A/N: Finally got that screw undone that was keeping me from getting the hard drive out of my laptop, but it was mother that sorted that issue. One of those, 'out of the way, just let me do it.' That makes you feel useless, but who cares! Sadly it didn't include the desktop data, what I actually needed, so I might need to send it off for repairs, which I can't really afford right now. Hopefully when I can, they'll fix it and I'll have my desktop data back.
Now in collaboration news, I'll be doing a light novel with manga accompaniment with fellow author, Andre Duggan. It will be a sequel of sorts to the Secret Yuuki novels, but will be out of the original timeline, someone's messing with reality! I will be posting a kickstarter on my profile page at a later date to help fund the artwork as we're both kind of skint right now, plus I'm still in debt from the last big project that I funded by myself and the company pulled a fast one on me. (Don't trust Author House – they oversell themselves.)
In more creatively geared news, I am currently making a comic which briefly covers the major events of my Grey Faction book: Arrival of the Grey Queen for those too lazy to read books, and to have something else to sell at comic cons. Oh, on that note, I'll be at Meanwhile - Chichester comic con on the 29th September 2018, if you want a signed copy of Jinhai's Justice, come visit. As always, the unsigned version can be brought on Lulu, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble for £5-£6. If you see me about, whether in the UK, or in other countries when I'm back on tour, stop me and I'll happily sign my comics or books for you.
(Start of chapter)
DINGIR AVATAR STATS
Character class: Grey Mage
Rank: Pluto Knight X (Private)
Level: 20, 7041xp until next level up.
HP: 1713 / 2126
MP: 999 / 999 (maxed)
Strength: 52 (70)
Speed: 33 (28)
Spirit: 46 (49)
Magic Defence/Defence: 40 (61)
Magic: 78
Magic Evasion/Evasion: 28 (40)
Primary Weapon: Iron Sword
Secondary Weapon: Mythril Dagger
Headwear: Iron helm
Armour: Iron Armour
Accessory: Steel Gauntlet with buckler
Skills: Minus Strike
Abilities: Bright Eyes, Level Up, Man Eater, Bug Killer, Grey Magic, Antibody, Bandit
Magic: Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect, Cure, Bio, Shell, Stop, Scan
Magic Stacking: Asag's Toxin – level 1 (40MP) Adel's Healing – level 1 (30MP) Hypnos Field – level 1 (50MP) Physical Barrier – level 1 (30MP) Magical Barrier – level 1 (30MP) Magic Gluttony – level 1 (20MP)
Trance: Balmung Strike, Balmung Omni
Items: 20 D-Potions, 6 Phoenix Down, 10 P-Potion, 9 R-Potions, 30 Potions, 10 Eye Drops, 10 Echo Screen, 10 Soft, 13 Goblin Steak, Goblin dagger, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring, silk shirt, lots of regular clothes.
Gil: 24,966
A nerfed Dingir in Final Fantasy 9, seriously?
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Weapons, armour, and Freya?
"You take a right, go straight for about ten minutes, and take the third left, and that'll get you to the business district gondola lifts," said a construction worker, who thankfully had been willing to talk to Mark, who had quickly gotten lost, the sheer scale of the cities size between the game and reality was vast.
"Thanks, I really appreciate it," Mark replied, as he made his way towards the stores that sold weapons and armour. He couldn't perfectly remember everything they sold; he had far from a perfect memory, despite his high IQ. However he was confident that there at least a few things that would benefit him within his budget, and he wanted to amass a number of weapons that he can switch about instantly with his item sack, different weapons to suit the situation. Mark had already experimented between his swords and the Goblin daggers, and could switch in about a second. In the Dingirverse books, his avatar could switch and summon weapons and forms by using Balmung, though the exorcist seldom needed it. But with the different effects that magical weapons had, such an edge would prove helpful.
Getting to the weapon store finally, he began to examining what was available. There wasn't much that that taught new skills, or surpassed his main sword and Mythril Dagger, but there was certainly something for him. "Oh, here we go!" They had an Ice Brand, a magic two-handed sword with a tri-pointed tip and sloped hilt, which was suited to parrying, rather than guarding.
"Interested?" asked the shopkeeper. His name was Edwin, according to the name that was floating above his head that only Mark could see. He was also a level 8, but that was of no importance as he wasn't going to fight him.
Mark nodded. "May I?" he asked, gesturing to the sword.
Edwin lifted it from display, and held it out. Mark took it, it was heavier than it looked, his elbow twinged ever so slightly. But once he was holding it correctly, and adjusted his balance and stance to suit the sword, he didn't have any troubles; the weapon was suited to large swings, if its balance was any indication, top heavy, but handy for overhead-downward slashes.
'Let's see…' Mark performed several flowing slashes, watching the ice magic trailing behind its edge. It was equipped with the passive attack add-on 'Freeze' and had the learnable sword skill; Mental Break. It also increased his strength higher than either of his main weapons.
"I'll take this," Mark said with a grin.
"Thank you sir, that'll be 3780 Gil."
"Good price, but I want to see what else you have as well." Edwin's bearing improved. "I require a number of different weapons, and armour, which is superior to military grade Iron."
'Military grade?' thought a demi-human woman, who was browsing for a new spear, as hers had broken recently. 'A soldier?' she mused, a mixture of curious and suspicious. He wasn't a human of Lindblum, far too tall and thickly built, and his complexion was paler, more likely a Treno human, as their city state received little sunlight. But while largely independent, it was still under the rule of the Alexandrian Queen, Brahne. 'What is an Alexandrian soldier doing here?' As while this land was currently at peace, it was due to the military superiority of Lindblum, and not from trade or good intentions. It was ultimately not her business, she had a search to continue for her lost love, Sir Fratley, and for that she needed a new weapon. So she focused back on that for the most part, browsing amongst the goods as the stranger was led about.
"But of course sir," the shopkeeper replied, and from there he showed Mark a number of options, though being able to see what the stats and infused skills/magic of each weapon saved a lot of time, though most were mundane weapons rather than the variety he needed.
He ultimately decided on a tri-pointed spear used by Demi-humans, poorly named the 'Javelin.' Its strength damage was nothing special, but its length, and his training with staff weapons back on Earth would serve him well as an alternative to a sword, a different weapon for different opponents. A spear gave a 75% advantage against a sword, but there was another reason he had picked this weapon. Mark casually spun it about himself with the ease of experience; fortunately staff techniques were one of the abilities he worked to unlock from the nerfing fog of when he was made a level one…well after the Goblin invasion, when he realised he could. He had been taught to use a staff by a Wadou-ryuu Karate master as a child, along with killing method Karate, and other weapons, in particular the katana, and projectiles such as kunai and Shuriken. Plus this spear had a very cool, learnable ability.
'He can use a spear rather well, not bad,' the demi-human thought briefly as she weight tested a few spears. Though the Javelin the human was playing with might be suitable for her people's dragon slaying style, what with the spear's wide surface area that was provided by the tri-point. 'Perhaps I'll get one of those myself.' She later found out it had the ability Dragon Killer to deal double damage against the fire breathing beasts, and quickly brought one for her own use.
"Yeah, I'll take this…" Mark said, handing it back to the shopkeeper. "While we're on still on the weapon front, do you have any throwing weapons, preferably something small and sharp, like a dirk or kunai?"
Mark had a great love of small blades, easy to hide on one's person, and they had saved his life on more than one occasion in his youth, though pulling one out in a bathroom brawl in school had gotten him into a lot of trouble with the teachers, and a little trouble with the law. But this world didn't have laws for carrying, as it was a world of magic, weapons, and death, and made no pretence of what life was. Also his mother wasn't here to bust his balls and recommend to police he be put in a cell overnight to teach him a lesson.
(A/N: That actually happened.)
"Sorry, I'm not familiar with those names, but if you want throwing weapons, might I suggest these, Pinwheels." Edwin took him to the other side of the store in the back, showing Mark a variety of Chakram, a circular throwing disk, a weapon from the Silat fighters of Indonesia, who used jungle warfare to terrifying effect, even against modern weapons like guns. The Chakrams they sold here were simple in design, blue and silver in colour. No spikes or serrated edges, however upon lightly touching one's edge, it drew blood, cutting deep, it was clearly sharper than it looked.
"Sir, please be careful!"
"Cure," a brief green light appeared, and the cut immediately healed, he limited its effect to his finger only, as he couldn't break his healing order from the General and Queen, sadistic bitches would probably check. "It's fine. For now I'll take twenty of these." Unlike the game, it wasn't like the throwing weapons would vanish after being thrown, assuming you were able to retrieve them after combat, that is.
Total cost: 8860 gil.
Current funds remaining: 16106 gil.
After that, they rang up his purchases, and he added them to his item sack, then he headed to an armoury several streets over, as the weapon shop didn't sell any defensive gear beyond the basics, and Mark needed imbued items for his use.
Once there, he was disappointed by the selection, he went to the synthesists, but like the game you had to supply materials and specific weapons, which didn't suit his money and time restraints. Eventually he found an armoury connected to the mercenary guild, it had dozens of small branches around the continent, and mostly supplied merchants and minor noblemen with guards and escorts. They also traded a great deal with their own brand of stock, often using their employees to scout good trade routes and potential business opportunities while also guarding or escorting said merchants.
Mark considered gaining a patent and selling some of his special potions as a business opportunity, he would need to save it for tomorrow, as he only a few hours to spare, before returning to the castle, he would need to make some enquiries with them, and around the city to make sure they didn't pull a fast one on him due to ignorance of their trading laws.
He did manage to find several new pieces of gear for his use.
Firstly Chain Plate, an undershirt of chainmail, that added to his strength and defence stats, it could also easily be worn underneath regular armour. More importantly, it taught the ability Devil Killer, doubling his attack effectiveness against demonic type monsters, which would prove helpful much later in the game against the more terrifying mist monsters.
Next was Headgear, which supposedly made you popular, not that Mark brought it for that, he saw a reasonable amount attention from the fairer sex due to his charm and lack of medieval views typical to most men here, besides it looked like a glorified leather chinstrap to protect the sides and lower half of his head, he'd just stitch into into the padding his helm. Its looks aside, it did however half water element damage, and Mark planned to use Grey Magic to extract it from the item and graft it to himself. He had figured out the trick for it when Darius had shared Antibody with him to protect him from his own 'super poison' spell, Asag's Toxin, Headgear also taught the ability, Undead Killer, so he would be wearing it first to learn that, before he went the Grey Magic route.
Finally was the Leather Wrist, a simple arm protection that raised one's spirit, as well as physical evasion and magic evasion, and like the chain mail, he could easily wear it with his usual Pluto Knight armour. It also taught a useful ability, Beast Killer, which would prove helpful, as many mist monsters fell into this category.
Total cost: 1175 gil.
Current funds remaining: 14931 gil.
Returning to the castle, allowing himself time to eat, visit the toilet, a quick shower, ask (beg) one of the knights to re-bandage his half-healed torso, and get changed back into his armour for guard duty, it had been an overall productive first day. Such as gaining a resistance to one type of elemental magic, as well as the double killing power against fellow humans, bug monsters, dragons, devils, the undead, and even beasts, if you included those he had learnt previously.
Tomorrow he would try at being the merchant that he had once pretended to be, and if there was time, Mark would leave the city to face Lindlum's local mist monsters for some level grinding. As now he had Bio and Magic Stacking, now he could finally be considered a threat to many monsters.
But for now…
"Good evening, your highness, your majesty…and General," Mark gave them two quick bows and a salute, (in that order.) "I trust you had a pleasant day so far?"
CHAPTER END
Next Chapter: Meeting the Protagonist
(End of chapter)
DINGIR AVATAR STATS
Character class: Grey Mage
Rank: Pluto Knight X (Private)
Level: 20, 7041xp until next level up.
HP: 1822 / 2126
MP: 993 / 999 (maxed)
Strength: 52 (88)
Speed: 33 (28)
Spirit: 46 (50)
Magic Defence/Defence: 40 (71)
Magic: 78
Magic Evasion/Evasion: 28 (47)
Primary Weapon: Ice Brand (freeze add-on)
Secondary Weapon: Mythril Dagger
Weapons available to switch out: Iron Sword, Goblin Dagger, Javelin, Pinwheels x20
Headwear: Iron Helm + Headgear
Armour: Iron Armour + Chain Plate
Accessory: Steel Gauntlet with buckler + Leather Wrist
Skills: Minus Strike, Mental Break
Abilities: Bright Eyes, Level Up, Man Eater, Bug Killer, Grey Magic, Antibody, Bandit, Dragon Killer, Devil Killer, Undead Killer, Beast Killer
Magic: Poison, Regen, Sleep, Panacea, Osmose, Protect, Cure, Bio, Shell, Stop, Scan
Magic Stacking: Asag's Toxin – level 1 (40MP) Adel's Healing – level 1 (30MP) Hypnos Field – level 1 (50MP) Physical Barrier – level 1 (30MP) Magical Barrier – level 1 (30MP) Magic Gluttony – level 1 (20MP)
Trance: Balmung Strike, Balmung Omni
Items: 20 D-Potions, 6 Phoenix Down, 10 P-Potion, 9 R-Potions, 30 Potions, 10 Eye Drops, 10 Echo Screen, 10 Soft, 13 Goblin Steak, Traveller's cloak, Isekai ring, silk shirt, lots of regular clothes.
Gil: 14931
A/N: Thanks for reading the newest chapter.
And as always, check out my current novels and comics listed below, and buy one.
MY MAIN BOOKS AND COMICS:
Search the titles on Amazon, Lulu, Barnes&Noble, and most major online retailers, available in Kindle/EBook, and Paperback. (Some in Hardback)
Grey Faction: Arrival of the Grey Queen
Grey Faction: Mistaken Apostles
Grey Faction Comic: Jinhai's Justice
Grey Faction Comic: School Wars
Grey Faction Comic: Arrival of the Grey Queen (coming soon)
Detective Michael: The Scalpel Murder
Detective Michael: Riverside Mystery
Detective Michael Comic: Volume 1
Vampire Attack: Empire of Shadows
Vampire Attack: Shadow Force (Currently on hold)
Secret Yuuki & the Guilty Heart Chronicles: Dimension Wars
Secret Yuuki & the Guilty Heart Chronicles: Starlight Alliance
Nexus Comic: Volume 1
'N' Things Anthology: Corpses 'N' Things
'N' Things Anthology: Monsters 'N' Things