"I don't mean to spout tired old phrases, but I have a bad feeling about this," Liam said, not too long after he got to where Jake was. "Is this really the best place to farm? You couldn't find somewhere else?"

Thanks to some asking around and creative application of Cloud Walk, Liam was able to catch up to the shopping-obsessed awakener at the entrance to the Burning Forest, and when he did, he could see Jake Smithson wearing an orange suit over his armor.

"No, this is fine. This place is fine."

"What are you talking about?"

"See this Bunker Gear? It'd be a shame if I just bought it and never got to use it, right? Might as well give it a little dry run."

"Let me guess," Liam said, rubbing his head as he felt the beginning of a headache coming on, "that Bunker Gear is your latest purchase, huh?"

"Exactly, and do you know what it means?"

Liam sighed.

"What does it mean?"

"It means that there are many other outfits like this, but this is mine. And I will guard this outfit like I do my life. All that shopping I did before coming here was just a prelude to this moment," Jake replied, the conviction in his voice about just how seriously he took shopping – and talking about shopping – coming through.

"So, what am I supposed to do in all this?"

"I don't know, do your best, I suppose."

"Don't say that because you have the fancy gear and I don't!" Liam explained, his unfamiliarity with the city of Carter and the area surrounding it written on his face.

Worsening it further was the fact that he was not planning to return to Carter and the Grand Duelists without Jake – it's easier to head into this hellacious dungeon than return there himself, given the looks and whispers said as he passed when he was about to leave Carter for the Burning Forest.

Last, but not least, is the fact that Jake is wearing a fireproof outfit.. and he wasn't.

He's going to have to go in a place like that without any sort of protection.

"Oi, you can't be serious about going in there and expect me to follow without a suit like that too.. what are you doing?"

By the time he got there, Jake was already about to enter the Burning Forest, singing all the while.

"The roof! The roof! The roof is on fire!"

"Are you singing again?"

***

As Jake made his entrance into the Burning Forest, his mind was filled with many theories he came up with as a man obsessed with shopping.

'You're going to carry that weight.'

Shopping isn't a matter to be taken lightly.

If you don't know what you're doing, you may end up losing your own house or worse as you become a credit delinquent.

This is why Jake never takes shopping lightly, and always deals with it with a serious and cautious attitude, much like how a wild animal tamer deals with a bear: you've trained it to not attack you, but the possibility is always there.

The focus he has while shopping is why he doesn't lose his cool upon entering this dungeon.

'This fire is nothing compared to shopping. I've carried that weight; I can throw myself into the fire to buy the things I want.'

And shortly after his entrance, something large, red, and spherical went straight for him.

"Crap!" Jake shouted as he threw himself to the side to avoid the fireball, but that was just the beginning, because as soon as the fireball crashed into the ground, it exploded into fragments that rained onto Jake.

"Damn it!" Jake yelled as the burning fragments began to try and set his body on fire.. but nothing happened.

"So, the Bunker Gear actually works. Nifty," Jake mused as the fire burned harmlessly on him. Imagine, a set of gear that allowed you to walk through fire like nothing? "If it wasn't for that, I'd have burned to death immediately."

Once he was sure that he was safe from the flames, he took a moment to see the fireball that had

Confirming his safety from the flames, he extended his thoughts to the fireball that had flown toward him.

'Where'd that fireball come from? It looked a lot larger than the fireball skill I saw some awakeners use back in Brino,' Jake thought, and when he turned towards the source, he saw what looked like a hooded serpent made entirely out of fire.

'Ah, this must be one of the monsters residing in this dungeon.'

Thanks to some information provided by the Awakening Store, there were two kinds of monsters living in the Burning Forest: Stone Golem and Flame Spirit.

While the Stone Golem doesn't have any noticeable features or fire spells and isn't that difficult to take down through blunt force, the really challenging monster here is the Flame Spirt, which is literally made up for fire.

Jake swung at the snake-like monster, and just gaped as his diamond Swiftstone passed through it like it wasn't there.

'What the–?'

Since the monster was a spirit made of flame, normal attacks wouldn't faze it. If you struck it, the flames would only split, and reassemble themselves after a while.

'So, it's invincible?' Jake asked himself, as despite the experience he had in fighting monsters and disasters, this was the first time he'd come face to face with a spirit.

He had little time to think after that, because the monster spat a large fireball at him.

It's not the fireball going your way that's the problem; the fireballs the Flame Spirit throws also explode on impact, sending burning debris everywhere.

"This isn't good!" Jake said as he dodged another fireball headed his way. "If I didn't have the Bunker Gear, I'd be a goner!"

After dodging a few more fireballs, Jake began to notice a warmth from his abdomen.

'Feels like – oh, you want to come out and play, Bankroll?'

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The warmth began to spread, and Jake felt like the energy within him was giving its assent.

'You'll help me deal with this thing?'

The Bankroll's warmth increased, which was another yes.

"All right, let's give this thing a go!" Jake said, because while he backpedaled away from the Flame Spirit, he had his Enchant Weapon skill all set up and ready to go, and when applied on the Diamond Swiftstone, the weapon looked a lot like a dark purple light was glowing from within it.

It looked a lot like one of those ultraviolet lamps: a deep dark purple light, but still shining intensely.

This was something Jake rarely saw before he was brought to Nohas.

That wasn't all, because Jake could feel that the power of the Enchant Weapon skill itself was changed thanks to the Bankroll assisting him: the way the aura fit the shape of the weapon perfectly made it look like there was no energy wasted in the use of this skill.

The enchantment he used was now glowing more solidly, proof of the Bankroll's hidden potential now being revealed, little by little.

Another fireball came roaring at Jake, and he stepped to the side, evading the attack altogether.

Before the monster could turn to where Jake was, he was already readying his sword to strike.

"My turn."

***

As the opening date of the Superstore is approaching, the Awakening Store was bracing themselves to work against their rival branch opening.

"Today, huh?"

"Yes, today."

"What time today?"

"About half an hour from now."

Kelderian was focused on the opening of the Superstore – he had no choice, because the performance of his branch here will be a crucial victory against the Superstore in their long-running competition with the Awakening Store.

'Jake Smithson has been using our store so far. Will he jump ship when a new store opens up?'

Due to familiarity, people tend to use the same stores and establishments repeatedly: there is no reason to use a shopping mall they find unfamiliar when the new one also provides similar services, items or prices.

Besides, changing the way one accustoms oneself to requires effort that most people don't feel like doing once they've gotten down to a comfortable routine.

This was why Kelderian was a bit confident that Jake would continue to offer his patronage towards the Awakening Store as long as the prices there were equal to or lower than that of the Superstore.

This was also why he kept an eye on the rival branch, as he needed to know how to keep their own prices at or below that of the Superstore.

Equal prices are fine, but they should never go above the Superstore's prices; it's part of how he keeps an eye on how the Superstore does its business.

Half an hour feels like half a century, Kelderian thought, and everyone in his branch was waiting on tenterhooks until one of his employees called out.

"They're open."

"Put their site on the screen," Kelderian ordered to his subordinate calmly.

And with a resounding "Boom!" of virtual fireworks, the Superstore appeared before Kelderian's eyes.

"Okay, what the fuck is this?" he asked, surprised at the things displayed which he found unexpected.

***

"I can predict them freaking out at this point."

"Good guess."

"They think we're actually opening a branch at their dimension without doing our homework."

"Well, if they haven't done anything to react to our opening, they'll be playing catch-up the whole time."

The branch manager of the Superstore's 58th dimension branch – where Nohas exists – is a huge wall of muscle named Urean.

His most distinctive habit is his addiction to lifting weights: every day, without fail, he goes to the gym and does some rather hefty lifting routines to keep his physique looking like a perfectly sculpted marble statue.

It was something he started when he was younger, something that would help him compensate for the rather thin and high-pitched voice he had, which was the complete opposite of what you'd expect from a man like him to have.

He used weight training to endure all the jokes about some parts of him forgetting to descend in his youth, and even now, he continues to lift, because he was already too used to it to stop.

Furthermore, he has gained the reputation of being rather silent and intimidating, when in fact he only speaks to people he knows intimately.

"How about it, Kelderian? Ready for me to knock your arrogant face down?" he asked, before letting out a laugh that can only be described as that 'annoying female laugh in anime'.

Thankfully, he doesn't cover his mouth with his hand while he does, that would have been too much of a contrast to his physique.

At any rate, Urean and Kelderian have had history together – both of them joined their respective stores at the same time, and ascended the corporate ladder at roughly the same pace, competing against each other on various projects.

He considered Kelderian a rival of sorts, which was also why he was given more consideration to head the Nohas branch than other, more experienced branch managers.

Today, though, was the first day of his counter-offensive against Kelderian and the Awakening Store; he can't help but laugh in joy as he anticipates Kelderian's flabbergasted reaction to the coup he just pulled.

"I never imagined you'd get that client to sign with you!" the assistant said. "As expected of the very awesome Urean."

Thanks to the new branch of the Superstore opening in the 58th dimension, Urean started an event to celebrate its opening. In his words, it would be a 'dope event'.

"We can't just keep running our business through Corporate cannibalism," the assistant continued. "What's the feeling when you get that client to sell something so rare under our store?"

The assistant was in awe at how Urean brought in items the Awakening Store didn't have for this event.

'I've faced my fair share of bumpy roads and heavy winds in order to win this contract. Now's not the time to be sentimental. There's still a long road to go before victory.'

The effort he took to gain this company as a client was no joke: there were metaphorical walls he had to punch through, many important people that he had to suck up to, lots of sleepless nights polishing the proposal so it became perfect.. all the hardship he endured would finally pay off today.

"Marvel at our Superstore exclusive! The Velocity Bike! If we get our store to start hot off the gate, we'll be giving this bike a ridiculous discount! Let's start the event right away!"

Urean's big idea was to try and bring in motorcycles for sale: a means of transportation that has not yet existed in Nohas – a location where most personal transportation was to use mana to empower your footwork and motion.

And the bike itself was a big deal, too.

"Thanks to Urean, who has won a contract with 2K Miles, creators of the best-performing dirt bikes, choppers, and sport bikes across multiple universes!"

This wasn't just a motorcycle, as the Velocity line is one of the newest product lines of the company 2K Miles, known to produce motorcycles that were both fast and safe.

Thanks to Urean's proposal and hard work, he was able to get 2K Miles on board, despite the company generating most of its sales from on-the-spot physical sales via sales representatives.

This effort was thus given its duly-deserved promotion as an "Exclusive Sale", further increasing the prestige of the Superstore's opening event.

"Let's get these guys to get on our bikes.. and ride!" Urean declared, and once again his assistant wondered why he never bothers to use a voice-modifying device.

***