Chapter 77

What happened to Froad after the defeat of their second captain and the elite from Musashi was less a massacre and more a complete obliteration.

'But, in hindsight,' Jake thought, 'after I saw what happened to Evergreen Castle, Liam and I did actually put paid on Froad's account – on behalf of Song and Evergreen, of course.'

Even their captain tried to flee, only to end up hunted down by Liam and killed like an animal.

The rest of the Froad troops – the ones who didn't try to flee – tried to fight back, and were cut down without mercy.

'I think we may be the first novice awakeners who have completely removed a division's awakeners…' Jake thought. 'But… fuck that. Implications later – point stash, now.'

Thanks to the bonus he got, he was able to cash in quite nicely on the eradication of Froad.

'Well, looks like I got what's called a return of investment. Now that that part's taken care of, I suppose I should give myself a little me-time, huh?' Jake continued. 'Time to think about how to make good use of all those points I've got. Now that I don't have to focus on increasing my purchasing performance, how about I do a little more in-depth shopping?'

Until this moment, he had been going to the Superstore and increasing his purchasing performance, just to get his hands on the 2k Miles Velocity Roadster motorcycle.

And now that he has both the bike AND the upgraded purchasing performance, there's no more reason to buy at the Superstore exclusively.

Now, he was going to look in-depth at both stores to see which offers better items.

And, under these circumstances, the true power of Jake Smithson's "Shopper's Instinct" will be revealed.

'Hmm. These are interesting,' Jake thought as he started comparing things, and several items caught his eye. 'These two have similar effects, and you priced this one higher just by changing the design slightly?'

He saw two items from each store. They had similar effects, but price and design varied significantly.

'Nice try, you think I'll fall for that?'

This wasn't just limited to one store: he saw this happen multiple times from both the Awakening Store and the Superstore, and if Jake couldn't make the comparison, he never would have found out.

He was looking through another set of items when the notification popped up.

Without missing a beat, he looked through the notification.

[Dear Customer,

We've noticed you haven't been shopping with us as of late.

So we've been working tirelessly, and now we've finished getting our new event ready!

Looking forward to seeing you shop with us at the Awakening Store!]

'Long time since the Awakening Store notification popped up,' Jake thought as he went and looked at the event. 'Well now, it looks like you guys are answering the 2K Miles promo back.'

He always looked through every notice sent to him, even though he was at times struggling to receive them.

'Let me see what you've got.'

All of this was on the way back to Carter from Evergreen, and once he skimmed the event, he found himself surprised.

'Well now, does this seem like these guys are messing with me again? If this is one of those jokes like last time, I'm taking my business elsewhere. Remember, I have a Superstore to go to. I hope this isn't one of your fuck-ups, for both our sakes…'

Jake's reaction was warranted, because the event was quite significant.

[Diamond Label Access Event

As we bring in newer features and lines, we'd love to have you be the first one to help test them out. Our first offering is our Diamond Label catalog.

Since you haven't shopped with us for quite some time, you most likely haven't seen the increased variety of our Black Label and Gold Label catalog, all of which will help you on the way towards the Diamond Label.

There are just a few prerequisites you need to fulfill in order to gain access to our latest and most luxurious tier of items, and we will send these prerequisites to you.

We would love to receive your patronage once more!]

Jake acquired a document attached to the notice, and in it was the requirements to access the Diamond Label.

[1. Have more than 100 strength and agility.

2. Have at least 30 luck. The Diamond Label only accepts those who successfully defy the odds.

3. Have at least one item reinforced at least three times via our 10% Reinforcement Stone.

4. You must have at least one Legendary Creature.

5. Finally, you must have spent a total of ten million points (10,000,000) in our shopping mall.]

Jake expected the requirements to be significant, and they were.

However, his need to shop was roused, and he saw those requirements as a bump in the road on his journey to the Diamond Label.

There was one catch, though.

[Event related items will not be discounted during this event!]

'Wait a minute – no discounts?'

One line in the document annoyed Jake.

This was the game-changer Kelderian sought: if Jake's resolve to get to the Diamond Label was high enough, he would spend without discounts and end up taking longer to meet the prerequisites.

The time was Kelderian's priority: the more time he spent trying to get to the 10 million points, the less time he'd spend at the Superstore.

Kelderian overlooked one fact, though.

'Are you joking? What kind of shopping malls exist that don't offer discounts?'

Jake was very keen on discounts.

'Do you even think I'm going to participate in this event of yours?'

But Kelderian knew another thing.

'Well, since the prize is worth it, I guess I will.'

Jake Smithson was a pathological shopaholic.

***

"What's eating you now?" Liam asked Jake as they were still on the road back to Carter. He had stopped muttering for some time, and his mouth was set in a frown.

Because of the long time Liam spent in Jake's company, he knew the intricacies of the awakener's eccentricities.

'Still, though, I don't understand what's going on in his head half the time…' Liam thought. 'Sometimes, Jake does things that come from out of nowhere.'

"Do we have dentists in Nohas?"

"Dentists?"

"Yeah, I think my teeth are going to rot off…"

'Something like this.'

"What do you mean?"

"I've had too much candy. I don't want to eat more."

"Then stop, man," Liam said. 'How strange. He doesn't want to eat any more candies because he thinks his teeth are going to rot, but why does he insist on eating them?'

"I can't," Jake explained. "I need to get to the Diamond Label…"

"Oh, brother," Liam said. "Are you eating that stat candy again?"

"Yes…"

"Then you're gaining stats. What's all this complaining about then?" Liam asked. 'Doesn't he know about how easy he has it? Other awakeners hunt monsters and gain levels, and all he has to do is buy candy?'

"Is increasing stats really that important?"

"Yes," Liam said, and recalled an earlier incident where Jake indulged himself in those stat-boosting candies when he got to the Gold Label for the first time.

He swore off them after one day because he said he was sick and tired of eating sweets.

'Pretty sure my homeboy here is the only one who'd say something like this in Nohas.'

It sounded incomprehensible, but Liam knew what Jake meant: everything that helps Jake in this world are things he buys, nothing more. It made him wonder: what if Jake had no shopping skill and had to level up like other awakeners?

'He'd probably stop hunting.'

Liam gave Jake a look, and then…

"Crap, another failed reinforcement. Such a waste of money," he lamented incomprehensibly, and Liam just sighed.

***

"What?" Li asked. "Musashi participated in the war in Evergreen?"

Upon Jake's return to Carter and the Grand Duelists, he didn't bother to rest up and went straight to the master's chambers to personally report what had happened on his trip to Evergreen with Liam.

Even now, Evergreen is still haunted by the specter of a war that is about to happen.

"Yes," Jake answered as soon as he brought up the story to the master of the Grand Duelists. "We were able to neutralize the enemy division as well as the elite reinforcement, but Evergreen still requires immediate assistance."

Li considered his newest recruit for a moment.

He could easily see that Jake wanted to return to Evergreen.

If there were no problems with The Grand Duelists, he wouldn't have bid Jake and Liam return in the first place.

"I know, but we are not in a good situation as well," he answered. "Now that I've heard your story, I can still see what is going on."

Li did put his information network to good use to find out what was going on in Nohas, but it was slow going.

'I don't know who is behind all this, but whoever he or she is made a lot of careful preparations. I didn't know that our eyes and ears were completely shut down. Our failure of intelligence is my fault,' Li thought.

The mastermind had already neutralized the intelligence gathering of the Grand Duelists, and they didn't even know it.

"What IS going on here, gramps?" Jake asked.

"One of our raiding teams were wiped out. Deaths during raids are no surprise, but I don't think these deaths were caused by monsters. We were thinking that someone murdered them when you returned and told your story. Now, I am sure that our men were indeed murdered, and Musashi may be involved with this – maybe other divisions, too," Li explained, figuring out the situation quickly.

'They tried to kill our awakeners in plain sight? War may be just around the corner.'

The elites of Musashi tried to kill Jake and Liam, even though they knew they were Grand Duelists.

Li was able to determine a few things from this.

One, Musashi was planning to fight a war against the Grand Duelists, and the Grand Duelists would not let this attempted murder of their awakeners remain unaddressed.

There will be payback.

The other is the failure of intelligence.

'I don't know if our division is the main target, or if they want Nohas taken over, but sooner or later, there will be war.

And they also have the gall to think that I would not see them covering it up?'

Sure, the Grand Duelists can try to catch up, but they have to take huge leaps forward to do so. And with the war incoming, any attempt to figure out the situation would have to be put on the back burner.

Despite this situation, Li is still confident in his own ability to turn things around, if need be.

"Understood, sir – but Evergreen is on its last legs, and we need to send it some help," Jake said, and he never noticed his voice cracking out of desperation.

Sure, he thought he could return to Evergreen as soon as he made his report… but it seems even to a Ten Stars division, the situation is just that bad.

If Evergreen was caught up in this, it would be much worse.

'If I had thought about it a little bit, I would have predicted it… damn, I was complacent! It's apparent that those warmongers would do it just to mess around with the Grand Duelists!' Li thought, before looking at Jake with compassion.

"Jake."

"Yes?"

Their voices were unnaturally solemn, and Jake's answer was reluctant.

He already knew what the old man was going to say, and his expectations were correct.

"I understand how you're feeling about this," Li explained, "but before we can take care of Evergreen, we have to get our own house in order, first. Think about it: Evergreen is under our protection, but if we cannot protect ourselves, who will protect Evergreen?"

"Still… right now…"

"I know, I know," the old man continued. "I understand you want to help Evergreen. I also understand you think you're not going to be a big help to the Grand Duelists in the greater scope of things. But need I remind you of what you helped Song accomplish? He took down an elite of Musashi."

Jake and Liam hung their heads in defeat.

"Now, do you think it would speak well of me and of our home if I let you out there so soon? Musashi will be out for blood, and they will go after you. Once I get this misunderstanding straightened out, I will make sure that Musashi will pay even further for putting you two in danger."

They understood the situation now. The Grand Duelists couldn't act recklessly.

Jake looked at the old man, his mouth open but nothing coming out, as he never realized the situation had gotten this dire for the Grand Duelists.

It took him several moments just to be able to ask the question he and Liam had in mind.

"What do we do now?"

***