A finger-sized, fire-red crystal let out a faint shimmering sound as I twirled it between my fingers before placing it back in a pile with the other colourful crystals.
Since my little scuffle with the local gang was quiet enough for no one to alert the police, I decided to take my time searching the building for valuables. After exploring both floors and looting all the bodies, I managed to scrounge up nearly ten grand in this world's equivalent of cash called Lien.
A quick look at some of the online shops revealed that Lien and Dollars were pretty much a 1-1 conversion, so while not a large amount, it was still better than I expected.
But what shocked me was not the cash but the insane amount of jewels I found!
Rubies, topazes and sapphires the size of cucumbers by the handful!
Sure, some of them were still uncut, but even with that, there was easily a few million dollars worth... er, Lien worth of gems!
It was only when I picked up a cut ruby did I notice something was off.
What greeted me was not the coolness of chill glass but the same warmth you would get by touching someone's body.
This little detail finally snapped me out of my excitement.
With greed no longer clouding my eyes, I started noticing other discrepancies between the gems from my memory and those in front of me.
One, neither the cut nor uncut gems had much clarity to them. Even the cloudiest gemstones had at least some level of transparency, but these gems are almost matte. If these were fake, they would still have the clarity of glass.
Two, they were all uniform in shape and size. The cut gems were done in a weird, vertically elongated diamond cut, while the rough and uncut ones were still somehow shaped into hexagonal sticks the same length as the cut ones.
And finally, all of them, well, did something!
The red ones emitted warmth from a short distance but weren't hot when touched. The blue ones did the same, only with coolness, while the yellow ones felt like they were sending out static electricity.
After staring at the colourful array of crystals for a while, I finally take pity on my blown mind and try looking up these crystals online.
Thankfully, searching for "red crystals" doesn't give me some Karen nonsense about healing crystals as it would back home, but it shows me countless articles about "fire dust".
Curiosity piqued, I click on the first article and start reading.
~0~
To summarise what I learned, this world is all about that good stuff called "dust".
It is a mysterious substance that somehow replaced all the world's fossil fuels through means not entirely understood even by the people living here.
Everything from home appliances to high-end weaponry in this place has dust in it on some level, so except for a few rare types, most types of dust were relatively cheap.
Living in a literal dump, the low-level gang I robbed only had the common type of dust used in day-to-day life.
Or, in other words, from the initial estimate of a few million Lien, the price of my haul went down to only around a few hundred Lien.
*sigh*
I never agreed with the saying, "The greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment." as much as I did at this moment.
~0~
In the end, I didn't even bother taking any of the dust and left with only the Lien.
With my account balance now having a little cash, I finally felt ready to take on the world!
Or so I would have thought because by the time I went outside, it was already late in the evening.
*yawn*
Despite being awake for barely a few hours, I was already starting to flag a little bit.
GPS set to the nearest hotel, I start the car and go, and since I don't have any urgent mission or goal to complete, I take it nice and slow so I could take in the unfamiliar scenery.
And I am glad that I do because the city looks absolutely amazing!
Unlike in Los Santos, where most buildings are either white cinderblock squares or modernistic windows, the city of Vale favours bricks ranging from light tan to dark brown with white accents that give it a cosy, old fashioned look. Even the street lights are stylised like old, vintage lanterns that cast a warm glow on the many trees lining every street I see.
There are so many trees here!
Back in LS, it's either palm trees by the beach or nothing at all, so I find myself greatly enjoying the change in scenery.
My phone beeps and tells me that the hotel is somewhere around here, so I find a place to park and get out.
Despite the relatively late hour, there was decent foot traffic with many shops still open and lighting up the dark streets in front of them.
I eyed one of them before turning back-
*pfft-*
"Is that dust shop called From Dust Till Dawn?!" I nearly burst out laughing right then and there, startling a few passersby before making my way over. There was still a bit over an hour left till midnight, and I wanted to check out a dust shop at some point anyway, so I boldly strode forward and opened the storefront door, making the little bell at the top jingle.
Upon entry, I noticed the same faint shimmering sound that came from the crystals at the gang hideout, only this time it was coming from all around me.
It was a spacious little place with a counter in the center and shelves on either side containing what, at first glance, one might mistake as flour packages. But on closer inspection, its real identity turned out to be refined, powdered dust.
Making my way past the old shopkeeper, I come in front of the shelves stocked with tiny paper bags filled with various coloured dust.
Most bags were labelled (Low concentration fire dust) or the same name, but only with other types of dust. As I understand it, this is the type of stuff ordinary people use to power their home appliances.
Moving deeper into the store, I encountered (Mid concentration) variants used in vehicles. Here I start seeing some rarer types, such as the purple gravity dust.
When I walked past them, I arrived near the back of the store, where I finally saw the good stuff. This is the quality of dust people use in heavy machinery and high-end weaponry.
Funnily enough, these weren't called (High concentration) like the naming convention so far would suggest, but (Hunter grade) instead. It's a bit weird, but I pick one up and inspect it without thinking about it too deeply.
No longer in a bag but instead in a glass bottle, a sticker with a stylised flame on it proclaimed itself as fire dust.
The faint, ambient shimmering sound that I had already tuned out became much more noticeable when I held the bottle before my face.
After placing the bottle back down, I turned to the very back of the store, where the shelves against the wall were stocked not with more dust but with various magazines about dust.
None of the names on the covers were familiar to me, but as an avid gun enthusiast, I could still recognise the design choices to know what to pick and what to avoid.
There are only four basic types of weapon magazines you might encounter in a shop.
The first is advertisements, where weapon traders show off their latest goodies, hoping that people will buy them.
The second is entry-level engineering to explain basic concepts to everyday people, such as how a firing pin works.
The third one is pure eye candy, with posters of models holding all kinds of visually pleasing weaponry in various poses.
The second and third types of magazines usually come as a combination with the first one.
But what I'm looking for is the fourth type, professional-level engineering.
This is the type of magazine that the casual person would spare no more than a single glance at and also the only reason a professional would ever bother to look at weapon magazines.
"Ah, there it is." I finally found one and started reading.
My current concern is that since this world seems to put dust in as many places as they can get away with, it will be more difficult to replenish my ammunition reserves. Because while I have, let's say, a lot of ammo, it will still run out eventually.
Putting some fascinating articles about something called mecha-shift weapons on hold, for now, I navigate to the ammunition section.
*phew*
I sighed with relief because it looked like at least the basic gunpowder formula remained the same.
Now that I put my immediate worries to rest, I let myself indulge my curiosity and start reading the magazine properly from the start.
I become so immersed that I don't even notice when someone is beside me before they start speaking.
"Um, uh..." I look up from my reading only to look back down in another direction because the one who just spoke turned out to be a little teenager wearing a red-trimmed black dress and a red cape on her shoulders. "Sorry, but, uh, a-are you perhaps a huntress?" Despite the girl's apparent nervousness, there was a strange intensity to her question, "I-I'm Ruby, by the way..." which immediately evaporated when she remembered to introduce herself.
"Adorable," I think with a smile before indulging her, "Sorry, Ruby, but I prefer the semi-automatic over the bow and arrow kind of weaponry."
The girl froze for a split second before giggling at the joke I apparently made, "Oh, come on, you know what I mean!"
I have my suspicions that the term "hunter" has a slightly different meaning in this place than someone who hunts animals, and this only confirms it. But like any proper adult, instead of admitting my ignorance to a kid, I give her a teasing smile and start fishing for information.
"Do I? Does this mean that the little huntress before me can sense other hunters?" Is the girl before me one of those superhumans, and do they have some ability to sense those like them?
Ruby's face turned the same red as her cape when I called her a little huntress, "What! Nonono, I'm still not a huntress!" But she will become one, "There's still two years before I can even enter Beacon!" There is some institution that helps people become a hunter, "A-and I'm still not good enough to sense other people's aura." So there is a way to tell if someone is a hunter or not, something to do with "aura", "I just noticed that you were reading Gunsmith's Choice, and I have never seen anyone reading this besides me!"
"Wait, you understand this?" I point to the current page I was on. It was an article explaining dust-infused gunmetal's effect on regular ammunition. I mean, I could keep up with the concept, but then again, I was the leader of an underground arms research and development center, while the adorable little thing before me looked like someone who should be struggling with trigonometry in school.
Ruby barely glanced at the page before an excited expression appeared on her face, "Oh, do I?!" and from behind her, she took out a large, red briefcase.
A briefcase that then proceeded to transform into a rifle with a hyper-sized barrel guard.
"Is this a mecha-shift weapon?" I looked at the futuristic-looking weapon and realised that the front of it looks the way it does because it most likely transforms into a melee weapon.
"Ta-da! This baby right here is Crescent Rose!" Ruby proudly presented her weapon for my inspection, "and when I made it, I added a little bit of gravity dust to increase the recoil-"
"Wait, did you just say you made this?" From what I have read in the magazine, mecha-shift weapons do not have a standard model, making each one a complex, custom job. Meaning this little kid has achieved an impressive feat of engineering. "That is incredible."
Blush once again dusting her cheeks, Ruby tried to downplay her achievement-
*bam!*
But before she could, the loud sound of someone slamming the store doors open interrupted her.
"Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a dust shop open this late?" Even when we were at the back of the store and behind shelves, we still clearly heard the male voice speak.
I tiptoe and peek over the shelve to see four uniformed thugs flanking their charge, a fellow with black pants, a white coat and long, orange hair under a bowler hat.
One of the thugs pointed a pistol at the senior shopkeeper, "Please, just take my Lien and leave!"
"What? What's happening?" whispered Ruby because she wasn't tall enough to see over the shelves.
"Looks like someone's trying to rob this place," I answer back just as quietly.
She gasps before getting a determined look on her face like she's about to run off to confront the robbers by herself.
"Whoa, hold your horses, Ruby." I grab her by the shoulder before she really does run off.
"But we need to stop them!"
"We will," I raise my hands in surrender, then point at her weapon, "but how about we don't start a gunfight in a dust shop." I chuckled at her sheepish expression before peeking out again.
"-grab the dust." the leader addressed his goons, and they started spreading out.
Knowing one wouldn't be enough to cover the spread out robbers, I took out two tear gas grenades and chucked them into the corners of the storefront.
As the cans clanked loudly upon landing, the robbers turned to look at them, only to be greeted by a cloud of snot inducing gas. The entire front of the store became engulfed in a thick fog accompanied by chemically-induced coughing of the victims caught in it.
Stepping out of the cover of shelves, I carefully aim my rifle so as not to hit either the various dust dispensers on the sides nor the old shopkeeper and open fire on the vague shapes I see through the fog.
I miss a lot, so the windows shatter behind the robbers, but I also hear the distinct plinking sound of bullets hitting hunters.
"OUT!" in between coughing, the leader finally reacts, and the robbers stumble outside.
I turn back to Ruby only to blink because what she has in her hands is no longer the oversized rifle but a wicked-looking scythe that looks like it weighs more than the girl holding it. And she's holding it as if it weighs no more than a large stick.
"You know how to use that thing?" I ask, and she gives me a serious nod.
With the windows broken, the tear gas gets quickly ventilated, and we can again see outside where the robbers are only now getting over the coughing. The leader is nowhere to be seen.
I run to the outside but pause when a red blur passes me.
It was Ruby, and if I thought the last guy was unfairly fast, then this was simply ridiculous.
Ruby practically flew into one of the thug's faces, feet first, sending him flying as well before using her scythe as an anchor to stop her momentum.
When I got back to the store's front, the other three thugs finally got themselves together, two of which took out their swords and charged Ruby while the third one took out a machinegun instead.
Raising my rifle, I focused on the ranged attacker.
Expecting the same level of armour as from the gang leader, I was surprised when only after a few shots his shield broke, and he fell.
"I guess not all hunters are made equal." Not looking a gift shark in the mouth, I turned to help Ruby, only to witness her smacking the last goon in the face with the back of her scythe. "Yep, definitely not."
"Where is the last one?" with all the goons down, Ruby starts looking for the leader only to see him climbing a ladder of a five-storey apartment building. "Come on. We gotta go after him!"
Suddenly, she grabbed my hand, and before I could even respond, I was dragged up the five-storey ladder, where we found the leader standing on the edge of the roof with his back turned to us.
"Hey!" Ruby shouted and took a stance with her scythe, getting ready to charge.
Still a bit dizzy from the impromptu flight, it was a challenge just to stand upright. But before I could get my bearings back, a large VTOL aircraft, similar to my own Avenger, rose from behind the man, which he then boarded.
"As pleasant as first meetings go, Reds," he finally turned to face us, revealing a red crystal held in his hand, "But I'm afraid this is where we'll have to part ways!" he threw the crystal to our feet before aiming his weapon to the same place.
Eyes widening at the realisation of what was about to happen, I grabbed Ruby's cloak and threw us both to the ground before a loud explosion momentarily deafened us.
We didn't get very far from the crystal when it exploded, but for some reason, I didn't feel any pain.
When the dust cleared, however, I saw the reason why.
A blond woman with black waist-high pants, a white blouse and a purple cape had appeared before us with a massive, purple spell circle centered around the tip of the fingers she was pointing towards the explosion.
"What the heck? That's just straight-up magic!"
Ruby and I stared in astonishment as the woman dismissed the purple shield and waved her hand in a wide arc, causing a dozen purple magic missiles to shoot out, hitting the aircraft with the weight of an explosion.
Now, don't get me wrong. While I do enjoy diving into all sorts of trouble head first, even I can realise when the water is a bit too deep for me.
And looking at the fantasy genre fight happening before me, I am forced to admit that I am, very much, out of my depth.
Seeing that no one is paying me any attention, I quickly get to my feet before legging it back to the ladder to get away from the fight.
As I was sliding down the ladder, I suddenly heard the rumbling of thunder, and when I looked up, I saw that while the stary sky was mainly clear, there was a suspiciously dark cloud that hovered only over our building.
And when that dark cloud started raining down icicles, my mind finally gave up.
"Nope," I got to the ground, "nope," I ran back to my car, "nope," and I floored the gas pedal while ignoring any traffic laws that would slow me down while I booked it, "NOPE!"
My GPS told me that I was going the wrong way, so I changed my destination to another hotel as far away from this place as possible.
*sigh*
When I was far away enough to no longer hear the sounds of fighting, I sighed and finally let myself relax a little.
"This is bad," if I thought that the gang leader from the abandoned building was tough to deal with, then the event of the store robbery showed me just how the bottom of the barrel he actually was.
"If I am to continue operating in this crazy world filled with wizards and supermen, I'll need to find a way to deal with them." Strangely enough, though, the expression that greeted me in the rear view mirror was not one of despair but of excitement.
**0**
Fun fact, this chapter is exactly 3333 words long.
My word goal is somewhere around 2k words, but these two chapters somehow kept getting out of hand.
How about we set a few rules for now:
1) Snacks are snacks, and snacks don't heal people, but health kits do. So now our protagonist has health kits, but it takes time to use them.
2) Our protagonist has access to her inventory and weapon wheel.
3) There will be no respawning in this fic. If I decide to end the series with the protagonist's death, I'll do it.
We'll probably be adding to that list as we go, but that's it for now.
Thank you for your comments!
It literally feeds my soul and is what allowed me to write the second chapter so fast.
Anyways, love you, bye!
P.S. This site likes to delete lines with only symbols like these (-~-) which I used to indicate a small time skip. I just noticed and will replace them with (~0~) which hopefully the site won't delete.