NOVEL WEB Chapter 97: Stocking Up
I had to buy roller blades at a vendor in the arena. It was called Ralph's Blade Emporium. A chubby man with shaggy black hair, a five o clock shadow, and a cigar in his mouth sat in a chair at the counter. Behind him on the walls hung various roller blades and blades of all sorts.
There were nano and vibro blade swords, knives, machetes, daggers, throwing knives, and even things I didn't know the names of. All the weapons were short range including the throwing knives, but they weren't all melee or throwing weapons. One of them was a plasma cutter.
My brain immediately thought 'that seems dangerous', but then I realized all of these weapons were dangerous. Not just for other contestants, but for me as well. Nano and vibro blades were designed to cut through even the strongest of metals.
They would likely do a lot of damage to my body if they came in contact with it. It didn't matter how good my cultivation was. I was a little disappointed not to see any guns, because guns held no threat to me. Well, at least the gun that Gino used didn't.
Maybe there were even futuristic guns that could hurt me here. I hoped not, but my hopes didn't seem to matter much when it came to these video game worlds I traveled through in the portal dungeons.
"Hey, kid, are you just gonna stare or are you gonna buy something?" The guy at the counter said. I assumed he was Ralph.
"Yeah, Ralph is it? Do you have any roller blades that just help you maintain balance? I'm a little rusty," I said.
"Yeah, actually, I do." He wheeled his chair over to the one of the walls and grabbed a pair of roller blades off the wall. He handed me a dinky pair of pink, blue, and white roller blades with frills hanging off the back. "Those are Gravitron's Roller Blades for Juniors. They're made for kids, because kids are the only bladers who can't maintain their balance, but they should work for your purpose."
"Are you sure these things will even fit me?" I said, looking at him like he was pulling my leg.
"Well, like all of the newer blades, they're self adjusting, so unless you have giant feet, they should fit you," he said, taking a puff of his cigar and drinking coffee out of a foam cup at the same time. He sputtered a little when he tried to do that, but he recovered.
"Thanks, I guess. How much do I owe you?" I said.
"A hundred bucks," he said.
"Ok." I pulled a hundred dollars out of my inventory wallet and handed it to him.
"Thanks," he said. "Are you sure you don't want a weapon? I have every type of blade imaginable. And some that are unimaginable."
"No, I'm good, thanks. I have my own blade. It's served me well and I can't imagine my life without it," I said.
"Can I see it?" He said.
"Uh, sure, I guess," I stuffed my hand into Midas's mouth and pulled out the sword, but to him it must have looked like I pulled it out of thin air.
"Whoa! How'd you do that?" He said.
"Advanced technology. Don't worry about it," I said.
"I'd like to get my hands on that advanced technology, but ok. I guess I was just planning to look at your sword, so I'll let it go," Ralph said, taking another puff of his cigar and drinking from his coffee cup. He made sure to space them out so he didn't sputter this time.
"Here you go," I said as I handed him my sword.
He looked it over, pulled it slightly out of the sheath to check the blade, and put it back. I'm glad he didn't pull it all the way out. Otherwise, he might have activated the curse.
"Hmm. This thing is old. Really old. I'm going to say Japan, in the middle of the Muromachi period. This is a Muramasa original, I would say. Am I correct?" Ralph said.
"I don't know about what period it was made in but it is a Muramasa original. How did you know?" I said, rather astonished.
"I know my blades," he said. "You know Muramasa's swords were rumored to have a curse on them because of Muramasa's blood thirst?"
"Yeah, it has a curse on it alright. I just cut myself with it every once in a while though to keep the curse at bay. It's pretty low maintenance," I said.
"Wow! It sounds like this blade found the right owner, if you're willing to go that far to keep it," he said. "That said, I'll give you a million dollars for it."
"No, I can't part with it. That'd be like me selling my arm," I said.
"People buy and sell arms nowadays," he said.
"Do they?" I said.
"Yeah. I got a few in the back. Cyber and organic. You interested?" He said.
"I might be. You got any special ones? Anything expensive?" I said.
"Actually, I do. I've got tiger arms, gorilla arms, mantis arms, serpent arms, dragon arms, scorpion arms, kraken arms, missile launcher arms, gun arms, and many others. I also have special hands. I have blade master hands, tool hands, locksmith hands, tiger claws, bear claws, and many others," Ralph said.
"That's a few? That sounds like an arsenal to me," I said.
"Eh. I like to stay stocked. You never know what your customers are going to need," he said, shrugging his shoulders.
"Ok. I'll take all the cyberware you have in the size I'm looking for. They're for a woman about this tall," I said as I put my hand up to Mira's height.
"Can you afford that? Your bill will be in the millions of dollars," he said.
"I can afford it," I said.
"Ok. Let me ring you up first and then I'll bring the stuff out," he said.
Ralph rang me up and I had the system send the money digitally to his credit machine. Ralph looked at it, raised his eyebrows and smiled.
"Hey, you weren't kidding. You can afford it. Huh. Never thought I'd meet a multi millionaire today, but it takes all kinds doesn't it? Don't get yourself killed out there, ok?" He said.
He loaded all the cyberware into a huge rolling case. I made Midas throat the whole thing and it appeared in my inventory.
[Cyberware trunk loaded into your inventory]
"I'll never get used to seeing shit disappear like that," Ralph said.
"Thanks," I said. I took my sword back and put it on my hip.
"Good luck out there," he said. Enjoy exclusive chapters from empire
"Thanks," I said as I walked away a few million dollars poorer.