Hidden Shop

Hunter knew exactly how long this fall would take and how much damage it would do.

Five seconds of free falling through completely blinding fog. The average person would have been screaming in terror by now, but Hunter just patiently let himself fall.

Right before Hunter hit the ground, he performed a basic maneuver known to every single Seeker known as a [Combat Roll], breaking the fall just barely enough to survive.

>>>

HP: 10 > 1

>>>

Perfectly calculated, as expected.

[Sneak] reducing fall damage combined with the [Combat Roll] allowed Hunter to survive with exactly one hit point.

Hunter breathed heavily as pain shot up all throughout his body. He stood up, however, after shrugging off the pain.

Unlike on Earth, the worlds of the Trial treated pain and damage differently because life force was now represented through a health bar.

To be sure, limbs could be broken and hacked off, and lethal strikes such as heart stabs or head shots would deplete health instantly, making damage mostly 'realistic'.

Even falls like this would ordinarily have broken Hunter's legs, but [Combat Rolls] mitigated fall damage and prevented it from breaking bones and body parts.

Regardless, the damage was still registered, so if Hunter took even a single point of damage now, his body would simply disintegrate, and he would die.

There was one fail safe, though.

By sacrificing 50% of one's Essence, a Seeker could resurrect themselves at their place of death or the last Beacon they linked with, though as of now, Beacons were not relevant.

That would come into play later.

Hunter pushed away the overwhelming pain assaulting him on every inch of his body. Even if his bones did not break, the damage still manifested in pain that could easily cause the average person to enter shock.

But Hunter was used to holding down the pain. He kept walking to what he wanted. He was in the middle of a small cavern, and he could hear the echoes of water dropping from the cavern ceiling. He followed the sound to a small pond where a hooded figure lay hunched over, gnarly, wrinkled white hands palming the water.

The figure was small, maybe half the size of an ordinary man, and it was deformed with long, spindly limbs and a comparatively tiny torso. Its flesh was wrinkled and peeling apart in bloody black patches, emitting a rotting stink.

Its face was wrapped up in a hood enshrouded in darkness that did not yield to any amount of light.

Behind it was a large sack of coarse brown cloth that bulged with items, though as Hunter knew, killing the Thrall and trying to steal the sack yielded nothing inside of it.

This was an Inhabitant, a term meant for seemingly friendly creatures that existed in worlds.

Basically, the equivalent of NPCs in games.

"Thrall," said Hunter, addressing the Inhabitant.

"Ah, you have found me, yes? The thrall that hides in this little hole, gathering, hoarding-,"

"I'll give you one hundred silvers," said Hunter, cutting off the dialogue to save time. He already knew what the Thrall said and there was nothing of real substance. Just a cryptic, eerie introduction to his goods. "Give me ten molten bombs."

Hunter manifested the entirety of the 100 silver coins he started out with, and it showed up on his palm in the form of a neatly wrapped up bag. He handed the bag to the Thrall, and the Thrall's spindly hand snatched the bag away, placing it in his sack.

"It will be done," said the Thrall in a raspy voice.

Then, the Thrall rummaged around in his sack and took out ten molten bombs one by one. Apple sized silver spheres with a molten red dot on top. Pressing the dot would light the bomb's internal fuse and cause it to explode in fiery blaze upon contact when thrown.

Hunter touched each bomb, and they disappeared in a flash of white particles, absorbing into his inventory.

>>>

Inventory: 11/30

-Dagger [Equipped]

-Molten Bomb x10

Rank: Magical

Type: Projectile/Consumable

Effect:

When thrown and upon making physical contact, Molten Bombs will explode into a fiery explosion dealing damage based on the user's strength and agility stats. Heavily contributes to the [Burn] status effect.

>>>

"Thanks, Thrall," said Hunter as he left.

Thrall did not respond, likely being something akin to an automaton. Lower-level worlds tended to have Inhabitants, enemies, and locations with no free will and set patterns, making them predictable and easy to game.

That was also one of the reasons why Hunter had to get as much of an advantage early, when elements of the world were not variable, when other Seekers would not be messing with him, so that he could be better prepared when situations became more reactive in higher level worlds.

Still, even if Thrall was not sentient, Hunter gave thanks where it was due.

Thrall did not sell any healing items.

Only weapons and projectiles of the Magical rank, with each weapon costing 100 silvers. Obviously meant as a reward for those that had chosen to take the 100 silvers from the start and take the risky fall here.

Or accidental. That was how Thrall was first discovered, in any case.

A wayward Seeker who had leveled up enough from early mobs to survive the fall.

Item ranks went from Common to Magical to Rare to Mythic to Godgiven to finally Celestial, and Magical items were considered to have a level range from 10-30 whereas Common items had a level range from 0-10.

Gaining a Magical weapon now was therefore quite impactful, especially considering that they had unique effects or actives whereas common weapons had no such ability.

But Magical weapons had stat requirements that Hunter did not meet because he had ignored every single enemy and refused to level up.

This, he already knew and accounted for.

Hunter chose Molten Bombs because as projectiles that were 'consumed', they had no stat requirements to use.

Hunter smiled to himself as he made his way out of the cave. He did not worry himself about buying a Magical weapon from Thrall because by the end of the Tutorial, Hunter would be coming out of this whole ordeal with the boss's prized personal weapon anyway.