The Hero’s Supplier

After going through the list of dungeons, Rick finally settled for a Level 1 Dungeon which he felt was feasible- the "Arihant Supermarket Dungeon"

There was an absurd amount of information about the place- from life-saving and useful to information Rick could not make out why it was included.

 

[Arihant Supermarket Dungeon]

[Level 1 Dungeon

Creature: Two Trolls…]

 

Along with this relevant information there came information on how many humans had gone in and how many had survived as well.

Along with this, there were sketches of the Trolls as well as the layout of the Supermarket.

 

[Troll- Twelve Foot Monsters]

[These Monsters are food scavengers. With hulking bodies, they possess tremendous Strength and Stamina- with which they wield large blunt weapons. However, they are extremely slow and dim-witted creatures.

The average strength of an adult Troll, enumerated with the Lesser God's Miracle System

Strength- 102

Stamina- 170

Agility- 3]

 

The trolls were ancient creatures, so the Lemegeton already had data recorded on them. The trolls were slow, and if Rick and Samira worked together, they could probably bring it down.

Deciding so, Rick arranged his backpack and readied himself for the hunt.

Samira was waiting for her near the door. She was wearing a pullover hoodie and track pants. Along with her backpack, she was also carrying a long stick which her. She immediately recognized the stick to be the martial arts javelin spear.

"Hey! Let's go." Rick called out.

"Take this. It's not hard to use." Samira handed Rick a staff. It was around six feet tall and was bandaged in the middle for grip.

Rick took it from her. He knew how to swing it. Samira used to try teaching him what she learnt every day. This continued till he started avoiding all of Samira's efforts to spar with her. So, obviously, he picked up a few basic moves.

It was eight in the evening by the time the two left the place.

The siblings got into the car. Samira started driving. 

"Hey listen, we should stockpile on supplies. Let's head to the supermarket first okay" Rick said. 

"Good thinking! Where did you become smart?" Samira asked with a smile. 

Rick took out the Lemegeton from his backpack to browse through it. Knowledge was power, especially at a time like this when everything was in chaos.

 The roads were filled with empty and broken cars. Thankfully there were no bodies lying about, probably scavenged off by animals.

 

---

 

They reached Arhihant Supermarket in fifteen minutes. Contrary to their expectations, the parking lot of the supermarket was bustling with noise. There were of people moving around in troves.

Rick walked out of the car.

 There were people who had set shop outside in the parking space. They were selling an assortment of things. As Rick and Samira walked around the place they saw an assortment of things being sold in the place- from clothes and food to weapons. And Rick was certain he saw someone selling beast meat.

 Samira walked up to a man with a thick moustache selling guns.

 She picked up a revolver and checked it out.

 "This and two 9mm rounds. What's the price?" Samira asked gesturing at the revolver in her hand. Rick was standing on one side with a gaping mouth. He had no idea Samira knew about guns.

 'Everyone has secrets I guess,' Rick pondered.

"Are you new here kid? What's the use of cash now! " The man guffawed. "Equal barter. I want food or cold weapons." The man replied

"Why do you need cold weapons? Isn't it better to have a gun?" Samira asked bewildered.

"Hah! You really don't know anything do you?" the man replied "Bullets are not any good in dungeons. They hardly do any damage."

Hearing this Rick's ears perched up.

"Never mind then," Samira replied, "But how do you make sure someone doesn't just steal your stuff?"

"You want to scam me punk!" the man growled. "Why don't you give it a try!"

"I was just enquiring. How can I threaten you?" Samira replied with a chuckle "You must be strong to be able to set up shop here."

"Of course I am! I have 28 points in strength!" The man replied proudly. "See that leaderboard there, it has a list of the top ten experts here. And I am ranked fifth in it."

"So were you the one who defeated the Trolls?" Rick couldn't hold back from asking. 

Samira looked at Rick suspiciously. How did he know that the supermarket was a Dungeon? That too that it was a Troll Dungeon!

"You won't be able to survive with such a naive attitude." The man scoffed "You think someone can kill those brutes?"

"Almost everyone who has gone in there has died!" The man continued, "And those that survived came back with fewer limbs than they went in with!"

Rick was surprised.

'Is a level one dungeon really that difficult to beat?' Rick wondered, unaware of how lucky he had been to be alive till now.

Rick and Samira left that place and started looking through the bazaar.

They soon understood the overall situation of the place. The bazaar existed because people were soon realizing that there was a dungeon in the area.

This was evidently happening outside every dungeon site.

At the bazaar, there were fights which broke up, but no one was killed. The weak were unable to pick up a fight and the strong did not want to risk being ambushed when he was distracted.

Moreover, the bazaar had developed a sort of hierarchy, to show the strength of the establishment. The top ten strongest would have their names on the leaderboard and had the privilege of having their shops at better locations. The rest then chose to set up shop at a place they could defend.

At the bazaar, all trade only occurred through barter. You could exchange anything that the other person wanted.

Rick noticed the shop selling beast meat and walked up to it. There was a man sitting by the stall.

"What are you selling?" Rick enquired

"Anything and everything you see here is for sale. Hell, if you offer the right price, you can buy the shop" The young man replied with a smile.

Rick could not understand why anyone would be sealing beast meat. The man looked like he was in his twenties and the fact that he had killed these beasts meant that he had strength.

"I meant why are you selling mutated beast?" Rick clarified, "I do not see why anyone would want it"

"Well you see, there are only limited resources available here. There are only so many people who are willing to go into the supermarket for food. So, these people have to eventually have to find another source of food. And here I am, willing to serve the needy… For a price of course" The man replied.

"What do you want for that?" Rick replied pointing towards a winged beast and asked.

"I am willing to trade for information only. On the basis of the relevance of the information you give we can decide on the quantity of the meat." The man replied, "For instance, I will sell you this shop if you know how to kill those Trolls."

"Do you want to kill the Troll? Won't it ruin your business here if there is no business here?" Rick queried. 

"To hell with business! I have already tried killing those things twice. The first time I lost my best friend there. You heard the Heaven's Diction today. What am I going to do selling meat? What I need to do is avenge my friend and get as strong as I can within this year" The man replied. His voice had both anguish and determination in it. His hands gripped the sabre tied to his waist.

 "Good. My sister and I are going in to kill the trolls tomorrow at dawn. Why don't you come with us?" Rick said, pointing towards Samira. Rick continued, "And when we come back, you can hand me over your shop."

 The shopkeeper was shocked into silence. Samira was angered into silence. She had not expected Rick to be so reckless.

 After a moment, the shopkeeper regained his senses.

 "Are you mocking my determination?" he asked.

 "Definitely not!" Rick replied confidently.

 "Then how do you plan on doing it? Let me tell you, those Trolls have skin tougher than leather. A sword can only give it a paper cut and a bullet... it's more useless, it can at best give it a scratch."

 "Tomorrow we will set out at dawn. I believe the Heaven's Diction to be true as well. I have faith that you will become a pillar of humanity. And I believe in you. So, are you coming tomorrow?" Rick asked.

 "I will come." The shopkeeper agreed, "I am Jay…"

 Rick and Samira introduced themselves to Jay and promised to meet near the shop tomorrow at four in the morning.

 "Oh, and can you give one of the Winged Serpent carcasses for now... I really want to see if it can be eaten." Rick asked with a concealed glee. Removing the staff that Samira had given him before leaving, he handed it to Jay, "You can keep my staff as collateral"

 Jay disapproved of such shamelessness but he conceded.

 

Ding

[The proficiency of the Skill: Negotiator has increased]

[Skill: Negotiator (Apprentice)

Proficiency- 21%]

 

'I will take it! Even an increase in this skill isn't bad,' Rick smiled.

Although Samira did not know why Rick wanted the carcass, considering they had already packed food supplies, she did not voice her dissent, at least for now.

Rick and Samira picked up the carcass and left towards the car. It was already late and it was going to be a long day tomorrow. Samira and Jay both went to sleep after a quick meal.

As for Rick, he was staring at the root of his confidence, the Winged Serpent.

Before when Rick and Samira were discussing dungeons, Rick had received a notification from the Lesser God's Miracle System,

 

[New information unlocked in Lemegeton]

 

When Rick checked the Lemegeton grimoire there was a new volume in it, which had one entry under it,

 

[BEAST ENCYCLOPEDIA]

[The Winged Serpent: It is very agile and hard to kill by a novice hunter.

The blood of the Winged Serpent has Poison Essence. It is harmless to humans but deadly when used against mutated deer and Ogres. It is unknown if it is effective against other creatures.

This discovery was made by Dale Stoudenmire, who is also the second man to clear a dungeon solo. 

This information is not known to the public.]

 

Rick was going to find out if Winged Serpent Blood Essence was effective against a third monster- the Trolls.