Chapter 7: Chapter Seven

The Multi-versal Empire, did not kid around with its organizations. The System was only a facet, the World Gauntlet only the biggest, grandest, sole entertainment they had for themselves, and it's not just that, it's a process that must occur that has been modified and used, every ounce of its existence milked for value.

The Shopkeepers were just another point. They existed in the world of the Gauntlet, setting up in little corners or alleys, some moved, others stayed at their spot, they could not be injured or threatened, they played a game of their own and they got much more than jut the trades with the unfortunate Peoples they did trade with. They came for glory and greatness like many living beings always did. Not to say that their lives are not in danger, just from different circumstances.

The guy they found today, after some very intense sniffing sessions by the twin rabbits, was not the most welcoming of merchants, nor was his face particularly pleasant. In modern earth he would have already lost. But what he was offering was survival, life. Not privilege. 'Though, keeping your life in this world may be privilege after all.' Perseus wondered before focusing back on the shriveled prune that was the gray, bald and hairless, merchant.

"Welcome, To Grim's not humble, not small, and certainly not about to fall to your standards, Shop. Grim Conglomerate." The wrinkled thump said as he slapped his webbed feet on the ground. His arms, long and bony, spread wide, his palms as big as his head.

He looked oddly similar to a big nosed, grumpy jerk, for a certain sequel trilogy. 'Ah~ How I will miss Jar Jar." Perseus couldn't help but voice his regret, much to the chagrin of both Mister Grim and Agon, who knew the prices had just gone up.

"Are you here to joke? Common underdeveloped monkey? Do you take my hospitality for granted?" He walked up to Perseus. He brought to mind an Italian-American with really big balls.

"No, Sir Grim. I am here to be a customer, so if would just do banter with me, maybe I will give you something of value you have never even seen before and get you started off in this Gauntlet with a nice start over your competition and away from the line waiting for the executioner's blade. Okay~?" Perseus smiled.

Grim had to look at the twins for a moment, seeing them shake their heads, and the fact that they were alive and well as confirmation, and decided that Perseus had merit. He had figured out the most basic truth without being told any of the things the System prohibits.

"Fine. I'll ignore your attitude for now. But now you know. I don't take kindly to jokes, especially when my life is on the line." He turned back to Perseus and took a step to the side, welcoming the group inside.

"I can respect that. So. How does this work? What can you offer? What can we offer?"

"I can offer two things for now. Items that can help in Short Term Survival. And knowledge. I can't give you strength as of yet, nor can I conduct any of the high profile deals, Like Core Charges, Exchanges, Skills and such."

Perseus turned to the twins. He rolled his eyes and mouthed. 'You never told us.'

"I expect even the quality and types of knowledge you can provide are also limited?" Grim nodded. "It wouldn't be any fun for the viewers if a rich guy literally paid to win. It never goes over well."

"You'd be correct. But, take a look around first, then we can talk, let's not waste time, even though there's no line." Grim seemed satisfied with that and waddled off back behind his high counter.

The shop was much different from what it had probably looked like in the morning. It was covered in hardwood from floor to ceiling, a box of not any particular shape with sharp turns and large curves all in one. The lighting in the store came from each and every shelf and stand and not from any chandelier or lamp, the shop was wide and long and sometimes almost like a labyrinth it was organized neatly, you always seemed to find yourself at what you wanted to know and somehow what you discovered only lead to more browsing. The group entered and didn't seem to fill it up at all, yet every now and then they would all congregate in their search and there would be no space to stand on.

Perseus, couldn't really read inside the books, even if he could open them, Ilyne made sure to tell him the pages would be obscure and smoky. But it wasn't time wasted, as he was browsing. The Shop, was a safe space. As long as he was here he was safe. He would abuse it for all it was worth. "Seeing as this place is safe, how about you tell me now what the heck is the deal with Cores? How do you find them, what are they worth? How do they work? And above all. Why. Do they. Decide if I get skills or not? If I want a skill I should at least be able to spend a skill point to get it!" Perseus rioted, Gamer anger burned from within.

"I'll be quick about it. Cores, store things. They can store source, they store elements, they store affinities, they store Mana, they store Skills, experiences, souls, memories. The one you are looking for are skills. Which you can get through Four major ways. One, Be Sponsored, Two, Have the System give you a Skill as a reward, Three, Push Source and Memories in a Core and then absorb that to form your own skill forcefully, Four, Absorb a Core that has been used like way number Three. That is all you should know about cores at this point. You'll find out more soon enough. What is most important for us to talk about though, is your achievement." Agon dumped all that in a breath and pushed forward. Perseus was all ears.

"Leadership I, Was it?" Perseus nodded in response. He was all ears after all, not all mouth. "I don't know what idea you have of achievements, but you should probably throw it out. Achievements are Quests. Challenges. Each one gives increasing rewards, but each one offers a new challenge. If you defeat the Quest, you grow, If not, well… The results can be very impactful, to understate."

"I don't see a Quest though."

"It will present itself when it sees fit. Do not rush, or wish for it. You never know what the Achievement Gamble has in store for you. The world may collapse and you will have to order it back together if you're really unlucky." Agon shook his head, stories of fate conspiring, seemingly the world moving against the Achievements holder.

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{Guhum} Grim's voice appeared from nowhere and the two were brought out of their conversation. Perseus simply shrugged and turned away. In the end he returned where he started. "I like your shop, but it's too much looking around, too much choice. Do you have a healing Potion or something? And maybe a tome on how to use my Specialization better?" He said to Grim and watched his expression twist and settle into acquiescence.

"Sure, boss me around young human. See how far that gets you." Grim mocked as he went about his shop in a few quick flashes of teleportation. He was back in the counter in moments. A glimmering smooth blood red stone and a large book with a hard leather cover as plain as saw dust were on his hands. "What can you offer me for these?" Grim asked, dubiously. The two items did not have an immense worth, but they were still good quality items.

"I can give… Science. Take this." Perseus presented to Grim two high-school textbooks he had picked up off a dead, you guessed it, high schooler. He had planned on using them as toilet paper in case of an emergency, and to make paper planes as well. Physics and Chemistry. "The knowledge of my civilization, the things that allowed us to make atomic bombs, huge explosive capable of destroying the whole planet, if just a hundred went off."

Grim actually thought about it, grabbed the booklets, and schemed through them with a special magnifying, translating glass. The audacity. Perseus nearly took his things and left. Thankfully for Grim he took the deal without another word. Perseus stashed his new items and left the shop.

The world was eerily silent. Winds whistled through the tall buildings, the empty streets, the broken cars. The sent of iron and blood and decay was filling up Perseus' lungs, when he remember something. The wind never really whistled in Athens as the building were short and the windows large. Also, the whistling came from directly behind him, about at the height of his head, and it smelled oh so horribly as it hit his nose.

Perseus couldn't help but scratch his head in embarrassment as he turned around to meet  long snout of a gigantic Garou. It dwarfed the youngling. It opened it horrid mouth, and it chattered its teeth, sparks seemed to fly. It beady eyes popped out of its skull and with a deep breath it screamed a screech so horrid glass shattered. Perseus hurled himself back into the shop, his ears bleeding. He rolled on the hardwood and lay flat on his back. Outside the very angry mother or father Garou that had finally found the killers of its baby slammed its black bony fingers to the front of the shop. A Golden, dazzling bubble appeared and stopped the attack, even then, the bubble bent and stretched as the terrifying power of the Garou nearly tore it apart.

"What is an Adult Garou doing, Attacking my shop!" It was not really a question, as Grim hopped over his counter and grabbed Perseus by the collar.

Perseus grabbed onto the Shopkeep's wrinkly, dark gray hands and shook his head. He pointed to his ears. Grim, very unlike a stingy merchant made another Healing Drop appear in his hand and fed the stone of blood to Perseus, shoving it straight down his throat. With a slight tingle and a pop, as if in a descending airplane, his hearing returned and Grim repeated his sentence.

Perseus held back his gagging and kept a straight face. "It does what Garou's do. How should I know? I'm not the one that bought a ticket straight to this curated hellhole. If you're scared of them, you should never have come. Now get the fuck off me and tell me how we can get out of here and draw it away if you don't want it to break into your shop and make into slop." Perseus was not joking around this time. He had had enough disrespect for one day. They acted as if they knew him.

Everyone else had gathered by that point, Grim harrumphed and got off Perseus and pointed to a door that had magically appeared behind his counter. "Go through that door. It'll take you out the other side of the block. After that, you're all on your own. Run away, die, kill it. I care not. Just get out of my shop." He barked and like good little dogs the group got in a line and stepped through the door, Perseus went last. The Garou still screamed and cried, it slammed its finger and body on the bending shield. It would not last. It's luster was clearly diminishing.

"I'll be coming back. I have many more things to buy. I'll become a VIP customer just to spite you old man." He said to Grim as he stepped through the door. He was on the other side of the street, the cacophony of an enraged Garou echoed through the city.

"Let's book it!" He said and they all sprinted off. The attacks on the shop stopped in seconds, and the ground shook from under their feet as the Garou moved to chase after its prey.

"Don't look back!" Agon urged as he went ahead, scouting for the best route, his speed much greater, but the danger not lessened at all. It was exactly at this, that they all looked back and saw the towering monstrosity. Pale, made of paint and plaster. Its arms long, its legs longer, with a tail that slithered up and down the sides of buildings, tearing balconies apart as it went. It stood at more than four floors tall, and a few buses long.

And that wasn't all. From roofs and alleys and under piles of corpses Gurglings sprang up at the call of their origin. At the smell of its flesh, and that of its prey. At first it was ten, then fifty, all handled in seconds by the now experienced group of Gurgling Slayers, yet their number never stopped growing, and building. As the group turned corners and entered ground floors, in through one door out of another and as the Garou kept up in its chase, its long snout not missing a single one of their scents even as they split up and regrouped later, the number of obstacles in their path grew.

Until it came. The weird, worm centaur, the abomination that was the evolution of the Gurgling and what could be the death of them. The Four legged, four clawed Ogur. It screamed and green spittle flew from its mouth, a slit running down its torso.

"Fuck." Perseus couldn't help but frown.

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