NOVEL NEXT Chapter 49: Shopping
With all great changes, must come even further great changes.
A stupid statement but one that was completely true.
For example… I had money. A lot of money. More money than I'd ever had before. If I'd had this money years ago, it's not exactly that I would've been happy. Capitalism still was gross at the best of times, but I would have immediately paid for a personal Master to train me and I might have even made progress within a year or two if my soul, money, and their patience all lasted that long. Unlikely on all accounts.
But now…
"Shopping. Who knew the day would come when I'd be excited about shopping?"
After having a good long talk with Free and Add and leaving them to enjoy the Winter Solstice, I headed to the stores. Most were closed for the holiday but some were still open. Specifically, I'd gone to the nearest Mall and it was…
"This place is massive."
I knew that malls were popular but this might be the biggest building I'd ever been in in my life! It had over ten stories and I couldn't even see the end of it. Even though it was the holidays, there were thousands and thousands of people going about all at once. It was even more than I usually saw on the streets! There were tons of decorations and lights put up, mostly glowing snowflakes and floating, turning orbs. They played different scenes while holograms floated out and around through the air somehow, showing different winter moments. A family building a snowwoman and her coming to life, a white tiger leaping and catching some kind of ice creature before sharing it with her cubs, a whole clan seemingly having a snowball fight together. It was nice.
And the presents! Glowing, beautiful boxes wrapped in sparkly paper of some kind that seemed to glitter. I smiled.
This place, all of this, it was a lot different from how I'd grown up, from what I'd experienced. But the presents were the same. My family ordered that paper special from the mainland and kept it locked up tight in the closet and only brought it out for birthdays and special holidays like this. I still remembered seeing those presents underneath those glowing orbs in our house and feeling mystified. The whole thing felt so, mystical, so magical, and seeing the same thing now floating over my head… it felt exactly the same.
I lightly pulled myself back to the current moment. I'd come here for a reason and seeing the amazing sights was only a great extra benefit. I was here to finally start weaning myself off Master! …Using his money, but what had to be done, had to be done.
The first stop was easy.
"Ah, how can I help you young man?" A, surprisingly, human person asked. He was around middle aged and seemed to have a decent beard.
It wasn't that humans were rare exactly, it just felt like it'd been a while since I'd seen one.
"Oh, I was just looking for some clothes. Actually… maybe a lot of clothes?" I frowned and thought about it. All of my clothes came from Master. It bugged me. It bugged me a lot. I at least needed an outfit or two that I owned myself.
But how many clothes was that?
Maybe…
"I think I'll need… three shirts, three pairs of pants, shoes, socks, and some underwear? Ah, three of those as well." Was that enough? I hadn't, well, I'd never really thought about clothes.
"Ah, getting a whole new outfit for Vegamas?"
I tried, really hard, not to frown. It wasn't anyone's fault the planet and holiday was named after the same person that murdered my family. Well, not this man's fault at least.
"Something like that…"
"Well, why don't we discuss sizes and more? Are there any hidden appendages or tails or transformations we need to watch out for?"
"No no, pure human. Well, probably."
Not like I knew my ancestry that well.
"And I think I'm a medium and…"
A short while later, I left carrying two bags in my arms. I'd gone back and forth a bit on design or to get plain colors but ultimately, I was worried any clothing I got would somehow end up destroyed… My track record with them was a total of zero that had survived so far. Even my boots had ended up destroyed and needing to be replaced once during our training. Plain dark blue shirts that weren't abhorrent to the eyes were good enough. I'd gone with a few pairs of jeans as well. Anything more baggy or loose that wasn't as sturdy as my Gi just felt… wrong. Like wearing the same type of clothes but now they were made of paper.
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Some socks, shoes, and underwear and I'd been on my way.
This was a great start. If I ever left Master I'd at least have clothes that I owned. I could really see Master telling me that I couldn't leave with 'his' clothes if he was feeling angry enough. Judging by how hard he took my combat learning speed… best not to take chances.
I had grown tougher, but not walking around in public naked tougher.
The next stop, hmm.
Camping supplies. After having lived on the street for around a year and in the sewers for half that time, the thing I sorely desired more than anything was proper camping supplies. A tent, a firestarter, something to burn for heat, water, some way to filter water, a pot, a backpack, and more. If I hadn't found that small area of clean water down in the sewers… best not to think about.
Finding a proper camping supplies store was surprisingly easy. Travelers weren't exactly a strange occurrence across the world, let alone in Vega City. The problem was the durability…
"You can't be serious! How on Vega could that be true?" The woman with a mane of fire around her head and glowing black eyes told me.
"But I really do need at least the backpack to be a bit stronger…"
"Yes, we have durable backpacks here. No, we don't have something a level 50 would struggle to break. Backpacks are originally made out of leather or canvas aren't they? You'd struggle to find a metal that durable…"
I scratched my neck. I was pretty worried about the durability. I could already see all my stuff being destroyed and scattered to the winds and I could only cry if that was the case. Everything else could be at least a little breakable but the backpack that held everything at least had to be a bit strong right? Even more so, I didn't want to accidentally rip it to shreds just by moving it a little fast…
"If you're that worried about durability, why don't you buy a normal backpack and then try out the Smile company's new invention?"
I frowned. The fucking smile company… but they made good work. Surely, at least the inventors had to not be total pieces of shit…
"What invention?"
"It's the most amazing thing!" The woman said, her eyes literally shining with stars in her eyes. "They just released it recently! I, uh, don't have any stock here, of course, but it's a capsule!"
She took out a small, well, capsule. It looked like a pill but about the length of her palm, with a small thing to press down on the top. It was pink around the middle, with the Smile Company's signature smile on the front. She pressed it and-
There was a poof of orange smoke and there was an apple in her hands. The capsule itself reformed out of the smoke and she nearly dropped it before grabbing it.
"That was amazing!" I said.
What on Vega was this?! How on Vega did any of that work? I'd seen some amazing technology before but this almost seemed like magic!
"Isn't it?!" The woman said. "They're simply calling them 'Capsules' right now but who knows if they'll change the name? They're able to store stuff. They were just giving these ones out as promotional material today. I was lucky enough to get one!" She smiled, pride and happiness on her face.
"How does it work?! Wait, no, how much can it store?!"
"Oh, well this is just the freebies you know? I hear they're selling ones that can even store a car! This one uh, this can only store about this much though."
My mind felt like it was truly expanding beyond all reason. A car? A car? People, people were going to all be walking around with little small things that could just, store a car? What world was I living in? This was almost more impressive than the first time I saw a hologram or a flying car.
"How much are they? Wait, what happens if they're damaged, are your items destroyed? Wait, wait, aren't they a little dangerous? What happens if someone just opens it by accident and is suddenly crushed by a car? Wait, how does it work? What happens if I stick my hand into the smoke before it's reformed or while it's dropping the item? Wait, can it store my hand? Will it cut it off or-"
"Stop stop! I don't know!" The woman waved frantically. "If you want to know more, go ask the Smile Company. I didn't think to ask any of that!"
"Oh…" She now looked a little panicked about the capsule in her hands. "Wow… that's so amazing. Truly, you have a piece of the future in your hands."
Her smile returned at that and a little while later, I left with a full traveling backpack, filled with every item I could ever need if I found myself trapped in the sewers again. If I ever left the damn Dojo with Master again I was going to make sure I grabbed it just as a precaution…
Amazed and awed, smiling at all the happy families in winter clothes going around the stores and the advancement of a begrudgingly pretty amazing technology, I continued shopping. Maybe I'd been giving technology too hard of a time…
The healing tank that saved my life so many times, the Vambrace that told me the heights I had to reach to meet Vega, the one that finally showed me that I had made any progress, and now these Capsules… my introduction to technology had been forced, heavy, hard, and alien all at once. The Smile company had drowned me in a healing tank and the constant numbers above people's heads that no one else saw felt like a taunting last remark from Vega after the Vambrace had exploded on my arm. Having to learn to use a computer on my own, along with the internet, just to find a job while my soul was wracked with depression and hatred… it was a bad start. But I should open my mind. I should grow more. Technology… technology wasn't so bad.
I frowned, remembering quite a few awful things I'd seen online and words said by people using it.
Some technology wasn't so bad. The internet itself still felt like a bit of a mistake.
When I finally went home for the day, twelve bags under each arm and a backpack filled with even more on my back, I felt proud.
Now if I could just get myself one of those storage capsules, I'd never have to worry again!
As I was walking home though, I noticed a particular store and my eyes softened.
I bought two more items before going home, a happy plan forming in my mind.