The World of Tactics

Chapter Twenty-One IV: Pre-Homecoming

Chapter Twenty-one IV: Pre-Homecoming

"Day by day, my suffering continues. I saw my dear wife, every day, suffering from my moving cursed dead body! I can see the blood of my wife and children, the touch of their warm blood, the feeling of their emotions, the taste of their tears. I am a failure as a father... When will this suffering end?

I can feel the fracture within my soul, once I disappear from the world, will... Will the end of my suffering bring the death of my wife and children? Will the three still have the courage to live on if given so? Will my cowardliness in giving up my body be forgiven? Will I?

All that he felt within the depths of his soul was pure despair, sadness, anger, wrath, unwillingness, helplessness, and looming guilt. And the fractures of his soul increase." Sir Roylis Smith raged within his soul.

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He had also made a notable observation on the building floor. They were floor tiles. These were squared tiles with clear markings on them. He knew what those were onto, it was sigils that were inscribed onto the tiles. It was no wonder that the owner did not care about the sign outside. The owner that could have such a sigil inscribed on as many as thousands of tiles would not skimp on having an ordinary wooden sign for such a storefront. The prices for the accessories were even more exaggerated once he reached the left half, which was separated by the middle stairs that led up to the second floor.

The minimum starting price was five hundred gold coins. Those were the ones that could only provide a single stat boost to a single stat. Other accessories increase the variety of magic might when using specific magic types. Those start at a minimum of seven hundred fifty gold coins. It was crazy, but it was extremely useful. Some accessories piqued his interest. Their effects are very bizarre, weird, and provide special properties.

Those such accessory effects are plus ten hits (+10 Hit), plus ten avoid (+10 Avoid), plus ten critical hits (+10 Crit), health points regeneration (Regenerate 1 HP per turn), a fire might (Might +1 on fire Terrain) along with the other elemental might, fire protection (DEF & RES +1 on fire terrain) along with other elemental protection, weak poison resistance (Reduce poison count by 1), weak stun resistance (Reduce stun count by 1), other weak resistances as well, and that was close to the end of the accessory section.

He got to the failure section where all of the accessories that fell into this category were considered failed products or accessories that provided no benefits at all. This section may be the failure section, but it was still neat, clean, sorted, and organized. He was just curious and his gaze randomly roamed to one of the accessories on display. It was a pendant, cheap, only fifty gold coins. Well, all of the failures were automatically set at fifty gold coins and considered ornaments or small trinkets.

His mind was set on getting one or two more gifts for Hugo and Savannah. He almost forgot his promise until he saw the cheap failed accessories. But, he was shocked by the description of the very first pendant in his hand. His heart leaped backward and forward. Down and up. All messed up. Who thought that the failed accessories that were thrown here would be deemed as useless ornaments? The description of the pendant reads:

[Pendant of Growth Potential (All Growth Rate +5)]

[A pendant that was imbued with the soul core of a Mogollon. When attached to a necklace, all growth rates are +5. Hidden Effect.][Cost: 50g]

To ensure that it was not false, he put it down and picked it up again. Yet, the descriptions were the same as before. It was not fake nor a failed accessory. The only reason why this accessory was deemed a failure was due to the hidden effect on the pendant. He tightly holds onto the pendant in fear that someone else would get a hold of it, but that fear was unnecessary. From the perspective of others, it was just a useless piece of junk and was not worth wasting any gold coins. He was excited and took a look at the other similar-looking pendants.

[Pendant of Growth Vigor (HP Growth Rate +25)][Cost: 50g]

[Pendant of Growth Strength (STR Growth Rate +19)][Cost: 50g]

[Pendant of Growth Defense (DEF Growth Rate +16)][Cost: 50g]

[Pendant of Growth Magic (MAG Growth Rate +20)][Cost: 50g]

[Pendant of Growth Speed (SPD Growth Rate +24)][Cost: 50g]

[Pendant of Growth Skill (SKL Growth Rate +12)][Cost: 50g]

It was extremely good! Take, for example, someone that has a zero magic growth rate. Just by equipping a pendant of growth magic and that specific 'someone' would be able to grow in magic with enough levels. Those with a low growth rate of magic would become even stronger. For those that have eighty magic growth rates were to equip the pendant of growth magic, that would mean that their magic stat would automatically increase by one point with every single level up. This is impossibly good and he knows why it was deemed a failed accessory. This accessory does not automatically show its prowess straightforwardly, but it will show its worth over time.

He did not hesitate to take all of the seven pendants and rushed to the counter. This quite surprised the clerk within the failure section. After all, there was no one as unruly as he was to empty a whole box of worthless pendants. He did not care about the surprised clerk at all and dropped the three hundred fifty gold coins on the counter with a loud 'thud' sound. The gold coins even jiggled for half a second with the jiggling sound of gold coins colliding. He was a bit impatient as the clerk was counting every single gold coin. After a minute or two of counting, he quickly pocketed the pendant into his pocket before putting it into his inventory. He is not risking the chance of it being stolen.

He hurried and went out to find Lawrence. He had already planned on asking if Lawrence had any spare gold coins. This is a good chance to grab some more valuable accessories. He knew for sure even though he had not looked through the other accessories. There were still the rings, earrings, bracer, badge, necklace, and others. He even plans on exchanging his current accessory for accessories that have hidden effects. He met Lawrence at the entrance while tending to Dork.

He took the chance to ask Lawrence, "Lawrence, how many gold coins do you have?"

Lawrence looks skeptical while staring back at him, but relents after a while. Lawrence was reluctant to answer, "Five or so hundred."

The number was just right and he took Lawrence's hand and pulled him into the accessory shop. Once inside, he hurried Lawrence towards the failure section. Lawrence had been here before, so Lawrence already knew that this was the failure section. He did not mind Lawrence's skepticism and hurried to examine the remaining accessories.

The first thing that he started on was the rings. He categorized that there were three types of hidden effects on the rings. Those three types were an increase in a specific weapon rank, the ability to use other weapons with the rank determined within the effects, and an increase in weapon experience when using them. The three most prominent rings and useful rings are listed below:

[Ring of Lance (Lance Rank +0.5)]

[Ring of Axemanship (Gain Axe E, Temporary)]

[Ring of Weapon Mastery (Weapon EXP x1.25)]

He took two of the three rings while including one other ring that enables a person to use a sword at the rank of E instead of an ax. The others were not worth mentioning since he got the best. The other reason was that he did not have enough gold coins to purchase all of these. There were still other accessories that he had to go through. For now, he had to be conservative in regards to wanting more. He moved on to the earrings.

The earrings were quite plain. The only hidden effect of the earrings was an increase of constitution, a hidden stat. He also had no clue as to how the constitutional stat worked, so he had no premise to determine how valuable it was. Most of the earrings only increase the constitution stats by half a point and the remaining few increase only one point. He was not sure about this, so he moved on to the next section.

The next section was the bracer, but this time it had attracted his attention. The bracer's hidden effects provide affinities. There was a selection of affinities, such as fire, earth, water, wind, thunder, etc. The most important thing was that there were also light and darkness affinities. This is not a common affinity, it goes beyond that. If someone wants to start learning magic, that person needs to have an affinity for it. Then it comes down to what type of magic affinity one is compatible with. The higher the affinity, the easier a mage can rank up to that specific magic mastery rank.

This is where he stopped for a moment because he vaguely remembered one of Savannah's proclamations, 'I want to be the strongest fire mage!' Then Hugo's trembling voice came after, "Then, then… I-I'll be the greatest hero then!" While snot and drools drip down nastily.

Even though it was faint, it was still there along with the two baby voices. Savannah will become a mage in the future, so it would be fitting to give her a bracer that provides a fire affinity boost. As for Hugo, he needs something fitting as well, so that he can freeload from it. Happy, he chose the highest fire affinity bracer. On another note, he chose one more for Dork. The two fire affinity bracers are listed below:

[Bracer of Fire Affinity (Fire Affinity +20)]

[Bracer of Fire Affinity (Fire Affinity +19)]

He moves on to the necklace, his mind yelping in surprise. He never thought anything familiar here. The necklace increases the amount of experience gained. There was also something about the experience boost that he took note of. The experience boost goes by an increasing multiple of five. Other than that, the highest that he saw could boost a total of twenty-five percent. The necklace is listed below:

[Necklace of Experience (EXP x1.25)]

[A necklace imbued with the soul core of a cyclops. When equipped, all battle experience gains x1.25. Hidden.]

He took two necklaces of experience that increased experience gain by twenty-five percent. It was a good haul and he took a liking to the hidden effects of the accessories. It was especially so for the pendant where he could attach one pendant to a necklace. It works quite well together with the experience gained and the increased growth rates. He moved on to the badge section and he could tell that Lawrence was still confused. He could not tell Lawrence anything at that point, because it was too important to converse there. It was better said after they exited the village for a distance first.

He turned to the badge accessories and found that there were only five badges. However, each badge was incredible. He was amazed because each badge had a skill and none of the skill was something that a human could possess. Not only that, he noticed that skills did not come easily. Unless it was someone like Jagen whose lance mastery had reached rank A while having rank C for the two other types of weapon, sword, and ax. Jagen had five skills and that was two times more than the average person. The five badges are listed below:

[Skill Badge: Thick Blood (HP +5)]

[Skill Badge: Weightless Attack (Attack speed +2, Might -1)]

[Skill Badge: Slithering Movement (Avoid +15)]

[Skill Badge: Troll's Regeneration (Regenerate 5HP per turn)]

[Skill Badge: Iron Bone (DEF +2)]

He did not hesitate to grab the five badges. He counted the number of accessories in his hand because he did not have enough gold coins. He turned toward Lawrence with an embarrassed smile. He said, "Lawrence?" Then brave the shame that was welling upward within him and ask, "Can I borrow three hundred gold coins?"

That amount of gold coins is not little at all and was quite a lot to ask. So, he added while his voice choked, "I-I'll double the return." Then finalized with, "I promise!"

Lawrence did not say anything and just handed over the gold coins. Lawrence was supposedly his retainer, but in the matter regarding gold coins. Lawrence did hesitate quite a bit but compromised when the return would be doubled. It was not like the gold coins would run away anyway. Lawrence would be able to get the gold coins back once they reached his father's fief. No lord nor noble would care about the six hundred gold coins. After all, a lord would need finance to pay the soldiers under them. Hence, the reason Lawrence does not mind buying the gold coins.

Once he got the gold coins, he went to the counter to check them out. The total amount of gold that he used up just that day had already reached over one thousand three-hundred gold coins. The accessories that they offered were too good to pass up. Even when choosing the best out of those among the accessories, he still feels a tint of regret for not being able to take them all. He sighed and walked out of the shop with a brimful of accessories that were sold dirt cheap.

With that thought, his mind relaxed a little and led Dork out of the shelter. Hopped on Dork's back before turning to Lawrence. He said, "Lawrence, let us be on our way."