Enter: The Red Zone!

Weapons were almost exclusively sold by players. You could only buy the lowest level of weapons normally. Everything else was drops from Elites or Dungeons. Nimin had some money from grinding dungeons previously, but wasn't a significant amount for good weapons.

Walking through the safe zone Nimin found his target, the market. A player driven economy, often a poor choice since everyone wants people to pay high but no one actually does so. Constantly over valuing their items. Right now was a poor time to try to purchase anything, but Nimin didn't have the luxury of waiting.

The chat spurred at an almost impossible rate to read. Nimin was forced to open it and carefully read through the contents to find what he was looking for. Gunners had far too many options regarding weapon choices, and because of it the market was often flooded with different weapons regarding that class. That didn't reduce the difficulty of finding the specific ones he desired however.

It took ten minutes of searching before Nimin found a single person offering the weapons he desired. Approaching the given coordinates he found the player stand.

Critical Shot: The colts?

Big-Eyed Sawn: 250

Currency was called 'Bits' in Fractured Worlds. As an attempt to take different genres and combine how they design currency into a single entity. Bits held the shape of typical coins, except they were mostly translucent, made of an advanced technology. Using the same printing system--similarly to how Critical Shot's grenades print into his hands--Bits could be manifested at will. With a blue hue the Bits had a numeral value inside of a pure white. Therefor there wasn't any size difference when it came to money. 250 Bits would simply be a single coin with the number '250' printed in it.

Critical Shot's fingers had a Bit appear and flicked it over. Big-Eyed Sawn moved and dropped a handgun on the main counter of the stall. Nimin's eyebrow rose upon seeing the handgun become available.

Critical Shot: Where's the other?

Big-Eyed Sawn: 250 per

Critical Shot: Daylight robbery, you stated it was a pair

Big-Eyed Sawn: a pair available

Critical Shot: We both know these aren't worth 250 per.

Big-Eyed Sawn: Then refund it

To prevent blatant scamming the consumer can refund their purchase within 5 minutes of purchasing it. The weapon would return to the seller, and the Bits returned to the consumer. Nimin had time so instead negotiated.

Critical Shot: How about a discount for purchasing a pair?

Big-Eyed Sawn: I could make more selling the other

Critical Shot: No one else is going to buy one for 250. Give me a discount.

Nimin could hear a sigh coming from Big-Eyed Sawn. Seems they had a mic the whole time but couldn't be bothered to actually speak. There was silence for a while before another message appeared.

Big-Eyed Sawn: 150

A package deal for 400 Bits. Still was a huge loss for Nimin. The standard price for these low valued items was around 50 bits per. It was a natural prices were higher since it was a newer server, but this increase was still 4x! Nimin weighed his options before biting the bullet. He wasn't willing to wait to find someone else selling it for cheaper.

Tossing over another Bit he purchased the other handgun. The Colts were level 45 handguns with a low magazine size and mediocre damage. Since Nimin didn't plan on using his typical dual wield style in the Red Zone, they would suffice. As he walked away he spotted another person selling a pair of Colts for 100 Bits per.

Big-Eyed Sawn let out a laugh, just barely within Critical Shot's hearing range. Nimin let go of the keyboard and paused for a second. Opening to a page on his journal he scribbled something down before returning to the game.

After another few minutes of searching Nimin managed to find a suitable assault rifle and some low level gear. Ready and equipped he began to head towards the Red Zone!

It was at this moment Sol walked into the room, "You're already playing?"

"I don't have much choice! Hop on I'm Red Zone hunting."

Sol debated turning down the offer, but remember that partly the reason why Nimin was working so hard was because of his suggestion. With a sigh he plugged up his laptop, "What's the plan?"

"Find mobs, kill them."

"Any search pattern?"

"Anywhere there's players."

"We're kill stealing?"

Nimin slowly turned around in his chair to face Sol, "I really don't have options. The faster I work, the better."

"Isn't that kind of scummy?"

"Red Zone is a dangerous place."

"What about having your account be signed up for leveling? We have resources for this kind of thing."

"I considered it, but I have a specific build in mind and I need to gather certain items. After weighing my odds I found out that having most of my build completed while still being underleveled was a better option than simply being max level."

"Are you concerned about the duel?"

"I'm more concerned about what'll happen if I fail to keep my word."

"What?"

"Ahh nothing, what suit does your Mecha use?"

"Unspecialized, too expensive to have a specialized suit this early."

Mechas performed under a different set of rules compared to other classes. Their Effective Stats were always lower than other classes, but it would change depending on the suit they wore. This allowed for a broad variety in builds when it came to the Mecha. It wasn't deemed the strongest class for nothing.

Dismounting the bike at the edge of the Red Zone Nimin braced himself to enter. In Fractured World's lore, the Red Zones were the areas where the different Worlds overlapped. It caused them to become a mutant conglomerate of the various genres. A place of high contamination, and danger. Mounts were useless inside, they were swiftly disabled after a few seconds. Creatures that roamed inside turned mutant and in return became significantly stronger. Thus netting greater rewards, at the already stated higher risk.

As Critical Shot stepped into the realm an immediate sound cue entered his ears and a notifications popped up in the corner of his screen. Walking through the Red Zone Nimin kept his ears sharp to hear the sounds of any fighting. Kill stealing was only an excuse for Sol, after all his main goal was to find skilled people to make a team with.

Unbeknownst to him, a player stood in the distance. A modified body replacing skin with metal. One of their eyes turned like a camera lens focusing, "Well, didn't expect you to be here. Let's see. . . a change of equipment. Disappointing, but not entirely."

"Outrider Series Street Bike, Model Z. Legendary rank, season one drop. Reported to only have twenty confirmed drops. Despite changing all your weapons, you failed to change your mount."

The eye rotated to a normal position and the player walked towards the Red Zone, "I don't have one of those yet."

Donning a three piece suit, one that still was part of his enhanced body. Raising his hands he adjusted the tie, although it was entirely unnecessary. A show of his fine control, and his exceptional awareness.

Above this player's head lay their name and level.

Collection: LVL 64