Chapter 95

Extra Dimensional Gift Shops

I awoke to find that I was still in the same random sporting arena. Black dust from explosions were all around, like some odd splatter paint art set, where the artist either had a good sale on black paint, or only used black paint to begin. Either way, the whole picturesque location was now marred and ruined by numerous stains of black soot.

I haven’t been out long, maybe a few minutes. At least that is the impression that I get though I have no real true test of time. Other than how overwhelmingly exhausted I still feel even after the short breather.

Trembling slightly, I got to my feet, only to feel that there was still some odd pulsing going on in my mind. Something that kept me from still being able to Teleport out of here. Getting up, I try to use my communication devices, but unfortunately, I am out of range.

I even try mentally connecting to my stupid rebel tree, that seems to delight in getting me into trouble. Nothing.

I am alone, well and truly alone. It is simultaneously a relief and all together frightening. I am relieved in that I can take a moment to collect myself before I must put on my air of invincibility. Here, alone, I can just be myself. I can let my mind realize just how tired of everything I am.

Moving my way out of the minefield, I try to go for an exit. If there is no exit, I will of course have to make one, but for now, for this moment just walking under my own two feet is enough to bring about pangs of exhaustion.

At this I realize one thing. Leg Days suck.

I take an awkward step forward, when I feel the rattling of a lot of coins on me. Looking down, I realize that there are four large disks in my pocket.

Reaching into my pocket, I grab the disks and look at these odd items that randomly appeared in my pocket.

Specialty Cert: Worth 1,000 Certs.

I look at the disk, and then the absurd number on it. Then a thought that takes far too long to come to, comes to mind. “They come in one then one thousand sizes? That’s it? No in between? No hmm, maybe a hundred would be good as well? Just one or a thousand?” I say, angrily as I look at the four larger disks.

Looking at them, they are a distinctly different color than the regular disks too. The regular disks are coppery, while these have the distinct silver sheen of nickel and silver.

Then I try to deduce why there are four of these coins. The numbering makes no sense. This is my seventh overall Herald, though I guess this is my fifth total from this universe, two were from the alternate. Maybe it didn’t count the Puppet Master one?

I don’t know. My head is spinning, I am nearing exhaustion and I know that coming back with four thousand certs in four coins will likely cause a huge headache that I don’t want to deal with.

So, I do what I think anyone would have done. I used all four thousand on me.

Please don’t be cursed cert coins of greed. Please don’t be cursed.

I think to myself, as I apply the first coin to me. Since it is one coin, it must go entirely to one thing. Fortunately, I have very few options of what I can spend these certs on. At least that is what I thought.

Specialty Cert Activated. Tutorial: Since this is your first time using a specialty cert an introductory session has been unlocked. You have gained a Special Specialty cert. These are coins that are earned by beating Heralds in their own dimensional spaces. This is a pocket realm where a lot of escape powers are negated. There is also a special onetime shop that is offered here, after defeating the previous owner. During this time, you can choose to purchase this dimension for yourself. Also note, that regardless of whether you purchase this dimension or not, you will lose access to the shop once you leave here.

So that was it, this crazy place just seemed to get weirder and weirder. Though I did get the impression that once I spent my four specialty certs, I would be thrust out of this dimension. I did have to admit that was a good thing. Also, this sort of made me wonder what this place was.

I tried to enter the shop, but there were no doors, or anything around.

After a second I wonder if I need to say the magic words? “Special onetime shop?” I ask hesitantly.

Then with that, a large list of items appears before me.

Specialty Shop Instructions. This is a onetime shop that has appeared. Once you break away from here, this shop will disappear, and you will be sent back to the place you were originally summoned from. All sales are final. Be sure to read the fine print. Currently Available Specialty Certs: 4

Then with that, the instructions in my mind disappeared and I was left with a long list of items I could purchase. Suddenly a few things made sense. The first thing was, why I had never heard of these types of certs before. Most were likely spent before people left these extra planar dimensions. Also, it seemed that the one thousand cert option was a secondary measure to be used only if I didn’t find something I wanted. Sort of like hitting up the cheap off brand gift shops that all existed outside the real amusement park. There you could get a cheap imitation of what was offered at the park, for a fraction of the cost, but it always seemed to lose a bit of its luster. That or maybe that was just me, and my childhood.

“To think, all of my childhood woes could have been solved by spending slightly more on a toy that ultimately means nothing to me now.” Yeah, I’m sure that’s how this place is designed.

At least that is what I thought, until I looked at the purchase menu that formed in my mind.

Categories: Items Available: 1,240,947,824.

Permanent Enhancements

Additional Powers

Additional Classes

Unlockable Attributes

Physical Alterations

Spiritual Alterations

Power Alterations

Dimensional Spaces

Permanent Assistants

From there, there were more and more drop downs available.

Badump. Buzz.

Seeing the options available, I couldn’t help but feel a surge of emotion. There were a lot of options available, over a billion total items available to be purchased. I did a quick look at some of the Attribute Enhancements, only to find that half were grayed out, or unable to be purchased as I didn’t meet the requirements.

Most of the time, the requirement was that I didn’t have the appropriate Attribute to be increased. This made sense in a way, as how can you increase something you don’t have? On the bad side, this meant if I wanted to increase some of these attributes, I couldn’t cheat the system by buying the increase first, thus bypassing the whole need to unlock the Attribute in the first place.

Not wanting to buy anything, I forced myself to look at every option to see what was needed. It seemed that quite a few were linked together. For instance, I would need certain powers to unlock certain classes. But I could only get those powers and classes if I had the right Attribute unlocked.

There were so many options available, that I realized I would be lost if I didn’t go through this with a plan. To help speed up my decision-making process, I first began by cutting down categories I didn’t need or want. With that I got rid of Dimensional Spaces, as cool as this place wasn’t, I never wanted to come back. The Permanent Assistant was also a no go, as it looked like I would effectively be purchasing a slave, and that was more than a little disgusting. The next thing to go were the Physical Alterations and Spiritual Alterations, both of which allowed me to make changes to either my body or my spirit. While they did seem like interesting choices, I realized I already had Master Tier Shapeshifting. This of course meant that I should already be able to make changes to my body if I focused.

So that was four categories, and with that I was down to well under one billion choices, at least according to the counter that kept going down each time I removed a category.

Next, I removed Power Alterations. This would have allowed me to increase my affinity for the power, or the scope and magnitude of the powers. Somehow it seemed that I had already earned many of these bonuses along my journey, so they too were gone.

The Permanent Enhancements seemed interesting but were limited. Also with my butterfly wings, a few options were already grayed out. However, I could apparently get a second set of dove wings, or a shell if I wanted. I could imagine the shell now, flying overhead trying to aim at random plumbers with hammers and hatchets.

So, after a few moments Permanent Enhancements were also removed. Again, with Shapeshifting many of the enhancements seemed either unnecessary or something that I could eventually get to. Again, I had never used the power, but I didn’t want to leave the shop to try out my power ability, as that would end the shop and leave me with four seemingly useless but expensive cert coins. Odd that I would think a thousand cert coin was worthless, particularly when I knew it could get me a lot of levels. But that was just how amazing some of the options for the classes and powers available were.

Ultimately, I decided on getting several linking abilities together. So finally, I decided on the following steps. First, I would get an Unlockable Attribute for one Specialty Cert. Then I would use a second Specialty Cert to buy an additional Class. Then from there I would use the final two certs on Powers related to that class and unlocked Attribute.

During this process, I did have the one thought of how random this place was. A random shop, showing up after killing a herald in an alternate dimension. It almost felt like I was in some sort of video game, where I unlocked a certain feature and found the one random traveling salesperson that had the rarest items of the game. Of course, this was real life, and had nothing to do with such random events, but I still couldn’t help but let that image stay in my mind a little too long.

Of course, I realized this could just be a dream, one where I am still passed out on the floor. I was only out for a few seconds, at least that is what I think. But realistically, I want this to be real. I sort of need this to be real.

At this point so many thoughts come to mind, about how I should build my next class. Should I go for the epic hero classes? The Shadow Star assassin classes? Or should I do something else entirely.

I think back to the original comments made by the Herald, the ones where it was my worthless brother who was supposed to be the hero of these stories. How I was just the side character, even my roles were meant to be support. I had just enough firepower to help during a battle, and would be able to heal, and stop other magic users.

Thinking about it, I really was a support. A more than powerful support, but support none-the-less.

This was my moment to truly take the next step. I had been lucky so far, but currently I knew that nothing I had could defeat that Prime Behemoth from the alternate dimension. A part of me knew that so long as that monster survived, then there was nothing I could do, no way I could feel safe and secure. No way that I could feel comfortable that Jess and the others would be safe.

With that thought, I made up my mind.

You have purchased Attribute Unlock Item: Spirit. You have purchased Additional Class: Spiritual Augmentationist (Auxiliary Support Class) You have purchased Additional Power: Spirit Attribute Augmentation. You have purchased Additional Power: Spirit Power Augmentation.

The Powers I purchased were relatively minor compared to some of the power options that were ultimately available. But there were prerequisites. Also, these were the easiest powers to wield that were on the first tier. The reason why they were the easiest to wield was that they were Passive powers, meaning they were constantly on. They also provided permanent increases to both my Attributes and Power.

In a way their effects were minor, but they might be enough. After everything I wondered if I made a mistake. My Spirit started out at the base level of 10. Also, I was fairly certain that both powers only used a tenth of the power from my Spirit Attribute. Meaning that unless I spent more Free Attribute points on increasing my Spirit, I was looking at roughly a one-for-one percent boost for the rest of eternity here. Ten points in spirit, I receive a ten percent bonus to my Attributes and power.

Why did I do this? Why did I choose this path? Honestly, I can’t quite tell you. I knew being able to use a death ray from an unlocked Sun Attribute would have been practically useless. The same thing for Shadow steps, and other attributes and class combinations. The Spiritual Augmentationist class was the only one that I could see immediate results from. Better still, I felt there was more to the Spirit attribute. Well, I felt there was more to all the Attributes, but particularly Spirit. I don’t know, something about it just called to me. I almost thought about getting one of the active abilities, but thought better of it. The Class had a few weird powers like Spirit Healing, and Spirit Attack. But I figured I would be safe, so long as I didn't get Spirit Attack, I wouldn't need Spirit Healing, right?

Regardless of buyer’s remorse, the purchase had been made and all sales were final.

I left the shop. Then after a second of time, I saw the pocket dimension that we were in slowly dissolve, until I reappeared in the hallway. A now empty hallway that was covered in blood and flesh particles everywhere. I remember us trying to go a back way to avoid fighting our own converted people, but were we unable to?

Also, part of me wondered how much time had passed. I had been in the shop for a long time. Also, I realized that being a pocket dimension time might have gone faster or slower. Seeing as I left while walking stride by stride with Alien Jess, and was now by myself, I figured it would have been the latter.

“Hello? Is anyone there?” I ask.

Static.

For a second I panic, as I wonder if something major has happened. I almost feel my Precognition warning me that something major is about to happen. Just when I am about to panic, a voice comes through.

“Kyle, is that you?”

With those four words, I let out a breath I didn’t know I had been holding. I smile, barely noticing the almost involuntary reaction to her voice.

“Hey Jess. Everything okay?” I ask.

“Yes, the enslaved minds of the workers have been freed.”

A slight pause.

“I take it, that was your doing?” Jess asks.

Hearing that, I smile brightly. “Yeah, how could you tell?” I ask, as I begin doubling back to the training room, where we started this whole thing.

“The fact that you randomly disappear and then a few minutes later everyone who was possessed just dropped to the ground and began spasming.”

Hearing that I paused, as I was about to ask if they were okay.

“They are all okay. But you are not.”

“Me?” I ask.

“Yes, you were this close into being turned into kitty litter for your final resting place, a cat litter box. I was going to have to get a cat and everything.” Jess said.

At that I laughed. I laughed hard.

“Well glad to disappoint.” I said as I regained my composure and continued walking forward.

“Oh, I am still getting the cat.”

Sigh.

I let out an overly dramatic breath over the comms channel and am about to reply, when the General cuts in.

“If you two are done with your lover’s quarrel, we have a new development that we need to discuss.”

“A development?”

“Yes, it seems that your former Admiral has begun to make his move at starting a war with the Endarians.”

“Shouldn’t he be stopped by the government? I mean breaking a universal treaty should be a big deal?” I ask.

“That is another thing. It would appear that in addition to being a spy, the logistics officer you killed had a packet of incriminating evidence sent to the three major powers of space. Even the Beastkin forces are rumored to have gotten a version.”

“So?”

“So, it would seem that the admiral is advancing based on warning that we are harboring two military deserters, or worse brain washing both you and Jess into fighting for us.”

I pause, wondering “what is the point of all of this?”

“That is a very good question and one I think we would all like to know as well. The only problem, our communications have been cut off. Officially we have been cut off by the Endarian government and are being treated as a rogue group.”

“A rogue group, but aren’t we the guardians?” I ask.

“Yes, this is not the first time such desperate measures have happened in our history. The Guardians have always been seen as an independent group from the Endarian Government. This is why we are being cut free of any direct ties to the Endarian Government.” The General states.

“Meaning?” My Jess asks.

“Meaning, that we are now free to act at our own discretion without fear of any political or military backlash. To paraphrase one of your human phrases, they have effectively left the wolves alone to roam freely as they see fit.”

I pause, not even knowing where that quip came from, nor who she thinks she is quoting. But I get the idea. We are free to do what we need to do. Realizing that there could be a lot of good to come from this, I ask what I think is the most obvious question.

“So, what’s the plan?”