Chapter 19: Buying Weapons

The light of dawn slowly seeped into Odin's room through the cabin window the following morning. His eyes fluttered open, and his spirit energy flooded his surroundings to form his spatial sensing domain, almost by reflex.

He yawned and rubbed his eyes as he scouted and examined the situation around the cabin. Only two blurry moving human-shaped silhouettes and a few fuzzy shapes of small birds and insects perched on small trees and bushes appeared within his spatial domain.

His mind quickly assessed the info feedback to his mind, and he figured that the human outlines should be the resort's workers going about their morning chores. As for the smaller creatures, he totally ignored them as they couldn't pose any threat to him and his family.

Having confirmed that there weren't any latent threats within the close vicinity, he let out a breath of relief. His mood lightened, and he jumped out of bed before slowly walking toward the cabin window.

When he pushed it open and the morning breeze assaulted his senses, he couldn't help but weigh and contemplate the previous day's events. He slowly grew tense as he envisioned the carnage that the rats could have rained upon his family if he hadn't been around. Even the warm rays of the just risen sun shining upon his bare upper body couldn't stop him from breaking out in cold sweat when he carefully thought about the potential would-have-been repercussions of the incident.

If he hadn't gotten a chance to use the prophecy stone and gained knowledge of the apocalypse, he would have already returned to the university. Then, when the mutated rats attacked, there would have been no one to protect his family. For that reason, his loved ones would have most likely perished during the calamity, leaving him to wallow in despair for the rest of his life.

"What a close call!"

Odin shook his head and stepped away from the window. He settled back on his bed and immediately summoned the Origin Order's interface.

He'd grown more aware of the dangers of the approaching apocalypse after the previous day's events. He, therefore, had an intense yearning to grow stronger and gain the ability to protect his family as soon as possible. And the only way to achieve such an almost impossible feat was through the Origin Order he had acquired from the mysterious golden book entity.

As long as he could keep on killing mutated creatures, his powers would soar at the speed of a rocket zooming into space. He would then never have to worry about any enemy harming his family in his presence.

"Allocate the unassigned attribute point to strength," Odin gave the mental command after briefly skimming through the info on the scarlet crystal-like display.

The next moment, a warm current swept through his body, and his entire being slowly became enlivened. His muscles repeatedly contracted and expanded as a feeling of immense power filled his body. He stretched his limbs while still seated on the bed and vaguely discerned that his body had grown sturdier and more flexible. He even had a feeling that he could repeatedly lift a pair of 120-pound dumbbells without breaking a sweat.

"Great." Odin was excited as he savored the intoxicating feeling. He flexed his biceps for a few seconds and punched the air a couple of times, trying to acclimatize to his improved strength.

Surprisingly, he realized that he still possessed perfect control over his body even after the upgrade. There was no feeling of loss of coordination similar to what he'd experienced when he'd added the two points to his dexterity attribute the previous day.

He reckoned that it could be because of his abnormally high spirit attribute that allowed him to exert almost perfect control over most of his muscles and limbs. But he didn't waste much time pondering the matter as he had more pressing issues to handle.

Going by the prophetic vision, the apocalypse would descend in two days. He needed to purchase supplies to support his family through the descent that very day. Otherwise, he was going to be in deep shit if something unexpected came up the following day and he couldn't buy what he needed right before the apocalypse.

Odin moved swiftly after making up his mind. He cleaned up quickly before having breakfast with his family. After the meal, he spent about an hour scouting around the neighborhood to ensure that there weren't any threats he'd missed the previous day.

When he confirmed that the whole area was safe, he said his goodbyes to Aunt Lucy and jumped into the van's driving seat. He carefully steered it out of the resort and was soon cruising onto the wide streets of Paradise, Montana.

He maintained an average speed of about 80 miles per hour until he reached the small city of Missoula about fifty minutes later. Without making any stopovers, he skillfully navigated the van through the slightly dense morning traffic and arrived at a well-known gun shop called the Selway Armory. He was there to buy a good gun that could pack an incredibly-strong punch with its rounds.

Odin had already determined that Aunt Lucy's semi-automatic Kel-Tech Magnum couldn't ensure his survival if he chanced upon an overpowered mutated creature like the wolf back in Yellowstone. He would be lucky if the small rounds left a scar on the wolf's pelt. He needed a heavy caliber gun that could guarantee his family's and his own safety in case the worst happened.

However, he also understood that the guns that could shoot out those heavy-caliber rounds would be overly loud. And if he used them continuously, he would damage his ears and soon become deaf to all sounds. So, after entering the gun shop, he only selected a single Desert Eagle 50 AE Magnum and a few boxes of its rounds, just for use in case of an emergency. He also purchased one of the newer Kel-Tech magnums, fitted with a suppressor and a red-dot reflex sight, plus a couple of spare magazines, holsters, and six boxes of the .22 Winchester Magnum Rimfire bullets. After all that, he presented his ID and completed the paperwork before paying with his card.

He spent roughly 5,000 dollars on all the purchases. But he didn't mind as he had bought two good guns and lots of ammunition to guarantee his safety during the first days of the apocalypse. So, with a light heart, he handed his new weapons to the staff at the gun shop for safekeeping.

He then exited the shop and jumped into the van before driving to another store to continue his shopping spree. Minutes later, he pulled up into the parking lot of a cold weapons shop with the eye-catching name — Zombie Tools' Blacksmith.

Odin understood that the loud noise produced by firearms could be a nuisance, especially during situations when he wished to remain hidden from some of the latent dangers of the apocalypse. For instance, if he didn't want to alert a horde of nearby zombies, he would have to avoid firing a gun. So, after a good deal of consideration, he'd decided to get himself a backup sharp cold weapon that could kill silently without making much noise during such tense situations.

"Welcome to Zombie Tools, dear customer," a giant man with an overgrown beard said, looking up from the counter when Odin stepped into the shop. "How can we be of help to you today morning?"

"I need a weapon," Odin replied while glancing around. He could see various cold weapons, such as swords, long blades, bows, and large axes, hanging on the racks around the shop. Their edges shone with a savage beauty in the dim morning sunrays that seeped into the room through the wide-open windows.

The bearded giant grinned a bit fiendishly as he rubbed his arms together. "What type of weapon do you need, young man? As you can see, we have all sorts of weapons here."

"A very sharp weapon — the type that can actually help me go against real zombies," Odin replied. "Do you have any?"

The man chuckled, exposing a perfect row of white teeth. "We're the Zombie Tools' store," he said, walking towards one of the racks. "Of course, we've sharp weapons that can go against any zombie if it was to appear in real life. First, look at this and tell me what you think." He picked a weird-looking ax from the rack and handed it to Odin.

The ax was enormous and felt slightly heavy when Odin held it in his hands. However, he ignored the weight factor as his attention was on the glowing lines of blood-red text that had just manifested before his vision.

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[Trash-level cold weapon detected]

[General Specifications: A sorry counterfeit of a Bardiche; Might be of use while clearing off small trees and shrubs from an area]

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The corners of Odin's mouth twitched slightly after reading the notification. He immediately handed the ax back to the giant man before saying, "Can I take a look around for myself? I'll notify you when I find something that I like."

"Go ahead," the man replied, taking back the ax. "You can take your time and look at the weapons carefully. If you need any advice, don't hesitate to ask. I'm here for you."

"Thanks," Odin said with a smile before turning around and walking towards the nearest rack.

He then moved around the shop and touched several weapons of all types. Be it the axes, the swords, the sabers, and the daggers — he checked their quality by relying on the Origin's Order's identification function. However, even after searching for more than thirty minutes, he couldn't find an acceptable weapon. Most were just of trash grade, and they couldn't even go against the pseudo-type-I mutated creatures.

He was about to give up after failing to find what he needed. But just as he was planning to say his goodbyes, his eyes caught an outline of a gleaming long black chest placed on the display below the counter.

"What's in here?" He hurriedly asked as he bent down to check out the case.

"Easy, easy, there," the man hastily replied while motioning for him to halt his actions. "In here are a pair of customized machetes. They're much more expensive than the regular weapons displayed on the racks."

"How much?" Odin asked, his eyes narrowing.

"1800 Dollars for the pair. No bargaining."

"Let me see them first," Odin said. "We can discuss the price after that."

The man nodded and opened the chest.

Immediately, Odin's gaze landed on the two overly-long Kukri machetes within the chest. They were about three and a half feet long and pure black in color. Their sharp edges gleamed with pure brutality as they lay there in the chest.

He immediately picked up the two machetes from the chest, and flowing lines of blood-red text appeared within his vision.

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[Low-level cold weapons detected]

[General Specifications: Bronze Grade customized long-bladed version of the Kukri Machete; In good hands, it can put up a good fight against weaker Type-II creatures]

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Odin's heart palpitated with excitement after reading the notification. The rest of the weapons he'd touched were mostly trash grade, and even a Kel-Tech Magnum was only at the Copper grade. However, the two simple-looking machetes were at the bronze grade and could even go against type-II creatures! Odin was quite surprised. He made a few casual sweeps and chops with the blades and noticed that they perfectly fit his grip.

But they were also quite heavy, making them strenuous weapons for an ordinary person to wield. The weight, however, was negligible to Odin. Since he had already enhanced his strength stat to almost thrice that of an adult man, he could handle the machetes effortlessly and still deliver heavy blows when he attacked. Factor in the momentum created by his attack speed and the weapon's weight, then he would be able to crush the skull of a pseudo-type-I creature with a single chop.

"I'll take these two machetes," he said to the giant man, who was all along silently watching from the side. "I'll pay 1500 dollars right now. I have the cash with me."

The man smiled, shaking his head. "My young friend! These two machetes are custom-made using very high-quality carbon steel. It's wear-resistant, and it stays sharp for a long time. Moreover, we'll provide you with a pair of customized sheaths and a suitable whetstone for the machetes. So, believe me when I say that 1800 is the least I can go. There's no need to bargain."

Odin sighed and shook his head. Since he liked the two weapons, he had to cough out the price. "Process the transaction," he said. "I'll take the two machetes."

"Excellent choice, my young friend!" The man laughed out loud. "Trust me! These customized machetes will meet all your camping needs. And if zombies ever appear on earth, you'll have nothing to fear with these babies in hand."