The awakened platform had a specific marketplace where people could spend Chronos to buy and sell anything supernatural. The mana apocalypse connected the world in never-before-seen ways, such as how the buying and selling procedure functioned.
Once you decide to sell something, it will magically disappear from your hands, and when someone buys it, it will materialize in front of them. For safety reasons, big items could only be purchased when you had enough space in front of you, furthermore, you couldn’t buy or sell anything inside the dungeons.
"I’m sending each of you 40 Chronos. Let’s shop, my beautiful Valkyries."
As Kaiden browsed the marketplace, it quickly became evident that the awakened lived in a completely different world from commoners. The only people who remained grounded in reality were the weakest of them, like the gardener girl with the bubbly butt who he once used as fap material.
Item rarity played a big role in determining their effectiveness. Right now, they could only afford the two lowest tiers: junk and common.
Junk-rarity gear was slightly worse than what humanity could craft before the apocalypse, but common-rarity had already surpassed that level. Anything above common-rarity had such astounding capabilities that comparing them to pre-apocalypse technology would make humanity’s millions of years of evolution look like a bad joke.
Their current amount of funds was considered to be nearly broke for an awakened who wanted to shop, so they had to be sparing. There were two sorts of armor. Individual ones and gearsets. Gearsets were cheaper because you paid for a bundle package with a discount on it, but its effects were worse. If you could assemble a set from individual items, for example, the fabled ’Blood Monarch’ set, its effects would easily triumph over a gearset of the same rarity.
Pre-assembled gearsets were termed ’bundle gear’ while sets assembled from individual pieces were called ’legacy sets.’
Kaiden and his Valkyries could only go for bundle gears for now. Heavy armor was not only too cumbersome but more expensive, so Kaiden chose a medium armor. Based on the spells of his lovers, he would be the one on the front, so he had to be able to take some hits without keeling over.
’Metal Nomad’ was the one he was looking for. It protected his most vulnerable parts with metal while giving his joints the desired freedom by only using sturdy but flexible leather in some places. Sadly, it gave no supernatural bonuses, such as imbued spells or magical resistances.
Kaiden always thought axes were ultra-badass, so he bought a common-rarity two-hander—the ’War Axe.’ Its shaft had a pointed end, allowing it to double as a spear. Furthermore, it was double-edged, with one side featuring a mean axe blade ready to inflict grievous flesh wounds, while the other had a pick-edge, perfect for piercing armor or harvesting rare metals.
The War Axe’s multi-functional nature was what attracted Kaiden. Swords and other single-bladed weapons could be enhanced to tear through armor while still being effective against unarmored enemies, but those were far beyond his budget.
And as a complete rookie, choosing a sword—or any weapon that required high mastery to wield effectively—would be a stupid mistake in his eyes. An axe fit his natural instincts: it didn’t require delicate technique to be deadly. It thrived on aggression. In Wrath stance, he could swing with raw power and still be effective.
While mastering axe combat would push his skills to another level, even from the start, it was a weapon that let him tear through enemies with sheer ferocity.
It was a low-skill floor, high mastery curve weapon, if you will.
That being said, Kaiden didn’t know which weapon he would end up preferring the most; he planned to experiment. Therefore, axes might not be his final weapon type.
And just like that, he spent 40 Chronos, or $4,000. His heart ached, but he understood this was the new world he was living in. As soon as the War Axe materialized in his hand, an ominous grin emerged on Kaiden’s lips while his eyes gleamed menacingly.
The Paragon of Sin was satisfied with his first weapon of choice.
Aria was a gentle soul who was not made for melee combat. As a result, she chose a beautiful robe that matched her silver hair and a wand. Wands and staves were the weapons of pure mages; they helped in numerous ways, such as giving bonus mana regeneration, maximum mana, faster and easier casting, etc. Aria’s was the most basic of wands, so it only helped slightly with casting, nothing more.
Luna had an innate weapon due to her spell being [Stormblade], so she could save on costs. She had to be up close and personal to make use of it, but she was much more interested in being an agile warrior than a bulky one, so she chose a light armor that fit her purple hair as it was a mix of black and purple colored.
It quickly became obvious to Kaiden that his girls paid close attention to fashion even with their armor choices. He couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly while shaking his head.
’Women...’
Since Luna retained half of her Chronos, she looked for artifacts that could supplement her on the battlefield, but they were all too expensive. Instead, she bought a low-tier potion set marketed as the ’perfect bundle for rookies,’ which ate up her remaining funds. It gave 6 vials. Two health, two mana, and two poison cure potions.
Nyx similarly went with a medium armor like Kaiden, and it was obvious to the man that the curvaceous beauty was doing her best to select a Valkyrie-like set. It was black and pink, similar to her handcrafted roleplay armor. Nyx chose a dagger for her weapon because she intended to use [Telekinesis] to manipulate her blade in the air, but she could only wield a lightweight weapon as such at a viable speed, and much to her chagrin, only one at that.
With that out of the way, it was time to go. Elysia discharged him with an amused smile as she saw they suddenly geared up and wished them the best of luck.
Nyx posted on all their platforms that Valhalla’s Sinners will be streaming their first-ever dungeon descent. They were a bit nervous to broadcast their first attempt at such a serious undertaking but thought that doing so would make them a lot more approachable. Their intention had never been to appear as supreme existences that stood above humanity. If one of them made a mistake, they would laugh alongside the viewers.
The four of them traveled to a dungeon they had scouted on the awakened platform’s forums. It was an already explored dungeon, so they could tell what to expect, which was perfect for their first time. Dungeons were ranked similarly to the tiers awakened were categorized by, but instead of tiers, dungeon difficulty was denominated by ranks.
As of now, no dungeon has ever emerged on the S-rank level.
That being said, dungeons were not to be underestimated. The Awakened Association had a recommendation for each dungeon rank. For example, a B-rank dungeon was recommended to be attempted by a well-functioning team of 10 A-tiers or an S-tier surrounded by a competent support cast. If no A-tier was present, the Awakened Association strongly advised against entry, as even a team of 50 B-tiers would suffer heavy losses. Of course, the awakened’s level also played a major role. A newly awakened S-tier supported by a competent team could not clear a B-rank dungeon at all.
"Looking for a ranger to accompany us!"
"We need a mage!"
"A porter to carry our stuff! Come, we’ll protect you!"
Numerous such shouts could be heard as some awakened were trying to form teams before entering the dungeon. Despite awakening happening almost always before 20 years of age, a lot of them seemed to be older than Kaiden.
Many of them refused to accept the reality that they were one of the lucky 15% who awakened but with a horrible class not strong enough to level up at a reasonable pace; thus, instead of going back to the non-awakened society, they wasted away in beginner dungeons. They were mockingly called the ’dreamers’ because that’s what all their aspirations were thought to be: nothing but dreams.
"Hey, can I go with you?" a sudden voice spoke up from next to Kaiden. It was a young boy, probably around 16 years old.