The Gift of Loot Chapter 40: Chapter 40: Into The Swamp

Read chapter 40 of The Gift of Loot by Jack_Golightly on NovelPedia.

Using Zach's extensive knowledge of the bus route, they were able to go downtown to a strip mall of pawn shops. Just like in Placerville, many of those pawn shops had started side businesses selling mana crystals and lower-level dungeon drops. Thomas didn't see any magical armor, but one particularly shady shop did have Kevlar vests. He didn't know if they were the real deal, but it was better than broken ribs. Plus, they looked a little badass. He and Zach both got one, and he did his awkward best guess on Jo's size. It was harder and harder to find healing crystals for sale. It seemed the word was getting out, and anybody with anything remotely chronic was heading to the dungeons and then buying a Healing crystal fix. Thomas didn't blame them, but it made it inconvenient for divers. However, healing potions were on the cheaper side and more plentiful. "How effective are these?" Thomas asked, worried that the prices were too good to be true. Some of the "healing potions" were going for $50 a pop. The shopkeeper squinted. "From what I understand, they won't save you if you're on the verge of death, but they will knock out a cold just fine. Of course, you have to have visited a dungeon in the past for it to be effective." "What about for injuries?" He asked bluntly. "I'm a dungeon diver." It felt good to say that, actually. He didn't think that he had before. The man regarded him with a little more seriousness. "In that case, you probably want the stronger ones. You're looking at the D grades at that price. Now the C grades over here," he pointed to a cabinet with smaller vials, but the potion looked more intensely rosy red. "They'll be $100 and will fix most soft-flesh injuries. B grade will heal broken bones, but for critical injuries you'll still want a good healing stone or a healer on your team." "Got any level two Healing crystals?" Thomas asked, hopefully. It had been 'no' across the board so far, but he had to keep looking. "Or Adaptation?" Zach added from across the shop where he was looking at guitars. The shopkeeper shook his head. "No to both. If you find a stash of something like that, feel free to bring it here. I'll give you the best prices in town." Considering the greasy, dingy state of the shop and the fact that all the owners had claimed to have the best prices in town, Thomas sort of doubted it. But he still remained polite to the guy and bought a stash of potions. Prepping for this dungeon dive was getting expensive. Luckily, he had just the Gift to make up for it. As they had decided to sneak into the dungeon at night and Jo said she'd pick them up in the evening, they had some time to kill. There was a park nearby, and Zach wandered off to meditate. Meanwhile, Thomas picked up his phone and started an intense series of text messages to his friends and his oldest brother, Pete, warning them about what would happen if none of them delved a dungeon before System integration in five months. What he got back was fairly disheartening. A few people left him on read, and he got disbelief and pushback from nearly everybody else. Get off TikTok, it's rotting your brain. I'm nearly forty years old. I got kids. I'm not messing around with dungeons. LMAO You sound like you're trying to sell me on some multi-level marketing scheme. That last text was from his eldest brother, Pete, and Thomas was actually surprised to hear from him. Pete was working up in Alaska and was often out of cell phone service, or at least he claimed to be. Thomas took a chance and placed a phone call. To his continuing surprise, Pete picked up. "Hey Tommy, how's tricks?" "Don't call Derek 'tricks'," Thomas said, and heard his brother laugh. "I heard he packed up his kids and decided to mooch off you," Pete said. "How's that going?" Thomas sighed. "Derek's being...Derek. He thinks he knows how to run my life even though he can't run his own. Nothing's changed." "And now I notice you're giving your own advice," Pete said, and there was a sl