’So, how does this shop function work,’ Erin asked the system.

"You know, I hadn’t expected the system to be shared like this, the whole thing is rather intreasting if I do say so myself, so to keep it short I don’t fully know," The system replied.

Erin gritted her teeth, and groaned.

"But—!" The system quickly said, "What you will need to do is place your palewalker crystal back into the system so the shop can register it."

Erin did as told and placed it into her system’s inventory.

"Then you will need to open up the shop and scroll down to the item you want."

However, when opening up the shop tab, it displayed a message that Erin had already seen before.

[Locked to user: Quinn Talen]

There was something new, or rather, something missing, and it was the message that stated the shop was locked until level 10.

With that in mind, Erin started mentally texting some messages.

{Erin} I need you to check the system shop.

{Erin} Remember, you’re the one who has access to it.

Although he hadn’t responded yet, in her vision, she could see Quinn opening the shop tab, and scrolling down the numerous items. Most of them were greyed out, meaning it wasn’t acquirable, but there was one thing that wasn’t.

{Erin} There!

[Would you like to create the "Paleneedle" Intermediate rapier?]

[Cost 1 palewalker crystal]

{Quinn} Who’s hands is it going to appear in?

{Erin} I don’t care, just get it already.

Quinn had selected ’yes’ and suddenly, Quinn’s vision clouded as he saw a glowing crystal in a black empty space swim around until it exploded, creating bright glittering sparkles that then came together again forming the silhouette of a sword.

He opened his eyes, and there it was in his hands. Quinn had to be thankful that he was alone in the bathroom, otherwise it would’ve been hard to explain the sudden appearance of a sword.

Since Quinn couldn’t use the inspect skill, he would have to wait until he met with Erin to know what the stats were. He could tell this was a powerful sword as he could feel his strength and speed improve while holding the rapier.

’Just how much does it make me stronger?’ Quinn thought to himself.

{Quinn} I got the sword.

{Erin} Good, now bring it to me when you’re done shopping.

—

The sun had set, the group had reconvened, and were outside seated around a table, all with notable new gear. The two humans of the group, Quinn and Layla, were eating some snacks they had bought with their own money.

"It’s hard to find a new bow, they’re all super expensive" Layla said, sighing, "But I did find a few arrows. If we encounter anything strong then these should work."

Erin inspected her arrows. There was one that was purely red with black feathers, and had a black cloth wrapped around the head.

[Inspect]

[Firebomb arrow]

[Strength +5]

[Intermediate tier]

[When the arrow head lands on its target, the arrow will explode. Single use only]

"I’m told to keep the arrow head wrapped in this cloth," Layla said before very carefully picking it up, "It’s meant to prevent it from exploding when it’s in a quiver."

The next arrow was a light blue color with a triangular snowflake arrow head.

[Frostnet arrow]

[Strength +4]

[Intermediate tier]

[The arrow stores a small amount of ice energy within that when used, will spread out over a 3ft radius. 3 uses left]

"And this one I got in case we need to trap any beasts," Layla said with a proud smile, "I wanted to get a bow that can duplicate arrows, but they’re incredibly rare, and super expensive."

Quinn had a hand on his chin, thinking about the possibility of something, "Would it be possible to make archery gloves out of beast gear?"

"I think I saw one of those once. Maybe if we find the right material, and pay a forger, I can get one made," Layla replied, "What about you, Fex?"

Fex looked smug with himself as he did some fancy finger work to flip around a dagger with a hole on the tip of the handle, "Oh you know, nothing special."

[Inspect]

[Basic tier daggers]

[Strength +2] [Agility +1]

Fex had 5 of the same kind of daggers, each with a hole in them that he could use his ability to make his strings extra deadly. They had to think so if the dagger in the ceiling back in Leo’s class was anything to go by.

"Well, I got a bit of everything," Quinn said, before taking out several items onto the table, each one making a loud thunk sound.

Somehow, Quinn had bought the most amount of stuff, including the paleneedle rapier, which made the others amazed that he could even stretch the budget this far. Only Erin knew the sword was actually bought from the system.

"Woah, how were you able to afford all of that!" Layla asked, amazed.

The first item was a small green and brown pouch with a black earth symbol on the side.

[Inspect]

[Advanced tier Mud Pouch]

[Stores up to 50 pounds of mud. The mud stored in the pouch becomes weightless.]

"I was able to get this one for cheap," Quinn explained, "The guy I was buying this from was desperate to get rid of it. Because he had leveled up his earth ability, he thought this would’ve made him look weak since it can only store mud."

"Aren’t you a level 2?" Layla asked, "You don’t have to use mud anymore."

"While that’s true, it’s easier to manipulate," Quinn explained before controlling the mud rings under his sleeves onto his hands. He then was able to control the mud to create intricate patterns, spiked gauntlets, textured knuckles, and more in such a fluid manner that Layla couldn’t help but find it impressive.

"Regular earth is more rigid, and harder to shape into something unique, but with mud I can do this..."

Quinn then dug one of his hands into a bag of beast spikes. A small round box formed over his wrist where they could see spikes shift around.

[Inspect]

[Basic tier Tri-spikes]

"Can you do me a quick favor, Layla? Can you float one of these cans far away enough for me to aim?"

Layla nodded, and used her ability to move one of their already emptied cans about 5 ft away. Quinn then shifted in his seat to aim at the floating soda can, and shot out one of the spikes covered in mud.

It missed.

"Wow, really impressive, Quinn," Erin dryly commented.

"Hold on," Quinn said, before sticking out one of his fingers for better aim, and shooting again.

The spike had pierced through the soda can, leaving a visible hole.

They gasped in awe. It was certainly a creative usage of the earth ability, and wasn’t something they thought about before.

"Looks like you’re using that ability well. Make sure you read the 3rd book soon," Erin commented, then held her hand out to him, "My sword, Quinn?"

"You could at least ask with a ’please?’" Quinn commented, then handed Erin the rapier, and at last was she able to inspect it.

[Inspect]

[Paleneedle rapier]

[Intermediate Tier]

[Strength +5] [Agility +4]

[When stabbing a target with the blade, it will absorb 5% of the target’s health. Skill will not activate when blocking, or slashing.]

[Health absorption works once every 10 seconds]

"It’s... beautiful..." Erin stared in awe examining the blade’s power.

While the blade was quite gorgeous with its ivory coloring that faded into a black handle in the form of 3 thick wires intertwining, she was mainly talking about the unique effects of the sword. To have a weapon heal its user could only come from beasts that healed themselves, which made the power rather rare to say the least

Erin got up and immediately began swinging the rapier around trying to get used to its weight. Her old sword was heavier, more bulkier, and in comparison, this was far lighter. The blade was also partially bendable too, an intended feature of the rapier weapon.

Then she recalled back on the red portal planet the time Fex had used her body, and she was moving around with a level of swordsmanship she hadn’t done before. Closing her eyes, Erin tried to focus and replicate those same movements, but she had only experienced them once in a high stress situation.

Fex, watching Erin, had realized what she was doing. Each time she tried fighting with a lightness in her step, she got more and more frustrated that she wasn’t able to reach that level.

"Hmm... In case you weren’t aware, I’m right here you know," Fex commented.

Erin growled at not getting it right, but as she heard Fex, her head swung to his direction. Marching up to him, she stared him down.

"Show me again. Do what you had done before."