NOVEL NEXT Chapter 75: Viper’s Grin
After the back-and-forth with Slim, Slim wore a gloomy expression while Tarkan kept a smile on his face. There was no way Slim could win that conversation.
Tarkan was also happy for another reason, he had registered himself as an Ascender of the Second Dimension, earning the title of Evolver.
And, just as he guessed, night was the best time for sightseeing.
The city was alive, with shop signs glowing and advertisements shining from every building. Lights brought the streets to life, giving the city a vivid, futuristic look.
The first thing Tarkan did was choose a shop and order all their delicacies. It wasn't as expensive as he thought it would be, but it was still costly, five gold coins for the food, plus the private room they got. Acceptable, but hardly cheap
What Tarkan didn't like about the place was that every single order and delivery was handled by a robot. There wasn't a single staff member to attend to them. It didn't sit right with him. He could tolerate it for a gate pass or a quick transaction, but having an entire meal managed by machines? That left him uncomfortable.
Still, the food was good. And good food always came first.
After they finished, Tarkan left for a weapon shop.
Using his wristband, he followed the directions to the weapons section of the market. Everything in Thira was easy and convenient. With this system, it was impossible for anyone to get lost in the city.
Tarkan and Slim entered a weapon shop, and as soon as Tarkan stepped in, his eyes landed on a twin-sword weapon hanging at the top of the shelf. Many other weapons were neatly lined up on the shelves.
Unlike many shops in Thira that used machines and were fully run by AI, this one had a young man with an apron on, eating at the side of the counter.
"Welcome to Thiago Forgery. You can call me Thiago. For any information or effects of a weapon, you can check it yourself on that machine," the man said, not even bothering to raise his head, eating slowly and gently.
Tarkan wasn't interested in speaking much either, so he just went to the machine to check the weapons.
--
Stormpiercer (Spear)
Evolver Rank: Awakened
Tier: Mid-Tier
Effect: 10% chance to call down a lightning strike on hit.
--
Ashfang (Longsword)
Evolver Rank: Awakened
Tier: High-Tier
Effect: Applies a stacking burn that deals 5 fire damage over 3 seconds.
--
Verdant Fang (Dagger)
Evolver Rank: Awakened
Tier: Mid-Tier
Effect: Critical hits restore a small amount of health (5 HP).
--
Gale Harp (Bow)
Evolver Rank: Feral
Tier: Low-Tier
Effect: Arrows fired gain homing for 1 second after being shot.
--
Molten Brand (Greatsword)
Evolver Rank: Awakened
Tier: High-Tier
Effect: Ignites the ground in a small radius on heavy attacks.
--
There were many other weapons. Tarkan kept scrolling through the list, looking for the one he had first seen on the wall.
It wasn't long before he found the exact picture of the sword on the screen.
Reading its description, Tarkan drew in a breath of cold air.
--
Viper's Grin (Twin Swords)
Evolver Rank: Crowned
Tier: High-Tier
Effect: All attacks have a 25% chance to apply stacking poison (max 3 stacks, 8 seconds).
Venomburst – Special Effect:
Trigger: Land two perfectly timed slashes across the same existing wound on an enemy within 2 seconds.
Effect: Ruptures the wound into a toxic geyser, dealing 300% poison damage in a cone and applying Neurotoxin, which reverses the enemy's healing for 10 seconds.
--
Seeing a weapon with such an added special effect, Tarkan couldn't help but feel happy. With these swords and his timer, he would be able to kill anything in the Second Dimension that crossed his path.
He had to get this. Without much thought, he quickly called for Thiago, asking for the price.
The menu didn't list prices for any of the weapons, only their descriptions, ranks, and tiers.
Thiago looked at the weapon Tarkan had selected on the screen and said without a change in expression, "The weapon you selected costs five Crowned-Tier Evolver cores."
The smile on Tarkan's face instantly disappeared.
The weapon was clearly beyond his capacity. The crazy part was that it was so costly it was valued in cores instead of coins.
Who was he kidding? He wasn't even able to take down a Feral-Tier creature at the moment, because he lacked the means, let alone kill and collect the core of a Crowned-Tier creature.
And to be honest, if he could take down five Crowned-Tier creatures, the sword would be of no use to him by then.
Thiago said, "The weapon is so expensive because of the special effects. There is only a five percent chance for a weapon to be made with a special effect, and this weapon was made by a master forger who requested payment only in cores."
Tarkan was disappointed that he couldn't get the weapon. Just as he was going to the machine to check for a practical weapon to use, the man, now standing at the counter, stopped him.
"I know it's too much, but I have a watered-down variety of the sword. Give me a second," Thiago said.
"They are new products that came in today and haven't been added yet."
Thiago quickly left and brought back a long, slim box, dropping it on the desk in front of Tarkan. Just as he was about to introduce the weapon..
The city started shaking.
Thiago was cut off mid speech.
"What is that? What could shake a whole city like this?"
Tarkan observed Thiago but noticed he didn't seem to panic.
"Do you know what is happening?" Tarkan couldn't help but ask in curiosity.
Thiago didn't look alarmed. "Nothing unusual. The city gets attacked by creatures often. The gates kill them off. Nothing new."
No wonder there was no sound of panic from outside. It truly seemed to be a regular thing for them.
Tarkan, halfway through opening his mouth to speak, suddenly froze.
The city was immediately plunged into darkness.
"Are you sure this is normal?" Tarkan asked.
A click sounded, and light came back on, but only from the shop's lamps. The machine for checking weapon descriptions remained dead, clearly running on battery or some backup power source.
The shaking in the city was getting intense.
"This is new," Thiago admitted, "but I'm sure nothing can breach the city's defense.."
Before he could finish his sentence, a message beeped for all three of them at the same time, shocking them.
[ALERT: The city is about to be breached by creatures. All able combatants should report to defensive positions.]
Tarkan immediately had a weary smile.
...
..
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