Shopping time!

Once her laptop was fully turned on, Blair opened the WaterWolf browser. She then reached into her drawer and took out a plain looking notebook. She flipped through its many filled page until she opened one that had a sticky note attached to its surface. John peeked over her shoulder and read what was written on the sticky note, and based on what it said, John assumed that it was an IP address. As she glanced at the note as a reference, Blair typed the address into the search bar. Once she finished and pressed enter, her laptop loaded for a moment, and then it displayed a website. The site’s look was simple enough, just a dark blue screen with two empty boxes for a username and password to be filled in.

“Alright, in order to make an account, you’ll need to start by placing your hand on the screen. The Abyss Auction has quite a few technomancers working for them around the clock, so they will be able to recognize that your mana signature isn’t tied into an account yet and will get you started on making one,” Blair explained to him.

I’m not sure about the idea of someone being able to recognize and store something like that so easily. But, people give their actual DNA to companies all the time… so I guess it’s okay as long as both Blair and Wentworth seem to trust it? John thought to himself as he did as Blair instructed. As soon as he did so, the screen changed into one that greeted him as a new user.

Greetings!
It seems that this is your first time accessing our services (or you have changed your mana signature in an attempt to exploit our welcome bundle, in which case you will be dealt with soon), so we welcome you to the Abyss Auction!

You will soon be able to create an account of your own, after which, as previously mentioned, you can be qualified for our welcome package!
We hope you will find our services satisfactory and use them for many years to come!

After that, John was directed to a new screen that asked him to choose his own username and password. He thought about what he wanted his username to be. On one hand, a part of him wanted it to be something that would fulfill that nerdy side of him. On the other hand, if this was going to be his main account that every other Abyssal with access to the Auction would be able to see, he may want it to be on the more professional side.

Hmm, I definitely shouldn’t make it my name or call it The Gamer, that would be a bit too obvious, and maybe even dangerous. But, on that note, how easy would it be for someone to find out that information regardless? Wentworth already told me that my Gamer powers are unique, and Blair seems to think the same as well. Worst case scenario, I should start assuming that someone somewhere that I don’t know has already taken notice, and that information may eventually end up spreading regardless of what I do. Screw it, if they already know I’m The Gamer, I might as well make a username befitting of it.

He decided that he might as well name himself after one of his favorite bosses as he typed out his username. With his username now set as The **** Knight, he typed his password as well and officially created his new account. He turned to Blair who sat on her bed beside him.

“The **** Knight, really?” she asked, an eyebrow raised. John just shrugged to that; if she didn’t understand the reference and, in his not so humble opinion, the epic tale behind it, there would be no point if he tried to explain it. The site loaded to a new page, one that seemed like the Auction’s actual homepage. It was what one would have expected, with a part dedicated to the best selling items, another for new ones, and more.

John began to scratch his chin as he thought, and noticed that he had grown a bit of facial hair. It had been a couple of days since the last time he shaved, so he may want to clean up once he got back home.

Okay, so I have the $25k that Wentworth gave me, plus what I already have. Now the question is, what do I want to spend that money on? he asked himself.

He began to internally review what he already had. In terms of weaponry, he had Soul Weapon and a kitchen knife as a backup. For armor he had… just his clothes if he didn’t count the Grass Jingasa he had recently obtained. He didn’t have any other items to boost himself with like item effect buffs or potions. He began to type Potion of Health into the search bar to see what results it would give him. Instead of what he had wanted, the only results were potions that in their descriptions promised to extend one’s life by decades and prevent any disease or ailment that might come. John looked at the price, and his jaw both figuratively and literally dropped when he saw all eight zeroes tagged onto it. Even if it wasn’t a crazy scam and actually worked, there was no way he could actually afford that. He asked Blair if such absurdly high prices were common in the Auction.

“Hmm, yeah, pretty much, although not to that degree most of the time. What you’re looking at is probably a scam, so whoever put it up likely inflated the price in order to make it seem more legit, which is one of the more common practices on the Auction. If you want to avoid getting scammed, I would recommend adding a filter for stuff that’s been certified by the Auction itself for its genuinity. By the way, what’s your budget?” she asked him.

“Umm, about $25-25k.” He silently begged that she wouldn’t ask him where he got so much money from. Thankfully for John, she didn’t as he moved aside and she began to use the laptop. She put a filter for both Auction certified items and for ones that fit under his budget. Once she did so, she returned the laptop to him.

“I know that your powers are themed around video games, but I have to tell you that any health potions you find would be obscenely expensive even by the Auction’s standards. Putting a person’s life energy into a bottle and making it viable for consumption is easier said than done after all. Now potions that contain liquid mana on the other hand, those are both cheaper and quite a bit easier to find,” Blair explained to him. With a nod, John cleared the search bar and typed those in instead.

Blair was right in that they were “cheaper”. However, the cheapest ones that he saw were priced in the 10k-25k range, so just one would at minimum take almost half of his total budget to purchase. And if John had to guess, he would say that these cheaper ones would likely not give him that much mana in order to justify that financial investment. He moved on; he wanted to see what armor and gear the Auction had to offer and see all of his potential options before he actually bought anything.

He opened the categories and selected armor and protection. He scrolled past an assortment of leather, chainmail, plate, and even bulletproof vests. They all varied in price, with the quality going up with the cost. John thought about what would suit him best based on his fighting style. He definitely liked getting up close and personal, while maintaining just enough distance for him to be out of reach. His scythe was the limiting factor; if he got too close, it would be difficult to hit an opponent, so he also needed to be far enough away to actually wield and swing it properly. He fought at a medium range, so perhaps it would be best if he also had armor of a medium weight.

He clicked on the different ways that they could be listed, and selected to have them listed by weight. He scrolled past the robes and leather and towards the chainmail where, curiously enough, there was also one item for a breastplate mixed in as well. He clicked on it to open its description. It described that this breastplate was enchanted to weigh less than it should, without sacrificing its durability or level of protection, and was actually on clearance at $12k. And reading further, he saw that they would include the rest of the set as well for $24k, just shy of his total budget.

It would take just shy of half of his budget, but having the majority of his vital organs protected wouldn’t be the worst investment John had ever made. He added it to his shopping cart, where he then got a popup on the screen before he could complete his purchase.

Congratulations!
You have been deemed to qualify for our one-time welcome package!
For the first purchase you make below totalling below $50k, we will be willing to pay half of that for you!
Well then, in that case, my budget has basically been doubled. John accepted the offer and went back to shopping. Now that he had armor, perhaps he could find some kind of extra gear like his ring. He changed categories and opened up jewelry, but also made sure to add a filter for enchanted items only.

He scrolled and clicked through the different items for a bit. Most of them were more on the boring side and only included enchantments to preserve the jewelry's beauty. However, there was eventually one that actually caught his eye. It would take the rest of his budget, but as he read its description, John knew that it would certainly be worth it.