chapter 197

The shop I reached was not only big, it oozed of a higher class. Everything was smooth lines, sharp corners, and matching colours that seemed to bend your mind into relaxing. Whoever was running this place was extremely experienced.

Even the guard uniforms colour-matched everything, and it was quite obvious which Duke this establishment belonged to. There were more different shades of red here than I ever thought existed, and I was pretty sure some of them you would need sight beyond normal to view.

That was one thing that I have noticed, not just here. Ever since I got my improved eyes and I’ve been ranking up, colours are no longer so uniform.

What should be one colour was all patchy to me nowadays, so it was weird to see the contrast here, where everything was like it used to be. Who would have guessed that seeing uniform colours like this would make the world feel right again?

This shop caters to many types of skills, but mainly those related to healing. There was a combat section that I really wanted to go and see. There was a good chance I might find something that would fit Lola, but first, the revival skill.

Talking about that, I finally found what I was looking for in a section that was somehow even more grand than everything else in this shop. How that was possible, I had no idea. There wasn’t anything that spectacular compared to the rest of the shop, but everything simply fit so right.

There was a singular sales specialist behind the counter. That’s what their name tag said their profession was. There was also a name underneath, but even with all the language keys in my head, the universal translator didn’t help me read whatever that language was.

The counters had glass covers and most likely worked the same as in the Mind's Clarity shop, as I could hear none of the skills calling out from this shop.

“Greetings, I am looking to buy a revival skill for the healing affinity.” She simply stared at me for an uncomfortably long while before answering.

“Of course, sir. Is this skill for you, and are you only looking to purchase one?” Pretty sure there was something off about that, but no matter how I analysed her posture or tone, she simply seemed genuinely curious.

“It’s for my crewmate, and no, only one.” The notes FH left me did say that this place didn’t just sell to anyone and never in bulk.

Her hand moved, opening the case with a simple button press. Her movement was off, but I couldn’t put my finger on why. The closer I was to her, the more this entire shop seemed off.

Looking around for a moment, this time I noticed how absolutely every colour that showed off this shop’s allegiance to a single Duke was an item that could easily be changed at a moment’s notice.

She indicated the skill stones to the right of me. There was a cluster of eight, all of them seemingly revival skills of the healing affinity. Concentrating for a moment, I panicked because none of them were calling out. Refocusing myself, I made sure that all the skill stones understood that they were calling for Lola and not me, but nothing.

This was bad. We needed that skill. My sixth sense was also flaring, making it quite obvious that leaving the station without one would be a grave mistake. “I’m sorry, but do you have any others in the back, or is this the entire stock?”

For the first time, I saw some cracks in her perfect image. They disappeared almost immediately, but I got the sense that whoever she was, she was beyond me in every way possible. This time, when she smiled, her smile seemed one degree more genuine. It made me realise that I had never gotten the vibe from her that she had her fake customer face on. Oh, she was definitely scary.

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I didn’t have to follow her for long, and we didn’t go to some dusty backroom. Instead, it was another smaller shop inside the bigger one, completely isolated, with the entrance being the singular door we used that had two security guards on either side.

As we got in and the door closed, for a moment my sixth sense flared with danger, but it disappeared a moment later so quickly that I barely had time to react, only managing to pull out the hilt of my blade, but I didn’t ignite it.

“Excellent senses,” she said, and then snapped her fingers. She had eight of them on one hand, each one of them elegant and long. I do not know exactly what the snap did, but now I can hear some of the skill stones calling out.

It seemed all of them were revival skills, and there must have been hundreds here. Revival skills in this shop, at least the basic ones, all cost 150 credit coins. So there was a lot of wealth here. My eyes immediately snapped to one side of the room, where I heard skill stones calling for Lola’s healing affinity.

Just in case, I went through everyone else’s and even my affinities, but none of the stones called to them. When I looked back at her, she had turned around, and her eyes were on me.

“Captain Remi Graves, and that captain is with a capital C. However, it is a bit annoying how you constantly advertise your truth. You are a human, a relatively new species, with an apparently strange connection to dwarves and elves.” She paused after that, looking me over so thoroughly that for the first time in my life I felt truly naked in front of someone.

“So many come here, some even using that exact line you did to get my revival skill stones and sell them for profit. In auctions, these skills can go for so much more, but I don’t do this only for credits. Even though the Dukes really hate that.”

“Aren’t you a part of the Red Dukes faction?” Her laugh was the most magical thing I’ve heard.

“He has managed to keep his influence for nearly six months, which is impressive, but no, I don’t belong to any of the Dukes. They fight over the stake of the percentage of my income, but that has nothing to do with me. I am starting to get a bit tired of the red. A change of décor would be appreciated.”

“Why would they accept that kind of deal?”

“Because none of them want new and unhelpful body parts to start growing on and in their bodies.” That made me swallow what saliva was left in my mouth.

I didn’t know what to say to that. It seemed like the dukes had come to some arrangement to keep her shop, as I was now certain this was entirely hers, looking like it was owned by one of the dukes. When in fact they simply managed to get only a percentage of the income and nothing else, because it seemed the alternative would be something truly terrible.

She walked closer to me, but I didn’t back down, standing my ground. She seemed to like that.

“I already know that somehow you looked at the right skills for this crew member’s affinity of yours.” She took a seductive breath in and then let it out, looking at me like I was the most interesting thing she had seen in a while. “It’s so hard not to pry, but I won’t. Is the revival skill all you came here for?”

Trying to hold my composure as best as possible, I tried not to focus on her beauty or her skin tone that made it seem like she was made of blue glass. Bob’s face flashed before me, and I heard his words.

“If you dare get sucked in by one of these crazy women once again, you either call me immediately, or if I’m not around, remember this. You don’t want to know what happens if you don’t listen.” Thanks, Bob.

It took me a bit to refocus on why I was here. It didn’t help that buying skills like this would mean revealing information about my crew members.

“Yes, she also has the precision affinity, and I’m looking for something that would help her be a better healer, not just with using skills, but also for offensive capabilities.”

“Hmm, follow me.” And so I did. Each time she showed me skill stones, she observed me intensely and seemed delighted every time I picked the right ones for Lola’s affinity from the skills she offered.

She had a set of skills in mind for a healing affinity. They did seem to match the research FH did on what would be useful for Lola, so I just went with it. Revival’s Touch, Life Stabilization, Life Mending, Quick Regrowth, and Pain Quieting.

“This is the best overall set that you can afford. As for the precision affinity, I would add Surgical Precision, which helps in so many ways, and Weak Point Mapping. Then we have a few different combat loadouts.”

Those all sounded quite nice. There were a few different builds for combat needs, but one particular one stood out. Its basis was needles and throwing them, but there were some interesting quirks that should work really well for Lola, and more specifically, her bio-cybernetic body.

Not every needle skill seemed to work for her, but I managed to make a nice build for her that should also help her work from range. It should even fix the revival problem of needing touch to work.

Guided Shot was a generic skill, but it would help her immensely. Then we had Enhanced Needle, Loaded Needle, Remote Needle, and Bonded Needle. The last two would help the skill that would tie all of this together, which would actually go under her healing affinity: Ranged Self.

That skill would make it so that she could detach parts from herself that would still count as being a part of her. With the needle skills, she could make it so that the needles were a part of her body. That would give her so many options, but also allow her to give the best healing to us and deal damage to our opponents.

During all of this, the owner of this shop helped me understand the skills I was picking better and gave advice on how they worked. All of these skills should work excellently together, and I believe Lola would like this kind of build.

Lastly, I took a walk around the shop, picking up two more skills that should help her other pursuits: Nerve Threading and Living Pattern Analysis. That should synergise with her innate ability particularly well.

“That would come to 172 credit coins,” she said, already having chosen what materials from my vault she wanted. Approving the transaction, I stored all the skills. One down, four to go.