Infinite Anime [294-295] (Patreon)

Chapter 294: Fat Fat Dragon's Surprise Shop

"[Detected: Pioneer has accrued 5 instances of S-rank or higher overall ratings. Fat Fat Dragon's Surprise Shop is now open to the Pioneer.]"

Gusion was just about to head out when he froze mid-step. "What the heck?"

"Fat Fat Dragon's Surprise Shop"?

The name sounded dubious, totally at odds with the usually solemn façade of the End Space.

He'd been to the Pioneer Shop and the War Merits Shop, but those names clearly had a different "vibe" than this "Fat Fat Dragon's Surprise Shop."

"End, what does this shop do? Where is it?"

Curiosity piqued, Gusion asked.

"[A new space has been opened adjacent to the Pioneer's room. Please proceed there to inspect it yourself.]"

After the reply, Gusion felt a sudden jolt of anxiety. Instead of going to the designated area, he ran to the living room sofa and checked his Luck attribute.

When he saw his temporary Luck hadn't dropped, he sighed in relief, worried the End Space's new shop room might mess with his feng shui layout.

Fortunately, the End Space was professional. Even though a new room had appeared, nothing of his was affected.

Gusion got up and headed inside. Sure enough, on the side wall of the Pioneer room there was a new door—where previously it had been a plain wall.

He grabbed the handle and opened it—then froze again.

It wasn't the familiar, empty shop interior. No transparent display racks popped up. Right in front of him stood an enormous…Fat Fat Dragon.

The room was sizable—a 9-by-9-by-9 meter cube. Standing against the wall was a bloated creature.

Honestly, without the End Space's earlier prompt, he would never have associated this creature with a "dragon," a noble and mysterious being.

It was just too fat. You could see the shadow of an Eastern dragon in its features, but instead of ethereal elegance, it was more like a Zeppelin…

Its golden scales shimmered charmingly. Standing upright, the Fat Fat Dragon's snow-white belly faced Gusion—round and plump, not the least bit hard-looking. It gave off a soft, bouncy vibe that made Gusion want to poke it.

Gusion stared at the dragon; the dragon stared back. Before Gusion could ask about the rules, the dragon moved first.

It started…dancing. Clapping and hopping, its belly fat jiggled with a "dong dong" wobble. When it finished, it struck a pose.

Silence…a long silence.

Gusion had no idea what that dance meant. Was this…some kind of opening ceremony? Like a shop's welcome screen?
This was way too abstract. Who wants to watch a chubby dragon do a paw-clap dance?

"A projection?"

Muttering, Gusion stepped forward. Using Shunpo, he ascended midair steps—because the dragon was so tall, he didn't reach belly height until he was three or four meters up.

He extended a finger and poked the dragon's belly.

It was springy to the touch—definitely real, not a projection.

"Rawr!"

A furious voice boomed from above; he felt an angry gaze!

"Oh, I thought you were a projection. Didn't expect the space to have a shop like this…"

Gusion was surprised. "So, what are the rules? What's the currency here?"

The Fat Fat Dragon lowered its head, stretched a paw with effort to its belly, patted it, then wagged a claw at him.

Gusion got it this time: don't touch the belly.

Then the pudgy paw slid sideways through the air, and a translucent menu popped up in front of Gusion.

At the same time, semi-transparent display cases appeared around the room, holding all sorts of items and equipment.

Gusion reined in his thoughts. Instead of dwelling on how bizarre this shop was, he examined the menu text.

According to the description, Fat Fat Dragon's Surprise Shop unlocks when an Explorer/Pioneer/Adjudicator earns five S-rank or higher ratings for the first time.

In terms of "tier," it's the same level as the Pioneer Shop, offering better goods than the War Merits Shop accessible to all Explorers, and it matches needs more intelligently.

Payment differs from the other two shops: it costs "Honor Medals."

Gusion had noticed before that each world's settlement, after the overall rating, granted him an Honor Medal tied to the rating. Those medals could be used to redeem special permissions.

He'd never used them; those permissions were unlocked by Pioneer Mark level, and what he could exchange for at his current level seemed of little use.

At tier four and above, you could redeem an "Penalty Waiver" permission—basically, you could fail a mission without being punished, skipping tasks you didn't want to or couldn't do.

That might be useful for a regular Explorer, but for Gusion it was meh—he liked challenges and hadn't yet wanted to quit a task.

So he often wondered: what else were these Honor Medals good for?

Today, Fat Fat Dragon's Surprise Shop answered that: collect five S-rank+ ratings and a special shop opens.

There were more notes. Not every Explorer would unlock this shop—if you earned five A-ranks first, or five B/C ranks, you'd unlock other series shops.

For example, the A-rank special shop is "Fat Blue Dragon's Surprise Shop," the B-rank is "Wolf King's Gift Shop," and so on.

The higher your ratings, the higher the shop tier, the better the merchandise, and the closer the fit to your needs.

Fat Fat Dragon's Surprise Shop seemed to be the top special shop. It would feature many items rarely seen even on the market, or in the rare options of overall rewards.

Gusion spotted a familiar-looking book in the left-side case. He checked the details—it was a Talent Awakening Book: First Chapter.

Functionally similar to a reward he'd just gotten, but for awakening a first talent; he already had that, so it was useless to him.

Still, its presence made clear the shop's value.

Compared to the Pioneer Shop, this shop's ceiling might be even higher. In a sense, the End Space was fair: even a normal Explorer could reshape their fate through this shop after consistently excellent performance.

He could see why the goods were good. You might get multiple Pioneer Medals in a single world if the tasks align—but you only get one overall rating per world.

"Rawr~ rawrawr—"

The dragon above interrupted his thoughts, gesturing while making odd sounds.

Strangely, Gusion understood: hurry up and buy. If you're not buying, don't waste its time.

This NPC sure had personality—no premium customer service here. He'd never seen a End Space staffer like this…though, to be fair, he hadn't seen any before. Mostly Explorers/Supporters working in space institutions.

Was this Fat Fat Dragon an Explorer? A Supporter in costume? How did it show up in his room?
And if it was physical, it couldn't be serving only him—since the entry threshold didn't seem that high. If it did one-on-one service, how many rooms would it have to hit in a single task interval?

Confused, Gusion felt the dragon impatiently shoving him toward the door. He hurriedly pulled himself together. "Wait, let me look more!"

He swept the cases with a rapid glance. Everything looked tempting. He wished he'd cleared a hundred worlds already so he could exchange for everything he wanted.

The dragon paused pushing but flashed four chubby claws and rawred.

"Only four minutes?"

Gusion frowned. "What a scammy shop."

Next second, the dragon's paw was on his shoulder, pushing him out.

"Hold on, what's going on? You said four minutes!"

Gusion was dumbfounded. This wasn't what was promised.

The dragon, looking stern, gestured: time's up.

"Then I'll take this first."

Gusion quickly selected an item, grumbling about End Space's lousy service. Top-tier shop, huh?
Isn't the customer supposed to be God? Who hustles you out before you've even looked?

Once he picked an item, some rule seemed to stop the dragon from ejecting him. It sagged its fat dragon face, looking disappointed—like a worker who failed to sneak in some slacking.

It traced an S in the air. To Gusion's exasperation, it was posting a live price tag.

Under his chosen item, the certified price appeared: S-rank Honor Medal ×1.

He'd chosen something like a plush doll—a lookalike of the Fat Fat Dragon—a "merch" figure, but in fact an epic-quality special item (dark-gold grade).

[Effect: constant detection.] 

It showed more detailed info than his original Detect skill, auto-guarded while the owner slept, with a huge alert radius, and woke the owner if danger approached.

If the owner couldn't wake in time to respond, the Fat Fat Dragon Plush could block one attack below tier four to buy time.

Perfect for a solo operative sleeping in unsafe places—this plush made sleep peaceful.

The shop's advantage was obvious from the goods exchanged: no rank/permission gatekeeping; it really matched his current strength and needs.

Strictly speaking, a third-tier Explorer shouldn't access dark-gold items, but the shop judged he could handle it and offered accordingly.

The plush, as a dark-gold special item, would be worth 400–500k End Coins, but it cost just an S-rank world rating—one he already had.

That meant he could always get the best possible stuff when he chose to buy; items scaled with him, and Honor Medals' purchasing power would always match his stage.

"Rawr rawr-raw"

The dragon bent down and patted his shoulder approvingly, like it appreciated his taste.

Gusion staggered from the force; he hadn't expected it to be that strong.

After the exchange, the dragon seemed more patient and stopped rushing him. Gusion carefully filtered the goods.

Though Honor Medals theoretically scale better later, Gusion wasn't the type to hoard for the coffin. Spirit seeds were longer-term gains.

He wanted to be at peak before entering the Bleach world, so he planned to spend all his medals.

While browsing equipment and bloodlines, he found a strange item—more like a permission ticket.

"[Ultimate Training Ground Experience Card]
Origin: End Space
Quality: ???
Usage: Activate in End Space Training Ground.

Details: Upon activation, enter the Ultimate Training Ground once. A strong opponent matching the Pioneer's enhancement path will appear as a mirror to spar with you.

Rating: ???
Note: Don't go. Your Dao heart will waver.

Certified Price: ???"

[]

Staring at the black card, Gusion had a head full of questions. Such a vague description?

He'd used the Training Ground often—it was free at the low end, a pricier tier was like 10,000 End Coins per day. How did something like this show up in the Fat Fat Dragon's shop?

Compared to dark-gold gear—did it deserve a spot?

And the End Space comment nagged him. Training Ground mirrors usually match your attributes; how could that shake his Dao heart?
Who do they think he is?

He wasn't exactly taking the bait, but curiosity made him pick up the black card and ask the dragon for a price.

"How much for this Ultimate Training Ground Experience Card?"

To his surprise, the dragon lunged at him with a fat-dragon pounce.

Chapter 295: So-Called Ultimate

Gusion never expected that reaction. As the dragon descended, End Space's default protection triggered around him.

He heard a crack—the first time he'd seen End Space's protective barrier within the space itself—and the first time he'd seen it…shatter.

Just as he thought the damned End Space was going to let him get squashed, the dragon froze, pivoted with surprising agility, snatched the black card from his hand, and turned around, shielding it between its paws, presenting its huge butt to Gusion.

Gusion: "???"

"What's going on—what's the price?"

He was completely baffled. Surprise shop indeed; the "surprise" part was working.

After a moment, the dragon turned back, rawred and gestured. Its expression was awkward. The card was "not for sale."

Gusion laughed in disbelief. "You're pulling items off the shelf now? Some surprise shop this is."

The dragon looked embarrassed, like a nervous intern who'd messed up at work. After a while, it gestured: it could be exchanged, but only for all the Honor Medals he had left.

Gusion hesitated. Honestly, he wanted the card out of curiosity. Based on the plush exchange, his remaining medals could net three more dark-gold items; the S-rank medal could buy a full-score epic-tier.

That wasn't a small haul—direct upgrades to fighting or survival.

Spending four medals for an unknown sparring session with a strong mirror opponent felt cost-ineffective.

But curiosity clawed at him. And Gusion craved sparring with the strong to refine his martial path.

Plus the dragon's fishy behavior made him waver.

He glanced up; the dragon averted its eyes, paws clamped tight on the card, looking…guilty.

Could it be…the card's value far exceeded his expectations? The dragon didn't want him to have it and was making it hard on purpose?

He recalled how the dragon had almost "attacked" him in violation of staff rules; his guess felt plausible.

After a beat, Gusion gritted his teeth. "Deal."

The dragon covered its face with both paws. "Rawr!"

Reluctantly, it handed the black card back, eyes full of pity. "Roo-rawr…"

Gusion took the card, annoyed. The dragon's look and "dragon-speak" screamed, "It's over, your Dao heart is going to shatter."

As a martial artist, he naturally wanted to see higher peaks and verify his Dao. Since he'd bought the card, he would use it.

As for his heart wavering—he didn't buy it.

After the exchange, the dragon waved its paw and stowed the displays.

Curiously, though the cases looked translucent and the items hazy, selecting one would solidify it for pickup—who knew how.

With the stall packed up, the dragon plopped down like a kid who'd done something wrong and feared punishment, pulling a long face while waving Gusion goodbye.

With no medals left, Gusion didn't linger. He left without further chatter with the quirky dragon.

Amusingly, once he exited, the wall returned to normal—as if the shop had never existed.

He asked End Space for more details and was told the shop only appears while he holds an S-rank+ Honor Medal; otherwise, it's hidden.

Gusion twirled the mysterious black card. End Space's signature vine motifs wound across it—exquisite, mysterious. He was itching to try it right away.

Reason prevailed: he'd just finished a round of enhancements and needed to adapt. Best to reach peak state before using the one-shot experience—otherwise it'd be wasted.

So he planned to spend a few days in the Intermediate Training Ground to hone his current abilities.

Before that, he wanted to revisit the Trading Market and Commercial Street.

…

"Heh-heh, unlucky guy, here to order gear?"

The sailor-uniform girl greeted him with a smile.

Gusion's face darkened; he turned to leave.

She hurried to block him. "Don't, I'm kidding. I need you to open my day's business."

"I've got great luck, don't jinx it."

They entered the shop. Gusion stated his needs. "I want you to forge an epic belt and greaves."

"I can see greaves. But a belt…you've got that much spare cash?"

She looked puzzled. "Belts are nonstandard protectors—a tag-on to main gear. The stats and boons aren't much."

"I've already got gear for the other slots, so I figured I'd fill this one. Any recommendations?"

He wanted a professional's take.

He'd spotted the slot while browsing the market earlier, but he preferred customs; after failing to find anything he liked, he came to his designated smith.

"I'm fine with anything that pays, but you've got other room to improve. I don't remember you custom-ordering a pendant from me, right?"

"If yours isn't epic-tier, I suggest upgrading. You'll get more value than from a tag-on like a belt."

Gusion considered and agreed. His necklace was still the [Heart's Desire Pendant] from the Muzan box—legendary quality, great for survival.

But he wanted less "follow your heart" and more raw offense. He wanted the accessory to boost damage.

"Then a pendant and greaves. For the accessory, I want higher offensive multipliers. If it can be growth-type, even better."

She rolled her eyes. "You think growth gear is roadside trash? That takes luck and fate."

"Not a must."

He didn't expect much anyway. "For the greaves, I want some special functions…"

After hearing his requirements, she gaped. "Huh? You sure this won't get you killed?"

"Relax. I know what I'm doing. That's what I want."

"Fine, we'll do it your way. You just did a full-house custom setup, so I won't force a bed sale this time. Fifty thousand…no, five hundred thousand End Coins."

She deftly produced a contract. Gusion reviewed and signed, paid half, then habitually checked out the beds on the shelf.

To his surprise, they were the same selection as last time—no new stock.

"Why no updates?"

She yawned. "Busy making your gear and custom home setup. Where would I find time for new models?"

Half-true—she'd also been studying, leaving less time for her beloved furniture.

"My bad then."

Gusion smiled. "Soon you can immerse yourself in furniture again. Give it a bit, and I might stop bothering you."

She froze, understanding his meaning. He was getting stronger at a ridiculous pace—faster than anyone she'd seen.

Just a few worlds in and he was fully kitted in custom epic gear. Another world, and he might move into dark-gold. By then, her forging skills would lag behind.

That thought made her oddly sad—unemployed again, so soon.

"Don't worry, I'll send business your way. Your forging's solid—and the beds aren't bad."

He waved and left the Commercial Street.

She watched his back, fell into thought, and muttered, "That won't do…"

…

Seven days later, Gusion's shadow-flickering figure in the Training Ground came to a halt.

He dispelled shadow clones with hand seals; experience flowed back into him—quite a haul.

He'd spent the days here, adapting to his new abilities and physique. After intense training, he could fully exert his strength.

Besides adapting and leveling practical skills, he picked up a long-stalled practice:

Resonance with his Zanpakuto. In the Bleach world, with help from his roommate Aizen Sosuke, he'd glimpsed the soul's depths, reached initial resonance, and achieved Shikai.

But honestly, the way he Shikai'd differed greatly from an orthodox Shinigami. He himself had named his Zanpakuto, matching his martial path, but strictly speaking, it didn't follow the normal Shikai process.

In other words, he forced a name rather than learning its true name. That made pursuing Bankai extremely difficult.

He thought he could will it into alignment and force a new Bankai name—but that was naïve. It didn't work at all.

Worse: he couldn't even resonate anymore. Since leaving the Bleach world, he hadn't re-entered that abyssal space once.

He didn't know why. Was his soul that special? He didn't feel any "shadow" like Aizen suggested—so why that scene?

After leveling up in every aspect these days, he tried again—running passive resonance drills in his sleep—but still nothing.

Frustrated, he shelved it for now. Once he got back to the Bleach world, he'd ask old friends.

Warm-up done, he tuned himself to peak state and took out the black card. Time to see what the Fat Fat Dragon had been reluctant to sell.

"End, I want to use the Ultimate Training Ground Experience Card."

"[Request received. Arranging now, please wait…]"

…

A few minutes later:

"[Before entering the Ultimate Training Ground, the following regulations must be acknowledged by the Pioneer:]

[1] The Experience Card only auto-matches a strong mirror opponent whose combat style aligns with yours. You cannot choose.

[2] Everything within the Ultimate Training Ground is top secret. You may not reveal the strong opponent's information to anyone (including other Pioneers). Violators will be erased.

[3] Explorers above level 85 are strictly forbidden from entering the Ultimate Training Ground.]"

Gusion stared, baffled. He could understand the first point—feature-limited. But the last two?

A mirror opponent matched to him—what's so secret about that? He couldn't even talk about it?

And "level 85 Explorers"? That was a distant concept.

With fresh confusion and anticipation, Gusion stepped through the black door the End Space opened.

The heavy door closed behind him. He found himself sealed in a dim space.

A desolate land; a dark-red blood moon hung in the sky—an eerie atmosphere.

He was about to ask the End Space where his opponent was when danger alarms screamed in his head. Every cell trembled.

Instinctively, he tilted his head and locked eyes on the figure walking out of the black horizon.

Under the blood moon, a man in black clothes with a black blade approached at a slow pace—but the land retreated rapidly under his feet.

Though supposedly matched to his attributes, the man seemed to carry boundless baleful aura like a tide devouring the world behind him. The pressure was suffocating; Gusion struggled to breathe.

As the figure drew closer and moonlight fell across him, Gusion's Mangekyo Sharingan still couldn't resolve his face—or rather, he seemed to see it, then forget it in the next instant.

Judging from the silhouette, it was a man.

In his hand: a pitch-black blade. Behind him: a semi-transparent black phantom like a serpent, as if guarding him.

When he came closer, the baleful aura thickened into near-substance, a scarlet tide surging toward Gusion, making his body tremble by instinct.

His biology feared; his warrior's heart surged with ecstasy. Under the twin pulls, his trembling hand gripped Mazuiko tighter, eyes blazing with frenzied fighting spirit.