Boredom

One Week Later...

Prince blinked his eyes open, staring at the sky. For the thousandth time.

He was bored.

It wasn't anything new, because he had been bored for a while now.

The world seemed... Grey, to him. He needed to do something. His body was itching to be active, to fight. 

As for his Faction, everything was going well, actually.

Most of the buildings had been done. Now they were working on his house, which Olivia insisted should be a mansion, though Prince didn't really care.

They used wood from the trees and a strange material called Spirit Steel, which was steel imbued with Essence.

It was a very interesting material. Prince had tried punching it, only to find that it damaged his knuckles, which meant that it was very durable.

As it turned out, goblins multiplied quickly. Because Prince hadn't killed them all, they were increasing in numbers. Thankfully, the goblins were the perfect thing for the Valkyries to bloody their weapons on.

The Valkyries who were too advanced for the goblins went to the Flaming Monkey tribe, in which the monkeys were pretty happy to get more people to use their forest gym.

Tah'Mahkul had teleported to the place and had already set up shop there. Prince wanted to go properly check out his wares, mainly because Prince had a plan.

That E-Grade Dungeon, Atlantis? He would conquer it.

Prince had bought a medium information package and found out that an E-Grade dungeon had an E-Grade boss, but all of its monsters were regular F-Grades. D-Grade was the same thing, and so on and so forth.

Prince decided to start his preparations. He stood in one fluid motion and began a walk toward the Towering Peak.

The layout of the budding settlement was all around the mountain, with the rest of the forest left for the wild. The mountain remained untouched, though they were building a staircase that would lead all the way to the top.

Prince finally glimpsed the clearing and the Spirit Steel wall that bordered the settlement. Already, a week in, and it was more impressive than the goblin village by a lot.

Prince entered through the space in the middle- where there were supposed to be doors, though they weren't worked on yet.

Two Valkyries, who stood on guard, abruptly woke up when Prince passed, immediately bowing to him.

Prince gave them a nod. Everything was coming together nicely.

As he entered, Prince realized people were already adapting.

The roads of stone winded through numerous wooden and steel buildings. Children ran about, finding joy even in the apocalypse. They stopped to stare at him.

Prince strangely felt as if they could see right through him.

He stuck his hands in his pockets and kept walking.

So far, the settlement wasn't that big- but it would be when Prince collected more people to bring in. Then, this would really feel satisfying.

Prince stopped before a familiar merchant stall.

"Wake up, naked cat," Prince said, crossing his arms.

"Eh-?" Tah'Mahkul opened his eyes. "Oh, it's you, say, I have a-"

"No." Prince sighed. This guy was slippery. "Just opened the shop."

"Fine," Tah'Mahkul muttered. He snapped his fingers.

Prince browsed the shop. There were a lot of items he wanted to get, but most either cost too much or just were not needed right now.

Eventually, Prince bought four items:

First, a pair of white-and-golden shorts that were resistant to damage and could repair themselves. They also had a speed function that he could only use once every 24 hours.

Second, he got a matching white-and-gold cloak that had resistance and self-repairing, but could use a defense function once every 24 hours. The defense was equivalent to that of an early E-Grade's.

Third, he got a vial with ten green pills. They were Low Healing Pills, which were not as expensive as bottles of healing. 

Fourth he got a Lesser Storage Ring to put things in like a mini-inventory.

All of this, including the things he had bought for the Valkyries, left him with just 1,000 credits.

"And," Tah'Mahkul was simply grinning a slimy grin. "Is there anything else you would like to buy-"

"No." Prince said once more. "NPC."

"What?" Tah'Mahkul asked, confused, as a package materialized in his hand. He handed it to Prince.

"Nothing." Prince said. He began to turn away, taking the package.

"Oh, and?" Prince said, turning around.

"Yeah?" Tah'Mahkul smirked.

"Tell Olivia that I'm going dungeon delving." Prince turned and walked away again, not even waiting for an answer.

"Oh," Tah'Mahkul muttered, slightly disappointed. "Well, whatever."

The sleazy merchant went back to sleep.

***

Once Prince had made some good distance, he unboxed the package.

Speedy Shorts (E-Grade)

Shorts that improve one's speed and are very durable. They come with a self-repairing function and a once-a-day 30-second speed boost. This specific line is from a brand located in #2Y (commonly called the Dragonspire Galaxy).

Ironhide Cloak (E-Grade)

A cloak made out of the fur of an Ironhide Boar, an E-Grade beast. Very durable, along with a self-repairing feature and a once-a-day E-Grade defense maneuver. This specific line is from a brand located in #2Y (commonly called the Dragonspire Galaxy).

Vitality Pills (F-Grade)

A bottle of Low Vitality Pills. Eating one grants a temporary boost to health and regenerative ability. 

Storage Ring (F-Grade)

A ring that manipulates Space Dao so as to store things within it. This one in particular is a low-quality one.

Speedy Shorts? What the hell did I just buy?

He quickly changed into his clothes.

The shorts fit perfectly, and looked pretty nice, he had to admit. The cloak had a nice little hood and covered his entire body.

Though if he moved at anything more than a leisure stroll, the cloak would open up to reveal his body.

Prince then put his Storage ring on.

He found that as soon as he put it on, he could see a whole different space in hi mind. A 15 by 15 feet area, or room. 

Prince touched his credit card to the ring.

It disappeared, reappearing in his mental room.

Prince thought about bringing it out again. It reappeared in his hand.

Nice.

Prince put his credit card and his pills in there. Then he turned and began his walk.

This is gonna be fun.