Chương 415: Chapter 416: Items

The item shops in the mall were numerous. Unlike many of the other shops we had encountered in the Market, these ones were clearly built to cater to wealthier customers. While the prices weren't quite as outrageous as the inner districts of the Market, they were still very high. Fortunately, we didn't have to pay a single point of Achievement for any of them. I couldn't help but wonder just how much Achievement we had saved over our four lifetimes as a result of the fact that the Market had fallen.

While the collapse of the Market had harmed many of our opportunities for growth, it had also given us a major advantage when it came to our items. The prices for the items in the mall also made me think about who this mall was supposed to cater to. Most of the items in shops were a few thousand Achievement, with several higher-quality items marked for sale at over ten thousand Achievement.

The more we saw of this mall, the more I suspected that it was essentially a final stop for people preparing to exclusively shop in the inner districts from now on. Its spending assumptions, setup, and most other aspects of the shop were positioned between regular shops of the Market, and the inner districts.

I suspected that when the Market had still been prosperous, people would probably stop in malls like this for one or two lives, and then abandon the outer districts of the Market forever - because after buying what they needed from this kind of mall, there would be nothing left in outer districts of the Market that they found useful. Once we reached the first item shop, Felix stopped us for a moment - much to my surprise, and the surprise of my friends.

"Let's focus on one-time consumable items with big, powerful payoffs," he said.

"What do you mean? Why focus on consumable items? Doesn't it make more sense to get some other item that Sallia can use to ramp up her power as we progress through our next life?" I asked. Felix frowned.

"Well, there is some logic to that. If we bring items that maximize our power in each life, we can make much better use of our time in the next world, which improves our chances of getting more ability evolutions, and also increases our expected Achievement rewards next life. But I'm thinking about what happens when we return to the Market afterwards.

"This is our last life, right? When we die in our next world, we'll have no lives left. Except for Anise - but we have no way for her to reincarnate again without us, making it effectively meaningless. Either way, we still have to pull the trigger and fight for our lives next time we come to the Market. I want that fight to be as easy as possible.

"If we each bring a big stack of powerful, consumable items to the fight for more lives, we'll have a much easier time winning. Not having long-term growth items might make us a bit weaker next life, but we'll still have powerful, consumable items to use in an emergency - and unlike long-term growth items, items with powerful effects and long recharge times won't be useless after we return to the Market." Felix shrugged.

"Of course, we should still keep a few items that are too useful to give up. Until the fight for more lives, I don't see a reason to drop our communication bracelets. We should also keep a few items that are so fundamental to our abilities that there is no good way to replace them - like the {Brand of Miria} or {Lake Gazer's Dress}. Those offer so much utility and have so much potential that giving them up would be a huge shame… if you'll permit me to be a bit vain." Felix cracked a grin at me. I laughed.

"You definitely have the right to be. The brand you made for me was amazing." Felix's grin grew wider.

"So the way I see it, we should drop items that boost our long-term potential now, and focus on items that do something incredibly powerful but have a long cooldown."

"I think it's a good idea," said Sallia, after a few moments.

"Anise? Miria? Do you two also agree?"

"I'm happy to follow Felix's idea. I think it has promise," I said.

"I'll admit, even the idea of taking off our friendship bracelets next time we return to the Market has merit. Although… it also feels deeply wrong, in a way I have a hard time putting into words." Anise smiled, shuffled closer to me, and gave me a hug.

"Maybe it's because you just don't like the idea of not being able to chat all the time?" she said.

"Maybe," I said. I patted Anise gently on the back.

"I'm so used to talking to the three of you whenever I want to, that losing that mid-battle might feel disorienting. I guess a more powerful consumable item is probably more important, though. We've fought together so many times that we can coordinate without the bracelets." I nodded. After we finished confirming our change in what items we wanted, we started shopping. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Sadly, I didn't find anything in the shop that fit my needs.

Most of my equipment was either already suitable for future use, or was too useful to pass up. My dress, {Dream of Endless Hunter}, {Brand of Miria}, and the friendship bracelet were not on the chopping block for now. The only item I was really okay with replacing was my {Essence Core}, but I didn't find anything that I felt was more useful.

Anise also didn't find anything in this store - it looked like a lot of the shops here were a bit more focused on long-term growth items and physically-oriented items, and the item shop that looked like it would fit Anise well was of unfortunately low quality. However, while Anise and I ended up disappointed, Sallia and Felix were not disappointed by the selection they found. The first one Sallia found was a {Suppression Field}.

Item: Suppression Field Effects: Once per decade, it can be used to 'suppress' all hostile magic within fifty meters. All attacks and spells used by entities not designated as 'friendly' lose about one grade of skill proficiency. Afterwards, if any essence was used to create the spell or attack in question, the field will begin to siphon essence out of it. The longer any spell or ability remains within this field, the more it deteriorates.

Field cannot be moved once it is deployed, and lasts for two hours upon activation. Item is effective against Heroic-grade and weaker skills, but loses effectiveness above heroic grade. Item reconstructs itself upon returning to the Market. Maintenance cost - 30. 2 Achievement per reconstruction. The item seemed tailor-made for fights against powerful enemies. It only lasted for two hours, but that was far longer than most battles lasted, so none of us felt it was an issue.

Even more importantly, the item was effective against all items Heroic grade or under. This was huge - because most items and abilities we had found were effective on everything under heroic grade. In other words, this item could suppress abilities a full grade higher than most of our other options. That was a big boost to combat effectiveness. This item replaced her former sword, since she didn't need it anymore. Her ability was now responsible for managing her sword, after all.

The second item Sallia found was a star core. Item: Star Core Effects: Once per lifetime, you may devour this star core. After consumption, it will temporarily imbue you with the heart of the furnace - granting you a +40 boost to all physical stats and [Heroic] grade resistance to fire. This state lasts for one hour. You may also prematurely end this state. Based on how much time was left, you may emit a massive wave of fire in a concentrated direction. Item reconstructs itself upon returning to the Market.

Maintenance cost - 20. 8 Achievement per reconstruction. This one was a bit more basic, but it seemed to fit our needs well enough. A two-grade physical boost could be a huge advantage during the fight for more lives, and I also felt that Sallia would be able to make good use of the item next world in the right situation. Sallia used this to replace her noodle bowl.

At this point, a steady trickle of physical stats, while still useful, simply wouldn't be able to keep up with our needs next time we visited the market. We would need to rush from the moment we got there until we secured more lives, and we wouldn't have years to slowly grind up our stats. Sadly, there was only one suppression field and only one Star core present in the mall, or I would have been happy to toss my own {Essence Core} for an extra suppression field.

It just seemed so useful that I wanted our group to have at least one extra, but sadly it wasn't meant to be. The final item we found went to Felix. Item: Liquid Metal Core Effects: When you feed this item a moderate amount of essence, it can be used to transform into any other metal object, mimicking all natural, non-magical properties of that object. (some limitations apply - think 'further instructions' to see a list of limitations.) Item reconstructs itself upon returning to the Market. Maintenance cost - 20.

8 Achievement per reconstruction. According to Felix, while the 'restriction list' for this item was rather extensive, the item was still quite useful. He would be able to feed the item some essence to turn it into armor if he needed armor, or to create new weapons if he needed one on the fly. Furthermore, the item itself explicitly noted that it could be enchanted and modified - and that it would keep those modifications upon returning to the Market.

Even more interestingly, according to Felix, it should be quite easy to turn this item into one of the magic prosthetics that had been so common in our third life. If Felix could create an exceptionally powerful and dextrous artificial hand with this metal core, I suspected his abilities as both a craftsman and a melee combatant would skyrocket. It was a good fit for him. He dropped his {Training Armor} for the {Liquid Metal Core}.

While the four of us still had items we wanted to replace, we didn't find anything else in the mall, so we turned our attention to the final section of the mall. The ability shops.