"Just... how many coins do you have?" she wondered curiously, but Ashton just turned to her with a light smile.
"Enough," he said, opening his status window.
[Ashton Garling] [Age - 23] [Coins - 3933 -> 4118]
[Stats]
[Power - 11 -> 13]
[Resilience - 10]
[Speed - 13 -> 14]
[Spirit - 17 -> 18]
[Classes]
+[Summoner - Level 5 -> 6] (!)
Ashton looked through the screen. For now, he just ignored the exclamation mark next to his class. It really just meant that there was something new in the folded-up section of the class. It would really just be skill and contract level-ups, anyway.
But for now, he just tapped on the coins. He slid his finger to the right and continued increasing the coins. Once he reached 100 coins, a small circle appeared next to it. Ashton continued until he reached 200, 300, 400, and so on. With each one, a new circle popped up next to the coins. Once he reached 1000 coins, though, the circles that were next to it before combined into a slightly larger, now filled-out circle.
Ashton pulled his hand back and then presented his palm, as a large coin, three times larger than a normal one, dropped onto it. It was ornately decorated with the image of a praying angel on one side, and even scales on the other.
He took the coin, worth a thousand coins, and pushed it into the vending machine's large coin slot, before entering the right code for one of the random boxes.
Of course, a lot of the time, pretty useless things came out of these things. Towels, random little branches, or even just rocks. But they also had a very decent chance of giving magic items. Things that boosted stats or had special functions, that sort of thing.
Usually, at this point in time, this wouldn't be worth the thousand coins. It was just a white cube as well, so it was very unlikely to get something great out of it. That was, if you didn't know how to improve your odds.
The way these cubes worked was simple. The process of actually 'creating' the random item to be given to the user was very similar to the process of certain types of summoning. Effectively, as long as Ashton increased the amount of mana used during that summoning process, the more likely it was for him to get a more valuable item. He couldn't get something that was outside of the pre-ordained cache of items of a white box, obviously, but he could skew the odds in his favour fairly easily.
Though, it would take a little while, and he would need to sit down with it later. So... "Backpacker?" Ashton said, giving the random box to the spirit for now.
Then, he took out some more coins, worth a total of 1250. He had just spent more than half his coins, though the amount he had right now would seem like chump change in the future anyway.
For now, he bought all those items that had caught his eye. First, 'Dr. Fantasmo's Magic in a Bag'. It was a regular, thin chip bag, but when Ashton opened it, it was filled with magic stones. Not the ones that just naturally occurred within a monster's body, though - these ones were cleanly and artificially formed. Small, perfectly round marble-sized stones. There were a few dozen in here, and each one must have about as much mana as a skink Lizardman's magic stone.
"Not bad, I guess," Ashton pointed out, holding one of the stones against the vending machine's light. The hallway was otherwise dark since all the windows were blocked off, so it was hard to see it properly.
"What is that?" the teacher wondered, curiously taking a look.
"These are called magic stones. They're valuable sources of crystallised mana," Ashton explained, though the teacher obviously didn't quite understand, "For now, don't worry about it and just focus on your survival. But if you do come across these things, collect them for later."
He gave the bag to the Backpacker, and then moved on. The next item he wanted to check out was the potion. Mostly, he wanted to see what kind of potion it was exactly. From the can's design, depicting angel wings around a bright red head, he figured it was a health potion of sorts. But there were numerous different kinds of health potions.
The one that Ashton made was the kind that boosted regeneration to some degree, but it basically just boosted one's general physical ability to regenerate, hence why one was left with scars afterward. But there were plenty that used more potent magic to almost instantaneously heal wounds. More powerful potions could recover limbs, or cure even crippling injuries. If you were born with deformities, no potion could heal that, but if it was caused by an accident or disease, there were ways around it.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Ashton doubted this would be any kind of powerful potion, but he still had to try.
He pulled open the can's tab, and was surprised to hear a slight hiss.
"... A carbonated potion?" he muttered surprised, before taking a small sip. It was smooth and surprisingly tasty. Had a slight berry-flavour. Ashton could feel the magic already coursing through his body, and the physical exhaustion or muscle-inflammation he had been feeling from running earlier disappeared almost immediately. It was a decent potion. And Ashton quickly gave it to the teacher, "Take this and have each of the sick or injured students take a sip of it. If you need to, in an emergency, get this potion and have someone drink it. It won't be instant, but it should help. Oh, and this kind of potion has to be ingested - I wouldn't risk putting it directly on wounds."
The teacher immediately nodded her head, "But there are so many other cans in there as well, what about those?"
Ashton thought for a moment, "If you have the leisure in terms of coins, buy one of them, and have one of your physically stronger people take a sip and see what they feel like. They shouldn't be harmful, just maybe not directly useful how you expect."
Of course, Ashton did want to see what these items were like. Shops were scattered around all over the place, but they didn't all sell the same things. Plus, these weren't items that Ashton had seen before. Carbonated potions in a metal can? People in the other world would have an aneurysm at the very idea of this. It made him curious about what all the rest of this was. But sadly, that would just be a massive waste of money right now. He did need to keep it a bit saved up for some other big purchases.
If a shop popped up that had the items that he wanted or needed, and he just wasn't able to get it because he was missing a few coins, he would never be able to stop beating himself up over it.
As for the next item, it was a chocolate bar. It said 'Devil's Kiss', and had flames all over it, as well as a devil-like figure as some kind of mascot. Most items in shops were magical in nature, though the exact effect of this wasn't pretty clear yet.
Ashton opened the bar and broke off a small chunk of it. Almost the moment he placed it onto his mouth, he could feel heat - not flames, of course, but spice. It filled his mouth and travelled down his throat. Frankly, it was delicious. He remembered not being a huge fan of spicy stuff before he was pulled into the other world, but now, any taste was just a wonderful experience. Plus, he could actually deal with the pain pretty well, now.
But this wasn't just some gimmick chocolate that was extremely spicy. Ashton could feel his body fill with magic, and all the air that touched his body seemed extremely chilly in comparison to the heat that was filling him. This was the sensation of heat resistance.
"Oh, wow, okay. So, this chocolate is extremely spicy, so never give it to any of the kids. But when you eat the whole thing, you'll have a few hours where your body can just deal with extreme heat more. I wouldn't jump into a fire, but boiling water should be fine," Ashton explained, wiping the spice-sweat off his brow, "I think the images and names are overall a pretty good indication of... Whoo, this is so spicy, sorry," he cleared his throat and continued, "They're a pretty good indication of the effect, but all of this should be 'special' in some way."
He could see the teacher take mental notes of what Ashton was saying, looking into the vending machine to see what else there might be, "So that 'Yeti's Hug Chocolate' is the opposite, some kind of cold resistance?"
"That would be my guess, yes," Ashton replied, putting away the chocolate for now. It was a bit addictive, but he should save it later. It was an extremely useful effect, after all. The last item he bought was just called 'Sticky Business Orange Soda'. Maybe this could be actual soda. He did grab a few at the grocery store before, but maybe this was just extra tasty. The more mana something had, the tastier it tended to be, at least in Ashton's experience.
He pulled on the tab, and could hear a slight hiss. It seemed less carbonated than the potion, though. Ashton placed the can against his lips and tried to take a sip, but... it was thick, almost jelly-like. And as it touched his tongue, it started to burn immediately. Not in the way that the chocolate did, but that aggressive, acid burn of-
"Is this a slime?!" Ashton pulled the can away and touched his hand to his mouth, "What the hell?"
A small tendril of a orange slime started climbing out of the can. For a moment, Ashton was confused, but then he looked back at the can. In very small lettering, following the word 'Soda', it said the word 'Slime'. This item was called 'Sticky Business Orange Soda Slime'.
Soda Slimes. A new type of slime that didn't exist in Lumia. That was... "Incredible. This is awesome!"
Ashton looked at the can with a smile on his face. A living slime in item form? That was the best possible thing anyone could ask for! Slimes were powerful potion ingredients, but it was always hard to get your hands on fresh slime. The type didn't always matter all that much, it was just that slime were filled to the brim with magic, and could absorb the magical effects of ingredients better than almost anything else.
Orange slime were actually the most popular version of this. They were called 'honey slime', since they often just looked like a blob of honey and tasted similar as well. Their sweet taste and scent was there to lure creatures into eating them, so that the slime could digest them from the inside out. This type seemed to be a similar sort to that orange slime, though it was a much different, brighter orange. Plus, the after-taste that was left behind after that acid burn actually did seem to be very orange-y, like the fruit.
Ashton smiled brightly, "Don't buy any of the sticky business cans, they have monsters in them. But if someone is looking for 'slime' monsters, tell them they're in there."
"Monsters? That's a monster?!" the teacher took a step back, startled, "Get that thing away!"
"Oh, don't worry, it's all good," Ashton smiled and asked the backpacker for a fork that he used to eat his food, tore the can open a bit, and then fished out the core from the slime to kill it.
[You have killed an [Orange Soda Slime]. For your effort, you are awarded 3 Coins]
It was a bit of a waste to kill it, but he couldn't just keep it alive either. After pouring the slime into a separate bottle, he gave it to the backpacker and smiled at the vending machine.
"If these are the sort of items we'll get in shops, I really need to save up a bit more," Ashton pointed out excitedly. But for now, there was something else he had to do, "Okay. Show me to those troublemaker kids of yours, I need to talk to them."
[A [Bonus Chapter] has been redeemed]
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