“No, n-no of course I wouldn’t bring such a valuable cartridge here, why even bring that up?… I’ll look around for a bit first before deciding anything.”

“Sure go ahead laddy, look around for a bit… Come back when you need anything…”

As I walk away from the rat-looking man, I can see him whispering something to a street vendor next to him out of the corner of my eye… I really hope I didn’t draw any unwanted attention.

I enter the shop of Miss Izumi and can hear a familiar sigh.

*SIGH* “Why in, god’s name, are you back here kid?”

“We meet again old man!”

“What do you want this time? Did you come begging here in hopes to annul the contract?”

“No, I’ll keep my word, don’t worry. I’m here for business.”

“Ha Business?! That’s cute, you didn’t even have enough money for a blank yellow cartridge last time we met, what business could you possibly offer us?”

*SIGH* “Isn’t Miss Izumi here or something? At least I could reason with her.”

“Watch your mouth brat! Miss Izumi is a busy woman, of course she doesn’t come here often, you were just lucky last time. Now spit it out! What business do you have with us?”

“I’m here to sell an orange cartridge.”

“D-Don’t tell me you stole it? These things aren’t just lying around on the street you know? how could a brat like you possibly have something like that?”

I pull out the cultivation cartridge and show it to him.

“You should really stop calling me a brat, or I’ll do my business elsewhere.”

“Y-You brat…”

“What did I just literally say a minute ago? Do you even want to do busine-?”

“How did you get your hands on a mana-cultivation cartridge?!”

Shit! How could he know that the cartridge held mana-cultivation magic… Maybe he has an inspection magic of some sort? He is Miss Izumi’s shopkeeper after all… Better play it cool.

“D-Does it matter how I got it? The only thing that’s important, is that I want to sell it to you.”

“Fine I’ll buy it! Just don’t come crawling back to me when the original owner comes after you. What do you want for it?”

“I want to trade it, what can you give me?”

“I could give you any orange attack or support cartridge you want, plus some U-Coins depending on the cartridge you choose.”

“Hmm… How many extra U-Coins can you give me if I trade it for an empty orange cartridge?”

He grabs a calculator and types in some numbers.

“I can give you 530 U-Coins right here plus a blank orange cartridge if you give me that mana-cultivation cartridge you’re holding.”

Hmm.. That’s certainly appealing… And probably more than what I would get from those shady street vendors…

No, that old guy looks too happy right now, he doesn’t have his usual frown…

“How about an empty orange cartridge and some dungeon equipment?”

“Tch! Fine! But only E-rank.”

He steps out from behind the register and motions me towards a different room.

“Follow me brat, here we store our dungeon equipment.”

The room was quite long, both sides were decorated with numerous armors and weapons, at the end of the chamber, there was a shiny golden pauldron (shoulder armor) with spikes displayed in a glass encasing.

“I probably can’t choose that one huh?”

Pointing at the display case at the end of the room.

“Are you crazy brat? That pauldron has a chip implant, it’s at least an A-rank Equipment!”

Wait… Equipment can have chip-implants too?! That means I could use my programming power on equipment as well!

“You can choose from all the equipment on this wall-section labeled E.”

The wall-section the old-guy is pointing at is filled with all kinds of treasures and goodies, they even have a mana-measuring device like the one Kaori so graciously gifted me, better pick something good.

Let’s see… At the rate I’m growing at, these average amors and weapons probably can’t keep up. Besides, why would I even need weapons when I already have magic for dealing damage…

I guess armor could help me in the short-term, but I think it’s better to choose something more… useful.

The only things that catch my eye are: some sort of tattoo-device, a glowing ring and a syringe. They are the only equipment that really stand out to me.

“This, this and that thing. Could you explain what they do?”

*SIGH* “This brat really doesn’t know anything… Fine, the ring will immediately add an extra 150 mana to your mana-pool, pretty useful for a newbie such as yourself, don’t you think?”

I stare at him silently, awaiting the explanation of the other items.

“Fine… The syringe will increase your physique overnight, it’ll strengthen your muscles, tendons and bones. It’s pretty popular for those physical attacker or tank-type Machias. The last item you’ve chosen is also pretty useful, It’s more of a service though, with it, we can give you a tattoo-of-holding. Using this tattoo, you can store all kinds of stuff in a separate dimension, from cartridges to equipment to food. If the storage inside isn’t big enough, you can always come back and buy an extension, which uses a higher rank tattoo-machine. The stuff inside can come out any time you want via thought or when you eventually die.”

The mana-ring is useless in front of my mana-cultivation cartridge, and although the syringe is attractive, I could always just program a physical-cultivation cartridge…

“Aright, I’ll choose the tattoo-machine.”

“Sure, as a service, I’ll even personally tattoo you. Not many beginners receive this honor, you should feel very special brat!”

He probably just wants to see me in pain though…

*KNOCK* *KNOCK*

“Oh my, I didn’t expect my little slave to come running back so soon.”