Chapter 1 I'll Buy Equipment Even if It Means Bankruptcy (1)

At this point in time, the corpses of the family of three next door should have already been delivered to the nearby cemetery and are prepared to be buried at dusk.

According to the original storyline in the game, Peggy wouldn't have climbed out until deep in the night, so Aske wasn't in a hurry. Since he had soul-traveled into this befuddled NPC's body (just in time to interrupt the Vampire's hypnotic control over the original host), he naturally needed to sever all of the man's existing social ties before those Vampires noticed anything amiss and came looking.

The technological tree of this world is rather chaotic and unbalanced; big cities already have satellites, mobile phones, cars, and subways, while remote rural areas still need to draw water from wells. Developed regions have electronic currency and securities markets, while backward areas are still using gold, silver, copper coins, and bartering goods.

Cold weapons and firearms coexist, technology and the supernatural counterbalance each other in this strange and contradictory world.

Constantinople, where Aske is located, is one of the world's most developed cities, which is why it has a complete set of public facilities.

He took the subway to the local high school and sauntered into the classroom where he was scheduled to teach today.

The high school's tuition wasn't cheap, and most of the students were children of middle-class citizens, so the classroom order was quite good. As soon as the teacher walked in, everyone quieted down by mutual consent.

Aske stepped onto the podium and everyone opened their textbooks, ready to take notes.

"Close your textbooks, no need to take notes today," Aske said, "Today's assignment is to select a topic from everything we've studied this semester and write an essay on it."

He scanned the entire class and spoke out loud:

"Once you've chosen a topic, go to the library to gather materials and write a historical paper to be handed in as this week's assignment. For the next few days, everyone will study on their own."

The students immediately cheered. Although they didn't know how to write a paper, self-study sounded great! And so, with the students' cheerful send-off, Aske walked out of the classroom leisurely, heading in the direction of the principal's office.

The office door was open, revealing the principal sitting in a recliner, reading a newspaper. Aske pushed the door and entered, saying bluntly, "Principal, I am resigning."

The principal looked up, and recognizing the teacher who was taking the initiative to resign, realized it was the young master of the Achilles family. Everyone knew this history teacher was actually a noble, and his family was very wealthy; he certainly wasn't in it for the teacher's meager salary. Therefore, the principal just nodded, not making any attempt to retain him, and said:

"Alright, but could you please continue for one more week until the school hires a new history teacher?"

"No need," Aske said, "I've already assigned a week's worth of assignments to the students. The history class for the next week will be replaced with self-study, and they will go to the library to prepare for their papers."

The principal smiled wryly: "It seems you're set on leaving. Well, are you planning on returning home to manage the family business?"

Aske shook his head and said with a smile, "No. I plan to sell my shops and then put together an exploration team to go on an adventure."

"Sell them?" The principal was shocked.

He knew the Achilles family owned two shops in Constantinople, and just the property alone was worth hundreds of pounds.

Here, a pound referred to the Solomon Pound, initially a unit of weight, later evolving into the largest currency unit of the East Solomon Empire. A pound bill was equivalent to one ancient Solidus gold coin; according to the game's exchange rate in Aske's previous life, one gold coin was priced at around 10,000 RMB.

By such calculations, Aske was indeed a bona fide millionaire, that too without any loans or debts.

To sell all his assets and put together an exploration team? That's as crazy as selling a house in Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangzhou, and then going overseas to become a mercenary.

But as it's a major faux pas to give unsolicited deep advice, the principal didn't say much more, just asked with a smile: "If you're selling your family's shops, I happen to know a few well-off buyers who might be interested. Are you planning on entrusting them to an agency or an auction house?"

"I plan to sell to the Church," Aske stated directly.

The Orthodox Church of Constantinople was always flush with cash, it didn't push down prices or bargain, and since what was being sold was prime real estate in the Imperial City—a commodity worth its weight in gold—basically, no other buyer could compete. Upon hearing this, the principal let go of his thoughts, could only sigh deeply, and finalized Aske's resignation procedures.

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Having tendered his resignation, the next step was naturally to buy equipment and arm himself.

As a former e-sports player and professional gamer, Aske knew all kinds of strategies for quickly leveling up at the beginning of games by heart.

He had a clear and meticulous career plan as to which weapons to use, which armor to wear, which quests to take, and which dungeons to enter; there would absolutely be no problem in this regard.

He left the school and came to a nearby weapon shop, saying,

"I want to buy a sword."

"You wish to buy a sword, young master Achilles?" The shopkeeper recognized him as the young master of the Achilles family and knew he was extremely wealthy, so he wanted to sell the ornate ceremonial swords designed for nobles, inlaid with diamonds and with openwork, and said smilingly,

"You truly have an eye for quality, we have all types of swords in our store. We just got in a batch of high-quality goods, purported to be precious relics from the empire of the ancient High Elves; perhaps you'll be interested..."

"What are they made of?" Aske asked calmly, "If it's Meteor Iron, Magic Copper, Mithril, Orichalcum, Glass, Polar Ice, Blood Pattern Steel, Chaos Rock, or Dragon Bone, I'll take them all."

Upon hearing these material names, the shopkeeper almost knelt down and said apologetically, "Young master Achilles, my humble shop doesn't have those high-end materials you mentioned... If it's Meteor Iron and Magic Copper, I might be able to get some from the black market with some effort. Mithril and Orichalcum are controlled by the Imperial Army, while Glass and Polar Ice are priceless on the entire continent, my small shop couldn't possibly have them!"

"As for Blood Pattern Steel, Chaos Rock, and Dragon Bone, aren't those materials for Divine Artifacts from legend? I'm afraid they don't even exist in reality."

"You don't have any of these materials and yet you boast about having everything?" Aske motioned dismissively and said, "Forget it, just bring out the best material you have. Don't try to fob me off with those perforated decorative ones."

"Of course." The shopkeeper grimaced inwardly, "Right now our store has iron and steel forged longswords. The highest quality is Damascus Cloud Pattern Steel, featuring the Church Court's most advanced chrome plating technology and Austempering process, the quality is absolutely top-notch..."

"What types of swords do you have?" Aske interrupted the shopkeeper's self-promotion.

"We have the standard Spacian Cavalry Longswords used by the military and the Eastern-style Palamean Single-edged Curved Swords," the shopkeeper explained eagerly, "Of course, if the young master finds these lacking in lethality, we also have Western hybrid swords with thick spines and weighted balls at the end, capable of easily severing a human's neck bone with one strike..."

"Let's go with the single-edged curved sword. Get me one," Aske said, "And another short sword, an Ilibyan-style from Ancient Solomon, make sure it's sharpened, don't hand me a decorative antique that's all show and no substance."

"I also need a suit of Lock Armor, with at least three layers of thick linen padding inside, and cover it with Cotton Armor on the outside; avoid fanciful colors, any common dye is fine."

"Right away." The shopkeeper quickly had his workers fetch the items and said with a forced smile, "Master Achilles, has the Court taken a liking to you, to join the Royal Guard? Just yesterday a member of the Royal Guard placed an order quite similar to the equipment you are buying today. However, he also bought a Nail Hammer, which is for penetrating enemy Heavy Armor; would you consider..."

"No need," Aske replied, "For armor penetration, Firearms are more suitable."

"Of course, of course," the shopkeeper hastily agreed, thinking to himself how expensive firearms were, with a handgun costing at least two or three Solomon Pounds and still needing ammunition; a Nail Hammer was a much cheaper and more convenient option to crush a skull.

Soon the workers brought the selected items. The shopkeeper helped Aske to put on the Lock Armor and then donned the Cotton Armor over it, making his whole figure appear more valiant.

He hung the short sword on a hook on the belt to his left side and grasped the steel-forged single-edged curved sword with his right hand, casually swinging it a few times through the air, making a deep whistling sound.

"Not bad," Aske was quite satisfied with this sword.

The shopkeeper swallowed his saliva and suddenly felt a bit intimidated for no reason. The way this guy wielded the sword reminded him of a few veterans he had served last year, types who had killed heaps, who emanated an aura that chilled him to the bone, inciting an immediate desire to turn and flee.

"The Lock Armor will be 5 Pounds, the Cotton Armor 1 Pound, and the two swords about 0.3 Pounds. I'll just round it down for you," the shopkeeper said cautiously.

"Okay." Aske pulled out his wallet and handed over several banknotes to him.

As he turned and left the shop, the shopkeeper watched his retreating figure, inexplicably feeling a sense of relief as if he had survived a great peril.

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