Return of the Woodcutter

The seventh day of training.

Upon waking up from a good night of sleep, Aito asked Gwen for an hour of free time this morning. Saying he had to buy supplies and check on an order he had placed with a certain minerian.

As long as he would catch up on his training when he came back, she saw no issues in giving him free time. Not that Aito planned on listening to her if she hadn't agreed. He was his own man and would remain his own man.

Settling his double-headed ax on his shoulder, and the backpack he retrieved from Gwen, who had emptied its content inside her inventory, Aito headed for the second floor while keeping an eye out for a poor bastard named Sam.

The baldy hasn't shown his shiny head this morning on the third floor to reach the fourth floor as the other challengers did. In fact, he had stopped ascending the Tower since Aito's arrival.

As for why the reason was clear to him. The talkative baldy was probably lying in ambush somewhere or preparing something in the shadows. Aito was quite surprised by the man's perseverance.

If Sam had to act, it would be today. But doing so would prove difficult for him since the moderators of the second floor were active during daytime. So the chances of an ambush were low but possible.

Aito kept his guard up at all times while passing through the near-empty streets of the second floor. At this time of the day, most people were ascending the Tower, and a few were clearing their daily quest on the third floor.

The daily quest was nothing fancy. One hundred push-ups, one hundred sit-ups, one hundred squats, and a ten-kilometer run. All that for a measly 100 TPs. Though, Aito wouldn't spit on a bit of pocket money and did it every day during his warm-up period.

Aito's first stop was a grocery store located in the food district. He bought some dried meat, vegetables, indigos, and other fruits. Just enough to last until the end of his training.

His second stop was the magic district where he bought a few inventory bags to benefit from their peculiar, yet practical, feature. The ability to keep food safe from rotting.

A normal inventory also had that feature, something he knew all too well since he had used it on the island to safeguard his supplies from maggots. It was an expensive investment, but a necessary one.

He stored all the food he had previously bought inside them, then settled the inventory bags inside his backpack in a particular order aimed at finding his targeted food more easily later.

The bottom of the backpack was for meat, the middle for vegetables, and the top for fruits. However, after rethinking it, he realized the inventory bags would just get jumbled up at some point.

So he stopped by a shop in the bazar district selling books, paper, pens, etc. Bought a glue stick, a few sheets, and a poor-looking pen carved in wood for cheap. Surprisingly, it wasn't a magic item but one that worked normally… like a normal pen found on Earth.

Using the glue, he stuck small sheets of paper marked with keywords on each inventory bag. This way, he wouldn't mix things up and find the content more easily.

Aito's next stop was the one he had been waiting for the most, Ainar's shop.

When Aito arrived, the minerian was working on a mana core with an unknown tool that looked like a stylet. Its most distinctive feature was a long needle that glowed blue. Probably infused with mana or aura.

"Morning, Aina—" Aito tried to say, but the minerian stopped him with a severe meaningful glare.

Aito translated it to "stay quiet until I'm done, boy." He grunted in response but didn't oppose Ainar. He stepped to the side, and with nothing else to do, started to peruse the minerian's merchandises displayed on racks.

Spears, shields, swords, hammers, axes. Ainar seemed to have it all. Most weapons were crafted with materials he knew of. Steel, iron, and wood. However, there were a few composed of bones.

Intrigued, he picked up a small crossbow crafted from a mix of wood and bones. What was really unusual about it was some sort of small ammunition magazine made of wood.

He removed the magazine, looked inside only to find two beads at the bottom he supposed were used to store ammunition.

'Interesting,' he thought, thinking about how useful that weapon could be. But he wasn't equipped to wield it correctly. His ranged skills effectiveness lied in weapon throws, more precisely ax throws. 'Still… it's tempting. No, no, no. Only buy what you need.'

Seeing the minerian was still working on a mana core, Aito put down the crossbow and walked as far away from it as he could.

He ended up looking at the shield section, where shields of various shapes were neatly displayed on wooden racks. Aito grabbed a 1.5-meter long rectangle tower shield that could protect his entire body if he crouched behind it.

It was made of a layer of wood supporting a layer of steel. He supposed it was crafted this way to cut the material cost in half. True or false, he didn't know.

Unsuiting his fighting style since he was used to round shields, he put it down. Then something else caught his attention.

A round metal shield. On both side—face and back side—it had two thin long lines meeting each other at the center that separated the shield into four equal parts. Intrigued, Aito picked it up, armed himself with it, and noticed a mana core inserted in the metallic grip.

Out of pure curiosity, he infused mana into it, activating the complex mechanism hidden inside the shield's structure. Instantly, the wheelwork inside creaked. The left part of the shield opened, and the other three parts mechanically moved to store themselves inside the left part.

The round shield had transformed into a triangular one akin to a piece of pizza. It had gained in thickness by sacrificing its width. Aito rapidly realized there were three advantages to this strange shield.

First, obviously, it was retractable, thus could occupy less space on his arm in this smaller form, increasing the maneuverability of his left arm. Meaning he could grab a double-handed ax with two hands while having a shield at the ready if necessary. In case he needed protection while wielding his two-meter ax, he could quickly enlarge the shield and return to a one-handed grip.

Second, he could use the pointy pizza tip to stab his enemies. A negligible advantage to most, but it could be useful in various situations.

Lastly, it looked cool.