The Extra's Odyssey

We spent a few hours looking for the shop and found it around sunset.

"'Tanya & Alibaba Atelier' What kind of workshop is this, boss?"

Miller asked with apprehension when he looked at the worn-down shop. The boundary wasn't maintained, the shop's sign was on the verge of breaking and cobwebs had marked the roof as their territory.

"A general shop that dabbles in almost everything awakener related."

Tingle-

A metallic chime rang out as we entered the shop.

Despite the worn-down exterior, the shop didn't have a half-bad interior.

Weapons and armor were spread throughout the shop for display. The weapons were on the right side while the armors were on the left.

Seeing how everything was left out in the open, it seems that the shop owner was confident in the security.

"Hello, there. How may I help you?"

A girl, no older than 20, spoke from behind the counter directly ahead.

She was wearing a brown apron that would remind one of the blacksmiths. Soot and sweat were covering her face.

I stopped looking at the weapons and went to the counter.

"Is the shop owner not here? I was told I could meet the old man, Alibaba, here."

The old man, or the shop owner of Tanya & Alibaba Atelier, was Ward's headmaster. While the girl in front of me was his granddaughter and the daughter of Olivia.

I came to this shop, in particular, because I needed to contact the headmaster. As for why, let's just say I needed someone powerful to act as my backer.

"He isn't here."

"Is the old man in the house? Or did he go on hunting?"

On my question, the girl removed her headgear and carefully scrutinized me.

From my words alone, one would think why was I asking if the shop owner was in the house when the girl had already refused.

But there was a reason for this.

The word 'house' meant earth and 'hunting' meant going into Gates. There were more codes but I only wanted to show that I knew about the headmaster.

The girl took a while before answering me.

"He has gone to the basement."

At her answer, I inwardly clicked my tongue.

'Basement' was the code word for Tartarus, the prison where the most dangerous criminals were held captive.

'He probably went to meet his brother 'Sandman'. Ugh…this might take a while.'

If the headmaster had gone to the frontlines then, at the latest, he would've been back after a month. But I can't predict how long his visit to Tartarus was going to take.

'Just my luck. He had to go when I have a three-month deadline.'

Later in the novel, this shop was a rendezvous point where Leon used to buy goods at a cheaper price.

It was Isabella, the last member of the Goliath Unit, who had told him about this shop when they later became closer.

Also, it wasn't uncommon for someone to come looking for the headmaster here. Just the only people who were either close to him or at the very top of society knew about his shop.

"Do you want to leave a message for him?"

I shook my head at her question.

Sighing, I decided to buy some goods.

"I want to buy a grimoire."

Hearing my request Anya's, the girl behind the counter, face lit up.

Due to the remote location and the substandered exterior, customers rarely come to this shop. Even among them, most of the people only come to buy the weapons crafted by the headmaster, which he rarely sold.

The shop was solely running on Anya's earnings. This was the condition that she had to follow if she wanted to run a shop in the Underworld. As such, she was always happy to have a new customer.

"What rank of spells do you want? Do you need a common-grade or a higher-grade grimoire?"

Her eyes were shining like a predator who found her prey.

"Common-grade Grimoire with Rank2 spells."

Spells can be categorized from Rank 1 to Rank 7. Each rank represents the number of spell formulas a mage can weave at once.

For example: A Rank 1 mage can weave 2 spells formulas, a Rank 2 mage can weave 4 spell formulas, a Rank 3 mage can weave 8 spell formulas, a Rank 4 mage can weave 16 spell formulas, and so on.

Weaving, or creating spell formulas in simpler words, requires precise mana control and a similar level of intelligence.

With my high ether control, I was confident that I could weave at least 6 spell formulae at once. Of course, this was only possible if I knew any spells, which I didn't.

But even then, it wasn't wrong for me to call myself a pseudo Rank3 mage. Pseudo, because I can't weave spell formulas without grimoires.

Mind you, even with grimoires, one needs to be the same rank mage as the spell rank for the spell to be to work.

Anya passed me a leaflet with spells.

The leaflet had over 100 spells in it. All of them were Rank 1 and Rank 2.

After an hour-long heated discussion between Anya and me, I settled on 5 spells.

"I need <Agility-Up> X 2, <Sink> X 2, <Force Shield> X 3, <Water Shield> X 2, and <Mud Spikes>."

All of these spells except Mud-spikes were support spells. Among these, <Sink> and <Mud Spikes> were Rank 3 spells.

I chose these because they had short chants and high utility.

Because Rank 3 spells need Rare grade grimoire, the cost shot through the roof.

"Three rank3 spells and seven rank2 spells. Rank 3 spells need rare-grade grimoires so…."

Anya excitedly calculated the bill and told me the final price.

"The total will be 37,000B."

I winced at the price, but there was nothing I could do except nod my head. I had chosen the cheapest spells, yet this was the result.

"The enchanting will take around half-hour. In the meantime, why don't you look around if you need anything?"

With a bright smile plastered on her face, Anya went to the back room, probably to enchant the spells into the grimoire.

"This looks nice."

I picked a shortsword from the display.

======

Shortsword[Rare]

A shortsword made under the guidance of an expert blacksmith. It is among the best weapons in the common grade.

-Can shoot the blade when energy is supplied.

======

I channeled a small amount of ether into the sword.

Fwish-

-Thud!

The blade shot from the base and struck the wall. A few seconds later, it returned to the sword.

I did it a few times more but this time with my skill [Pierce].

Fwish-

-Thud!

The result was the same: the blade that shot out didn't extend. I tried activating [Pierce] without shooting the blade and the skill activated.

"So, I need to hold the weapon for the skill to work."

But I remember the skill working with the weapons I constructed.

I had to look at the skill description to understand the reason behind it.

I quickly found the reason.

Apparently [Pierce] only activated with 'my' weapons. Thus, when the blade left my hand, it was no longer 'my' weapon, and the skill didn't activate.

Whereas, the constructed weapons were purely created from my energy and thus deemed as 'my' weapons, even after leaving my hands.

"Haah.. I want to Scan this sword but there is no point."

My constructed weapons are precise replicas of the originals. They have the same durability, attack power, and conductivity as the original. The only thing that differentiated them from the originals was that they didn't have the abilities of the originals.

In this case, even if I created a constellation, the resulting shortsword will not have a shootable blade.

"I'll just buy it."

Other than the shortsword, I bought a pair of boots and gloves that stick to any surface, a few smoke bombs, a flashbang, and a shield.

Pulling the final purchase price to 49,000.

'I'm dirt poor now.'

"Catch"

I threw the shield to Miller, who had been fidgeting all the while staring at Anya.

"Please come again.."

Tingle-

Bidding Anya farewell, we went toward the direction of the stadium where the championship was about to begin.