Free time—a side effect of being a freelancer with few jobs to work on. It had been a constant problem ever since Dante switched to this line of work. Without school or a stable job, one has to be creative about the ways they spend their time, and Dante didn’t have many hobbies.
In fact, he didn’t have any at all. That’s what made the last four days excruciatingly slow. After doing what needed to be done following his return from Factory Town, the most he did was rest and watch some movies. He couldn’t even go to the gym thanks to all the stress he had put his body through.
’What do you think, Volcan?’
[How about going back to Mr. Sokolov’s place and asking if he has more jobs?]
Sighing, Dante decided on a very long walk. It was a little surreal. While he was in a rush to upgrade his body so he could make use of VOLCAN, reality kept forcing him to slow down. He already gave it some thought and realized that, even if he were to get all the funds he requires, it would still take him months, or maybe even years, to complete the change.
Replacing one’s flesh with machines wasn’t as simple as switching the parts of a car, after all.
Dante knew all too well that, in order to achieve his goal, he couldn’t allow himself to get impatient. One slip-up would be all it would take for everything to blow up in his face. Still, four years have already passed with him barely making any progress, and just when it looked like he was making a big leap, he was forced to stay put and go back to a snail’s pace.
It was impossible not to be frustrated in such a situation, and that made the free time he had all the more infuriating. Every second he spent sitting on that power without doing anything with it played with his mind, slowly pushing him to a place he didn’t like.
’Maybe I should get a hobby after all...’
[May I suggest something?]
Dante didn’t hold his breath.
[There is no need for you to work only on the jobs Mr. Sokolov provides for you, is there?] Said the AI.
’We already talked about it before, didn’t we?’
[What I meant is that you can find a regular job. I believe it’s called having a day job?]
’And how am I supposed to do that?’ Dante snorted. ’Even convenience stores wouldn’t hire a high school dropout.’
[How about resuming your education, then?]
’Out of the question.’
[How did you earn an income before meeting Mr. Sokolov?]
An ambulance happened to be passing by, lights blinking and horns blaring. Dante walked a few steps then came to a stop, his eyes slowly widening. Some time later, he let out a chuckle and shook his head.
’I can’t believe it took you asking that to make me realize it.’
No, it wasn’t that he didn’t know about that option, or that he hadn’t considered it before. He had simply dismissed it when looking through his options to make money and never went back to it since. Choosing it didn’t solve his problem, but since he was starved for anything to fill his time with, it suddenly didn’t look too bad.
’Volcan, I think I know what we’re going to do today.’
Checking the map on his OAM, Dante quickly found what he was looking for. Since it was on Dusk Street, which was only a few minutes away, he decided to just walk there.
His destination wasn’t in a convenient place that faced one of the main roads. To reach it, Dante had to navigate some of the back alleys and go deeper into the areas outsiders like him didn’t frequent.
Compared to Hollowgrid’s megastructures and White Hill’s concrete maze, the streets of a commercial district such as Nightsun weren’t too confusing to traverse. Because of that, Dante didn’t have a difficult time finding his way around.
Of course, his presence was bound to draw attention, and a few even tried their luck at robbing him. But he wouldn’t have walked into such a place if he were worried about such things.
After a couple of fights and a lot of broken bones -those of the bastards who tried to rob him, of course- Dante arrived at the door to a shop hidden at the bottom of some stairs behind a seemingly random building. An old neon sign cast a ghastly purple glow on the entrance, its letters spelling Violet Rose.
A dimly lit corridor awaited him inside and at the end of it was a much more robust-looking door, one that seemed to be blastproof. On the wall to its left was a small screen that lit up when he arrived near it.
[New here?] A gruff voice came from the screen, but there was no image.
"Yeah. Happened to be in the area."
[What are you looking for?]
"Trade in something I picked and maybe get a new piece."
A few silent seconds later, a loud buzz echoed from behind the thick metal door and it slowly opened. It seemed like he had to go down another set of stairs, but after reaching the bottom, he was relieved to see that there were no more doors blocking his way.
The stairs opened to a wide room, the interior of which felt a little cramped due to the counter being so close to the entrance. Behind it, display cases lined the walls, each containing several types of the same kind of item.
Guns, guns, and more guns. Rifles, revolvers, shotguns. There were even some fancy energy cannons here and there. Dante only ever saw them in news reports, carried by special military personnel.
A man walked over and leaned on the counter. He looked to be in his forties, with a bald head and a reddish brown beard. Though his gut was about to fall out, the toned muscles lining his arms said the fat wasn’t to be made fun of. The most eye catching thing about him was the tattoo on his shoulder, which depicted a chain coiled around the biceps of his right arm.
"Welcome to the Violet Rose." The man spoke with an unreadable expression. "Alright, kid. Let’s see what you got."