＜ 8. Duel is a big deal in town (7) ＞
“Welcome!”
Upon entering the store, Andrea and his party were greeted by a merchant who was dressed smartly and had a neat mustache.
A cuckoo clock that smells strongly of antiques, a window that always sees the sunset no matter what the outside looks like, and cards and relics that fill the showcase. Looking at the same interior as the game, Andrea was somehow thrilled.
‘I’ve been wanting to see a store so much, but it’s the first time I’ve been on the 25th floor.’
The shop was right in the middle of town. In the first place, the town of Adsel itself was built around shops, so it was only natural.
Trisha had already been in a few times and was not particularly impressed, but Marco looked curiously at the windows and strangely shaped objects that showed a completely different landscape from the outside.
“Let’s take a look at it slowly. Hunter challenger is here again?”
Trisha only nodded slightly. Somehow, it seemed that the merchant felt burdened.
Andrea took a good look at the products on display in the showcase. There are a lot of good artifacts, cards that seem good but have very difficult conditions, and equipment cards that are useless even if you give them away. Traps and winnings were alternately scattered.
Based on Andrea’s experience, I could have picked the winner here. However, my budget was limited, so I had to choose something else for now.
Andrea thought the first thing was to prioritize consumption.
‘The most urgent thing is to set the direction of the deck. But even with Trisha, I don’t know how to set the direction of an alternative deck.’
I tried all the jobs in ‘Dungeon of Infinity’, but it was the first time for a follower class. Among the cards scattered in the display case, I didn’t see a single card dedicated to the disciple class.
“Master, are there any cards exclusive to the ‘Disciple’ class?”
Andrea approached the stall and asked. The merchant’s eyebrows curled thinly.
“A believer? Are you talking about Shinto?”
“Yes, Shinto.”
“I have seen many challengers, but this is the first time I have heard of such a class. Unfortunately, there are no Shinto class cards.”
Andrea couldn’t hide her embarrassment. What the hell is this class that doesn’t even judge cards in the store?
‘Although there may not be a specific card, there are basically cards for that class in the shop. But does it make sense that there isn’t even one?’
The merchant looks like an ordinary middle-aged man, but like Arpan, he is one of the managers of the dungeon. Considering the role of supplying items according to the challenger’s needs, it didn’t make sense that there were no class-only cards.
The absurd thing was that the merchant seemed to be scratching his head and trying to figure out what was going on. After thinking about it, the merchant’s proposal was embarrassing, even if it was a minister.
“There are many neutral cards that can be used instead. How about choosing among them?”
Andrea clicked her tongue slightly. There are many cards that can be used as long as the level of neutral cards is high, but if you buy a card that is about ‘Indomitable Will’, there won’t be much money left.
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Now that this has happened, he decided that he should only reinforce his equipment, and the deck should mainly focus on Trisha’s deck.
The direction of the deck that the hunter could take as a basic base was as follows. Infinite Shooting Cycle Deck, Abnormal Status Arrow Deck, Beast Zoo Deck.
Various other combinations should be possible, but after extensive research on the deck, it was concluded that all of them were inferior to these three.
Andrea pondered the strengths and weaknesses of each deck.
‘Infinite fire cycle deck is the best among the three. Once the deck is complete, killing most bosses in one shot is not impossible. However, if even one foreign substance such as a curse card enters the deck, it becomes a ruined deck.
‘Abnormal status arrow deck. A deck that uses a variety of poison arrows, flame arrows, ice arrows, and electric shock arrows to fight against status abnormalities. It has the advantage of being able to deal with various situations, but conversely, in certain situations, some cards can’t be used at all, so the power is a bit low.’
‘The Beast Zoo deck… is on hold for now. Artifacts and cards needed to control the summoned beast are too expensive and high-grade. It’s a deck worth going for if you’re playing alone, Trisha, but the number of players has increased…’
Andrea called Trisha to briefly explain the strengths and weaknesses of each deck and asked for her opinion. Trisha couldn’t help but be surprised.
“Wow, does the shadow god even teach me that? Sir, I should believe in the shadow god when I go to the temple, too, right?”
Andrea smiled vaguely and nodded. For a while, it seemed like I had no choice but to preach the omnipotence of the shadow god.
After thinking about it, Trisha soon came up with an answer.
“I’m craving something with high destructive power. It’s just not in my mood to play around with abnormal conditions.”
I kind of expected it to be like that. Andrea asked the merchant to show her hunter-only cards.
“Yes, I will show you right away. Here you are.”
The merchant brought something like a wooden briefcase and spread it out in front of them. Inside, there were about 20 cards side by side, from normal cards to unique cards.
‘[Normal] First Aid (1 cost): Heals injuries a little.’
‘[Normal] Extraordinary Concentration (2 cost): Extinct, increases accuracy by 20% for 3 turns.’
‘[Rare] Containment Shot + (1 cost): Reduces the resistance of the target hit by the next attack by 10%.’
······
‘Here is this.’
Andrea’s gaze stopped at one card as she was looking through the cards.
‘[Unique] Continuous Reload (3 Costs): If you use a card with ‘Shooting’ in its name, draw 1 card.’
It was the key card of the Infinite Shooting Cycle Deck, ‘Continuous Loading’.
Some cards lower the cost of cards with ‘shooting’ in their names. If you use ‘Continuous Load’ and set the cost of all shooting cards to 0, you can literally cycle infinitely without draw and mana limits.
But that’s only when the deck is completed. It was nothing more than a trash card that I couldn’t even use if I picked it up now.
‘What Tricia needs right now is a flexible card that can be used right away while becoming part of a concept deck later. I don’t need a key card that costs 3 and can’t be used without enhancement.’
After thinking about it, Andrea picked up two cards.
‘[Normal] Containment Shot + (1 cost): Disappear, the next time you attack with an arrow, reduce the target’s resistance by 10%.’
‘[Rare] Blink Shot + (1 cost): Move to the location where I shot the next arrow.’
Both were extremely useful cards. The containment shot is often called a cut-off shot, but after being reinforced 3 times, it shows unbelievable efficiency even with a normal card when dealing with enemies with high defense.
Blinking shots are also useful. There was no card as good as this for a ranged dealer hunter to evade or widen the distance.
“You have excellent eyesight. Both are great cards for the hunter class.”
The merchant shuddered at Andrea’s choice. Usually it’s a flattering compliment, but this time it was probably sincere. Trisha took the card and examined it with interest.
Andrea looked at the potions after that. I wanted to buy dozens of medicines, but I had no choice but to refrain from listening to the store owner’s instructions.
“You know that each person has a limit of 3 potions, right? If you carry more than that, you won’t be able to open the door to the next floor.”
Even in the game, you couldn’t carry more than 3 potions unless you had a potion belt artifact. Considering the balance, it was an obvious measure, but I couldn’t help but regret it. Is it comforting to be able to choose at least six of them because it’s with Trisha?
Andrea chose three cures, an explosive potion, an antidote, and an extinction potion.
Handing over the annihilation potion, the merchant gave him a strange look.
“You have chosen a potion that is quite difficult to use. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a customer choose this.”
Andrea only slightly nodded her head.
The merchant was right. The potion of annihilation is not a potion to choose over other potions that intuitively provide benefits.
The effect is to attach the ‘Destroy’ keyword to all cards used for 5 turns.
If it is a complete deck with no cards to be removed, it is a card that has a worse effect than a curse. However, if the deck was not completed like Andrea, it could have a very useful effect.
‘I’m sure it will come in handy someday. At least they’ll get rid of all the strikes and defenses and let them use only defensive strikes.’
After that, a small set-up followed. Intermediate maps up to floor 40, subspace pouches for Trisha to use, and card removal to compact the deck.
“Did you know that you can only remove 2 cards per shop?”
“The obvious.”
The cost of removing cards is 100 gold for the first time, 200 gold for the second time, and 300 gold for the third time.
Andrea removed 1 hit and defense, and Trisha removed 1 defense and curse card. Now the two only cost 600 gold together, but the cost would increase exponentially the more cards you removed.
After taking out all the goods, the merchant pushed the paper in.
“The bill is here.”
[Intermediate Map – 300 Gold]
[Healing Potion – 150 Gold * 3]
[Antidote – 300 gold]
[Explosive Potion – 1000 Gold]
[Vanishing Potion – 500 Gold]
[Remove card – 300 gold * 2]
[Subspace Pouch – 300 Gold]
[Defense Shot + – 450 gold]
[Blink Shot + – 1500 gold]
The sum of all the things I bought so far came out to 5,400 gold. Of course, considering that the challengers who usually visited the store only had to remove a card or two and buy an item, it was quite extravagant.
Andrea was conflicted about what to buy with the remaining gold. Before he knew it, he realized how to efficiently circumvent the miser’s quirk. As soon as I thought that Trisha would pay for everything anyway, I was able to choose the items with confidence.
‘The remaining gold is a little over 3,000 gold. It’s just the right amount of money to buy a good equipment card…’
The merchant brought another wooden bag and spread it in front of Andrea, as if he knew what to choose next. It was a bag full of equipment cards.
The problem was that equipment cards were more expensive than cards in decks because they were more effective. If it’s the same rarity, the price is about 2 or 3 times higher.
While looking at the listed equipment cards, one card caught my eye. Andrea picked up the card as if possessed by something.
‘This···.’
The worry didn’t last long. Andrea put the card in her hand on the shelf with a small smile.
“Add this to your bill, please.”
Marco and Andrea went out first while Trisha finished the bill. Marco looked into Andrea’s eyes and asked.
“But this time, like the last time, is it a creative economy or something? I guess I just spent a lot of money without making any money.”
Andrea burst out laughing.
“I can’t do that this time because only black traders sell such combination ingredients. If you make money, there should be times when you just write. Rather, Mr. Marco, take this. It is a gift.”
Upon receiving the card, Marco’s eyes widened.
“This···.”
“Come on, try it.”
Marco nodded and pressed the card to summon the equipment. Soon, the heavy figure of a huge weapon appeared.
‘[Rare] Hammer of the Earth Crusher (Equipment Card): A hammer modeled after the weapon of a giant that was said to cause an earthquake if struck once. Despite being an imitation, it had an overwhelming weight. (A shockwave occurs with a 30% chance when attacking)’
“I’m sorry that I couldn’t give you a gift worthy of a present. Still, since it was the first hammer Marco had ever used, I thought it had some meaning, so I bought it.”
Marco burst out laughing. He swung around to see if he liked the heavy weight he faced again. Trisha, who came out of the store belatedly, looked at them wondering what was going on.
Marco held the Earthshatter’s hammer over his shoulder and said to Andrea,
“No, I’m fine. Now this is the best present for me.”
＜ 8. Duel is a big deal in town (7) ＞ End