Michael felt his heart aching after seeing the price of these talismans. All of them were priced at a hundred Mini Drones!
It was depressing to think that after defending against a single attack, a hundred Mini Drones would suddenly vanish off of the face of the Earth. He didn't even want to convert that to Sand Dollars because it would seriously make him despair.
He just had to remind himself that a hundred Mini Drones was a small price to pay in exchange for his own life. If he skimped out on protection this time, he might seriously never even get a second chance.
You're investing in yourself, he reminded.
Suppressing the inner miser in his heart, Michael then picked the [Branch of Ygdrassil Talisman].
He chose this talisman because he wanted to plan for the worst case scenario.
For example, if he ever—god forbid—met a 1st stage Nascent Spirit cultivator from the Ersatz, then he could still realistically escape without having to use any talisman. That's what Alpha was for. She might not be able to stand a chance against a real cultivator, but she could definitely buy him some time to at least escape or ask for reinforcements.
However, if he met an Emerald Leader of Ersatz at the 3rd stage, then even Alpha wouldn't last a single millisecond against them. She wouldn't be able to buy any time for him to teleport out into safety.
And if he bought the [Thousand Cosmic Turtle Talisman], it wouldn't be able to absorb enough damage against a 3rd stage Nascent attack. He'd also incur an almost-fatal injury, staggering his escape. By the time he recovered, his opponent would have also had enough time to prepare another attack, invalidating the talisman's use.
But if he bought the [Branch] talisman, he'd be able to perfectly absorb a single attack. Hopefully, this would confuse and stagger his attacker for at least a few seconds so that he could escape.
If he was going to spend a hundred Mini Drones, then it should protect him from certain death at the very least.
As for the other talismans, sure some of them were very cost-effective, but they were very conditional.
For example, there was one talisman that allowed for a hundred uses before it disappeared. However, it only worked on attacks that were made by Aubility Powers based on Aviatory birds.
There were many more talismans like that with a very specific use, which meant that it would be useless almost 99% of the time.
The [Branch] Talisman was really the only one which had an overall basic defense that worked against all attacks.
So with this decision done, Michael looked over at his shopping cart.
[Unc — Breathtaking Magnum Revolver]
[Price: 499]
[Voucher used = -20%]
[New Price: 399]
[Unc — Branch of Ygdrassil Talisman]
[Price: 100]
[6 round revolver cartridge]
[Price: 0]
[Total Price: 499 Mini Drones]
[Delivery Time: 48 hours]
[Would you like to purchase?]
Michael took a big breath before choosing yes. There really was no reason to tarry any longer, especially since the delivery time was two days.
He didn't know what would happen during those two days, so it was best to buy everything he needed as fast as possible.
[Purchase Confirmed!]
Suddenly, the Main Drone in his bed started to shake and tremble before an almost gaseous cloud of nanoparticles emerged from its frame.
No, these weren't clouds, these were his Mini Drones!
Right in front of him, he saw the vague figures of all 500 of his Mini Drones shimmering in and out of existence, all clumped up into a small chunk of space, their frames overlapping each other.
It was as if he was looking at a video game item, which was so numerous that they were barely rendering each one!
Then suddenly, this 'cloud' exploded out into the open room. His entire private villa became engulfed in Mini Drones and nanoparticles!
Just as they had been summoned, these Mini Drones started to immediately shed off its nanoparticles into the air, disassembling itself into its most base structure, creating a real cloud of small, metallic bee hives.
Michael felt a little bit bad. After all, this was the first time that he'd be summoning the Mini Drones out into the real world. And yet, they were already getting deconstructed into nanoparticles and recycled.
Eventually, only a foggy veil of shimmering Mithril powder remained in the air.
They convulsed, morphed, and twisted as they slowly condensed themselves into something much smaller and more compact.
Eventually, it formed its final shape: a small sphere of revolving nanoparticles.
Now, I just have to wait two excruciating days before my items are delivered.
Even though barely a few seconds had passed, he couldn't help but look at the [Emporium] constantly to see the progress of the delivery.
It took all of his self-restraint not to use the Instant Delivery ticket. He must save that for when it was truly needed.
Haaa… the only good thing about this is that I'll hopefully get new coupons and tickets in the two days it takes for my item to arrive.
Michael wished that he could close his eyes and arrive two days later.
[You have an unseen text message from Lady Farren. She mentions the meeting with the Draconian Romeo. Please respond to her.]
He stayed silent, seemingly unresponsive to ChatJK5's words.
And if one were to track his eyes, they would see that he was staring at the 14 remaining Mini Drones floating in the air.
One didn't have to be a mind reader to know what he was thinking about.
Can I purchase something with 10 Mini Drones?
If ChatJK5 had a body, she'd be slapping her forehead in disappointment.
[You have a problem.]
What? I'm appalled. I'm just thinking about the future! I'm just being sensible.
[You can't control your shopping addiction. You are a shopaholic.]
No, no, no. That's only for people who can't stop shopping. Meanwhile, I can stop whenever I want…. I just don't want to…