Chapter 66- Black Liquid
"This should be it," Acht muttered to himself as he checked the building in front of him, comparing it to the one on his phone.
Even with the help of his GPS, he had been searching for this place for more than an hour by this point, since Lagradon was extremely big.
What he was looking for was a weapon shop. From the moment he came here, Acht had one single glaring flaw in his fighting style, defense.
Back on earth, he wasn't in need of any defensive equipment since most of his jobs required him to end his opponent instantly. But in this world, he was in constant lethal danger and most of his fights ended up with direct confrontation making defense essential.
That's why he decided to spend the rest of the gold he had in his spatial ring on buying a defensive soul artifact.
Acht then made his way to the door and entered inside. It was a small shop in a very calm area of the city.
The inside wasn't too extravagant, it was just a room full of shelves with some artifacts on them. There was also a reception desk not so far away from the door.
Acht walked there to ask for the clerk. However, it seemed like nobody was there at the moment so he decided to call for them.
"Excuse me."
It didn't take long for a rustle to reach his ear from the other side of the shop. Then, a skinny man appeared in front of him looking breathless and tired.
"Yes! Welcome. How can I help you today?" He said as his chest heaved up and down in a rhythmic manner.
Acht ignored his bad state and went straight to the point.
"I'm here to look for a defensive soul artifact. I heard you were the best in Lagradon so I came here."
"Yes! Yes! You came to the right place, my friend. Follow me inside!" He gestured with his hand.
Acht then passed the desk and entered the backroom.
Inside, there was a huge, museum-like area where many soul artifacts were being presented.
The place was so big it extended for at least 800 meters. All of the artifacts were put behind glass with varying levels of additional security.
"What are you looking for, my friend?" The lean man asked.
"A defensive artifact. I want it to be light but effective in stopping both long range and short range attacks." He specified his preference.
"I see. How about this? It's called 'Aqua Chestplate'. Effective in short and long-range attacks and can also nullify water attacks within the same Soul level." He explained as he showed Acht a blue chestplate. It didn't look that special but it was indeed a soul artifact since Acht could feel soul energy inside of it.
But, he didn't like it so he shook his head.
"That's not a problem. Then, how about this one? It's called 'Rock Armor'. It's also good in short and long-range attacks. Not only that, but it's also very effective against the rock element and can also double as a weapon."
Then, he tapped on a particular part of the shield. The shield started morphing until it had turned into a big hammer.
It was better than the other one but Acht still refused since it seemed quite heavy and would restrain his movement a lot.
The man seemed to be slightly troubled now but he still kept showing him all kinds of weapons and artifacts. From chestplates to shields and everything in between. Each artifact had a unique ability that made it special.
However, Acht couldn't find something that he fancied. It was just hard to find the specific combinations he wanted from a defensive artifact in one weapon.
As they kept walking around the place and looking at all kinds of objects, Acht suddenly saw something.
It was a triangular object put on a shelf that was not protected by any glass. That was weird considering the fact that everything here should've been costly.
"What's that?" Acht asked.
"Hmm? Oh, that…. Umm…" The man didn't answer immediately and scratched his head awkwardly.
"Is there something wrong?"
"No! It's just something that I don't recommend." He shook his head.
"Why so?"
"Umm… How should I say this… It has many bad rumors around it."
"Bad rumors?"
"Yes! Really bad rumors! It's actually a cursed object I got from an unknown seller. He said it was from Ecrasia so I bought it immediately. After all, everybody knows anything from there is a treasure. But, since that time, everyone who bought it returned it a few days later. Every single time without fail, like clockwork!"
He then sighed while rubbing his forehead nervously.
"They all said almost the same things. This object made them feel like they were being controlled by an evil being. Some of them even said they almost died using it."
Acht listened to the first part of his story but ignored the last part since something pulled his attention. The triangular object seemed to be calling for him.
It was a weird sensation but Acht could feel it clearly… The artifact wanted him to hold it.
Even though he would've not touched such a shady object in normal circumstances, something within his soul nudged him to approach it and hold it in his hands.
So, without having control over his senses, his body inched closer to the object, ever so slowly. The moment he touched it, he felt a surge of energy invade his body. It was not bad by any means. In fact, this energy made him feel even more energetic than he already was.
"What is this object exactly?" He asked calmly without shifting his gaze away from it as if it was the only thing he could see.
The man was extremely nervous now that he saw someone interested in this accursed thing in his shop again. He had seen other customers use it before and so he knew very well how it worked.
"This object manifests a black material that you could control freely within 10 meters of you." He explained.
"How do I activate it?"
"...I really don't think you should take it, my friend. This is something you might regret."
"Just tell me how to activate it," Acht repeated.
" *Sigh*, just channel your soul force into the artifact."
Acht did so and the triangular object started shifting. Then, a black, slimy liquid started seeping out of it.
The liquid was so dark that no light could reflect from it. As it seeped out, it surrounded Acht's hand and moved up his arm.
He didn't resist it at all since he felt no threat coming from this slimy liquid. In fact, his body welcomed it as if it was a long-lost limb that had finally reunited with his body.
The crawling finally stopped at his shoulder. Now, his whole arm had black veins oozing around it.
Then, Acht tried to do something with it. He imagined it forming a ball in his hand. Almost instantly, the black liquid moved in a flash and formed a black ball in his hand.
He then imagined the ball to be bouncy and flexible. He tried to throw it to the ground and the ball immediately bounced back to the same height.
'This is interesting. It's something I didn't know I needed until I found it.' He thought to himself.
"How strong is this liquid?"
He didn't immediately get an answer so he looked at the shop owner with a confused look.
The man had his mouth agape and his eyes almost popping out of their sockets. He couldn't believe what he was witnessing.
That was the first time he saw the liquid act like that. In all of the times he saw it get activated, the liquid always falls to the ground without doing much else.
When others had tried to control it, the liquid moved according to their will but not as fast and effectively as what Acht demonstrated in front of him.
"Are you ok?" Acht snapped his fingers near his ears to wake him up from his shock.
"Ah! Ah, yes! My apologies! It is actually quite sturdy. That's the reason most people bought it anyway. I think it could stop the attacks of beings 2 or 3 levels higher than you. But, it needs a constant amount of soul force for it to stay working."
Acht looked at it one last time and then said with a decisive look.
"I will buy it. How much is it?"
"Um, are you really sure?"
"Yes. How much?"
"Umm…You could take it for 2 gold coins. I don't want it in my store anyway."
"Why didn't you throw it then?" Acht asked as he gave him the two gold coins.
"I couldn't bear to throw away an object coming from Ecrasia. I thought that even if it stayed here, a small warning from me would make everyone forget about buying it. But, I guess there are still reckless people in this world." He chuckled nervously.
Acht didn't say anything else and left the store with the object stored in his spatial ring.
(We are finally fully contracted. I hope you will gift this book. Anything, no matter how small it is, is a support for me to keep pumping out chapters. Anyway, have a good day.)
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