are truly knowledgeable enough to survive on your own in the dungeon no matter what it may throw at you." 

That response seemed to satisfy Candice as her hand went back down. 

"Plus," Crimson grinned, "I'm technically still on contract for a class, so if you guys all drop out, then I have to go pick up a freshman class. And I don't want to do that." Crimson broke the stiff teacher act with a wide grin. "Any other questions?" She didn't even pause before continuing on. "No? Good, let's continue. Our curriculum is going to shift first on how to explore new areas, test the limits of monsters and bosses.

“We are also going to have a civics class on how to interact with new and foreign races. Just in case you all haven't learned yet, the Orkai have very rigid rules. Your lovely teacher is now, unfortunately, paying off a debt for destroying a safe zone,” Crimson shook her head. “At some point, we're going to get a rule set of the Orkai that we must follow. Well, at least if there are survivors.”

"And if there aren't survivors?" Taylor asked while raising her hand.

"Hand first. Question when I call on you," Crimson's whip crossed the distance between the two of them and shattered Taylor's desk before she returned to talking in class as if the gesture had been nothing more than a light reprimand. "No one asks questions if there are no survivors” Crimson grinned. “If you take anything away from this lesson, it should be that you can get away with anything if there are no witnesses." 

I smacked my forehead with my hand. This was classic Crimson teachings. Killing every Nekorian there would have been too vicious, now if we had the ability to quietly kill the level 84 Shaman that was another story.

Then again Crimson didn’t really do subtle.

"Now, if you would please turn your textbooks to page 78, we're going to skip the boring stuff and get right down to business." Crimson eyed the class as everybody quickly turned pages. 

I smiled as I opened my book as well. At least some normalcy was returning to our lives. Crimson was still a terrible teacher.