CH3: Vampire Politics

The kid spun the spear around but made no other motions. His stance didn't change; it was more like the kid knew how to spin the weapon and nothing else.

"So why do you need wooden weapons?" The kid gave Red an eye roll and returned to messing with the spear. "Wood isn't exactly the best material for fighting people or monsters. That spear is quality, don't get me wrong, but it won't hold up as well as a steel spear."

"No one believes me, so why would you? Do you know something, old man?"

Red felt a vein in his head throb at that, but he tried to be friendly. This was a sale that he needed, and the customer was always right until there were no other options. He wanted to hurry up the sale and get the kid out so he could buy the rest of the attributes.

That would unlock the purchase of a Skill Gym and let him train his attributes. He could increase his intelligence, which would improve his mana and the skills he could learn. Or that's what he got from the descriptions. Wisdom would problem affect how quickly he improved his skills. He desperately needed the strength attribute to improve upon his production rate. Then there was good old dexterity, which improved the items he made or luck that would most likely improve his rolls. There were also perks he could purchase.

"Wooden weapons are only good when you fight something magically weak against wood. There are some demons with a weakness to particular types of trees." Red said.

The diarrhea that just spewed from his lips was from a TV show he half-remembered.

"Demons, well, believe it or not, there are vampires in Briar Hollow. No one believes me, not the guards, the smiths, or any shopkeeper." The boy said.

"What's your name kid?"

"I'm Darien Hawke, and I'm going to use this spear to save my sister and my town."

Red was willing to believe that Darien, his best customer with the deepest pockets, believed there were vampires in his town. He couldn't refute it as the only person from Darien's world that Red had had contact with, so why not help the kid out?

"Shop what can I purchase to allow Darien to return to the shop?"

An endless selection appeared at vastly different prices.

"Shop, what can I purchase for 100SP that will allow Darient to return to the shop once?"

Return Key (Trash): This key can be placed in any door on a world the shop has an established position within. Turn the key in the keyhole of a closed door, then turn the handle to open a one-way portal to the shop. Upon exiting the shop, the user will return to where they had been. 

Price: 100SP 

"Well, Darien, I'm Red, the shopkeeper, and if you say there are vampires in Briar Hollow, I'm willing to believe you. I doubt you would pay so much silver for an enchanted wooden spear if that weren't the case. How about I give you a key to my shop free of charge? If you ever have the money for a new weapon, put my key into any door's keyhole and turn it. Then open the door and you'll be back here in my shop. I'm willing to go as low as 150 silver coins and you'll have a permanent 20% discount from now on. You can even bring me materials you might find and I'll do custom work for you." Red said.

Red purchased a shop summoning key for 100SP. It would work once, but he saw this as an investment. By putting the thought of bringing new materials in the kid's mind, he'll bring them to Red instead of letting some other woodworkers get their hands on them.

"Fine, if the key will really let me come back here for new weapons, can I sell you things I find? For example, if I found a vampire lord's coffin, could I sell it to you?

Red hesitated for a moment before nodding. He asked the shop if he could convert 10 SP into silver. Red planned to start keeping 1000SP on hand for buybacks. If he could buy back the spear for a tenth of its worth, he could sell it through the outbox and get paid on the backend.

Darien took a heavy leather bag from inside his cloak and counted the coins. Once they were on his counter, he converted them into SP immediately.

1st Sale 

Rolling Perk 

Roll: 16

Price Magnet: Increase Sales of Mid-tier inventory by 15%

As someone with low-tier inventory, that was a useless perk. But he had another 1500SP.

Wallet: 1526

"Thank you for your business. I hope to see you again."

The poor kid was probably going to get eaten by a vampire. That wasn't his problem. No, he had attributes to get and skills to grind.

He spent 550SP on the attributes he didn't lack.

Rolling CON(Constitution): The size of the user's health pool before it is depleted and the user suffers bodily damage. Certain skills use CON to determine how they affect the body. 

CON 17

Rolling STR(Strength): The physical force the user employs in tasks from running to chopping wood. This attribute is essential for crafting all macro work. Hammering steel requires high strength. 

STR 4

Rolling WIS(Wisdom): Wisdom helps the user gain the most benefits for the least effort. Wisdom is the attribute of efficiency and progress. 

WIS 3

Rolling LUK(Luck): Luck allows for an extra die to come into effect in critical moments to create greater enchantments, increase damage, or expand areas of damage. Higher luck increases the impact of events, such as selling items to heroes in ways that benefit the shop. 

LUK 16

Red 

Shop lvl1 

HP 17/17 

MP 11/11

Attributes 

CON 17

STR 4

DEX 10 

INT 11 

WIS 3

CHA 8

LUK 16

Wallet: 976

…

Wallet 525

The Attribute Gym appeared to have another door, a hallway, and a room at the end with a gym painted in red in big blocky letters. The light on the sign flashed slowly like it was old and hadn't been renovated in years.

Even with the gym, Red still purchased the attribute points to increase his STR from 4 to 10. The reason was simple: it would increase his work speed. Every wooden weapon he made was a waste because he didn't gain any skill experience for it.

Red opened the door to the gym and was somewhat surprised. The air felt different in the gym. Maybe it was the old dusty fans spinning, but he felt different. He nearly tripped on a dip on the tiled floor where there were signs of fluid gathering to settle for an unknown period of time. On a random desk, a series of puzzles like a Rubix cube, a Jenga tower, and various other puzzles. On another desk, there was a choose your own adventure, and for some reason, there was a stage with a microphone that he was sure was for charisma. A bench press and squat station were present, as well as a bowl of fruit with a scalpel next to them and a small instruction pamphlet.

There was also a bathtub full of ice water that he was sure was for constitution training.

The shopkeeper wasn't sure what he expected from a Trash Rank training gym. The book on a desk that was a choose-your-own-adventure was interesting; maybe it was for Wisdom training. He found a calendar with different training plans listed. There were several training plans, all with an end goal of all his attributes reaching 50, which seemed to be the limit of the trash rank. After that, he would have to purchase a common attribute gym.

Before he threw himself into training, Red wanted to test whether he could cross the limit of trash with his new attributes. He felt much stronger, almost like he was in his early 20s again. It was an interesting feeling.

To be sure, he wasn't going to challenge the T-rex outside, and that wasn't happening. No, he needed a plan. The shop didn't seem to be overtly controlling it, so maybe it was possible to control it or bribe it somehow. It was a wild animal, for sure, but predators only ate when they were hungry or gathering food to raise young.

"Shop, is there a skill to tame a T-rex?"

Would you like to purchase a standard skill catalog for 20,000SP?

So yes, and it was common that the shop gave him a better answer than he expected. Was that because he made a sale with a real customer? No, that didn't feel like it was correct. Maybe it was because he had all his attributes. Did attributes also affect the shop's interactive system?

Red would like a yes or no, but the shop didn't seem very forthcoming with information. It wanted him to use SP to purchase things. What value did SP have to the shop? Was there an outstanding debt, or maybe it was some kind of fuel? He needed to open more dungeons and acquire the skills to work all the materials within. That meant he needed a room for storage.

"How much for a common skill token?"

If he knew the skill existed, then why pay for the catalog?

Skill Token (Common) 5000SP

"System, is there an inherent advantage to using ten tokens of the same kind at once."

Would you like to purchase a token pamphlet for 50SP? 

Red didn't like the change in the shop's way it answered him. There was no yes or no. Would you like to purchase this or that? It wasn't very pleasant, but he somewhat expected it. Time was money, and he wasn't getting anything if he wasn't paying. He drank the last of his water. Water, electricity, and plumbing were other things he needed to get installed in his shop.

Wallet 475

When tokens are used in batches of 10, the LUK attribute is automatically put into play, ensuring that the best possible choices are selected to benefit the shop. That didn't

Heating and cooling might also be a problem. He didn't know how much the Constitution would help or if he would need skills to cover those problems. The shopkeeper was at the tip of the iceberg, the edge of all the things he could turn his shop into. He had a long, prosperous life ahead of him if he was careful. If not, he would die a brutal death, and someone else would take his shop.

He needed to turn the T-Rex from a death sentence to a guard dog.

Red sat down on the floor because he still hadn't bought furniture. He went to work and concentrated on the easiest thing to make. Why make swords and sheaths when he gained nothing from them? Spears were the quickest and easiest to make.

Ten strength was a big difference. Wood cut away with no effort and he slowly worked on the spears. With more strength and probably wisdom, he could make better use of the wood and make 10 spears from a single log of Verdant Wood.

It took him only 2 hours to make ten spears, even oiling them with totem oil. Every two hours, he took a 15-minute break and then went right back to work. After 12 hours of work, he went to train his attributes and struggled to peel an orange with a scalpel. The instruction pamphlet gave him a quick stick-figure picture.

Red pictured the bin he made. It was more of a bucket, with numerous spears and enchantments. They were all merely trash rank. Some were better than others, but they all had limitations due to their skill level.

At most, he could give a spear a durability of 4, which had hidden mechanics. Each enchantment multiplied the durability by 2, meaning some of his spears had 16 durabilities, which read as durability C, the highest possible durability for a trash-rank verdant spear without levels in Woodworking.

Red felt like someone was dancing on his grave and understood that meant a customer was about to enter his shop. He needed someone to work the front desk if he would get any training. For that, he probably needed a summoning token. So, 1000SP, and since he was hiring an employee through that route, they would need to be paid.

…

Darien Hawke had made it back to his village. He expected to see Mr. Sawyer pulling his hogs to the slaughter and Ricky Creed herding his sheep over the rolling grassy hills to fatten them for winter. Instead, he found wolves digging into the guts of a sheep and Little Ann's, the sheep dog's legs. Something had eaten the rest of her.

He tightened his grip on the spear. It wasn't Heartwood, but it was said that any enchanted weapon would do the deed. While his spear wasn't the most powerful, it had piercing power.

The church was his first visit. Priest Marcus was supposed to be a champion of the people. His worship of Lady Solari was supposed to protect them from Lunethra's children so long as he honored the twin goddesses with Solari rituals and Lunethra's offerings. Priest Marcus was supposed to do a great balancing act, but clearly, he failed his duties. Why else would his sister have been taken?

He entered the church and found the statue of Solari. Her wings remained, but her face and halo were destroyed. Without the statue, their lady couldn't protect them from the vampire's spells and abilities.

If they were to reestablish that protection, they needed to build a new statue. Perhaps he should have been more careful with his silver. Darien found a trapdoor behind the defaced statue and knew he would discover Priest Marcus if he descended. Maybe his sister would also be there.

Vampires lost 80% of their powers during the day, which didn't make them weak. But maybe an enchanted spear would be enough.

He grabbed a lamp and descended. The white face of helper Dan looked at him in confusion. Darien hesitated momentarily before committing. He plunged his spear into Dan's chest, and it was easy. The spear cut through cloth, flesh, and bone through the vampire's back. He felt the spear in his hand vibrate and saw more white faces surrounding him. Dan exploded as a shockwave blasted the vampires away from him.

Dan was in pieces, and Darien struggled not to retch at the sight of his friend, who gave him extra bread after their fast. There was no time. The hunter turned, copying the movements he saw guards in practice do as best as he could, and stabbed a vampire on the ground.

There was no shockwave, only the vampire screaming in agony as it died. Magical wood was a hard counter to Lunethra's magic. One vampire rose from the ground, almost floating as it overcame the shockwave. It pulled an ax free from its ratty brown robes and chopped down.

He saw the metal blade of the axe chip and roll as the spear stabbed into the vampire's lung. The creature hissed and bled but wouldn't die from such a wound. If it fed enough, it would surely survive. Unfortunately, it has also overextended. A problem he learned about from watching the guards train. Darien stabbed and slew another vampire.

Darien took out his money chest, an object enchanted by the mage so that the church could hold many tithes. He slowly collected silver, jewelry, and the occasional gold coin from the dead vampires before storing the small chest into his cloak. He realized that this would be his life.

As he climbed back up the stairs, it felt like hours had passed, but it wasn't even midday yet. Darien could hit one more home before riding hard out of the village. Solari still blessed an old cave that he could hide in.

A voice whispered to him. "You aren't going to leave without a blessing, are you?"

Darien slowly turned and saw the holy waters flowing off the statue into the basin below. On rare occasions, people renowned in the community could drink from the waters and receive a blessing. Blood mixed with the holy waters tainted them.

"Tell me what you want in detail, please. These waters are tainted. How can I use them?"

Scraps of clothing and shoes were all that remained of the priest. "The priest made a mistake. We are twins. Our blood is the same, but our powers oppose each other. He wanted to regain his priestly powers along with my sister's. I have no love for bullies or those who sully my temple and pollute my waters. No vampire can handle the sun's power, so he turned to ash. You are not a vampire drink, and you will gain my blessing and the strength to fight vampires at night."

"What about life after death won't this damn my soul away from your holy palace?"

"Without this power, you will not defeat Lord Dainak. It is up to you. Do you want to win or lose gracefully?"

He drank and dipped his weapon in.

"You are such a bad boy," Darien screamed as fire tore through his veins.

…

A girl with long blonde hair and a button nose entered through the door. She had eyes like sapphires, skin as white as snow, and lips as red as freshly spilled blood. The fan stopped spinning, and the air stilled. A chill filled the room, and he felt this woman wasn't here to buy.

"So vampires can enter without an invitation. Does that mean the rumors were all about the polite ones, and you're rude?" Red asked.

The woman pinched the bridge of her nose. She sucked in a breath and let it out. "Hello, my name is Mary Noctvalen. Can I see your license to sell?"

He withdrew the one the shop gave him and showed it off. "Is there a problem?"

She bit her lip and handed him his license back. "Everything seems to be in order." Her head snapped to the bucket full of enchanted spears. Those enchanted wooden weapons, are you trying to make my family nervous? Have we done something to you or your family? If another clan attacks our citizens, we want to hear about it."

Red nodded. "I'm a simple shop owner and wood craftsman." At her no-nonsense expression, he sobered up. "Some kid came in and wanted an enchanted spear because some vampires moved into his town, Briar Hollow. Since I managed one sale, I assumed I needed to make more," Red shook his head. "Why are you worried? Just wear some steel plate, and you have nothing to worry about?"

Mary opened her mouth and closed it. "I see these spears aren't heartwood. That is a relief. So you have what amounts to wooden toys with enchantments." She seemed to deflate.

"We'll send some Solari Warrior Monks to investigate. Vampires who give in to their beastly nature won't be tolerated so close to our city." She narrowed her eyes and glared at him. "Don't make any weapons from heartwood from Eldren Hollow. I will return and inspect your wears when you least expect it." The woman turned around and left, followed by two guards he hadn't noticed.

Red decided to try something. He made a wooden arrow, which counted toward the 100 wooden weapons needed to unlock the shop. He sold the spear and purchased the Workshop, adding another room to the hallway leading to the gym.

He quickly finished, and the shop opened to him. It was a rundown, rusty wood shop, but it was his, and there were table saws, electric sanders, and everything he could need.

Red made a spear and immediately gained two levels. He went to work on a repeating crossbow. It would surely help Darien with his vampire problem the next time he entered the shop. Bolts were even easier to make than arrows; they each had at least one enchantment, and the crossbow enchantments. He was going to make something monstrous. He only needed some cordage.

Before he did anything, he checked his bag of holding and found something extraordinary. A whole spool of Totem Spider Silk was in his bag of holding. It was a common item, so it should have improved his crossbow.