"This amount… I have seen no one carry this many survival points at once."
"So, can you find what I need?" Reidar was losing his composure. This was a merchant, for fuck's sake, but he was behaving as if he was just a random dude from the streets seeing money for the first time.
<Shouldn't he be used to dealing with such an amount of money?>
The vendor caught Reidar's stare and straightened himself.
"I will look into the internal market. However, I must tell you it will take a while for me to find anything appropriate, and I bet I will need to make some private calls. Maybe I won't find anything on the market, but elsewhere …"
"How many days do you need?" Reidar asked.
"Five to seven, depending on the situation."
Reidar considered this. He needed to stay in Sweetwater long enough to collect his purchases, but he also couldn't afford to draw attention to himself. The longer he stayed, the greater the risk that someone would notice him.
"Do it," Reidar said. "I don't care about the price. Just get them."
"I will," Garran said. He looked at the balance on his screen again, as if to make sure it was real.
"I'm going to stay in the area; I'll come back in a week," Reidar said. "Early morning, before the crowds. Have everything readied by then."
The vendor nodded. "I will do my best." The vendor hesitated. "Mr. Miller, I feel obligated to mention that your presence in this town brings substantial risk. The Church of Unbinding controls Sweetwater."
"I know." He gave him a resolute look.
"Then I will say nothing more. Good luck."
He turned and walked out of the back room. Reidar unlocked the front door and stepped out into the noisy streets of Sweetwater.
He had a week to wait for his gear, a week to gather information about Jake and Lena, and a week to figure out what the hell he was going to do about the Church.
The sun was setting—good timing. While most survivors were heading home for dinner, the fading light made it easier to move without detection.
He pulled his hood forward and relied on Stealthy Presence again.
<A week. I need to stay hidden for a week.>
The conversation with the vendor had given him valuable information: Jake and Lena were alive and fighting the church, though they were trying to reach Kingsgate but couldn't break through the monster perimeter.
That last part worried him.
Reidar knew how strong Jake and Lena were compared to the other people here. If they couldn't punch through the monsters around Kingsgate, the situation there was worse than he'd thought.
The World-Carver Behemoth's presence had apparently attracted other high-level creatures to the area, creating a kill zone that even skilled survivors couldn't penetrate.
<I can't even deal with the monsters at this point, because if I do the church would just swarm Kingsgate. Plus, I need to find Lena and Jake. >
As for the gear's situation. The vendor had been honest about the limitations of the market. High-tier summoner gear was rare, and skills at his level were almost impossible to find in general. The 150 million survival points he'd paid would get him something useful, but probably not anything that would dramatically change his capabilities.
Those would be average gear and skills for people at his level.
<Still, every advantage matters.>
Reidar moved through the alleys toward the edge of town. He needed to find a place to camp for the next week, somewhere outside the town where he could stay hidden while he waited for his order.
The forest surrounding Sweetwater would work. The monsters in the area were low level for him anyway, nothing he couldn't handle, and the trees would provide cover from observation. He could set up a base camp and return to town only when necessary.
The problem was that Reidar had to do something as he waited. He needed to find information about Jake and Lena, about the situation against the monsters, and about the state of things about the Church and the Aegis.
Reidar had eliminated most of the Church's top brass—Mara, Silas, Aaron, those in Ashwick, and the War Hounds. They had likely been replaced, though he didn't know how strong the new leadership was compared to those he'd killed.
Lena and Jake likely also took care of someone else. <They must have been a pain in the ass for the Church.>
The problem was that there still were two people he knew about that were still around: Jorik, but most importantly, the Progenitor.
<And that raises an important question. What level is the Progenitor?>
Given his trip to the Ignis' world, Reidar was almost at level 600, and he doubted there was anything worthwhile to kill here on Earth. However, the many portals the church opened were sending more and more powerful monsters here from other worlds, which meant there was something to hunt somewhere.
<But did the progenitor take advantage of that?>
That would make a vast difference, because the bastard might be at Reidar's level, if not higher. Though if he were feral, Reidar doubted he would have really taken advantage of that.
Plus, the most important question of them all. <Is he already feral?>
Based on what he learned from the Ignis and from Mara, level 450 was the threshold where feralization not only influenced the physical aspect and general behavior. No, it was the threshold in which feralization affected the mind and started turning everyone into monsters.
Mara was somehow still herself despite having reached her level, which was not low by any means.
<So, if the Progenitor went past that level, how lost in his bestial instincts is he?>
That, of course, opened an enormous set of questions in itself. If he was feral already, where was he? Who was pulling the strings? Could this have been the reason why the Church changed its stance so dramatically?
Of course, there was no answer to that.
As he walked, Reidar thought about what the vendor said regarding professions.
His own profession levels were Tailoring at 401, Woodworking at 423, and Enchanting at 507. The vendor was right that these weren't high enough to craft equipment suitable for his combat level. He would need Tailoring and Enchanting at level 550 or higher to make gear that matched his abilities. It was just that Reidar didn't have the time to increase his proficiencies.