Black Heart Mall

Ben's expression stiffened, and he looked extremely uncomfortable. He followed behind Renard, opening his mouth several times as if to say something, but ultimately swallowed his words.

Renard sensed something and knew what the other person wanted to say without even thinking. It was nothing more than: Why are you doing this? We could have handled this in a much more tactful way.

The two of them had set out to do a good deed, but it had turned into doing something bad. Not only did they not receive any gratitude, but they were even branded as scum by the other party.

Renard seemed indifferent because his original persona was that of a scumbag. Having one more person dislike him wouldn't make him lose any skin.

For some reason, he had started to like his scumbag identity. It saved him a lot of unnecessary chatter.

"Follower: Ben, Loyalty reduced by two points."

However, the System's notification greatly dampened his spirits. He suddenly realized the seriousness of the problem.

Renard stopped in his tracks and said after some thought, "I'm sorry, Ben. For reasons I cannot disclose, I had to do these things. You might feel my methods were a bit excessive, but..."

Upon hearing this, Ben immediately interrupted him, filled with trepidation, "You don't need to explain anything. As long as it's your command, I will carry it out without reservation."

"Alright!" Renard gave a wry smile and didn't dwell on the matter any further.

"Ding! Bounty quest complete: Help Madam Tamara find her lost pet. Reward: 20 dinar."

"Ding! System Shop unlocked!"

Two crisp notification sounds shifted his attention back to the System. He had heard from a friend who recommended this game that dinar was the in-game currency, but he had never heard of a System Shop before.

Renard quickly deduced that dinar was likely the currency used to exchange for items in the System Shop. Otherwise, it wouldn't be such a coincidence that the System Shop unlocked right after he obtained dinar.

He instantly forgot his recent displeasure, his heart itching like a cat scratching a dog's itch. He wished he could instantly return to the castle to see what this System Shop was all about.

The two were not far from the castle, and with their eagerness to return, they were back in less than five minutes. The guards who had left had just returned to their posts before the pair.

Renard didn't notice anything unusual. Even if there were any anomalies, he wouldn't have noticed them, being completely engrossed in the System Shop.

However, Ben noticed the guards' deliberately suppressed breaths. He didn't jump to conclusions but secretly kept it in mind.

Upon arriving at the living room, Renard instructed Selina to pour water while he sat on the sofa and spaced out.

To outsiders, he appeared to be spacing out, but in reality, his attention was entirely focused on the System Shop.

The items in the System Shop were vast and complex, categorized into four major types: Weapon Equipment, Mounts & War Beasts, Magic Scrolls, and Materials & Sundries.

Under each of the four major categories were countless subcategories. For example, Weapon Equipment was divided into Ordinary Weapon Equipment and Magic Weapon Equipment.

Opening Ordinary Weapon Equipment revealed three more branches: Ordinary Weapons, Ordinary Defensive Equipment, and Special Equipment.

Ordinary Weapons were further divided into dozens of sub-branches, such as knives, swords, guns, etc.

Renard was dazzled. He curiously clicked on the interface for selling knives, and a flood of information immediately popped up: single-handed swords, two-handed swords, curved swords, sabers, broadswords...

The types of knives were incredibly diverse, and these were just general terms. For instance, under single-handed swords, there were hundreds of images depicting various styles, lengths, and designs.

There were hundreds of styles of single-handed swords alone. Browsing through everything the entire shop had to offer would be an almost impossible challenge.

Renard felt that he would likely never accomplish this feat in his lifetime. Fortunately, the System had thoughtfully solved this problem.

"Based on the host's physical condition, this System has automatically filtered out eighty-six of the most suitable knife-type weapons for the host."

"Ordinary Straight Sword, hilt length 66 cm, blade length 99 cm, suitable for mounted combat, close combat, no additional attributes."

"Ordinary Curved Sword, hilt length 40 cm, blade length 126 cm, suitable for close combat, no additional attributes."

"Ordinary Combat Knife, hilt length 8 cm, blade length 12 cm, suitable for close-quarters combat, no additional attributes."

"..."

Renard looked at the images of the first few weapons and was slightly tempted. At this moment, the System automatically generated a comparison image of him holding the weapons. They looked quite good, but the price was somewhat difficult to accept.

Ordinary Straight Sword: 20 dinar. Ordinary Curved Sword: 20 dinar. Ordinary Combat Knife: 15 dinar...

Renard dared not imagine that after painstakingly completing one quest, he could only afford one ordinary weapon.

Of course, calling it "painstaking" was a bit of an exaggeration, but completing the quest was indeed not easy. At the very least, it consumed a significant amount of time and effort.

And this was just the price of ordinary weapon equipment. Who knew how many dinar it would cost to exchange for magic weapon equipment? If those weapons and equipment cost hundreds or thousands of dinar, wouldn't that mean he'd have to complete dozens of similar quests?

Renard couldn't bear to imagine it. However, he soon discovered that he had underestimated the System's greed.

He took a sip of water to moisten his dry throat and opened the Magic Weapon Equipment section. It had the same classifications and similar weapon equipment, with the addition of some bonus attributes.

Renard immediately understood. Magic weapon equipment was basically the same in appearance as ordinary weapon equipment, only with certain added attributes, such as increasing attack power, enhancing durability, or weakening the enemy's combat effectiveness.

He opened the sword interface again and quickly scanned it, feeling a headache coming on.

"Based on the host's physical condition, this System has automatically filtered out twenty-six of the most suitable sword-type weapons for the host."

"Ordinary Longsword (Magic Grade), hilt length 24 cm, blade length 110 cm, suitable for close combat, additional attributes: Sharpness, Durability. Sharpness attribute increases weapon sharpness, Durability attribute increases weapon durability."

"Ordinary Shortsword (Magic Grade), hilt length 18 cm, blade length 80 cm, suitable for close combat, additional attributes: Sharpness, Durability. Sharpness attribute increases weapon sharpness, Durability attribute increases weapon durability."

"..."

The style of the longsword was somewhat simple. While its appearance wasn't unattractive, it still didn't meet his aesthetic standards. The two additional attributes were quite practical, but the price...

Renard's eyes widened, and he exclaimed incredulously, "Holy crap, System, you're too black-hearted! You dare to charge 200 dinar for a damn sword? Why don't you just rob people? You shouldn't call yourself a System Shop, you should change it to Black-Hearted Shop!"

After a moment of silence, the System retorted, "All items in the shop are clearly priced and fair to all. My service tenet is: Buy if you want, get lost if you don't!"

"..."