Cane entered the first Weapon Shop which showed up on his Pathfinder.
Being the first Weapon Shop to show up, it meant 2 things.
First, this was the cheapest shop. Second, most of the weapons sold here would be relatively normal. The more... unorthodox weapons were further on. Despite this, Cane still decided to visit the cheapest Weapon Shop, simply to compare it to the ones he planned to enter in later.
Cane looked around at the weapons and armour on display. As expected, there's nothing too interesting here.
Meanwhile, the clerk immediately noted down the intimidating presence of the man who'd just entered. He wore a white mask and an amorphous, billowing cloak which seemed to soak up light.
Sh*t, a big boss has entered.
"Ah, sir! Is there anything you'd be interested in? I can show you our best and most expensive weapons, if you wish!" The clerk immediately tried to hit it up with Cane. After all, people who looked like him were usually big customers.
Though, she was still somewhat confused as to why Cane had decided to enter this store. After all, it was the cheapest.
As for Cane, after seeing the disappointing displays, he no longer treated this experience as shopping for weapons. Instead, he treated this shopping trip as one to buy trinkets and novelties.
Hmm... they're still selling gunpowder weapons... as expected, this is the cheapest store after all. Other than that, it seems they only have cold weapons and rudimentary armour?
"Which... of your items in this store are unique? Or powerful. If there's nothing, I'm leaving." Cane stared at the clerk with stern eyes. Every store needs to have something unique. Even the cheapest stores - or else, there's no way they'd be able to survive for so long within The Black Markets.
"Expensive... unique..." The clerk muttered to herself. "Ah! I know!"
She went upstairs for a moment, before coming back down holding two different boxes. She plopped them up on the counter, opening each box and revealing their contents.
"In the first box, we have a very special weapon." She continued, lifting up what looked to be a metal tube, about the size of a soda can. "This is a Tracking Grenade. Simply put, it's a handheld missile which can track onto any target you want, within a range of 500 metres."
She lifted a small, thin piece of plastic-like material and handed it to Cane. It was a contact lens.
"You can control the Tracking Grenade using this lens. Just stick it onto your eye, and as long as you can see the target, the Tracking Grenade can follow them."
Cane was... actually quite impressed. He took it, paying for the two items with his stolen money. He then asked about the other box.
"And what's in this other box?"
The clerk looked around for dramatic effect, before leaning in to whisper, also for dramatic effect.
"Drugs."
She cleared her throat before continuing, lifting out a bottle of pills. "More specifically, these drugs can allow your perception to speed up, making the world seem as if it's moving at half the normal speed it used to be. After 5 minutes, the effect wears off, and for the next 3 minutes the world will seem as if it's moving at twice the normal speed."
"We obtained them by accident, and due to the aftermath of taking the drug, no one wants to buy it from us." She then turned to Cane with a hopeful look on her face. "But surely sir, isn't this quite an interesting and novel item?"
Cane also pondered for a moment.
"Fine. I'll take it as well."
After handing over the payment, he left the store and headed off to the most expensive Weapon Shop. Well, at least, he thought it was the most expensive. After all, no matter how much more points he added to the Pathfinder, no other Weapon Shops had been showing up for a minute.
As Cane wandered toward the most expensive Weapon Shop, he began to equip himself with his items. First, he stuck the contact lens onto his left eye, then sheathed the Tracking Grenade into his belt. Alongside that, he placed the bottle of pills, making it so that all three of his items - the Tracking Grenade, Time Pills (as he deemed to call them), and Explosive Dagger - were lined onto his belt.
One thing Cane had noticed, which never showed up in the ability description of Steal, was that although one could indeed still Steal things which were 6 metres away, it was much easier to activate Steal when the item was closer. Furthermore, at a certain distance, it was like the item was as cheap as 10 points.
Of course, Cane also knew that the more expensive an item was, the less effective Steal was on it. The only reason he'd not known before was due to his constant usage of Steal at close ranges.
...
With his items strapped to his belt, Cane could use Steal on them at any point in time, making it seem as if they directly materialised into his hands.
This kind of move could be considered very disgusting to his opponents, especially considering he couldn't run out of clones.
The Wanderer, secretly watching Cane from afar, could only pray for Cane's future enemies.
Speaking of, Wanderer couldn't help but be simultaneously impressed and worried about his MC. After all, it was amazing that Cane had gotten so far with barely any interference from The Wanderer.
But still.
Is Cane becoming evil? Wanderer couldn't help but ponder for a moment. And if he is, should I do something about it. Or should I let him go down the path of evil?
"I'd say leave it up to him." High Heaven No. 2 interjected over the mental channel. "Kid, if you wanna write a good story, it's gotta be unique. Not many stories explore this kind of... moral degradation. Y'know, pretty much all of the current story market is filled with rags-to-riches, bad-to-good, stuff like that."
High Heaven No. 2 took the opportunity to cough.
"So, if that boy you're cultivating can create a natural kind of bad-to-good, it'd actually be a boost to your story." With that, the mental channel was once again shut off.
The Wanderer thought for a moment, which was rare for him.
Forget it, forget it. Alright, I haven't been the most attentive anyway.
I might as well go full on deadbeat.
...
Meanwhile, Cane had reached the entrance to the best Weapon Shop in The Markets, known as Top Tier Providence.
He looked at the luxurious building, gilded and plated in precious metals - not just for aesthetics, but also for defence against potential attacks from enemies. Cane took a deep breath, and stepped inside.
On the way there, of course, he'd been busy using Steal as much as he could. This was to ensure that he wouldn't embarrass himself, if he didn't have enough money to pay for any of the weapons.
The moment he entered, an attendant immediately came to assist him. Scanners outside the store had previously shown Cane's strength.
Either this customer is the strongest Apprentice Combatant in The Markets, or the weakest full rank Combatant ever.
Thus was the thoughts of the attendant as he walked up to Cane. "Hello, sir. What kind of weapons or armour are you interested in buying? We can guarantee that no matter what you want, we have it."
Regardless, this customer's strength is indeed decent. He should be able to afford about half of the things we sell.
"I need an energy gun. Preferably a pistol. I also need a sword - something lightweight, easy for carry and concealment." Cane's voice was deliberately deepened and hoarsened - no one should be able to recognise him without taking off his mask.
Not that he'd let anyone do that, of course.
"Well, we have the perfect item for you! It's called the Plasma Pistol. It can hold up to 100 shots of energy, or, if you find that the firepower is too low, you can switch to high calibre mode. The secondary mode for the Plasma Pistol leaves it with 3 shots only, but they do devastating damage - they can easily hurt Apprentice Masters. What do you think?"
Cane's eyes lit up. 100 shots? High calibre mode? The description had his mouth watering.
"I'll take two. How much?"
The attendant smiled before repeating a string of numbers. "74,400 points."
Cane's eyes bulged at the sound of it. 74,000 points was enough for a person to live for a year. Luckily, Cane had stolen far more than one year's worth of pay.
Without letting his emotions show, he directly handed over the points, and the moment he did so, two Plasma Pistols was carried over. He tucked the two under his cloak, at the belt.
His poor belt now had to accommodate for even more weight. If it had a voice, it'd probably cry out in pain.
Then, Cane asked about the sword. "Does this store have any concealable, easy-to-carry swords? Sabres will also do."
The attendant thought for a moment. "Considering your current strength, your economic status is probably not that high. How about buying one of our Omnitools?"
He began to describe the Omnitool.
It was a blob of liquid metal, which, once connected to the user's mind, could form any shape they desired. There were some preset configurations, such as Sword, Hatchet, Saw, etc.
If the shape the user wished to create wasn't one of the preset configurations, then it'd take a great deal of mental energy to form. The preset configurations were there to save mental control.
Hearing this, Cane was once again tempted. Although... the price was somewhat of an issue.
372 THOUSAND???
Cane held up his hand and stopped the attendant's speech. "Cough, one moment. Wait here and I'll get the money as quick as I can."
With that, Cane dashed out at 9x speed, crazily running around and using Steal. He came back into the store, slightly out of breath, paid for the Omnitool and left.
But just as Cane left, someone stopped him.
"Hey! I know you just stole from me! Give my f*cking money back, or you can DIE!!!"