Chapter 19 - New Weapons

"Equip."

In near unison before leaving through the front door of the apartment building, they all manifested their [Equip], though they didn't plan to get into any fights, at least before he obtained a new weapon, it was better safe than sorry.

As they stepped outside, he was immediately greeted by the surprising brightness of the sun, raising his arm to shield his eyes from its blaring radiance.

"It's a nice day out," Kamou smiled, following him out.

"As good a day as we're gonna get," Myung-Hee said, looking towards the sky as well.

He sighed out quietly, as the beauty of the sunny day did its best to ease the horrid state of the desecrated sector of Jung district.

Nature had begun to reclaim the suburban streets, with verdant growth seeping through the cracks in the streets and overtaking houses.

It didn't take long to arrive at an Angel Shop, an ivory, tall-standing building with a few floors that, like an Obsidian Dungeon, replaced some houses in the neighborhood, opening itself to them with an unseen door that didn't present itself on hinges.

"Alright, then…what do they have today?" He mumbled, stepping into the Angel Shop alongside the two others.

It was an all-white, minimalistic interior, managed by a humanoid shopkeeper that resembled an A.I in her behavior, simply smiling and greeting them the same exact words she greeted each player with.

Compared to the world that was ravaged by Armageddon, the Angel Shops were a glimpse of perfection.

"Welcome, Players."

The shop itself was stock full of things long since gone in the apocalyptic world; fresh, perishable food and ingredients were in clean, spotless freezers on the first floor.

"Jeong-Hui, we're going to head up," Kamou told him as she and Myung-Hee stood on the snow-white steps.

"Alright, I'll meet you up there," he smiled.

He stayed on the first floor as after last night, he had a newfound inspiration to take up cooking once again, looking through the plentiful ingredients on display in the seraphic shop.

"First off, how many Angel Coins do I even have?" He mumbled to himself, summoning the interface to tell him.

[Current [Angel Coins]: 400.]

"Right…I've got a lot to work with," he smiled, sending the interface away as he grabbed one of the quartz-shaded baskets, beginning to pile ingredients in.

As ingredients were generally cheap, he didn't give much thought to what he put in the basket, mainly choosing general ingredients like chicken, noodles, rice, fish, beef, and a lot of vegetables, spices, and peppers for stock.

"Alright, that should be good enough," he said to himself with a proud smile, excited to test out the ingredients.

Setting the basket on the quartz counter in front of the humanoid shopkeeper, all of his items were automatically priced without having to be checked.

It wasn't the shopkeeper who manually asked for his money, but a system prompt.

[Pay: [30] Angel Coins?]

"Yup," he answered quickly as the prompt was accepted.

As soon as it was paid for, the shopkeeper bowed her head slightly with her unchanging smile before all of the purchased product was placed into a plastic bag for him, handed off by the shopkeeper.

"Thank you for shopping, Player."

With his bag of fresh ingredients in hand, naturally kept cool by the unique nature of its divine material, he went up to the stairs to meet back up with the two in his party.

Meeting up with the two, he found them looking at the various equipment on sale on the next floor, which also had the exact same shopkeeper.

"What're you looking at?" He asked.

Kamou was a bit surprised to see him, glancing down at the bag he held, "Just browsing. Looks like you found something."

"A lot of things," Myung-Hee added.

He chuckled a bit, lifting the bag of ingredients as he rubbed the back of his own head, "Yeah, I thought it'd be good to stock up on ingredients since it's going to be the three of us now."

Browsing through the equipment for himself, he wound up crossing through the second floor into another room–the "Forge", which was occupied by what looked similar to a Defect, but not hostile.

"Urr…"

He'd never brought himself to the Forge before, not knowing how to approach the smithing, tall, angelic being that stood over the anvil with a hammer in its hand, standing in front of a quartz furnace.

As it lifted its featureless head to look at him, a prompt appeared.

[Craft?]

"Yes."

[Selection: Stygian Broadsword | Stygian Hammer | Stygian Claymore | Staygian Rapier | Stygian Daggers.]

Giving it a bit of thought, he almost chose the broadsword, but realized the daggers would be more fitting for his class.

That's right…I'm pretty sure the broadsword I was using wasn't exactly "optimal", he thought.

[Craft: [Stygian Daggers] | Resources Needed: Stygian Ore x10.]

"Ten…?"

He was disheartened by that prompt, only having four of the required ore himself as he slumped his shoulders.

"What's the matter?"

Turning around at the question, he was surprised to find Kamou and Myung-Hee standing just behind him, looking curiously.

"Ah…Nothing, I just don't have the right amount of ore," he sighed out quietly, defeated.

Glancing between one another, the two women then looked back at him with smiles that made him perplexed.

"System, transfer three "Stygian Ore" to Jeong-Hui," Kamou called out with a smile.

"Same here; I already have a good weapon, so I don't need my ore–give it to Jeong-Hui, System!" the muscular woman commanded her interface with a smile.

He was completely taken aback by this gesture, trying to stop them frantically, "No, no, you don't need to–"

Kamou stopped him, "Please accept it."

"Huh?"

"...You helped us, don't you remember? No, you've been helping us. So, please, accept this," Kamou looked at him with her big, azure eyes.

Looking at Myung-Hee as well, he could tell he didn't have much of a choice in the matter, wearing a smile of his own in return as he nodded his head, causing his curly, vermilion locks to bounce somewhat.

"Thank you," he nodded in gratitude.

[Received: [Stygian Ore] x3 from Player [Kamou]. Received: [Stygian Ore] x3 from Player [Myung-Hee].]

As he now had the proper amount of resources, he returned his attention to the inhuman, silent blacksmith, accepting the prompt to forge the daggers he had his sights set on.

It was a mystical forgery; the lankly, tall creature used its multiple arms to heat the ore up, hammering away at it in an efficient manner before the request was done within a minute.

"This it…?" His emerald eyes almost sparkled behind his glasses at the finished result.