Chapter 18: The Hunters Armory

"Welcome to the Hunters Armory, how may I help you?""Hi, good afternoon. I’m a student at the Hunters Academy, and I’m here to buy gear and a weapon," I responded politely.

"Very good, sir. Please, right this way."

Today’s the 5th of March, 2168, it’s the following weekend. It was around midday, and I’d just arrived at the nearest branch of the Hunters Armory, to get myself equipped for my upcoming first Dungeon raid.

The store was a large, two-story building. The lower floor had rows of racks and shelves, with a wide variety of armor and gear. I’m guessing they keep the weapons on the upper floor.

"As you are a student, I presume you need equipment suited for a Low Level Dungeon, yes? May I ask your budget, sir?" Inquired the staff member who’d greeted me.

"Yeah, it’s a Low Level raid. And as for my budget, I can spend upto two million Credits," I answered, as I looked around the store in fascination.

"I see. And what kind of weapon are you looking for?"

"A single short-sword."

"Hm, the price range for our short-swords go from 500,000 Credits to five million. As for equipment, that depends on what you need. We have a wide range of options, do you have an idea of what you want to go for?" He asked me.

"Yeah, something light and easy to move around in. Also, I’d like it to be dark colored, ideally black," I replied after taking a moment to mull it over.

"Ah, we have just the thing. Follow me," He responded with a smile, before leading the way to a rack at the back of the space.

Huh? These look like normal sports clothes, are they really armor?

"These are fairly new, one of the latests developments from the Hunters Armory."

"They look like regular clothes," I remarked in bemusement.

"Yes, and they feel like regular clothing as well. They are made using highly durable yet flexible fibers weaved from the skin of certain species of Monsters, the material is an effective defense against slashing and piercing attacks, and also has a slight resistance to Magical attacks.

It is also quite lightweight, you should feel little to no restriction to your movements. However, the downside is that they only provide moderate defense against blunt force impacts."

"Gotcha. In other words, the material is hard to cut or pierce through, but the tradeoff is that it doesn’t absorb and disperse force all that much," I surmised thoughtfully.

"Yes, exactly."

I see, that’s not too bad.

I don’t want to walk around in heavy, clunky armor, plus it feels kinda embarrassing to be decked out in flashy gear. So, these are perfect, they’re nice and lowkey.

I skimmed through the rack, checking out the options. They’ve got a pretty wide selection here, and the designs are simple yet stylish.

And the best part, all the options come in black. They’ve got a few other colors too, but I’ll be sticking with black.

I picked out a long-sleeved compression t-shirt, a hoodie and a pair of trousers. The hoodie and trousers were lined with a thin mesh on the inside for further protection.

I continued looking through the options, before glancing at a nearby shelf as an piece of gear caught my eye.

A pair of slender, sleek black gauntlets that go up to the elbows, they look pretty lightweight too. I went closer to get a better look, picking them up off the shelf to get a feel for their weight.

"Tell me about these," I said to the staff member as I inspected the gauntlets in fascination.

"Ah, good eye, sir. Those are made of a special alloy that includes the scales of a certain Monster species. They are lightweight and fairly flexible, but they are also quite durable. Additionally, they are quite affordable as well, they should be within your budget."

Okay, that settles it, I’m buying these too.

Also, he’s been pretty vague about specifying what exact Monster parts they use in their gear, I’m guessing that must be confidential info.

"Alright, what else do I need...? Oh, I’ve gotta get some footwear too. Got any black boots that fit my requirements?"

"Yes, we have boots that are made of the same material as those gauntlets."

"Perfect, I’ll take ’em."

As he led me to a shelf with rows of foot gear, I picked out a pair of black boots that went halfway up my calves, and like he said, they were pretty light and flexible, and stylish to boot, pun intended.

Nice, I think that should cover my gear.

I’ve got the hoodie, long-sleeved tee and gauntlets protecting my upper body and arms, and I guess the hood of the hoodie could serve as head protection too. And the trousers and boots protect my lower body.

The staff member then led me to a changing room to try on the gear, and I was pretty pleasantly surprised by how comfortable the whole ensemble felt.

Besides the gauntlets, I feel like I’m just wearing a normal outfit, these are perfect. Maybe I should get a few more options, just to have some spares in store.

<You know you can make copies of all this stuff, right?>

Yeah, and I will, but I want some variety too.

Hm, but before I get ahead of myself, I should first ask how much all this is going to cost, I still need to keep a good amount of my budget in reserve for a weapon, after all, arguably the most important thing I need to buy.

"Alright, I’m all set on my gear now. How much have I racked up so far?" I asked the staff member as I changed and stepped out of the stall.

"Let’s see here...your current total comes to just under one point three million Credits."

Wha-...?!

That’s more than half my budget! Well, so much for getting extra gear, I just hope I have enough left for a decent weapon.

"Okay, I’d like to pick out a weapon next," I replied with a slight sigh.

"Very well, follow me to the upper level, sir."

<You do know that you can just put all this gear into your Treasury, make copies, and then give him the copies and leave, don’t you?>

<That way, you would get everything for free>

No way, that’d feel like stealing, I’m not some common thief. Once I buy them, they’ll be mine, and I see nothing wrong with making copies of stuff I already own.

But making copies of stuff that don’t belong to me just feels beneath me, and I’d rather not stoop that low.

<I do not really understand that>

<It seems you are letting your pride overrule logic>

Maybe so, but...it’s important to me, and I won’t compromise on my values.

And besides, that sense of pride is one of the seven reasons why I unlocked the Sinner System in the first place, isn’t it?

<Yes, I suppose you make a valid point there>