Absolute Shopping Addict 57 Chapter 57

All the while, the audience wondered about his strength, because his fight against Maven wasn't a true indicator of his power, so they wondered what his strength really was.

Just then, the silence was broken by one of the awakeners who Connor appointed as a referee.

"One point!" he shouted, a sign that Jake had already adapted to the rules Connor set.

"What are you doing now?"

"Am I the only one who didn't listen to the rules? A point is a point. Besides, I'm not fighting with hostility here," Jake said, making his intentions plain to see for the audience.

He decided on giving up a knockout and went for the route of winning by decision – the quality of the fight doesn't matter, the att.i.tudes of the spectators don't matter, all he needed to do was win.

The equipment he had enabled him to use this strategy: thanks to the Aloe Lotion he put on himself, enemies struggled to land a good hit on him.

'Man, this guy is as slippery as an eel, I'm having troubles. .h.i.tting him cleanly,' the Grand Duelist battling Jake thought. 'Can't even use the aura, can't get into a frenzy when he's attacking like this!'

He thought that using the aura would make him reverse the tide of this fight – but he already had his aura out, and his frustration at not being able to score points off Jake was causing what little of the power he was using to not perform at peak capacity.

"Got you again! That's two points now, right?"

"Two points to Smithson," the referee intoned, and Jake grinned at the way the fight was going.

He now treated it as a game, where he had to hit an opponent cleanly, not to incapacitate or force a surrender, but just to score points.

All his attacks were weak, but two of them managed to hit Jake's opponent cleanly so far, proof that Jake found a way to make good use of the rules Connor made for this fight.

Jake's opponent thought it unsporting to use his aura at full in this fight; as he had the advantage of several more years' worth of experience.

'What a horrible situation,' he admitted to himself, because he allowed Jake to dictate the pace of the fight. 'I guess he's really good at dodging, after all.'

It is undeniable that Jake is avoiding his attacks.

'What an embarra.s.sment,' he thought, all the while not knowing what Jake did.

Thanks to the Aloe Lotion and Red Cow, Jake was performing at a greater pace than usual, and n.o.body knew it.

Five minutes later, Jake's opponent was facing finally extended a grudging hand.

"That's five points for Jake – and with that, it's the rookie's second victory. It's good to see you guys fighting like this, without trying to kill or maim. It shows while we want to get stronger, we are still a family, and we all help each other get stronger, too," Connor declared.

Jake shook his opponent's hand magnanimously before returning to where his fellow rookie was waiting.

***

"Wait, did we just lose?"

"Yeah, we did… I don't know, though. Should we keep going? We're going to look really bad if we continue."

Something ridiculous just happened: Jake was supposed to fight five times, but already won three in a row. While the Grand Duelists weren't fighting all-out because of the circ.u.mstances they were in, it was quite the embarra.s.sment.

"It's like a game for points, a very strange way to fight."

"You got that right; does it make any sense to win if you just hit your opponent?"

"Connor made a really odd rule this time," and a wave of grumbling ensued from the awakeners, as they thought Connor's rules caused them to lose.

What they didn't realize is that Jake understood the rules first, then got them to fight on his terms.

"Well, since the others saw us fight, we should have a good chance of winning the last two fights."

"Yes, I'm pretty sure they'll do the adjustments needed," the other said, now wanting their team to win the last two fights, their pride not allowing them to lose all the matches.

"You heading there now, Don? Do your best."

"Don't worry," the awakener named Don replied, "I got used to the rule, and I'm not one to lose in a speed-based fight, either."

"Go get them, then!"

He emerged from the crowd and stepped into the circle, looking at Jake.

"Get ready, because your little trick won't work anymore," he declared, but what happened next was unexpected.

"I'm forfeiting this match – and the next match too," Jake said as he raised his arms in surrender. "Liam's still up, so you can spar with him. Okay? Got stuff to do, so I'm leaving it to him. Have fun."

***

Despite running into their fair share of monsters on the trip from Kingsville to Carter, Jake still had a problem: he had no idea as to where the dungeons are, and what kind of monsters live there.

Thankfully, the Awakening Store was there to help him out.

[If you want to farm points, the Burning Forest dungeon is located east of Carter, around a four hours' walk. Your prosperity is our prosperity, too!]
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The notification was attractive enough that as soon as he heard the location, he left – not even bothering to sleep, partake in the company of his fellow awakeners in the division, he just up and left.

Naturally, the deed left the Grand Duelists dazed and confused, their pride crushed at Jake's unexpected action.

'You don't think fighting us is something worth caring about? And you don't even bother to see through the celebration we arranged and the place we set up for you?'

The flippant att.i.tude he had towards the division's traditions just inflamed them even further.

The awakener who Jake blew off turned to his faction leader.

"Do you think it's all right to let him leave, just like that?" Don asked.

"He doesn't even know which unit he will be placed in, and he needs to attend the training session, too," the other awakener who wanted to fight Jake added.

That started the complaints from the other Grand Duelists. Rookies don't act this way, walk into a new division like it's a secondary or tertiary concern.

Rookies walk into their divisions expecting to have a rough time from the start.

The complaints began to take their toll on Connor, whose face grew more and more solemn as his awakeners continued to air their grievances.

Right then, someone Connor didn't expect spoke up.

"Well then! Sounds like we have ourselves quite the character on our hands for a rookie – don't you think so, Connor?" LJ asked, finally speaking up after staying quietly watching the ongoing events in the hall.

The look of displeasure was His face was full of discontent as well.

"Seems like it," Connor answered in a hard voice as he noticed LJ's look of displeasure at what had been going on, "Our master brought a very bad apple here."

"He's bad news for the division… and you know what they say about a bad apple."

"Agreed."

Despite being compet.i.tors for the succession, there were still enough matters that they shared a common ground with.

One of these matters was their shared dislike for people like Jake.

Those are the types who shake up the status quo by their mere existence and could throw their carefully-arranged stalemate into disarray.

Adding another element into the mix would result in chaos for the division, and thus they will take steps to ensure all awakeners below them are under their control.

"We're not going to stand by and let him do what he wants, huh?"

"Absolutely not, there are practices here that we keep, and we won't let a rookie break them, as talented as he is."

They were about to agree on how to deal with Jake when someone's presence making himself known was like a bucket of ice water being poured over their heads.

"You two are like a bunch of gossiping housewives!" Master Li thundered. "Talking about the rookie behind my back? I'm not a.s.signing him to any unit; I'll train him myself."

"Father… what do you mean?" LJ asked, confused.

"And I'm supposed to be too old to have problems hearing… didn't you hear what I said? The two of you should leave the rookie alone. They are my recruits, therefore my direct responsibility. I will personally see to their growth within this division."

"Are you showing a rookie preferential treatment, father?"

"Do you object to this decision of mine directly, then?"

Master Li was basically daring his son to challenge him, and LJ folded badly, Connor following suit.

But what followed was something even more frustrating.

"Well, I've got to be going, then," Liam said as he caught the tail end of the discussion. "Someone like Jake needs to have someone clean up after him, so… take care, sirs?"

Jake's second was scratching the back of his head and giving an awkward smile to the three senior awakeners in front of him before he turned to leave.

***

"I should have brought smores!" Jake yelled excitedly as he saw the sight that was the Burning Forest.

The crackling of fire everywhere, smoke pouring out here and there was indeed a sight, and a s.p.a.ce way out of reach of ordinary adventurers.

It looked like a fire that had gone out of control, but was stopped by a few firebreaks bordering the dungeon itself.

"Well, they did say that nothing worthwhile – and by that, I mean the GOAT Flyers – comes easy, right?" Jake asked as he walked around the forest's perimeter, looking for a way in that wasn't covered in extremely hot flame. "Holy smoke, this place is hot! Do I really have to hunt monsters in this inferno?"

Jake was expecting to put out forest fires here and there – what he found was a place where fire was constantly burning everywhere.

'Ok, I'm having my suspicions about the Awakening Store's reasons for sending me here… is this some kind of wager once more?' Jake thought, undecided as to whether to enter because he was still looking for the entrance.

His suspicion was quickly justified when a notification popped out of the corner of his eye.

[Guess you didn't expect that this place was more burning than forest, didn't you? Don't be surprised, because part of our entry-level package for adventurers in Nohas is a fireproof Bunker Gear. It goes under your armor, protecting it – and you – from fire damage. Normally going for 150,000 points, we're slas.h.i.+ng the price to 100,000 points because of your recent victory!]

'Un-freaking-believable,' Jake thought. 'This is one of the oldest salesmen tricks in the book! Still, though, this outfit looks sick. I remember wanting to be a firefighter back in middle school…'

Even if this is a bad way of selling, Jake still couldn't resist the impulse to buy it – his shopping addiction reared its ugly head, and since a nostalgic dream he had when he was barely out of childhood was added to it…

That was when a second notification came in.

[Dear Customer,

Please do not misunderstand our intentions when we recommended the Burning Forest dungeon. This is not a ploy to make you purchase our Bunker Gear. Rather, we recommended this dungeon because it gives away points like candy. If you equip the Bunker Gear and see what's in there, you're going to be raking in the points like fire burns through a pile of dry leaves!]

Whoa, the Awakening Store figured out what I was thinking and clarified their offer? Amazing. They're being rather faithful to their customers as of late, huh?

He wants to believe that the store wants him to prosper, and isn't out to rip him off.

"Anyway, since my installment payments have all been taken care of thanks to taking that roundabout route from Kingsville to Carter while training, I should be able to handle this," Jake said as he ordered the item, his installment plan fully charged and ready for his next purchase.

Despite his installment plan hitting the limit for just one item, Jake didn't mind. He was in the real world now, prices were bound to be quite high, even for a single thing.

'Still, though, I can buy the Bunker Gear,' Jake thought as he pressed the b.u.t.ton immediately.

As he was removing the packaging from the box that just arrived, Jake thought about thinking and acting decisively when shopping.

It was basically his att.i.tude towards the practice: that's the basic idea. Think quickly, act decisively. You cannot call yourself an obsessive shopper if you cannot do this.

And when he opened the box to see a beautifully-wrapped orange fireproof suit, Jake was filled with a sense of nostalgia, and his mind was taken back to the time when he was in middle school and thinking of his future.

The suit was on him a few moments later; he didn't want to spend too much time being sentimental.

"Wish I had a diamond axe, to complete the look," Jake mused aloud. "But hopefully I can be of some help to our hardworking firefighters! Time to start putting out fires. Let's go!"

***